Jodi Thomas: The Widows of Wichita County

Helena smiled. "She'll make it. She also knows our cars wouldn't. Those roughnecks might say anything on thc phone, but they won't lie with her facing them down. She's a wildcatter's woman, and my guess is they all know it by now."

"Can you stay here with Anna tonight?" Helena did not wait for Meredith to answer. "I'll try to track down the housekeeper Anna uses. She'll know where everything goes." Helena picked up a piece of a lamp. "Maybe she'll agree to come out and help. This might be a good time to gut the room and start over. None of this looks like Anna."

Meredith nodded. "I didn't plan on leaving Anna at all tonight, even though Carlo sent word from the hospital that there was no need for me to stay." She leaned close and touched Helena's hand. "And how about you? How are you feeling today?"

"Better than I've felt in a long time. There is work to do here. Crystal's right, something doesn't make sense, and wr can't depend on one overworked sheriff and a few dimwitted deputies to figure it out. I'm a workhorse. Put me out in pasture and I'll surely die."

"Randi's coming in tonight, and she's promised to stay with me," Meredith added. "Crystal's already told me, I'm to keep her away from the new poles at Frankie's. Having her with me out here should keep her far enough away from any trouble in town. Maybe Randi can talk to the hands on the place. Someone in the bunkhouse must have heard thc shot."

"It's a ways to the bunkhouse, but it might be worth a try. Tell Randi to check it out." Helena agreed, feeling like she was suddenly one part of a detective team.

"Granger told me when he got here the hands were all standing around outside, like they were afraid to come in."

"Randi probably knows most of the help." Helena dusted for hands together. "Maybe they'll tell her things they wouldn't tell us. Ask her to piece together anything she can on Zack. Someone must know him. He's lived here all his life."

"What about you?"

Helena shook her head. "I vaguely remember his mother, but she died years ago. His father drank himself to death, I think. To tell you the truth, I barely recognize Zack Larson when I see him on the street."

Helena laughed. "J.D. says I know everyone in town, but line them up and I'd miss a few."

"If Larson was here with Anna and they were friends, then who shot Carlo? Who beat them all up?"

"We'll find out," Helena promised. "If Zack Larson is guilty of hurting her, heaven help him. If he's not, then we'll have to help him."

6:00 p. m.

Sheriff's Office

"I don't care what you and the widows came up with Meredith, I'm not letting Zack Larson out of jail." Granger looked quite official, leaning forward in his chair. "By the way, which one of you has been making trips down to Sam Houston State to pick up a Criminal Justice degree?"

Meredith glared at the man she once considered intelligent.

"And aren't you supposed to be staying with Anna? Why are you and Randi leaving your post?" The sheriff glanred from Meredith to Randi, who did not seem to be listening to his lecture at all. He had a feeling she probably acted the same with anyone in authority since she had been in the sixth grade. He did not even want to think about what she offered in trade for all the gossip she collected from tlu Montano ranch hands.

"We were with her all night," Meredith answered. "Bella came by the Montano place after she brought Zack some clothes and found out what was going on. She said she'll stand guard over Anna until we get back."

Granger started again, this time with that "I'll try to hc patient with you" tone in his voice.

"Look at it this way, half the men in town want to kill Zack Larson, including Anna's brother. The man is safer in here for tonight. After he sees the judge in the morning, we'll take him to the County lockup. I know his kind. He's a loner. If I did let him go, the first place he'd head would be back to that rundown ranch of his, and I'd have no way of protecting him."

Meredith knew Granger did not exaggerate the danger. Folks clustered around town, talking about how something needed to be done about Zack Larson. Most of it was talk, but what if one drunk, or friend of Davis Montano, decided to take the law into his own hands? Could Granger and a few old deputies stop him?

The sheriff glanced over at Randi, who perched on the wide windowsill to watch the snow. She obviously did not see herself as part of this discussion.

He turned back to Meredith and tried again. "I can't let a man go because the widows took a vote. That's not my job. I'm the one who catches them, the courts are the ones who let them go." He smiled at his attempt at humor.

"Yes, but you're holding an innocent man," Meredith Insisted. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"Why are you so sure he's not guilty? Because Crystal heard him ask about Anna? Maybe he was worried that if he killed her he'd be going up for murder, not just assault."

Meredith did not answer, so he continued, "Or maybe I should unlock him because Anna asked about him? Did you women ever think that she might have asked because he scared the hell out of her and she was hoping he was dead?

"I've got my own misgivings, but nothing strong enough to let the man go. He was in a house where he didn't belong at a time that's not usually considered visiting hours. He was undressed. Anna was beat to a pulp. Carlo was shot."

"But I stood right next to you when Adam called from the hospital to tell you there was no powder residue on Zack's hands. He didn't fire the gun that shot Carlo." Meredith walked back and forth in front of the sheriff as though she were lecturing. "And I saw you measure the space between the weapon and Zack. He couldn't have fired the gun and washed his hands, then fallen unconscious half a room away. He wasn't the one who shot Carlo, and he didn't hit Anna."

"Then get her in here and let me talk to her. All she has to do is tell me who, besides Zack, beat her near to death and I swear I'll put that guy in jail and let Zack out."

"She can't come. She's too afraid. But you should she the way she looks when someone says Zack's name. She's worried about him, not afraid of him."

Meredith rubbed her forehead. "I don't know, maybe she thinks if she tells the truth Zack and her might both die. It's that kind of terror I see in her eyes. She cares about the man and somehow thinks she's helping him by remaining silent.

"That's not enough." Granger shook his head.

Randi finally unfolded from the window. With her slender limbs and fringed jacket, she looked like a daddy longleggs spider on the move. "I know what would be enough," she said calmly. "I read it in your report."

Meredith and Granger both looked at her as if they had forgotten she was there.

Randi widened her stance. "You're a man of detail, Sheriff. In your report you wrote that you turned off the stereo."

"So? I always write down things like that. You never know what's important."

"All right. This is important. What was playing?"

Granger frowned. "I don't remember, some country and western station."

"Zack Larson didn't rape Anna Montano." Randi smiled as if she'd made her point. When the other two did not respond, she added, "Anna loved classical. Drove us all crazy every time we were around her. It was her house, her stereo, so the music would have been her choice. Classical, not C-and-W. A man doesn't take time to change the radio country if he's chasing her around the room to rape her."

"Maybe, maybe not." Granger frowned, obviously angry that hadn't thought much about it. "Look, since yesterday morning I haven't had more than an hour's sleep. Why don't you ladies come back tomorrow?" Meredith leaned into his space. "Let me talk to him, Granger." She almost knocked his keys off his desk.