Patricia Rosemoor: Heart Of A Lawman

“Especially without letting her out of the carrier,” Bart continued, distracting her from that line of thought. “Poor thing could have starved to death unless the owner meant to come back for her.”

That gave Josie pause. “Oh, no. What if the owner does come back for her and she’s not there? Maybe I ought to put up a sign….”

“Wouldn’t hurt.”

“Unless it wasn’t the owner, at all,” she added, her mind churning with the possibilities. “Maybe someone was playing a mean trick. There are some real nasty people in this world. They take pleasure in causing heartache and pain.”

Something she knew deep in her soul.

“And then there are people like you,” Bart said in a smooth, low voice that made the hair on the backs of her arms crackle. “So, Josie Wales, how long have you been lost?”

She whipped around to face him. “Lost?”

“Here. In Silver Springs.”

What a weird way to put it, though. “Not long,” she hedged, wondering if this was idle curiosity or if he had a deeper motive for wanting to know.

“And you hail from?”

“Not around here.”

“So…will someone be looking for you to bring you home?”

“No one owns another human being!” she snapped, heart pounding with the possible implications.

Bart fell silent at her overreaction, but Josie felt his unspoken questions all the same. They were there in the way he looked at her, as if she were a puzzle he was trying to put together.

Finally, he said, “I just meant your family might be missing you some.”

“I don’t have family.”

The words blurted out of her mouth before Josie even knew she would say them. They came to her quickly and naturally…a truth that inexplicably saddened her.

“You mean a young thing like you is all alone in this world?”

“Thirty-two is not all that young,” she informed him.

Again, speaking without thinking, Josie realized, a little startled by the way she automatically responded to Bart’s baiting. She was getting that feeling again—the one that put up her back at what on the surface were innocent questions, when they weren’t anything of the kind.

He was digging, but for what? Had he even come here to see Alcina, or had that been a convenient story?

Having finished applying the lemon oil, she took a clean, soft cloth and, starting with the end of the kitchen as far as she could get from him, began rubbing the film of lubricant into the wood.

And all the while, she was aware of Bart Quarrels watching her…wondering…making her want to run and hide from him.

“So how do you know Alcina?” he asked next.

“I don’t. I just have a room here.”

“That why you’re cleaning the kitchen?”

“Right.” She concentrated on the next cabinet. “For the time being, I’m working for her.” Then, tired of the cat-and-mouse game, she set down the rag and faced him directly. “How many more questions are you planning to ask me, anyway?”

They stared at each other and she could almost see the little wheels spinning in his head. His eyes narrowed and his features drew into a bemused expression. Before he could come up with an answer, however, the door off the mudroom swung open.

“I’m back!” Alcina called.

Reprieve!

Without a by-your-leave, a relieved Josie turned her back on Bart and hurried out of the kitchen. Instant relief the moment she left his presence!

“Here, Alcina, let me take those. You have a…uh, gentleman caller.”

“Really.” Alcina’s pale eyebrows shot upward. She turned over the sacks of groceries, saying, “Then I guess you’ll have to wait for the cat litter.”

“If it’s still in the trunk, I can get it.”

“It’s awfully heavy—”

“I can get it,” Josie firmly repeated.

“Well, if you’re sure.” Alcina handed over the keys, then stepped into the kitchen where she made a sound of pure pleasure. “Bart? Is that really you, Barton Quarrels?”

“In the flesh.”

Josie couldn’t help but follow. She stepped back inside just as Alcina rushed over and gave the man a warm hug. Inexplicably bothered by the way he responded, with a quick grin and arms snaking around the other woman’s waist, Josie whomped the sacks of groceries to the counter and swept back outside to get the litter.

The moment she stepped onto the back stoop, Miss Kitty rushed to her chicken-wire fence several yards away and protested the recent inattention.

“It won’t be long now,” Josie promised, stooping to stick her fingers through the wires and scratch a kitty ear. “Though you can’t have the run of the house. Just the mudroom and the ironing room. We’ll have to share that. But don’t worry, I’ll give you plenty of attention. You can even sleep with me if you want.”

She thought she’d like that—having the cat’s warm little body to cling to throughout the night. She took comfort in the thought that she wouldn’t have to be alone, at least not for now.

Unbidden came another image of her with a much larger, human companion, limbs tangled together…

Shivering she opened the trunk. The twenty-five-pound bag of litter inside would last one little cat a month.

“Alcina must expect you to be around for a while, Miss Kitty.”

Which made her feel a bit better about the situation, just in case she wasn’t able to find the cat’s real owner right away.

Still hurting, she carefully hefted the large bag of litter. A familiar weight, she thought, handling it easily once she straightened. It was mostly her side that bothered her when she lifted anything more than a few pounds. But she certainly wasn’t helpless. Closing the trunk, Josie thought about putting up some Found Cat signs around town. She could make a bunch that night, then tomorrow morning do double duty. Post signs and look for a job. If that suited Alcina, of course.

Josie stepped back into the mudroom, expecting to hear Alcina and Bart in the kitchen talking together like…what? Old friends? Lovers?

Why the second possibility should bother her, she couldn’t imagine.

Thinking she would remain in Silver Springs only long enough to get some folding money in her pocket and an idea of just how far it would take her, she muttered under her breath, “Makes no never mind to me.”

Not that there was anyone to hear. The kitchen was empty.

Good. She didn’t need any complications. Had no use for them. Especially not when a certain complication seemed bent on knowing more about her than she did about herself.

Even so, she was a bit disappointed to find that Alcina had moved her “gentleman caller” to the parlor. She could hear their laughter ring out from the other room.

She couldn’t help herself. After fixing up the litter pan in the mudroom, she moved to the door that led to the dining room, which led to the parlor. Holding her breath, she leaned into the wooden panel ever so slightly—cracking it open just enough to get an earful.

“So what do you know about her?” Bart was asking.

“Just that she needed a roof over her head.”

Good Lord, they were discussing her. Maybe she had been the reason he’d invaded Alcina’s home.

“Are you always so blindly trusting?”

A beat of silence was followed by Alcina’s asking, “Do you know something I should, Deputy Quarrels?”

Pulse thundering, Josie backed off into the kitchen as he said, “It’s just that I’d keep my eyes wide open if I were you.”

Deputy!

So Bart Quarrels was the law…she’d been right, then. But he obviously didn’t know about her or he wouldn’t be sniffing around, asking all these questions. If he had facts, he would have arrested her by now. Obviously he had his suspicions. Instinct made her want to run again.