Sherryl Woods - The Calamity Janes - Gina and Emma

She acknowledged his words with a wave, then disappeared inside the plane. Rafe walked slowly back into the hangar, then crossed to the office.

Inside, he found a middle-aged woman chatting on the phone. She glanced up, murmured something to whoever was on the other end of the line, then smiled at Rafe.

“What can I do for you?”

“That charter you’ve got going out, did the pilot file a flight plan?”

“He sure did. Plus, when Lauren called, she told me where they’re going.”

“Which is?”

Her gaze narrowed. “Are you with the media?”

“No.”

“Because I’m not doing or saying anything that’s going to get that woman’s picture splashed all over one of those supermarket tabloids. When she’s around here, she’s among friends. What she does and where she goes is nobody’s business.”

“Believe it or not, I don’t give two hoots about where Lauren Winters goes, but I do care about her friend Gina. I need to know where that plane is headed.”

Her eyes widened at his fierce tone. “Is Gina in some kind of trouble?”

“That depends on where that flight is going.”

“Denver,” she told him finally. “They’re going to Denver to be there for Cassie while her mom has her surgery.”

Relief flooded through Rafe. Gina hadn’t lied to him. “Good,” he murmured. “That’s great.”

The woman regarded him with a puzzled expression. “You think it’s great that Cassie’s mother is having surgery?”

“No, of course not.” Any explanation he tried to give would be way too complicated and unnecessary. “Never mind. Thanks for the information.”

“Sure thing.”

Rafe felt lighter somehow as he drove back into town. For once in his life his trust hadn’t been misplaced.

Of course, it remained to be seen if Gina actually showed up back in Winding River when this mission of mercy ended. Something told him that until she came back again, he was going to be doing a lot of pacing and worrying.

7

Rafe was not used to having time on his hands. He didn’t like being idle. Worse, he realized that he actually missed Gina, and not just because he couldn’t ask a few more sneaky questions in an attempt to learn something new about Rinaldi and the missing money. He also found it worrisome that her planned two-week trip was now creeping on into its third week with no sign of Gina in Winding River.

“Still in town?” a gruff voice inquired just before Gina’s father slid into the booth opposite him at Stella’s. “I thought you’d be long gone by now, especially with Gina out of town for the last few days.”

“Unfortunately, I haven’t finished my business here,” Rafe said. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”

“Don’t mind if you do,” George Petrillo replied, signaling to Stella. “You never did say what your business here is, did you?”

“No.”

George’s gaze narrowed. “Is there some deep, dark secret to it?”

“No, it’s just a confidential matter. I can’t discuss it.”

“Okay, then, let me think. What kind of professions take their secrets so seriously? You don’t strike me as a psychiatrist. And given the way you were kissing my daughter, I doubt you’re a priest. How am I doing so far?”

“Right on target,” Rafe conceded, impressed with the man’s deductive reasoning, if not the suspicion behind it.

“Then I’d say that leaves the law. Are you an attorney, Mr. O’Donnell? And if you are, what business could you possibly have that concerns my daughter?”

“I never said—”

“Let’s get serious,” George said, leaning forward. “Your being here is no accident. You’re not a tourist. Your bumping into Gina way out here, when it just so happens that the two of you live in New York, is no coincidence. The way I figure it, you’re either stalking her or she’s in trouble. Which is it?”

Rafe admired the man’s blunt assessment. He had a feeling that under other circumstances, they could get along very well. “I think you should discuss this with Gina, not me.”

“The only person I’m going to be discussing anything with is the sheriff, if I don’t get a straight answer in the next ten seconds.”

Rafe nodded, accepting the fatherly concern and the determination he saw on George Petrillo’s face. “Okay, then. I’ll tell you as much as I can. I came out here because of your daughter. I’m handling a case involving her business partner. I thought Gina might have some information.”

“Does she?”

“She says she doesn’t.”

“Then go home, Mr. O’Donnell. If Gina says she doesn’t know anything, then she doesn’t know anything.”

“I wish I could do that, Mr. Petrillo, but I can’t. Your daughter is my best link to Roberto Rinaldi. Sooner or later they’re bound to be in contact.”

“And when they are, I’m sure she’ll let you know,” her father said. “Gina’s an honest, law-abiding citizen. That’s the way we raised her.”

“As reassuring as it is to hear you say that, it’s not good enough.”

George frowned. “You’re not suggesting that my daughter is mixed up in whatever this Rinaldi fellow did, are you?” There was a sudden flash of alarm in his eyes. “Did he kill somebody? Gina’s not in any danger, is she?”

“No, it’s nothing like that, I assure you.”

“Then what are you suggesting that my daughter’s mixed up in?”

“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just saying that I can’t leave here until I know more than I know now.”

George Petrillo sighed. “If this is all about some legal difficulty my daughter and her partner might or might not be in, what the hell was that kiss at the house all about? Was that just some sneaky tactic to try to get her to talk?”

Rafe felt his cheeks burn. He should have known better. Not only had his behavior been unprofessional, but both of those kisses they’d shared had been in plain view of Gina’s neighbors or her family. The very least he could have done was to exercise more discretion.

“Actually, that was a mistake.”

“Which time? At the rodeo or at the house?”

“Both times, to be perfectly honest.”

“Then I suggest you keep your hands to yourself from now on. I don’t want to hear any more about any so-called mistakes. This isn’t New York City, where two people can get away with anything. Around here there are reputations to be considered. Eventually you’ll go on your way, but Gina has to live in this community.”

“I thought Gina lived in New York.”

“This is her home. New York is where she works,” her father said, making the same distinction Gina herself had once made. “Keep that in mind.”

“I’ll do my best,” Rafe promised.

George bobbed his head, clearly satisfied that he’d put Rafe on notice. “See that you do,” he said as he jammed his hat on his head and strolled away, pausing for a minute to share a joke with Stella before heading for the door.

After he’d gone, Rafe muttered a sharp expletive. Why was it that every time he was around Gina, her friends or her family, they wound up asking all the questions? He hadn’t been on the defensive so much since he’d discovered in the middle of a trial that his client had been lying to him about almost everything except his name. And he didn’t like the feeling any better now than he had then.

Nor was he crazy about the fact that he hadn’t even discovered why Gina’s trip had already lasted several days longer than originally anticipated. Just when the query had been on the tip of his tongue, George Petrillo had cleverly distracted him with his own barrage of questions.

The fragile trust Rafe had begun to feel for Gina was already wavering. He’d give her one more day. If she didn’t turn up tomorrow, he was going after her. And heaven help her if she wasn’t where she had told him she would be—at Mrs. Collins’s bedside in Denver.