Town Darling (19 page)

“All the more reason to
practice on stage,” Dina informed her then smiled deviously.  “We’ll also get a
chance to scope out the competition.”

“I know Melanie is good,”
Casey snorted.  “I don’t need to be reminded of it.”

Grey entered the bedroom
and set a box down on the floor with a grunt.  “What do you have in here? 
Bowling balls?”

“Close,” she replied. 
“They’re family photo albums.”

She received odd stares
from both.

“From my grandparents,”
Dina replied to their silent question.  “When they were still living and before
my father took off, there were a lot of fond memories.”

Casey glanced at her
brother and appeared curious.  “I thought you left with the guys,” she said to
Grey.

“Ruger and Diesel can
handle the rest of the boxes in Dina’s apartment,” he announced.  “I thought
I’d pick up a few pizzas for dinner.”

“I thought I saw both cars
leave,” Casey remarked.

“Yeah, last trip,” Grey
replied.

“Then what do you intend to
drive to get pizza?”

Grey suddenly grinned and
raised his brows suggestively. 

Casey appeared horrified
and shook her head.  “Oh, no,” she said defensively.  “You’re not driving my
car.”

“Oh, come on,” Grey pouted
childishly.  “You never let me drive your car.”

“You own a car?” Dina asked
her friend with a look of near surprise.

Grey looked at Dina and
grinned.  “Not just a car,” he announced.  “It’s a 1969 Chevy Camaro Z/28
classic muscle car with an engine the size of a freight train.”

Casey rolled her eyes as
Grey boasted about her car.  Grey seemed disappointed that neither shared his
enthusiasm for the car.  He sounded oddly like their father for one fleeting
moment.

“Sheriff Holt was drooling
over it when I showed it to him in the garage,” Grey announced proudly.

“You were showing him my
car?  Why?”

He stared at her with an
oddly dumbfounded look.  “Because, it’s the only cool thing about you.”

She again rolled her eyes. 
Dina hid her smile to keep from laughing.

“Fine, take the car,” Casey
scoffed.  “I don’t know why Dad gave it to me in the first place.”

“Yeah, he knew you drove
like an old lady,” Grey announced and appeared to pout.  He then looked at Dina
and flashed a smile.  “It was supposed to be a surprise high school graduation
gift, but it took him longer than anticipated.  It turned into her college
graduation gift.  He worked on restoring that car every weekend for seven
years.”

Casey sank against the
dresser, appeared distant, and frowned.  “It was a surprise all right,” she
said with a sigh.  “Ruger found my graduation card on the dashboard of the car
when he was packing up things the day we moved out.”  She glared at Grey.  “You
know where to find the keys.”

“I’ll be back in an hour,”
he announced and darted from the room.

“That means he’ll drive
around half the county before getting pizza,” Casey informed Dina.

“I wasn’t really hungry
anyway,” Dina announced gently.

Casey straightened and
sighed.  “I’m going to make some tea.  Did you want some?”

“Actually, I’d like to take
a bath before the guys return,” Dina informed her.  “I’ve been feeling grimy
all day.”

“That’s actually not a bad
idea,” Casey replied.  “I might take a shower myself.  I’ll make tea
afterwards.  Just come downstairs when you’re finished.”

Casey left the bedroom,
shutting the door behind her.

T
he black Chevy Camaro
appeared at the end of the dimly lit gravel driveway from the Remington farm. 
The engine revved as the car burned out in the dirt and the tires squealed on
the paved road.  The Camaro jetted down the road with a roar.  A truck’s
headlights suddenly came on.  The pickup truck drove along the road and turned
into the Remington farm driveway.  The headlights went out as the truck pulled
off to the side of the driveway just out of view of the house.  Wayne and Ryan
got out of the truck and looked at the house in the near distance beyond the
barn.  There were several inside and outside lights on.

“Was that all of them?”
Ryan asked.

“Except for Casey and
Dina,” Wayne announced.  “The others should be gone at least an hour.”

“Remember,” Ryan said
firmly.  “We’re just sending a message.  If anyone gets hurt, Uncle Lance will
have our heads.”

Wayne removed a cord of
rope from the back of the truck, glared at his brother, and shook his head. 
“You’re starting to sound like a little girl.  If I wanted to hear nagging, I
would have let Fred tag along.”

“Let’s just get this over
with,” Ryan snapped.  “I’m not thrilled hanging around out here.”

“Relax,” Wayne snorted. 
“We need to case the place first.  Make sure they’re both inside.”

Both men stood near the
front of the truck and watched the house in the distance.  Everything seemed
quiet.  There appeared to be no signs of life within the big farmhouse.

“Someone’s in the upstairs
bedroom,” Wayne announced.  “I didn’t see anyone else moving around.”  Both
hurried around the back of the truck.  “We have to do this quick.  Once I catch
Casey’s horse, you need to tranquilize it.”

“Yeah, I know what I’m
supposed to do,” he huffed.

“We’ll leave the horse’s
head on the porch,” Wayne said while grinning.  “That should send them running
out of Darwood Falls.”

Ryan removed an ax from the
back of the truck and took a deep breath.  “Let’s go.”

Both men hurried along the
darkened driveway while keeping in the shadows.  They approached the barn with
its vapor light brightening the entire paddock.  Both peered around the corner
of the barn to the horses grazing in the pasture.  Casey’s gray horse stood
near the fence separating him from the mares and attempted to get female
attention.  The mares weren’t interested tonight.  Storm’s head suddenly
lifted.  He looked toward the barn and snorted.  Nothing moved.  The horse
minded his own business and returned to snickering at the mares.  Wayne and
Ryan kept their backs to the barn and appeared to contemplate their next move.

“I swear, that horse knows
what we’re up to,” Ryan said softly to Wayne.

“It’s just a dumb animal,”
Wayne scoffed.

“I remember that dumb
animal kicking our ass once before,” Ryan reminded him.  “Maybe we should go
after one of the others.”

“No, it has to be Casey’s
horse,” Wayne insisted and looked back around the edge of the barn toward the
gray horse in the paddock.  “The message has to hit her where it counts.”

Wayne looked back alongside
him.  Ryan was gone.  The barn door gently swayed.  Wayne looked around and
appeared bewildered.

“Ryan?” he asked.  “Where’d
you go?  Now’s not the time to be taking a piss.”

There was no response. 
Wayne stared at the open barn door and the darkness beyond it.  He slowly approached
the barn door, set the rope down, and clutched the ax in his hand.

“Ryan, you’d better answer
me,” Wayne snorted softly.

Someone moved within the
darkened barn.  Wayne lifted the ax to his shoulder and slowly entered through
the open barn door.  He looked around the near darkness of the wide aisle. 
Stall doors on either side lined the dark barn.  Each stall door was open to
dark stalls.  Ryan wasn’t seen.

“Ryan?” Wayne whispered.

The sound of a tiny whinny
was heard from one of the nearby stalls.  Wayne clutched his ax and approached
the stall.  The sounds of a small animal thumping around within the stall was
heard along with what sounded like a foul snickering softly.  Wayne paused by
the closed stall door, peered inside, and grinned.

†

I
t was over an hour later. 
Casey entered the kitchen in a pair of comfortable shorts and a worn tank top. 
She looked out the kitchen window toward the well-lit barn and wondered where
all her guys were.  At the very least, Ruger and Diesel should have returned
with the rest of Dina’s belongings.  There was no telling when or if she’d ever
see Grey again.  He was probably in the next county with her car by now.  A
car’s headlights appeared in the driveway.  She couldn’t make out the car, but
it was driving too slowly to be Grey in her car.  She appeared relieved that
someone had finally returned.  Dina entered the kitchen wearing a thin t-shirt
and shorts that left little to the imagination.  One look at Dina, and Casey
knew Grey was going to be tripping over his tongue.

“Okay, now I’m hungry,”
Dina reported.  “Where’s the pizza delivery boy?”

“Daytona, probably,” Casey
retorted.  “One of the guys just pulled up though.”

“Oh, fuck!” Diesel was
heard yelling from outside.

Both women were suddenly
alerted by the sounds coming from the usually unflappable man.  They ran for
the front door.  Casey opened the door and stepped onto the porch.  She stared
off the porch and appeared horrified.  Dina stared past her and suddenly
gasped.  The baby horse had Diesel’s jacket sleeve in its tiny teeth while
tugging on his arm.  Diesel attempted to hold the box he held while fighting
off the frisky foul.

“It’s attacking me!” Diesel
shouted.  “Get it off me!”

Casey suddenly laughed then
ran off the porch for the little foal.  She gathered the baby horse around the
chest and hindquarters and gently pulled it away from the big man.  It finally
released his jacket sleeve and attempted to pull free from her.  She struggled
to contain the baby horse while Storm snorted playfully at his little boy from
his front row view at the gate.

“Isn’t that thing supposed
to be on a leash or something?” Diesel demanded while juggling the box in his
arms.

“He’s just a baby,” she
informed him and tried not to laugh.  She then appeared curious.  “I wonder how
he got out of his stall.”

Casey kept her arms around
the baby horse and scooted him toward the barn.  She disappeared inside the
darkened barn.  Diesel carried his box to the house and set it on the porch. 
He returned to the car for another box and glanced at the silent, dark barn. 
He removed another box from the car and again looked at the dark barn.  His
head tilted as he stared suspiciously.  A moment passed before Casey finally
came out of the barn.  Diesel returned to acting disinterested.  Casey
approached Dina on the porch.

“Is everything alright?”
Dina asked.

“I guess,” Casey replied
but wasn’t convinced.  “Mom was in the aisle eating hay.  I don’t know how they
got out of their stall, but the door was wide open.”

“Maybe you didn’t latch it
right,” Dina replied.

“I don’t make those
mistakes,” she replied dryly.  “That’s more Grey’s department.  He must have
gone in there for some reason and didn’t latch the door right.”  She shrugged. 
“No harm done, I suppose.”

“I hope there’s something
for dinner,” Diesel announced as he passed them with a box and no longer paid
attention to Casey’s dilemma.  “I’m starving.”

Casey eyed him and shook
her head.  “When aren’t you starving?”

†

R
uger carried a large box
down the outside steps from Dina’s second floor apartment and onto the
sidewalk.  He approached Grey’s jeep parked out front and placed the box in the
back with the rest.  Several people ran down the sidewalk toward Town Square
while chattering excitedly.  Ruger watched the people rushing past him.  On the
other side of the street, more people ran in the same direction.  The commotion
was louder now.  Ruger appeared curious and followed the crowd.  There were
dozens of people collected around Town Square. 

Ruger saw Wiley and
approached him.  “What’s happening?” he asked, faking a serious tone.  “Did
someone’s cow go into labor?”

Wiley glanced at Ruger and
gave him an odd look.  Ruger grinned in response.  Wiley shook his head and
pointed in front of Town Hall.

“No, I’d say it’s a little
more entertaining than that,” Wiley reported.

Ruger moved through the
crowd to see what had everyone’s attention.  He found a part in the crowd and
suddenly stopped to stare at the sight.  Ryan and Wayne were bound and naked
facing each other on either side of the old cannon in front of Town Hall.  They
attempted to scream through their socks stuffed in their mouths.  Deputy
Mitchell attempted to untie them while Ernest screamed at him and the crowd,
who took pictures with their cell phones.  Ruger stared at the sight with a
look of mild shock.  He suddenly grinned and laughed while shaking his head. 
He removed his cell phone and snapped his own picture.

†

I
t was Thursday morning. 
There was a lot of activity around town with the fair coming up on Saturday. 
Vendors filled the streets on their way to and from the fairgrounds in
preparation for the upcoming events.  Traffic jams and loud horns blowing awoke
the town early.  Larger vehicles were having difficulty navigating the streets
to get safely to the fairgrounds.  Two temporary police officers attempted to
direct traffic alongside Mitchell, who appeared frantic.  The sheriff’s police
blazer pulled alongside the road several yards away.  Sheriff Holt joined
Mitchell and helped the temporary officers direct traffic so the larger trailer
could pass through the intersection.  Several locals stood on their porches and
enjoyed the free show.  Most of the people in town were easily amused, and the
annual fair brought plenty of entertainment, particularly the week before and
the days after the fair.  Once the large trailer was able to pass through and
traffic began moving again, the onlookers from their porches teasingly
applauded Sheriff Holt and Deputy Mitchell.  Vaughn smirked and waved back at
them. 

Vaughn left his blazer
parked in front of the pharmacy and walked the two blocks back to the police
station.  It would take longer to navigate traffic and wasn’t worth the
effort.  He crossed the traffic and headed into the police station.  Vaughn
entered the mostly quiet office and approached Jeannie’s desk before his office
with a pleasant smile.

“Good morning, Jeannie. 
Did I miss anything yesterday?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” she
replied and held back her giggle.  “Did you hear about the Harford boys’ naked
romp in Town Square last night?”

Vaughn groaned softly and
tried not to laugh.  He attempted a more serious look and raised his brows. 
“Yes, and I intend to look into that.”

“Should I forward the
photos of the
incident
for your investigation?” she teased.

“No, that’s okay,” he
replied.  “Everyone in town sent me a copy last night.”

Jeannie noted his good mood
despite the commotion outside.  “I assume you enjoyed your day off.”

“Actually, I was hung over
the entire day,” he replied, “but I had a good time drinking with the boys
Tuesday night.”

Jeannie suddenly appeared
concerned and her eyes widened.  “Oh, God, you didn’t hook-up with Melanie, did
you?”

Vaughn held back his laugh
and firmly shook his head.  “Not in this lifetime,” he replied.  “Apart from
the disaster outside, is everything else set up for the fair?  Extra officers,
security, permits in place?”

“Yes, Sheriff,” she
replied.  “The remainder of your police force will arrive later this afternoon,
and we have plenty of security guards arriving Friday night.”  There was an odd
silence between them.  Jeannie grinned.  “And, yes, you’re covered for the
bachelor auction, so stop worrying about it.”

He appeared surprised by
her candor and looked innocent.  “Did I say I was worried?  I’m not worried,”
he announced.  “I’ll be in my office--not being worried.”

Vaughn headed into his
office, poured a cup of coffee from the coffeepot on the nearby table, and
collapsed behind his desk.  He looked over some papers then glanced at the
revised flier for the fair that had somehow made it to his desk.  He glanced at
Casey’s name listed under the kissing booth and hid his grin.  There was a
knock on the door.  Tucker opened the door without awaiting a response and
stood in the doorway.  He wore a cheap grin on his handsome face. 

“You aren’t going to
believe the rumors I’d heard around town,” he announced while barely being able
to contain himself.

Vaughn groaned softly. 
“I’m sure I won’t,” he announced then smirked.  “Let me have it.”

Tucker flopped into the
chair before the desk and raised his brows suggestively.  “You and Casey
Remington--”

The sheriff shook his head
while appearing humored.  “There is no me and Casey.”