Cowboy Secrets. Alice Sharpe

as things began to slide south. The ambience of a moment ago had begun to sour. “What happened here in the last year is part of this family’s story, but it’s not part of the bank robbery. Our experiences have to be acknowledged but they don’t have to be the focus. No one wants that.”

      Harry Hastings clapped Frankie on the shoulder as he looked at each person in turn. “The production people will be here in a couple of days. They want to scope things out. How about we go that far and if issues arise, we reassess things. I personally think Frankie is right. This show will not be about our recent tragedies.”

      They all agreed that sounded reasonable. Everyone obviously liked the idea of an escape hatch, a back door, so to speak.

      “Gary Dodge, he’s the documentary guy I told you about, is interested in Kinsey doing some artist renditions of how the town looked and how an angry posse might have appeared.”

      “I’ve done a little commercial work,” Kinsey said. “This sounds exciting to me.”

      “And Dad has agreed the crew can stay in this house with him and Grace.”

      “We have room at our house, too,” Kinsey said as Gerard put an arm around her. They looked at each other and exchanged silly grins, then Kinsey spoke again. “Since everyone is here, it might be a good time to tell you that we’re getting married a lot sooner than we originally planned.”

      “But I thought you wanted a late spring wedding,” Frankie said.

      “We did. But since our baby is due in June—”

      She didn’t get any further than that. It seemed to Pike that everyone in the room started speaking at once. Half of them were on their feet, slapping Gerard on the back or hugging Kinsey.

      Pike took a vacant chair. The house vibrated with the winds of change, from the two women upstairs to all the news and excitement downstairs. He didn’t usually dislike change, but he had to admit that today there was a chill inside him that he couldn’t explain. He thought of the way Sierra had turned at the airport to look behind them as they drove away and the chill deepened. As if paralleling her unease, he turned now to face the door and found Sierra standing in the opening. She gestured at him and he immediately went to join her.

      “Finished emailing?” he asked.

      “Finished before I started. My phone doesn’t work, just as you predicted, and I don’t know the password for your Wi-Fi.”

      “The password is ridgeranch, all lower case, one word,” he said. “I know, it’s not terribly original. How long have you been standing there?”

      “Most of the time,” she said. “I didn’t want to bother you.”

      “So, you heard Frankie’s plan?”

      “I did. It sounds pretty exciting.”

      He narrowed his eyes as he gazed down at her face. She was only half a head shorter than he; a tall, shapely woman who he suddenly realized had not come down here out of curiosity or boredom. “What’s wrong?” he said quickly.

      “Tess’s breathing is really loud. I’m worried about her.”

      “Head colds aren’t any fun,” he said.

      “I tried to wake her and she was limp and didn’t even open her eyes. Kinsey said she hadn’t given her any medications, right?”

      “Beyond acetaminophen, no.”

      “She spent the night at their house,” Sierra said, a new element of fear in her voice.

      “Yes, but—”

      Kinsey walked into the foyer followed, closely by Grace. Though a generation apart, both women were small of stature, dainty and pretty in their own way, which made sense because they were related. In a twist of fate, mother and daughter had been reunited. Sierra towered over them. “Is Tess all right?” Kinsey asked.

      “I don’t know,” Sierra said. “She seems so out of it. Did you talk to her this morning?”

      “Of course. Like I said, she had a restless night. I drove her over here late this morning because Pike had left early to get to the airport. She didn’t have a lot to say, but she was awake and coherent.”

      “What are you thinking?” Grace asked.

      “I don’t know for sure,” Sierra said. “She was alone while you were on the phone, right?”

      “Yes. By the time I found the humidifier and got upstairs, it had been about thirty minutes,” Kinsey said. “She was sound asleep and then you guys arrived.”

      “If she took something it must have been within that thirty-minute window. But where would she find something to take?”

      “I’m pretty sure she didn’t bring anything with her from LA,” Pike volunteered. “She was traveling light and didn’t have any money. She didn’t even have the car Doug gave her. God knows how she got here. She wasn’t saying.”

      “Who would know if she found something at this house?”

      “I would,” Grace said.

      “We’d appreciate it if you could look,” Pike said.

      “Of course I’ll look. We’ll all look. Come on.”

      They hurried up the stairs. “We’ll start with the bathrooms,” Grace said. As the three women started their search of drawers and cabinets, Pike went into his old bedroom and opened the drapes. He sat down beside Tess and picked up her limp hand.

      He’d had a college roommate years before who partied himself into a stupor every single weekend, and that was the last time Pike had seen someone so oblivious. He shook Tess’s fragile shoulders and called her name. Her eyes opened briefly, she sort of smiled and faded back away. He searched the garbage can and the night table for some indication of what she might have taken.

      And then he picked up the phone and called the doctor. By the time Sierra, Kinsey and Grace arrived with ashen faces and a brown prescription bottle, he had already lifted Tess into his arms and was exiting the room.

      “An ambulance is on its way,” he told them. “I’m going to meet it on the road to cut down travel time. What did you find?”

      “Some of your father’s sedatives are missing,” Grace said with a concerned face. “I don’t think very many, but I don’t know for sure.”

      “We’re not taking any chances,” Pike said. “She’s going to get her stomach pumped.”

      “I’m coming with you,” Tess said. He nodded once and they all descended the stairs in a hurry, Tess stopping to accept the blanket and pillow Kinsey pushed into her arms. A moment later, in Kinsey’s car now since Pike’s still had a saddle in the back, they tore up the hill and down the long, long roadway, Tess prone in the backseat, her head on Sierra’s lap, the blanket tucked around her still body.

      * * *

      THEY MET THE ambulance in a pull-off. The EMTs were at the door with a gurney within seconds, hooking up Tess to bags and drips, calling her name. Sierra stood off to the side with Pike, both of them trying to stay out of the way. Pike handed over the prescription bottle and soon after the ambulance took off with sirens wailing while Pike and Sierra climbed back in Kinsey’s car and followed behind.

      “Where are they taking her?” Sierra asked.

      “The urgent care center in Falls Bluff. The doctor will meet us there.”

      “Why would she do this?” Sierra asked as tears burned her eyes. She didn’t know if they were tears of anger or hurt. “She asked me to come, so why would she choose now to drug herself? Is it to punish me?”

      “Don’t borrow trouble,” Pike said, sparing a hand to cover her arm. In the rush to leave the house, she’d forgotten to put her jacket back on and now, with the warmth of his touch,