Tiger cate, p.23
Tiger Cate, page 23
Chapter 47
August 16, Cabeza Valley
Not until Cochise called out a hungry whicker at daybreak did Cate realize she’d slept through the night for the first time all week. She put the coffee on to drip and set a platter of food on the porch for the kittens before heading over to the haystack.
As Cate stood watching the gelding tear into his hay, someone stepped up next to her at the rail. Thinking it was Rae, she turned with a smile and then flinched. Not Rae. After having been missing for a week, young D.J. Ruiz now stood beside her and scowled at the new horse.
“Don’t let Estelle see him — she’ll mess him up good,” he said.
She glanced at his profile, then back at the house, tempted to put distance between them. But this was her chance to get some answers to what happened to the horse … and maybe the missing women.
“Like Bella.” Not a question or a challenge, but a statement.
“Look, I didn’t shoot your horse,” his voice cracked and suddenly he looked deflated. “Estelle came by and told me to get rid of it, just like — ” He broke off and stared out at the pasture. Cate tried to slow her heart rate.
“ … Just like Margaret?” It came out in a whisper.
As if to deflect the question, he shrugged a shoulder at the pink house.
“That little girl found something she shouldn’t have. Best you watch over her, too. Estelle’s going to try and get rid of any … evidence before the cops close in.”
“If you mean Margaret’s phone, it’s too late. Sheriff’s office has it.”
He looked hard at Cate, then turned on his heel and started off across the pasture.
“D.J., wait! Where are Rosa and Diego?”
She hadn’t seen the older Ruizes on the property since she’d returned from the cabin. He kept walking and spat out a laugh over his shoulder. A sharp, savage sound.
“En México. I drove them down there myself last week, after I saw the cops at Desi’s. I’m going back, too, before they put out an APB on me. Hell with this place.”
Cate’s chest was thumping, and she could feel moisture under her arms. Was he getting away with aiding a murderer? She ran after him and caught up as he was climbing the pasture fence.
“Wait, don’t go. Don’t you … owe me the truth?” He jumped back down and whipped around to face her, just as she stepped back out of his reach. “Look, I believe you if you say you didn’t do it. But if it was Estelle then she needs to be arrested … and punished. Please help us. If you know anything about my sister’s death — ”
“Your sister.” A dark look crossed his face. “I know she wasn’t who you thought she was.” Suddenly, he looked spent again, a strange sadness edging his voice. “I … I moved her body, but maybe they know that by now. Estelle said to do it or my folks would suffer. So I moved Margaret’s body from there,” he pointed to the grove of trees in the pasture, “to there,” he finished, pointing to the Ruiz house. He looked back at Cate and said, “That night? I heard them fighting over Margaret’s truck keys — Estelle wanted them, and I think that’s why she … did what she did.”
They’d fought over a horse transport? Maybe it was the hundred-thousand-dollar resale value, or maybe Estelle wanted to make it disappear to fit the story she planned to tell about Margaret’s whereabouts. Or maybe both.
He reached into his pocket and tossed her some keys. “Here’s my set. I cleaned up the mess in the trailer, by the way. Gotta go.”
He wasn’t quite fitting the scenario of an accessory to murder. What was Estelle holding over him — over the whole family, apparently?
In the distance, Cate saw Diego’s truck parked by the bridge.
“D.J., your parents — how can I reach them?”
The nasty look was back on his face. “You know they’re not legal, right? After all this time. It was a well-kept secret until Estelle went snooping and started using it against them. She’s the devil — La Diabla.”
He gestured up at the main house again.
“Doc and Fiona could have helped them with immigration way back when but didn’t. Then Margaret had years to help them but didn’t. Cheaper to keep it the way it was. Anyway, they were already planning to go back to Chihuahua. So, when the little girl talked and the cops showed up, I packed them up and we scooted. Adiós, Finleys.”
He turned to head back down the road. Cate had one more question pressing on her.
“D.J., what about Bronnie?” He shot back a look of annoyance, but she pressed on. “Do you know anything about her — or her car at least — going off the road?”
He spread his arms in mock innocence. “Hey, I was in Mexico, but plenty of tweakers in Copperton would’ve done that for a few hundred. Anything else?”
“Well … I’m guessing it was you who put that bogus powder in my backpack instead of the real thing. Thanks. It, uh, shortened my jail stay.”
He bowed sardonically. “I leave you another parting gift—my sister Leelee. She’s under the spell of La Diabla, because of that stupid mustang horse, so there’s no talking her into leaving. Good luck with her.” Then he spat and strode off.
Cate leaned over and took a few deep breaths to calm down. She pictured Leelee, who had seemed so friendly when Cate first arrived. The girl wouldn’t even look at her yesterday when Cate had snuck over to the stable to borrow some grooming equipment and a water bucket for Cochise.
The voice in her head was nagging her to call Gomez. The sheriff’s office would contact the border agents and nab D.J. at a crossing. But the kid’s motivation had been to protect his family. That was honorable, right? Helping and protecting your parents?
She found herself thinking more about Bronnie’s disappearance than her own sister’s. Margaret, whose aloofness and tyranny had made it so hard to talk with her, let alone love her. Finding the adoption papers had explained plenty, but Margaret’s deception over the will had widened the gap between them. Yet, her sister’s note had told Cate to read all the papers in the file. Had she finally felt remorse after all these years? Then there was D.J.’s curious statement, “I know she wasn’t who you thought she was.” Why hadn’t she asked him what he meant?
The week had been a game changer, starting with her discovery of the red file box at the cabin and including the emails on Bronnie’s laptop documenting Cate’s time in the hospital. This virtual stranger had gone to great lengths to help Cate. Who was Bronnie really? And a more crucial question, now becoming an hourly mantra: Where was she?
Chapter 48
August 19, Cabeza Valley
“Good morning,” Jimmy’s voice boomed out of her phone’s speaker. “Hope you got some rest over the weekend.”
Out on the back patio, Cate yawned, set down her sketchpad, and took a sip from her coffee mug.
“I don’t think I’ll rest until Bronnie shows up. But I am trying to knock out some paintings for that gallery in SoCal I told you about.”
“Well, the judge has moved up your court date. He wants to see us this afternoon at one,” Jimmy said over the phone speaker.
“That was fast. Are we ready?”
There was a pause.
“Cate, this is for the assault charge, not the petition to challenge the will.”
“Oh, the sham assault charge.” She had almost forgotten that headache.
“Yep. Turns out the techs couldn’t lift any usable prints off that fireplace poker, nor did the wounds on Estelle’s face match the supposed weapon. And since Copperton’s finest crime scene investigators couldn’t find your fingerprints on anything else, beyond your backpack and the dining room table, the other side will need to explain just what you used and how a one-hundred-and-fifteen-pound woman was able to do that damage to a five - foot - eleven, two - hundred - pound woman.”
Cate snorted. “Unless I have superpowers.”
“Speaking of which, what kind of whammy did you put on our friend Gabe? He thinks you’re a goddess.”
“Hm,” Cate yawned, trying to sound bored with the conversation. “So, I’ll be at your office at noon and we can drive to the courthouse in your air-conditioned Beemer.”
Cate clicked off her phone and picked up a partially finished study she’d been sketching — the mustang stallion Destino in profile. The charcoal drawing had captured his mystical pale eyes, her use of shading rendering them stark and ghostly. Cate remembered how he had danced and preened, arching his neck obligingly as she took shot after shot from the pasture fence. Then, like a celebrity rock star saying, “No more photos!” he had abruptly whirled and raced off across the pasture to join his herd.
Her painting of him would be a peace offering to Leelee, an attempt to bridge the gap between them these days. The final version would be on her signature acrylic gloss backdrop of subtly blended neon colors, over which she would paint the horse in photorealistic matte. A familiar sensation was coming over her body — the sweet ache of creation.
Finally, the clock told her it was time to head for Copperton. Outside the kitchen window, Rae hung on the fence talking to Cochise, as she spent much of the time doing these days. Caring for this horse was doing her good, just as Cate had hoped it would. She made a mental note to go by the used horse tack store in Copperton and get a smaller saddle. She’d promised the girl a riding lesson this week.
Cate opened the window and called out, “Hey, headed into Copperton. You can hang here with Cochise — just let Desi know where you are, okay?”
The girl flashed a broad grin and shot two thumbs up in agreement.
On the way to town, Cate stopped by Bronnie’s rural route mailbox. Tucked among the letters and junk mail was what she had been looking for — an envelope with a check for the dozen paintings. It was also her first piece of mail at a physical address. She would swing by the ADOT office and apply for a driver’s license before the court appearance. Slowly but surely, Cate was conquering this “adulting” thing. Levi would be so proud of her.
Chapter 49
Rae
She walked the horse down the lane, stopping to let him crop some of the brilliant green. It was cool how just watching a horse eat grass could make parts of you feel better, like you were the one having the meal.
When Cate came back from town with the saddle, she would have to help Rae with this fear she had. Learning to ride was something she wanted but also something she was crazy afraid of. It reminded her of climbing onto the freeway railing, with a voice in your head yelling, “Save yourself, get off now! Don’t die!” It was shameful to think such thoughts. Cochise was her friend. He was kind and gentle. He wouldn’t buck her off … would he?
Way down the lane she saw a dark SUV turn off the main highway and start driving toward them. Rae knew what to do and led the horse over to the side of the road, turning to face the approaching vehicle, like Cate had shown her. She stood petting Cochise and murmuring quietly so he wouldn’t be afraid as it got closer. But just as the car was passing it stopped. The engine turned off and a door opened on the shotgun side. Rae could see Leelee Ruiz behind the wheel, through the partially rolled up window. She waved, but Leelee just looked at her phone, ignoring her.
“Why, hello.” The shotgun rider had come to stand right in front of Rae. It was the woman she’d seen in the pasture a while back, arguing with Leelee’s brother. Estelle was the woman’s name.
Estelle was taller than Margaret had been, with black hair and broad shoulders like a man. She had big breasts — ”knockers,” her brother Davy used to call them. In her black jeans and boots and wearing a red-checked shirt, she looked a little like Wonder Woman, if Wonder Woman had been in a fist fight. Rae could see dark bruises under her eyes, covered by makeup and she had a Band-Aid taped over her nose.
“Is that your new horse?”
Rae didn’t answer. She was afraid to say whose horse it was. She knew Cate and this woman were not friends.
“He’s a pretty boy.” Estelle gave the horse some fast slaps on his neck that made Cochise lift his head in a scared way. “What’s his name?”
“Um, Cochise. Like the engine.”
“Well, well. Cochise like the … engine? Or In - di - an?” The woman laughed, but it wasn’t the kind of laugh you shared. “Well, shall I give you a leg up onto Co - chise, Rae?”
Had she told this woman her name? And now the woman had come over to where Rae stood, getting ready to put her up on Cochise — without a saddle!
“Come on, just bend your knee — go on, bend it — yes, that one, and I’ll lift you up, up, uh - up and over!”
And then she was sitting on Cochise’s back. He lifted his head from grazing, like he was waiting for her to tell him something.
“You’ve ridden him before, right?” As if she was telling Rae, not asking her.
Rae was clenching the long mane in her hands and looking down at it, willing herself to be brave, to stay on, not to start crying. The woman walked Cochise down the lane as the black SUV started and followed them.
In a little while, they passed Desi’s pink house. Desi and the kids were at dentist appointments in Copper Valley. The woman, Estelle, kept leading her up the road toward Finley Ranch.
Once, Cochise stumbled and it felt like he was going to fall down. She gasped audibly and clutched at his mane. Estelle looked back at her with her eyebrows raised, as if daring her to say something. Rae just straightened again and looked at the road ahead, the tears hiding in her eyes.
Cate would wonder where Cochise was. Desi wouldn’t know where she’d gone. But she didn’t know how to tell this woman to stop leading her up the road. It was like they spoke different languages.
Chapter 50
August 19, Silver Springs Courthouse
Cate
“Miss Finley … Miss Finley!” Cate looked up, startled. Inhaling deeply and unclenching her fists, she willed herself to look at the judge. Today, the courtroom was all but empty and not nearly as intimidating.
“Miss Finley, I just told you that all the charges against you have been dropped. Do you — is there something you would like to say?”
She felt irritated. Sure, there was plenty she wanted to say, but there might be consequences for saying it in court. Then Tiger Cate spoke.
“Do I get an apology?”
The judge took off his reading glasses to look at her. “Excuse me?”
Jimmy scrambled to save his client.
“What Miss Finley, uh — what we would like to know is when the restraining order related to these charges will be lifted so that she can regain access to her family’s residence. I’ve filed a petition based on a verified and legitimate will that lists Miss Finley as coheir, along with her deceased sister, to the Finley estate — ”
“That sounds like a civil matter, Mr. Baker, and nothing I can do anything about in this session — ”
“Okay, forget the apology,” Cate broke in, “you know, for the wrongful arrest.”
“Cate, don’t — ” Jimmy muttered.
“You’ve just said I didn’t do any of the things I’ve been charged with. Why am I still barred from my family’s home?”
Exasperated, the judge looked at her a moment and then back down at his papers.
“Mrs. Parker has produced an employment contract that gives her full access to the Finley Ranch premises.”
“A contract with a now-deceased woman,” Jimmy interjected.
“That is still being determined, pending verification of forensic evidence—and also not a part of this session.”
Now the judge looked downright cranky.
“Caitlyn Finley, you’ve come here today to learn the status of assault charges against you stemming from an August sixth encounter at the Finley Ranch. They have been dropped due to insufficient evidence. You leave here today with a document saying as much. I advise you to use that document to address any issues you have regarding restricted access to family property, in the established procedure afforded you in such cases. I also advise you to hire,” he peered meaningfully at Jimmy, “more qualified representation in the future. Case closed.”
Outside, the two stood in silence for a moment before Jimmy spoke.
“He’s right. This is out of my league. A case of the proverbial ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.’” He thought for a moment and gave his temple a hard tap.
“On the other hand … I think I know what he was — Cate, I’m going back in to do something, and it might go quickly or might take a while. Can you wait for me in the car?”
Cate had spotted a familiar man leaving the county court building and walking out to the parking lot.
“Sure, okay.”
She turned and headed out to the parking lot, hooking her finger through Jimmy’s offered car keys on the way. The man she’d spotted was just opening the door to a late-model Lexus coupe when she caught up with him.
“Hi, Hugo. Remember me from Estelle’s dinner party?”
Lost in his own thoughts, Hugo jumped at the sight of her standing two feet away. Almost screamed like a little girl, didn’t you? the tiger snickered.
He recovered nicely and smiled at her with cool British reserve.
“Oh, hello. It’s … Cate, correct?” Charming and noncommittal. Good choice.
“Say, Hugo, will you be seeing Estelle anytime soon? A clandestine meeting of the four of you — at my ranch again, perhaps? I want you to give her a message.”
In response, he checked his watch, jingled his keys, and tapped a toe to some unheard music.
