Castle Rock (12 page)

Serena had trouble thanking the girl because it was suddenly hard to breathe. After she hung up, Serena stared miserably at the legal pad and the row of plump-bellied planes she had drawn while waiting.

Jed was not what he seemed.

That simple sentence said it all. Broke her heart and said it all. Because, no matter how she felt about Jed, wanted to feel about him, she owed her loyalty to Danny and to Castle Rock.

Grimly, Serena ripped off the top page of the legal pad and began to write. In a few minutes, she studied her plan of attack. Then she got up and set out to tackle the first job.

She found Joe Walkingstick at the training corral, working in soft sand with a new horse.

Serena climbed up and sat on the top rail. Joe worked gently with the trembling horse, getting him used to the bridle. In a few minutes, he nodded in satisfaction then turned and walked over to Serena.

“Are we still going to have the Fourth of July rodeo, Serena?”

She looked startled. “Golly, Joe, I hadn't thought about it.”

“We've done it for a lot of years.”

Serena knew that was true. She couldn't, in fact, remember a Fourth when there hadn't been a Castle Rock Rodeo. It wasn't, of course, a big public rodeo. It was for family and friends with men from nearby ranches competing in bronco riding and bulldogging, the prizes mostly tack donated by Uncle Dan. It brought lots of guests with campers and tents. On the night of the Fourth, Castle Rock put on a huge barbecue and fireworks show.

“Can we get everything ready by then?”

“We have two weeks. I think we can do it. I went ahead and ordered the lumber to build the temporary grandstand by the main corral.”

Serena remembered the clean sweet smell of new lumber. She and Will and Julie had loved the grandstand when they were little, so pleased at a giant toy.

“I'll need to order enough food. Will you see to slaughtering the cows?”

“Yes, of course. Millie's been planning for about 150. Don't you think that's about right, Serena?”

“I think so. Maybe we ought to have enough for 200. Don't you remember? Last year, so many of the ranchers brought guests.”

They talked for a few minutes more, discussing the work that needed to be done in preparation, then, as Joe was turning to leave, Serena said, “Joe, there's something important I need to talk to you about.”

He listened quietly as she told him about the Burnt Hill cowboy's report of a plane taking off from Castle Rock.

“A big plane?”

“Yes. You know what that means.”

Joe nodded. “It's happened on other ranches.” He frowned. “Sometimes, it's the foreman who's involved. You aren't thinking—”

Serena reached out, touched his thin strong arm. “Lord no. I know it's not you. I know that.” And she did. Some things you know beyond any possibility of doubt.

“It has to be somebody here on the ranch.”

“I know.”

“I'd swear by our men, Serena. I can't believe any of them could be involved in something like that.”

“I know,” she said again.

“Then that would mean . . .” Joe's voice trailed off. He didn't go on to say the obvious. If it had been someone on the ranch a month ago and you excluded the cowhands, that left only Uncle Dan, Will, and Jed.

Uncle Dan was dead. That left Will—or Jed.

It could be Will. Serena hated the way her heart lifted. But it could be Will. He had not been himself all summer long. And it must have been before the plane came that he had all those long-distance calls to New York that made him so uncomfortable. If it were Will, he would have to have partners who would take the drugs and market them.

But Will hadn't lied about where he went to school. Will hadn't come to the ranch with a patently phony story.

“Serena.” Joe spoke her name softly.

“Yes?”

“Maybe . . . maybe it would be better to let sleeping dogs lie?”

So Joe, too, feared where the trail would lead.

“I don't think it's over, Joe.”

“What can we do then?”

“We can be alert for anything odd, anything out of the ordinary. You can watch Castle Rock. There have to be some preparations before a plane could land. Maybe a land rover hidden among the rocks to carry out the crates. I want you to go by Castle Rock at least once a day, but don't tell anyone what you are doing. Will you promise me that?”

“Sure.”

She reached out, clasped his hand for a moment, then jumped to the ground, stood by him, forced herself to say evenly, “That includes Jed.”

He looked at her in surprise.

“It's between you and me, Joe.”

He nodded.

Serena left him looking after her as she walked quickly toward the stables. As she saddled Hurricane, she wondered if she should have told Joe more. But she didn't know anything for a certainty. It was all conjecture, and every surmise hung from the tiniest of threads. Still, she had been right to warn him against Jed.

It wasn't until she and Hurricane were out of sight of the hacienda that she realized she had turned him toward Castle Rock.

Castle Rock glittered blood-red in the hard noon sunshine. Serena slowly circled the huge mass, not looking at the wind-and-rain carved cliff face, but at the cave mouths and tumbled boulders.

An army could hide here.

Even now someone could lie in the dark mouth of a cave and watch her circle and she would never know it.

Is that what happened to Uncle Dan? Someone in a jeep or on horseback could have arrived before him and waited in the shelter of the rock.

A shiver tingled her back.

It was a fancy, of course. She was all alone here in the noonday sun, she and Hurricane.

Then, patiently, she began to walk Hurricane, this time looking at the rock-strewn ground. She had gone only a hundred yards when she found it.

The huge rock-built X lay there unchanged from the day when she and Uncle Dan had ridden out with Jed to see it. That seemed a hundred years ago, that day when she had so lightheartedly and, admit it, daringly, ridden Hurricane down the mountain trail to try and impress Jed.

It was Jed who spotted the Xs from the Aerocommander and brought Uncle Dan and her to see them.

If Jed were a smuggler, waiting for a cargo plane to land at Castle Rock, would he show the ranch owner the two big Xs marking either end of an improvised runway? For surely that had to be the meaning of those carefully arranged rocks, to point the way to a pilot unfamiliar with his destination. Of course he wouldn't. For an instant, Serena felt a thrill of hope, then she sighed. It could be a kind of double bluff, the earnest new young cowhand showing ahead of time his lack of complicity should a landing be observed in the future.

“Hell.” Serena said it aloud. She didn't know. No matter what she learned, she kept coming back to Jed's presence on the ranch when the Burnt Hill hand saw the plane taking off.

Serena looked up at Castle Rock, at the honeycomb of caves and crevices.

Jed had been on the ranch. Jed and Will.

That's who it came down to.

Serena sighed. That made sense, lots of it, but it didn't explain her uneasy feelings about the Minters or the two professors. She could see the Minters as drug smugglers. They would think of it as a good business deal, never even considering the kind of evil it created.

But Howard Minter hadn't been at Castle Rock a month ago.

Serena flicked the reins and Hurricane began to move.

Still, he could be part of a smuggling plan, coming perhaps to oversee the arrival of a very big shipment. That could be. That could very well be, she thought with a surge of excitement. Minter might want to oversee the unloading in person, not trusting his conspirator on the ranch. Minter might want to make sure that absolutely all the drugs were being sent to him and not a tidy extra amount stashed away in the caves for the sole benefit of his partner. The same reasoning applied to the professors, the professors who were tanned and ruddy and who spent so little apparent time working on that famous physics text. They were charming men, kindly men, but the prospect of huge amounts of cash had been known to corrupt a great many charming people.

When she reached the jumbled mound of rocks where Uncle Dan's body had been wedged, Serena reined in Hurricane and stared down at the silent stones. She shivered. Uncle Dan had been in his own country, the world he knew and trusted. He'd started to dismount and, somehow, Serena was coldly certain of it, Senator had been startled, made to bolt.

It took a special viciousness, a terribly overweening callousness, to destroy another human being. Somewhere on the ranch, behind a smile she knew, a hand she had touched, this malignant being existed—and only she knew it.

It wasn't going to be easy to search the Minters' cabin because Lou Minter spent most of the day lying on her bed, pillows fluffed behind her, watching TV and eating chocolates.

The next day Serena waited impatiently until midmorning, then she walked down to the garage. She went into a supply shed, picked up a couple of fuses, a flashlight, and a screwdriver. She took time to walk up beyond the stables and look out toward the driving range. Satisfied that Howard Minter and Peter were there, she turned and walked briskly to the Minters' cabin.

At her knock, a sulky voice called, “Come on in.”

Serena stepped into dimness, the only light the flickering sheen of the TV screen.

“Mrs. Minter, I'm sorry to bother you, but we're having some electrical problems and I need to check the fuse box in your closet.”

Lou Minter looked disappointed. “I thought maybe you'd come to talk. I'm so sick of watching this stupid TV I could scream.”

For a minute, Serena almost felt sorry for her. If ever someone had been thrown out of their own milieu into a strange and alien environment, it was Lou Minter. Serena felt at a loss because what could she offer? She was busy throughout the day, working in the office or out riding. Julie was . . . What was Julie doing with her days? Probably riding out with Peter or talking to Will. That left Will and the two professors. Ostensibly, the professors were busy. So, with a little pang of guilt, Serena offered up Will.

“Have you been to visit Will's studio?”

Lou flicked off the TV and sat up straighter against her pillows. Her sheer lacy nightgown gaped. “Will. That's the big redheaded guy?”

“Yes. He's a painter.”

Lou tossed her head and her thick wavy blonde hair cascaded like molten gold. “Come on and sit down.”

Serena hesitated then accepted the invitation.

“What's he paint?”

“Still-lifes mostly and country scenes, mountains and desert.”

Lou grimaced. “Mountains and desert, you've got too much of both of them. God, I hate this place.” Then she said quickly, obviously not wanting to lose her audience, “Hey, I don't mean to insult you. It's just . . . I'm not used to all this space,” and she waved her hand.

Serena thought Lou wasn't being overwhelmed by space so long as she clung to this cluttered, closed room with its heavy scent of cigarette smoke and chocolates. She managed a smile, “I think I know how you feel. A city crowds me, closes me in, so I suppose it's all in what you are used to.”

“That's it exactly,” Lou agreed.

“So you haven't spent much time in the country?” Serena probed gently.

“First time. Last time if I have anything to say about it.”

“What prompted you to come to Castle Rock, feeling that way?”

Abruptly, a cautious, careful look came over Lou's face. “Oh, we thought it would be fun, something different,” she said carefully.

“Has it met your expectations?” Serena asked lightly.

At Lou's blank look, Serena said gently, “I mean, has it turned out to be what you expected?”

Lou shrugged. “I guess I didn't know what it would be like. I didn't know it would be so . . . so big.”

Serena leaned back in her chair and smiled. “Where do you live in Los Angeles?”

“Brentwood.” Uncharacteristically, Lou didn't add another word.

“What does Mr. Minter do?”

“Do?”

Serena decided to continue as gracelessly as she had begun. “What is his work?”

“His work? Oh, he owns things, runs businesses and things like that.”

“That must be very interesting.”

“Oh, sure.”

“Do you help him?”

“Me?” Lou laughed, and it was the first time Serena had detected genuine amusement. “Oh no, honey, I don't work. I just . . . help him play.”

And that, Serena thought, is as far as I want to go into that. Briskly, she got up. “Well, I'd better check those fuses.”

“The fuses. Oh, sure.” Lou looked blankly around the room.

“I believe they are back here in one of the closets,” Serena explained blandly as she walked across the room, trying to see as much as possible in the few seconds she had.