Cry in the Night (37 page)

“Ew, a mouse,” Kylie said. “We’re not staying here, are we, Mommy?”

Shannon grabbed a broom from the corner and shook the cobwebs from it, but the rodent didn’t reappear. “You’ll love it after I get it fixed up. I’ve got some mousetraps in the car.” She stepped to the utility room on the other side of the kitchen and lit the propane gas water heater. It began to rumble and chatter. “We’ll leave our stuff in the car The flowered wallpaper was peeling and faded. A layer of grime until we get it clean.”

The last thing she wanted to do was clean, but she had to have this place in better shape before she’d allow Kylie to sleep here. Nightfall wouldn’t make its appearance for another twelve hours. Plenty of time to at least get the main rooms clean and the beds ready. Everything would have to be washed, every stitch of bedding, every towel, every kitchen utensil.

A monumental task when she was tired to the bone. But it was nothing new. Many nights she’d had to rush to the vet hospital and would have to work all day on little or no sleep.

She looked under the sink and lound cleaning supplies. She wiped oil Oie title and the counter, Uien dived back under me '.ink lor cleansing powder. While die was on her rand: and knee*, die Uiouglit the heard tires crunching on gravel outside. She sprang to her leet to peer out the window. Nothing there. She sure was skittish.

“Are there any horses in the barn?” Kylie asked. “I can go pet them with my sister.”

Kylie’s invisible playmate. Shannon never had the heart to tell Kylie of of the real sister who died at birth, but somehow the little girl had never let go of her unknown sibling. "I don't think so" But now that she thought about it, Shannon realized Felipe Mendoza, her uncle's old ranch hand, hadn't come to greet them. He was always around the house. And where was Moses, the ranch dog?

“"Tell you what, Kylie, you can play on the porch for a little while with your toys. I've got to get some things out of the car." And make a
to the porch. After digging oui a tub of toys and depositing them on the porch with Kylie, she made the made the little girl promise not to leave the porch.

Shannon went to the side yard where the big old barn stood.She glanced behind her to make sure she could see Kylie, then walked toward the building. The door yawned open, an unusual state. The hair on the back of her head stirred. She told herself it was her exhaustion, but her senses tried to sample everything around her as she walked across the flat sand toward the outbuildings..

The barn needed a coat of paint and boards replaced. The desert claimed everything left uninhabited. She hurried to the barn and peered inside. “Hello? Felipe?”

She heard a dog whine, then begin to bark, an agitated sound that made alarm bells go off in Shannon’s head. Her cell phone was inside the house in her purse. She could call the sheriff, but it would take him a while to get here. What if Felipe had fallen and was lying injured? Moses would never leave him.

She ducked into the barn. The aroma of dust, hay, and manure struck her. Funny how after five years in the city the normal smells of a ranch overpowered her when she didn’t used to even notice them. She glanced through the open tack room door. Only bridles and saddles there.

Dust motes danced in the air, and she sneezed. “Felipe?” she called again.

Moses broke into another frenzied round of barks, and she followed the sound. She passed several stalls, unused now. No livestock lowed or rustled in its hay. “Moses, where are you, boy?”

The dog whined and barked again. Shannon climbed over a gate when she couldn’t open it and then over the railing at the back of the stall.There she saw Moses, a border collie, standing over what she took to be a pile of clothing. A second later she registered that it was Felipe lying in a mound of hay.

“Felipe!” She dropped to his side and rolled him over. He was quite dead. She scrabbled back on her haunches and fought the shriek building in her throat. Kylie would be frightened if she heard her mother scream.

“Stay calm, stay calm,” she muttered. She called the dog to her, and Moses came reluctantly with his tail between his legs. “Good dog,” she crooned, burying her face in his fur. The dog’s musky scent and rough coat soothed her nerves. He whined and licked her face.

She had to get hold of herself. Her legs trembled when she released
the dog and stood. Moses made a move as if to go back to his watch at
Felipe’s side, but she grabbed his collar and dragged him from the barn
with her. The barn door screeched when she shut it.

Even though Felipe had likely died of natural causes, the fact there
was a dead man in her barn made her race to the house to get to her daughter. Kylie was still on the porch with her stuffed unicorn, and the tightness in Shannon’s chest eased.

Her daughter saw her and jumped up with her gaze on Moses. “We have a dog?”

“His name is Moses. We’ll take him inside with us to the living room, and you can pet him.”

Moses looked up at the sound of his name, and Shannon called him “Felipe!” She dropped to his side and rolled him over. He was quite to her. She ran her hands over him. No broken bones or abrasions, though his coat was rough and dull. She made a mental note to get him on better food.

A vehicle rumbled up the drive, and she squinted at the vaguely familiar male figure in a shiny black pickup. Rick Bailey, from the adjacent Bluebird Ranch, climbed out of the truck. A pretty woman with black curls was with him, and a little girl hopped out of the backseat. A border collie leaped from the truck bed. Shannon struggled to remember the dog's name—Jem.

She broke into a nan. Rick would know what to do.