Hoaley Ill-Manored (9 page)

Trying for levity, Adam slammed a quarter
onto the bar and fake-tipped his invisible cowboy hat. I’ll take a
double sarsaparilla in a dirty glass. My friend here takes his milk
warm, with a cherry.”

Teddy looked at him like he was an idiot. “I
knew that cop wouldn’t throw your ass in jail.”

Dirk slid his delicious derriere onto a bar
stool. “If it makes you feel any better, CC was really
tempted.”

Teddy picked up a beer glass and lifted it
to Dirk in question, apparently deciding the best way to handle the
idiot with the invisible cowboy hat was to ignore him.

Dirk nodded. “Thanks. I’ll take whatever you
have on tap.”

A moment later, Teddy handed Dirk an
expertly tapped draft beer and wiped his big hands on the towel. “I
cleaned that pistol up like Detective Clandestine suggested and
took it to the bank. It sure is a pretty little thing.”

Dirk licked foam off his lip and nodded.

“I’ll take one of those too, please.” Adam
tried. He might as well have been talking to the back end of a
horse.

All too happy to go with the “let’s ignore
Adam” plan, Dirk went on. “I’m surprised your gramma buried that
gun instead of selling it. It’s worth a lot of money you know.
Those jewels looked real.”

“Sentimental value.” Teddy swiped his towel
across the spotless surface of the bar. “She told me her fiancé
gave it to her. I hadn’t seen it since I was a kid.”

“Delf Bilsworth?” Adam asked.

Comfortably ensconced on the “Ignore Adam
Express” Teddy told Dirk, “I think she was hiding it from my old
man. He always wanted to sell it. Even tried to cart it off once,
but my mama stopped him. The gun disappeared after that and Gramma
always told the old man she’d hidden it where he’d never find it.
Turns out she was right.”

“Where is your old man, Teddy?” Adam thought
if he just kept talking somebody might forget he was an ass and
respond to him by accident.

A husky female voice called out and Teddy
looked away. He nodded toward the far end of the bar and grabbed
some icy mugs from the freezer, pouring two more drafts and
carrying them to a couple of young women who were smiling at Adam
and Dirk.

The women were obviously fishing and they
had pretty good bait. Both girls were pretty, with big hair, big
boobs, big smiles, and small asses. Little did they know they were
casting their lines into the wrong pond. They lifted their drafts
to Dirk and Adam and Dirk returned the salute, smiling widely.

A frothy beer showed up in front of Adam.
Apparently he was finally to be acknowledged. “Thanks, Teddy.” The
big man inclined his head. “Look, I’m an ass. I’m really sorry for
digging around in your barn. All I can say for myself is that I get
a little crazy about my work and sometimes I don’t make the best
choices.”

Both Dirk and Teddy snorted.

“Yeah, understatement. Anyway…” Adam offered
Teddy his hand. “I’d like to make it up to you. If you have any
work you need done around your house…anything at all…I’ll take care
of it for you. I’ll give you twenty hours of free labor, to be
redeemed at your convenience.”

Teddy held his gaze for a long moment and
then shook his hand, smiling. Adam blinked. The smile looked
strange on the other man’s face. “I
will
take you up on
that, you know.”

“I hope you do.”

“I hear y’all had a fire over to the big
house.”

Adam set his glass down a little harder than
he’d planned. “Where’d you hear that?”

“My buddy was one of the firemen responding
to the blaze. He said it took the gazebo completely out.” Teddy
frowned. “I thought that gazebo’d burned down years ago.”

“Wait, the last gazebo burned down too?”
Those icy fingers were tapping on Adam’s innards again.

“In the exact same spot.”

Dirk and Adam shared a look.

Adam knew he had to ask, but he really
didn’t want to endanger their tender new truce. Fortunately Teddy
Worth knew the lay of the land.

“It wasn’t me if that’s what you’re
thinkin’. I closed the bar last night. You can ask the manager. I
locked that outside door at one a.m.”

“Edgar thought it was three a.m.” Dirk
offered.

“Friday and Saturday nights we stay open
that late, during the week we close at one.”

Teddy left to deal with some other customers
and Dirk glanced at Adam. “I guess we’re plum out of suspects,
pardner.”

Adam grinned. “I love it when you talk
cowboy to me.”

When Teddy returned, Dirk asked him to have
a drink with them. Teddy declined. “I don’t drink. The old man
cured me of that urge.”

“He drank too much?” Dirk asked.

“He did. He was a mean drunk too. We were
all glad when he took off.”

“When was that?”

Teddy glanced at Adam. “About twenty years
ago. I wasn’t very old when he left. Mama died a few years later.
Granny Lolly died about five years ago.” He shook his head. “I been
alone in that house ever since.”

“Except for that fine lookin’ dog.” Dirk
slid his empty glass over for a refill.

Teddy obliged with a grin. “Scout’s a fine
dog and a good friend. It’d be real lonely out there without
him.”

“I know what you mean. I don’t know what I’d
do without Walter.”

“The big hairy thing that was cowering in
the backseat of your truck?” Teddy snickered. “He isn’t very brave
is he?”

Dirk laughed, earning a glare from Adam.

“He’d fight if he had to.” Adam fought off
irritation and grinned. After all, Teddy wasn’t telling him
anything he didn’t already know. “Fortunately he just never has
to.” Adam joined in the responding laughter. He loved his dog, but
he knew Walter would never make it in the real world. He had way
too many insecurities and not enough spine.

“You be careful out there with that city
dog. Them coyotes’d eat him in a heartbeat.”

“I know.” Adam frowned. “I saw one the other
day. And heard them last night. They’re pretty intimidating.”

“It’s good you’re scared. Means you’ll pay
attention. Even Scout isn’t safe when they’re in a pack. They’ll
lure a big dog away and go at him in numbers. Kill a dog in
minutes.” Teddy held Adam’s gaze, his brown eyes intense, as if
filled with warning.

Adam shivered, suddenly wishing he hadn’t
left Walter home alone. Then he realized how silly that was. Dogs
couldn’t unlock and open doors. Walter was perfectly safe locked in
the manor. Still, the thought had been released from the vault of
Adam’s mind and he couldn’t seem to shove it back inside.

To distract himself, he decided to broach
another subject he’d been afraid to bring up. “Hey Teddy, I’ve been
wondering, do you have any idea who put those flowers in the old
cabin in the woods?”

Teddy shook his head. “Far as I know
nobody’s been in there since…” He frowned, looked away, and started
shoving glasses onto a cylindrical brush submerged in soapy water
behind the bar. He twisted each one a few times and then rinsed it
in a second sink. “Like I said before, it’s probably just kids.
They like to screw around in that cabin. That’s why I keep a close
eye on it.”

“You said nobody’s been in there
since…something. Since what?”

Adam could have kissed Dirk for going where
he didn’t dare go.

For a long moment it seemed as if Teddy
would ignore Dirk’s question. But finally, he expelled a breath and
said, “My dad used to go out there a lot. When he came home he’d be
drunk as a skunk and even meaner than usual.” Teddy snorted with
disgust. “The old man had some anger issues and he used to sit in
that cabin and just soak up all that darkness, feeding his
mad.”

Dirk’s long fingers toyed with the damp
napkin under his tall glass. “What was he mad about?”

Teddy shook his head. “He always believed
the Bilsworths’ done us wrong.” He smiled. “First they took away
our living, and then…” Teddy frowned. “Let’s just say he never got
over his daddy leavin’ him that way.”

Adam frowned. “What way?”

Teddy’s gaze slid over Dirk and Adam, filled
with surprise. “You don’t know about my papa?”

Adam and Dirk shook their heads.

“I’m surprised old Edgar didn’t tell ya. The
old man was Delf and Lolly’s love child. The one Delf Bilsworth
never knew about ’cause he hung himself before Lolly could tell
him. It’s why Lolly took the last name
Worth
, so she could
give her kid a connection to Delf and the Bilsworths.”

“Holy shit!” Adam hadn’t seen that one
coming. “That’s horrible. If the Bilsworths had known about your
dad they might have let Delf marry Lolly.”

Teddy glared at the glass in his hand. “Or
just paid her off with more land or something. Like before.”

“There does seem to be a pattern there.”
Adam agreed. “So do you know why Delf killed himself? Really?”

“Gramma Lolly wouldn’t never talk about it.
The story around town is that he was upset ’cause his daddy
wouldn’t let him marry Lolly.”

Dirk cocked his head. “But you don’t believe
that.”

Teddy’s fingers stopped twisting glasses and
hovered over the sparkling bubbles of the glass beneath his hand.
Finally he shook his head, just a single jerk to the side. “I think
it was because of them jewels.”

Adam’s eyes widened. “The original jewels
that Jenks stole in 1830? Delf found them?”

“Well sure. At least some of ’em. Where do
you think he got that pretty little gun he gave to gramma
Lolly?”

“So, if Delf found the jewels, why are
people still looking for them? Why hasn’t that mystery been put to
rest?”

Teddy shrugged. “Probably because he hid ’em
again. I’m guessin’ he thought Lolly might just be after him for
the goodies, or else her old man was. Somethin’ spooked old Delf
into hidin’ them jewels…” Teddy’s gaze lifted, locked on Adam’s,
and filled with that warning aspect that had spooked Adam before,.
“…and then I’m guessin’ somebody killed him for it.”

Adam’s eyebrows flew into his hairline and
he almost forgot to swallow. In his surprise he channeled Mink
without thinking. “Well strap me into a milking machine and hit the
on switch,” he murmured.

Dirk grinned. “This story just keeps getting
better and better, Ads.”

DS

They decided not to eat dinner out. Instead
they ordered burgers and salads to go and headed back to the manor.
Despite Adam telling himself he was being paranoid, he couldn’t
shake the feeling that Walter was in danger all alone in the big
house.

A storm was building too. Adam could feel
the changes in pressure, and smell the rain in the air as he and
Dirk climbed into his truck to go home. The wind pelted the truck
with leaves and small debris as they pulled out of the restaurant
parking lot.

Adam’s nerves jangled as he maneuvered his
way home. Lightning sent jagged warnings across the sky and thunder
followed hard on its heels, telling him the storm was right
overhead. The only thing they were missing was the rain.

The country road, always on the dark side at
night under the best conditions, was darker than the inside of a
tomb and felt just about as welcoming.

Adam’s nerves took another jolt when he
turned off the road into the manor’s drive and a dark shape loomed
up in front of them out of the intense dark. His headlights washed
over a dense, black wall and skeletal fingers reached out to scrape
across the windshield like nails across a blackboard.

He threw on the brakes and the truck rocked
to a violent stop just before slamming into the fallen walnut tree.
“Dammit!” Adam pounded the steering wheel with the heel of his
hand. “I knew that damn thing was gonna drop onto the driveway one
of these days. It couldn’t have waited another few days. I have the
tree guy coming out next week.”

Dirk and Adam climbed out and went over to
look at the downed giant. Dirk shook his head. “It’s a shame. This
baby looks like it’s been around for a few hundred years.”

Adam kicked the corpse. “Trust me, I felt
sorrier for it when it was still sort of upright at the side of the
drive. Now it’s just a major pain in my ass.”

The first, fat drop of rain hit Adam’s
shoulder and lightning hit way too close. They ducked as the world
seemed to explode around them. As if the lightning strike had
blasted a hole in the clouds, the sky opened up and dumped a
thunderous curtain of rain on their heads.

Dirk grabbed Adam’s arm. “We need to get in
the truck.”

Adam shook his head, screaming to be heard
over the deafening downpour. “The truck isn’t going anywhere until
morning. I’ll need to get the tree guy out here first thing. We’re
already wet, we might as well just head on up to the house on
foot.”

Dirk nodded and Adam went to get his keys
from the truck and lock it, then they clambered over the fallen
tree and started jogging up the drive, heads ducked to minimize the
painful drilling of rain on their faces.

It was like running through the Amazon
jungle. The woods hulked toward them from the sides, pressing
inward and arching overhead to create a tunnel effect, enclosing
them in its moist embrace. The thick cloud cover blocked any light
that might have come from the moon and stars and the constant roar
of the wind and rain blocked all other sound.

They were basically blind and deaf in a
wild, unprotected environment and it was terrifying. After a few
minutes, they slowed to a fast walk, huffing from the exercise and
stress of plunging through mama nature during one of her hissy
fits.

The wind swirled steamy air around them and
the gravel of the driveway crunched under their feet as they moved
quickly forward. They followed the drive until it spat them out of
the dense woods and Adam spotted the black circle of the lake in
the distance. He grabbed Dirk’s wrist, pointing. “It’s not too much
further.”