“Did you ask Mr. Pearson about the Royal Goose cup?” she enquired of her boss.
Landon shook his head. “No, I’m not sure now is the right time. Nate is here to tell us about his trip with his new boyfriend to meet the boyfriend’s mother.”
“He’s not my boyfriend and it’s just a birthday party,” I hurried to explain. Again. “What about a goose cup?”
“Whenever someone takes someone to meet a mother it’s never a just.” Mona gave me that “I know what I’m talking about, cowboy” look. “The Royal Goose cup is a small silver cup, perhaps the size of my tea mug.” She held her cup aloft. “It was resting in the curio cabinet in the living room when we left. Upon returning Mr. Reece noticed that it was no longer in his cabinet of sporting prizes. We’ve contacted the cleaning company, and they have no clue where it could have gone but are questioning the staff who comes out weekly. Were you in the house while the Misters were in Europe?”
“Mona, please!” Landon huffed, pushing to his feet then stalking to the screen door where he drew in a few long breaths. “We’re not accusing anyone who works on the ranch. We know everyone here has been vetted properly.”
“So someone broke in and stole this little sterling silver cup from the curio?” I asked then glanced in the direction of the airy living room as if I were Clark Kent and could see through the walls. I knew the curio cabinet well. It was a huge wood and glass thing that held pucks, sticks, and at least a hundred awards that Landon had garnered in his days in the NHL. “Wasn’t the house locked?”
“It was yes. Aside from the cleaning staff no one was in or out as far as we know,” Montrell interjected. “As Landon said, we’re not pointing fingers at any of the hands. We have total trust in all the men who work here. All are fine, upstanding young men with exemplary work ethics.”
“Other than the new one. Will Abbott,” Mona tossed out. Landon grunted by the door. Montrell rolled his lips over his teeth. I glanced from the musician back to Mona. “I’m not saying he did it, but he does have a history of thievery.”
“That doesn’t mean he stole it. And how the hell would he have gotten in?” Landon said, turning from the towering Tetons in the distance, his face tight. “No one other than the cleaning staff had a key. It’s no one on the ranch payroll.”
The three of them began a heated discussion about not ruling out anyone as I chewed on my thoughts, hat in hand.
“The ranch has been seeing an upswing in missing items over the past six to eight weeks,” I announced. The others fell silent. “Tools, bits of tack, various things from the bunkhouse such as phone chargers and loose change. Typical things that could be chalked up to careless young men. But this goose cup, this sounds like a step up in the petty larceny.”
“And all of the small thefts began when Will Abbott was signed on, is that correct?” Mona asked, doggedly snipping at the assumption that once a man was a thief, he was always a thief. As much as I hated adding fuel to her fire, I did have to bob my head. Will had started off his stay here by lifting a book from another hand’s nightstand. While that in no way cemented him as the light-fingered goose cup thief, it certainly wasn’t going to help persuade people of his innocence. I quickly told Landon about the book incident. His lips flattened. Mona stood by a table holding a stack of notes and half-completed songs, her lips resembling a papercut.
“I’ll speak with Will,” I announced.
Landon shook his head. “No one is accusing any of the men who work here. We’ll see what the cleaning company finds out. We’re also going to be installing some internal security cameras in various parts of the house. Saddens me to have to do that. The ones outside are bad enough. I assumed that out here in the country people wouldn’t be so damn sticky-fingered, but I guess I was wrong.”
“It happens, sir. I mean, Landon. City or country there’s always a few bad apples. Please let me know what your cleaning company uncovers. I’ll have Perry keep a tighter eye on Will for now.”
“Yeah, please, leave this with us.” Landon walked over to me. “It’s probably just a misunderstanding. Some poor woman more than likely took it out to dust and got sidetracked and placed it somewhere. I’m sure it will turn up. Go to the coast, enjoy the ocean, make love to the professor on the beach, drink a few Mai Tais, live a little. This will all be solved when you get back.”
Montrell nodded at his husband’s words. Mona didn’t seem to be convinced but she gave me a terse smile before I backed out of the music room on the pretext of having work to do. Which wasn’t a lie. I didn’t want to leave Kyle with a ton of paperwork when he’d been kind enough to cover me on this four day trip to La Jolla to meet my boyfriend’s mother and twin brother Armie. And Armie’s boyfriend Juan, and their pug dog Alphonse.
Standing on the white stones of the big house’s driveway, I put my hat back on, glanced at the Tetons, and admitted to myself that Mona was right. Will Abbott was the most likely suspect of the theft of the goose cup, and this trip to sunny California was beginning to feel like it was way more than a simple just.