“Just you,” he said.
“Hmph,” she muttered ungraciously and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll tell Rex that you want to talk to him.”
“Thanks.” With a broad wink, he opened the door of her room and disappeared. She watched from the window as he walked out of the house, got into his Blazer and drove down the lane. A plume of gray dust followed in his wake and disturbed the tranquility of the morning. As the Blazer roared by the pasture, curious foals lifted their heads, pricking their ears forward at the noise while the mares continued to graze.
“When will it ever end?” Tory wondered aloud, taking one final look at the dew-covered grass and the rolling green pastures and dusty paddocks. With a thoughtful frown she turned away from the window and headed for the shower.
* * *
TORY WAS IN the den balancing the checkbook when she heard Keith come down the stairs. He walked by the study without looking inside and continued down the hall to the kitchen.
“I’m in here,” Tory called. When she didn’t get a response, she shrugged and continued sorting through the previous month’s checks. A few minutes later, Keith strode into the room, sipping from a cup of coffee.
He frowned as if remembering an unpleasant thought. “So where’s our guest?”
“Trask already left for Salem.”
Keith tensed. “Salem? Why?” His eyes narrowed and he lifted a hand. “Don’t tell me: he plans on visiting Linn Benton and George Henderson in prison.”
“That’s the idea.”
“He just won’t let up on this, will he?”
“I doubt it. And now that the sheriff’s department is involved, I would expect that Paul Barnett or one of his deputies will be out later to ask you questions.”
“Just what I need,” Keith said grimly and then changed the subject. “So how’re you this morning?” He threw a leg over one of the arms of the recliner, leaned back and studied his sister.
“As well as can be expected after last night.”
Keith scowled into his cup. The lines of worry deepened around his eyes. “What McFadden said, about you being shot at, was it true?”
Tory let out a long breath. “Unfortunately, yes.”
Keith’s eyes clouded as he looked away from his sister. “And you think it has something to do with this anonymous note business, right?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, taking off her reading glasses and setting them on the corner of the desk as she stared at her brother. “But it seems to me that it’s more than a coincidence that the minute Trask comes into town, all the trouble begins.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that Trask may have initiated all this hoopla just to get his name in the papers? You know, remind the voters that he’s a hero.”
“I don’t think he hired someone to beat him up, if that’s what you mean. And I don’t think that he would let someone terrorize Neva or Nicholas—do you?”
Keith squirmed uncomfortably. “Maybe not.”
“So how do you explain it?”
He looked straight into her eyes. “I can’t, Sis. I don’t have any clue as to why someone would take a shot at you or want to hurt Neva. And it scares me, it scares the hell out of me!”
“But maybe someone was just interested in hurting Trask?” she said. “The rest of us might just have gotten in the way. After all, he was the one that took the punches last night.”
Keith’s head snapped upward and his jaw tightened. “I hate the bastard. It’s no secret. You know it and so does he.” Keith’s voice faded slightly and he hesitated before adding, “And I hate the fact that he’s back here, getting you all messed up again, but I wouldn’t beat him up or shoot at him, for crying out loud.”
Tory tapped her pencil nervously on the desk. What she was about to say was difficult. “I’m sorry, Keith. But I can’t seem to forget that the first day Trask came into town you were in a panic. You came out to the paddock to tell me about it, remember?” Tory’s heart was hammering in her chest. She didn’t like the role of inquisitor, especially not with Keith.
“I remember.”
“And later you said something about pointing a gun at him if Trask tried to trespass.”
Keith squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed the stiffness out of his neck. “That was all talk, Tory.” He leaned back in the chair. “I just wish he’d leave us alone.” After finishing his coffee, Keith stood. “I don’t want to see you get hurt again. Everything that’s happening scares me.”