Jackie’s Dream
“I think you’re right,” he said. “And I think she’ll be all right.”
He didn’t know why he was so sure, but somehow he felt that Jackie would survive the night and maybe even learn a lesson from her ordeal. She’d have to. No one else could care for her like Jack did.
“You don’t sound convinced,” Jack said. He put his hand on the doorknob as if ready to leave again. “Do you want me to stay?”
“No!” Jackie exclaimed in alarm. “Oh no! Please don’t go away.”
She sat up straight. The blankets fell off her shoulders. Her eyes were wide open now, staring at him with fear. His heart beat faster. Was it possible she had really fallen asleep? If so, what kind of dream might she be having about her mother’s death?
Or perhaps she wasn’t sleeping. Perhaps she was awake—and dreaming about being alone again after all these years. It was something he couldn’t allow.
He went over to her side of the bed and touched her shoulder. “Come back to sleep. We’ve both been through enough tonight.”
Her breathing was shallow. Tears filled her eyes.
“It’s going to be all right,” he whispered. Then he took a deep breath and bent down close to her ear. “Listen carefully, Jackie. You can hear everything around you because your ears are still young. But when they stop working well, then we won’t be able to talk anymore.”
She nodded. Then she reached out and clutched his shirt. A single tear trickled down her cheek.
“Don’t cry,” he whispered. “Please don’t cry. Don’t let them see how sad you feel.”
For an instant, he thought he saw some sign that she understood him or that she was thinking about their conversation. Maybe it was only a flicker of awareness that came and went too quickly for him to grasp. And yet, before he could say another word, there was a knock on the front door.
“Who is it?” Jack called out. He was standing beside the window, which gave him a clear view of anyone approaching the house.
The knocking stopped. Silence followed. Then footsteps moved toward the bedroom doorway.
“Wait here,” he told Jackie.
He walked to the door and opened it. A man stepped inside. Jack recognized him immediately as Billy Harkness, who lived next door to the ranch.
Billy held out his hand. “Sorry to disturb you at this hour.”
“Not at all,” Jack said. “What brings you by?”
“Just wanted to make sure you were all right,” Billy said.
“We’re fine. What time is it anyway?”
Billy glanced at a pocket watch. “Two o’clock in the morning.”
“So much for my plans,” Jack grumbled. “I should never have come home early.”
Billy laughed. “I’m not surprised. After what happened today, I wouldn’t expect any other outcome.”
Jackie was looking at him with concern in her eyes. That was good, Jack decided. At least someone cared whether she got hurt or killed. “How’s business?”
“Slow. Too many people coming into town already.”
Jack looked down at Jackie and smiled. “Why don’t you take her outside for a while? Get her used to being outdoors.”
“That’s probably best.”
Jack turned back to Billy. “Where will you be?”
“Out at the livery stable where the rest of our men are waiting. They’re staying overnight so that we can catch the train tomorrow afternoon.”
“All right. Thanks for checking on us. I appreciate it.”
When Billy left the room, Jack closed the door behind him and returned to the bedroom. Jackie was sitting up on the edge of the bed, clutching the blanket in her lap.
“Did he tell you anything new?” he asked.
“Yes, he did,” she replied. “But first he wanted to ask me some questions. He wanted to know if you ever mentioned seeing a woman in white near the ranch.”
His eyebrows shot up. “A woman in white?”
“Yes. He also wanted to know if you were angry at anyone lately.”
“Angry?” He frowned. Why would Billy ask such a question? “There must be a reason for asking that,” he said.
“Maybe he thinks you might have hit her,” Jackie suggested. “Or maybe he thinks you were involved in some way with her murder.”
“Could be.”
Jackie stood up and pulled the covers off the bed. She went over to the dresser and began removing clothing from the drawer. She laid each item on the floor one by one: shoes, stockings, two pairs of underclothes, a nightgown, and a pair of slippers.
Finally, she picked up a blue dress that had belonged to her mother and carried it to the closet. She hung it inside the door, then picked up the second dress and brought it to the bed. “Do you want me to put on the dress?”
“No,” he said. “You need to get dressed. We’ll go outside and walk around the yard for a few minutes.”
She shook her head. “I’d rather stay here. It feels safer than going anywhere else.”
“You may think it does now but once you start walking around, you might change your mind. You can look at trees and plants and flowers and insects and animals without fear of getting attacked.”
“Animals don’t attack people.”
“They do if they’re hungry.”
“Well, then I won’t worry about that.”
He stared at her, trying to decide what to say. He knew he shouldn’t argue with her, but he didn’t like having her caged up like some kind of prisoner. Or worse, an animal.
“Come on,” he finally said. “It doesn’t matter if we leave the house or not. Nothing bad is likely to happen in broad daylight. So just sit still for a moment and wait until I get ready.”
He grabbed his pants, shirt, and jacket, which were hanging in the closet, and tossed them on top of the dresser. While he was doing that, he noticed a letter lying on the dresser. He picked it up and unfolded it. It was addressed to him—from a law firm in Denver.
He read the first sentence again. “‘Dear Mr. Carson,’ it begins. ‘We regret to inform you that your father has died.’ The next line says, ‘Please accept our deepest condolences.'”
***
As soon as Jackie finished dressing, she helped Jack hang the clothes in the closet, then walked out onto the front porch. To her surprise, she saw three horses grazing across the street. All three were brown, except one was black-and-white spotted. “What’s that horse’s name?” she asked.
“That’s Shadow,” Jack told her. “And those are all our horses. Where did you see three horses?”
“Over there,” she pointed across the street. “By that big oak tree.”
Jack leaned forward, squinting through the darkness. “Can you see better in the dark than most people?” he asked.
“Not really, no.”
“Then why can’t I see the horses?”
“Probably because I’m wearing these glasses,” she answered. “My eyes aren’t very strong.”
Jack took off his hat and scratched the back of his neck. “Doesn’t make sense.”
“Why would a killer want to kill you?” she wondered aloud.
“Because I could identify the person who murdered my father. That’s probably why he came after me last night. But this time he couldn’t get close enough to hurt me.”
“Who wants to kill you? Could it be someone you know?”
“Most likely.”
“How come you never told me you had enemies?”
“If you hadn’t been hired to protect me, I wouldn’t have told you.”
“So how many times has someone tried to kill you before?”
“Just once,” he said. “The day I got married.”
“Was that long ago?”
“Almost twenty years ago. My wife and I eloped. When I told her family about us, they disowned her.”
“Did you try to find another job?”
“Of course I did. But nothing ever worked out. After that, I decided to open my own business and hire employees so I wouldn’t have to deal with any more problems.”
“But you weren’t successful. What happened?”
“When I opened my detective agency, I wasn’t able to attract clients. And when I lost the ones I already had, I stopped taking new cases altogether.”
“Could it be that you simply don’t like being a private investigator?”
“Yes, I suppose that’s part of it.”
“Is there something wrong with the business?”
“There is, but I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why?”
“Maybe I’ll tell you someday.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
After a while, Jack called her to join him down at the gate where their horses were waiting. She followed him into the backyard and found him standing beside the fence. They both watched as the horses snorted and flicked their tails and nickered softly. A crow flew over and landed on the fence near them, watching the horses with great interest.
“Do you think he knows that he can’t touch them?” she whispered.
“Don’t worry about him,” Jack assured her. “Our horses are too smart to let themselves get caught by anything less than a lion or bear.”
While they stood there admiring the animals, two men rode past the gate on horseback. Both wore cowboy hats, blue jeans and boots. One man looked familiar; he must’ve been a friend of Jack’s. The other man looked much older and carried himself differently from Jack. As they passed by the horses, one of the men reached out and rubbed noses with Shadow.
They continued riding south along the road, leaving Jack and Jackie alone on the lawn.
“You sure do spend a lot of time with horses,” she commented. “I mean, even when you’re not working.”
“It keeps my mind occupied. You should try it sometime.”
“All right, I will. In fact, I just might ride one of your horses today.”
“Good,” Jack replied. “In the meantime, we’d best go inside. We need to decide what we’re going to do about tonight.”
“About the meeting with the mayor?”
“Right. First thing tomorrow morning, I want you to call Mayor Saldana and cancel our appointment for tonight. Tell him you won’t be coming.”
“Will he understand?”
“He’ll understand if he doesn’t ask questions.”
***
Jackie waited until late afternoon before calling Mayor Saldana to reschedule the meeting for noon the next day. He thanked her politely and agreed to meet her at the town hall. “I hope you’ll stay awhile,” he added. “We always enjoy company here in Rock Creek.”
“I’ll bring some fresh biscuits and coffee,” she promised. “I also plan to introduce you to Jack.”
“That sounds fine. I look forward to meeting him.”
“What makes you say that?” she asked.
“I haven’t met anyone quite like him,” he explained. “And he does seem to care about you. It’s hard to believe he’s an outlaw.”
“Let me warn you now: If he acts funny around you, you’ll know he isn’t an honest man.”
“Thank you, Miss Stewart. I appreciate hearing that.”
As soon as they hung up the phone, Jack called to invite her to lunch. Since it was almost four o’clock, he invited her to eat first, then he would take her to his house after dinner.
“Are you trying to make me fat?” she teased.
“No, ma’am,” he laughed. “I’m just looking out for you. Just remember, it’s only one meal.”
“I’ll be careful,” she promised.
During their conversation, she learned that he didn’t really intend to work very long hours this week because of the upcoming meeting with Mayor Saldana. That evening, she went to bed early and awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and ready for action. At nine o’clock, she arrived at the mayor’s office carrying a basket full of cookies and coffee.
The mayor greeted her warmly, leading her into the large room where they sat down across from each other at a table. “So how did you sleep last night?” he asked.
“Fine thanks to you,” she answered. “I slept well enough to feel rested.”
“Did you have any bad dreams?”
“Just a few.”
“Well, you certainly had better nightmares than I did,” he said. “If you recall, I spent most of my night worrying about how we could possibly find the person who killed that poor woman.”
“Actually, I never thought much about it. Maybe you should.”
“How so? Do you have some special gift that tells you things?”
“Not exactly.” She paused for a moment. “But I do dream a lot—especially lately.”
“Maybe that’s why you keep having those awful nightmares. Your subconscious is telling you something.”
She nodded. “It seems that way.”
“Have you ever considered joining a church?”
“A church? No, thank you.”
“Why not? It’s the safest place to go for help.”
“It’s not for me,” she snapped. “Now please tell me what you think we can do to catch this killer.”
“First off, I think it would be wise to continue asking around town, especially among people who may have known the victim.”
“That shouldn’t be too difficult since everyone knew her.”
“True, but there are still a couple of men I don’t trust. One is named Billy Boyton; he owns a livery stable in town.”
“Who’s the other?”
“Gus Risley, a miner. Both of them are troublemakers, so I wouldn’t expect either one to cooperate fully with us. But it couldn’t hurt to check them out.”
“Then let’s get started,” she decided. “When do you want me to start questioning these two?”
“Tonight, when the sun goes down.”
“Can you wait until I finish breakfast?”
“Sure. There’s nothing else on my agenda today anyway.”
After they finished eating, Jackie returned home. As soon as she got back inside, she made herself comfortable on the sofa, picked up a book and settled in to read while waiting for sunset. By the time dusk fell, she heard a knock on her front door.
“Come in!” she shouted.
Jack walked in holding a sack of groceries and a bottle of wine. “Do you mind if I light a fire?” he asked.
“No, that’s fine.” She pointed to the fireplace. “There’s plenty of wood in the shed. Why don’t you gather some kindling.”
He carried the wood to the fireplace, then set a lamp on the mantelpiece and lit it. Once it caught flame, she took her book to the dining room table. After setting the food on the table, she came back to join him.
They ate a late supper together and discussed the day’s plans. Then she went to her bedroom and changed into her nightgown. While dressing, she felt a little nervous. She hadn’t been alone with a man for a long time.
Once she was dressed, she checked her reflection in the mirror and smiled. The sight pleased her. Now all she needed was the right man.
The End