“Are you telling me you haven’t gotten that little bit of information you’re looking for yet?”
She opened her mouth as if to answer, then closed it and looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’d forgotten about this until just now, but about midday yesterday I stopped to get something for lunch and my phone rang. I answered it, but whoever it was hung up. I remember the number was the local area code and prefix but I didn’t have a name associated with it in my contact list. I called back, hoping it was someone I’d talked to earlier who wanted to speak to me in private, but no one answered. I suppose it could have just been a misdialed number. But maybe not.”
Levi took out his phone and tapped the screen a couple of times. “What’s your phone number?”
She told him and he entered it into his phone. “Obviously we don’t have your phone,” he said. “But that incoming call should be listed in your phone records. I’ll check with the phone company and see what we can find out about whoever called you.”
“All right.” She nodded her agreement. Her shoulders slumped forward.
Levi could tell her energy was running low. And with good reason. She’d been through a lot last night, and probably hadn’t slept well.
He pulled a business card out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her. “Here’s my contact information. Email me a list of all the potential suspects you can think of from Vegas, as well as the names of the businesses where you stopped to talk to people up on the mesa. I’d like that by this afternoon.” He really wanted that information right now, but if he put too much pressure on her, he was afraid she might accidentally leave out something important.
“I’ll get all of that to you as soon as possible,” she said, taking his card. “But I’ve got a meeting with our accountant downtown at one o’clock today to go over some things, so we can get this guest ranch up and running on schedule. I can’t miss that.”
“The accountant can wait,” her grandpa said firmly, but Vanessa shook her head, not backing down.
“I’ve got to keep that appointment.” Vanessa glanced at Levi. “My boss is expecting me back at work in a couple of weeks. I’ve got a schedule of things I want to accomplish while I’m here in Torchlight and I need to stick to it. But I’ll make sure I get you that information today.”
“Thank you.” Levi got to his feet.
Sam Ford also stood and reached out to shake Levi’s hand. “Thank you again for helping my granddaughter. You come out here and ask questions anytime you need to.”
Levi nodded. “Thank you, sir. I will.”
Vanessa walked him to the door. When she pulled it open, the old calico cat that had been sitting in the rocking chair made a surprisingly fast dash into the house and toward the kitchen. Clearly, she knew where the feline breakfast was being served.
Vanessa smiled as the cat ran by her feet. Seeing that smile on a face marked by bruises made Levi’s chest ache. Vanessa had already suffered through so much. But apparently somebody wanted her to suffer even more.
“When you go into town this afternoon, don’t go alone,” he said as he headed down the steps.
“I’ll be careful,” she assured him.
“Good.”
Once he was clear of the porch, he stopped, turned and waited for her to go back into the house and shut the door.
The problem with being careful was that sometimes it simply wasn’t enough. You couldn’t predict every single thing that could go wrong. He’d learned that in a war zone overseas. He’d witnessed it again as a cop after he came home.
If someone was willing to attack Vanessa with a hammer, there was no telling what they might do next. And no way to be prepared for their next move.
Vanessa was once again behind the wheel of her grandfather’s reliable old truck. Just like last night, she hoped that driving would give her a sense of control as she steered it into town. So far it actually had helped her calm down a little. And it gave her mind something to do other than replay the terrifying scenes from last night.
“Maybe I should scrap my plans and stick with you,” Rosa said as Vanessa pulled into a parking space and left the engine idling.
Grandpa had wanted to come with them, but Vanessa eventually convinced him to stay at the ranch. Physical work would calm him down, which was exactly what he needed and what Vanessa wanted. Plus, Rosa had her pistol. She could protect Vanessa quite adequately if it came to that.
“Rosa, I’ll be fine.” Vanessa’s response came out sounding like a snarl. That was not her intention. She tried again. “You’re just making excuses so you don’t have to let Marisol Beltran’s granddaughter show you a thing or two about technology,” she added, while focusing on making her tone sound lighter and putting an awkward smile on her lips.
Truly, she was grateful to Rosa for accompanying her into Torchlight, but she didn’t want to be coddled. She wanted the long list of tasks assigned to everyone to be completed on time so they could open the Silver Horse Guest Ranch on schedule.
Rosa had already made arrangements for today to meet with a technology coach to get help upgrading the simple website she’d set up to include an online reservations system. She’d been miffed to discover her “coach” was only twenty years old and the granddaughter of a friend. Rosa had held her when she was a baby and that didn’t seem all that long ago.
Rosa opened the door, but instead of getting out she turned to Vanessa. “Maybe instead of you dropping me off, I should drive you to the accountant’s office and make sure you get inside safely.”
Vanessa took a deep breath and squeezed the steering wheel as tight as she could before releasing it. It was a tension-relieving technique she’d learned years ago and at the moment it was helping a little.
She understood the concern behind Rosa’s offer, but having her loved ones hover just made her feel more anxious. Of course she was afraid. Every time she’d glanced at the truck’s mirrors on the drive over she’d seen the dark purple bruises. A reminder that if Levi hadn’t shown up when he had, her night could have had a far worse ending.
But she was determined not to let fear paralyze her. She’d seen what had happened to her mother after her father’s death. And again, after her mom had married a man whose attitude and behavior were poisonous.
Vanessa did pro bono legal work for women living in a shelter in Las Vegas. And as so often happens, in helping others she’d received more than she’d given away. Among other things, she’d heard counselors talk to the women about being cautious and safe, but also about doing their best to not let anxiety torment them and create a stronghold in their minds.
Vanessa was not going to let some idiot with a hammer torment her. She was not going to let some violent jerk control her the way her stepfather had controlled her mother.
She would be cautious. Smart. Reasonable.
“I’ll be fine,” she said to Rosa, managing to keep her tone light and easy. “I’m going to the accountant’s office and then by the library. And the police station is smack in the middle of town so it’s close to both places. Everything will be fine. Now, you get in there and learn something about the exciting world of online reservations processing.”
Rosa hesitated for a few seconds before finally nodding in agreement and exiting.
Vanessa steered the truck back onto the road, drove a couple of blocks over and found an open spot where she