Page 56 of Deadly Evidence
Or spend hours on difficult calvings and come home covered with mud, blood, and amniotic fluids, and need to hose themselves off in the yard before even coming into the house.
And they certainly wouldn’t have callused hands and a .30-06 rifle close at hand. She was probably the least feminine and interesting woman he’d ever met.
“I already care for you too much.” Brady frowned, searching her face. “But I’m only here on assignment. I couldn’t start something now, no matter what I wanted. And,” he added, his voice hoarse, “I’m just not a good bet. For you or anyone else.”
“But—”
“No. You need someone you can count on. Someone worth staying with, no matter what happens. And that guy just isn’t me.”
His eyes filled with such deep sadness that she wanted to know more and wished she could ease his pain.
But he just shook his head and released her hands. “Good night, Anna.”
And then he turned and walked away.
Balancing the cardboard box on her knee with one hand, Lacey fumbled with the slippery doorknob as rain pelted the back of her neck.
Rain was rare. It was precious. But right now, it was seeping through the loosely closed flaps of the box and maybe getting the contents wet, and that was not a good thing.
Suddenly the door swung open wide and she stumbled inside, and found herself face-to-face with Mia.
“I thought I heard something down here,” she said. “Here—can I take that for you?”
Lacey handed the box to her and went outside to retrieve the guitar case she’d leaned against the door.
Back inside, she braced a hand against the wall to kick off her Western boots. “It wasn’t easy, getting that home on the school bus. On Fridays the kids are all hyper, and everyone kept wanting to see what I was carrying. Kip even tried to grab the box. He issucha creep.”
“What’s in there?” Mia lifted a corner of one flap to peek inside.
“Stuff for the treasure hunt. Vicente isn’t around, is he? I...um...need to get some of it put away, quick.”
Mia glanced at the clock on the wall. “He’s feeling a little better and said he was tired of just sitting around. He went to town for some groceries after lunch, so he should be home pretty soon. What do you have there?”
“We were supposed to bring examples of our heritage to school because we had this big unit on pioneers.”
“Cool. So what did you find?”
“Mom found some photo albums, and there were some really old draft horse bits hanging out in the barn, so I used those.” Lacey opened the top of the box and reached inside. “I went out to the storeroom and found some other old stuff, too. Look at this—isn’t it awesome?”
She lifted out a bundle of water-stained silk and brittle lace, and unfolded it on the kitchen table.
“Oh,” Mia breathed. She ran a hand over the hundreds of tiny pearl buttons sewn from the top of the dress to the bottom hem. Almost invisible hand stitching caught the bodice into intricatetucks. “It’s so pretty. I think it must have been a wedding dress, don’t you?”
“That’s what Miss Ventura said. But even better—” Lacey reached for the battered guitar case and set it on the table. “Look at this!”
She lifted the rusted hasps and opened the lid, revealing an old classical guitar—its gleaming, deep russet surface a rich contrast to the dusty black velvet lining of the case.
Mia sucked in a sharp breath. “Wow. That was out in thebarn?” She reached out with reverent fingers and stroked the glass-smooth surface. “I don’t know much about old guitars, but I bet this one is special!”
“My teacher said you can’t play old strings like that—it needs new ones to sound good. She tightened them up, though, so we could hear what it sounded like. She played some easy songs, too.”
Leaning over, Mia searched for a label. “It’s...” She squinted at the faded words. “A Paulino Berna-something, I think. Is that good?”
Lacey shrugged. “Sure looks like it. But if it’s worth a lot, why would Vicente leave it out in the barn?”
“No idea.” Mia frowned at her. “Does he know you have it?”
Fidgeting, Lacey plucked a guitar string. A sweet, bell-like note rang out. “I was in a hurry, and I just looked through the trunks closest to the door. I’m going to put it right back.”
