“Yes, Ann only moved them to their own stalls, and she didn’t want to introduce them to the horses over at the track until Myrna returned. They’re out in the pasture with the others, and there haven’t been any problems.”
“Thanks, Manny,” Pedro said, and started forward. By the time he had the trailer backed in at the bunktel, he looked at her with a heavy sigh.
“What?”
“Now we have to unload.”
“Yeah,” she said with her own sigh and wrinkled her nose. “Then we’re going to have to go to town and pick up groceries.”
“Shit, I forgot about that.” He opened the door and climbed slowly out of his truck. Myrna met him at the back of the trailer and watched as he unlocked it. By the time it was opened, twenty people approached them, and they realized it was people that worked at Broken.
“Need help?” Shay asked as she led the men. In less than an hour, the trailer was emptied, and everything was taken into the bunktel. Shay even drove the truck away to go park the trailer, and when he returned, he walked in ahead of Robert. Both men had their arms full of grocery bags.
“What the hell?” Myrna asked.
“I knew you would forget about the groceries,” Robert said. “I stopped in Fool’s Gold and picked up groceries.” He laughed at their expressions. “I’m going to have to do this when I get back to my home. I do it all the time when I’m called out on assignment. It’s a pain in the ass, but it has to be done.” He laughed. “Why do you think I cook in batches and fill my freezer?”
“Thank you, but I want the receipt,” Pedro said, and pulled out his wallet. His look brooked no argument, and the bill was quickly settled. After the guys from Broken left, the three of them sat at the table with cold water, and exhausted bodies.
“What now?” Myrna asked again, and felt like that was all she’d been asking for the last three days.
“As we discussed earlier, I’ll stay the night, then head back to Denver in the morning. I’ll coordinate with Manchester and whomever they have at the front of New Double. You two get on with your life. I know it’s going to be hard to do, but try not to think about what we will be doing. If all goes according to plan, then the next time you hear from one of us, meaning SSA Wilson, Agent Gregory, or myself, then it should be able to let you know what we found.”
“What about when Lela calls me about my house? Will she be able to give us any updates?”
“If she has them. We’re not keeping you in the dark, Myrna. We thought by taking you back homesomeone would come after you, and we could get to the bottom of things. However, we had no idea what direction we were going in when we left here. Now we have several things to investigate, and it’s not like you see on TV.”
“What’s that mean?” Pedro asked as he settled back in his chair after making a pot of coffee.
“On TV, the investigation takes up the allotted time of the show. They get everything done in an hour. I’ve been on cases where it’s lasted days, and weeks, sometimes months. However, we got our guy at the end, and they are still in jail. We will investigate every avenue, twist, and turn until there will be no stone left unturned. The only thing you can do is live your life to the fullest, and leave the heavy lifting to us.”
“You’ll let her know if and when she needs to go to court to testify?”
“Absolutely.” Robert rose to fill a cup of the coffee that finished brewing, and turned to them. “As I said, someone will keep you abreast of the situation.”
“I don’t mean to sound cold, but could you do it after seven at night?” Myrna asked. At his frown, she elaborated. “If we are to live our live normally, then I get up at five, work from six-thirty to five or six at night. Come home, shower, eat, then relax. I don’t want to be upset by something you found out while working with the horses.”
“Oh, yeah, absolutely, I’ll make sure everyoneknows that. Does Lela know about the real estate agents?”
“No, I forgot to tell her.”
“I will.” He nodded and Pedro gave him the tour of the bunktel, and Robert took one of the rooms on the other side where Pedro had been. Instead of unpacking what they had brought, Pedro brought all of his things over to Myrna’s side, and settled into her room. By the time they went to bed that night, they were all exhausted, and fell asleep in seconds after climbing into bed.
The next morning, Myrna was cooking breakfast when both men appeared, and Robert put his bag over by the door. They ate in silence, cleaned up, and Myrna and Pedro got ready to head to the barn, while Robert gave them last-minute instructions on doing everything normal.
“Call me if you need anything, or remember anything,” Robert said from beside his vehicle. “If we learn anything, we’ll reach out to you.”
“Thank you, Robert,” Myrna said, and reached in to hug him, while Pedro shook his hand. After he left, they looked at each other, sighed, and climbed into his truck to drive over to the barn to start work.
A couple of weeks later,Cole asked them if they would like to move into one of the cabins, not thatthey couldn’t stay in the bunktel, but he had heard from a couple of guys that would be starting soon, and thought they would like the bunktel, and not a cabin. They agreed, and after work, one load of their stuff was taken to the cabin that was closest to Shay and Faith. In a week’s time, they were settled in, and living their life like Myrna didn’t have anything hanging over her head.
CHAPTER 20
Two months later,Pedro and Myrna were relaxing on their front porch with a cool drink, enjoying their Sunday afternoon when a car came down the driveway slowly. Pedro immediately looked at Myrna, who jumped to her feet and hurried inside. Pedro had stopped wearing his gun a week after they had returned from her home and were safe. He rushed to their bedroom, and returned while strapping the gun onto his side, and looked at her.
“I’ll stay,” Myrna murmured, and stood behind the door when Pedro stepped back out onto the porch. In less than a minute, he opened the door and stuck his head in.
“It’s okay, it’s Ilsa.”
