Green Calder Grass (Calder Saga 6)

Startled, Virgil demanded, “Hey, where are you goin’?” Then he grinned. “You don’t really think Buck’s hidin’ in here somewheres. The cops already searched every nook and cranny in it. But you go ahead and look.”

“I’m not looking for Buck.” Upon reaching the kitchen, Chase began going through the cupboards.

“What are you doing in there?” Puzzled and a little worried, Virgil stretched forward to peer into the kitchen.

“Checking to see what he might have taken with him in the way of supplies.”

“You’ve got no business snooping through them cupboards.” Virgil groped for his cane, found it, and struggled out of the recliner.

“He didn’t leave much for you to eat,” Chase observed.

“I don’t need much.” Virgil entered the kitchen, the cane giving his shuffling footsteps a three-beat sound. “ ’Sides, mostly we eat what’s left from the meals over at the main house. I ain’t much for cookin’ and neither is Buck.”

“It shows.” Chase closed the door on the last cupboard and made a final scan of the kitchen.

Gripping the cane with both hands, Virgil leaned his weight on it. “You aren’t gonna’ quit snooping now, are you?” he challenged. “Go ahead. Check out the rest of the rooms. Maybe you’ll find him hiding in a closet.”

“No. Buck isn’t here.”

“What makes you so sure of that?”

“Buck is a lot of things, but he isn’t a fool. As long as there is someone watching this place, he won’t try sneaking back here.” Chase paused, noting the surprise that briefly registered in the old man’s face. “You didn’t know there was a man posted outside, did you?”

“Don’t matter.” Virgil dismissed the subject with a shrug of his bony shoulders. “Like you said, Buck’s no fool. You can have people watch ’til the snow flies and they ain’t gonna see him. He’s far from here, way beyond your reach, long as it is.” He shot Chase a look of pure loathing and shifted in place, turning to head back into the living room.

“No, he’s holed up somewhere.” It was a gut feeling Chase had, and it was a strong one. “Somewhere on the Triple C. Somewhere right under my nose. That’s the way he thinks.”

Halting, Virgil pounded his cane on the floor in a fit of anger. “Why can’t you let him be? You drove him off. Ain’t that enough for you? Why do you have to hunt him down?”

“We both know why I’m doing it. So does Buck,” Chase fired back, his voice cold and hard.

Virgil looked at him with bitter resentment. “The minute he heard Ty was killed, he knew you’d be comin’ after him.”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me that you heard about it on the police scanner,” Chase guessed.

“I did,” Virgil insisted forcefully.

“And you, of course, t

old Buck. But that’s not to say he didn’t already know about it.” He watched the old man closely and got his answer when Virgil had difficulty meeting his gaze.

“Grief, that’s all you Calders have been to my family,” Virgil grumbled and shuffled into the living room. “It’s past time you had some grief of your own.”

During the long drive back to the Triple C headquarters, Chase made a mental list of anyplace on the ranch that might afford Buck an out-of-the-way hiding place, both the obvious and the not-so-obvious ones. The size of the ranch made for a long list.

The doors of The Homestead opened to a steady stream of callers that evening as townspeople and neighboring ranchers stopped by to express their sympathy. It was close to eleven o’clock before the last one left and the family had the house to themselves once more.

With the silence pressing on him from all sides, Chase retreated to the den. Aware that sleep would be a long time coming to him this night, he went through the telephone messages that had come in for him. The stack was a tall one. About halfway through them, he became conscious that he was being watched. Glancing up, he saw Jessy in the doorway.

“Turning in?” he asked.

“Soon.” She ran her gaze over the fireplace. “Every time I go by this door, I keep expecting to see Ty standing by the fireplace. It’s always such a shock not to see him.”

“I know.” Chase rarely looked in its direction.

“Sorry.” Jessy knew it was not the way of the Calders to talk about the loved ones they had lost. Tonight it had been unavoidable.

“I understand.”