Free A Rendezvous to Die For by Betty McMahon Page B

simply
giving him time to deal with the tragedy of the situation. I want him
to know he has my support.”
    My mind shifted into high gear.
“Mr. Lansing—Willis—would you consider allowing me to accompany
you on your visit to Marty, when you’re ready? I’d like to go to
Marty’s house, but . . . you know, I’d like someone with me.”
    Lansing threw back his head and
laughed aloud. “Oh, Cassandra, Marty is not a dangerous person. But
if it will make you feel better, I will do that for you.”
    “ Thank you,” I said,
breathing a sigh of relief. We exchanged cell phone numbers.
    “ And how about you?” Lansing
stroked his jaw and peered more closely at me through narrowed eyes.
“This has been a frightful ordeal for you as well, has it not?”
    I nodded. “Yes, well—”
    “ You, too, will soon be
exonerated. You must practice patience. Were you able to take some
good photographs of the event, before the unfortunate incident ruined
it for you?”
    I nodded again. “Fortunately,
yes. They were confiscated by the sheriff, but my attorney was able
to negotiate their return just this afternoon. I’ve only had a few
minutes to go over them, but I’m pleased with many.”
    Our attention was drawn to the
pounding of hoof beats from the other end of the arena and the
shouting of the young people in one loud cacophony. I broke into a
run along the fence to see what was happening. Without warning, a
calf bolted by me and headed straight for the open pasture beyond the
arena. Behind it, following every move the calf made, cowboy Jack
Gardner rode to the rescue.
    Jack twirled a rope above his
head, while I snapped away. Finally, I’d have some action shots. As
the horse closed in on the running calf, Jack’s lasso sailed into
the air and slid over the calf’s neck. Jack’s horse came to an
instantaneous stop. The action tautened the rope and the calf toppled
into the grass and then scrambled to its feet and stood waiting. Jack
towed the subdued animal safely back to the arena. I gave him a
thumbs-up as he passed by and had to grin at the expressions on his
students’ faces as they cheered. They were probably dreaming of the
day they could repeat the action and with the same degree of skill.
    I turned to resume my
conversation with Lansing, but he had left the scene. I filed away
his comments about Marty and congratulated myself for enlisting yet
another ally in my quest to learn more about my landlord.
    When
the young cowboys and cowgirls had loaded up their horses and the
last trailer had lumbered down the road, I set out to find Jack. He
was in the tack room, putting away the last of the ropes, saddles,
and bridles. “I got some good shots, but the best were of you,” I
said. “Your students are rather green in calf cutting.”
    He grinned. “Yeah, well, you
work with what you’ve got. We’re a long way from Texas up here.
Nary a real ranch in sight. They’re all caught up in the idea of
playing cowboy though. They want to call it a cutting clinic. I let
them get away with it.”
    “ Nice roping anyway.”
    “ You liked that, did you?” He
looped his arm around my shoulders. “So you got some good pictures
of me. To decorate your walls, I suppose.”
    “ I doubt it,” I said. “Maybe
I’ll do a feature on you for Texas
Monthly . A Minnesota
cowboy. They’ll eat it up.” I squirmed out from under his arm. “I
really came to tell you about my meeting with Randy today.”
    “ What do you
suppose that was all about?” he asked, when I told him about Marty
pulling back the tarp from the victims’ faces.
    “ Not sure. Unless
it has something to do with his lost wife and child.”
    “ Where do you go
from here?”
    I sighed wearily.
“Not sure. I’ve never done this before.”
    “ Why not talk to
Randy again? Maybe he can give you some new leads, now that he trusts
you. I know he’s home today.”
    “ Getting
him to talk at all is like pulling teeth from a bunny rabbit, he’s
so dang shy,