Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (reading the story of the .TXT) 📕

Mary. Lucy. The barista who Mary had befriended. He tried to take a breathe, his mind racing. Hadn’t he known? He’d sensed it gut deep, as if the woman radiated evil. Why hadn’t he listened to his intuition?

“I have to go.” He disconnected and quickly dialed Mary’s cell phone number. It went straight to voice mail. “When you get this, call me at once. It’s urgent. Don’t go near Lucy. I’ll explain when I see you. I’m on my way to Big Sky now.” He hung up and called the ranch. Mary’s mother answered.

“Dana, it’s Chase. Have you seen Mary?”

“No. Chase, what’s wrong?”

“I’m on my way there. If you see or hear from Mary, keep her there. Don’t let her near Lucy, the barista at Lone Peak Perk, okay? Tell Hud. She’s not who she is pretending to be. She’s come to Montana to hurt me. I’m terrified that she will hurt Mary.” He hung up and ran out to his pickup. He could be home within the hour. But would that be soon enough?

Or was it already too late?

Chapter 18

“You haven’t touched your coffee,” Lucy said, glancing over at her as Mary drove her pickup to the ranch. Lucy had wanted to see the place and asked if they could take the back roads—unless Mary was in a hurry.

She’d taken a sip of the coffee. It had tasted bitter. Or maybe the bitter taste in her mouth had nothing to do with the coffee and more to do with what she’d seen earlier in her office—Lucy going through her things.

Now she took another sip. It wasn’t just bitter. It had a distinct chalky taste—one that she remembered only too well. Even as she thought it, though, she was arguing that she was only imagining it. Otherwise, it would mean that there’d been something in the coffee that Lucy had brought her that day that had made her deathly ill—and again today.

“My stomach is a little upset,” she said, putting the coffee cup back into the pickup’s beverage holder.

Lucy looked away, her feelings obviously hurt. “Maybe we should do this some other day. I feel like you’re not really into it.”

“No, I asked you and this is the first day you’ve had off,” Mary said, hating that she’d apparently forgotten. Worse, hating that she’d let Chase’s suspicions about Lucy get to her. Not that the woman hadn’t raised more suspicions by her actions earlier.

Lucy turned away as if watching the scenery out the window. Mary pretended to take a sip of her coffee, telling herself that after today, she would distance herself from the woman and the coffee shop—at least for a while. It wasn’t good to get too involved with a tenant, maybe especially this one.

Even the little bit of the coffee on the tip of her tongue had that chalky taste and made her want to gag. She looked over at Lucy as she settled her cup back into the pickup’s beverage holder. She’d taken the long way to the ranch for Lucy but now she regretted it, just wanting to get this trip over with.

As she slowed for a gate blocking the road, she asked, “Lucy, would you mind getting the gate?”

Without a word, the woman climbed out as soon as Mary stopped the vehicle. Easing open her door, Mary poured half of the coffee onto the ground and quietly closed her door again. Lucy pushed the gate back and stepped aside as Mary drove through and then waited for her to close it.

Would she notice the spot on the ground where the coffee had been dumped? She hoped not. She also hoped that she was wrong about the chalky taste and what might have caused it. She didn’t want to be wrong about Lucy, she thought as she watched the young woman close the gate and climb back in the truck.

Mary saw her glance at the half-empty coffee cup. Did she believe that Mary had drunk it?

Looking away again, Lucy asked, “How much farther to where you keep the horses?”

“Just over the next hill.” Mary had called ahead and asked one of the wranglers to saddle up her horse and a gentle one for Lucy. As they topped the hill, she could see two horses waiting for them tied up next to the barn. She tried to breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe Lucy had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Or maybe she had drugged Mary’s coffee and was angry that she hadn’t drunk it.

“Is everything all right?” Lucy asked. “You seem upset with me.”

Mary shot her a look. “I’m sorry. I just feel bad that I forgot about our horseback ride today. That’s all.”

“Not just your upset stomach?” the woman asked pointedly.

“That too, but I’m feeling better. There is no place I like better than the back of a horse.”

Lucy said no more as Mary parked behind the bar and they got out. She helped the woman into the saddle. After she swung up onto her mount, they headed off on a trail that would take them to the top of the mountain. Mary was already planning on cutting the horseback ride short as she led the way up the trail.

“I’m out of sorts this morning too,” Lucy said behind her. “I haven’t slept well worrying about you.”

Mary turned in her saddle to look back at her. “Worrying about me?”

“I probably shouldn’t say anything, but there is something about Chase that bothers me.”

She wanted to laugh out loud. Or at least say, There’s something about you that bothers him. Instead, she said, “There is nothing to worry about.”

“You just seem to be falling back into his arms so quickly. I heard him up in your apartment. He didn’t leave until the next morning.”

Mary felt a sliver of anger ripple through her. Chase was right about one thing. Lucy had become too involved in her life. “Lucy, that is none of your business.”

“I’m sorry, I thought we were friends.