Chapter 4

Friday arrived quickly. Tom had arraigned with the Sheriff for a few days off; someone else would cover the territory for him. Whether he went hunt with Jennings or by himself he could use the time off.

The road to the Jennings Ranch ran along the Darson River. He had driven past the place hundreds of times but had been there just the one time when he dropped Cindy off. The river was pretty high. There must have been a lot of rain up in the mountains. It wasn't raining any longer but as the water drained down the river would continue to rise for a while.

The drive was pretty and, without any other traffic on the road; I drove just under the limit enjoying the view. It gave me time to think. Did I really want to be sheriff some day or was it just the suggestion from Cindy that triggered the thought? It's true; the sheriff was getting on in years and has dropped some hints that he would be leaving office pretty soon. But if I did pursue it would she take that as an implied agreement to get closer to her? That was just too dangerous. As much as I enjoyed the sex with her the down side was just too great. Even if her father did not get me I could end up spending years as the 'significant other' to a Bubba somewhere.

But, on the other hand, her father could be a big help to me. He had a lot of influence in the state. Batting the idea around had brought me to close to the conclusion that I would like the challenge of being sheriff. I did have ambition and I liked the area and did not want to be just a deputy, forever at the beck and call of someone else.

Another 10 minutes went by with me waffling back and forth before I finally reached a decision that perhaps I should just call ahead and say something has come up and I have to bow out. I was looking for a spot to pull over and turn around when I turned the corner and there was the turnoff to the Jennings Ranch. A beat-up Ford pickup was parked off the road and someone was standing by the bridge I had to cross. I pulled over to see if they needed any help and found it was Dan. Well so much for bowing out.

As I got out Dan waved me over. He was standing on the bank watching the water run under the bridge. I joined him and looked down at the water. There was about two or three feet clearance under the bridge. We shook hands and he went back to watching the water run under the bridge.

I nodded towards the bridge, "Problem"?

Dan turned to me, "I don't think so. The rain has stopped. The water level will continue to rise a bit but the bridge should be fine. I had new supports put in last year. They should hold with no problem".

It was too late to back out gracefully so my decision was made for me. "Thanks for the invitation. I've been looking forward to some hunting. The dinner invitation just makes it that much better".

"Not a problem. In fact you are doing me a favor. I'm looking forward to having the company and getting to know you better. Cindy thinks a lot of you".

My heart rose a bit in my chest. What had she told him?

"I really appreciate your getting her home safely last month. She told me you got her away from that guy. I know his reputation. I appreciate what you did for her".

Thank god. If only he knew what she did for me. I was about to say my pleasure but changed it to "I'm glad I was able to help. She's seems like a nice girl".

"Thanks, I think so too. She can be a handful and has been since her mother passed. Why don't you go on up to the house and introduce yourself. My mother is up there with Cindy and there are a couple of other people: The son of an old friend of mine, someone he invited, and their wives. The men will be going with us tomorrow. They should be about ready with lunch by now".

I left him there watching the water and made my way up to the ranch. When I got there I saw he had picked a great location. The house and the surrounding buildings were on a rise overlooking a valley stretching out for several miles. The river ran by about a quarter mile away, low enough down the hill to not be a flooding problem but probably provided great fishing and swimming for the kids.

I pulled up and parked next to two pickups. They must belong to the guests Dan had mentioned. As I got out a couple of dogs came down off the porch to greet me and ask to be petted. Just as I was beginning to wonder how to escape their attention I heard the front door open and a voice yelled out, "Rufus, Butch, leave him alone and get back up here".

The dogs immediately went up onto the porch stood by the feet of the woman who had called them. She was wearing jeans and a loose blouse. The resemblance to Cindy was obvious; this had to be her grandmother, Dan's mother. She was an inch or so shorter than Cindy but other than that I could see no other differences, other than the age. Grandma was a fox.

"You must be that young deputy that brought Cindy home". She smiled at me and added, "I want to add my thanks".

"Thanks maam". That sounded so lame the only thing missing was 'Ah shucks'.

She shook her head, "Don't maam me. Call me Rachel. The others are around back. The men have quite a head start on you". She had stopped smiling at the last part. "Why don't you go around and get some food". She motioned for me to give her my rifle and bag. "I'll put them in your room for you. Now go".

She walked back into the house and I started around towards the back. When I reached the back I was once again rewarded with the view down the valley. I turned towards the sound of voices and got my second surprise; I recognized one of the heads of hair. It was Ed Franklin, one of the deputies who worked at the main sheriff's office. We were about the same age but he had a few years seniority on me and mentioned it frequently. He had a bad reputation amongst the other deputies; rumors of mistreating prisoners, getting favors from women he picked up.

I walked over and introduced myself. I found that Ed was not the son for Dan's friend. Fortunately that was Phil; who seemed like a nice guy, though fairly along on a drunk by this time. There was a tub of ice with just a few beers left in it. If I was guessing I would say the two of them had finished about half a case each by this point. Their wives were pretty good looking, much more so than Ed deserved. Cindy was there, sitting across from Phil and Ed. The two wives pulled their chairs apart and put an empty between them for me and then literally pulled me over into it.

"As my husband is not so good at introducing us, I'm Diana, Ed's wife and this is Terri, Phil's wife. Ed tells me you are new on the force; that you were in the army somewhere. Tell us all about it". Apparently the girls had consumed some of the case as she slurred a couple of words. "Wait, you need a beer. We are way ahead of you".

Before I could say anything Diana got up and grabbed a beer from the tub and brought it back. She walked in front of me and then leaned way over to hand it too me. My first guess that she was not wearing a bra was confirmed; I could now see all the way to her bellybutton. Did she realize what she was doing? I looked up, she smiled at me; yes, she was fully aware of it.

She had really long fingernails; she tapped me on the hand and said, "You'll let me know when you need something else now won't you".

I took the beer and looked away, opened it, took a sip and then set it down. I happened to look up and catch Cindy's eye. She was watching me. She no longer had that vixen look on her face. She looked like she wanted to put me on the barbeque spit. I tried to give her that 'what could I do' look but it did not help.

I sat and talked to the girls for about a half hour; answering questions about Afghanistan and army life. I noticed Ed staring at Cindy most of the time. Every so often he would lean over to Phil and whisper something and the two of them would laugh. Cindy finally got up and walked over to me. "You have not seen the house yet. Come on, I'll give you a tour".

I excused myself from the girls and Cindy and I started walking up to the house. Behind us I could hear Ed snickering. Phil did not seem too bad other than being influenced by Ed but I wanted to go back and smack Ed around some.

Once inside Cindy seemed to relax. "I cannot take that Ed. All he does is stare at my boobs and crotch".

I knew how he felt. I had a tough time not staring at them myself. "Why did your father invite him"?

"He didn't. He invited you and Phil. Phil invited Ed without asking. What could Dad say when he showed up. He's always hinting to Dad that he wants to be the sheriff"?

"That would be a disaster".

"I know. That's going to be your job". She gave me a push, "Now let's see the house".

We walked around the ground floor. It was a huge house. You could have ten kids and still lose them in this place. In the kitchen we met Rachel again. She was prepping for dinner. "This is my grandma".

"We've met. Hello again m ... Rachel".

Rachel smiled at me, "Good catch". Then she turned to Cindy, "Have you seen Samuel? I've been looking for him but he seems to have vanished. Must know there is work to do"?

Cindy shook her head, "I'm going to show Tom the rest of the house. I'll show him which bedroom he has for the night".

Rachel just nodded and went back to work as Cindy took my hand and pulled me out of the room. She showed me a huge game room, dominated on one side by a pool table and the other by a wide-screen TV mounted on the wall with three sofas arranged in front of it. Once we were inside I asked, "Who is Samuel"?

Cindy laughed lightly, "That's grandma's main squeeze. She thinks we wouldn't approve so she tries to hide the relationship. He is a bit younger than her by around ten or fifteen years. She thinks I don't know he comes up to her room at night and sometimes she sneaks out to his in the bunkhouse".

I shrugged, "Whatever makes her happy".

She dug me in the ribs, "That's what I keep trying to tell you".

We went up the stairs and stopped. "These first two rooms on the left are for Phil and Ed and their wives. This first one on the right is mine. The one next two me is yours and the one at the end of the hall is Dad's. The rooms you guys are staying in are really my brother's rooms but they all went to the State Fair". Grandma is down that hall to the right with some other empty bedrooms.

Cindy pulled me down to what was to be my room, "Take a look". She opened the door and pulled me inside and pushed the door closed. "I've had Ed looking at my body for the last two hours. I feel dirty. I want someone to look at me that will make me feel good again". She reached down and pulled her t-shirt up over her head then grabbed the front of her bra. When she moved her hand the bra fell away. "Front-loaders are handy".

Her breasts pointed out at me. No fifteen year-old should look this good. But I knew where I was. "You said you would behave if I came out here. Your father or grandmother could walk in any minute".

"I didn't say I would behave. I said I'd be good". Cindy stepped up to me and rubbed her chest back and forth against me. I could feel her erect nipples though my shirt. "Don't you think this is good"?

I put my hands on her breasts just for a moment; she was so tempting, they felt so good, but I knew where I was. I pushed her back. "Put your clothes back on. I'm serious. If you don't behave I'll make my excuses and leave".

Cindy gave me a fake pouting look and began to put her bra back on. She picked up her t-shirt and as she pulled it over her head she said, "Well, you know what you're missing".

I did indeed; the business end of a shotgun, a cellmate named bubba, but I also knew I was going to miss those two slender thighs wrapped around mine.

She showed me the rest of the house and we were on our way outside when Cindy's grandmother called me, "Tom, you've got a phone call". I said thanks and Cindy showed me the phone.

Bill, the sheriff, and Henry, an old family friend were the only ones who knew I was out here. I wondered what was up that needed a call.

"Hello"?

It was Bill. "Hey Bill, what's up"?

"It's probably nothing but I thought I would give you a heads up; nothing to make you change your plans. You know Linda"?

"You mean Linda Blair"?

"Yes. Her husband called a couple of hours ago. He just got home from a trip and she wasn't there. Said her car and purse are home but not her; said he called her friends and they haven't seen her today. I had him look around and he said nothing seems missing. He did say something funny though".

"What's that"?

"He said I should ask you where she might be. Now why would he say that"?

This wasn't good. "I don't know Bill. Linda and I went to school together. We dated quite a bit in high school. She flirted with me some after I got back but she was married by then; we never dated". Technically that was true, we didn't date. We fucked a lot when her husband was out of town but never dated.

"Do you want me to go out and take a look around"?

"No. You're taking a couple of vacation days; enjoy them. I've got Jim on his way over to look around. Check with him when you get back. I just figured it sounded like you knew her and might be able to shed some light on it".

We said our goodbyes and I put it out of my mind. A friend probably drove by, saw her outside and they went shopping somewhere. That's almost always how these turned out. Later, I'd find out I was partially right.

Cindy and I headed outside. Cindy wanted to avoid Ed so she gave me the tour of the other buildings around the ranch house. They had quite a stable of horses. Cindy's father had not arrived yet so we walked down to the swimming hole. The river turned wide there so it was a good place for swimming. They had put in several picnic tables and there were three or four fire pits. It looked like a good party spot during the summer months.

We sat at one of the picnic tables and Cindy told some family stories about parties they held there. Several of them included her mother. I didn't ask but it seemed like she had died when Cindy was eight or nine. The time passed quickly and it was 4:30 before we knew it. Cindy made one weak attempt to get me to go skinny-dipping with her before we headed back.

When we got back to the others we saw that Dan had joined his guests. It became obvious very quickly that he was not happy to have Ed there. They had stopped drinking but were still pretty out of it. Diana and Terri appeared to be quite sober and were flirting up a storm with Dan and added me to the mix when we returned.

The chairs were arranged roughly into two concentric circles with a large fire-pit in the center. Since Phil, Ed and their wives were on the inside with Dan, Cindy and I sat on the outside. We were not there long before Rachel came out of the house and joined us; she also sat on the outside but across from us. A few minutes later a Hispanic male joined us and was introduced around to the guests as Dan's foreman, Samuel. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. After some chitchat he went and squatted down next to Rachel. They whispered back a forth for a minute and when Rachel thought no one was looking she put her hand on his thigh. She looked up and saw me watching and removed her hand.

Samuel got up called out to Dan, "Hey boss, I'm going to go back down and check on the bridge. There are some pretty large trees floating down" and left.

Once Samuel was gone Rachel got up and announced she had some final preparations to do in the kitchen, called for Cindy to help and they left...

Dan got up and came over to sit by me. "How do you like the place"?

I looked around me, "This is nice. You have a good slice of heaven here".

Dan was about to say something when he was interrupted by Ed who was still having some difficulty talking, "Hey Dan. I've been wanting to dischcuss something with you".

Dan turned to look at him without saying anything. I took a sideways glance at Dan, I could see his jaw tighten; he was not pleased.

But Ed took no notice and continued, "You know Bill is going to be retiring soon. He's getting pretty old and slow now. I want you to know I'm interested in the job. I've got the most experience and seniority. I'm the bescht man for the job".

"Ed, I appreciate the information. But I'm not the person to talk to. You should talk to Bill. See if he'll support you". I could see he was uncomfortable and wanted to end the discussion.

Ed's mouth began to open to say something but Rachel coming out on the porch spared us, "Dan, boys, the table's set. Come on in". She turned without waiting for us to say anything.

Dan immediately got up and I followed him. If anything my mind was made up; I was interested in pursuing the sheriff position. Ed would make the worst possible choice.

Dan had a huge formal dining room that still had a homey feel to it. When I walked into the room I could see that Cindy was upset at her father about something. It took just a few seconds to find out what; the seating around the table. Dan and his mother were seated at either end of the table while I was on one side with Diana and Terri on either side of me and Cindy was across from me with Phil and Ed next to her. I was a bit surprised Dan would place her next to Ed.