A Nose for Justice Read Free Page A

overlooking the wraparound porch. “More is coming.”
    Jeep turned to look. “The weatherman said two days of snow, maybe a foot and a half or more should fall in the city. That means two or more here.”
    “Where’s Enrique?” Mags asked once she’d eaten a bit. She hadn’t realized how lightheaded she’d become.
    “The old barn,” Aunt Jeep answered. “I’ve said ever since I bought this place that I’d take it down to the beams and then build it back like the original. Well, it’s only taken me fifty-three years. Always one thing or another.”
    “That will be beautiful. You’ve sent me the photographs. I was very impressed you used a computer.”
    Jeep waved off the compliment. “People knew how to build back then. They built to last. For generations. Those hand-hewn beams get me every time I look at them. This ranch’s original owners did an incredible job. I can just imagine Ralph Ford and his brother, Michael, one in the pit, one on top, sawing through those huge tree trunks.”
    “Where’d the Ford brothers ever get the trees?”
    While various pines flourished in some spots in Nevada, not much else did.
    “Brought ’em over from California by wagon.” She shifted in her seat. “In a way, it’s my duty to bring the barn back to its origins. I owe it to the Ford brothers. Too much Nevada history has been bulldozed, burned, or smashed to bits.” She paused. “Bad as we’ve been out here, nothing’s touched the day Penn Station was destroyed in Manhattan.”
    “Oh, I bet if there had been a Penn Station around here someone would have said the land beneath it’s too valuable, let’s tear it down and put up a great big ugly box,” Mags critically commented.
    “No. Not anymore. We’ve all awakened on that subject. At least, I hope we have.” After a spoonful of the thick porridge, Jeep turned to Carlotta. “Perfect for a wicked cold day.”
    Carlotta smiled. “Thank you.”
    “Nobody cooks as good as you.” Mags meant it, having tired of food considered as art.
    Carlotta waved her be-ringed hand. “Poof.”
    A rumble stopped their chat.
    King barked.
“Trouble.”
    Baxter lifted his head from his plate. He’d never before heard such a sound. He specialized in ambulance and fire sirens.
    “If those damned kids blow up my mailbox again, I’m getting out the shotgun.” Jeep slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and rushed to the windows at the front of the house.
    A brief gap in the snowfall revealed a black spiral of smoke, far from her mailbox, perhaps three miles to the northwest.
    Then, just as fast, the snow closed over it.
    Jeep scampered back to the kitchen in a rush, her footfalls reverberating on the old wooden floors. She preferred a landline to her cell since reception was spotty in Red Rock Valley. Wings Ranch sat in one of those spots.
    From the kitchen’s wall phone, Jeep called the Sheriff’s Department.
    “Lisa.”
    “Yes, Miss Reed.”
    “Get me Pete.” Everyone knew Jeep. Everyone would take her call.
    Mags listened intently, transfixed by the abrupt change—Aunt Jeep was suddenly a WASP, Women Airforce Service Pilot.
    Lisa patched her through. Pete’s deep voice came over the receiver.
    “Pete, there’s been an explosion, saw black smoke. I think it’s the pump just north of here off Red Rock Road.”
    He inhaled sharply. “Smart of them. This storm will cost us time. Too much time.”
    “Bastards!”

CHAPTER TWO

    “J esus Christ.” Lonnie Parrish grabbed the handle above the passenger door of the SUV squad car.
    “You’d rather have Him driving the car?” Deputy Peter Meadows quipped to his partner.
    “Well, I’ve seen you do some incredible things, but you ain’t yet walked on water.”
    “Yet.”
    Red Rock Road bore evidence of the sudden fury of the blizzard. The hard surface was slick as a cue ball—same color, too. A number of two-wheel-drive cars had slid off the road while the four-wheel ones crept along. Seeing the cops’