Brett had to tell Maisey about the car with the BC plates. Tony had remembered part of the plate number--just good with numbers, he told them with a shrug--so the Sheriff had been able to run the plates and got a match. Andy was on hand in the barns when Brett got back from the Sheriff's office: Addie was with Maisey in the house, the two women were making pies and chatting about recipes.
"Spit it out Cowboy," Maisey knew the instant she saw Brett's face that it wasn't good news.
"The car belongs to Jesse Barnes."
"Luke's brother." Maisey began to roll the dough harder than she had been before, pushing the rolling pin into it, "Not any nicer than Luke was, I've got a brand on my left ankle and the inside of my right thigh from his cigarettes and a game he liked to play where he inflicted as much pain as he could before I broke. Life or death pool was his idea." She was angry rather than scared. "He didn't get charged because he wasn't one of the men at the house that day and there was no proof it was him." Addie stopped the rolling pin and Maisey realized she'd rolled the dough down to nothing. She stepped backwards, closed her eyes and took a breath, "I don't know how he found me."
"Barnes?" Tony frowned, a realization dawning, "Big family? Lots of strappling boys? Pa named Donovan?"
Maisey frowned, "Donovan is Luke's uncle--how do you know Donovan?"
"Because Bandit is Donovan's son by his second wife: James Barnes."
Maisey closed her eyes and leaned heavily against the cupboards, "And I had to go snap at him the first day I met him--he probably knew me as soon as he laid eyes on me, I wouldn't be surprised if all the Barnes' knew me by sight." She wanted to throw up. "Everything I tried to keep away from here just caught up to me."
Tony was dialing the phone already, "Hey Bandit, can you come up to the main house in about a half an hour: the contractor's are here and have some questions about some things for West Ridge, you're the senior guy as far as the association is concerned, would you mind coming up?" Tony listened, "Great, see you in 30 minutes."
Brett was dialing the phone before Tony hung up, "Sheriff? Yeah, Brett here: we just connected the dots, you should head over this way so you can question the man's cousin, turns out he works at West Ridge."
Maisey had sat down and couldn't focus. Nothing she wanted to leave behind was staying behind. It was starting to make her angry now. "Addie, you should go," Maisey told the woman, "You shouldn't be a part of this."
"A little late," she scoffed, "you and I may not have hit it off day one, but I've got your back and that means I need to see the faces of the pricks who think they're going to get to you."
The Sheriff pulled in right behind Bandit.
Tony invited Bandit and the Sheriff in the house where it was dry, "Sheriff," he introduced, "This is James--Bandit--Barnes, cousin of Jesse Barnes, the man whose car was parked at the top of the driveway last night."
"There's no contractors here is there?" Bandit asked.
"No," Maisey came out of the bedroom, "I want to hear just how quickly after I was at West Ridge you called up Donovan or Jesse? How soon did you sell me out?"
"Sell you out? You whore, you put Luke in jail; he was a good man!"
Maisey was beyond angry, "Good man? Does a good man do this?!" she whipped off her shirt without thinking about thre consequences⁸, leaving the scars and the damage visible as she continued, "Does a good man knock his pregnant wife down a flight of stairs and knowing she's bleeding lock her in a basement with fourteen men and a whip?"
Bandit paled, "Luke would never..."
"Jesse and Donovan were there." She seethed, "Donovan held a knife to my throat while Jesse whipped me over and over and over, and then they gave me to the other men. I was raped and left for dead, but Luke wasn't having any of that, no, he found himself a paramedic who fancied himself a doctor and paid him to clean me up and keep me alive." She put her shirt back on, "I had two hundred and thirty four stitches." She met Bandit's eyes and spoke softly, not flinching, "Then there was life or death pool--your cousins liked that game best: they would find all kinds of things to do to make it harder and if I missed," she lifted up the front of her shirt, to show him a patch just below her breasts, "They skinned me with a blade so hot I don't remember the skin being cut, but the heat from the metal. I once had to hold an empty tequila bottle between my thighs so they could use it as a spittoon while they took turns having me. I was so numb from being spanked with a two by four and punched in the head that I didn't know until later it wasn't my cunt they were enjoying. Luke laughed." She glared until he broke eye contact.
No one else spoke, it was the first time any of her friends had heard her speak about specific details. Brett clenched his fists, "I didn't know," Bandit thought he was going to be sick.
"That's right," she was vehement, "You were gone before any of this happened but there's no way any of it could be true. Your father, your cousins, I had to be lying. And then after I snapped at you about my dog, you just had to go running to your family that you knew where Luke's wayward wife had gone and tell them where to find me." Bandit flushed, "And just what do you think Jesse would have done if he'd have gotten in the house last night?"
Bandit paled, "I didn't know."
"You might want to check in on your momma and sister," Maisey glared, "Because if this is what your daddy would do to your cousin's wife, what do you think he's been doing to them?"
"I think that's enough," the Sheriff intervened, "Bandit, do you know where your cousin is?" Bandit shook his head, "If Jesse was here last night he's got a lot to answer for: the power company said the line was cut during the storm and trying to get through the dog door was pretty creative. I don't think you're safe at the Bogs right now Maisey."
"I'm not leaving." She said firmly. "I don't care if I have to hire a bodyguard, I'm not leaving now. I'm just starting to feel normal."
Bandit looked at the ground: could she be lying? Could Jesse and Donovan have lied to him about what happened? Could Luke really have done all those things that Maisey said? Could his father? "Can I make a call home?" his voice was small. The Sheriff nodded and put the phone on speaker "I momma, is dad home? No, I don't need to talk to him, but I need to ask you something. If it's true then he's not going to be very happy I'm asking and if it's not you're going to be very angry I'm asking," Maisey felt a little bad for the rodeo worker, "Momma does dad abuse you?" Silence on the other end of the phone, "Momma if he does start telling me how you make those sweet pickles I like so much." Tears formed in Bandit's eyes as his mother started describing how to make pickles. "Momma, I've made a terrible mistake, I told Jesse where to find Luke's ex-wife." His mother faltered in her description but kept talking about the pickles, "Jesse came and tried to hurt her momma, she just showed me what Luke and dad and Jesse did to her, I'm sorry momma, I'll find a way to get you out."
The Sheriff heard everything, "I'll send some people to pick her up, and your sister," he said, "People I can trust, but I need you to think about where your cousin went."
"He was up all night, he went back to the motel." Bandit's face was bleak, "I'm so sorry," he told the group of people, "I didn't think anyone in our family was capable of that."
"Most people wouldn't believe that of their family unless they've seen it," the Sheriff told him, "I'll go see if we can pick up Jesse at the motel, meanwhile: Brett, I suggest you get rid of that doggy door and Maisey, maybe you should think seriously about a body guard."
"She won't need one," Brett said, "I won't leave her alone again."
"We'll talk about that after," Maisey had her arms wrapped around herself while Addie hugged her shoulders, "Thank you Sheriff and please, if you need anything more from us please just let us know."
"Ma'am," he tipped his hat in Maisey and Addie's direction, "Gents," he left with the evidence he'd gathered.
"I'm fired aren't I?" Bandit twisted his cowboy hat brim in his hands.
Tony and Maisey spoke at once, "Yes" "No". Tony glared at her in surprise of her answer, "To hear you tell it," Maisey said, "Bandit is an excellent hand and knows what those steers know before they do. We can't afford for West Ridge to lose someone of that caliber because he was being loyal to his family." Men started to argue and she put her hands up, to quiet them, "I've known for a long time that it was likely one of the Barnes would track me down. It's a little sooner than I'd have liked and I'm not sure I'm going to be okay once the adrenaline is gone, but that doesn't change anything. I can't keep freaking out and shoving people away because they remind me of my past or were a part of my past." Brett and Andy looked at her in surprise, "Yeah, yeah, therapy and all that, it works, get over it." She grinned.
"What I'm trying to say is that Bandit stays. I'm not going to let you fire him for telling his dad or his cousin where to find me. I might have if I had actually been hurt but I wasn't. Bandit knows his family better than anyone else. After the shock has warn off some I imagine Mr Bandit and I will have a lot to discuss and he could be the key to my being able to breath again."
"You're sure?" Brett asked.
Bandit stared at her dumbly, "Ma'am it's more than a man could hope for when he's realized the mistake he's made."
"You'll be more use to the ranch here than being sent away to become bitter and depressed. Your mother and sister will need somewhere safe too and if he doesn't go to jail, he'll come for them too." She looked at Brett, "You've been dealing with 1 crazy person, think you can add 2 more--only until Bandit's got a place of his own for them to live in?"
Brett wasn't sure what to think, this was not what he'd expected from Maisey the day after she was attacked in her own home. "It will take some re-arranging," he nodded, "But I think Aunt Lizzy would approve."
"Any chance that either of them cooks?" Addie asked, "I've hit a point that I am hardly working at the feedlot so I can do all the cooking for West Ridge and the Bogs, I could use some help."
"They both do." Bandit was reeling, Addie grinned.
"Alright then, sounds like we have a plan: Bandit, you and Tony need to get back over to West Ridge and make sure that every man there knows what Jesse and Donovan and any other family members look like. Addie's going to need to order pies from Linda's since I destroyed the dough and I know Andy wants to do the Doctor thing and ask me if I'm sane, but then Brett and I are going to have a chat and make a plan. Travis: are you good without Brett for a few days?"
"I'm his foreman, I'd be a pretty shoddy one if I couldn't manage without him."
"Thanks Travis," Brett smiled, "I don't know how Ned and I got along without you and a crew."
"You didn't have men trying to break in your house or women from abused situations then." The foreman shrugged, "We all adapt--my aunt and my cousin were abused by my uncle, we weren't as lucky with our family: he succeeded in destroying them. They didn't die but they're locked up in mental hospitals now and he goes in and out of jail for doing it to other women. Abuse makes me sick."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Maisey told him, "I honestly don't know where I would be right now if it hadn't been for Brett that night and Ned for his kindness."
"Dead," Andy told her what he had never shared before, "You were in such rough shape that if you'd slept in your truck that night we'd have been investigating your death the next morning instead of explaining to you about broken ribs."
Maisey sucked in a breath, "And on that positive note, let's get on with what we all need to do."