Goodnight Moo Page 20

  “I’m sorry, Brynn. I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about. Why would I do any of that? I need to go. My mom is waiting for me.” She clicked off.

  That was that. Did she really imagine Chelsea would spill her guts? Well, she had harbored a tiny sliver of hope.

  Here she was dealing with the odd creature known as a teenage girl again. She and Tillie had gotten close. But Chelsea was a different creature altogether. Tillie was solid, knew what she wanted, even though God knows she had family problems. She had the weight of the world on her shoulders at one point and she ran away.

  Chelsea was slippery. Brynn couldn’t say if she even liked the girl. On the face of it, Chelsea was the all-American teen queen, right? Beautiful cheerleader, prom queen, and so on. When she walked into a room, all eyes glanced her way.

  Well, none of this mattered. Chelsea wasn’t going to confess. Brynn understood she’d done it. She was perplexed as to why. Maybe that’s the question she needed to focus on. They needed to find out what information was on those chips.

  Wes walked into the house. Brynn recognized his footsteps. Max was with him.

  “Brynn?”

  “In here!”

  He entered the room, looking flushed. “Did you just talk with Chelsea by any chance?”

  A tingle traveled up her spine. How did he know? “Yes, why?”

  He handed her the phone. “She Snapchatted about it.”

  “She what?” The phone screen had a picture of Chelsea with words going across the screen. “Some old lady just called me and accused me of stealing a cow collar. Really, lady? Get a life. Lol.”

  A pang of hurt tore through her. She’d get a life all right. One that started with a visit to Chelsea’s parents.

  “She’s such a bitch,” Max said. “I’m telling you something isn’t right with her.”

  “Yes, but she’s a minor. I need to be careful. I’m going to talk with her parents,” Brynn said. “In the meantime, we need to find out what’s on those computer chips.”

  Max nodded. “Agreed.”

  “We should take them to the cops,” Wes said,

  Brynn thought about it. They were so busy working on the murder case. Would they care about computer chips and her cow’s stolen collar?

  “Let’s find out what’s on it first, then go to the police,” Brynn said.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Wes said.

  Chapter 43

  “Would you like to help me wash cheese?” Brynn asked Becky.

  “Pardon?”

  “I have a cheese cellar in the basement and it’s time to wash the cheese. I think I can manage alone, but I thought you might like to help.”

  The two of them proceeded to the basement, which smelled of cheese, just the way Brynn liked it.

  As she scrubbed the rinds of the old cheese, Brynn couldn’t get Chelsea off her mind.

  “Have you heard anything about Wes’s case?” Becky asked.

  “He’s not said much.” Brynn moved on to the next cheese.

  “His dad is still here, so I’m assuming he’s not been cleared yet.”

  “I don’t understand what’s taking so long.”

  “Right?”

  “Maybe it’s because of the fair. Now it’s over, the police’ll have more time to investigate. I hear there was a lot going on this year. It’s a shame, really. It’s usually such a lovely fun event. This year? Well, it seems like it’s been cursed.”

  “That’s for sure,” Becky said.

  Brynn was almost finished with her row of cheese and wearied, which she didn’t want to admit, but she had to if she was ever going to heal. “After I’m done with the row, I’m going to lie down.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Just tired. It’s so frustrating. One minute I’m fine and . . . and the next minute I’m exhausted.”

  “That’s typical with a concussion, unfortunately.”

  “We can finish up here, later,” Brynn said as she put away her cleaning brushes. “I need my bed.”

  * * *

  Later, as Brynn drifted in and out of sleep, she heard voices downstairs. Or was she dreaming?

  Her eyes wouldn’t stay open long enough to figure it out.

  Later, she padded down the stairs and heard those same voices.

  “Look, Brynn is recovering from a concussion. I’m not sure when she’ll be down,” Wes said with force.

  “Like I said, we’ll wait,” another voice said.

  Brynn walked into the room to find Josh and Hannah sitting on her couch. Becky stood with Wes.

  “Josh? Is everything okay?”

  His face reddened. “You tell me, Brynn. What’s this nonsense I hear from my daughter?”

  “Now, Joshua—” Hannah started.

  He held up his hand to silence her. “My daughter is no thief.”

  “Okay,” Brynn said, and sat down. She looked at Wes. “Did you explain what happened?”

  Wes nodded.

  “I’ve no idea what happened to the collar or why it was put back. Any of that. But you need to stop hounding Chelsea.”

  “Wait a minute. I’ve not hounded her. I asked her once if she did it. That’s all.”

  “That’s not what I hear,” Josh muttered.

  Brynn was still half asleep but was taken aback by this side of Josh. He’d always been so polite and mannerly. Evidently, Chelsea was a sore spot.

  “She does tend to exaggerate,” his wife said.

  “She’s sixteen, for God’s sake,” he replied in her defense.

  “No offence, Josh, but sixteen-year-olds realize the difference between a lie and the truth,” Becky said. “In fact, my six-year-old knows that.”

  There was an awkward pause. Brynn was at a loss for words, humiliated and angry.

  “I’m sorry, Josh. I won’t bother her again.” It was all she could say. Though she swallowed her anger. If these were her parents and she’d been accused of something, her parents would get to the bottom of it—usually by taking the adult’s side. She had had to prove her innocence on more than one occasion. But it was clear in Josh’s eyes Chelsea could do no wrong. Was this some kind of new parenting?

  He nodded. “Fine. And I think you owe her an apology.”

  Anger traveled from the tiny bit in the center of her chest to encompass her entire body. Josh was a pillar of this community, the president of the CSA, and had been through a lot recently with accidentally killing a young man. And she was new here, didn’t want to make any enemies. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her eyes met her sister’s, and her mouth was also agape.

  “Come on,” Wes said. “Someone stole the collar off one of the cows and Chelsea had been here spending time with her. Brynn had every right to ask her if she took it.”

  “If I were you, I’d watch myself,” Josh shot back at him.

  His wife stiffened. “We should go.”

  “Good idea,” Becky said. “I’ll show you out.”

  Brynn and Wes sat in silence for a few moments. Brynn could hardly believe the attitude Josh had given Wes. She’d never have considered that of him. People surprise you, she heard Granny Rose’s voice ringing in her ears. Cows rarely do. Treat them well. Be kind to them and they will be kind to you. People? Now that’s another matter.

  Was it any wonder Brynn preferred cows to most people?

  Becky came back into the room. “I just have to say it.” Brynn and Wes looked at her.

  “What the heck?” She flailed her arms around. “Why are they sticking up for Chelsea rather than trying to figure out what her problem is? Or if she did it? Like whatever happened to real parenting?”

  “I know my dad would always stand by me. But in a situation like this . . .” He grinned. “He’d grab me by the ear and assume it was me and question me until I could convince him otherwise.”

  There was nothing worse than the disappointment in people who turned out not to be who you thought they were.

  “I don’t even want to ima
gine what my parents would’ve done,” Becky said. “Once I got in trouble at school and I was punished at home, too.”

  “So, I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to get a more clear picture of why Chelsea is so screwed up.” Wes pulled out his phone. “I’ve been trying to call Roy about our chips and there’s no answer. Maybe he’s still in jail for assaulting David Reese. I’m going to call Charlie. Let’s find out what’s on those chips. I hope it’s going to clear up some of this.”

  Chapter 44

  As Brynn drifted off to sleep that night, she made a mental note to rise early and try to work with the cows the next morning. She wasn’t certain whose turn it was—Schuyler’s, Tillie’s, or Willow’s—but she thought it would be a good time to see how much of it she could handle. Gratitude swam through her. Her friends had taken such good care of the place. Becky had taken such good care of her. It was time to try to stand on her own again. If she could.

  She thought through the events of the past few weeks. Everything had been going so smoothly. She and Wes had settled into a routine for the business. They got along so well. She hadn’t obsessed about Dan, her ex, in months. She was looking forward to the fair and the cheese contest. Then everything went to hell. Other than her friends stepping in to help, there were a few others things to be grateful for. The young man who shot Wes was in jail—swift justice. And the police knew Josh didn’t kill the other young man on purpose.

  But the person who killed Donny Iser was still at large. He had been shot point-blank with a gun registered to Wes. Why Wes? Of all people. Was racism at work here?

  Brynn shuddered beneath her quilt.

  The next morning, she rose from her bed, dressed, and headed for the barn. Tillie was finishing the milking. She turned to Brynn. “You startled me. Good morning!”

  “Good morning, Tillie. How’s it going?”

  She nodded her head. “Good.” She paused, tilting her head. “Why are you here?”

  “I want to slowly get back into the routine. You know? I’m tired of being so useless.”

  Tillie blinked. “It must be hard for you.” She lifted the milk and poured it into the container. “I heard Charlie’s coming by today to look at those chips.”

  Brynn drew in the scent of the clean barn. Home. “Yes, it should be interesting. Did he tell you about Chelsea’s parents?”

  Tillie stiffened, looked away, and looked back at Brynn. “Yeah.” She shrugged. “I don’t understand what’s going on there.” She walked over and opened the barn doors and the cows filed out into the steamy morning. Jewel stopped at the door, as if girding her loins for the heat.

  “You don’t know her well at all, right?”

  “Nah, not really,” she said, watching the cows march off into the fields. “But I do think she’s trouble. She always has been. Boys. Booze. I remember she got caught stealing jewelry or something once.”

  “Stealing doesn’t surprise me. I’m still certain she stole Jewel’s collar. Do you want to come in for breakfast?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “I don’t know what Wes is cooking up, but I bet it’s something delicious.”

  They walked together back into the house. Cool. Thank God for the AC.

  The scent of cinnamon and berries and something else filled the house. He was making more of the blackberry breakfast bread. Brynn nearly swooned.

  “Where’ve you been?” Becky asked, pulling out two loaves from the oven as Wes set the table.

  Brynn took a seat. “The barn. I want to try getting back into the swing of things. I plan on cleaning the make today.”

  Becky and Wes exchanged glances. “We’ve already cleaned it. You don’t need to worry about it,” Becky said.

  This was the second time they’ve steered her away from her make. She missed her work space. The smell of it, the touch of it, and even missed cleaning it. Cleanliness was such an important part of making cheese.

  “If you insist,” Brynn said, distracted by the blackberry breakfast bread being sliced in front of her. It was still warm and a little sloppy, but that made no difference to any of them. Brynn slathered fresh butter from her own cows onto the bread. Was she drooling? She hoped not.

  Wes poured them each a cup of coffee and sat down. “Charlie will be here at nine. I can’t wait to see what he says about those chips.”

  Tillie set her coffee cup down. “That guy knows his stuff. Brilliant.”

  Becky snorted. “Well, let’s hope so. He seems to be the only expert around for miles. I tried to find someone else and couldn’t.”

  “Well, there is Roy,” Wes said.

  Brynn picked up her coffee and drank it. So good. “In jail for assault.”

  “What were they fighting about, anyway?” Tillie asked.

  Brynn paused. “They were fighting about Chelsea. Roy told me he was worried because she didn’t show up for their date and he accused David Reese of not telling him where she was.”

  Silence permeated the room.

  Tillie swallowed her bread. Her amber eyes were as wide as saucers. “That’s gotta be one of the weirdest things I ever heard.”

  Wes smiled. “Right? Why would David Reese be aware of anything about Chelsea?”

  Brynn chilled, even as she held her hot coffee and sipped from it. “Perhaps you could find out, Wes. When Roy gets out of jail, you should ask him.”

  Wes nodded as she shoved a piece of blackberry bread into her mouth.

  “I had a crazy thought.” Becky reached for another slice. “What if it’s Charlie who’s creating all the havoc with the computers? I mean, he’s the expert. We trust him. But what if he’s sabotaging computers for the business?”

  “He’d lose his business if he was caught. It seems like a desperate thing to do. I don’t think he needs to do that. He’s busy and successful. Why would he risk it?” Wes sliced more bread.

  Brynn’s brain clouds seemed to clear for a moment. “But you might be on to something, Becky. And Wes? You said ‘desperate.’ Who’s so desperate they’d try ransom ware on most of this small community?”

  Tillie cleared her throat. “Might not be the reason. Hackers do it just for the challenge. They’re not really motivated by money.”

  “It seems awfully risky to ruin people’s lives for the thrill of it,” Becky said.

  “That’s part of the ‘fun’ of it,” Wes said, with air quotes around fun.

  Brynn glanced at the clock. She suddenly couldn’t wait for nine. She had a few observations to make. She recalled what she’d learned about figuring out whether people were telling the truth or not. And she figured it was time to practice a bit more on Charlie.

  Chapter 45

  Charlie Calloway was hunched over some contraption, flipping the little chips into it and looking over a laptop screen hooked up to the whole thing.

  “Hmmm.”

  Brynn tried to look over his shoulder, but Wes blocked her view. “What?”

  He didn’t reply, just kept clicking and watching. Wes whistled as he looked over the screen. “Holy smokes.”

  Brynn stood on her tiptoes. “What?” She tried to look around Wes. She poked him.

  “Oh, sorry, Brynn.” Wes moved out of the way.

  She squinted at the information on the screen. It didn’t make any sense to her. “What is it?”

  “It’s a list of IP addresses,” Wes said. “And their passwords.”

  “It looks like it’s everybody in about three Virginia counties,” Charlie said, looking up from his contraption. One of his eyebrows lifted. “Where did you get this again?”

  “We told you. It was in Jewel’s collar.”

  “Hunh-huh. I see. Let’s not get into why it was there.” Charlie paused. “This is valuable information. Let’s check over the next chip here and see what it has on it.” He moved some stuff around, clickety-click. He intently stared at the screen.

  “What the heck is that? Code?” Wes asked.

  “Yes. Give me a minute. Be quiet, ple
ase.”

  Wes looked at Brynn and their eyes locked. What had they stumbled on?

  Charlie mumbled.

  Brynn rolled her eyes at Wes. Why wouldn’t he just get on with it?

  “This is code for remote commands. I can’t quite tell you what it is . . . looks like . . . I don’t know. I can’t tell. But it’s definitely a code for remote commands.”

  Remote? “Could it be the remote code for a tractor?” Brynn asked.

  “It could be. I can’t say for sure because of the way it’s been designed. I’ve really not seen anything like it.”

  The room quieted. Brynn’s thoughts raced. One chip held the information for someone to hack into the community’s computers. Another held code that might have been used in a murder. God only knew what the other chip held. Brynn clenched her hands into fists. Did she want to know?

  “Next,” Wes said, breaking the silence.

  “Uh-huh,” Charlie said, clicking, moving stuff around, gazing at the screen. He eyed Brynn. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  “What? Why?” Brynn wasn’t going anywhere. This was her office, her house, and they found the chips on Jewel, who wasn’t quite her cow. But whatever.

  “If I’m right about this code, it’s going to take us to an illegal site. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

  “What? What do you mean? Adult?”

  “Porn, Brynn,” Wes said. “Do you want to be here?”

  Brynn’s face heated. “Certainly not.” She left the room and moved into the kitchen, where Becky sat drinking a cup of tea and flipping through a magazine.

  She looked up at Brynn. “What’s wrong? You look like . . . I don’t know . . . sick. Do you want some tea? I made a pot of Earl Grey.”

  Earl Grey. Brynn was comforted, albeit slightly, at the mention of her favorite tea. She sat down and her sister poured. “Why are you here and not in the office with the guys?”

  “One of the chips might have porn on it. They asked me to leave.”