think we might be newsworthy?”
“I met with a councilman from my reservation. He suggested I come out and take a look.”
“Tribal Courts have sent us a few kids since we started the program.” The hands came out of the back pockets and the arms were quickly folded up front. “We haven’t had any complaints.”
“And you still don’t.” Bella shaded her eyes with one hand so she could offer an unsquinty smile. “Councilman Wolf Track said you were doing a good job here.”
“Wolf Track? We’ve got a Wolf Track on the payroll here.” Shelly glanced toward the weathered barn as her shoulders relaxed and dropped a full two inches. “Hell of a good worker.”
“Ethan,” Bella supplied. “I went to school with him.”
“He can’t be on the Tribal Council, can he? He hasn’t been … I mean, he keeps busy around here, like, 24/7.”
“His father’s the councilman.”
“He never mentioned that. You don’t think that’s why we get … I mean, we didn’t hire Ethan as a favor to any—”
“His father didn’t know he was working here. Really, I’m not here to, um, dig up any dirt.” Recalling Ethan’s words, Bella almost smiled. “KOZY loves a feel-good story, and I thought we might find one here. Ethan has been—”
“I know where he’s been.” Shelly grabbed a chunk of hair that had strayed from her low ponytail and hooked it behind her unadorned ear. “You tell anyone who asks, Ethan Wolf Track is doing just fine. The boys really look up to him. Tell the truth, he’s quickly becoming indispensable around here.”
“I’m not here on any kind of assignment. I’ve heard only good things.” Bella followed the direction of Shelly’s gaze toward the hulking barn. Noisy swallows darted in and out the tiny doors of the clay row houses tucked under the edge of the gambrel roof. “I’m interested in the wild horse part of your program, and I thought maybe I could take a tour.” She lifted her shoulder. “And if Ethan’s around, I’d like to say hello.”
“Oh, he’s around. Dependable as they come, that guy.”
Bella smiled. “If anyone asks, I’ll relay the message.”
“I don’t know anything about Ethan’s family.” Shelly stepped down to ground level, putting them on par, height-wise. “It’s just that good help is hard to find when you’re paying in hot dogs and beans.”
“There must be other rewards,” Bella prompted.
“You get to be around wild things. Wild kids, wild horses and what’s left of wild country.” Shelly moved into the shade of a tall cottonwood, and Bella followed suit. “Wild hearts attract each other.”
“How’s yours?”
Shelly grinned. “I’m the maypole they all get to dance around. I have to crunch the numbers and find the wherewithal.”
“I like that image. This could be a good story, and KOZY isn’t the only media outlet I can access.” Bella smiled. She didn’t mind throwing her TV connection into her pitch. Most people—local people, anyway—were dazzled by it. If they had nothing to hide they eventually opened their doors. Sometimes they couldn’t resist even if they did have something to hide. Besides, everything she was saying was true. “Do you have time to show me around?”
Of course Shelly did.
She led the way with a “follow me,” and they started toward the barn. “The bunkhouse is new.” She pointed toward what might have passed for a truncated no-name roadside motel—plain white, no-frills. “Kitchen and commons area downstairs, bunks upstairs. You wanna see inside? Nobody’s there now except the cook.”
Bella shook her head. “Another time. Who paid for the improvements?”
“We qualified for a government grant and scored some private funding, as well. We get community support, too. People come in and teach whatever skills they have to offer.” Shelly glanced over her shoulder. “TV reporting must require all kinds of skills.”
“You mean, besides talking to the camera?”
“Are you kidding? You’re talking to thousands of people.”
“I don’t think of it that way,” Bella said absently as they rounded the corner of the bunkhouse and headed toward the barn.
“I’d be shaking in my boots and tripping over my tongue,” Shelly said.
“You get used to it. The scary part can be trying to get information out of people who don’t want to talk or pictures of things they don’t want you to see.”
“We tell the kids, once you find out what a relief it is to come clean, you’ll never want to—” They turned another corner and ran into an old flatbed farm truck with its hood up, one guy standing and another guy squatting next to the front tire, and one pair of boots sticking out from under the orange cab.
“Did you guys run over somebody?” Shelly called out. She glanced back at Bella and nodded toward the two faces now turned their way. “There’s your man.” She raised her voice. “You’ve got a visitor, Wolf Track.”
“You patted her down, didn’t you?” Ethan wiped his hands on a rag as he rose to his feet. “Was she packin’?”
“Packing what?” Shelly asked.
“A .38.” Grinning at Bella, he touched the brim of his straw cowboy hat in salutation. “Smith & Wesson, right?”
Bella’s eyes widened as she and Shelly approached the truck. “That was you?”
“You saw the pickup that cruised past? That was trouble.”
“You followed me?”
“Trouble followed you. I followed them.” Beneath the bent brim of his hat a smile danced in his dark eyes. “You don’t wanna tip your hand out on the street like that, Bella. Some people might find a Smith & Wesson even more tempting than a Bella Primeaux.”
She returned a level stare. “Neither one was there for the taking. As I said, I know how to use it.”
“If you really knew how to use it, you wouldn’t be giving away your advantage by broadcasting it.”
“This sounds like an interesting reunion,” Shelly injected, amused. “I’m guessing high school sweethearts.”
“No. Never.” Bella laughed. “I was a lowly underclassman when Ethan was the cock of the walk.”
“The what?” Ethan said.
“You were the captain of everything except the cheerleading squad.”
“And our little two-man history team.” He winked at her, and she wondered whether the gesture had become pure reflex. “I dropped the ball on that one. It was your leadership that got us on the A list.”
