“I’ll go pack a few things while Wilson puts away the groceries.”
Ella explained to Jake that the restaurant was only open for reserved private dinners on request and closed on Mondays, so she called the handful of employees who worked at Caddo Country and explained that she’d decided since they didn’t have any bookings till later this month, she was shutting down the kitchen for a break before the holidays.
Jake knew the excuse she’d concocted would have to be enough for now, but word got out quick in the country and people would be asking questions. No matter the excuse, this had to be done and now. Each minute they wasted was another minute his daughter was in danger. Closing his eyes to the horror playing out in his head, Jake said his own prayer again.
After seeing her grandparents off, Ella turned back to Jake and he watched as she braced herself for what was to come.
“Let’s go,” she said. Then she hurried out the door before he could tell her to run, just run.
He followed behind her. “Ella, I...I should never have come here. I panicked and I’m sorry.”
“You did the right thing,” Ella replied, her backbone as straight as a carpenter’s level. “What else could you do? He’s obviously here and he wants another go at me. Now let’s get on with things.”
Too late for him to stop her. Jake figured she wouldn’t back down now, no matter how scared she was. But if anything happened to her, the guilt that swirled inside his gut would become an even heavier burden on his heart.
He’d have to do his best not only to save his daughter, but this time he needed to keep Ella safe, too.
* * *
Ella was headed to her old, beat-up pickup when Jake stopped her. “Let’s take mine.”
Frowning, she turned to his vehicle. “Don’t like my driving?”
“I’d feel better taking my truck.”
Ella didn’t believe that but she followed him to his vehicle. She tossed her rucksack in the jump seat but held her rifle close. “Do you think he’s watching my house, Jake? That maybe he’s put something in my truck?”
Jake nodded. “He has to know you’re here. He wanted me to come to you and I played right into his hands. I should get you to a safe place and take care of this myself.”
“Don’t go doubting yourself now,” she said, her hand on his arm. The touch of her fingers on his skin singed her enough to make her draw back. “I want to help. I need to help.”
She pointed at her old Chevy. “Let’s check a few spots around here before we go off on a wild goose chase.”
Jake couldn’t argue with that. Her truck didn’t have any hidden notes or clues. It might be old, but Ella kept it clean as a whistle. Next, they checked the barn, making sure all the animals were accounted for. Again, clean and tidy and without any sinister reminders.
“I didn’t think about tending the stock,” Ella said as they walked around the fenced corrals. “Maybe I can call a neighbor to help with that.”
After they’d done a quick check on the perimeters of the yard and barn area, he glanced at the restaurant. “So today’s Monday. It’s closed?”
“Yes.” Ella started that way. “I haven’t even been there to check on things today.” She held her rifle down and did a visual of the yard and woods.
Jake followed her with his own rifle, his gaze taking in the lighted garden path leading to a huge square pavilion-type gazebo surrounded by tall pines and bald cypress trees. It was screened in but he could see an enormous fireplace at the front of the big open building and a long wooden table with high-backed chairs centered in the space in front of the fireplace. The whole place was gussied up for a cozy Christmas. A wooden sign over the double screen doors stated, Welcome to Caddo Country.
Rustic, beautiful and isolated.
He took a long look at the nearby woods, noticing paths down to a wooden dock out over Caddo Lake.
“So...you opened a restaurant?”
Ella did the same visual, her eyes moving over the trees and then to the woods that lifted away from the shoreline.
“Yep, sorta. We cater to parties up to fifty at a time, but we like doing small groups to make it more intimate.” She shrugged. “More of a meal for friends who pay than a real restaurant.”
Jake gave a surprised grunt. “Never figured you for a gardener or a cook.”
Her left eyebrow lifted in a graceful curve. “Because you always saw me as too ambitious to boil water?”
Jake couldn’t deny it. “Yeah, maybe. What made you start doing this kind of thing?”
She got over her defensive stance pretty fast. “It happened by chance. I saw a news report about how big produce companies out in California have started doing what they call farm-to-table dinners. I tried a couple and it worked out pretty good so we expanded and now we work most of the spring and summer. Taper off a bit in the fall and winter unless it’s a special request. We’ve got some holiday dinners planned and I’m scheduled for an open house during the upcoming Christmas Festival.”
They both checked the surrounding woods and the lake again, then Jake asked a few more questions. “So it’s not a 24/7 type place? More exclusive?”
She nodded. “We cook our guests a meal that comes straight off the land. The meat, the vegetables, the bread. Even the butter, cheeses and eggs. It’s a real, home-cooked organic dinner and it makes people appreciate farming and growing food a whole lot more.”
Impressed, Jake said, “Sounds like a lot of work.”
“It is,” she said over her shoulder when they reached the double wooden-faced screen doors. Pulling out a key she unlocked the bolt. “I don’t know why I lock it. Anyone could cut through these screens even if they are heavy-duty weight.”
“Any alarms?” Jake asked, quiet now.
“Just Zip’s barking. But we do have floodlights at night and we really don’t keep anything out here but cooking utensils and dishes. We have an outdoor kitchen behind the fireplace and a storage freezer back up the hill.”
She pointed to a covered catwalk from the storage freezer to the open-air kitchen tucked behind the fireplace.
Jake followed her inside the wide square structure, the scents of fresh evergreen branches merging with something that smelled like cinnamon and apple pie. The big candles lining the mantel, maybe?
“Pretty place.” He could see how patrons would be drawn to this spot. Homey and inviting, it boasted gleaming wooden beams and arches with heavy wooden supports between the screens. The windows provided a perfect view of the lake from every corner.
“My grandpa helped me design and build it,” she said on a soft tone. “I used the life insurance money I got...after my parents passed. Took us over a year to get everything together but we’ve had a successful couple of seasons. As I explained, we do winter meals on request, but for the most part we shut down in early November
