Chapter 19

Robin was staring out the window when she saw Matt pull into his parking place. Her body tensed a little as she saw him climb out of the Bronco and slam the door in a manner that radiated anger.

"Uh oh…," she said in a low voice.

"What?" came the response from Avila who was checking the weather computer.

"Matt looks pissed about something," came her quiet response.

Before Avila could ask anything else, Matt came through the front doors like the proverbial 'bull in a china shop' and made a bee-line for his office.

Robin made a 'scared' face at Avila who shrugged and the two remained quiet, going back to 'looking busy' so not to suffer Matt's wrath if something was really wrong.

Matt came back out of his office several minutes later, "Avila, I'm taking the day off. I need to go up to my dad's. I've got something I need to do. I'll have my radio with me if you need to get in touch with me." His gaze shifted to Robin and then back to Avila before he turned and walked out the back door, heading towards the barn, slamming the door behind him.

Avila whistled softly, "Holy shit. I haven't seen Matt that mad in a long time. Last time he was that mad was over that fiasco with that Russian skier."

Robin got up out of her chair and walked to the back of the station to look out the window, "Looks like he's taking his horse up there. Think we should call Jesse and warn him Matt's coming?"

Avila shook his head, "Normally I'd say yes but in this case, it's obviously something that if we stick our noses in it, we might find them cut off."

The blonde Ranger watched as Matt led his white gelding out of the stable and mounted. With a kick to the ribs, the horse leapt into a trot and she followed him with her eyes until he disappeared into the trees, heading up towards Jesse's.

"Yeah, I think you're right…," came her quiet reply as she made her way back to her desk, fretting at her bottom lip, wondering what had her CO so worked up.

Jesse sat at his sewing machine, working on mending several bits of harness while Cody sat and worked on his studies. Free time was at a minimum now that 'school' was back in session for his youngest and with it being his senior year, he needed to focus to prepare for his SAT's as well as his final exams.

The weather had been unseasonably warm the last few days, making it hard on both of them to be inside but Jesse knew he had to keep Cody focused through these first few weeks of lessons until the routine of his studies was set again for the year. He cut the threads to the harness and removed it from the machine. He heard Cody shift again in his chair as a warm breeze blew through the open windows of the cabin, scented with evergreen.

"Getting hungry?" asked Jesse as he got up from his task, setting the fixed harness aside.

"A little," came the reply from the other side of the room.

"I'll make us some lunch. Finish up your worksheet and you can call it quits for a few hours," said Jesse as he moved towards the kitchen. As he went to the icebox to pull out some sliced beef from the roast a few nights before, he heard the sound of horses hooves coming up along the trail. They sounded out the rhythm of someone going from a trot to a walk and was still a ways out, the warm air carrying sound a little farther today than normal.

Setting the meat back into the ice box he went around to the front of the cabin and looked out the window. A white shape crested the ridge and then disappeared behind a hillock before reappearing again. "Matt's here," called Jesse as he moved towards the front door, hearing the scrap of Cody's chair as he stood up from the desk in anticipation of his brother coming to visit.

By the time Jesse opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch, Matt had ridden up to the railing and was sliding out of the saddle. It only took a split second for Jesse to read Matt's body language and then his face to know something was wrong. There was a tension to Matt and a slow anger burning in his eyes.

"Matt," said Jesse. "What brings you here?" He crossed his arms, leaning against the door jam, blocking Cody from leaving the cabin. For some reason he had a feeling whatever Matt's reasons for being here, it wasn't going to be good.

"Where's Cody?" came the simple question out of Matt's mouth, frustration dripping from them.

Jesse's entire body tensed. "He's here with me, studying. Why? What's going on Matt?" He had to defuse this before he let Matt anywhere near Cody. He needed information first.

"You tell me dad," came Matt's reply as he stepped up onto the porch, taking a few more steps so that he towered over his dad somewhat, allowing him to see over his head and into the cabin. His eyes met Cody's from behind his dad. "I was in town this morning and met Lisa Elliot. She accidentally let it slip that she was in town to help Cody out on his 'pet project'. When I questioned her about what that was, she suddenly clammed up and wouldn't tell me anything further saying that if I didn't know anything about it then she couldn't break client confidentiality." Matt's hands flexed a little bit. "So you tell me. What's Cody been up to that's got a big time lawyer like Lisa Elliot coming up to Tahoe to help him with?"

Jesse blinked at this news and his whole body went tense. From the corner of his eye he caught the slight cringe from Cody and knew Cody was involved in something and he hadn't bothered to tell anyone else about.

"Well son, seeing as I don't happen to know what this project is either, I can only assume that it must not be anything too life-threatening or we'd have known about it by now. Why don't you rub down your horse and come inside. We'll talk about this and see what Cody has to say." Jesse suddenly wanted answers to this mystery as well but he knew that ganging up on Cody would get them nowhere other than stubborn-headed silence. Besides, he still needed to defuse Matt's anger and get him to calm down before he came inside.

Matt ground his teeth, looked over Jesse's shoulder at Cody and then down at his dad. "Fine, but you better have some answers for me Cody…," Matt called out to his brother as he turned and made his way back over to his horse, grabbing the reins and headed towards the barn with him.

Jesse watched Matt for a moment and then turned, his eyes looking at his youngest warily. "I don't know what you've been up to Cody but there had better be a very good explanation for this."

His youngest paled a little and swallowed nervously but gave no indication as to what this was all about.

Cody sat on the edge of the couch while Jesse sat in the chair opposite him and Matt leaned against the fireplace mantle, his arms crossed in a defensive posture. Oh, this wasn't going to go well, he could just feel it in his rolling guts.

"So tell me Cody. Why would a high priced lawyer like Lisa Elliot be here in Tahoe, helping you out?" These were the first words out of Matt's mouth since he'd entered the cabin.

"Because I called and asked her to help," replied Cody after he'd swallowed. He loved his brother but he hated the feeling like he was being interrogated.

"And just why would you need her help? What is this pet project she jokingly mentioned to me about at the gas station this morning?" asked Matt as he shifted to fully face Cody, his green eyes flashing with a bit of anger.

Cody did his best to meet those green eyes with his blue ones. He couldn't tell Matt. Clara hadn't given him permission to tell anyone but Lisa. "Because someone needed help," came his reply. He had to stall and find a way to say things without really 'saying' them.

"Who needs her help?" snapped Matt, his shoulders bunching a little.

"I can't tell you that. I wasn't given permission to tell anyone but Lisa," said Cody as he shifted, trying not to flinch under the onslaught of that stare.

"How are you planning on paying her for her help?" asked Matt, a little gruffer perhaps than he'd planned.

Now Cody was on a little more solid ground here, "I'm not paying her. I was just the go-between. Someone needed help. I knew someone who could help and I made the connection between the two. That's all."

Matt turned a little and paced away then came back to where he'd been, "WHO needed help and why? She's a criminal defense lawyer. Is there a murderer or someone accused of doing something illegal hiding out here in the mountains that I need to know about?"

Cody shook his head, "Just because she's a criminal defense lawyer doesn't mean that's the only kinds of cases she takes. And no, there's no one hiding out here that's done anything illegal." Cody felt himself tense up just a little. He was managing OK right now. He had yet to give anything away but Matt was getting more worked up and he was pushing harder for answers. He silently prayed Matt wouldn't put two and two together and get Clara.

Matt was silent for awhile. "It's Clara isn't it," came Matt's words finally after the silence had stretched on for several minutes. "She's the only one you know up here other than Aaron and Bill. And I know neither one of them are in need of a lawyer much less would accept the help of one. You've practically spent half your summer with her."

Cody felt his stomach clench as his heart nearly slammed to a stop. Matt had guessed but how could he keep from giving it away that his guess was right. He shrugged, "I can't tell you who it is Matt. Like I said, I wasn't given permission to tell anyone but Lisa."

Matt ground his teeth. "How is it that you seem to know so much more about her than anyone else, huh? Why will Clara open up to you and not me?" The words were obviously out of Matt's mouth before he could stop them. His face burned red with embarrassment and frustration.

Cody could only stare at his brother, knowing somehow he'd given the answer away. He then began wondering what had been going on between Matt and Clara lately. Did he just see Matt become jealous over the fact that Cody knew more about Clara than he did? Didn't Matt know that Clara only talked about Matt when Cody was around? It was Cody's turn to flush. Of course he didn't. Cody never told Matt that and now it might be too late.

Cody shook his head as if in denial but Matt only slammed his hand down on the fireplace mantle and stormed out of the cabin, heading to the barn.

"MATT!" yelled Cody as he tried to jump up off the couch to follow after him.

"Let him go son. Nothing you say now is going to stop him," came Jesse's quiet voice. "But you do have some explaining to do to me."

Jesse remained silent, watching the exchange between his two sons. Silently, he was a bit proud about how Cody was standing up to Matt and in a way that was answering Matt's questions and yet wasn't betraying the confidences that had been bestowed upon his youngest by someone who trusted him.

Jesse had been watching Cody when Matt had guessed that it was Clara and saw the slight shift in his body and his iris's contract in fear. His law enforcement instincts picked up on the subtle hints that were so ingrained in him, even after all these years, to know when someone had just realized they'd been caught hiding something, that something had hit close to the mark. Jesse knew Matt had seen it too. It was all the proof Matt had needed to know he'd hit the mark.

When Matt had slammed his fist down and stormed off, he'd seen the panic in Cody's eyes. It was a panic born out for Matt and for Clara. The two people Jesse knew he cared about and perhaps hoped to see together one of these days were about to have a confrontation that might be the end of everything.

Getting his youngest son's attention, he had to do the hardest thing and tell him to let Matt go. Matt was a grown man and had to make his own choices and decisions. If Clara was hiding something than it was by her choice, her decision and she had to live with the consequences. She had asked Cody to cover for her and he did, but at what price? She could have been honest with Matt and none of this would have happened. On the flip side, Matt could have let Clara be Clara and trusted her to come to him when the time was right and explain everything but things were out of hand now and one way or another it would come to a head on its own.

When Cody turned his blue eyes to look a Jesse, he saw the fear and pain in them. "But…," came Cody's response.

"Sit down Cody. I need some answers and you have some explaining to do. You might be able to keep secrets from Matt but I don't care what you've promised Clara, I need to know what's going on. I need to know, even if it's nothing more than for her own safety," said Jesse as he listened to the sound of Matt's horse take off out of the barn at a gallop.

Cody sagged against the couch and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. Finally the young man looked at him and stood up. He went over to his desk and opened a drawer, then came back over and handed Jesse a cassette tape of a group called 'Red Sky'. Pointing to the picture of the band on the front of the tape, he directed Jesse's eyes to the woman standing amongst them in the front. "That's Clara."

Jesse studied the picture for a minute and motioned for Cody to sit down. "All right. Start from the beginning."

TBC - Stay tuned for Chapter 20! Will Matt be able to control his emotions long enough to talk to Clara or till his anger get the better of him? Stay tuned!