Praise for New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels

  “A great start to another wonderful series by a standout author of western intrigue and suspense.”

  —Fresh Fiction on Out of the Storm

  “Daniels is a perennial favorite, and I might go as far as to label her the cowboy whisperer.”

  —BookPage

  “Super read by an excellent writer. Recommended!”

  —Linda Lael Miller, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on Renegade’s Pride

  “At the Crossroads is a beauty of a crime novel that keeps you turning page after page just to see where this is all leading. And trust me. You will not be disappointed... This is probably one of this author’s best.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Readers are left guessing throughout the story, which wraps up with a surprising yet believable series of events and an emotionally satisfying ending that whets appetites for the next book.”

  —Publishers Weekly on Stroke of Luck

  “Before Buckhorn is a fabulous addition to an already amazing series.”

  —Fresh Fiction on Before Buckhorn

  New York Times Bestselling Author

  B. J. Daniels

  When Justice Rides

  I’ve dreamed of being a writer since I was a girl. I’d never met a writer, had no idea how to write a book, but I’d always had stories in my head.

  With you, dear reader, about to read my 119th book, I want to thank all the people it takes for one of my crazy ideas to turn into a published book.

  This book is dedicated to everyone at Harlequin and HarperCollins who made this book happen—from editing to cover art, printing, promotion and distribution.

  Thank you for all your hard work and dedication. You keep making my dream come true.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER ONE

  JOHNNY BERG DIDN’T see the blood. Nor did he hear the killer quickly hide as he came in the back door of Buckhorn, Montana’s general store. He had his earbuds in, rocking out to a new band he’d just discovered on TikTok. His arms full of a towering stack of packages to be delivered, he’d shoved aside the partially open rear door of the store and come in dancing as usual.

  Vi Mullen always liked to get to the store an hour before it opened so he often dropped off her packages first. Today, he was ahead of schedule, which made his day. Priding himself on delivering packages quickly, he liked to joke to friends that he drove the truck like he’d stolen it. He always made record time and as the youngest employee, he received some of the best performance reviews from his customers. They referred to him as Johnny on the Spot.

  He called out, “Hello, Vi!” like he always did, even though she usually didn’t answer. He didn’t see her, but the light had been on in the storage room and the back door unlocked, so he knew she was here somewhere. She seldom if ever answered, which was fine with him.

  Early on, he’d tried to make conversation with her like he did with his other customers.

  “I don’t have time for your foolishness,” she’d snapped. “And don’t forget to wipe your feet before you come traipsing in here, tracking up my wood floors. They’re original from the 1800s when my family first settled here in Buckhorn.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he’d said, hoping to avoid one of her history lessons.

  This morning, he’d made a point of wiping his feet on the mat just outside the door before he entered the store—not that she would notice. She’d find something else to nag him about unless he got out of here quickly.

  So often it was a blessing if he got in and out of the store without seeing her. Still dancing to the music booming from his earbuds, he made his way through the store, the tall stack of boxes balanced precariously in front of him. He also prided himself on being able to carry everything in one load.

  The days Vi had packages to go out, he’d find them ready and waiting for him. With almost relief, he saw this morning that the spot where she would leave anything to ship out was empty. He placed the packages down, straightening the stack. Vi was a stickler on how she wanted things done.

  He had worse customers, but Vi still made the top three, he thought as he turned to leave—and froze. His music still blaring in his ears, but his arms free of the tall stack of packages he’d brought in, he stared at the floor—and the bloody footprints. His bloody footprints as he’d danced his way through the store.

  What the—He popped out one earbud feeling a sense of panic.

  “Vi?” No answer. He popped out the other earbud, letting them hang around his neck. In the quiet of the cavernous filled-to-the-rafter store, the music still coming out of his earbuds made it feel even creepier. “Vi?” Still no answer.

  Heart pounding, he slowly followed the trail he’d left, avoiding spreading any more of the blood, terrified of what he was going to find. He tried to throw off the chill that wound around his neck, making him shiver. It wasn’t until he reached the storage area at the back that he stopped short. A puddle of blood had pooled in a low spot in the middle of the floor. He slowly turned his head to follow the river of blood to its source.

  A slightly built older woman, Vi Mullen lay on her back, blank eyes staring up at the ceiling, mouth open as if in a silent scream. A brand-new ice fishing spear, its price tag still dangling from the handle, stuck out of her chest like a giant fork. Her cap of obviously dyed dark hair made her eyes look like dull black marbles in her bloodless face. One arm was extended, the hand lying in the blood darkening on the floor.

  “Vi?” He hesitated. The last thing he wanted to do was touch her. Carefully he stepped closer, but he could tell even before he hunkered down to hurriedly check for a pulse that she was dead. She wasn’t the first customer he’d found dead on his route, but she was the first with a spear sticking out of her.

  He shoved to his feet, fighting to catch his breath as his stomach roiled and he thought he might be sick. He needed fresh air. Now! As he rushed out to his truck to make the call to both his boss and 911, he didn’t even notice that he’d gone through the puddle of blood again until he reached the back steps. He tried to wipe the bottom of his sneakers clean, but gave up, leaving traces of blood on the back steps and the gravel in the alley.

  For a few moments safely inside his delivery truck, he could only gasp for breath in an attempt to rid the stench of death from his lungs. His hands shook as he pulled out his phone and dialed 911, then the call to his boss.

  That over, he turned up his music as he waited, unable to sit still, unable not to look back toward the open doorway of the store knowing what lay inside. All he wanted to do was get out of there, but the marshal had told him to wait.

  It was early enough that the tiny town of Buckhorn hadn’t woken up yet. He didn’t see anyone around. He tried not to think about Vi and that open-mouthed silent scream he’d seen on her chalk-white face.

  It never crossed his mind that whoever “smoked” Vi might have still been in the store with him earlier. Could still be in there. Or that if the killer had seen him, he would be easily recognized with his company jacket on.

  Johnny never imagined that he’d seen something incriminating.

  And that the killer was now coming after him.

  Instead, he was thinking about how this was going to mess up his entire schedule for not just today but the entire week.

  CHAPTER TWO

  LUNA DECLAN HAD just come down from her apartment over her Buckhorn hair salon to get ready for her first client of the day when she got the call. She ran a hand through her short dark pixie cut, the numerous tiny silver loops at her ears glittering in the morning light. She’d been considering letting her hair grow. Not that she probably would. She was just trying to keep her mind off Jaxson Gray, the young deputy marshal she’d been seeing—until lately.

  Her phone rang again. She checked, hoping it would be him with a good explanation as to why he’d been ghosting her the past couple of weeks.

  To her surprise and instant concern, she saw that it was her father calling. He always called on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Routine had been Lawrence Declan’s life for too many years. For him to call now on a Tuesday morning...

  “Dad?” She couldn’t help the tremor in her voice. Something was wrong. She knew it. He never varied from his routines unless... “What’s wrong?”

  He cleared his voice. Her first thought was that he was i
ll. That he was calling about a doctor’s diagnosis. That he’d fallen and—“Are you still dating that young deputy, Jaxson Gray?”

  She blinked as she reeled back all her errant fears. This wasn’t about her father. It was about Jaxson?

  Luna wasn’t sure how to answer. Was she still dating Jaxson? She thought of his handsome face, those sea green eyes, the way his thick dark hair felt in her fingers when he came in for a haircut.

  They’d been dating for months. Jaxson had wanted to take it slow and she’d understood. It hadn’t been that long since he’d lost his wife. Lately though, she’d felt a change in him. Whatever walls he’d put up to protect himself, they were coming down. She felt as if she were finally seeing the real Jaxson Gray—and she liked what she saw.

  Jaxson was a great listener and often encouraged her to talk about her job, Buckhorn and the residents she’d come to know since moving here. She could tell that he was disappointed she hadn’t lived here her entire life.

  As a hairdresser to those who had lived here their whole lives, she’d heard her share of stories. What was it about people that the moment she began to massage their scalps they began to talk? And the things they’d told her!

  She’d kept Jaxson entertained with stories, never mentioning names—although after a while, he could probably guess—until he had to climb into this patrol SUV and leave. After coffee or a meal, he’d always walked her back to her apartment over the salon, but he’d never come inside—even when she’d invited him. He’d always had to get going, saying he had an early shift the next day or some other excuse.

  Then last week, he’d shown up at her door out of the blue.

  “Could we go have a drink at the bar?” She could tell that he had something on his mind. But once at the bar, instead of telling her what it was, he’d asked her to dance. In his arms, it had felt like a lot more than just friends dancing. She’d been confused even before the kiss.

  When the song ended, he’d pulled her to him and really kissed her for the first time. Boom! Bang! Like Fourth of July fireworks.

  While she had felt chemistry simmering between them before that night, she hadn’t anticipated the passion in that kiss. It started a fire inside her. She’d told herself that if the deputy hadn’t gotten called to the scene of an accident that night, they would have ended up at her apartment in her double bed.

  “Why do you ask?” she queried her father now as she looked out at the two-lane blacktop that cut through the heart of Buckhorn. Why was he asking?

  The one thing she knew about her father was his inability to completely retire. He’d spent too many years as an insurance investigator. He had an uncanny ability to spot fraudulent claims. Because of that, he had an unblemished record for retrieval of stolen insured goods.

  She’d even worked with him on a few cases, one that had brought her to Buckhorn in the first place. In truth, she idolized her father and always had. She’d thought about following in his footsteps since she loved the challenge of a good mystery. Instead, she’d found herself doing what her mother had: opening her own salon.

  “There might be a problem,” her father said. “If you’re still dating him.”

  Mind reeling, she opened the salon’s front door and crossed the sidewalk to her huge flowerpot overflowing with blooms. As she began mindlessly pulling off deadheads from the petunias, she said, “What have you done, Dad?”

  They had a long-standing rule between them going back to her first boyfriend. He was not to investigate anyone she dated. She was sure that it hadn’t stopped him over the years—he’d just never admitted it.

  It was one reason that she’d always told her father all the pertinent facts about her boyfriends, so this issue never came up. But now she realized that she hadn’t told him about Jaxson’s deceased wife and didn’t even know why she’d kept it from him. It hadn’t mattered.

  She’d filled him in on everything else, including how Jaxson’s mother, father and siblings were all in education, either as teachers or administrators, and that he was the black sheep of the family because he’d gone into law enforcement. That had seemed like enough specifics since at that point, she hadn’t been sure how serious she and Jaxson were. How serious he was, especially.

  Luna recalled her father saying, Of course, you’d go for the black sheep. They’d both laughed because it was true. Jaxson was so down-to-earth normal that he was on the verge of being dull. If it weren’t for the chemistry she’d felt at times between them, she’d have said their relationship wasn’t going anywhere. Then he’d kissed her that night at the bar and sent her over the moon. She’d been relieved that she hadn’t been wrong about the two of them.

  He’d called last night and asked her out on a date tonight. He’d sounded excited. She certainly was. Tonight was the night. She could feel it.

  So whatever her father had found out about Jaxson, it didn’t matter, she told herself now. But she still she had to know. “You actually investigated him?” she asked with a groan.

  “You’re my daughter,” he said unapologetically. “I’ve always done a little checking on your boyfriends.”

  “Because you can’t help yourself.” She sighed. “I should have told you that Jaxson has been married, that his wife, Amy, died a few years ago. I’m sorry. I didn’t feel it was important.” Silence. Then more silence. It was unnerving. Had he found something more?

  She straightened to look down the long highway. With a start, she realized that he wasn’t calling because she hadn’t told him about Amy, Jaxson’s deceased wife. Her voice broke when she spoke. “What did you find?”

  “I had no intention of saying a word unless...”

  Luna thought of her other boyfriends and realized there must not have been an unless in their backgrounds. She felt her heart do a little bump in her chest even as she told herself there was nothing to find. Jaxson was perfect. She’d always thought he was a little too perfect for her. But after that passionate kiss...

  A semi was gearing down on the west end of town. Luna looked to the east. Were those storm clouds gathering? She realized her father was speaking as she turned to go back inside her salon. Stepping in, she closed the door and locked it again. She had no clients coming for a while, but she needed to finish this conversation without being interrupted.

  “Just tell me,” she said into the phone.

  “The story he told you about his family... It wasn’t quite accurate.”

  Hadn’t she sensed there was something Jaxson was holding back even more than intimacy? “How inaccurate?”

  Her father cleared his throat and recited what sounded like one of his insurance reports. “He was born in Blackfoot, Idaho, an only child, raised by a single mother. No father listed on his birth certificate. His mother died his senior year in high school. He was a good student who excelled in sports. His senior year, recruiters from numerous schools were interested in him. He’d had offers from colleges. Then just days before graduation, his girlfriend, a young woman named Amy Franklin, disappeared.”

  Luna thought her head would explode. Nothing Jaxson had told her was true except for the fact that there had been an Amy in his life?

  Her father cleared his throat again and continued. “The young woman was never found. Jaxson was questioned and released. He left right after graduation and disappeared himself for a time until he turned up in Wyoming, working on a ranch. He later went to Montana State University in Bozeman before attending the law enforcement academy and getting a job as a deputy six months ago—in your county.”

  She shook her head, remembering the way he’d talked about his family, his brother and sister, his parents. “You’re sure you have the right Jaxson Gray?” It was a silly, hopeless question since she knew her father was meticulous with his research. He would never have gotten it wrong.

  “I’m sending you photos. See for yourself.” She heard her phone beep three times, announcing several texts. She had never taken a photo of Jaxson, let alone one of the two of them, but she knew her resourceful father could get a photo of Jaxson without much effort.

  “I’m sorry,” her father was saying. “But the last time we talked, it sounded as if you might be getting serious about him.” She’d talked to her father the day after the kiss, and while she hadn’t mentioned the kiss, she was sure he’d picked up on how happy she’d been after her date the night before. “I didn’t want to have to worry.”