“I’ll get back to you.” He disconnected, worried that he’d promised more than he could deliver. He placed a call, confirming that Charlotte had returned to the ranch from town, and had gone straight to the stables to saddle up for a ride.

  After Bob Turner’s call, Holden knew she’d had a rough day so he thought he’d know where to find her. She’d always been a creature of habit. When she was upset, she’d get on a horse and go to that spot along the creek. He knew it well. He knew her well—even after all these years apart.

  As he headed to the stables to saddle up and ride over to the Stafford Ranch, always safer than driving over there, he saw his son Duffy and Pickett Hanson deep in conversation. He knew the two had become friends over the years and, knowing his youngest son, doubted they were discussing ranching.

  * * *

  KNOWING THERE WAS nothing more she could do for now, Charlotte had returned to the ranch. She was worried about CJ, even though there was staff available if he needed anything. He’d been in an odd mood all the way home to Montana. She worried that he was depressed and feeling guilty. She feared he might do something to himself.

  In the house, she went at once to the guest room. She could hear him talking and for a moment wondered who was in the room with him. As she carefully cracked the door open, she saw him sitting in his wheelchair at the window, his back to her. She felt a wave of relief to find him on the phone, apparently talking to a friend, from the tone of his voice.

  She quickly closed the door. For a moment she felt lost and helpless and unsure what to do next. When she got like this, she headed for the stables for a ride. It was the only thing that calmed her.

  After changing her clothing, she went out to saddle her horse. She was anxious to hear from the nurse and hoped she’d been right about the woman. Someone had to get to Inez before she died. She had a feeling Abigail Creed could succeed if anyone could. Charlotte was counting on her to get that land before Holden McKenna got his hands on it.

  * * *

  DUFFY AND PICKETT saw Holden coming and completed their conversation, both concerned that Charlotte Stafford would drill a new well and Oakley would try to stop it without keeping them in the loop. Duffy had promised he would let Pickett know if he heard anything.

  Pickett waved to his boss and headed toward the barn. “Going for a ride?” Duffy asked his father.

  “Thought I might.”

  He didn’t like the way Holden was studying him almost as if he thought he and Pickett were up to something. “Want me to saddle your horse?”

  “I’m still quite capable of saddling my own horse.”

  Duffy raised both hands in surrender.

  “Sorry,” his father apologized. “I haven’t seen much of you lately.”

  “Pickett and I rode fence this morning. Found a couple of strays we got back in.” Fortunately, the ranch hand had been his old self today. Duffy hadn’t brought up last night and neither had his friend. He told himself that he’d imagined whatever it was he thought he sensed between his friend and Oakley. “I need to go into town to get more wire. Not sure what keeps tearing up that stretch of fence near the river.”

  “I know you’re working,” Holden said. “I didn’t mean to insinuate differently.” He shook his head. “Have you seen Treyton?”

  “No.” But Duffy had been hearing rumors about him. His older brother was heading for trouble. Nothing new there.

  His father nodded distractedly, clearly having more on his mind than Treyton as he told him he would see him later and headed for the stables.

  Duffy was tempted to saddle up and follow his father. He was worried about where Holden was headed. He knew how important purchasing the Montana 360 Ranch was to their family. He also knew Charlotte Stafford would be doing everything in her power to outbid him—if not cheat—to get the land. This war between the two had been going on long before Duffy was born. He wished now more than ever, though, that it would end. If he was interested in Oakley, he didn’t want to go through what Cooper was going through. He couldn’t imagine what it would take for the families to bury their axes and put the past behind them.

  After his father rode off in the direction of the Stafford Ranch, he knew it would be a mistake to follow him. Treyton treated Holden as if he was old and going senile. Duffy knew better. Just offering to saddle his father’s horse had made him bristle. Following him—especially in the direction he’d gone—would be more than an insult.

  Still, he wondered what business his father might have with Charlotte Stafford—the woman Duffy suspected Holden still loved in spite of everything.

  * * *

  ABIGAIL TAPPED AT the Turner’s door. She’d worn her hospital scrubs. She’d prepared a story. The question was why do this? She didn’t like Charlotte Stafford. She didn’t like most of the people she’d met here. She was already taking so many chances, why do this?

  The door opened. The man blocking the entry was tall, slim, with a scowl on his face. He’d opened his mouth as if already knowing what he planned to say. But his lips clamped, locking the words inside as he saw her and her attire.

  She smiled and started to speak, but he beat her to it.

  “You’re late.”

  That was not what she was expecting.

  “Come on, my mother is in pain.” He turned then and headed back through the ranch house. Abigail followed, debating when to tell him that she wasn’t the hospice nurse he’d been expecting.

  She decided to ride it out and see what happened. He was the one who had it all wrong. She was a nurse whose job it was to help people. If she could relieve Inez Turner of her pain, then she was just doing her job.

  The moment she saw the elderly frail woman in the bed, she turned to him. “I can take it from here.”

  He seemed to hesitate but only for a moment before he turned and walked out. She closed the door behind him and rounded to face the woman. Inez might be dying but she was still very alert. Her dark eyes latched on to Abigail with suspicion as the nurse advanced on her.

  “I don’t know you,” the elderly woman said.

  “No, you don’t, but I know you.” She moved to the side table and the drugs lined up there. “Let’s have a little chat as I get you something to relieve your pain.”

  * * *

  DUFFY MCKENNA HAD come into town for supplies, but decided to have an early lunch while he was there. He’d barely sat down when he saw the man enter the café and head to his table. He had the feeling that the man had been following him—and maybe not just into the café.

  “Duffy McKenna, right?” the man said as he pulled out a chair without being invited. “I’m Jason Murdock. I’ve been wanting to talk to you.” The waitress came up to the table and cocked a hip, grinning at Duffy. She was a pretty blonde whom he’d gone to school with but had never dated.

  “Let me guess. The usual, right, Duffy?” Penny asked and chuckled as he nodded, then turned to the man.

  “Just coffee. Black. Thanks.” He took off his Stetson and put it on an empty chair as if planning to stay for a while.

  As Penny left, Duffy said, “I don’t know who you are but—”

  “I’m a private investigator. I would appreciate it if you allow me to take a few minutes of your time to talk to me,” the PI said. “I’ve been hired to look into the disappearance of Dixon Malone. He’s still married to Charlotte Staf—”

  “I know who he was, but I know nothing about his disappearance. That was years ago, almost before my time.”

  Murdock smiled. “But not your father’s. I understand he and Charlotte Stafford were close years ago.”

  “Look, I don’t know what you’re getting at—” he did know exactly what the man was implying “—but people come and go in this river basin.”

  “Exactly,” the PI said as Penny returned with his coffee. She slid a plate of pancakes and a side of bacon in front of Duffy, who preferred breakfast over lunch. “Dixon isn’t the only person who’s gone missing around here. I found missing persons going back to the 1800s.”

  “Finding all of them should keep you busy for a while, but if you’ll excuse me, I’m hungry and I’d like to eat in peace. I really don’t care about ancient history.” He slathered his pancakes with butter then drowned them with syrup before taking a bite.

  Murdock chuckled as he watched him, but didn’t leave. “How about more recent disappearances. Ever heard of a gas company employee by the name of Rory Eastwood?”

  Duffy shook his head. “Sorry, not interested and as you can see, I’m eating.”

  “Would it interest you if you knew that Rory Eastwood’s disappearance might involve your brother Cooper?”

  He felt his stomach twist but took another bite of his breakfast.

  “Eastwood gave his notice with the gas company CH4, saying he was leaving here to make a new life with his new lady,” Murdock said. “The bartender down at the Wild Horse said he was all excited, but secretive about this woman he was running away with because she had a boyfriend she hadn’t told yet. He left the bar that night to go pick her up and was never seen again.”

  “How do you know that he didn’t leave town with her?” Duffy asked, pushing his plate away. The café made the best pancakes he’d ever had but this morning they tasted like cardboard. He just wanted to settle his bill and get out of the café, far away from this man and what he was insinuating. But at the same time, he knew that he should probably hear this so he could warn his brother.

  “Maybe Rory did leave,” the PI conceded. “But what’s interesting is that this new woman Rory had fallen for? Some people think she was Leann Hayes.”

  The pancakes he’d eaten felt like lead inside him.

  “If true, then the boyfriend that Rory mentioned was your brother Cooper. They’d been an item, I heard, until she allegedly killed herself or was murdered. So what happened to Rory? Some think they were caught together and killed, making Leann’s death look like a suicide and disposing of Rory’s body to make it look like he’d left town.”

  “That is a whole lot of supposition,” Duffy said with a shake of his head as he motioned to the waitress for his bill.

  “You are so right,” the PI said with a laugh. “Rory Eastwood could have left town, keeping a low profile after what happened to Leann. But Dixon Malone didn’t get out of town that easily. You’re wondering how I know that. I just have this itch I get with certain cases. I say he’s still here in the Powder River Basin.”

  “Should be easy to find, then.”

  “Much harder to find them when they’re six feet under.”

  Duffy had nothing more to say to any of this. He regretted not throwing the PI out. He hadn’t wanted to hear any of it. But at the same time, he needed to let Cooper know what the PI was digging into.

  Murdock leaned toward him over the table and lowered his voice. “People around these parts tell me that if anyone can get away with murder in this river basin, it would be Holden McKenna and Charlotte Stafford—or one of their offspring. Word is they can even shoot one of their own and get away with it.”

  Duffy met the man’s gaze. “Don’t believe everything you hear.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Oakley pull up out front. He’d had enough of the PI. The man was starting to worry him. If there was something to find and Murdock kept digging, he could turn up evidence that would hurt not just his family, but Oakley’s as well. Everyone knew that Charlotte and Dixon Malone’s marriage had been a battleground. Dixon hadn’t made a secret of it on the nights he drove into town to talk about his impossible, irascible wife.

  As for the death of Leann Hayes, even Cooper believed it hadn’t been suicide. Cooper suspected there had been a man in her life, one she was planning to leave town with, but something had gone wrong, and the man had killed her.

  It appeared Murdock thought the same thing—only worse. The PI’s theory was that the murderer had also killed and disposed of Leann’s alleged lover, a man named Rory Eastwood.

  If true, Duffy knew it could mean trouble for his brother. Cooper had already been suspected of murdering her by an overanxious prosecutor. What Duffy couldn’t understand was why Murdock had been investigating Dixon Malone’s disappearance but now was on the trail of another missing person—a trail that could bring him right to the McKenna Ranch.

  CHAPTER TEN

  OAKLEY LEFT THE RANCH, but she didn’t go far. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that CJ was somehow faking his injury. Maybe it had gotten better, but he was keeping it from everyone. Even their mother?

  She parked her pickup in a spot down the county road and cut across Stafford Ranch property to sneak back to the house. Entering her and Tilly’s separate entrance, she climbed the stairs, then listened. Hearing no sound, she carefully went to the top of the main stairs and looked down into the living room.

  No CJ. But still, she waited to make sure he was in his room before she descended the stairs and moved quietly down the hallway. She’d been unable to forget what she’d thought she’d seen—her brother standing in front of the window. It could have been a trick of the light. Or CJ would be trying to dupe them all. If she had to put money on it, she’d bet on the latter.

  Nearing the door, she heard him talking to someone. She took hold of the doorknob and carefully turned it. The door opened a crack. She could see him sitting on the side of his bed, his wheelchair nearby.

  “This isn’t a social call. You have information for me?” CJ snapped into the phone. Quiet, then, “Duffy McKenna?” She heard her brother swear. “I don’t care about the ranch hand. I can buy and sell a dozen ranch hands. But Duffy? What the hell? First Tilly and now Oakley? Fine, whatever. I told you I’ll get you the money. Just keep me informed any time you see Oakley over there.” He shifted on the bed as if about to rise, when he looked up and swore as their gazes locked.

  Surprise registered on his face followed quickly by fear, then fury. He was wondering what she’d heard and afraid that she’d probably heard too much. He reached for his wheelchair, drew it closer and awkwardly lifted himself into it. Once seated, he lifted each leg into place and spun it around to face her.

  “Are you spying on me?” he demanded accusingly.

  She laughed, leaning against the doorjamb as she studied him. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle names. You’re paying someone to spy on me? Someone on the McKenna Ranch? Let me guess. Rusty Malone. I hope you’re paying him enough.”

  “I don’t know what you thought you heard but—”

  “I heard plenty and I’ve seen plenty. You don’t fool me, CJ. You never have. Maybe Mother’s in the dark, but I’m not.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but wait until I tell Mother that you’re seeing Duffy McKenna.”

  She shrugged. “Not half as appalling as when she finds out that you’re only pretending to be paralyzed.”

  “Have—have you lost your mind?” He slammed a hand down on the arm of the wheelchair, his voice rising dangerously. “You think I would pretend to be in this?”

  “Oh, I definitely think you would. I think you’d milk this for all it’s worth if you thought it would keep you out of jail.”

  He shook his head, wheeling the chair around as if he was going somewhere but quickly wheeling back to glare at her. “Tell Mother and see where that gets you.”

  She smiled. “You’ve always lied to get out of trouble. But this time you’ve really stooped low. I saw you standing in the window earlier. Now I’m wondering how long you’ve been lying about everything, especially why you shot me.”

  “You’re delusional.” But he looked away when he said it, making her even more convinced he was lying about all of it.

  “I have to wonder why you would stay in that chair, though, if you don’t have to. Bet once the charges are dropped, you will miraculously rise to your feet. What a moment that will be.”

  “Get out of my room. I can’t stand the sight of you.”

  “At least we have that in common, even though I’ve never shot you. But there is always a first.” She shoved off the door frame. “But I promise I’m going to find out not only why you really shot me, but also what you’re still up to. I’m watching you, CJ, the way you’re apparently spying on me.” With that she turned and walked back down the hall.

  She heard him throw something that shattered against the wall and smiled to herself. She hadn’t been wrong. CJ was lying about everything.

  But how far should she keep pushing? Far enough that he made a mistake.

  *

  HOLDEN WISHED HE and Lottie could do business like reasonable ranch owners and sit down at a table and hash this out. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible, he knew as he rode up into the meadow and reined in his horse at the sight of her.

  He’d known he would find her here. She sat on a large rock that the sun had bared of snow. The past few days they’d gotten a break from winter. He loved it when the days began to get longer, the sun stronger. But spring was still a long way off. Days like this, bright and almost warm under a cloudless sky made winter in Montana bearable.

  But he wasn’t fooled. The weather could change in a heartbeat. Snow could start falling and keep falling until everything was blanketed in deep cold white, and spring seemed like it would never come.

  Holden dismounted and approached Lottie slowly. It had been a while since she’d taken a bullwhip to him. She’d threatened to shoot him the next time he rode up on the spot where they used to make love. He often wondered why she came here if it caused her so much pain.

  He thought he knew what she was doing here today. Even from a distance, he could see worry lining her face as she turned up to the sun’s rays. CJ was her firstborn son. Of course she would be heartbroken over what he’d done as well as his injury.