“So Skeeter didn’t die in a hunting accident?” Ed asked. “He was murdered?”
Karen's hands tightened in her lap, the knuckles turning white with the effort. Heath’s gaze darted to his son. Chad lounged in the chair, the corners of his mouth tipped up.
Sheriff Franklin stepped forward. “Heath. Karen. I’ve been a friend of your family for a long time, and I hope I’ve earned your trust. If any of you know something about these incidents, now is the time to tell me.” He paused. “I can help you, but I can only do that if you tell me the truth.”
The room was as silent as a grave. Karen's face paled even more until she was almost translucent. Luke held his breath, the sheriff’s motives in sharing the ballistic analysis becoming clear. He was applying pressure.
Heath jutted out his chin. “We don’t know anything and we aren’t involved.”
“Then I’m sure you’d be happy to prove it,” Luke said. “I’d like permission to examine the guns you own.”
“Absolutely not.” Ed puffed out his chest. “My clients have cooperated and provided their whereabouts for the times in question. There is no reason to drag them through a search of their personal property as well.”
Every delay the family and their attorney put on his investigation only made Luke more suspicious of their involvement. He played the only card he had. “If you make me obtain a search warrant, I’ll turn this into a media fanfare.”
Ed didn’t blink. “You don’t have the probable cause necessary for a search warrant, Ranger Tatum.”
“Not yet. But make no mistake, this isn’t over. Not by a long shot.”
Megan placed Skeeter’s photograph next to Franny’s on the whiteboard and took a giant step back. From his bed in the corner of the room, Jax sighed and rolled over. The dog had been with her all morning, sleeping, while she read Skeeter McIntyre’s case file.
It hadn’t helped. Megan hadn’t uncovered any new threads to pull.
Jax lifted his head and gave a bark. Luke? Was he finally back? Megan’s heart skipped a beat, and she turned, a smile hovering on her lips.
Weston appeared in the doorway.
She let out a whoosh of air, and her shoulders dropped. “Oh, hey.”
“Ouch.” He put a hand over his heart. “I’ve had prisoners give me a better greeting than that.”
She laughed. “Sorry. I thought you were Luke. He went to interview the Dickersons this morning and hasn’t come back yet. The suspense is torture.”
“He invited me for lunch, so he should be back soon.” Weston stepped farther into the room and eyed the board. “Anything interesting in Skeeter’s case file? I’ve started it but haven’t read the whole thing.”
“You aren’t missing much. The investigation focused on clearing the friends Skeeter had been hunting with. An attempt was made to locate any other hunters in the area, but the search was unsuccessful. It never occurred to the investigators to consider Skeeter’s death was linked to Franny’s.”
Nancy poked her head in the office. “Hey, you two, Luke’s back. He and Hank are already fixing plates, so if you want to grab some food, you’d better hurry.”
“Oh, no, they better not.” Weston bolted for the doorway, shouting, “I call dibs on the rolls.”
Megan and Nancy followed, laughing. The scents of roasted chicken and melted cheese filled the kitchen. Spread across the long table was enough food for an army.
Luke grinned when he caught sight of Megan and gestured at a chair next to him.
“I fixed you a plate already,” he said. “Otherwise, there might not be anything left with this human garbage disposal over here.”
Weston scooped green beans onto his plate. “Yeah, yeah. Like you and Hank don’t eat like wildebeests.”
Luke’s stepfather grunted. “We live here.”
Hank glared at Weston across the table as the younger man reached for the bread. “You take the last roll and I’ll harm you, boy.”
Weston’s hand froze over the plate before he deliberately backed away. Megan and Luke shared a glance and smothered their chuckles. Hank might be retired, but the former Marine general could still stop a man in his tracks.
“No need to get cranky, Hank.” Nancy shook her finger at her husband before patting Weston’s shoulder. “There are plenty of rolls.”
She pulled another set out of the oven. Once everyone was seated with their plates, they all joined hands and Hank blessed the food. During the meal, everyone chatted and laughed. It warmed Megan’s heart. Her life in Houston felt far away and lonely. She had Grace, but that was it. She’d left Cardin and, in doing so, closed herself off to everything resembling home.
Luke caught her eye and the corners of his lips tilted up. Her breath hitched. Since their kiss, the feelings simmering below the surface became impossible to ignore. Learning about Luke’s relationship with his father brought her own decision to bail on their relationship in stark clarity. Yes, he’d messed up by not telling her about Wade’s drinking, but she’d exacerbated the situation by breaking things off without giving him a chance to explain. Was there a way for them both to fully move past the hurt? She didn’t know, and with a killer breathing down their necks, it wasn’t the right time to sort it out.
After lunch was finished, and the dishes done, Hank and Nancy went outside to tend to a sick horse. Luke took three cups down from the cabinet and Megan filled them with coffee. She frowned, watching the older couple cross the yard hand in hand.
“Luke, they’ll be safe, right? On the property?”
“Yeah. Hank’s staying with Mom, just in case, but they are keeping to the areas where we have the security system in place. Plus, I checked all the saddles. There aren’t any other trackers.” He glanced at Weston. “Speaking of which, any luck tracing the ones we recovered?”
“Dead end. They were bought using a shell corporation registered to the Caymans. It’s impossible to trace beyond that. What about you, Luke?
