She nodded. “I know it sounds that way, but his father and grandfather before him originally purchased the land for their cattle ranch. From the way Elroy spoke about it, they had well over a thousand head of cattle in their thriving ranch.”
“What happened?” Duncan’s gaze was curious.
“I wasn’t here back then, but according to the rumor mill, Elroy Lansing’s father went through a messy divorce, which cost him a lot of cash. He wanted to keep the ranch, so he had to pay his wife for her portion. Then a bunch of the cattle got sick and died.”
“Lansing never married?” Slade asked.
“No. Apparently he was in love with a woman who hated the isolation of the ranch. She took off and he decided it was better to remain alone.” She finished her breakfast and set the empty cardboard container aside. “What does any of this have to do with Coyote Creek Construction and whatever crime Brett uncovered while working for them?”
“It may not be connected at all,” Slade admitted. “I just thought the animal theme was an interesting coincidence.”
“This is the Wild West,” she pointed out.
“Don’t forget Brett told me that he was planning to work security for a wealthy rancher nearby,” Duncan said. “It’s possible Brett was giving me some sort of clue about what he was involved in. And we don’t know how rich or poor Elroy Lansing is. Maybe Elkhorn Estates paid him a pretty penny for his land.”
She didn’t like hearing the stories Brett had told everyone except her. She turned toward Slade. “What crime exactly did Brett witness anyway? Stolen goods? Drugs?”
The marshal didn’t answer for a long moment.
“It has to be something major, or they wouldn’t kill him,” Duncan added. “And I think Chelsey has a right to know.”
Slade slowly nodded. “Okay. Brett witnessed a murder.”
Her jaw dropped in shock. “M-murder? Are you sure?”
Slade’s expression was grim. “Yes, absolutely. Brett claimed he had proof of the crime and needed a day or two to get it, but we never received anything. We were called in by the local police chief because of the suspected ties to organized crime. They’d had some concerns about Coyote Creek Construction for a while now, and Brett’s allegation only added to their belief.”
Chelsey felt numb from shock. Murder and organized crime. No wonder Brett had seemed on edge. It hadn’t been about prewedding jitters at all.
How horrible to have witnessed a murder.
Yet as bad as she felt for him, the news only proved their relationship wasn’t built on trust and love the way she’d thought.
But on secrets and lies.
Depressing, really, to realize she didn’t really know anything at all about the man she’d been about to marry. Tears pricked at her eyes at how foolish she’d been.
Tears welled in her eyes. She needed to learn to listen to her gut instincts, which had told her she was making a mistake.
One that had almost gotten her killed.
NINE
“I—I don’t understand why Brett wouldn’t tell me,” Chelsey whispered, swiping at the tears. “He said he loved me. Why would he lie to me if he loved me?”
Duncan had no answer for that. “I’m sorry.”
There was a long moment as Slade shifted awkwardly in his seat. “I’m sorry, too. I feel partly responsible for this.”
He glanced at Slade. “Yeah, about that. Why didn’t you talk to Chelsey about the program?”
Slade winced. “That’s a fair question. In my defense, things happened pretty fast. The murder took place just over a week ago, and we were brought in about three days later. I discussed the option of testifying and going into WITSEC with Brett and he agreed to get me the proof he had of the crime, and mentioned the wedding claiming he’d told Chelsey everything. He said he’d promised to give her the wedding she wanted before heading out of town. I had no reason not to believe him.”
“But you knew he was in danger,” Duncan argued.
“He was off work for the wedding, and to my knowledge no one but those in the Jackson Police Department knew about Brett witnessing a murder and the proof he had of what happened.” Slade scowled. “We believed him, but after everything that transpired since, I’m convinced there’s a leak within the department.”
The spurt of anger faded and Duncan knew this wasn’t the time to assign blame. He owned a piece of this mess, himself for not pushing Brett more once he’d realized something was going on. And Brett should have clued in Chelsey, the woman he’d been about to marry.
Now their old childhood friend was dead and there was nothing they could do other than move forward from here. Too bad they didn’t have whatever proof Brett thought he could obtain.
“W-who was murdered?” Chelsey asked.
Slade hesitated, shooting a glance at Duncan as if asking for help on how much to say. He nodded, indicating she had a right to know. After all, the shooter already believed she knew. Her trying to play dumb wasn’t going to work.
Not at this point. Not when these men had already gone so far as to kill Brett and attempt to kill him and Chelsey, more than once.
“A guy by the name of Roland Perry,” Slade said. “He was apparently arguing with his boss. Brett heard the raised voices, and crept closer to see what was going on. According to Brett, his boss, Anthony Nettles, pulled a gun and shot Perry. Brett ducked down, and remained hidden all night, until long after everyone had left. When he came out, he called the police who in turn called us.”
A shiver rippled through Chelsey, and he gently squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “I...see.”
“We haven’t found the body yet,” Slade went on. “And we were waiting for Brett to get us the evidence he’d promised. We did find out that no one has seen or heard from Perry since this took place. Local law enforcement is doing their best to find evidence. Unfortunately, Wyoming has plenty of places to stash a
