Branded

Earlier, she’d told Colton to go home, warning him not to leave town.

He’d actually pulled himself together enough to chuckle at that on the drive back to his pickup from the Granger house.

“You must think I’m an idiot. You probably already suspect I’m a murderer. But do you really think I’m going to make a run for it?”

“I don’t know, are you?” He’d given her an impatient look and she’d had to ask, “So tell me about Jessica.”

“What do you want to know?” He’d sounded despondent.

“What was she like?” Halley remembered Jessica Granger, the girl Colton had started chasing at the end of junior high. Shortly after that Halley had talked her father into moving away from Whitehorse. “You were in love with her, right? There must have been a reason.”

He had looked out the side window for so long she’d thought he wasn’t going to answer. “You’re not going to understand because she wasn’t like you.”

She’d shot him a look, not sure how to take that, but taking it badly, just the same.

“Jessica wasn’t strong. She needed me.”

“That was the appeal?” Halley asked in surprise.

He had finally looked in her direction. “Jessica needed someone to take care of her, to protect her from her old man. But I failed her.”

“She needed protection from her father?” Halley couldn’t help thinking about how she herself had needed someone to protect her from Colton Chisholm. She’d had to learn to fight her own battles. No one had come to her rescue. The thought drove the arrow even deeper in her heart and made her all the more angry that Colton, when he’d finally fallen for a girl, had fallen for one who he said himself was nothing like her.

“You met Sid,” was all he said before climbing out of the patrol car.

She’d watched him go, seeing the toll this was taking on him, telling herself that a murderer might act the same way, especially if he couldn’t take the guilt anymore.

Now, as Halley watched the crime techs begin the search for a body, she told herself her suspicions about Colton had nothing to do with how she felt about him today or all those years ago when he’d broken her tender heart.

The breeze stirred the cottonwoods as the creek whispered past. It seemed too beautiful a spot for the crime techs to be looking for a young woman’s remains, but there was little doubt in her mind now that Jessica Granger was dead, that she’d died here.

Whether or not they would find Jessica, though, was another story. Halley suspected it would have been a shallow grave somewhere along this creek bottom. Which meant animals could have dug up the grave and carried away the bones years ago.

“I MIGHT NEED A LAWYER.”

Emma had been picking at her supper but looked up now as everyone else at the table turned toward Colton. Like her, he’d hardly touched his food and he’d passed on apple pie. That wasn’t like him. Hoyt hadn’t eaten much, either. There was almost a full piece of pie on his plate.

“A lawyer?” she repeated. Since Hoyt’s call in the barn, she’d tried to keep busy and think about anything but her own horrible suspicions.

“Why would you need a lawyer?” Hoyt asked.

Colton rubbed a hand over his jaw. “To make a long story short, there’s at least one law enforcement officer in the county who thinks I killed Jessica Granger.”

Hoyt froze, fork in hand. “What? I thought she left town.”

Emma noticed that her husband had gone very pale.

“Apparently, she planned on leaving but I don’t think she made it. Neither does the deputy now scouring a spot not far from here for her remains,” Colton said, pain in his voice.

“I don’t understand why they would think someone killed her,” Hoyt said and Emma found herself studying her husband. Of course he’d be upset about such an allegation against his son, but when he set down his fork, she saw that his hand was shaking.

A bad feeling lodged itself in her chest as Colton proceeded to tell them about a lost letter, finding Jessica’s purse buried under a tree root and calling the Sheriff’s Department.

“Halley Robinson?” his brother, Tanner, asked with a smirk. “Isn’t that the girl that you used to—”

“She’s the new deputy,” Colton said, shooting his brother a warning look.

Emma waited for Hoyt to jump in. When he didn’t, she felt as if her world had suddenly shifted on its axis and nothing was as it had been just hours before.

“Isn’t it possible the girl isn’t even dead? They haven’t found anything yet, right?” she asked.

Colton shook his head. “She wouldn’t have left without her purse.”

“What does the sheriff have to say about this?” Hoyt asked.

“From what I’ve been able to find out, the sheriff is busy in federal court on another case. This one has been turned over to the state crime team, but a fourteen-year-old possible murder isn’t going to be at the top of their list of investigations. Even if the sheriff was in town, I’m not sure it would keep Halley from trying to railroad me.”

“Well, you’re just going to have to change this Halley person’s mind,” Emma said and saw her husband give her a sympathetic smile at her naiveté.

“Emma’s is one approach,” Hoyt said. “We’ll also get you the best lawyer money can buy, just in case you can’t convince this woman that you’re innocent. I take it the two of you have some kind of history?”

“You could say that,” Tanner said.

His other brothers had been feeding their faces, but now joined in. “Wait a minute,” Zane said. “That’s not that little dark-haired skinny girl—”

“She isn’t so little anymore,” Dawson said, laughing. “I saw her but didn’t realize she was Halley Robinson. She’s gorgeous.” He let out a whistle.

Emma could see that Colton was at the end of his rope as Logan and Marshall chimed in with similar remarks.

“Let’s take our dishes into the kitchen and let your father and Colton talk about this alone,” she suggested, then stood and gave them each a look that sent the bunch of them quickly to their feet.

Colton shot her a thankful glance as she marched them all to the kitchen and closed the door behind them.

“Okay,” she said once they were out of hearing range. “Tell me about this Halley Robinson.”

HALLEY FOUND HER FATHER out in the south forty. He looked up as she came riding in. His face crinkled into a smile at the sight of her and she knew she’d made the right decision coming back to Whitehorse, Montana, with him.

He’d missed ranching and she knew the only reason he’d left here was because she’d been so unhappy. They were the only family they had.

“Hey, didn’t expect to see you so soon,” Geoff Robinson said as he finished tightening the top strand of barbed wire, then pulled off his gloves and turned all his attention to his daughter. “Everything all right?”

“I tried to call you on your cell,” she said, swinging down from her horse.

“Oh, hell,” he said feeling in his pocket. He grinned. “Guess I forgot it on the kitchen table. Sorry.”

“It’s all right. I needed the ride anyway.” She’d been worried about him when she couldn’t reach him and hadn’t even thought to check to see if he’d taken his cell phone. He hated the damn thing and said one of the reasons he’d wanted to come back to Whitehorse was so he didn’t have to carry it.

Still it worried her, him being out here alone, even though she could see how happy he was working on this old place.