Wyoming Bold

She laughed. “We have things in common.”

“We’ll find more, I imagine. I’ll call you in a day or two and we’ll set a date. Okay?”

“Okay!”

“Call us if you need anything.”

“I will, but we’re fine.”

“Okay. See you.”

“See you.”

He hung up, feeling very proud of himself.

* * *

A FEW MINUTES later, he walked out to the barn, where Cane and Mallory were talking to Darby about arrangements for a new bull they’d purchased. They turned when he came in, wearing a huge grin.

“You win the lottery or something?” Cane joked.

“I’m taking Merissa out to eat,” Tank replied.

There were several shocked expressions.

He glared at them. “She won’t turn me into a toad if she doesn’t like the food,” he said sarcastically.

“That isn’t what worries us,” Cane said quietly.

Mallory moved forward. He put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Look, it isn’t that we don’t like Merissa. But we know very little about her family. There have been some stories, some very unpleasant ones, about her father.”

Tank frowned. “What stories?”

Mallory glanced at Cane and back at Tank. “Well, that he beat one of his hands almost to death,” he said.

Tank was shocked. “He doesn’t live there anymore.”

“I know,” Mallory said. “But...”

“But you think maybe Merissa’s like that?” Tank said through his teeth.

Mallory removed his hand. “I’m doing this badly,” he groaned.

Cane moved forward. “Nobody knows where he is,” he said. “There’s a warrant, a standing warrant, for his arrest on assault and battery charges.”

“If you get involved with her,” Mallory seconded, “and he comes back...”

Tank understood, finally, what they were saying. He relaxed. “You’re worried about me.”

They both nodded. “We heard all sorts of things concerning him. He was possessive about his daughter. She was just ten at the time, and he was violent toward anybody who tried to talk to her.”

“I wonder why?” Tank asked.

“There were also rumors about what he did to her mother,” Mallory added solemnly.

“To Clara?” Tank was shocked. “But she’s a woman!”

“A man like that doesn’t care,” Cane said coldly. “Our doctor told me, in confidence once, that he’d treated Clara for some potentially fatal injuries.” He looked at Mallory with a question in his eyes.

“Tell him,” Mallory said.

Cane drew a breath. “Merissa was brought in with Clara, with a concussion and a broken leg,” he added. “The doctor said she tried to save her mother.”

Tank leaned back against a stone pillar with a rough curse. “Concussion!”

“It could explain some of her strange abilities,” Mallory said quietly. “There’s no scientific explanation that I’m aware of, but there are many things we still don’t know about brain function.”

“He hit a ten-year-old hard enough to break her leg?” Tank was talking to himself.

“Yes,” Mallory replied. “It’s worrying that nobody knows where he is.”

“It’s been years,” Tank pointed out.

“So it has. But it’s something to consider. Like that man who helped put you into intensive care...”

Tank held up his hand suddenly. “Let’s not go into that,” he said with a look that wasn’t lost on his brothers.

“Okay.”

He stood up. “I want to have a look at that tractor that’s been acting up,” he told his brothers, motioning them to follow him.

They nodded to Darby Hanes, who grinned. He was feeling better and back at work.

Tank started the engine and left it idling.

“I don’t think surveillance can pick this up,” he told the two of them, “over the noise, and my back’s to the camera so they can’t read lips. Listen, I don’t want to mention anything about our suspicions. Something’s not quite right about the company we hired to install the cameras. I can’t explain it,” he said irritably.

“You been talking to Merissa?” Cane teased.

“I have, but she didn’t mention it. No, I just have a feeling,” he added heavily.

Mallory didn’t laugh. “I had the same feeling,” he said curtly. “And I’m not psychic. The guy came in a car, not a service vehicle. He had an Australian accent, but it was put on. I had a friend in the service who was from Adelaide. I know the difference.”

Tank lost color in his face. “The rogue federal agent, the chameleon.”

“It’s possible,” Cane said, interrupting.

“Yes, but what do we do about all the cameras? And he might have bugged the phones, as well,” Tank said with growing unease. “He had access to the whole house, thanks to my stupidity! I should have mentioned that we hire a company from out of town.”