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All he had to do was wait for Slade to visit the restroom. Then he could take a few sheets of paper and set his plan in motion. Lute smiled a secret smile. This was going to be freakin’ fun.
Lute waited till after lunch before he sidled into the front office, where Slade sat hunched at the desk nursing a Corona. Slade glanced up with a scowl.
“Sorry I was too busy to catch you sooner,” Lute apologized. “Sky came by to deliver a message. He wanted me to give this to you.” He fished a tightly folded sheet of paper out of his pocket.
Slade’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Who’s it from?”
Lute shrugged and passed the note across the desk. He’d written three different versions before deciding this one would have the most impact. Watching Slade’s expression as he unfolded and read it, Lute knew he’d made the right choice:
Slade, you bastard, Natalie is my woman now. I want to make sure you never bother her again. Let’s me and you fight it out man to man. Meet me tonight at 10 by the bog where you dumped that dead girl. Come alone. I’ll be waiting. If you don’t show, I’ll know you’re nothing but a filthy, stinking coward.
Beau Tyler
Most of the note was hand printed, but it was signed in Beau’s unmistakable scrawl. Lute, who’d dropped out of school in his junior year, had never been much of a writer. But, as he’d expected, Slade was too mad to notice any minor grammatical mistakes or crude language. And the hint that Beau knew what he’d done to Jess would give Slade one more reason to want to kill him.
True, Slade had lost his truck and his driver’s license. But he had access to vehicles at work. At night on back roads, who was going to catch him? He wasn’t supposed to carry a gun, either, but he’d have no trouble getting his hands on one.
Lute watched Slade crush the note and stuff it into his shirt pocket. There was no way Slade would miss tonight’s rendezvous. But the man waiting for him wouldn’t be Beau Tyler. Lute would see to that.
CHAPTER 11
That night was one of those rare evenings when everything seemed right with the world. The setting sun had streaked the clouds with crimson and gold, casting a glow that deepened to violet and indigo as dusk crept across Rimrock land. Swallows darted through the twilight. The blooming honeysuckle that framed the porch steps perfumed every breath of air.
Sitting on the porch with Will, Jasper, and the dog, Beau experienced a rare sense of satisfaction. The swelling was down in Will’s leg, and despite some lingering pain, he was chafing to be back in the saddle. His recovery, along with Sky’s return, would leave Beau with more time to concentrate on the business and record-keeping facets of the ranch. He couldn’t claim to enjoy the job. But in the years since Bull’s injury, everything from ledgers to tax records to studbooks had deteriorated. As the only person on the ranch who’d ever held an actual desk job, the task of straightening out the mess had fallen to him. Knowing that the ranch’s long-term survival depended on good management, Beau had resolved to grin and forge ahead, maybe even call Lauren Prescott over to help.
Everyone seemed in a celebratory mood tonight. Maybe that was because Erin had arrived to spend the summer on the ranch. Today the whole ranch family had joined in the welcome. Bernice had made Erin’s favorite chocolate cake. Sky had supervised an hour of training with her foal, and Will had challenged her to a round of chess—a game she’d last played with her grandfather.
After lunch, Beau and Jasper had driven her out on the range to take turns plinking at tin cans with Bull’s boyhood .22. The pop of gunfire still awakened memories of Iraq, but Beau had entered into the fun, laughing when Erin teased him for missing a target.
Jasper had reached under the seat of his ATV, meaning to show her the 30.30 that Bull had given him years ago. To the old man’s distress, the rifle was missing. “It was there last week, and I haven’t touched it,” he said. “That gun means a lot to me. Bull even had my name engraved on the stock.”
“I’ll put the word out,” Beau had promised him. “It’s bound to turn up.” Puzzled, he’d written a notice to post in the bunkhouse and passed the message on to Sky. A theft on the ranch was cause for instant dismissal. It was hard to believe any of the hands would steal the old man’s prized rifle, especially a gun that could so easily be traced. It was the one shadow that had darkened an otherwise happy day.
Erin had begged to sleep in the barn with Tesoro, but Will had drawn the line at that. Tonight she was in the house, texting her friends and rearranging her old bedroom.
Beau had never spent much time around children. Struck by how much he’d enjoyed Will’s daughter today, he found himself wondering what it would be like to raise children of his own.
Beau was still lost in thought when Will dropped a bombshell.
“I got a call from Dad’s lawyer in Lubbock. He’ll be coming here tomorrow to read the will.”
“Dad left a will?” The announcement had startled Beau. “How long have you known about this?”
“A while.” Will leaned back in his rocker. “I’d have mentioned it sooner, but I didn’t want to cause a stir till it was time.”
That was like Will, keeping a firm hand on everybody’s strings, Beau thought. “And why some lawyer in Lubbock?” he asked. “Tori’s a lawyer. Why not just use her?”
“Would you hire your son’s ex-wife to make out your will? Dad liked to keep things private, even from me. Evidently the lawyer’s an old school friend. Dad called him and asked him out to the ranch a couple of weeks before he died. He must’ve sensed what was coming.”
“So you haven’t seen the will yourself?”
“Not a word of it.”
Beau scowled into the twilight. He’d never been fond of surprises, and he sensed there might be a few in store. “One more question. Why now? Why not sooner?”
“The lawyer wanted to wait till Sky was back. Evidently he’s to be included.”
“Interesting.” Beau glanced at Jasper, who hadn’t said a word. The old man knows more than he’s telling, he thought. He might have questioned him, but at that moment Jasper rose to his feet and stretched.
