AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Somehow Natalie managed to hold her temper in check. “Stella said I could come by and pick up Slade’s things. You can call her if you need to.”
“No need. You can’t take anything related to the business. But since he lived here a while, you might as well take his dirty laundry home. I’ll get it for you.”
He disappeared into a back room and came out with a cardboard box. It was piled high with dirty clothes and bedding. With a mischievous grin, Lute shoved it across the desk toward her. “Here you go. It’s all yours, lady.”
Fighting the urge to fling the laundry in his face, Natalie took the box and walked out to her vehicle. Facing Lute had been a maddening experience, but as she pulled out into the street, she reminded herself that she’d made some important connections. Stella had taken over Slade’s business. Slade, who’d hated Beau, had hired Lute, who hated Beau, too.
Now Slade was dead and Lute had taken over his job. There was no way these events could’ve been random. They had to be connected to Slade’s murder.
Since Lute had worked on the ranch, he would have known where Jasper kept the rifle. And he could easily have sneaked into the shed and taken it.
What would the sheriff say to all this when she told him? Natalie wondered.
CHAPTER 13
With Beau’s arraignment less than a month away, Tori had arranged to meet both Beau and Will at the ranch instead of her office. Coming to the ranch meant more privacy and no interrupting phone calls, and she could spend time with her daughter once all the legal business was finished
Will studied her from his armchair. She sat curled on the couch, one foot tucked beneath her and her laptop balanced across her knees. Today she was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a soft cotton shirt with an open collar that framed her creamy throat. Her hair was loosely twisted and pinned to the crown of her head with a silver clip. She looked exactly the way Will had always liked her to look. Not that it made any difference. Even in jeans and sneakers, Tori was all business.
Will had suggested that Beau hire a big-name trial lawyer from someplace like Dallas. But Beau had chosen to stay with Tori. It had been a good idea, Will conceded. Tori was invested heart and soul in saving the man who was her daughter’s uncle, her ex-husband’s brother, and her own lifelong friend.
“So what did the sheriff say when you told him what we discovered at the crime scene?” Beau was referring to the fact that the shots from Jasper’s rifle appeared to have been fired from directly above, most likely into a dead body.
Tori shook her head. “I’m afraid that didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. He said it was an interesting idea, but the medical examiner’s report was inconclusive. The only way to prove our claim would be to find evidence that Slade had died some other way.”
“Evidence we don’t have,” Beau said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t look for it. Right now with Axelrod set on closing his case against me, it may be our only choice.”
“Let’s get back to that after I go over what Natalie told me.” Tori scanned the notes she’d typed in earlier. “Stella Rawlins has evidently been pulling Slade’s strings for the past couple years. Last year she bailed him out of serious debt and took over the trucking business when he couldn’t pay her back.”
Beau leaned forward in his chair. “That trucking business would be an ideal front for smuggling—drugs, guns, illegals, anything.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” Tori said. “One of my contacts ran a background check on Stella. Her record’s clean.”
“Which could mean she’s smart enough to let other people do her dirty work,” Will said. “What about the bartender?”
“So far he’s a mystery man. Nobody seems to know his real name.”
“If we can get a photo of him, I can get my friends at the DEA to run it,” Beau said. “Whoever the man is, I’m betting he’s no angel. I never got a good look at his tattoos, but even at a distance they looked like prison work. If I had to guess who killed Slade, he’d be at the top of my list.”
“There’s more here,” Tori said. “It seems Slade hired Lute at the trucking company.”
“Sky mentioned that,” Beau said.
“Did you also know that Stella promoted him to Slade’s old job? Lute’s running the place now. Natalie told me how he bragged about it.”
“Lute?” Will shook his head in disbelief. “That lazy little—”
“Natalie shouldn’t be messing with those people,” Beau said. “They’re dangerous. She needs to stay away, Tori.”
“Try telling Natalie that,” Tori said. “She’s determined to help you any way she can. She read Axelrod the riot act for jumping to conclusions and ignoring other suspects. I talked to the sheriff this morning. He wasn’t too happy about her meddling.”
“Is he still trying to prove I killed that poor girl, too?”
“I’m afraid so. He even suggested that I use your PTSD as a defense to help you avoid the death penalty. As far as he’s concerned, the case is as good as closed.”
Beau exhaled raggedly. He’d done his best to stay calm and upbeat, but Will could tell the stress was beginning to wear on his brother.
“Let’s look at the big picture,” Will said, changing the subject. “Lute was working here on the ranch. Beau fired him. Slade hired him. Slade was killed, Beau was framed for the murder, and Lute stepped into Slade’s old job. What’s the common denominator here?”
