Branded. B.J. Daniels
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.
“Should be able to get some cattle soon,” he said now, smiling at her. “Just a big enough herd to make a little profit and keep us fed.” His smile fell. “Rough day?”
“Had to go out to the Chisholm place,” she said.
“Chisholm, huh.”
“Colton Chisholm called the Sheriff’s Department because he found his former girlfriend’s purse buried in a spot the two of them used to meet fourteen years ago. There’s a crime tech team searching for her remains as we speak.”
“Is that right?”
She shot him a warning look.
“Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands. “I know that boy drove you crazy but you held your own and quite frankly, I think—”
“I know what you thought,” she said, cutting him off. Her father had told her she had to learn to fight her own battles. And she had. She knew he believed it had made her stronger, being raised like a son instead of a daughter.
But then he’d also thought that Colton Chisholm was just trying to get her attention all those years ago. Well, he certainly had her attention now.
Chapter Three
Colton felt as if he’d been kicked in the chest by a mule. All these years her parents had believed she was alive because of letters that weren’t from her at all?
“How could you believe the letters were from Jessica?” he demanded.
Millie was crying and wringing her hands in the cloth of her apron. Her husband looked as if he was trying to restrain himself. Colton was glad he hadn’t opted to come here without the deputy because he was having the same problem not going for Sid Granger’s throat.
“A person’s handwriting can change,” Millie was saying through her tears.
“If she was alive, why wouldn’t she call?” Colton demanded. “Why was Jessica so afraid to let her own family know where she was unless she hated you so much—”
“You punk!” Sid Granger sprang to his feet. “It was you she was trying to get away from.”
“Why would Jessica send me a letter asking me to run away with her if I was the problem?” Colton demanded, not backing down as he, too, shot to his feet.
“Colton,” the deputy warned as she stepped between them again. “Mr. Granger, I need to know why you’re so angry at Mr. Chisholm.”
Colton narrowed his gaze at her. Clearly, she was looking for just one more reason to hang him, but he stepped back, raising his hands in surrender.
“What was it you thought Mr. Chisholm did to your daughter?” Halley asked again.
Sid Granger seemed to have trouble speaking. He swallowed several times, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. Tears filled his eyes. He hastily brushed them away with his shirtsleeve. Anger reddened his face. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
“He got her pregnant,” Millie said from the rocker where she’d been sitting crying.
Colton took the news like a blow. He lowered himself to the couch. Looking up, he saw the deputy’s face. She’d obviously been anticipating something like this. Was this the news Jessica had wanted to tell him that night?
“He knocked her up and refused to marry her,” Sid finally managed to get out.
“No!” Colton bellowed. “That’s a lie. I didn’t know. She never …” His voice broke with emotion as it sank in. “I didn’t know,” he said more to himself than to the people in the room. He could feel Halley’s gaze on him. He doubted she believed him any more than Sid Granger did.
“As Mr. Chisholm said, your daughter wrote him a letter before the night she was to leave,” the deputy was saying. “That letter was lost and only delivered today. In the letter, she said she wanted him to run away with her. Do you know if she met him that night?”
“Why don’t you ask him?” Sid snapped. “He’s sitting right there.”
“I’m asking you. When was the last time you saw your daughter?”