Rugged Defender by B.J. Daniels

Author:B.J. Daniels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-08-13T18:26:01+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Justin watched his speed—and his rearview mirror—as he left town. The run-in with the law had him worried. Apparently Deputy Locke had some unfinished business with Chloe given the way the man had been looking at her after he’d pulled them over. Justin definitely wanted to hear about what had happened between them. If Chloe was right about the deputy pulling them over just because she was in the pickup, then that was definitely harassment.

As he drove out to the ranch, he called the hospital to check on his father. Stable and resting. Disconnecting, he could feel the clock ticking. Now they knew who had beaten Drew up the day he died. But they still weren’t any closer to finding his...killer. Nor did they know why.

With Drew, trouble usually involved a woman. But he was also in financial trouble apparently. Enough that someone would kill him?

He thought of Nici and hoped to hell he was right about her. He had no doubt where the scratches on Drew had come from. Nici had been on the ranch that night. He’d seen her car leaving the back way. Still he refused to believe that she’d killed Drew. There had been someone else at his cabin that night because of the second vehicle Justin had heard leaving.

Ahead, the ranch house came into view. He drove in, not seeing anyone around. He told himself that he would do this as quickly as possible. But it was something that had been nagging at him since he’d seen the shape the ranch was in.

He still had a key to the front door, but it wasn’t necessary. In this part of Montana hardly anyone locked the doors—especially out in the country. He walked in and headed straight for his father’s office.

What he wanted to see were the books. Something was wrong. He could feel it. His father had let things slip, which wasn’t like him. But Justin also suspected that in his father’s emotional state, there was a good chance that he’d been taken advantage of—maybe for years.

He was digging in his father’s desk when he heard a sound behind him.

“What are you doing here?” boomed a male voice behind him.

He recognized it at once and turned to find the big cowboy standing behind him in the doorway. His father’s ranch manager, Thane Zimmerman, had a scowl on his face, which wasn’t unusual.

“Your father know you’re back here?” Thane demanded. Justin had never liked Thane and the feeling was mutual. But then Justin doubted Thane liked anyone. He remembered the resentment he’d seen in Thane’s expression when he was around Drew. Even Thane had seen that Drew had no interest in running the ranch.

“My father knows I’m back.”

“Back, huh? I doubt he knows you’re going through his desk,” Thane said.

“I want to see the ranch books.”

The ranch manager laughed and crossed his arms. “That’s not happening.”

“Why is that?”

“You leave and don’t come back after all this time? Not to mention how your father feels about you.

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