Double Action Deputy by B.J. Daniels

Double Action Deputy by B.J. Daniels

Author:B.J. Daniels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-04-09T18:34:19+00:00


* * *

BRICK FOLLOWED A long dirt road that cut across arid country bare of little more than sagebrush. They’d been driving all day across Montana, from Ennis to Helena and now to the eastern portion of the huge state. He was wondering if they’d taken a wrong road when they came over a rise and he saw an old farmhouse in the distance.

As they grew closer, he could see that the two-story stick-built house was once white. Over the years, the paint had faded and peeled until now it was a windswept gray. The yard resembled other ranch and farmyards he’d seen across Montana. Ancient vehicles rusted in the sun along with every kind of farm implement. An old once-red barn leaned into the breeze. A variety of outbuildings were scattered like seeds over the property.

As they pulled down the driveway, an equally weathered looking man came out the screen door. Shading his eyes, he watched the pickup approach as if he hadn’t seen anyone this far out in a very long time.

Brick parked, killed the engine and got out. He heard Mo exit the pickup and wondered what she was thinking as she took in this place. This was where Natalie had grown up?

“You lost?” the man asked. His voice and on closer inspection, his face, though weathered, was closer to fifty than eighty. Brick realized he was probably looking at Natalie’s father.

“We’re looking for Natalie Berkshire,” Mo said.

Before she could get the words out of her mouth, the man was shaking his head. “Never heard of her,” he said, already turning back toward the house.

“She’s your daughter,” Mo snapped.

The man stopped, his back to them. “Not anymore.”

“She’s on the run from people who want to hurt her,” Brick said quickly. “She’s injured and scared and probably has no one else to go to. Why wouldn’t she come here?”

The man let out a deep-rooted bitter sound and slowly turned to face him. “Because she knows better than to come here.”

“You wouldn’t help her?” Brick asked, finding it hard to believe that blood wouldn’t help blood.

“I wouldn’t throw water on her if she was on fire.”

“I don’t believe that,” Mo said.

“What do you know about anything?” the man demanded.

“I know she’s your only child and if there is something wrong with her, then you have to share in that blame.”

The man narrowed his eyes, anger making his nose flare. “Leave my property before I get my gun and run you off. That girl was a bad seed from birth.” His voice broke. “Her mother tried to save her with love and look where that got the woman. Dead and buried.” There were tears in his eyes as he went back inside, slamming the screen door behind him.



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