Chapter Six
Max couldn’t get the image of Grimes out of his mind. Cordell was right. Grimes had looked as terrifying as he remembered. Was there any doubt he was on his way to Montana—or what he planned to do when he got here?
Max sighed and headed for the cellblock.
He’d made a point of giving Cordell some time to himself after Josie left.
One look at his brother, though, and there was no doubt that seeing his old flame after all this time had hit him hard.
Max had never understood how Cordell could have walked away from everything good in his life, this town, his brother, let alone Josie—the best thing that had ever happened to him.
He couldn’t imagine what it had taken Cordell to do that—let alone come back now.
He suspected, though, that Cordell had thought he was doing what was best for everyone. That, at least, Max could understand. His brother hadn’t been ready to commit to anything, let alone anyone, even Josie.
After Cordell had left Dry Gulch six years ago, Max had been shaken, afraid the solid ground they’d found here wasn’t as solid as he’d thought.
He was sure that was why he’d picked a fight with Goldie and tried to break it off then, thinking his brother was right.
How could either he or his brother get serious about anyone and not tell them the truth?
Goldie had listened patiently to all the reasons they couldn’t be together and seemed to take the breakup well enough. Then three days later, she’d cornered him and told him that everything he’d said was pure bull.
“I’m not going anywhere, Max Lander, and one day you’re going to marry me.”
He’d tried to argue, but she wouldn’t hear it.
“I love you and nothing can change that,” she’d said. “At least you didn’t leave town like your brother. But he’ll be back. I have no idea what the two of you are so afraid of, but I’m sticking by you whether you like it or not.”
A week later, she’d stopped by his place with a piece of his favorite pie. A week after that, she’d brought over a stray dog she’d found and asked him to just take care of it until she could find a place to live that allowed dogs.
By the end of that month, she and the dog were living at his place. He couldn’t even say exactly how it had happened, yet he hadn’t tried to push her away again. But nor had he asked her to marry him.
There had been moments, though, when he’d wanted to so badly to give her the one thing he knew they both wanted.
But marriage and a family were the two things he had feared he couldn’t offer.
How could he give her that knowing that his life since seventeen had been a lie—let alone what he’d done before showing up in Dry Gulch.
Now looking at his brother, he still didn’t want to believe that Grimes was alive. It felt surreal, a nightmare in the harsh light of day. Worse, he didn’t know what he was going to do about it. Hadn’t he always known that if the man had lived, he would come after them with blood in his eye?
Goldie couldn’t be around when that happened. Neither could Josie. If Grimes even thought that he and Cordell had women they cared about, he’d make them his targets.
His brother looked as bad as Max felt. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”
Cordell shook his head. “Josie wasn’t interested in anything I had to say.”
“I figured it might be rough seeing her.”
“I’ve been through worse,” his brother said but Max didn’t buy it.
“I’m glad you didn’t say anything to her about Grimes. We need to talk about that, but first I’m going to go get your dinner. You cozy enough?”
“Like a bug in a rug. Max, we may not have much time.”
He nodded, feeling the clock ticking. “You need to stay put for now.” He started to turn to leave, but his brother’s words stopped him.
“You can’t keep acting like this isn’t happening. And you can’t leave me in here to be killed like a fish in a barrel. I’ve been thinking about it. We have to find Grimes and take care of him.”
“You do realize you’re talking to an officer of the law, right?”
“I’m talking to my brother. You know as well as I do what will happen if he finds us. No one we care about will be safe.”
Max shook his head, even though he knew his brother was right. Cordell had come back to face his past even with several warrants against him. His brother thought they were going to do this together—just as they had as boys.
“You know there is only one way this can end,” Cordell persisted.
“I thought that last time and look how that turned out,” Max said.
“Another reason it makes sense not to wait until he turns up in Dry Gulch. We need to catch him down the road. We need the element of surprise on our side,” his brother said.
Max thought of the large violent man who’d beaten them almost to death when they were younger. After seeing the new and improved Roger Grimes after years in prison, he doubted the outcome even if they had the element of surprise on their side.
Worse, while the man had aged over the years, Grimes had always been as strong as he was mean.
And now he looked in better shape. Add to that, their so-called stepfather was a dirty fighter, wily and vicious.
Now bloodthirsty and full of vengeance, nothing could stop the man except lead, maybe a lot of it, Max thought.
“If we just happened to catch him between here and Florida?” he asked his brother.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky, Max. We know he’s coming. All we have to do is figure out which route—”
Were they really talking about catching Grimes somewhere on his way to Montana from Florida and killing him? Last time had been self-defense. If Max hadn’t stopped Grimes, he would have killed Cordell, then him. He’d never seen the man that out of control.
Over the years, Max had told himself that he regretted not convincing the authorities and taking his chances all those years ago.
But back then the stakes had been too high.
He’d had to protect his brother, who had no one but him.
Not to mention the cops had let him and his brother down before.
He’d been afraid he and Cordell could go to prison for life.
So, they’d gotten rid of the body. Or at least thought they had.
“Max, we need to go, and we need to go soon if we’re going,” Cordell said.
Cordell’s plan was nothing short of harebrained. But at least it was a plan. Max wished he had one, other than waiting for Grimes to get picked up by the law and never reach Montana. It felt like wishful thinking at best. But calling in a BOLO without a reason would only make Max look suspicious.
“Isn’t he on parole?” his brother asked. “Won’t he be arrested the minute he’s caught leaving Florida?”
Max shook his head. “Not everyone who is released from prison is put on parole. He served all of his sentence, so now he’s free.”
“So nothing can be done about him until he kills one of us,” Cordell said. “With a record like his, how could they let him go like that? They must hope he leaves Florida and isn’t their problem anymore.”
What Max found odd was that the money from the bank robbery had never been retrieved.
If Grimes knew where it was, he could have made a deal for a shorter sentence.
Unless he was planning on getting out and spending the money.
Was it possible Grimes didn’t know that would get him sent back to prison?
It was the not knowing what the man had planned that would keep Max up at night.
“I’ll be back,” he told Cordell, feeling the same urgency he heard in his brother’s voice.
The last thing he wanted was for Grimes to get to Dry Gulch.
If there was a way to stop him… “I’m going to pick up dinner.
We can talk when I get back with our meals.
” He started to turn and leave. Having second thoughts, he tossed his brother the key to his cell.
Cordell caught it and smiled. “I’ll be here when you get back. I’m not going anywhere, but thanks. It’s at least a step up from being a dead fish in a barrel.”
As Max left, he realized that if Grimes somehow got to his brother in jail, it would mean his deputy and dispatcher were already dead.
There would no doubt be collateral damage if Grimes ever reached Dry Gulch. He told himself that if Grimes had done what Cordell had and driven straight through to Dry Gulch, he wouldn’t be fool enough to attack during the day on a main street. But after dark, all bets were off.
Not that Grimes couldn’t be close by. He could be waiting just outside of town at Max’s house for him.
The same house he shared with Goldie.
* * *
Goldie couldn’t help her smile as Max walked into the café.
Just the sight of him always made her smile.
He was a big handsome man with a heart bigger than Montana and she loved him just as much.
But she was no fool. She knew he had demons.
She’d lain next to him afraid to wake him from the horrible nightmares that had him screaming.
She’d never mentioned the nightmares to him. Max liked to think he was a mystery to her and everyone else. Whatever haunted him had something to do with his brother, as well. She had seen the worry when Cordell had left. Now he looked even more concerned. Because of Cordell’s return?
The two Lander men had a past they never talked about, one Goldie feared would eventually catch up to them. Was that why Max looked so scared, the weight of whatever it was riding on his wide shoulders? Or did it have something to do with Cordell’s return?
Max loved his brother but the two of them had gone in separate directions, Cordell wanting to break every rule, his older brother determined to make himself a law-and-order life.
He’d started out as a deputy and then run for sheriff.
Everyone in town loved him, so he’d won by a landslide.
He was the only law in this part of the county and took his job sometimes more seriously than he did Goldie.