48. Chapter 48 - Cade
When I left Montana just after Christmas, I didn’t expect to be heading back in June.
The thick green grass over the rolling hills brings the bite of nostalgia. How many years did I spend on horseback at Black Gulch riding through prairies like these during our big spring roundups?
From the time I was able to balance in a saddle, Dad had us helping. I wonder if my brothers have their kids riding yet?
Mason had Sawyer and Sophia each their own animals before they were even out of diapers.
Would I do that for my own?
A tingle deep in my belly has me reaching for Rosalyn and sliding my fingers under the cover of her book to rest them on her thigh.
Absentmindedly, she drifts her palm over my wrist, her eyes never straying from her page.
One day maybe we’ll have a family of our own? She’s grown so much and has such an amazing heart but I don’t want to push her into anything she isn’t ready for.
Yet the thought is hard to quench.
The trip was faster this time without the horses in tow. They were good for forcing breaks though. My damn legs are suffering when we pull into Pete’s driveway.
Her massages at night in the hotels helped us both relax in more ways than one.
Fuck, my dick needs to stay down for just a little while. Unfolding myself from the driver’s seat, I stretch and stomp my feet to get the circulation moving again.
“Cade.” Pete steps out onto the porch, holding his hand up against the evening sun.
“Congrats on the nuptials.” He grins, stepping down gingerly into the dusty gravel.
“I didn’t expect you so soon after the wedding.
” Sticking out his arm, he shakes mine heartily, then jerks me in for a hug.
“I’m happy for you, son.” His voice is low and hoarse until he pulls away. “And Mrs. McCullough. Welcome back.”
Ros tucks into my side but extends her palm for him to grasp.
Her confidence around anyone except me is still thin at best.
“Thank you.” She clutches the back of my shirt. “I haven’t gotten used to hearing that.”
Pete snorts, waving us to follow. “I got some dinner ready. I figured you probably didn’t stop.
” He slings his door open, releasing the savory smell of lasagna into the hot evening.
“Don’t get too excited, it’s one of those frozen ones.
” Then he turns, his gray brows waggling. “I made some garlic bread, too.”
“It smells amazing.” My belly rumbles in agreement.
“Good, maybe you can fetch it out of the oven for me.” Pete groans as he sits in his recliner, then pops out the footrest to raise his legs. “I fucked up my knee last week hiking around your brother’s pasture.”
Some of the hunger sours at the thought of the travesty Mason experienced.
“Any sign of John or Eli?” I glance at Rosalyn to gauge her response while I set the hot pan on a potholder in the middle of the table.
Her lips thin but they don’t roll. Yet.
“No. We’ve been watching the ranch as much as we can,” he sighs. “We just don’t have the manpower without a warrant. As much as I’d love to get in there and look around, we can’t. The bullets were all out of sabots, so no rifling to trace.”
Fuck. I didn’t know that part.
Anger coils in me. Those bastards are getting away with shit again.
“I don’t understand?” Rosalyn’s voice trembles. “What does that mean?”
I gesture for her plate and add a heaping helping.
I know her well enough that she’d starve herself before she’d eat someone else’s food if it isn’t in front of her.
“It’s a kind of casing that puts a smaller projectile out than the bore.
Keeps it from hitting the chamber.” I didn’t get much of a chance to teach her about that part, it was more how to aim, load, and fire.
“Well, shit,” she grunts. Her nose wrinkles and she drops her cheek into her palm as she pokes at her meal. “I didn’t even know those existed. But it wouldn’t surprise me if John did. He researches everything.”
“That’s why the two of them are so dangerous.” I put a piece of garlic bread on a plate with a helping of lasagna for Pete and pass it to him. “John is cold and calculating, Eli is a fucking wildcard.”
“John knew how to limit my computer to only like three websites.” Rosalyn waves her fork between bites. “The few times I was able to do anything, he found out almost right away and locked me right back down. He had some kind of parental controls only he knew the passwords for.”
I’ve never seen anyone get as happy as her when she learned she could order everything for delivery and never had to see anyone.
The most beautiful hermit I know.
“Was he the guy with the drones too?” Pete pushes the bread in the sauce, staining his cheek when he chews off a piece.
“Mmhmm.” Rosalyn nods, dapping her lips. “Well?” She pauses, her mouth twisting. “He’s friends with that Dave guy who knew about them. He came up to the ranch a couple of times but John made me stay in my room.” Then she shakes her head, stabbing a noodle. “I haven’t seen him for a while though.”
I exchange a glance with Pete. We both know why she had to stay hidden.
“It’s hard to believe he actually did something nice for you.” My palm finds her knee to squeeze her reassuringly. “That guy was bad news.”
“Was?” Her skin pales. “Do you think Eli killed him too?”
“Nope. I know who did.” Pete scrapes his plate and sets it on his end table. “It was well deserved and I’ll leave it at that.” He waves me off when I try to reach for his dish. “No, I’ll get these later. I do have some good news though. Go look at my computer screen, I left it up for you.”
“I hate surprises, Pete,” I grumble, pushing to my feet. “You can just tell me.”
His gray mustache is laced with dabs of tomato when he smiles. “No, sir. You need to see it for yourself.”
“Can I come too?” Rosalyn drops her napkin, following me before I even answer.
I hold out my palm for her fingers. “Always, baby.”
We walk down the hall together towards the glow of the screen in his office.
There on the monitor are two very grainy pictures that I recognize from the accident. I practically have them memorized. It takes me a second to realize what I’m looking at though, the images are so zoomed in they’re blurry.
He has a sticky note over each with a shaky arrow pointing to light gray lines.
Ice flows through me when the first, then the second registers.
“What is it?” Ros presses closer.
“Brake lines,” I exhale. I wouldn’t have seen this level of detail on the prints.
It would have to be the size of this room to blow them up this much.
“See these pinch points? Here?” I point at one end of the tube, then the other.
“It was snipped. They’re crimped. If it happened in the crash, they’d be torn or twisted. ”
My legs give out and I slump into Pete’s leather chair. “That’s it, Ros. Proof.”