Chapter 34
Kade
“The coroner says he would’ve been dead soon without the bullet you fired into his head.
” Sheriff Tanner runs his hand over his scruffy jaw.
It’s been a long couple of days for both of us.
“I don’t know what was keeping him on his feet with the kind of wound he took to the stomach and all the blood he lost.”
I know what it was. “She betrayed him,” I murmur. “All that mattered was making her pay for it.” Rage is a powerful thing. It can keep a person alive. I should know. It was my diet for too long.
If she hadn’t called out to me, which meant risking him finding her, he would have ended my life in front of that shitty little shack.
It took hours and a hell of a lot of favors called in, but Sawyer eventually found old property records, linking Buck and his family to the land where he died.
There’s a chance he would have succumbed to his wounds before he ever caught up to her, but there’s a chance he wouldn’t have.
I can’t think about it.
Standing, I ask, “We done here?” It’s been more than a full day since everything happened, and I’ve been away from Allie for too long. Emma said she’d stay with her while I was here to give my statement, but that doesn’t dull my need to be with her. I already came too close to losing her forever.
“For now.” Because he has to act like he has the upper hand when he didn’t do jack shit to find her or put Buck down like the sick dog he was.
Before I can leave the station, he clears his throat mildly.
“What about that other problem? The one that keeps calling here and asking for details about his missing son?”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him anymore.”
I look over my shoulder in time to watch his shoulders sag, and his face fall. “You weren’t going to… I mean, you wouldn’t admit that in front of me, would you?” he asks.
“Sheriff Tanner. If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re implying that I would commit murder and actually tell you about it in advance.
” I wait for his face to go red, sort of a treat for myself, before snickering.
“I only meant he wouldn’t be bothering you after today.
Feel free to check on him if it makes you feel better. ”
Not that he will. He’s too relieved he never has to deal with Joseph Lowry again. If anything, he should thank us for putting the whole matter to rest. He’s lucky we don’t invoice the department for services rendered.
As far as I know, much of what happened two nights ago has been glossed over, silenced.
That’s how we run our lives. That’s how things get done.
I can walk down the sidewalk, noticed by everyone I pass because of my name and reputation, but that doesn’t mean these outsiders know the first thing about Allie’s close call.
I doubt she’ll show her face in town for a while after what she went through, anyway.
She’ll be able to process this and get over it without the scrutiny of outsiders.
Maintaining her privacy is the least I can do after she saved my life by risking hers.
I plan to spend the rest of my days making it up to her.
That starts now, on my way to the ranch, where, as I understand it, we have a visitor.
Granted, he was invited, and we spent yesterday preparing for him.
According to my last text from Levi, they’ve kept him entertained for the past half hour or so as I finished things up with the sheriff. Now, pulling up to the house, anticipation of going toe-to-toe with him makes me want to rush inside.
Instead, I take my time, savoring the moment. Like swirling a fine wine around in my mouth to taste its quality. Never been a wine drinker, but that’s the general idea. Let the man spend another few moments believing he got away with something. It’s all going to come crashing down very soon.
They’re in the dining room. There’s something poetic about it.
This will be the second time I commit murder in that room, though this time, there won’t be blood involved unless my victim decides he wants to get violent.
He’s sitting on one side of the table, a glass of scotch in front of him, his wide-brimmed hat sitting on the table, and his shirt open at the top two buttons. He’s making himself at home.
“Oh. There he is.” Immediately, Joseph’s eyes narrow, his gaze moving over me. “Last I saw you, you were ruining what was supposed to be a major moment for my son. Is this what y’all invited me here for? So he can rub it in my face instead of someone finally telling me what happened to my boy?”
He looks over the table, where my brothers sit across from him. I pour myself a drink despite the early hour—since when has that ever stopped me?—then join them. My brothers saved me the chair directly across from him. How thoughtful of them.
“Mr. Lowry, I’m sorry to have to tell you this.” We discussed it yesterday, and this seems like the best way to go. Coming out with the truth. “But your son is dead.”
His eyelids flutter. He sputters, “Excuse me? And how would you know that unless you were the one who murdered him? I knew it was you. I came here knowing it had to be you.”
“You’re wrong about that. I did, however, put a bullet through the head of the man responsible. That was just yesterday morning, right around dawn. He also abducted Allie. You remember her, right? The girl you went out of your way to intimidate?”
“He was also responsible for murdering the two investigators you sent out here,” Sawyer adds. He sounds so casual about it.
Lowry’s mouth twists into a smirk. I didn’t expect him to believe us right away. “That’s mighty convenient. Pinning everything on a dead man.”
“I just gave a statement to Sheriff Tanner,” I tell him. “So did Allie, while she was being checked out at the hospital yesterday. You’re more than welcome to look into it, but you won’t learn anything new.”
“And he killed my son? You’re telling me the truth?”
“I’m sorry to say it, but yes.” Though I’m not sorry to say it. I’ve never been less sorry. “Unfortunately, we’re unaware of what became of his remains. But I promise you, justice was served.”
It takes him a second, along with half of his drink, but he eventually nods. “I knew it. A father knows. I suppose I should thank you for making that son of a bitch pay.”
“We did you a favor,” I tell him before looking at my brothers. I feel their anticipation crackling like an invisible force in the room. I share it. “And we’ll do you another one.”
This is not a stupid man. Right away, his chin lifts like a horse sensing danger in the air. “What kind of favor would that be?”
Sawyer slides a folder across the table. “I’m sure all of this will look familiar to you.” I know there have been people in the past who have mistaken my brother’s calm, centered personality for something weak or easily manipulated. Those people always regretted underestimating him.
Lowry arches an eyebrow, eyeing the folder before flipping it open. He’s got a shitty poker face, and his immediate outrage turns his skin red. “How dare you? You arrogant sons of bitches.”
“You don’t want to accept our favor?” I ask. I’m proud of myself for maintaining a calm demeanor when inside, I’m raging. “That’s fine. We would gladly take all of that information to the press.”
“The cover-ups,” Calder explains, leaning back in his chair like a man without a care in the world. “All those accusations, not to mention the three girls who went missing without a trace after last being seen with your late son. Their families might be interested in all of this going public.”
His tongue darts over his lips before he reaches blindly for his glass and drains it. Typical big talker. At heart, a hopeless coward.
“By the time the court of public opinion is finished with you and your family,” I explain, “you’ll have to sell your stock and your land for pennies on the dollar.
Nobody wants to be associated with this kind of scandal, or with someone who would bully and intimidate defenseless young women to cover up their son’s crimes. ”
“There’s also the matter of a hit-and-run that took place a few miles off your property,” Sawyer says.
“You’ll find that report inside, too. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you?
Or about the SUV registered under your name, which wound up needing extensive work done to the hood and windshield around that same time? ”
Bull’s-eye. I wish I had thought to have my phone sitting out, ready for me. I would love to have his blank-faced shock on camera. I bet Allie would especially appreciate it. “You’re out of your minds,” he chokes out.
“We’re resourceful,” I reply. “You aren’t the only one at this table with the time and the resources to get shit done.”
“We have copies of every single document in front of you,” Sawyer explains, placing his hands on the table. “It’s up to you what we do with them.”
“Leave Emma and Allie Porter alone from this moment on.” I don’t phrase it as an option, a choice he can either accept or refuse.
This is simply the way it has to be. “We’d be more than happy to pretend we never dug up any of this information.
You can live out the rest of your days on your ranch, playing cowboy.
There will be no reason for us to so much as think of you again. ”
Lowering my voice to something close to a growl, I continue, “Make the mistake of contacting them again, sending people after them again, and you can bet the entire world will know about all of this by the time that same day is out. You have my word on it.”
“Take it or leave it,” Levi concludes with a confident smirk.
He looks at us in turn, his gaze landing heavy before finally coming to rest on me. “Fair enough,” he grunts. It must take everything he has to admit defeat.