Chapter 44
“I’m sure you can behave yourselves long enough to come inside,” Auggie told the two beautiful behemoths standing at the edge of her porch steps.
Claudia was snarling at the bigger one—looking a bit like a chihuahua going against a rabid wolf at the moment.
Someone had to play referee there, too, apparently.
“But only because it’s cold out here, and my aunt raised me to be polite.
Any problems between you and Claudia—or anyone else in my house—and you will wait outside.
Warrant or not. I’m sure Cal and Cadell could find a legal argument for why. ”
“I’d sure try,” Cal said, beside her now. His hand landed on her shoulder.
“Yes, ma’am,” the older Weatherby brother said.
He was kind of smirking at her, like he was amused or something.
She had met him before. He was good friends with her cousin Maggie, for one thing.
He had been a part of the case where Cal and Claudia’s father had almost killed Maggie.
That was a bit hard to forget. And it was probably going to make this morning very, very awkward.
And Auggie had the girls to think about. Markie was jabbering at her, talking about breakfast and about the newborn kittens in the barn.
Normally, on Tuesdays, they stayed at the ranch and she worked virtually. But today…she looked at Junie and Em as they came out on the porch behind her—Junie in shortie pajamas, her winter coat and bare feet. Junie always had been the weird one of their little trio, no denying that.
“What’s going on?” Em asked. Em didn’t have on a coat at all. She just stood there in baggy sweats, shivering. “Has he been found yet?”
“Not yet. They are going to be bringing WHP here to search. On their way?” Cadell said. He held the warrant Claudia had taken from Ransom Weatherby now. “ETA?”
“Forty-five.”
“I want the girls gone.” They could grab the girls’ school things and some clothes and get them off the property in forty-five minutes. If they hurried. But they’d need to feed them—fast. “As soon as they eat breakfast, I want them out of here. Just…I want them gone until I figure this out.”
“Let’s get to it,” Claudia said. “We’re going to make that happen. The Weatherbys understand that, I am sure.”
“Okay. Then, Em take Jan and Jules, I’ll take the baby and Markie, while Junie finishes prepping breakfast, Claud, can you get Avril and Tobi?
Clothes, school, probably enough clothes for a couple of nights.
We’ll just…stay somewhere else.” Where was going to be the question.
There were a few options she could consider.
There wasn’t money to stay at the inn, and the inn plus six kids would be a disaster waiting to happen.
There was Martin’s place, but she thought he had a trio of boys staying with him right now, and that left…
As if by magic another SUV pulled in. Sage hopped out. Auggie had never been so happy to see her cousin’s wife in her life. Sage was obviously beyond angry. And she was ready to let the Weatherbys have it. Sage had done so before. “What is this about?”
She just left Sage to deal with those beautiful boneheads. She had two babies to get packed.
Sage came in a few minutes later, storms on her face. “How can I help?”
“I need a place for us to stay for a few days.” This was one of the few people on the planet she would ask this of without hesitation. Sage just was.
“Done. I’ll text Gil. He can have the housekeeper get their rooms ready. We’ll watch Wonkus McBubbles movies in the basement tonight. We’ll have a marathon.” Sage took Markie when she reached for her. “You know you can all stay as long as you like. Anytime.”
Auggie just nodded. All she cared about was getting her sisters someplace safe. If that meant staying at Gil’s—well, she’d just do it.
January had woken crying two hours ago. Her little sister didn’t deserve the nightmares. Auggie was going to do what it took to see to it that her sister healed.
No matter what.
“Let’s just get my girls somewhere safe. Then I’ll figure out what happens next.”
Cal knew he couldn’t do anything to stop those two assholes from pushing for their way.
The warrant was legal and signed by a judge.
Everyone wanted a piece of Bruce Tyler—the WHP would be no exception.
Everyone was just jockeying to see who got him first. He was just aiming for as little upheaval and trauma for the kids as possible.
He suspected the only reason Auggie’s ranch hadn’t been overrun yet was because the Weatherbys didn’t want to make trouble in town. Goodwill would go a long way between the two jurisdictions.
That didn’t mean he liked the two men coordinating the search. Far from it. Auggie had sent the girls to her cousin Gil’s. Em and Junie were going to keep the girls there until they had a resolution to Bruce Tyler.
However long that would take.
Cal just stood there at Auggie’s side, during the entire process. He’d already made it clear to Ransom Weatherby that he wasn’t going anywhere. First, he wasn’t going to see Auggie railroaded by the WHP. Nor was he going to see his sister constantly snarled at.
That just kept happening as the hours went on. Ransom was rarely less than ten feet away from Claudia. And it was at her that most of his comments of any kind were directed. It had taken Cal a moment or two to realize that, but once he had, he wondered why.
It wasn’t just disagreements, or personality conflicts—the man almost exclusively snarled at Claudia. And only Claudia, though he probably wasn’t too well liked with the rest of the WHP.
Sage Tyler was snapping back at him, too.
Right there in Auggie’s living room, as he’d tried to question Auggie again.
Sage was particularly protective over Claudia and Auggie.
Cal appreciated it. But his sister was snarling right back, and Claudia wasn’t backing down. Finally, Rex pulled his brother aside.
Cal took a moment to do the same with his sister. “What’s that guy’s problem with you?”
“I am. And Dad. I am too me, I think. I offend his sensibilities. And he was investigating Dad, Cal. I’m sure that he is, still. He thought I had to be aware of what dad was doing. He just likes to get under my skin—and he won’t leave me alone, lately. He’s always showing up around me lately.”
“Why? What’s he want?”
“He’s been asking a lot of questions about my time with the WHP.
Stretching all the way back to when I was in Cheyenne.
I can’t get clarification why. All he says is that he’s following leads about a cold case.
” She looked over at the Weatherby in question.
“But he won’t give me a hint about what one. ”
“You think he’s trying to pin something on you?”
“No. That I don’t. I haven’t done anything. And, even though I can’t stand him for even one minute, I do think he’s one of the honest ones in the WHP. One of the very few. Him and his brother.”
Claudia didn’t have a lot of positive to say about her time with the WHP. Cal had noticed it before. His sister was happier working for the Masterson County Sheriff’s Department. And it kept her closer to home. So he wasn’t complaining.
He’d offered to let her move back in with him after she’d been reassigned to Masterson from Cheyenne, but she’d been stubborn. At the time he’d had a house on the edge of town. He’d offered to let her move in with him several times since.
“Anything I can do to help?”
“I can handle him. If I show him he’s getting to me, he’s won.
” And his sister could be incredibly stubborn.
No denying that. “It’s different now. I don’t report to him, or his brother, or anyone else in the WHP.
He doesn’t have the same kind of power over me, for one thing. And I don’t think he likes that.”
His sister wandered down the hall, to help Em pack some things for Avril and Tobi. Cal stayed where he was, by the window, and watched the Weatherby in question.
There was something in the man’s eyes, when he watched Claudia, that had Cal’s hackles rising. And when Cal’s sister’s laugh floated down the hall a few moments later, the man’s mouth twitched. Then there was an expression that made it very clear what the man’s problem with Claudia actually was.
Shit. Now Cal understood.
Weatherby had a thing for Cal’s sister.
And he was fighting it, hard. Probably why he snarled at Claudia, trying to get her away from him. Cal just had to wonder if Claudia had a clue. Or if he should tell her. Or if that was one nuclear explosion he wanted to stay very, very clear of.
Nothing good would ever come of that.