Chapter 57
Claudia felt beyond sick right now. Her brother was practically shaking. And Quinn was there. Yelling. Quinn was yelling, trying to get through the gathering crowd to Kameron. Claudia stopped her before she could touch him. There would be evidence on Kameron’s clothes. Not just…blood.
Josh Tyler and a paramedic she’d never seen before were strapping Kameron down now. But it didn’t look good.
No one knew how long he’d been like that. When this had happened.
She still didn’t know how Cadell was involved. And the Weatherbys were gathering their WHP boys. Zach was there, actually wearing a nice suit and tie. He’d dressed up, for the engagement party, she thought.
She was wearing her dress for the evening now.
She was in a bloody crime scene with a dress on. In the cold. The wind was chilling her legs and her heels were not good on the slick driveway. But the Weatherbys were with her brother. She wasn’t going to dare let them interrogate him. Not without her right there.
She marched over to them as much as she could in the shoes. “What happened? Cadell, don’t say anything until I can get Cal or Lawe Hodson here.”
“I have nothing to hide, and I know the laws,” her brother said. He was shaking so much. She recognized adrenaline and shock and anger. “I found him like that.”
“Start at the beginning,” Rex ordered. “What were you doing here?”
“I was on my way back from Sturgis, headed to my place. I needed to change clothes. Then I was going to the engagement party at the inn. But I had paperwork for Kameron to sign. We want him to invest in some Grady Group commercial projects here in town that are time-sensitive. The door was hanging open. And I saw…the bloody bootprints on the porch. Kam’s cat was on the front porch.
He never lets her outside. She’s sixteen years old; he never puts her outside. So I picked her up, and went…inside.”
Her brothers had been friends with Kameron Neilson for at least twenty-five years. And they knew him well. “Was he awake?”
He just shook his head. “I just found him in his kitchen and dialed 911. Tried to stop the blood.”
“Is there anyone who can confirm you were in Montana?” Ransom demanded. “You’ll need to be tested for GSR.”
Gunshot residue. Of course, they thought her brother had shot one of his closest friends in cold blood. Of course, they did. Considering who their father was. Sins of the father. “Bastard.”
The word just slipped out. But she looked up at Ransom and meant it. “My brother didn’t do this.”
“There’s proof in my damned truck. I got pulled over, by a damned WHP just outside of Casper.
Got a warning. Taillight is out. I stopped at the auto parts store by the Masterson interstate exit half an hour before I got here, to buy the parts to fix it.
I have the receipt.” He looked at the commander of the WHP IA. “That good enough of an alibi for you?”
“I’ll be checking the time stamps,” Ransom said. He looked at Claudia, fury in his demon eyes. “You shouldn’t be involved in this. Not with him here.”
“Well, here I am. I got the call that there had been a shooting in my town. Of course I would be here. Joel will be here as soon as he can get here. My brother didn’t do it.
I’m sure you can confirm it with one of your little lackeys.
Paramedic says he’s probably been bleeding for at least a couple of hours. ”
“Closer to three,” Rex said. Always there to protect his baby brother, wasn’t he?
Claudia was so sick of the bull. Male cops were some of the biggest assholes across the spectrum she’d ever met.
She was so sick of dealing with men like these two all the time.
“So…who would have a problem with this guy, who could do this?”
It was time to get started.
She sent another look at the paramedics. At the man who looked almost lifeless on the gurney. Kameron didn’t deserve this. Not him. “He is one of the best men I have ever known. I don’t know who would have wanted to hurt him.”