Page 15 of Cowboy Don't Go

But she wasn’t wrong about his father’s reputation. The ranchers in Marietta had naturally taken his father’s crimes of stealing their cattle very personally. He had not only hit their bottom line, but for some ranchers, his thievery had meant ruin. That would not be forgiven easily, even if Cooper personally had nothing to do with them. In this day and age of online reviews and Yelp, a business like the guest ranch could be destroyed by a few bad actors. She had no doubt that word would get out about him working for them, just as they were trying to get their business up and running. Maybe it was unfair, but she would do anything to protect her family. Even from him.

Her hand shook as she tried to finish her salad and finally, she gave up, her inner critic revving up.

On the other hand, that other voice argued, should the Hardestys cave to idle gossip and innuendo or even a cynical review? Cooper wasn’t part of his father’s crime. And to paint him with that same brush made her look no better than those who had harangued him years ago into moving away.

Yes, she was protecting her family, their future success, and the ranch itself. But Cooper Lane was the same person he’d been when she’d known him in high school and to assume he’d do anything to hurt their family just because his father’s reputation followed him was like saying she should somehow be ashamed of having had Ryan without a husband. Cooper didn’t deserve that. And somehow, she’d figure out a way to fix this.

At the cash register, she pulled out her wallet to pay for her food, but the cute waitress just smiled.

“Oh no, didn’t he tell you?” she said. “That gentleman sitting with you? He paid your bill, too.”

Shay sighed, turning to stare out the Plate glass window at the front of the café. That was either the nicest thing anyone had done for her lately, or a power move to put her in her place. Which one was perfectly unclear. One thing, however, was plain. She was going to have to deal with Cooper Lane one way or another.

How did the old adage go? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Which one he was remained to be seen.

Chapter Three

Trey Reyes, a local private investigator who had worked for Marietta’s Canaday Law Firm for years since leaving the military, had a well-earned reputation for getting to the bottom of cases where others had failed. Cooper had spoken with him on the phone several times from Texas, but today was their first in-person meeting.

If central casting had submitted Reyes for the job, they couldn’t have cast anyone who looked the part less. The muscle-bound thug Cooper had somehow imagined was, in reality, a handsome, six-foot-something tall guy with intelligent, dark eyes, an easy smile and an offhanded manner that put him at ease. He wasn’t the first private investigator Cooper had hired to investigate what had happened to his father, but he hoped Trey would be the one to finally bring some closure to the case.

“You up for a walk down by the Marietta River?” Trey asked as they met on the corner of Main and Court Street. “There’s a nice walking path and it’s quiet there. We’re not likely to run into anyone at this time of day.”

“Sure.” He could both walk off that cupcake and the conflicting feelings he was having about Shay Hardesty.

He should be used to people throwing their attitudes at him by now, but the subtle digs from Shay about his father had cut him. Then again, for all the protestations about his father’s innocence, he’d not been able to do a thing to clear his name in all these years. Even though Cooper knew his father could never have done what they’d accused him of. And, personally, he knew that not a dime of the money his father was alleged to have made in that scheme ever found its way to their lives.

Cooper and Trey walked down a path by the courthouse, beneath the oak and pine trees that lined the walkway talking about the case as they reached the river and the wide path that followed the meandering current. The late August air smelled sweet, and the first hints of autumn were in the air.

“My wife, Holly, and I walk down here all the time with our dog, Digger,” Trey said. “Clears the mind. Puts everything in perspective, I think.”

Cooper could use a little perspective right now. “You married long?”

“A few years now,” Trey said, looking pretty damn happy about it. “You?”

He shook his head. “Nah. Not in the cards for me.”

Trey chuckled. “I used to think that, too. But glad now I changed my mind. My wife, Holly, wasn’t an easy catch, that’s for sure, and to this day, she challenges me in all the best ways. But I’d be lost without her.”

Cooper looked sideways at him, surprised Trey would share something so personal. Then again, why not? He seemed to have found his path in life with this detective business and the rest of his life had apparently fallen into place as well. He had the kind of confidence Cooper was looking for in an investigator after going through a series of detectives who wouldn’t or couldn’t get behind his father’s innocence.

Cooper’s thoughts strayed to Shay and their conversation of a few minutes ago, only confirming his feelings on the subject of settling down with a woman. She was an all-too-familiar scenario, with some preconceived notion of him. At the same time, he saw that his perception of himself was blurred by all his shifts in direction. He was most definitely not where he imagined he’d be at thirty-one—alone, still fighting for respect, and still drifting from one job to the next. Or here, making one last-ditch effort to uncover the truth about his father’s case.

“So, let’s talk about coming steps in your case. As you instructed,” Trey began, “I’ve done some digging into the bank transactions that took place on your father’s business accounts, beginning in 2012 and ending in 2014. You’re right. The money—a significant amount in total—was moved through his business account in modest deposits and quickly shuttled to some offshore account in the Caymans. Two point five million dollars to be precise.”

“That account was opened by his business partner. He forged his signature—very well, I might add—and my father wasn’t even aware of that account until the whole thing blew up in his face. My father never saw a penny of it. Never took a penny.”

“Right. So, it’s been nine, ten, eleven years since these transactions took place. Even then, the cops were unable to learn the final destination of that money. It came and went out of your father’s bank account, just as the police claimed and it landed in a Cayman account in your father’s name, again. From there, it was paid out to some shell corporation, tied to about three or four others, and most likely ultimately laundered through some real estate scheme. But that doesn’t make it a dead end,” Trey said, “I just happen to know a guy.”

Cooper stopped walking. “What kind of guy?”

“The hacker kind. He can find pretty much anything you want as long as it resides in the digital universe. He practically invented the means to trace a digital fingerprint, which is what we need here. If there’s a trail, any trail—and I guarantee you one exists—he can find it.”

For the first time in a very long time, Cooper felt an inkling of hope. “If he can tie that money to my father’s partner, Evan Clulagher, then we can prove my father’s innocence. Maybe vacate his conviction. And if that money was withdrawn after Clulagher’s alleged disappearance and death, and we can tie him to it, then we’ll have some answers. I’m convinced he faked his death.”

“They never found his body in Flathead Lake, correct? Just his boat and his personal items?”

“Right. You would have expected eventually they would have found him. But it was too much of a coincidence, him drowning just then. They found nothing. No body. Just his car and some personal things washed up along the shoreline. I believe he’s alive and living in the Swiss Alps or Brazil, or somewhere no one knows him. And since he’s the one who set my father up, it was the perfect crime, really. And when he disappeared with no wife or kids left behind, everyone just . . . moved on to my father.”

---