Page 19 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

Sandra nodded and seemed eager for something to do. Or maybe she was just eager to get a moment to herself to try to wrap her mind around all of this. She certainly didn’t waste any time heading toward the kitchen that had once been hers.

Though technically it still was.

Even though the ranch and the house had belonged to their father, Sandra was his primary beneficiary. Bree knew that since she’d been the one to prepare his will. There’d be legalities and such to work out later about that, but Bree didn’t want to deal with it now.

“Once Duncan finishes with his latest call to Woodrow, he wants to do a briefing,” Joelle added to Bree. The baby’s fussing became more insistent. “But I might be late for that since I need to feed Izzie.”

Joelle hurried upstairs, and Bree glanced down at Gabriel to see if she would need to feed him as well, but he’d gone back to sleep. So, she made her way to the sofa and watched Slater as he added Nathan’s picture to the board. Slater looked back at her.

“You know him fairly well,” Slater remarked. “Is Nathan capable of something like this?”

Bree took a couple of seconds, trying to picture Nathan orchestrating her mother’s kidnapping and the shooting. Also arranging for Manny and her to be run off the road. She couldn’t quite make herself see that.

“Nathan might have the means and opportunity,” she said, “but I can’t figure out a motive...unless maybe it all goes back to Brighton.”

She realized Duncan had finished his call, and along with Slater, both of them were listening to her.

“As far as I know, Nathan has no connection to Brighton,” Bree said. “But this is a small town so he likely knew her.”

“Trust me, I’ll be asking him about that when he’s available,” Duncan assured her. He walked to the board, and sighing, he put up a picture of what she realized was the burned-out cabin. “There’s good news and bad news. I’ll start with the good. Two people came forward and said they’d seen a woman driving a silver truck in the area of the cabin over the past couple of months. They’re working with sketch artists right now.”

That was indeed good news. Even if they didn’t recognize the woman from the sketch, they could put it out to the media and maybe get some hits.

“Now, for the bad,” Duncan went on. “The cabin’s owner never met Nathan or the person posing as Nathan. The rental agreement was all done online and secured with a credit card that has Nathan’s name on it, but it can’t be traced to him. It’s linked to an offshore account under the name of a dummy company.”

Bree groaned. Not only was that sort of account hard to unravel, it also meant Nathan probably hadn’t actually been involved. If he had, he wouldn’t have used his real name. Well, unless this was some kind of reverse psychology deal.

“So, someone wanted to set Nathan up?” Bree asked.

Duncan shrugged. “Maybe. Or it’s possible the kidnapper just used his name. Maybe because the owner of the cabin wouldn’t think twice about renting the place to a doctor.”

Yes, that made sense as well. Then, if things fell apart—like the victim escaping—there’d be nothing to point back to the real culprit. Yes, they’d interview Nathan, but with no actual proof to link him to the crime, he wouldn’t be arrested.

Duncan shifted his attention to Bree. “I need to interview Manny, but since the incident with his vehicle didn’t happen in my jurisdiction, I can’t force him to come here, not without a warrant. I thought maybe since he already knows you, you could talk to him.”

“Of course,” Bree readily agreed, already taking out her phone. Though she wasn’t sure Manny would actually be willing to come to Saddle Ridge. Still, he might if he thought it would prevent him from being attacked again.

“See if Manny will agree to having the call on Speaker,” Duncan added. “That way, I can hear if he has anything to say about his attack.”

She nodded and made the call. However, it wasn’t Manny who answered with a “Yeah?” It was a woman.

“Tara Adler?” Bree questioned.

“Yes,” she verified, and she paused. “Who is this?”

“Bree McCullough. I spoke to you, remember? I asked you about Brighton Cooper.”

“I remember.” There was plenty of uneasiness in her voice. “Like I told you, I didn’t actually know her. You’re calling for Manny?” she quickly tacked onto that. “Because I can get him for you. He left his phone out here on the bar so that’s why I answered it.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were open this early,” she commented.

“We’re not. I’m training some new waitstaff. Let me get Manny,” she insisted.

Tara hadn’t been exactly friendly when Bree had spoken to her before, but the woman seemed on edge now. Maybe because of Manny’s attack? Tara might be worried she could be at risk, too. And she might be if this was indeed connected to Brighton’s murder.

“It’s that lawyer who asked about the dead woman,” Bree heard Tara say, and several moments later, Manny came on the line.

“Bree,” he said, sounding just as uneasy as Tara. “Did they catch the guy who tried to kill us?”

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