Page 34 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

“Your mom’s on here,” Luca said, snagging her attention.

She leaned over and looked at the charge. Less than five dollars, which meant it was likely water or club soda. The date matched Sandra’s account of being at the Hush, Hush the night of the fight.

“And here’s Brighton,” Luca added a moment later.

“Clearly, you got the good end of the list,” she muttered. “So far, I haven’t recognized a single name on mine.” And she leaned toward Luca’s laptop for another look. “Twenty-three dollars, and this would have been the same night Mom was there.”

“Does the bar serve food?” he asked.

“A few items. When I was researching it, I looked at the menu on the website. Typical bar stuff. Sliders, nachos, that sort of thing.”

Of course, they had no way of knowing if Brighton’s bill had been for food or drink. And maybe it didn’t matter unless twenty-three dollars was to pay for her drink and that of a companion.

“Funny that Manny didn’t give her the drinks or food on the house,” Luca pointed out.

“Manny will probably say he’d broken things off with her by then. Tara might be able to say otherwise though.”Unfortunately, Bree wasn’t anywhere near certain they could believe what Tara would tell them.

“I’m going to flag the bar tabs paid around the same time Brighton paid hers,” Luca said. “Then, we can maybe contact these people and see if they remember her.”

“Good idea,” she said and continued with her list. Finally, she got a hit. Maybe a huge one. “Another charge from Brighton, for eighteen dollars. And this was the night she was murdered.”

That got Luca’s attention, and he leaned over to take a look. “Definitely flag the other receipts within an hour of that.”

Bree started doing that, using a highlighter function on the laptop, but her fingers froze when one name practically popped off the screen at her.

“What?” Luca questioned.

He’d obviously heard the sharp sound of surprise she’d made, and he leaned in again. Then he cursed. Because the customer’s name was one they both recognized.

Nathan.

LUCASTOODATthe window, waiting and watching. It definitely wasn’t standard procedure to interview a suspect at the ranch, but with the CSIs and fire department clogging up the parking lot of the sheriff’s office, Duncan had decided to hold the interview here. Luca didn’t especially care where they questioned Nathan. He just wanted it to happen.

They needed answers. And this just might be the break they’d been looking for.

“Even if Nathan’s guilty of murdering Brighton, he won’t confess,” Bree said. She was right next to Luca, keeping watch as well while Sandra was upstairs with Gabriel.

Luca agreed. But sometimes confessions weren’t intentional. And it was possible that Nathan being at the bar had nothing to do with Brighton. The timing was suspicious though, and the receipts could put Brighton and Nathan together at the bar at the same time. Since they were from the same small town, they would have likely recognized each other. Yet, Nathan hadn’t said a word about seeing Brighton mere hours before she’d been murdered.

And that gave Luca an idea.

He took out his phone. “I’m going to text Nathan’s picture to Manny and Tara to see if they recognize him. I won’t mention Brighton, but it’s possible one of them remembers seeing him with her. If so, Nathan won’t be able to deny knowing that Brighton was at the bar the same time he was.”

Bree made a quick sound of agreement, and Luca sent off the first text to Manny. When the man would answer was anyone’s guess. Manny might want everything to go through his lawyer. Ditto for Tara, but Luca sent her an identical message anyway.

The moments crawled by with no response, so Luca put his phone away and continued to keep watch for Nathan. While still standing right next to Bree. With their arms pressed against each other. It wasn’t anywhere near the embrace they’d had upstairs, but any contact with Bree was a mental distraction for him.

So was the memory of that kiss.

Hard to forget that, and that sensation of heat and need. He’d been on the verge of losing control with Bree. Again. Apparently, he hadn’t learned his lesson about that from eleven months ago. He’d surrendered to the kiss knowing full well that it was a bad idea, that there’d be a serious loss of focus. But that hadn’t stopped it, and he had to figure out a way to make sure he kept this heat in check so he could keep Bree safe.

She looked up at him. Their gazes connecting. And he cursed. She muttered some profanity, too, so he knew they were on the same page here. A page that likely would have involved them talking about it if his phone hadn’t sounded with a text.

“Manny,” he said when he saw the screen.

Once again, Luca had to push aside thoughts of Bree and that amazing kiss and nail his attention to this investigation. Well, to this response anyway, which Luca knew could be Manny lashing out to demand to be left the hell alone.

But it wasn’t.

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