Page 53 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

Bree waited until Joelle gave her a slight nod before she continued. “We need to know if you have a Texas A&M class ring.”

Clearly, Nathan hadn’t been expecting that because his eyes widened. “What does a ring have to do with the investigation?”

“Maybe nothing,” she managed, “but it was just something that came up. Again, we can’t spell out the specifics.”

Nathan’s gaze stayed pinned to her. “This has something to do with Brighton’s murder? And with you being run off the road?”

“Possibly,” Bree admitted. Then, she waited for what she was certain would be the denial.

The moments crawled by. Nathan’s intense stare was making her stomach knot and twist. Her breathing and heart rate weren’t faring much better either. But once he lied, she could stop the pretense of being nice to him—

“I have a Texas A&M ring,” Nathan said.

Bree’s heart dropped. This definitely wasn’t what she’d expected him to say. They’d needed the lie to get the warrant.

Had Nathan figured that out?

Or was his admission simply the truth with no ulterior motive?

Bree didn’t want to believe that, but she had to admit her personal feelings for Nathan were playing into this. Shedespised the man, and she’d maybe let that convince her that he was a killer.

“Uh, may we see the ring?” Bree managed to ask.

Again, Nathan didn’t jump to agree, but he finally muttered some profanity. “I don’t wear it often because it’s bulky and could scratch a patient during an exam.”

Or leave bruises on a woman. But Bree didn’t voice that.

“I keep it in a safe in my bedroom.” Nathan paused, continued to stare at Bree “Do you want to go upstairs with me while I get it?” he asked.

Bree figured that Duncan was silently yelling for her to say no, but she had no intentions of going anywhere alone with Nathan. Slater, however, quickly volunteered.

“I’ll go,” her brother said, causing Nathan’s scowl to return in full force, but he didn’t refuse.

Joelle and she paused in the foyer, watching as Nathan and Slater went up the stairs. Bree knew her brother was a good cop, but she felt the instant sense of worry and dread. She didn’t want Slater alone with Nathan in case he tried to attack him and run.

“We’ll come, too,” Bree insisted.

That caused Nathan to stop, and he looked down at Joelle and her. Nathan wasn’t doing a good job of covering up his anger, but there was also a touch of that ickiness, too, as if a small part of him was pleased that she’d be in his bedroom.

They all went up the steep stairs to a large bedroom at the front of a narrow hall. The door was open, and Bree could see the king-sized bed. Not antique. Nathan had gone for modern here, and nothing seemed out of place. Still, she continued to look around as Nathan went to a landscape painting on the wall and slid it to the side to reveal the safe.

While Nathan put in the combination, Bree looked around and knew that Slater and Joelle were both doing the same thing.They didn’t have a search warrant and were not able to get one, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t spot something obvious that would link Nathan to Brighton and maybe the attacks. Of course, if there had been such a thing lying around, Nathan almost certainly wouldn’t have invited them into the room.

The safe door made a clicking noise when Nathan opened it, and he took out a wooden box that he set on the foot of his bed. There was no lid so it was easy to see the contents. Assorted rings, watches and cuff links. Nathan plucked out the ring and tried to hand it to Bree. She looked at it but didn’t touch it.

“May we take this into custody for a while?” Slater asked, pulling out a plastic evidence bag from his pocket.

“Custody?” Nathan challenged. The anger had risen again. “What the hell is this? Who said something about me and this ring that would make you want to take it?” He stopped, stared at Bree. “What do you think you’ll find on this ring?”

“We’re not at liberty to say,” Joelle stated before Bree had to come up with a response.

Nathan did more staring, and then he cursed. For a moment, Bree thought he was going to refuse to give Slater the ring. He didn’t though. He practically shoved it into Slater’s waiting hand and then they all headed back downstairs.

“Was it Manny or Tara who lied to you?” Nathan came out and asked once they’d returned to the living room.

“What exactly would they lie about?” Joelle countered.

Nathan huffed. “Well, I’m guessing it’s about the ring, and that’s why you want to take it and send it to a lab. You’re expecting to find something. Maybe DNA. Maybe gunshot residue.” He leaned closer to Bree. “You won’t. You won’t find anything because I’ve done nothing wrong.”

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