Page 29 of River Justice

“CHARLOTTE? CHARLOTTE! Is it Holly Jo?”

The fear Charlotte heard in Elaine’s voice made her choke off her sobs. “No. I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about Holly Jo. I just saw Holden.” Silence. “Oh, please, you aren’t going to turn against me too, are you?”

“Of course not,” Elaine said. “You just scared me. I was trying to catch my breath. I was so afraid... I heard about Brand being picked up by the law. I thought maybe you might know something.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called so upset. You all must be worried sick about Holly Jo.”

“It’s all right, Charlotte. You’re sure Brand didn’t take her?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” She couldn’t help but sound indignant. “They let him go. He had an alibi. He wouldn’t do anything like that anyway.” But she’d never thought he’d have his DNA tested and send Holden the results either. “Is there anything I can do?” She already knew the answer.

“No, but thank you for asking.” Elaine had always been nicer to her than she deserved. Her friend was a better person than she was. Charlotte thought that Elaine should have gotten together with Holden years ago. They would have made a nice couple. Instead, Elaine had spent those years trying to get Charlotte to forgive, Margie first, then Holden.

“Let me know if you hear anything,” Charlotte said. Elaine promised that she would, and they disconnected.

Feeling even worse for thinking only of herself when a child was missing, Charlotte shifted the SUV into gear and went home. She hoped Brand would be there. She wasn’t sure what she would say to him when she did see him, though. There weren’t really any words to explain the poor decisions she’d made in her fifty-three years.

Nor was she looking forward to the reactions of her other adult children when they heard the news. The way gossip traveled in the Powder River Basin, they had probably already heard. So as she walked in through the door of her house, she wasn’t surprised to get a collect call from her son CJ, who was incarcerated in a cell in Billings.

She didn’t take the call, already too aware of what he would have to say. Deserved or not, she couldn’t take any more berating right now. She was sure she’d get enough of that from Brand once he decided to confront her.

Standing in the middle of her living room, the silence thick as fog around her, she knew that she could wallow in her pain like she usually did, or she could do something to help.

TREYTONMCKENNAWASslouched in a chair in Stuart’s office when the sheriff walked in. He had Holden’s dark hair and blue eyes in a face that could have been considered handsome if not for his bad-tempered disposition. He wore his usual sullen look as Stuart closed the office door, stepped past Treyton’s extended legs and sat down behind his desk.

“When was the last time you saw Holly Jo?” he asked without preamble. He didn’t like Treyton, never had, and wanted to spend as little time as possible in his company.

The question seemed to take the rancher’s son by surprise. “Why?” Stuart waited, and Treyton finally frowned, seemed to think, then said, “A couple of weeks ago. I can’t remember. Like I said, I don’t live there anymore.”

He knew that Treyton had moved out of the ranch house before his friend Cooper had returned from his honeymoon with Tilly Stafford, now McKenna. They were now both living at the house until theirs was finished on the ranch. Treyton’s dislike for the Staffords was legendary.

A little surprised that Treyton hadn’t heard that Holly Jo had been kidnapped, he knew it wouldn’t be long before someone in town told him.

“Holly Jo’s been kidnapped.” He watched Treyton’s face. It stayed sullen. Nothing registered in his blue eyes other than impatience.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Did you kidnap her?”

Treyton blinked and sat up. “What?Why would I do that?”

“You’re at odds with your father.”

“That’s nothing new.”

The sheriff leaned forward, holding Treyton’s gaze. “If you know where she is—”

The rancher’s son was on his feet. “If my father really thinks I took that brat, then he is more senile than I thought.” He shook his head. “I don’t have time for this.” He started for the door.

“I’m going to need the address of your new place,” Stuart said.

“Better bring a warrant,” Treyton said over his shoulder on the way out of the office.

“I’ll let the Feds know to bring one,” he called after him. They both knew he didn’t have enough evidence to get a warrant. As he watched Treyton storm out, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t Holden’s eldest son’s doing, and he needed to move on to the next name on the list.

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHARLOTTEFELTGUILTYat how relieved she’d been when she’d returned to the ranch and Brand wasn’t there. She knew she was avoiding the inevitable. She’d never thought of herself as a coward, but at this moment, she didn’t feel strong enough to face all her sins. She had no idea what she would say to him anyway. That she was embarrassed surprised her. Facing her grown son and admitting the lie she’d let them all—especially Brand and his father—believe and live with seemed an unforgivable betrayal. Holden definitely thought so.

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