Page 62 of River Justice

He’d wandered around through the empty house with the gas can. She could hear him muttering to himself as she heard the splashing sound. The gas fumes grew stronger. “Must be nice living in a place like this,” he said as he passed through on the way to another part of the house. “My sister could have lived here. Terrible shame to burn it down. Ashes to ashes, you know, and karma is a bitch, isn’t it, Holden McKenna.”

She could hear him getting angrier before he threw down the empty gas can and went out to get another. Her eyes burned from the gas, from fresh tears. She wanted desperately to believe he would untie her. He wouldn’t leave her here to burn alive.

But when she saw his expression as he returned with the second gas can, she knew that was exactly what he planned to do. He disappeared down the hallway to the kitchen wing of the house. She heard him banging around over the sound of a vehicle. She felt her breath catch, her heart pounding with hope. Someone was coming.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“WHATWOULDYOURfather have done if mine had tried to blackmail him that night at the McKenna Ranch?” Birdie asked as she turned off the county road and drove toward the house.

Brand knew that she didn’t expect him to come up with the answer. Not that she gave him a chance to even speculate.

Earlier, she’d gotten out of bed, put her clothes on and told him the plan. He would have been happy to spend the rest of the day in bed with her, but apparently that wasn’t what she had in mind. “If he didn’t want the truth about his affair and your parentage to come out, he would have killed him.”

“That’s one thought,” he’d said, climbing out of the bed to get dressed. “Seems a stretch to me, but from what I’ve heard about Holden, I doubt he’d appreciate being blackmailed, especially by his ex-lover’s new husband.”

“My father was desperate for money so he could come get me,” she’d said defensively.

He’d turned to look at her. “I don’t think Holden McKenna killed him. According to my mother, Holden didn’t know about me. If he wanted to kill anyone, I think it would have been my mother.”

“Still, I think my father ran into someone over there, and that’s how he ended up in a well. I’m just wondering what they did with his pickup.”

Brand had wondered about that, too. “I doubt it’s still on the McKenna Ranch, if that really is where he was killed.”

“I have to find out if that’s where he died and who’s responsible.” She’d started toward the open window. “Also, there might be an older ranch manager or hand who was around back then who remembers something from that night—especially if things got as violent as I believe they did.”

“Hold on. Where are you going?”

“Weren’t you listening? To the McKenna Ranch. I’m betting that most everyone has gone to Billings to see your father in the hospital. I called, and no one answered at the house. This is a good time to search the place.”

“How about using my front door instead of the window?”

She’d grinned at him. “You are so thoughtful.” She’d moved swiftly to him, kissing him passionately but slipping away before he could put his arms around her and take the kiss to the next level. “Are you coming?”

Brand had groaned and reached for his hat. “I know I’m going to regret this,” he’d said under his breath as he followed her to her SUV parked down the road.

He wasn’t about to go to the McKenna house in a Stafford Ranch pickup with the logo on the side. Even some of the ranch hands at both the McKenna and the Stafford ranches were at war—because of the feud between his mother and biological father.

Birdie had no idea what she might be instigating. But he also knew that she would go alone if he didn’t go with her. “I can’t imagine what you’re hoping to find,” he said now. “A smoking gun?”

She shook her head. “As far as I can tell, the last time anyone saw my father was when he turned in to the McKenna Ranch. With Holden in the hospital and everyone away from the house, it’s like they are inviting us to see what we can find over there.”

“I am fascinated by the way your mind works.” He’d never been in the McKenna Ranch house. He’d never stepped on the property. It had always been off-limits. Now he could admit that he was curious about the place—about his father. He told himself he was only going with Birdie to save her from herself, but he knew that wasn’t all there was to it.

Under other circumstances, he might have been raised on the McKenna-Stafford Ranch with two loving parents and no range war between them. He thought about CJ, behind bars awaiting trial for what would probably be a life sentence. Would his life have turned out different if Holden and Charlotte hadn’t been at each other’s throats all these years? One thing was definite. Brand wouldn’t have been a bastard, unsure of where he belonged in all this.

Brand pushed away the what-ifs as he got his first glimpse of the house. It wasn’t until they drove closer that he saw the smoke. It billowed up from the far end of the sprawling ranch house.

LIGHTSANDSIRENON, Stuart swept through Powder Crossing and onto the county road. As he did, he saw the smoke. It rose into the sky, ebony against the pale gray twilight. He couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from—just in the general direction of the McKenna Ranch. At first there didn’t seem to be that much smoke rising from behind the stand of cottonwoods.

He told himself it would be a bush fire, but as the plume of smoke widened and grew, he alerted the fire department, afraid he knew exactly where it was coming from. No simple brush fire, he told himself as he raced toward the McKenna Ranch—and the flames were now rising above the tops of the cottonwoods along the river. If he was right, it was coming from the main house.

His mind spun. Holden was still in the hospital in Billings. As far as he knew, Elaine was there as well. Cooper and Tilly had moved into their new house some miles from the main ranch house. Treyton had moved out. Oakley and Pickett weren’t back from their extended honeymoon. Given all that, who was left at the house? The ranch hands could all be at the bar in town. Wasn’t this poker party night?

He didn’t have to guess who might have started the fire if his instincts were right. But where was Holly Jo?

ASTHEMCKENNARANCHhouse came into view, Birdie slowed and let out a gasp. “That’s his pickup.” She looked over at him. “That’s the kidnapper’s pickup parked out front.”

“He’s set the house on fire,” he said, pointing to the far wing. “If Holly Jo is in there...” Brand was already throwing open his door and getting out even before she brought her SUV to a stop. “Call the sheriff!” he yelled and ran toward the house.

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