Page 67 of River Wild

“You can’t tell the ranch hands or anyone else,” Stuart said. “If you mention this to the wrong person—”

“I understand,” her father said, and looked to Stuart. “You do realize that you are taking one hell of a chance with my daughter.”

“I do, but it’s what Bailey wants. We’ve been trying to find him. We haven’t been able to. She’s been looking for twelve years. We both believe he plans to come for her again. If she’s right about him, he’ll wait until the barbecue. At least we’ll know when and where.”

“You’re sure he’s still here, that he’s local?” Holden asked.

“He’s still here,” she said. “He’ll come.” Stuart could see how hard this was for her. “I know it’s been twelve years, but please try to remember who told you that one of the horses had gotten out.”

The rancher shook his head. “There were so many people...”

“It would have been a man you trusted,” the sheriff said. “Someone who wouldn’t have taken it upon himself to put the horse back in the pasture.”

He saw Holden’s expression change and felt a jolt as he realized how true his words were. No rancher would warn his host that he had a horse out. He’d try to put the horse back himself.

“It wasn’t a rancher,” Holden said. “It was a woman. One of the wives?” He frowned as if trying to remember. “I’m sorry. I can almost see her...”

Stuart exchanged a look with Bailey. This was new information. He considered what she’d said about the man getting help after he was injured from someone he trusted. What if he’d gotten help before the attack as well?

Then he’ll probably use his accomplice again, the sheriff thought.

WHENCJ STAFFORDheard he had a visitor, he’d been more than a little surprised. He hadn’t had any visitors since his arrest, other than the one time his mother’s attorney had stopped by to tell him she wasn’t going to help him.

He couldn’t imagine Treyton McKenna coming here. As far as most people in the Powder River Basin knew, he and Treyton were mortal enemies—just like their parents.

Nor was there any reason CJ’s sisters or his two younger brothers would come visit him. He’d tormented them their whole lives. At least he’d never almost killed Brand and Ryder, so maybe...

But when he walked into the visiting area, he stopped short. Sitting on the other side of the Plexiglas window in the small booth was his mother. He couldn’t imagine what she was doing here. On top of that, Charlotte Stafford looked different, he thought as he walked slowly toward her and sat down. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, though. She’d aged, but she was still beautiful, still regal in the way she held herself. Yet there was something different in her eyes.

She pulled her phone off the hook and put it to her ear. He did the same on his side of the clear partition, his mind racing. Surely she hadn’t come here just to tell him she never wanted to see him again, she wasn’t going to help him, and she’d left the ranch to his siblings. She’d already made all that clear the last time he saw her, before the cops arrived to take him away in handcuffs.

“Chisum Jase,” she said quietly, catching him off guard even more by calling him by his full name.

“Mother,” he said, his heart pounding. He still had no idea what she was doing here, but the way his luck went, this wasn’t going to end well. He felt his free hand fist against his thigh, his nails biting into his palm. “I never expected to see you. I heard you left the ranch.”

“I did. But now I’m back. I had to see you.”

He waited, expecting to take a verbal beating that would be worse than some of the physical ones he’d already endured behind bars. “I can’t imagine why.”

“You’re my son, the one most like me, as you’ve pointed out many times.”

“Your greatest disappointment, as I recall.”

She nodded. “I need to ask you something.” He held his breath. “Is there any chance you think you could change?”

The question caught him flat-footed. His first instinct was to lie. Lying had always come easy to him. “I don’t know.”

“Would you be willing to try?”

He laughed and looked away from her green eyes so like his own, before he licked his dry lips and met her gaze again. A bubble of hope rose in his chest, making it ache. “What are you asking me?”

“I’ve thought about change a lot in the time I’ve been away from the ranch. I have changed, but I have a long way to go.” Her eyes focused on him. “If I can change, I wondered if you could.”

His throat had gone dry. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Yes, you do, or you would have lied right away. Why don’t you think about it. You have time. I’ll come back when you have an honest answer.” She hung up her phone before he could say another word.

He watched her rise. What was she offering him? At what cost? He reminded himself what he was looking at if he stayed here. His trial was coming up soon. Even his cheap lawyer had been able to put it off for a while, but he was headed for prison.

---