Page 243 of Things Left Unsaid

“That you’ve been lying to me for years?”

“No. Well, yes. But, this time it’s about Uncle Clay.”

“What about him?”

“He left the ranch’s stewardship to me.”

“What?!”

“Yeah.”

“But Pops?—”

“He lied too,” I tell him simply. “And I can’t imagine how much he had to spend in bribes to keep the trustees from kicking up a fuss, but I have to reckon that the insurance payout on the fire would have kept things ticking along for a while. Franny alone must have reeled him in a couple million.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you think Pops set the fire?”

“I’m not trying. I’m telling you.”

“Proof?”

“Mrs. Abelman found Uncle Clay’s will. We had no evidence of any bribes by that point?—”

“Meaning you have them now?”

I nod. “Today. I only went looking because Zee told me what she saw that night. I listened to her side of the story for once. I treated her like shit for the past ten years, Cole. Cut her out as if she meant nothing to me, but shewasn’tnothing.

“While my relationship with her was fraternal, her feelings were different. Though I did love her in my own way.

“Cutting her out was my self-imposed punishment for sparing her from the aftermath of what I thought she did.” I rub my jaw. “I know it’s a mess, but I never let her tell me anything. I stopped seeing her. Refused to talk to her. Avoided her and the ranch at all costs?—”

“I remember Callan complaining that you weren’t coming down on the weekends.”

“I had to. As much as I didn’t want her to go to jail, I hated myself for being so goddamn weak because she killed Loki and Betsy and the rest.” Spying the house in the near distance, I brake and switch off the engine. All while bracing myself for the fallout. It’s brewing. “Then, Callan tried to?—”

“Yeah,” he interrupts. Neither of us likes to bring up that time.

“There was no more avoiding the ranch. Once this whole marriage contract BS came about, she signed everything but she said she wouldn’t marry me unless I answered a question.”

“Which was?”

“Did I think she had it in her to kill Loki?”

“He was your horse. Why would she?—”

“As much as he was mine, in a way, he was hers too. You don’t share heart horses, I know that. But they were pretty damn close to it. He loved her and she loved him. She was always hiding in his stall. Always giving him attention and talking to him. It was like he was her only source of comfort in a time when she was having to face grief and loss every couple years.

"I know it makes no sense when she had her own mount, but she was different with Loki and he was the same with her. You know how he was—hated being tended to by anyone other than me. I spoiled him, but that was nothing to her.” I grip the back of my neck. “She’d never have hurt him and I told her so… Here we are.”

“You gaslit me,” he growls.

“I did.” I turn to him, wanting my brother to see that I take full accountability for this situation. “I’d already perjured myself for her, Cole. I couldn’t let you fuck that up.”

His stony gaze turns on me. “Did you kill Lydia Armstrong? Callan told me she was sending Zee poison pen letters too. Were you trying to protecther?”

“No, dammit. I didn’t kill her. Clyde did.”

He skims over my words like I never said them. “Callan said that she lied to the cops for you. That her alibi was fake.”

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