Page 76 of Silent Deception
“Thanks amillion!Target is the coolest kitten ever!”
Garrett grinned back at him and touched the brim of his hat. “I think so, too.” He opened the door of the motor home, climbed behind the wheel, and switched on the ignition. Resting the crook of his elbow in the open window, he winked at Cody. “A whole lot cooler than having any ole green race cars, right?”
In a cloud of dust, he headed up the lane.
“What did he mean by that?” Kristin asked casually, leaning down to scratch the kitten gently behind one ear.
Cody’s gaze veered away. “Nuthin’.”
His sudden edginess told her that wasn’t exactly true. “Nothing?”
He put the kitten back in its carrying cage. “We were just joking around.”
He went over to the hitching rack and began unsaddling his horse. She watched him struggle with the girth, then went over to help him. With a few deft tugs she released the long latigo strap and hauled the saddle off, handing Cody the saddle blanket.
“It wasn’t true anyway,” he muttered, his lower lip stuck out in a pout reminiscent of his preschool days. “Hayden thought I was stupid.”
She untied Rebel and led the horse into the corral, let him loose, then went to unsaddle Boots. “What’s not true?”
“About that green car?”
“Exactly.”
He stubbed his toe in the dirt, the tips of his ears reddening. “I was ’sposed to tell you, but I forgot.”
She took a deep breath to curb her exasperation. “Who told you, Cody?When?”
“Aunt RaeJean called. She told me about a shiny green car that someone races. She saw it in town once.”
“Whose car was it, Cody?”
“It wasn’t true, anyway.” He warily looked up at her, as if he’d realized just how much he’d screwed up, and his voice turned defensive. “She said it belonged to a kid who raced it sometimes. I thought it was sorta cool, so I told Hayden. But that crabby lawyer—the one who goes over to Hayden’s a lot—was there, and he heard me. And he said it was a lie.”
Kristin took a sharp breath as the possibilities became all too clear. She tried for an easy smile. “How on earth would he know that?”
“Because Aunt RaeJean said he was the uncle of the guy with that car.”
It all fell into place. The Gallagher’s lawyer. Ryan’s attentive behavior. The break-in after Ryan had coincidentally canceled their date on Friday night.
Ryan had probably told his father about the Chevy’s fender, and Clint had been stewing about it ever since.
If Clint had set up her father’s murder, he certainly wouldn’t want any possible proof to surface, but the big question was why he would have wanted her dad dead while the money was still missing.
What would he gain? If Dad had supposedly embezzled money, his death would preclude any possibility that he could be forced to either reveal its location or make restitution.
None of this made sense, but dwelling on it kept her from accepting the painful truth that she’d been played for an absolute fool.
As soon as she got the horses put away and settled Cody in the house with his kitten, she stepped out onto the porch with her cell phone and left a message with the secretary at the sheriff’s office.
Wade returned her call minutes later, his voice worried. “Is everything all right out at your place?”
“Believe me, I would’ve called 911 if there was trouble.” She hesitated, knowing it was a long shot. “Aunt RaeJean remembers seeing someone driving a blue-green car similar to the color I described. She saw it a couple of times.”
“Do you have a name? License plate?”
Kristin paced across the porch, her stomach tightening. “No...but she thought the boy was one of Leland Simpson’s nephews.”
He fell silent. “He could have a different last name.”
