Page 77 of Deadly Evidence
Livestock magazine. Auction fliers. Veterinary product catalogs. Bills. Nothing interesting, except the envelope that looked as if the edges had been chewed by a puppy. Lacey lifted it to study the awkwardly printed address.
“Cella Remiton,” she read aloud with a smirk. Weird. Who could have trouble with an easy name like Anna Remington? And there wasn’t even a postmark, which was even stranger.
At the sound of footsteps coming into the kitchen behind her, she lifted the envelope. “Hey, Mom—look at this weird thing that came in the mail!”
When Mom didn’t answer, she twisted in her chair. “Did you—” Her words stuck in her throat when she saw her mother’s pale face. “Is it Grandpa? Is he okay?”
Mom leaned against the counter, her fingertips pressed to her mouth. She nodded.
“Then what is it?” Alarm skittered through her, because almost nothing ever rattled her mother. Not blood or fire or snakes—not terrible storms or sick cattle or anything else. “What’s wrong?”
Anna waved away the question, her eyes closed, but after a few moments she managed a tremulous smile that didn’t look very real at all. “It’s nothing, honey...just...some things about the past that made me feel sad. What do you have there?”
“Some weird mail, is all.” The letter no longer interesting, Lacey handed it to her and then bent over her homework. “The guy doesn’t even know your name.”
From behind her came the sound of her mom ripping open the envelope, then paper rustling.
A sharp, indrawn breath.
“Lacey. Did you see Brady come in here a little while ago?”
“Sure...” There was an edge to her mom’s voice that Lacey had never heard before. “I guess.”
“Did he leave?”
“Um...yeah. He said something about the cattle and being out late. Why?”
Anna rushed forward, grabbed her shoulders and leaned down to look her straight in the eye. “You stay in this house,do you understand? I want the doors and windowslocked. I’m going out to find the others.”
Lacey stared at her, frightened. “What is it, Mom? Tell me!”
“Everything will be fine. I promise. It’s just a note from someone who thinks he’s being funny, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
But Mom had looked away when she said it—as if she wasn’t quite telling the truth—and that envelope hadn’t looked like much of a joke to Lacey.
The address had been written with the crude, bold slashes of someone who was angry, not someone who was after a few laughs.
Something was horribly wrong.
Giving the cinch a final tug, Brady slipped the tongue of the girth buckle into the latigo strap and flipped the stirrup off the saddle horn. Anticipation buzzed through his veins.
Luis had just sent word. The agents in Mexico had seen the shipment being loaded. They were in position and ready.
When each phase of the operation was in place, the arrests would be nearly simultaneous, from Mexico to El Paso and the connections beyond, to prevent any chance of warnings to the drug traffickers waiting in the Midwest for one of the biggest shipments they’d handled in recent times.
Greed might make some people careless, but these were intelligent, experienced men who’d stopped at nothing to build an empire of corruption.
They’d killed Chuck and the two others—all dedicated and honorable agents—and soon they were going to pay.
Brady slipped the bit into Copper’s mouth and slid the headstall over his ears, then checked the rifle scabbard on his saddle and turned to leave.
Anna strode into the barn, blocking his way. “You’ve got to see this,” she said, thrusting an envelope into his hands. “It came with our mail today—no postmark. That means it was dropped off after the mail carrier came by.”
Brady withdrew the sheet of paper.
You been trouble enough already. Back off—or someone is going to die.
“It used to be just furtive smugglers crossing my land. Then it was stolen cattle.Deadcattle.” Her face paled. “Nowthis.”
