Page 7 of Montana Mystery

“Do you think he was held?” Jude asked.

“I don’t know. I never asked. It didn’t feel like it was my business.” We didn’t ask those who came to Resting Warrior to share their stories. If they shared, we would listen. But trauma was personal, and prying it out of someone caused more harm than good. There was no getting around that.

If Brandon had been taken by the enemy while deployed, I understood the pain in his mind more than most.

“If Rayne thought he’d been a danger to himself or someone else, she would have said something to Charlie. As far as I know, she didn’t,” Jude continued.

That was a good point, and it made me feel more confident Brandon was a victim in all of this, but if we were going to look into this, we had no choice but to look at it from every angle.

Letting my head droop for a moment, I took a breath. “There’s one more thing. I don’t like to think about the possibility, but there is one. And this is not something we mention in front of Kate, got it?”

They all nodded their agreement.

“Kate said Brandon had what looked like bite marks on his arms.”

I felt the cool shift that flowed through the room as they all processed the information. Over the last few months, rumors had popped up about fights. Nothing to really go on, but consistently enough that we believed there was some truth to it, even if it was exaggerated.

“What are you thinking?” Daniel asked.

With a sigh, I sank into a chair. “I hate that I am, but if they were dog bites, and with him leaving so quickly, I have to wonder if he was only here to scope out the dogs. Or maybe someone forced him to come here to do just that.”

Grant winced. “I hope not.”

“I hope not too,” I said. “But it’s a possibility.”

“There’s not much that we can do if it’s all happening in Missoula,” Daniel pointed out.

He was right. Missoula wasn’t far. A couple hours. Better when the weather was good and there wasn’t any snow. But even that was too far to conduct a true investigation. Things like this were often underground and required a flexibility and freedom of movement that distance wouldn’t allow.

“No, I agree,” I said. “But I can’t let it go without at least doing some checking.”

Daniel nodded. “I’d feel better if you did.”

“Watch out though,” Liam said.

“Why?”

He grinned. “The last time a woman stumbled into the lodge in trouble, she moved in and never left.”

All of us looked at Lucas and he laughed. “You’re not wrong. No regrets though.”

No, I didn’t imagine he would have any. Watching Lucas and Evelyn fall in love had been like watching everything I’d ever wanted, but never had. They fit together perfectly, and whether that was because of a bond through shared trauma or they’d just gotten lucky, it didn’t matter. They were happy, and it was great to see.

Almost everyone was happier now. My brothers-in-arms had been falling one by one. And they... weren’t wrong. There were some similarities here that made me chuckle.

Not at Kate, just at the situation. I wasn’t blind. Kate was beautiful. When we’d come inside and she’d told me about everything more in depth, I’d gotten a chance to look at her. Really look. Her eyes were a blue that was unique, almost violet. With her pale hair, she was striking.

It wasn’t a factor in my wanting to help her and, through her, Brandon. I would have done it anyway. But it wasn’t like I was going to be able to ignore the fact that the woman was gorgeous.

“So,” Liam continued. “Are we getting a new member of the family?”

“I’ve known her for a grand total of thirty minutes. So maybe you’re skipping a few steps there.”

He shrugged. “I think Lucas was in love with Evelyn in five minutes, so stranger things have happened.”

We all laughed again. “I’m just going to see what I can do to help her,” I said. “That’s all.”

“Whatever you say.”

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