Page 80 of Montana Mystery

My brother was staying in the Ravalli cabin, the third one in the line of little houses that Resting Warrior had for people to rest and recover in while they worked with the animals. If that night with the dogfighting had gone differently, maybe I would have been staying in one of the little cabins too. But thinking back to last night, I was grateful for whatever instinct had made Noah take me back to his house. It wouldn’t have been the same.

Approaching the house, I knocked on the door. “Brandon?”

Nothing. No answer.

“Hey, if you’re sleeping, that’s okay. I can come back later.”

I knocked again, and there was still nothing—the kind of emptiness in response that usually meant there was no one at home. Okay, where was he then? Maybe he was over with the animals.

While I walked over, I called his phone and let it ring before it went to voicemail. He wasn’t in the stables, nor was he in the kennel or with the alpacas. Maybe he was at the lodge?

His phone went to voicemail again.

Mara was walking toward the stables and I waved to her. “Hey!”

She nodded in response. No talking today, then.

“Have you seen my brother? I’ve been looking for him.”

There was concern on her face, but she shook her head no.

“Okay, thanks. If you see him, point him in my direction.”

She smiled as I passed by her on the way to the lodge. There was food and coffee—Brandon wasn’t likely to use the kitchen in his cabin unless he absolutely needed to. I called him one more time but there was no answer.

I ran up the stairs and burst into the lodge, startling Daniel and Lucas at the dining table.

“Kate?”

“Have you seen my brother? He’s not anywhere.”

They shook their heads in unison. “No. Sorry.”

I swore under my breath, mind already spinning out all the possibilities. Had he called Max to try to fix the debt problem or get back in with them? The number we had for Max was dead, but that didn’t mean that Brandon didn’t know another way to reach him.

Or maybe he’d just started walking without any thought about what that would make people think. “I—”

My phone vibrated in my hand, Brandon’s name on the screen. “Where the hell are you?” I answered.

“That’s a way to say hello.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve just been all over the ranch looking for you and I was starting to panic. So please tell me where the hell you are so I don’t continue to panic.”

He sighed. “I’m in Missoula.”

Closing my eyes, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How are you in Missoula? And why?”

“I wanted some things from the apartment,” he said. “Wanted to see if there was anything that I could salvage. And I borrowed one of the trucks from the ranch to get down here.”

I turned my body away from Lucas and Daniel, lowering my voice. “Did you ask to borrow the truck?”

“Of course I did. Liam said I could take it. But I guess it was older or whatever. I’m here and the truck has a flat tire. Could you come pick me up?”

About a hundred different retorts were on my tongue. Why hadn’t he told me he was leaving? Why hadn’t he just asked me to take him? Why had he actually needed to go to the apartment when I’d told him that all of his clothes had been destroyed and that there was nothing left?

But those things weren’t going to be helpful over the phone. We would have a long drive back for me to talk to him about all of this, and about staying at Resting Warrior to get the help that he needed.

“Yeah,” I said. “I can come get you. You’re at home?”

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