Page 48 of Texas Scandal

“I’ll tell you when you get there,” Prescott said before ending the call.

“I should probably call Bebe and let her know we can’t come tonight for dinner,” she said. “I hated having to cancel last night, especially since she sounded so disappointed.”

A half dozen thoughts slammed into Tiernan’s mind. None he liked. “Go ahead and do that. In the meantime, I’ll see about how fast I can get us back to my place.”

Melody dug in her purse for her cell, producing it a few seconds later. She made the call and waited. “Rolled into voice mail.” She paused for a few seconds. “She might be at work right now, so hopefully she’ll reach out.”

He nodded. His thoughts bounced from the interaction with Coop to what on earth could be waiting for them back at his place. His next thought was Loki. He hated the thought of leaving him at the vet any longer than necessary. It didn’t seem like they had enough time to swing by and pick him up.

“You’re worried, aren’t you?” Melody asked. “You get these deep grooves in your forehead that give you away.”

“Remind me never to play poker with you,” he conceded. “I guess I never noticed since I rarely check the mirror.”

“How bad is it?” she asked. “In your mind, at least.”

“I have half a mind not to show,” he admitted.

“But?”

“That would be like admitting guilt to whatever we’re about to be accused of,” he said.

“You don’t think good evidence might have surfaced that we need to be told about in person?” she continued.

“We’ll know soon enough.” He didn’t intend for those words to come out like the world was ending. Hearing how they sounded, he needed to clarify. “At least Prescott is asking us to come home. I’m thinking in a worst-case scenario, he would tell me to drive to the sheriff’s office where he would meet us.”

A sigh of relief filled the space between them.

“I didn’t mean to worry you,” he clarified. She must’ve assumed the sheriff could come to arrest her any minute with the way the case had been moving so far.

“It’s not your fault,” she said. It was, in a sense, because he could have been choosing his words more carefully. “I’ve never been in this position before and the sheriff seems locked on to figuring out how I’m responsible. I’m still scratching my head as to why. If anyone in my family was guilty, it would have to be my brother.”

“His alibi checks out,” Tiernan said. “He said he had receipts if you’re talking about the break-in at your mother’s place.”

“I’m not surprised he would be at a Longhorn sporting event,” she said. “It’s the trip I’m more concerned about. How do we know he went anywhere?”

“There wouldn’t be hotel receipts,” he said, thinking out loud.

“That’s right—he has a cabin, so there’s not really a good way to track him there,” she said. “Actually, it belongs to the family. I just never go since I cut myself off financially. Plus, how could I enjoy staying anywhere that was potentially bought with other people’s retirement income that had been stolen from them?”

“Do you still have a key to the place?” he asked. A quick trip out there might answer a few questions about her brother’s alibi.

“Yes,” she said. “I’ve been too lazy to return it.”

Somehow, he doubted she’d be too lazy to do anything. He would believe her more if she blamed the slip on an overly busy schedule. She’d already admitted to working all the time to the point of sacrificing a social life. Then again, since Corinne, he could be accused of doing the same. “It might be time to visit the family cabin.”

“After we face the music with Prescott,” she said. The visit must’ve been weighing heavily on her mind, considering the fact she’d been tapping her index finger on the door handle for several minutes now. The tempo picked up with her stress levels. He had a tell when he was concerned and so did she.

Since they were almost there at this point, he didn’t answer. They could swing by the house and find out what bomb her lawyer was about to drop. Next, they could drop by the vet’s office for Loki. After, they could head toward her family cabin to poke around and see what they could find. On their way back, they could take time to visit with Bebe. It was a full schedule. Since he didn’t have any work to do, he could spare the time. Besides, something was niggling at the back of his mind since the visit with Coop, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Tiernan pulled onto his gravel drive and headed down the lane leading to his cabin. Back at Hayes Cattle Ranch, there was security twenty-four seven. This place was home and, until yesterday, wasn’t in need of protecting like a livestock business worth millions of dollars. His small business was successful by most standards. It brought in enough for him to live comfortably and never have to touch his inheritance. He, like Melody, didn’t care about the money in the way most folks did. As long as he had a decent roof over his head and plenty of food on the table, he considered himself well-off. His banker would classify him as a millionaire, but a million dollars didn’t go as far these days. Now, the big deals were billionaires. Tiernan had no interest in reaching that stratosphere of wealth. He did just fine on what he made.

Prescott’s SUV was parked in front of the cabin. The lawyer’s arms were crossed as he leaned against his vehicle. He must have been standing there for quite some time.

Pulling up alongside him, Tiernan parked and exited the truck. He made an immediate cut around the front end of his vehicle in order to open Melody’s door for her. Prescott followed. As soon as she exited the passenger side, he started with the news.

“The sheriff was on his way to bring Melody in for questioning,” Prescott started, his tone heated. “I told him that I’d do the honors and that, as her attorney, I had a right to speak to her first anyway. I don’t, by the way. But the sheriff didn’t seem ready to push my buttons.”

“Why would he want me to come in all of a sudden?” Melody asked, confusion drawing her eyebrows together. “All we did was sleep last night.”

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