Page 71 of Meant for Her

Luke refocused his thoughts. “Did you find something?”

“I think so. Come take a look.”

Luke jumped down and followed his brother to a patch of land that had a slight curvature to it. “I suppose it could be a grave.” Luke looked around. “Dad liked to come out here and watch the cows. If we’d been here when he died, I might have even suggested we bury him here. How about watching while I dig? I don’t want to destroy the evidence.”

“Just go slow,” Ryan said.

Luke rushed to the backhoe and moved the equipment into position. After each scoop, he stopped and let Ryan decide if he needed to dig deeper. It took quite a while before Ryan stopped him.

“I think I see something,”his brother telepathed.

Luke grabbed both shovels from the seat next to him and hopped down. When he looked in the ground, he spotted a bone, and his stomach churned at the thought this was their dad. The man was an ass, but he was their father.

Luke handed Ryan one of the shovels. “We need to be careful digging him up.”

“Tell me again what you hope to find? And what do you plan to do with his body?” His brother’s brows pinched. “You aren’t thinking of putting him in a coffin, are you?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead, but I want to see if he died from having his throat ripped out or if he was shot in the heart.”

“Pete said some wolves killed him,” Ryan said.

“Weren’t you the one who thought Pete might not be what he seems?”

His brother shrugged. “I have my suspicions.”

“Let’s see if we can put those suspicions to rest.”

“Will you be able to tell how he died? Last I heard, you don’t have your medical examiner’s license.”

Luke gave him a finger. “Maybe something will pop out at us. Don’t forget who our mate is.”

Ryan grinned. “Smart. Even if Malia can’t tell for sure, maybe her cousin Dr. David can.”

“Now you’re thinking. Ready to get to work?”

They spent a few hours painstakingly digging up every bone—or at least a lot of bones. The corpse had on the kind of shirt their father wore, but it was the Circle L belt buckle that clinched it. This was their father—not that he thought Pete would have buried someone else there.

Ryan had brought a blanket so they could place the bones in some semblance of order. Other than the skull, some curved ribs, and the larger leg bones, they had no idea where anything went.

“Is that all of them, do you think?” Ryan asked.

“The throat isn’t a bone, so maybe this was a waste,” Luke said.

“What about the hyoid bone? That would have broken in a fight,” Ryan said. “It covers your throat.”

“Let’s hope you’re right.” Clearly, they were out of their league. Luke stood and looked into the hole one more time. The sun came out from behind a cloud and reflected off of something. “Wait a sec. I see something else.”

“Could it be a button from his clothes?”

“It could be.” Luke dropped down into the hole and ran his hands over the disturbed dirt. He felt something hard. When he dug it up, he knew immediately what had happened to their father. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

* * *

Malia had a busy day at work, but thankfully her energy had returned. Having a good night’s sleep had done wonders for her.

David walked up to her and pulled down his mask. “You taking off?”

“I am, and I plan to enjoy my next two days of freedom.”

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