by Robin Perini
A series of skylights illuminated the room. A horse snorted from the far side of the hay-strewn building. Thayne walked around a stall. One of Brett’s prized mares was lying down, but she looked like she was dying. Her mane was ragged, her hair falling out. Beside him the Rivertons’ vet stroked her belly.
“What’s wrong with the mare, Doc?”
Dr. Tillman turned. “Copper poisoning. Brett transformed this machine shop into an animal hospital. We lost one of them today.”
Riley turned. A dog lay in a kennel, ears flat, a rash peppering his skin, his paws covered in red mud. Beside him were three other kennels. One held a cat, the second what appeared to be a wolf. The third kennel was empty and newly cleaned.
“Will these others be OK?”
“Maybe. I’m giving them a chelating agent, and we’re trying to find the source of the contamination.” The doc cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about Cheyenne. I hope you find her soon.”
Thayne nodded curtly. With one last look at the struggling animals, Riley followed him out the door.
Curtis ambled up behind them. “Don’t let this get around, Thayne. Brett doesn’t need any more trouble. He’s a good boss.”
“The EPA and CDC need to know,” Riley said. “Mr. Riverton may not have a choice.”
Curtis stopped in his tracks and shook his head before resuming his patrol. “Damn Feds.”
“Don’t take it personally,” Thayne said to Riley. “It’s a western thing. People get pretty upset that the federal government owns almost half the state of Wyoming.”
On the way to the main house, Riley slowed her pace. Thayne matched it.
“Why would anyone poison Brett or those animals?” she said. “I’m not seeing an obvious connection between Riverton’s difficulties and Cheyenne’s disappearance.”
“Just like my sister. She can’t make anything easy.”
Thayne tried to make a joke out of the situation, but it fell flat. Over the last few hours, Riley had hoped they were close to finding his sister. Unless their interrogation of Brett gave them a solid lead, they’d be where they started when Riley deplaned yesterday.
“Brett has to suspect who’s got it in for him.” Thayne glanced back at the makeshift animal clinic. “Why else have armed guards patrolling his place?”
They reached the porch, and Riley stopped. “How well do you know your judge, Thayne? Could you get a warrant to search this place and Brett’s records?”
“Tough call. The judge is a fishing buddy of my dad’s, but he’s pretty high on individual rights. And, of course, Riverton’s big money in this town. Still, for Cheyenne . . . it’s worth a try.”
“Brett cares about Cheyenne, and I don’t think he wants a confrontation. He doesn’t want what’s going on here to leak. And he obviously needs medical help. You could push him.”
Thayne gave her a grim grin. “I like how you think.”
They walked into the house without knocking. Brett was bent low, speaking in hushed tones into a cell phone.
“Who are you talking to, Brett?”
He ended the call and slipped the phone in his pocket. “Just business.”
“You’ve got some big trouble brewing here, Riverton. Riley has the CDC, the EPA, and the Bureau of Land Management on speed dial.” Thayne crossed his arms. “I doubt you want the Feds on your land.”
Brett rubbed his face with his hands. When he stared at Thayne, Riley could see the pain visible on his face.
Thayne rushed him and slapped the arms of the chair, the thwack echoing through the room. “Damn it. That body we dug up at our swimming hole was identified as one of your men. A man who stopped getting a paycheck six months ago.”
“That can’t be.” Brett shook his head. “Six months. But that was before Cheyenne—”
Thayne grabbed Brett’s shirt. “What’s your game? What’s your connection to my sister? Did you take her? Did she find out about something you’re doing on your land? Or that your mines contaminated the water? Or is something else poisoning you and your animals?”
Shep slammed open the outside door and raced into the room. “Leave him alone. You don’t understand.”
Thayne whirled around. Riley had never seen his face deadlier.
“Back off, Shep.” Thayne’s grip tightened. “I’m not asking again, Riverton. Where is my sister?”
“I don’t know,” he choked out.
“Thayne.” Riley placed her hand on his shoulder. “He’s telling the truth. Look at him.”
Brett’s face couldn’t have become grayer. He looked like he might pass out any second.
“He’s an expert liar, Riley,” Thayne spat, gripping Brett’s collar. “If I weren’t wearing this badge, I’d make you talk. I know exactly how to extract the truth. Hell, I still might.”
The threat lingered in the air. Thayne sucked in a deep breath and thrust Brett back. “The way I see it, you’re lying to me. You’re putting Cheyenne’s life at risk.”
“I’d never do anything to hurt her.” Brett met Thayne’s gaze, his sunken eyes not backing down. “I . . . care about her.”
“You’re sure as hell not showing it.”
Brett raised his hands and gripped Thayne’s wrists. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m trying to protect her, not hurt her.”
Riley believed Brett. He couldn’t hide the distress on his face.
For her, though, this new information changed her profile yet again. Except nothing fit together. She had too many unrelated facts that didn’t form a cohesive picture.
“I want answers, Brett.” Thayne didn’t release his shirt, but gripped it tighter. “Did you hire someone to kidnap Cheyenne? Did they throw my grandmother against the wall?”
With what must have taken all his strength, Brett thrust Thayne off him. “Damn you, Blackwood, of course I didn’t.”
“Why should I believe you?” Thayne glared at Brett.
The man thrust his hand through limp, lifeless hair, then his mouth twisted into a frown. “Because Cheyenne is my wife.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Riverton Ranch house’s walls closed in on Thayne. His mind swirled, and he stumbled back at the shocking statement. “Impossible. Cheyenne would never—”
“What, marry a Riverton?” Brett let out a derisive laugh. “Imagine my surprise when she accepted my proposal—and then went through with it.”
“After the way your brother Cal treated her, I would’ve believed hell would freeze over before she got near either one of you. Much less marry into the family.”
Brett scowled at Thayne. “Thanks for bringing up that incident. Cal knows he screwed up. He apologized more than once. Cheyenne . . . well, let’s say she tolerates him.”
Thayne sank into the leather sofa across from Brett and stared at his left hand, where a gold band loosely rested against his knuckle. Riley sat beside Thayne, her leg up against his. He met her concerned gaze. Talk about throwing their entire investigation into turmoil.
“Cheyenne never walked a step off the straight and narrow. Perfect kid, perfect student, perfect daughter. She’d never just run off and get married. Especially to a Riverton. She’d do it the right way. Six-month engagement, church wedding, reception, the whole thing.”
Brett’s face had stiffened to stone. “And that’s why you don’t know.”
“You’re not making sense.” Thayne’s brain couldn’t comprehend Cheyenne’s out-of-character actions. How could he have misread his sister so badly?
“Being married to Cheyenne doesn’t exonerate you,” Riley said. “In fact, your relationship makes you our prime suspect.”
“You can both go to hell,” Brett said, shoving his hands through his hair. “You know what. Search the house, talk to Shep, do whatever you need to do to check me off your list. And when you’re done wasting everyone’s time, find her!”
Riley nudged Thayne’s leg, and he met her gaze. She wanted to take over questioning. He wasn’t getting anywh
ere, so he gave her a quick nod.
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Why keep your marriage a secret until we pushed you, Brett? It only increases suspicion.”
For a moment, he didn’t move, didn’t respond. Thayne recognized the irritation flashing in Brett’s eyes. Well, that was too damn bad.
“Answer the question,” Thayne uttered through gritted teeth.
Riley shoved her knee into his thigh, harder this time. OK, fine. He’d shut up and see if she could do better. In Thayne’s experience, threats worked well with the Rivertons.
She lifted her gaze to Brett’s mutinous one. “Please. I want to understand. I get not announcing a relationship to the world, but why not tell everyone once you married?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable with the question. Finally, he sighed. “From day one, neither Cheyenne nor I wanted to attract any attention. We reconnected when I drove one of my hands to her office after she first set up her practice. He needed stitches.” He gave them a thoughtful smile. “By the time she finished sewing up the guy, I was hooked. She’s wicked smart, has a great sense of humor, and it didn’t impress her one whit that I have a ton of money sitting in the bank.”
Thayne hated sympathizing with Brett, but he got it. He might not have the money, but his job attracted a set of groupies who wanted him for the prestige of being seen and sleeping with a SEAL, not because of who he was as a person. That’s what Riley offered . . . she didn’t care about his last name or his job. She liked the man who existed beneath his SEAL persona.
“I couldn’t believe when she agreed to have dinner. We . . . clicked. Neither of us wanted to advertise our relationship, though,” Brett continued. “You know how the town is.”
Riley smiled at him, all sympathy. “I’ve experienced a taste of what you’re talking about. Fannie, right?”
Oh, she was good. Brett had relaxed a bit more with each of Riley’s questions, allowing Thayne to study his prime suspect, trying to read his every reaction, searching for his tells.
“Fannie and the Gumshoe Grannies are infamous. You’d think they had listening devices in every home in Singing River. Maybe they do.” Brett narrowed his gaze at Thayne. “Your grandmother started that crazy group, didn’t she?”
“Don’t blame me,” Thayne said. “I can’t control them.”
Shep brought Brett a bottle of water, and he took a sip. “The Rivertons and Blackwoods have been on opposite sides since settling here nearly a century ago. Families took sides. You know how it was when we were kids. Neither Cheyenne nor I wanted to reignite the feud. So we didn’t tell anyone.”
“Must have been tiring, though. It’s hard to keep a relationship that private.” Riley sent Thayne a meaningful stare.
Yeah, he got her point. Brett could very well be telling the truth.
“It’s a long way from a secret affair to getting married,” Thayne said.
“Your sister’s quite the planner. We wanted to get away for a weekend, be in public without worrying who was watching. She lied about a Vegas medical convention; I lied about a cattle auction. We met in Vegas and indulged in a few too many drinks, and a few too much . . .” Brett cleared his throat. “I proposed. She accepted. What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.”
“Why not come clean when you returned to Singing River?” Riley pressed.
“Cheyenne convinced me to have a real wedding instead. One your grandmother would enjoy . . . and remember for as long as possible. One that would have pictures Cheyenne could show your grandmother when the memories disappeared. Honestly, I think she didn’t want to disappoint the family.”
The Blackwood expectations struck again. Thayne rubbed his temple. But the idea of a real wedding. That sounded like his sister.
“I searched her house the day I arrived.” Riley grabbed a blue notebook from her satchel and scribbled on the page. Then she brought out her sketchbook and flipped through it. “I didn’t see any sign of you or a marriage. Or a wedding being planned.”
“You wouldn’t have,” Brett said, his expression grim. “A month ago I began receiving some aggressive letters. They were anonymous, seemingly someone just venting. It happens. I have too much money, greedy landowner, miner, that kind of thing. I filed them away with other threats I’ve received over the years until one of the dogs took sick. Blue was a great bloodhound. Took a while for the vet to pinpoint the cause. Soon after, one of the hands came upon a wolf with similar symptoms. Then the mysterious illness began to affect me.”
“Did Cheyenne know?”
“I hid my symptoms from her to keep her from worrying. She thought I had the stomach flu, but I knew what was happening. Since we couldn’t figure out the cause at first, I had to do something before she got sick. My hired detectives came up with squat, so I had no choice. I sent her away.”
Thayne crossed his arms. “Let’s say I buy your story. There’s no way Cheyenne would leave you, not if she suspected you were ill.”
Brett looked down, away from Thayne’s gaze.
“You know your sister well. She’s stubborn, so I manufactured some lies. It took some doing, but I finally convinced her she was better off without me. At that point she was. I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t even protect myself. She packed her bags and moved out. I told her to pretend I never existed to her and that I’d file for an annulment. She threw my ring in my face.”
Brett’s jaw throbbed, as if he could barely say the next words. “She promised she wouldn’t wear the necklace, but she said she’d keep it to remind her how wrong she’d been about me.”
Convincing. In fact, Thayne was beginning to believe Brett might not have had anything to do with Cheyenne’s disappearance. He just had one more question.
“Why didn’t you come to us when she went missing?” Thayne asked. “Keeping silent isn’t the action of an innocent man.”
“I sent Mac and as many hands as I could spare. Look, Thayne. I thought nobody knew about my relationship with Cheyenne. I didn’t know she still wore the necklace until just now. If I had, I would’ve come to you, I swear.”
“So why were you planning to visit Dad?”
Brett grabbed his cane and heaved himself up before shuffling to his walnut desk. He opened the drawer and pulled out an envelope. “Someone slipped this under my door earlier today. That’s when I knew I had to come see you.” He cleared his throat. “If . . . when you find Cheyenne, please don’t tell her about this. She’d be mortified.”
He passed the envelope to Thayne. With reluctance, Thayne grasped the packet but hesitated at the expression on Brett’s face.
Riley snapped on a pair of gloves, took the evidence from Thayne, and folded open the clasp. She slid out a half-dozen or so pictures.
Her eyes widened. She glanced up at Brett, whose cheeks had reddened despite his illness.
“Well?” Thayne asked.
“Don’t mention these to Cheyenne,” Riley said and passed him the photos.
Thayne took one look, and the heat rose in his cheeks. He forced himself to avoid looking at his sister’s face. The photos had been snapped to capture every angle of a very passionate encounter with Brett. He shoved them at Riley. “Someone followed you. Blackmail?”
“There was no note, but I have to assume there will be. They know who Cheyenne is to me. They’re taunting me. Maybe they had something to do with Cheyenne’s disappearance. I just know I haven’t protected her as well as I thought.” Even as weak as he was, Brett banged his hand on the desk.
“I recognize the location,” Riley said, slipping them back inside the manila envelope. “Cheyenne has a photo on the wall of her office.”
A small smile tugged Brett’s lips. “Our spot. There’s a waterfall on the south side of the property near the Wyoming jade mines. It’s very isolated. No one ever goes up there.”
“Where we used to play as kids?” Thayne asked.
Brett nodded and worked his way back to the leat
her sofa, sitting down with a groan.
Riley slid the photos into her satchel. “We’ll have to take these in for evidence.”
Brett hesitated, then reluctantly nodded. “She’ll hate that.”
“I’ll try to keep them private.” Thayne found he wanted to believe Brett. Not only did the man not have the strength to pull off the kidnapping, he truly seemed to care about Cheyenne.
It appeared whoever was trying to kill Brett could be responsible for Cheyenne’s kidnapping. Or he was lying with Oscar-caliber skill.
“There’s one more thing you should know,” Brett said. “When the doc finally discovered the cause of my illness, we traced the copper toxicity to the stream feeding the waterfall.”
Thayne stood up and pulled on his Stetson. “I guess our next stop is the waterfall.”
Fifteen Years Ago
The raucous laughter of after-school joy rocked the school bus. Madison wasn’t interested in the class clown’s latest impression of the Backstreet Boys. She couldn’t stop looking at the new boy who’d transferred from San Diego. Bobby Frost.
One more time—for the final time, she told herself—she glanced over. He was staring at her. Her heart did a little flip inside her chest. Her face turned hot. Bobby’s hair flopped down over one eye. He looked like he didn’t care about anyone or anything. So cool.
The bus rumbled to a stop one street over from their house.
“Come on, Madison!” Her sister rocked back and forth, little-kid impatient.
Why couldn’t their town be like every other where sixth graders attended middle school? Instead, Madison was still stuck in elementary school with the babies. Like her sister.
She tried not to pay attention to Bobby as she walked past him.
He winked at her. She tripped and went down on both knees.
The entire bus roared with laughter. Riley laughed the loudest.
Madison grabbed her backpack and raced to the exit. She jumped down the last step.
“Wait up, Madison,” Riley cried, running after her.