Something About a Lawman
Page 21
“Set that up again. I can’t see my book,” Aiden said.
“Screw that book, Aiden. It can’t tell us anything we couldn’t have overheard from Old Thatch talkin’ to Pa.” Judd still reached for the light and set it on its end so the beam spread over them like an umbrella.
Ignoring his brother’s outburst, Aiden read his notes. “He went to bed at nine-thirty.”
“Not unusual for a rancher,” Wes added.
“Nope. And he got up once to use the bathroom. That was around three in the morning.”
“God’s sake, Aiden, who gives a crap when the guy took a whizz?”
He gave Judd a long look but said nothing.
“Fine. Get on with it.” Judd tied his lace into a mini noose and Aiden knew who that was for.
“When he went out to the barn at six, the John Deere was missing. That means someone came between three and six.”
Judd sat back, propped on his palms. “Dang, you’re an Einstein, aren’t ya? You can tell time.”
“You know, that’s it.” Aiden dropped his book and lunged for his brother. He got him on the floor, legs pinned, and dug his arm across his neck.
“That’s enough,” Wes said. “You can’t kill your twin, Aiden.”
“Why not?” He grunted with the exertion of holding down a boy who equaled him in strength.
“You’d have to live with half a soul, that’s why. You know what your twin link is like. Let him up.”
Aiden looked down at his brother’s sweaty face.
“If you do, I’m going to strangle you,” Judd vowed.
“Can’t let him up now.”
“This is ridiculous. There’s no room in this closet for us, let alone a brawl.” Wes gathered his feet under him to stand.
“Where ya goin’?” Aiden let off his brother enough that Judd got a punch in. Head rocking, ear ringing from the blow, Aiden rolled off.
“I’m hungry, and this is a waste of time,” Wes said.
Aiden stared up at him. “How are we gonna find the guy who stole the tractor? What if he steals our tractor? How will we do the chores around here?”
Wes stopped with his hand on the doorknob. Judd scooted into a sitting position, breathing hard with anger at being pinned down. Aiden would have to watch his back for a few hours until his twin got over his grudge.
“We have to try, guys. The sheriff is too busy hauling in people running drugs and drunk drivin’ to spend time on Old Thatch’s tractor. We have to help.”
“Fine,” Judd said.
Wes sat again, Indian-style. “Who do we know that stays up all night. Someone who can’t sleep?”
The boys were silent as they thought.
“And,” Aiden said slowly, “who was down at the feed store the other day asking about ways to keep grass from growing so fast because his tractor’s busted?”
Judd straightened with excitement. “Mayburn,” he and Wes said at the same time.
Aiden nodded. Adam Mayburn was half a tick off the bubble, his brain fried by something that had happened at his birth. He was slow, low-functioning and often prowled town at night because he couldn’t sleep. Once he’d even come over to Eagle Crest and knocked on the door to ask for a drink of water. Their mom had gotten up and given him the glass of water and a cinnamon bun before sending him on his way.
Mayburn was at least forty-five years old and lived with his aging parents. They had no knowledge of half the stuff the man did.
“You know what we need to do. Go up to Mayburn’s place and see if the John Deere’s parked there,” Aiden said.
“You think he’d just park it out in the open?” Judd asked.
“’Course he would,” Wes said. “His mind doesn’t work like ours. So when we going over?”
“Right now.” Aiden got up and stuffed the book into the back pocket of his jeans.
“But I’m hungry,” Wes said.
“You’re always hungry. Your stomach has to wait. Let’s go.”
The Mayburns was a ten-minute walk through the fields—the freshly mown fields.
“Looks like they’re ready for tillin’ the earth and plantin’,” Wes said, swishing his boots through the grass.
When they crested the rise and saw the Mayburns’ ranch home, the gleaming green and yellow John Deere tractor parked next to it, they all stopped.
Wes fist-punched the air with a “Yaw!”
Aiden and Judd gave high-fives.
“We finally solved a case. Now let’s get home and call the sheriff up and tell him. And get somethin’ to eat,” Wes said.
Fifteen years ago
“Hey, Aiden—” Judd broke off as he walked into Wes’s room and saw Aiden sitting there beside Sadie Townsend. She sat cross-legged but her skirt barely stretched between her knees, and anybody who sat opposite her would get a glimpse of tanned thighs, and if she moved the right way, a hint of cotton panties.
“What the hell’s she doing here?” Judd asked.
“Whattaya think, dumbass? She’s here for the meeting.” Aiden directed his gaze back to his girlfriend. She had long honey-colored hair and big blue eyes and a smile that melted every one of the boys in the ninth grade.
Sadie blushed as she looked up at Judd, and Aiden didn’t know if he liked that. Maybe it’d been a bad idea to bring a girl here for their weekly detective meeting. Of course, they hadn’t solved any cases in ages, and half the time they ended up just sitting around Wes’s room—they’d long outgrown the closet—playing games or talking sports.
“Where’s Wes?” Aiden asked, moving his body to block Sadie from Judd’s view. Especially those thighs.
Judd eyed him but thankfully didn’t ask why he was lying in a twisted pretzel pose in front of the girl. “He’s finishing up chores Mom asked him to do for her.”
“Is Wes really your brother?” Sadie asked.
Aiden and Judd stared at each other and then laughed. “Nah, where’d you hear that?”
She leaned back, her weight on her palms. “Everybody talks about it in school. That Wes doesn’t have his parents because yours ran them off. Rumor is his mother really played around with your daddy and Wes is your brother.”
“That’s ridiculous. Wes is just a few months younger than we are.”
Sadie shrugged. “Just what they say.”
When Wes barged into the room, he skidded to a stop. His hat was askew, his shirt hung open with sweat standing out on his chest.
Sadie’s gaze latched onto it like a hungry teen looked at a buffet. Aiden shot to his feet, blocking Wes from her view.
Judd squinted his eyes at him and then a grin broke over his face. Great—his damn twin knew what Aiden was doing.
He glared at Judd, who just smiled wider.
Sadie leaned to the side to see around Aiden’s legs. She didn’t even try to hide the fact she was batting her eyelashes. Obviously, she’d come with him to flirt with his brother and Wes.
“All right, meetin’s over,” he grumbled and stomped to the door.
Wes and Judd gaped at him. “We didn’t even go over the crimes.”
“Doesn’t matter—we won’t solve ’em anyway. C’mon, Sadie. I’ll walk you home.”
She got to her feet. As she passed Judd, she smiled. She threw Wes a wink. By this time, Aiden wasn’t even sure he wanted to walk her home, but he had to make sure she got there safely.
When he returned, Wes and Judd were doing target practice out back. He watched them take their shots. Then he grabbed a pistol and neatly tipped shells into the chamber. He stepped up, took aim and hit the bullseye.
“You’re gettin’ good at that, Aiden,” Judd said.
“I was picturing your face,” he said coldly.
Judd stepped up to him. “Your girlfriend was flirting with me.”
“But you were pretty damn cheerful about it.” He squeezed off three more shots and turned to Wes. “That was your face.” He set down the pistol and started walking away.
“New club rule,
Aiden. No girls,” Judd called.
“Yeah, they got no business interfering in our group and causing hard feelings.” Wes put in.
Without turning around, Aiden raised a hand in agreement. He was ticked off at his brother and cousin—but mostly he was irritated with Sadie. She wasn’t what she seemed, and that cut deep.
Twelve years ago
Aiden’s bullet gave a low, dull thwap as it struck the target stuck on the hay bale three hundred yards away. He shoved another bullet in the chamber, aimed and pulled the trigger again.
“Same place,” Judd said from beside him. “Don’t know how you do it, bro. We’ve all practiced as long as you and you still shoot better.”
Aiden grunted. “Thinkin’ of joining the Marines.”
Judd went completely still. Aiden swung his gaze to his twin, feeling a weird fluttery feeling that normally only happened when Judd was in trouble. He looked at his brother hard. Was it possible that they were connected by strong emotions too?
Judd’s face mottled and his throat worked. “You’re gonna leave Eagle Crest and join up?”
“Said I was thinkin’ about it. Haven’t signed anything yet.”
“Signed anything with who? Have you talked to a recruiter?”
Aiden nodded.
“The one at school?”
He nodded again.
“I thought you were in the guidance office to switch into that study hall.”
“Didn’t want to tell you till I knew for sure.”
“Is that why you’re telling me now? Your mind’s made up?”
When Judd put it that way, Aiden thought it might be.
Judd stared at him. “You talk to Momma and Pa yet?”
“No. Thought you should know first.”
“So Wes doesn’t know either.”
“Wes doesn’t know what?” Wes threw himself down in the grass next to them, sweaty from chores and smelling faintly of manure.
Aiden waited for Judd to blurt it out, but he held his tongue. Leaving Aiden to break it to his cousin—who was almost a brother—that he was breaking up the crew. They’d long ago left behind the detective club to hunt down pretty girls, but somehow leaving felt like a betrayal.
He looked to Wes. “I’m joining the Marines.” He stuck another round into the rifle and nailed the third bullseye, the group of holes touching.
Wes went still. Then he picked up another bullet and handed it to Aiden. “You’ve got the shootin’ skills. Don’t know if you can take orders that well, though.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aiden lowered his rifle.
“You just like being in charge is all. Maybe you’ll be promoted fast and then you can boss everyone else around.”
Aiden grunted. His nerves were jittering like popcorn in hot oil. His choice was made, he would leave Eagle Crest for something bigger than himself.
“Whatever you do, I’m behind you, bro.” Wes held out a hand and Aiden took it. Squeezing as he looked into his eyes, so much like his own.
“Thank you.”
“I’m going to the police academy,” Judd said out of the blue.
Both looked at him in stunned surprise. “You never mentioned it.”
“You didn’t mention the Marines either.” Judd jutted out his jaw in that stubborn way of his.
“You’ll be great at it,” Aiden said thickly, oddly emotional.
They both turned to Wes. “I’m not going anywhere. Staying right here. But I might take a course on firearms, maybe get licensed for a concealed carry. And I’ll help your pa while you both are gone.”
They nodded in unison. “That’s best,” Aiden said.
The club was officially dissolved, its members gone their separate ways. Who knew if they’d ever come together again the way they once had been.
**Thank you for reading SOMETHING ABOUT A LAWMAN. If you’re enjoyed this book, please leave a review! Reviews make authors happy, and happy authors mean more hot books!
Em Petrova
Em Petrova was raised by hippies in the wilds of Pennsylvania but told her parents at the age of four she wanted to be a gypsy when she grew up. She has a soft spot for babies, puppies and 90s Grunge music and believes in Bigfoot and aliens. She started writing at the age of twelve and prides herself on making her characters larger than life and her sex scenes hotter than hot.
She burst into the world of publishing in 2010 after having five beautiful bambinos and figuring they were old enough to get their own snacks while she pounds away at the keys. In her not-so-spare time, she is fur-mommy to a Labradoodle named Daisy Hasselhoff and works as editor with USA Today and New York Times bestselling authors.
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