Page 58 of Homicide in Water Creek

Jacks shook her head and pointed to her leg, then waved her hand at her neck. He leaned down, and she whispered, “Can’t do it. You go listen. I’ll wait off the path.”

After kissing her quickly, he headed left, careful of what was under his feet. Once he was just below the berm behind the arena, he hunkered down to listen.

“I’m trying,” Chinos said. “They moved the papers. I was in the office, but the drawer was empty. I did get the financials for the other ranch.” He fell silent, and King waited, holding his breath, assuming the other ranch was King’s Korner, his granddaddy’s. There wasn’t much to see there. He had some cash crops, but that was about it.”

“Fine, yeah, I can,” Chinos said. “I’ll butter up the granddaughter. She’ll tell me anything I ask. I can lay on the charm when I want to.”

King rolled his eyes. Oh, yeah, just give it a try, pal.

“If she doesn’t, I’ll take her into the woods and make sure she does.”

Oh hell no.

He was almost standing when Jacks’s calm settled over him. Don’t do it. Don’t blow it. Jump too soon, and you won’t be here to protect me. It was as if her words traveled across space and time, slowing his racing heart.

Steadying his breathing, King waited for Chinos to wrap up the call, and what he said at the end made King’s breath stick in his chest.

Daddy?

King couldn’t help but think, jackpot.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Keene swung through the kitchen door and shut it. “Snow’s coming,” he said, rubbing his hands together. He accepted a cup of coffee from Jackson and smiled at him, a smile King had seen a thousand times but now understood so much better.

“What’s going on?” he asked, suddenly aware of their presence.

They’d stopped at the trailer, grabbed the recorder, and sent both men an SOS to meet them at the house. It was smarter for everyone to listen to it together before he logged it into evidence. They sat at the table, and King leaned in.

“We have new information about Chinos,” he explained, his tone evenly measured. “His name isn’t Wade Owens. It’s Jordan Colburn. He was a cop in California who supposedly died two years ago,” he explained. “He was under investigation for falsifying arrests, among other things.”

“What does a guy like that want with a place like this?” Jackson asked, his tone unmistakably confused. He wasn’t faking. He truly had no idea. “None of this makes sense.”

“His boss, whoever that may be, wants the ranches, Jackson. Both of them,” he said, glancing at Keene.

“Well, it’s not like Jackson’s going to sell The Double J,” Keene said. “I was thinking about selling my place, but I was going to ask you first if you wanted it, Dean.”

King’s head swiveled toward his granddaddy. “You were?”

“Of course. I want to live with Jackson, travel, and enjoy our last years together, but I also want the land to stay in the family. You don’t have to make it a working ranch. I understand that’s not your dream, but it’s our family’s land. It’s not about the money; it’s about the legacy. If you wanted it, I was going to talk to the lawyer about doing one of those dollar-sale deals.”

“Dollar-sale deals?” King asked, completely confused.

He motioned between them. “You know, where you buy the land from me for a dollar and I give you the deed. I just gotta make sure it’s legal to do that.”

“I wish you had talked to me about this sooner, Granddaddy,” King said. “Who else have you told?”

“Just Jackson. He said I couldn’t sell unless it was to you. I ain’t mentioned it to no one else.”

Jackson spoke up. “We were hoping that if you owned Keene’s land and Jacks owned mine, one day the land would be one again, like it used to be long ago.”

“Really?” King and Jacks asked in unison.

Both men nodded, but Keene spoke. “I see it now, son. I see how much you love her. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was wrong. This is the only way I know to make amends for the past.”

King squeezed Keene’s hand for a moment and closed his eyes. “I’m not angry at you, Granddaddy. I know your task was hard. Raising a young boy out here isn’t easy, and wanting him to have a better life isn’t wrong. In your case, you just forgot to ask me. We have a bigger problem right now, though.” He tapped the table with his finger near the recorder.

“Jacks and I were on our way here to talk to you about Chinos when we overheard him on the phone while everyone else was eating lunch. I could hear only one side of the conversation, but the recorder captured both sides. We’re going to listen to the call. Ready?”