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Everything seemed to be publicity about the ranch, so she tried out the husband’s name. Nothing came up. Then she tried Nicole Fletcher and Keith Taggert together. There were no hits for that, but there was an alternative suggestion.
She clicked on it and frowned as she leaned closer to read the legal language. Her frown deepened. And then her eyes flew wide at the sight of her brother’s name. What the hell did her brother have to do with Keith Taggert and Nicole’s husband?
It seemed to be a land development deal, and it contained a lot of real estate language she wasn’t familiar with, but she eventually puzzled it out. Keith had bought the land for the resort from Brad for millions of dollars. And her brother had purchased it from none other than Nicole Fletcher’s husband only six months before selling it to Keith. Her brother had made quite a bit of money in a very short amount of time.
So maybe Nicole had only been here to discuss business, but that didn’t explain why Keith had deleted the evidence.
It was time for Charlie to make that call to her brother.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“GODDAMN IT!” Walker slapped the cow on her hindquarters and she double-stepped into the truck. He tugged off his glove and looked down at the finger the heifer had just ground into the gate latch. It was turning purple already, but he could bend it, so he tugged the glove back on and turned back to the truck with a growl.
Before he could get back into the rhythm of the work, his phone rang for the second time in an hour, and he cursed again. He waved to one of the other hands, who nodded and moved closer to the truck. Walker backed away to get the call.
“Yeah?”
“Mr. Pearce, it’s Gina from the care center again.”
“Right.”
“I really think you should come by. Your dad is still struggling to catch his breath, and he’s having trouble staying calm.”
“My being there won’t help him calm down.”
“It might. It’s hard to say when they’re in this state. He might recognize you, or he might mistake you for someone else who’s familiar. If it doesn’t work, we can try a higher dose of sedative, but we hate to start altering his medications with the heart congestion.”
His father had been going into congestive heart failure for months. They’d said it would probably take a few more weeks to get bad, but now his dad had become agitated and out of breath.
Walker tipped his head back and stared at the cloudless blue sky. “I’m over an hour away. Give him the sedative.”
“I see. Okay. I’ll call later and give you an update.”
“Just call me if it gets worse.”
“Oh. All right. That’s fine.”
Walker was done with this whole damn day. First, he’d woken to an inexplicably empty bed. Charlie had left without a kiss or a word or a text. Then he’d gotten the call that his dad was having problems. And then that they’d worsened.
“Just what I fucking need,” Walker growled.
He resumed his place by the trailer and got back to work, but his finger throbbed as his blood pressure rose. It was only five-thirty. He’d be at this for another hour, at least, and then there was the drive back to Jackson, and...
Trying to shake off the distraction, he guided another heifer into the trailer, patting her gently to make up for shoving that other poor girl earlier. She hadn’t meant to crush his finger. She’d only been panicked.
He tried to calm his temper. A bad mood could spook the animals. But he was pissed at Charlie. And now there was his dad....
“Shit.”
When the last cow was on the trailer, he closed it up and motioned to his boss. “I’m sorry. I got a call from my dad’s nurse. He’s not in good shape. I have to head back.”
“We’re almost done here. You may as well go on.”
He nodded as if he were relieved. The truth was that he didn’t want to go to the care center at all, but the nurse’s censuring tone had shamed him. He had to go check on the old man, even though it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference to him or his dad. It might make Micah feel better, though, and Walker didn’t want to have to face his brother after behaving like an asshole.
Turning his stereo
up loud to drown out his thoughts, Walker took off down the dirt road, enjoying the slide of his tires when he took a curve too fast. This was all he needed in his life. Hard work, a fast truck, a warm woman in his bed when he wanted it. Instead of being pissy about Charlie sneaking out, he should be thankful. A beautiful, sexy woman who didn’t want anything more than sex? Heck, that was every man’s dream, wasn’t it? “Hell yeah,” he muttered to himself. When the words rang hollow in his ears, he turned the music up higher.
