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“No shit. Also, it seems that Cindy Fast Fox—who was Cindy Webb after marrying a well driller out of Jackson Hole who beat her and Donnie unmercifully—killed herself two years ago. Severe depression brought on by the rape and subsequent pregnancy and years of marital abuse. She hung herself in the kitchen. Donnie found her. He was only thirteen at the time.”
“Sweet Jesus,” I moaned. That poor woman. That poor kid.
“It’s beyond tragic. So Roxie stepped in, took her sister’s son into her home, and they concocted this plot to strike back at the rich men who had so wronged Cindy. They would wiggle their way into the homes of the people they felt were responsible for Cindy’s death and make them pay. Roxie and Donnie moved into the area. He got a job at Blue Ice as a hand. She got into the main house as a cook, and Milton worked for us.”
“Holy dog shit.”
He snorted. “You have such a way with words.”
I gave him my best cockeyed smile. “But why steal from us? Blue Ice had nothing to do with Cindy Fast Fox. Shit, I went over there and knocked some of Morgan’s teeth out on her behalf.”
“I know. They seemed to think that all rich White ranchers in this area were somehow to blame. Twisted thinking for sure but they wanted all the wealthy to pay. So they devised this scheme to steal from the rich, stash the pilfered goods and resell them at a later date, and distribute the gains to the poor in the area.”
“Robin Hood syndrome.”
“Something like that. But then Perry and Will found one of the cache sites. There are four more and one was all the dinosaur bones which were stolen from Bishop Haney’s dig site.”
“No shit! I bet Bishop is ecstatic that they were recovered.”
“According to Nate, he is, but they’re being held as evidence. Of course, all of this is hush-hush, as Mama would say, because the cops are still tying up the loose ends.” He took a swig of coffee and then passed it back to me. “So with one of the cache sites discovered and you stumbling upon Roxie lifting that candy dish, they had to ramp up their plans. According to Donald’s woman, they were all supposed to leave the area the night Morgan was killed, but Donnie wanted vengeance for his mother. He stole some guns from the Great Bears and rode to our place, where he executed Morgan and was about to do the same to Clay when we showed up.”
“Holy dog shit,” I said again because I had no other words. “Is Donnie awake yet?”
“Not yet but Clay has been cleared. Wyoming is a stand your ground state and he was protecting his family and his neighbor after being threatened at gunpoint.”
“Holy—”
“If you say dog shit again, I’ll be forced to take back my coffee.”
“Meh, it’s too sweet anyway. So now what?”
He shrugged as I sipped. “The sheriff and Loren are working together and will release a public statement within a few days. Charges are about to be filed and then it all goes into the legal system where it will go to trial for all involved. I don’t know if Donnie will ever come out of the coma, but if he does, they’ll charge him for murder at the very least, probably several other counts that I’m not privy to. He nearly killed you. That would be another charge of what? Attempted murder?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Fuck but what a tragic story. All because Morgan was a shitty, abusive, hateful human being. Sorry, babe, but not sorry.”
“No, hey, don’t feel bad for speaking the truth. My brother was a vile heap of garbage and the world is much better without him. I hope I can make some changes with Clayton. He seems to be a changed man. Seeing your sibling get shot in the face will cause a reckoning of your soul it would seem.”
“It would seem.” I swallowed the dregs of the coffee and gave him the empty cup. He peered inside, gave me a raised eyebrow, then dropped the cup into the trash can beside his chair. “So what happens after you bury Morgan?”
“Well, I have to stay around for the trials.” If I did not have two holes in me and wasn’t hooked to an IV and a urine drainage bag, I would have leaped into the air and pumped my fist in joy. “After that, I thought I’d buy some land nearby, nothing big, maybe a few thousand acres, and raise some quarter horses. My brother was talking about selling that parcel on the other side of the Jante right behind the Lone Vale cabin. Might be nice to look over the river and see that rundown old hovel. I have some fond memories of the place.”
“Do you now?” I asked, while working at nonchalant, but my fucking heart monitor gave me away.
“I do, yes.” He scooched his chair closer, the metal legs grating over the tile floor. When he was next to the bed, he reached for my hand. I let his fingers thread through mine and felt a calm settle over me, despite what my racing heart was saying. “Maybe you could come work for me?”
“Yeah, no, I don’t work for McCrarys. I do fuck them and fall in love with them, but I draw the line at getting paychecks from them. I do have morals. They ain’t high but I got them.”
“I assumed you’d say that. So how about you just live with me and work for Landon? Will that arrangement meet your low moral standards, Abbott?”
“That might work with one proviso. I will not be able to live there with you unless you agree to officially name your horse Dundee.”
He sniggered and lifted my hand to his soft lips. Mm, the feel of those soft golden whiskers on my knuckles did funny things to me. After he pressed a kiss to my hand, he rose to steal a kiss from my lips. The nurse came barging in just as his tongue touched mine. Shep fell back into his chair with a huff and I snickered naughtily.
“Thought you were stroking out,” the night nurse teased before turning on her white heel and heading back to the nurse’s station.
“So what will it be?” I pressed Shep after we were alone. His fingers remained meshed with mine.
“Fine, I’ll change his name to Dundee, but I will not name any offspring after anything to do with Crocodile Dundee.” He gave me a firm look. “Agreed?”
I nodded but never agreed to it verbally. We’d just have to see what the future held…
