AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Now what?” Tally asked Jade when they reached the big barn.
“We question him like everyone else - ask him if he saw anything suspicious,” she told him. “Get him to let his guard down.”
“If his guard were down any more, it would be underground,” Rafe pointed out.
“Nonetheless, we don’t accuse him,” Jade said.
“Agreed,” Rafe said. “Let’s see what he has to say for himself.”
She knocked on the door to the barn, and slid it open before they could make any more of a plan than that.
Tag stood on the other side, waiting for them. Rafe was pretty sure he couldn’t have heard them through the thick door.
“Did you figure out what makes my fencing unique?” he asked Jade, his eyes twinkling in a pleased way.
“It’s very clever,” she told him. “You saved a fortune on wood.”
“You have to train the stock from the beginning,” he warned her. “But yes, it was a game changer for me. Want to see your herd?”
“Of course,” she told him.
“Right this way,” he said, leading them past pens of lichen-deer. “Now the agency paid top dollar for this herd. So, I’ve taken extra good care of them. You’ll be able to see it from their glossy coats and energy.”
Rafe highly doubted that any of them would notice a difference, since they knew little about lichen-deer. But it was a nice gesture.
Tag opened a door, and they all headed into another pen.
Rafe was pleased to see that these deer did look very well cared for, and they certainly all had glossy coats and bright eyes. Tag had not skimped on their care, or chosen any questionable specimens for Jade’s starter herd.
“They’re lovely,” Jade said, echoing his own thoughts. “You’ve obviously taken wonderful care of them.”
Tag nodded modestly.
“Will you let me take a few notes on care when you drop them off next week?” she asked him.
“Of course,” he told her. “But I have a feeling you have a more pressing question for me now. And I think I have an answer for you.”
She glanced at Rafe, and he nodded to her, amazed that she was looking to him for confirmation when she had handled everything before this like an intergalactic data agent.
“Yes,” she admitted to Tag, smiling and gazing down in a demure, almost flirty way that made Rafe want to burn the whole barn down. “You’re right. I’m terrified of being taken away from my baby. And of course, we both know that Gus’s guard didn’t kill that man. I’m just wondering if you saw anything out of the ordinary that day - anything that might help clear our names.”
While Rafe appreciated Jade’s deft use of her pretty smile to get the info they desperately needed, he had to bite back a growl at her referring to him as Gus’s guard when he knew full well she thought of him as the boy’s father, and she should be thinking of him as her mate.
“I’m gonna level with you, sweetheart,” Tag purred condescendingly. “But only because you were honest with me. Honesty is the best policy, right, sugar?”
Jade smiled without opening her mouth, causing dimples to form on her cheeks, and nodded.
“That’s right,” Tag said, nodding. “Now here’s what I saw that night. We all were talking, your guard and I clasped arms, you were holding the little fellow.”
“Right,” Jade said.
“Didn’t know it at the time,” Tag said, “but the little woman with the huge glasses is actually a surveyor. She’s handling info collection for all the land expansion applications, including mine. She ran off while we were talking.”
“Yes,” Rafe said, nodding.
“But she went in the wrong direction to be a suspect,” Tag said.
Jade was nodding already. They knew this, but it was good to hear Risa’s story corroborated.
