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She’d often asked herself the same thing. She shook her head. “I don’t know but he’s always been...different than the rest of us. He’s my mother’s favorite. Needless to say, she’s spoiled him rotten.”
“Any ideas how to find a meth lab that we aren’t sure even exists yet?” Duffy asked. “No offense, but it sounds like they aren’t even back in business yet.”
“The men who paid your brother a visit could be waiting to make sure he doesn’t turn on them before they resume,” Pickett said. “But I’d bet they have a place already in mind—even if they haven’t moved the business there yet.”
“Another abandoned ranch?” Duffy asked.
Pickett shook his head. “Isn’t that what the sheriff and the FBI are expecting? I would think that an operation like this could afford to buy a piece of land using a front man.”
“Or CJ’s own mother,” Duffy said. “If you’re right and CJ is scared of the Lees brothers, then one way he could convince them that he isn’t going to turn on them, would be to buy property for the new operation.”
Pickett slapped Duffy on the back. “The perfect front. I think you might have something there.”
Oakley grinned. “I don’t know what I would do without you two. My mother was planning to buy the Turner Ranch. It might be easy for CJ to suggest some other property for her to buy, especially if he hinted that Holden McKenna was looking at the land.”
Her cell phone began to ring. “I need to take this,” she said to Duffy and Pickett. “It should only take a minute. It’s my mother.”
“You need to talk to CJ’s lawyer,” Charlotte said without preamble the moment Oakley picked up. “You need to assure him that it was an accident, that you’re fine, that your brother isn’t a threat.”
She almost laughed. CJ not a threat? She reminded herself that she had to play along, at least until she found the proof she needed.
“I told you I would,” she said, as hard as it was. She had no choice but to lie. CJ needed to feel that he was safe, that he had gotten away with everything. That way he and his cohorts wouldn’t worry about getting back to their criminal behavior. Meanwhile, Oakley would do her part while Duffy and Pickett tracked down any recently purchased property.
She disconnected. “We need to stop CJ and soon,” she told her friends.
*
PICKETTWASABOUTto leave Oakley’s apartment when Duffy got a phone call and stepped out in the hall to take it, leaving him alone with Oakley.
She looked as uncomfortable as he felt, both of them knowing that Duffy could return at any moment.
He turned the brim of his Stetson in his hands, still shaken by what had happened in his absence with Oakley remembering the day she was shot and her run-in with CJ. He was also rattled by the tension he felt between his best friend and Oakley. Duffy wasn’t his usual self. Also, Pickett had seen the two share looks a couple of times as if more had happened while he was gone.
Duffy came back in. “That was Ralph Jones on the phone. The barn we used at the last Dirty Business meeting burnt down last night. Ralph said it was arson. He’s out there now. I want to go out and talk to him.”
“Let’s go,” Pickett said, still holding his hat. He settled the Stetson on his head and looked at Oakley.
“I’m coming with you,” she said and met his gaze as if she thought he might object. He merely gave her a nod. She held his look a little longer. He tried to read it, but didn’t get the chance as Duffy said, “Of course you’re going.”
Duffy smiled at her, but he didn’t put his arm around her as they left. He seemed to be giving her some distance. But was it for Pickett’s benefit or hers?
Pickett hated this feeling that he’d missed something important that had happened between the two of them. He was scared for Oakley and wanted to protect her but didn’t know how it would be possible—even if she would allow it. She was a Stafford; he worked for a McKenna. If he was even caught on the Stafford Ranch, he could be shot. Duffy was no better off when it came to keeping her safe, he told himself.
He hated feeling helpless, especially since he had the feeling something had changed while he was gone. He wanted to believe it was just him imagining it because he’d missed so much.
But he knew better. Oakley and Duffy weren’t themselves. Something had happened between them; he saw it in their too-polite exchanges. He should have known Duffy would take advantage of his being away. It was his own fault, he told himself.
Now more than ever he knew that if he was serious about Oakley, he needed to act. But what had always held him back was the truth. He still didn’t want to share it with her. Not until the time was right.
But he had to show her how he felt about her. He had to know if he stood a chance with her. Oakley and the McKenna ranch hand. He told himself that it would never happen. But he had to know if she cared about him more than just as a friend.
They all climbed into Oakley’s pickup for the ride out to the barn. Duffy stopped as they were loading up to fiddle with his boot, allowing Pickett to slide into the seat next to her. He noticed that his friend couldn’t meet his gaze as he climbed in next to him, confirming what Pickett suspected. Something had definitely happened between Duffy and Oakley.
They didn’t talk on the way out to the smoldering remains of the barn. Ralph Jones was waiting for them. “Let me talk to him for a minute,” Duffy said as he jumped out, closing the door behind him.
“How was your trip?” Oakley asked nervously, as if the cab and just the two of them felt too intimate. Pickett had slid over a little but not gotten out. “I hadn’t realized that you had family back east.”
“My father. He passed while I was there.”
