The day had been hellishly long, and just about the only thing that Jesse could think about was a shower, but that wasn’t going to happen just yet. There was no time to go back to her own house. Not even to change. She was still wearing the same clothes she had dragged on in the middle of the previous night just to come over and start bugging Cal with questions about their parents.

All of that seemed so very far away right now. The search for justice, the curiosity to find out what had really happened, and the desire to know the truth had not lessened. But right now, she felt as though she and the rest of the Hernandez family and their longtime friends were caught between Paul Weatherby and disaster. This was what mattered. Nobody was going to care what had happened in the past if current events were making the world fall in around them.

“Are you ready?”

Jesse glanced over her shoulder at Cal. He had just stepped out the front door of the Hernandez house. The sun was just beginning to start its trek toward the horizon on its way to a glorious western sunset.

Jesse tried not to be distracted by the man so that she could focus on his words. She lifted her shoulder at what had to be a rhetorical question anyway. “I suppose I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

“You want me to drive?” Cal gestured to his pickup.

Jesse shot him a withering glare. “I rode Mora over here last night. Remember? So, unless you want to make the drive over to the Flying W in reverse, we’re going to have to take your truck.”

“Right.” Cal’s features took on the ghost of a smile right before he headed for the driver’s side of his truck. “You should really have that looked at.”

“Uh huh?” she grumbled. Yanking open the passenger door, she climbed up inside. “You know anyone who’s good with transmissions?” She strapped herself into the passenger seat. “Because I’m not so great with mechanical things.”

“Oh, I know a guy.” He started the engine and the big diesel truck roared to life. He backed out of his spot and angled the truck toward the road leading back to the highway. “But he’s really expensive.”

“That right?” Jesse turned and stared morosely out the window. “Maybe he just thinks too much of himself and his time.”

“Or maybe he isn’t looking for money.”

Of course, the man Cal was referring to was himself. He’d been rebuilding engines and transmissions for years. If he couldn’t fix it, he would at least be able to tell her exactly what was wrong. But Jesse was hesitant to ask for that sort of favor from the man. She was in deep enough with Cal. She just didn’t know how far she wanted it to go. What did she want? Was it right? Was it wrong? Was she losing her damn mind? It was difficult to say, and sometimes she really didn’t want to think about it anymore.

They were silent most of the way to the Flying W. It was the dinner hour and Jesse was starving. Right now wasn’t the time to worry about it though. There was a strong likelihood that they would catch Captain Weatherby at home right now. That was the main goal. Everything else could wait.

Cal turned off the highway and drove under the big wrought iron sign with the winged W worked into the scrolling metal. From here it was actually possible to see the sprawling ranch house. It was new, only a few years old. Most of the older ranches sported homes that had been around in some shape or form since Colorado’s early history as a territory. Paul Weatherby had gone against convention and built himself a million dollar ranch-style brick home at the front of his property close enough to the highway to make access easy in all weather. It was practical in many ways, but Jesse could not imagine it being a good financial decision.

“Look at this place,” Cal muttered as he pulled up the last twenty or so yards and parked in the house’s circle driveway. “Is he running a ranch or trying to build the set of some sitcom about a ranch?”

“I’m going to go with option two,” Jesse muttered. “This place looks like a magazine layout. He’s certainly going for image.”

Jesse had seen this place from the highway plenty of times, but she’d never been up this close. She couldn’t imagine what the masonry alone had cost during construction. The brick-and-stone “castle” style facade was both elegant and very, very ostentatious.

“All right, then.” Cal shut off the engine and opened his door. “You ready?”

“Yeah.” Jesse felt a shot of panic. “I’m going to let you do the talking. I’ll just tell him what I really think and get us both arrested for something stupid.”

“That’s what I love most about you,” Cal said warmly. “Your beautiful talent for driving right to the point and cutting through all the bullshit.”

Jesse nearly fell out of the truck. What? What was he saying? That he loved her for sticking her foot into her mouth? No. Way. She didn’t say anything. She was too confused and surprised to even think. Besides, Paul Weatherby apparently kept an eye on his front drive because at that moment he threw open the elaborate plank wood front doors and gave them both a very fake, very toothy grin.

“Welcome!” Paul boomed. “I must say I’m surprised to see you two here, but I’m glad for the company all the same. Won’t you both come inside?”

Paul Weatherby was a bear of a man at six feet tall and perhaps three hundred pounds. He was wearing khaki slacks and a polo shirt. The man looked like a golfer, not a rancher. His hands had no callouses anymore. He paid people to do his work for him. His thinning brown hair was shot through with gray, and he looked every bit of his sixty years old. Perhaps the thing that bothered this man the most was the fact that at sixty years old he had not managed to unseat the ruling family—the Hernandez Land & Cattle Company—to become the premier ranch in the region. Oh, boohoo. Jesse couldn’t bring herself to feel bad for the man at all.

“Well, come on now,” Paul urged. “Don’t be shy.”

Shy? Cal glanced at Jesse. She knew that she didn’t have to say it out loud for him to know that she was not going into that house. As far as she was concerned, the man was evil. Going inside was just giving him an opportunity to commit murder and hide the bodies.

“Actually, Paul”—Cal gave Paul a pointed look that said far more than his words—“while we appreciate your offer of hospitality, it isn’t necessary. What we’ve come to say can be said quickly.”

“All right, then.” Paul folded his hands in front of him. The man certainly had a good poker face. Nobody could fault him on that. It would remain to be seen if he could hang onto it even when he was faced with his own sins.

Cal pointed at Weatherby. It was a bold move, as it immediately put the man on the defensive. “You have to stop this bullshit with the stock, Paul. And don’t try to tell me that you don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re taking stock from our ranch, rebranding it with your brand, throwing it back on our property, and trying to claim that it’s stolen.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Paul murmured.

His body language said otherwise. Apparently, that poker face was barely skin deep. Paul crossed his arms over his barrel chest. Cal didn’t let that deter him. “You can deny all you want, but last night, you poisoned my stock and then turned them loose on my ranch. It would have been a disaster of epic proportions if you hadn’t made the mistake of stealing and then poisoning a bull that is so well-documented as belonging to our ranch that not even the sheriff’s department, the veterinarians, or the state livestock inspectors questioned what brand was really supposed to be on his hide.”

Paul’s reaction to that statement was almost violent. The man’s face turned into an ugly mask of anger and irritation before he was able to quickly smooth out his features and return them to studied blandness.

Paul cleared his throat. “Again, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Perhaps you should think things through before you start throwing wild accusations around. Just because you’re afraid that your illegal activities are going to lose that rodeo stock contract for you.”

Jesse couldn’t stand it anymore. She pointed her index finger at Weatherby and growled. “Are you really that stupid? Do you honestly believe that people don’t know what you’re up to? Poisoning was an idiot move, Captain. That meant it was easy-peasy to strip those animals to find out what the original brand was. It’s documented now. You can pick one of your employees to take the fall, like usual, but what good will it do?”

Cal picked up where Jesse left off. “You’ve also created a situation where the committee would rather just go outside the region to choose someone to get that contract. Your shenanigans haven’t done anything but make us all look like a bunch of morons. So, congratulations. You’ve managed to screw it up for all of us.” Cal snorted and half turned to go back to his truck. “We’ll survive just fine with our other contracts, with our real estate deals, our land deals, and all of the other businesses that we have. How are you going to do when you don’t even get any secondary contracts from this deal?” Cal let that sink in for a minute. He was aiming below the belt, and Jesse wondered if Paul Weatherby could stand the heat.

“That’s bullshit!” Paul blustered. “They won’t go outside the region.”

“Are you sure?” Jesse shot back. “You’ve made it seem like nobody here is worth working with. You’re throwing suspicion on everyone but yourself, and yet you look like the asshole because everyone knows you’re the one behind the scenes yanking everyone’s strings. The board is tired of the drama, and you’re in the hot seat. I hope you didn’t want to retire from the police force anytime soon, Captain,” Jesse said nastily. “You’re going to have to work until you’re eighty to make the payments on this place.”

“You’re going to have to excuse me,” Paul said suddenly. “I have better things to do than to stand here and listen to the two of you spin your tall tales of woe.”

“Yeah,” Jesse said nastily. “You’ve got to run inside and start making phone calls to see if we’re telling the truth or not.”

“It needs to stop, Paul,” Cal said quietly. “I know you know that my father is in the hospital. I know that you’re fully aware of what’s going on with that situation because you listen to things that are none of your business. That’s just how you’re wired. My father isn’t running things anymore. We are.” Cal paused, and Jesse could not help but wonder if they were making this situation better or worse. Then Cal shook his head and put both hands up in a gesture of surrender. “We’re done fighting with you. But you have to stop putting our ranch at risk just because you think it’s going to benefit you. Win fairly, or don’t win at all. Do business the right way, and you’ll be successful. Keep this up, and you will fail.”

With those final words, Cal turned his back on Paul Weatherby and headed down the front steps toward his truck. Jesse followed right behind him. Her hands were shaking, and she kept waiting for Paul to throw just one last comment their way. But it never happened. The man seemed to give up. He was still standing on the porch when Jesse and Cal got back into the truck and strapped on their seatbelts. Paul Weatherby watched Cal start his engine and back out of the driveway. It was only when Jesse was watching in the side-view mirror that she saw Paul go back into his fancy house and close the big front door.

“Well, that was weird,” Jesse muttered to Cal. “Do you think it made any impact?”

“I don’t care.” Cal only shrugged. Then he reached across the cab and gently touched Jesse’s arm. “You were magnificent, Jess. You’re a real badass. You know that?”

Her chuckle sounded uncomfortable even to her own ears. “Um, I’m going to go with no, not really. I certainly don’t feel like a badass. I feel like a little kid trying to navigate a world full of grown-ups that don’t follow the rules. It’s depressing, actually.”

“I can imagine that to be true,” Cal said softly. “But you’re one of those rare people, Jesse. You see things more clearly than other people do. You look at black and white and you might see the shades of gray, but you don’t let that stop you from standing up for what’s right and steering away from what’s wrong.”

“I think you’re giving me way too much credit.” Jesse was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. What did he think she was? Some kind of saint?

“I’m only giving you credit because nobody else will.” His face seemed set in hard lines. With the sun streaming into the cab from the brilliant pink and fiery orange sunset, she couldn’t see the details of his expression. Then he looked over and smiled. “Would you do me a favor?”

“A favor?” She didn’t know what to say to that. “Maybe?”

Cal gave a self-deprecating chuckle. “I know you don’t want to see my folks or the rest of the family, but I really need to go into Denver and pay my respects. Would you go with me?”

Go with him? She was dirty and disheveled and ready for a shower and her own bed. So, why was her mouth already forming the words? “All right. I’ll go with you.”