“Well, now, this looks like an actual delegation. If you all had a leg to stand on, I might actually be impressed.”

Paul Weatherby braced his shoulder on the doorjamb of those big double front doors and crossed his arms. The look of sheer judgment and snobbery on his face was so pervasive that it made Cal wonder if this hadn’t been an even bigger waste of time than the last time he’d been standing on this porch trying to get the man to see reason.

But it was Jesse this time and not Cal who did most of the talking. She pointed at Weatherby and sent him such an icy look of disgust that Cal shivered in response. “How do you know we don’t have a leg to stand on? You don’t even know why we’re here.”

“We want to know why you’re pushing so hard to hurt the Hernandez Land & Cattle Company,” Melody added.

Cal was somewhat surprised to see the woman getting involved at all. Cisco had done his best to keep her out of the limelight in most of these proceedings, but it seemed that this time she was feeling the pressure of being a ranch owner just as much as Jesse was.

Weatherby snorted derisively and looked down his nose at Melody. “Your grandparents should have never left their ranch to the low-life offspring of their low-life daughter. Your mother was a constant disappointment to your grandparents, girl. Did you know that?”

Cal cringed at the horrible words, but it was obvious that Melody was so far beyond that that she didn’t even seem phased. She pointed right back at Weatherby and aimed low. “Yeah. But none of that is my fault. And I’m not a lowlife. I’m just not on your side. You were perfectly willing to think of me as a great person when I was considering selling you my land. What? My quality as a person changes because I’m no longer willing to give you a million dollar gift?”

“Don’t give me that lip, girl.”

“Don’t call me girl, old man,” Melody shot back. “You’re Jesse’s uncle. You’re my cousin by some crazy turn of events and poor relational choices of my ancestors. But that doesn’t mean you have a right to anything. Do you get what we’re saying?”

Beneath all of that bravado, Cal saw Weatherby’s expression change. Interesting. Did the man truly believe he was going to get away with harassing all of them and that they would never fully understand why?

Jesse glanced at Melody. Cal wished he could see what she was thinking, but there were no thought bubbles popping up over her head to give him even a hint of what might be going through her head. Then Jesse put her arm around Melody and glared right at Weatherby. “It must have really pissed you off when my mother took refuge with the Farrells to have her son. The one branch you had managed to keep out of your family tree was the Hernandez family. Now, all of a sudden, that’s coming in handy, isn’t it?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Weatherby said quickly. Any hint of a smile or arrogance disappeared. He pointed at Jesse. “Your mother was a whore. She should have gone back to Fort Collins to live with her parents in shame.”

“But she didn’t. And even worse, if Joe Hernandez had been single, she would have married him. Then your life would have really gone to hell. As it is, my mother married Rawling. And while I never understood why it was so important to Joe to officially adopt me, I’ve come to believe it was to give me a chance when my half-brother tries to come and take my inheritance.”

“What?” Weatherby pushed away from the doorjamb. His face was pale, almost ashen. “What did you say?”

“I was talking about my half-brother. The little boy born to my mother and Joe Hernandez who was put up for adoption.” Jesse pointed at Weatherby. “See, I think you know where he is. I think you’ve made contact and you’re trying to sell him on the idea of making a court case for inheritance. You want him to take us to court for a piece of the pie.”

“You’re crazy,” Weatherby said with an uncomfortable cough.

Jesse stepped closer to the front door. “Am I? I really don’t think I am. See, what I think is that you’ve been spinning and spinning here in your giant mansion. You’ve been trying to figure out how you can pay for all this when your plans to soak up all the adjacent properties keep falling through. Losing the Farrell place, that was a big deal. But losing any chance of getting my land was a big deal too. Now you’re all sandwiched in by all of us. And that’s not good for a man like you.”

Cisco cocked his head to one side. It was as if he could suddenly see where Jesse was heading with her train of thought. “So, here you are, Captain Weatherby. You’re trying desperately to put off the livestock contract award because you think you can sweep in with some long-lost heir, tie up all of our assets in court, and then use that to convince the committee that the Flying W is the only livestock contractor who can fulfill their needs.”

“It’s a pretty clever plan,” Cal agreed. In fact, he was a little in awe of how much scheming had gone into such a thing. Did the man really have nothing else to do with his life?

Weatherby shook his head and waved his hands as if to dismiss them all. “Am I supposed to make some cartoon comment about you meddling kids or something?” He turned to walk away. “You people need to stop coming onto my property.”

But Jesse wasn’t about to let him just walk away. Cal could see it on her face. She was determined to get some answers one way or another. “What happened the night my parents died?” Jesse demanded. “You were there. Weren’t you?”

“Why would you say that?” Weatherby did not turn around. He threw the words over his shoulder. “Your parents were killed in a tragic accident.”

“So, if I go into the police department right now, I can get an accident report. Right?” Jesse pressed. “I can find out exactly what happened. I can know what my parents were driving, and it will tell me what they hit and why they ran off the road?”

“It happened a long time ago. Why would I know any of that?”

“Because you were there!” Jesse accused. She was getting agitated. Cal could see it in every tense line of her body. She moved in closer to Weatherby and pointed at him. “You were there when they died. I bet your signature appears on that report!”

“I guess you’ll just have to go find out.” Weatherby moved toward his front door. He was obviously done with this conversation.

“I will!” Jesse assured him. “I’ll go right now!”

“You do that.”

“And I’m going to know if there’s something off or wrong about that report,” Cisco called after Weatherby. “Not that I don’t believe you’re going to run inside right this second and call someone you trust to make a few alterations. Or maybe the reports we’re looking for will spontaneously be unavailable. You’d better hope they’re right where they’re supposed to be. Because you should know that we are absolutely done letting you get away with abusing the law you’re paid to uphold!”

The front door slammed shut. Cal watched the two narrow windows on either side of the double doors as he waited for Weatherby’s inevitable peek to see if they were still there or not. There was no doubt that the man would do it. The windows were covered with a sheer white fabric. Cal waited the span of three breaths before he spotted movement in the narrow sidelight on the left side of the doorway. Cal waved to Weatherby, and the movement abruptly stopped.

“What are you doing?” Jesse whispered. She had come back down the front steps to stand beside Cal.

Cal kept his eyes on that window. “I’m just waving to Paul Weatherby. He’s watching us.”

“Seriously?” Melody shook herself as though she were a dog shedding water. “That man is just horrible. Horrible! What is wrong with him? Why would anyone deliberately break so many laws like he does?”

Melody and Cisco came back down the steps as well. The four of them moved toward Cal’s truck but made no move to get inside. Cal wanted them to stand here for just long enough to not only prove to Weatherby that they did not care what he thought, but that they weren’t afraid of what he might choose to do either.

“Do you think he’s still watching?” Jesse was whispering as though she thought he could hear them too. “What if he’s got this place wired with cameras and listening devices?”

“Seriously?” Cisco groaned. “Jesse, are you getting paranoid?”

“After all of this?” Jesse yelped. She put her finger right in the center of Cisco’s chest. “Hell yes, I’m paranoid! Or did we just not find out that we both have a half-sibling? Hello?”

Cisco looked down at the finger Jesse still had on his chest. At that point, she smacked him in the nose in a very childish move Cal hadn’t seen her use since they were all very much younger.

“Ha!” Jesse crowed. “I can’t believe I got you to fall for that!”

Cisco looked like he might get mad until he realized that Melody was smiling and laughing. The man immediately calmed. Cal thought it was pretty telling that his brother was far more concerned about Melody feeling included and welcomed than any point of personal pride.

Then Jesse put her hands on her hips and sighed. “What are we going to do? I mean, really. Should we go into the city and get that report?”

Cisco pulled out his phone. “I should be able to get it faxed to my phone.”

“Seriously?” Cal felt his eyebrows launch off his forehead. “You can do that?”

“I know someone in the clerk’s office who has access to that kind of thing, so, yes.” Cisco made a face at Cal. “What’s the matter, big brother? Are you still having trouble with technology and all of the conveniences it offers?”

“Shut up,” Cal growled. “I’m perfectly aware of what all of this demonic technology can do. This is why I steer clear. I go back to my ranch and pretend that everything is normal. I don’t even have satellite television.”

Melody gaped at him. “You don’t have satellite? But you can afford it, right?”

“Right.” Cal offered the sweet young woman a smile. He had no doubt that to someone like Melody, the ability to afford something was the most important part.

Jesse poked Cal in the chest. The point where her finger touched him burned as though he had been given an electric shock. Then she smiled, and Cal thought he might actually swoon. He wanted her so badly that he almost couldn’t stand the waiting any longer.

“I think we can go,” Jesse suggested. “We’ve been hanging around long enough to make Weatherby nervous. Cisco is currently texting a book to his friend in the clerk’s office, and I think whatever residual mischief we were trying to perform is at an end.”

“Mischief,” Cal muttered. “I’m still thinking we should come over here and wreak some havoc of our own.”

Melody looked confused, and Jesse eagerly enlightened her. “Cal thinks we should toilet paper the house, egg his garage doors, and stick baking soda in the gas tanks like rude teenagers. What do you think?”

Melody burst out laughing. Jesse joined in, and Cal could not help but think that it was the best sound he’d ever heard. Then Cisco gave a sharp whistle to get their attention. He was holding up his phone as though the thing held the answers to life’s most pressing questions on its tiny screen.

“I have the report!” Cisco told them.

Cal gaped. He couldn’t help it.

That only made Cisco snort. “Technology, Cal. Get some.”

“So, what does it say?” Jesse smacked Cisco on the shoulder. Cal could not help but think that she was enjoying this return to beating up on her adopted brothers.

Cisco was skimming something with speed. Finally, he looked up at the rest of them. His features were set in a grim line. “Weatherby’s signature is on the report, all right.”

“But?” Jesse urged. “What else?”

“The cause is listed as being negligent driving and driving too fast for conditions. There are no injuries listed. It claims there was no other vehicle involved. And the report was made almost six weeks after the actual accident.”

“Six weeks?” Cal frowned. “That’s wrong. It has to be wrong.”

“More like it was amended,” Jesse muttered. “What other officers were listed as being present to work the accident? There had to be multiples.”

“According to this, Weatherby was the only one there.” Deep lines appeared between Cisco’s brows. “But that’s impossible.”

“Why?” Melody wanted to know. “Maybe, since it’s a really remote area, he was the only one there.”

“It was bad weather, and there were two fatalities,” Cisco reminded them. “There had to be multiple officers present.”

“So, we need the medical report,” Jesse said suddenly. She was already heading for the truck. “You’re not going to be able to get that in a quick fax.”

“So, who are you going to ask?” Cisco called after her.

Cal was already heading for the driver’s door. He had faith in Jesse. If she were convinced that she knew where they had to go, he would drive there.

“Someone talk to Daphne and find that guy who helped her before. Officer Keene, right? He can help us. I know he can,” Jesse said confidently. “We need to make sure that Paul Weatherby gets what he deserves. I have a feeling that he’s been protecting more than one secret for a very long time now.”

Cal hoped she was right. If they couldn’t find answers, they were all going to be back to square one on this whole crazy thing.