Somehow, someway, Paul Weatherby of the Flying W was involved with Melody and her grandparents’ estate. The thought alone was enough to blow Cisco’s mind. He gazed at the convoluted notes and document trail on the table in front of him and wondered how the entire thing could have gone on for so many years with nobody noticing. Of course, the problem was that Paul Weatherby himself was a captain with the Denver police. He was also well connected in Denver society, which meant he was well connected in the political arena. It was actually conceivable that Paul had encouraged someone in the state assessor’s office to simply look the other way. It would have been like him to do that.

“I don’t understand why this is such a big deal.” Melody actually sounded a bit on the petulant side.

Truthfully, the thing with Paul Weatherby wasn’t a big deal. He could have explained it to her quite easily and let her be on her way. Finding a reason to keep Melody here at the pub was more due to the fact that she had consumed the bread in the basket as though she hadn’t seen any kind of food in days. Then there was the drinking her way through three glasses of soda in such a short amount of time that Tyler—their waiter—had been giving Cisco surreptitious glances as though he wasn’t quite sure what to make of the whole strange situation. The woman needed a good meal. That was pretty much the only thing Cisco was sure of. And if he could somehow provide that for her, he was absolutely willing to use the Paul Weatherby thing to his advantage.

“Just let me order dinner,” Cisco told Melody. He sat back in his chair and sighed. Tyler was already bringing two orders of Irish stew and the good soda bread that was Cisco’s favorite. “It will make me feel better since I’m going to make you sit here through this convoluted tale of stupidity.”

Her dark brows arched in surprise. “Convoluted tale of stupidity? Don’t you think that’s a tad dramatic?”

“Perhaps,” he agreed. “But you have to hear the tale before you make that judgment, and I promise that’s better on a full stomach.”

She had opened her mouth to protest again, but Tyler set a bowl of stew in front of her right at that moment. The longing on her face was pathetic to see. Cisco didn’t know what was going on in her life, but it was obvious that she was going through a tough time.

“Just eat.” He picked up a hunk of soda bread and shoved it into his stew bowl. “It’s really good. I’m hungry. You’re hungry. Eat. Please?”

He needn’t have bothered with that last please because Melody was already digging in as though she hadn’t seen real food in forever. She leaned closer to her bowl and began scooping the stew into her mouth and chewing at a fantastic rate. She ripped off a hunk of bread and held that in her left hand as she used her right for her spoon. In what felt like seconds, she had already finished half the huge bowl.

“You wanted to talk,” she reminded him suddenly. “So talk.”

“Fine.” He paused to finish chewing before talking because that was what politeness suggested. The stew tasted wonderful as always. It was a hearty beef with vegetables and a thick broth that really hit the spot on a late spring evening. “So, here’s the deal. Paul Weatherby is a captain with the Denver Police Department. He also happens to be the current owner of the Flying W Ranch.”

“Yes.” She was bobbing her head up and down. “He’s the guy who is apparently my grandparents’ neighbor. His real estate agent lady has been calling me nonstop since this whole thing started.”

That was not good news. It meant that Melody was on Paul Weatherby’s radar. “I’d have to take a look at a schematic of the land,” Cisco muttered to himself. Then he nodded to Melody. “I should probably call my brother. He would know your grandparents’ place, and he would also know why Weatherby is in such a lather to own it.”

“A lather?” There was a grin playing at the corners of her mouth.

Cisco cleared his throat and took another bite of bread. He hadn’t meant to use that phrase. That phrase was not the image he was trying to cultivate. “That would perhaps tell us why Weatherby is so eager to buy from you.”

“I don’t care if he buys it!” Melody said quickly. “I just don’t want to wind up holding the bag, owing a ton of money for back taxes.”

“That’s the thing.” Cisco gestured to the file. “Mr. Watson was supposed to be making the tax payments. He wasn’t. So, where did that money go? If you sell the land, it makes any claim you have to the pilfered tax payments redundant.”

“How much is it?”

“Over five years?” Cisco glanced at the figures and tried to estimate. “Around half a million dollars.”

“What?” She nearly choked on her stew. The bread was still clutched in her hand. She ripped off another big chunk with her teeth and began to chew slowly. “Are you telling me that the taxes are going to cost me half a million bucks?”

“Yes.”

“And how much is the land worth?”

“I’m not exactly sure.” He thought about things like water access, right of way, easements, and the other bits and pieces of land management that were not necessarily in his wheelhouse. “That’s why I need to talk to my brother. There’s a good possibility that the land is worth several million dollars.”

“I was thinking I’d get a thousand or so,” she whispered. “I mean, after it was all done. On the phone, that was pretty much what Watson expected. That there would be a few thousand left after the taxes and fees and such.”

“That’s because he was stealing from you.” Cisco didn’t bother to sugar coat that one. “In fact, we need to file a complaint on your behalf as the heir to your grandparents’ estate. Then we need to get an injunction against him doing any more business in their name or your name. We need to make sure he does not represent you at all. Otherwise, he’s going to be covering his tracks. And I want to know where the money has gone all these years.” Cisco was still staring at a balance sheet that basically said there was no money at all in trust to pay the taxes on the land. “That land makes money. There’s a grazing lease. It isn’t in this file, but I know there is. And that lease is on file somewhere.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s income from the land,” he told her gently. “The ranch should have been paying its own bills. Someone was taking that money and doing something with it. That’s why that idiot Watson was trying to tell you that you were going to have barely enough from the sale to pay your inheritance taxes and any other taxes and fees.”

“So, he’s been stealing from us.”

She was mopping up the last of her stew with the last of the bread. Cisco had lost track of how many sodas she’d sucked down. He didn’t know how to feel about what she’d shared with him regarding her situation. The woman had nobody. She was alone. Fate had provided her with one possibility of improving her situation. It was an inheritance from people she might or might not have really known. That wasn’t even relevant. The point was that someone—either the lawyer or Weatherby and perhaps both—had managed to completely taint this opportunity for her.

“What?” She touched her lips and then grabbed for a napkin. “Do I have food all over my face or something?”

“No.” He stumbled briefly as the word sweetheart very nearly slipped out from between his lips. What was that about? “No, there’s no stray food on your face. I’m sorry to make you think that. I was just looking at you because—well—I have a lot of respect for someone who can manage to keep herself together despite all of the craziness going on in her life right now.”

The way she lifted her shoulder and shrugged it off spoke volumes. “That’s pretty much the way everything goes for me. It doesn’t matter. You know? It doesn’t matter what I think is going to happen or what I want to happen or what I hope will happen. It all just goes to hell, and I’m standing there at the end just hoping that I can manage to eat.”

Cisco could not think about that right now. He tried to focus elsewhere. “When was the last time you went out to the property?”

“Oh, I’ve never been out there.” She looked surprised by the suggestion. “I know that there’s a house and that it probably has stuff in it, but Mr. Watson made it sound like the house and its contents went with the land.”

Cisco was now struggling not to start snapping out expletives. What kind of asshole was this guy? Taking a deep breath in and out, Cisco reminded himself that this was how men like Watson made money. They took advantage of people who had no experience with this sort of thing. It was sad. It was the sort of practice that gave lawyers in general a bad name, but unfortunately, it was not limited to estate law or anything else. Cisco had heard horror stories from friends going through divorces or child custody issues who got absolutely screwed over because their representation wasn’t really looking out for them. In fact, two of his brothers had been victims of that sort of thing. It was one of the reasons that Cisco had decided to practice family law.

“You should go out there,” Cisco told her firmly. “The contents are not part of the land deal. Not even the house is really part of that deal. You could live out there if you wanted.”

“I could?” She was gaping at him as though he’d just told her the moon was made of cheese. “You’re telling me that I own a house that I could live in?”

“Well, that’s providing it’s livable.” Cisco thought about the way Watson had been mismanaging everything. “It’s possible that the man hasn’t been keeping up with the maintenance. So, there could be some things that need fixing. But otherwise, yes. You would have a house you could live in.”

“How far is it out there?” She put both hands on the edge of the table and leaned forward so eagerly that he thought she was going to knock her soda into her empty bowl.

Cisco thought about his family’s ranch and the two-plus-hour drive. It was significantly less to Clouds End Farm, the home base of operations for one of their business partners. But Melody’s property was on the opposite side of the Flying W.

“Maybe three hours,” he suggested. “I’m not entirely sure.”

“Oh.” Her face fell. “So, that’s not practical at all. I can’t walk from there.”

He realized that once again he had been making assumptions without even realizing that he was doing it. “Do you not have a car?” he hazarded. “I know Denver is a city, but it’s more of a Western city where we all seem to have cars even though we don’t need them.”

“I have a car,” she began slowly. “It’s just been in the shop for a long time. I don’t have the money for the repairs.”

“I see.”

There were moments in life when you realized that all of your problems were absolutely insignificant and paltry compared to someone else’s. Yes. His father was a nosy bastard who seemed determined to push his way into Cisco’s career no matter what the cost was to his son. Cisco had just joined a law firm where the only female senior partner was currently trying to use him to further some agenda that Cisco could not fathom. He was actually considering letting her use him if he could use her back, which was pathetic.

Melody leaned back in her chair and rested her hands over her belly. “I’m going to be waddling home tonight. I haven’t eaten this much in ages.”

“Melody…” He could not finish his sentence. He didn’t even know what he wanted to say. Then he thought of one thing. At least it would be something he could do to help her. “Tomorrow is Sunday. Why don’t I drive you out there? That way you can at least see the place and we can know whether or not it’s habitable. Some of this other stuff I can look into on Monday.”

“I have to work at one in the afternoon tomorrow,” she said quickly. “That wouldn’t work. If it’s three hours out there, then we’d never make it back.”

Cisco frowned. That was no good. He could see her chewing her lip as though she were trying to decide something. Then she pulled a very plain phone from her pocket. She started pushing buttons. He watched in fascination. The phone wasn’t even a smartphone. He hadn’t seen anything like it in years.

“My government-issued phone,” she explained. “It’s not very up to date, but it’s free, and that’s about all I can afford these days. I try never to use it. I’m going to see if Allie can switch with me tomorrow.”

Cisco nodded. “That would be great. If we could just have an hour of daylight while we’re out there, it would be enough.”

“Okay.” She looked a little uncomfortable. Then she gestured to the tabletop. “I can pay for my own drink.”

“I’ve got it,” he told her quietly. “It’s not a big deal. I’m glad to help.”

“Because you feel sorry for me.” The little sigh that slipped out from between her lips was almost resigned.

“That isn’t why I’m doing this.” He wasn’t even sure he could accurately say why he was doing this. It didn’t really make much sense. He was donating time for no purpose. There was no payment, no return on investment, and nothing to be gained in helping her. “I just want to help you.”

“Then, I think you’re probably the most unique person on the planet.” She reached for her drink and drained it dry. “Give me your number, and I’ll text you when I hear back from Allie. If you don’t hear from me, just assume your Sunday is still yours and you don’t have to worry about this charity case taking up all of your time.”