The Tin Star (17 page)

Hunter nodded. “We’ll look around. I have a couple of my deputies on the way. Anything else I should see?”

Bill shook his head. “Nothing else I came across other than what was done earlier.”

“All right. Let me have a look around.” Hunter turned to Ethan. “I’m not going to have to arrest you to keep you from going and shooting Jacob Killian, am I?”

Ethan smiled grimly. “I need proof first.” He met Jamie’s eyes and winked.

Jamie relaxed, feeling a little better.

Bill shook his head. “You might have to arrest me right along with Ethan, if we find out that bastard did this.” He patted Jamie’s shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “I’m going to tell Hayden and Ed what’s going on.” He turned and walked away as the other three watched him.

“Jamie, you have a CHL?” The sheriff brought their attention back to him.

“Yes, sir. I have the license to carry concealed, but I don’t have my pistol. It’s at the Quad J. I kinda doubt my daddy is going to just give it to me.”

Ethan stepped closer to Jamie. “I’ve got several.”

Hunter nodded. “See to it that he doesn’t go anywhere unarmed, even out here on the ranch. I don’t think there is any question that this and the earlier vandalism were messages to Jamie.” He looked Ethan up and down, then grinned. “You might consider carrying, too. It won’t take long for people to figure out, if they haven’t already, that you two are a couple.”

Jamie gasped. How had he known?

Ethan grinned and clapped Hunter on the shoulder. “Damned lawman, can’t hide anything from you.”

Hunter chuckled. “Yeah, well, you’re a lawman yourself, aren’t you?”

“Not anymore. I did a year in San Antonio, but came back home to run the Tin Star when my brother was killed in action.”

The sheriff gazed at Jamie, then back at Ethan. “If you can talk Jamie into running the ranch for you, I could always use another good deputy.”

Ethan’s eyes widened, and Jamie could see the excitement there before he quickly masked it again. “Thanks for the offer, but ranching is my job now.”

“Well, think about it. From what I’ve heard, the kid here --” He nodded at Jamie. “-- is a helluva rancher.” He extended a hand to Ethan.

Ethan shook it. “I’ll think about it.”

Hunter glanced toward the drive where one of his deputies had just pulled up, then back to them. “I’m going to take a look around. You two let me know if anything else has been disturbed. Dispatch said there were four shots. Any idea where the other three hit?”

Jamie shook his head. “Nope.”

“You gentlemen go grab a cup of coffee or something. We’ll do the rest, then come and give a full report before we leave.” He offered his hand to Jamie. “You remember what I said. Don’t go anywhere unarmed or alone. Make sure you have someone with you at all times.”

Jamie nodded and shook the man’s hand. “Will do. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Hunter turned away and headed up the drive toward the other officer.

Ethan’s hand landed on his shoulder. “You all right?”

Jamie tried to give him a reassuring grin even though he was still a little shook up by the night’s events. “Yeah, I’m good. Let’s go make some coffee.”

The phone rang a few hours after they’d finally gone back to bed. Ethan barely managed to get his eyes open by the fourth ring. He jumped groggily when an arm soared over him and smacked the alarm clock. Apparently, Jamie was pretty out of it, too. He usually hit the alarm by the second ring. The funny thing was he never hit the damned thing when it actually was ringing.

Ethan finally managed to grab the phone. “Hello?”

A rapid burst of words followed. “Ethan? Are you okay? How’s Jamie? John called me and told me about last night. He said Bill called him to ask if Daddy had anything to do with the cattle getting loose or the word on the baler. Oh, my God, Ethan! I can’t believe that! Do you really think Daddy did it? Someone should strangle --”

“Jules! Enough! My brain is too damned tired to keep up. Slow the heck down. Hell, pretend you’re at work, and I’m another nurse or a doctor.”

“I’m sorry, Ethan. Listen, I’m on my way. It’s almost 8:40; I’ll be there in about twenty minutes. We’ll talk about it then. I’ll even make y’all breakfast. Is Jamie awake? Have you seen him this morning? I’ll make pancakes and sausage. How’s that? If y’all --”

Ethan groaned.
Great! Good fucking morning to me!
Just what he wanted to deal with first thing in the morning after he’d been up most of the night. The only thing worse than Julia’s motor mouth was Julia’s cooking. The woman was an unmitigated disaster in the kitchen.

“Jules! Not now! My brain is about to explode! I’ll see you in a few.”

“Oh ... okay. Bye, Ethan. See you soon.”

Ethan replaced the phone and pulled his pillow over his face. Maybe he could suffocate himself and not have to get up. He had a million things to do today; death would have to wait, he supposed.

He had to call the insurance company and add the new car and Jamie to his policy. He also needed to notify Jamie’s insurance about the damage to his truck. The other three shots had been made into the cab, tearing up the seats and dash -- also on the driver’s side. Hunter was supposed to get back to him this morning. John needed to be informed, even though apparently someone had already let him know all that had happened prior to the shots last night. If anyone knew whether Jacob was involved, it would be John.

Ethan sighed and sat up. He reached over and shook Jamie’s shoulder. “Up and at ’em, Blue Eyes!”

Jamie swatted at him and snuggled down further in the covers.

“Come on, Jamie! We have to get up.”

“We just went to bed. ’M tired!”

Ethan bent and kissed his cheek, then swatted him on the butt. “Me, too, but your sister is on her way over here.”

Jamie rolled over, his blue eyes blinking up at Ethan, then focusing. “Oh, God!”

“Exactly! Come on.”

His Blue Eyes groaned, threw the covers off and stomped to the closet, grumbling the whole way.

He grinned and watched. Jamie ended up with his tee-shirt on in reverse, his underwear inside out, and a pair of Ethan’s jeans instead of his own. He then grabbed his boots, a pair of socks, and his cowboy hat, thumped the hat on his head -- backward -- and stormed out of the room.

Ethan chuckled, wondering how long it would take him to fully awaken. He got up and went to the bedroom door, yelling down the stairs. “Unless you want Julia cooking breakfast, you better make something.”

A curse came from the kitchen, followed by the clang of pots and pans.

He laughed. Taking his time, he got dressed, then went into the bathroom to take care of business. By the time he was done brushing his teeth, he heard Julia’s car pull up. Fred was barking and Jamie was still slamming things around. Ethan shook his head. No time like the present. Either he’d wake up enough to decipher Jules’s endless chatter or his head would fall off.

He walked into the kitchen just as Julia stepped in the back door. He waved at her. “Hey, Jules.” Fred was trying to lick her to death.

Jamie was at the stove; he never even turned. Maybe he’d fallen back asleep ... standing up. Ethan decided he’d better go check. He would hate like hell for Jamie to burn his breakfast, not to mention that that couldn’t be too safe.

He checked. Jamie’s hat was still on backward, so Ethan turned it around. “You awake?”

All he got was a grunt.

Jules came up behind him and hugged him. “Hi, Ethan.” She kissed his cheek, then moved on to Jamie. She wrapped her arms around Jamie’s waist. “Oh, honey, you didn’t have to cook. I was going to fix y’all breakfast when I got here.”

“Why the hell do you think I’m cooking?”

Julia’s eyes widened, but she was grinning. She stepped back and pinched Jamie’s butt. “James Wyatt Killian, are you saying something about my cooking?”

Jamie’s lips turned up at the corners. He flipped an egg over, then reached back and hooked his arm around Julia’s neck, bringing her forward to kiss her forehead. “Yeah. You can’t cook! In fact, it’s a damned good thing you’re pretty, because all your domestic skills suck.”

She pushed away with a huff and an eye roll. She wrapped her arms around Ethan and kissed his chin. “So I see he’s still grumpy in the mornings.”

Ethan hugged her back and kissed her cheek. “He doesn’t normally give me problems in the morning. Must be you he takes exception to ... or maybe it’s the thought of your cooking.” He gave an exaggerated shudder. “That would do it for me.”

Jules chuckled, then stepped out of Ethan’s embrace, smacking his arm as she did so. “No respect! I swear! I’m beginning to think that Fred is the only one happy to see me.”

Ethan got three cups from the cabinet. Jamie was very predictable about some things, morning coffee being one of them. And damn, it smelled good. “We’re happy to see you, Jules. We’re just tired. Only had about four --”

“Three,” Jamie corrected.

“-- three hours of sleep.” He glanced at Jules. “You want coffee?”

She nodded. “Damn! I’m sorry. I had no idea. I mean, John told me about the fence getting cut, but I figured it was early enough that y’all got the cattle rounded up and went to bed at a decent hour.”

“We did. But then we got woken up by the gunshots.” Ethan poured the coffee, then headed for the table.

Julia gasped. “Oh, my God! What gunshots?! John didn’t say anything about gunshots!”

Ethan stopped by the stove and handed Jamie his cup. He took a quick thank-you peck on the lips, then went to Jules.

Jules smiled real big and sat down. “OH! You two are perfect for each other! I’m so happy! John told me y’all were together, but --” Her eyebrows pulled together. “What gunshots, Ethan? Why didn’t John tell me about them?”

Damn, that woman switched gears fast. Ethan slid her mug to her. “I doubt he knew about them. I imagine Bill called him before it happened. Last night after the cattle were taken care of, we heard some shots. No one was hurt --”

“No one except my truck,” Jamie grumbled.

“No one was hurt, thank God. But whoever it was shot up Jamie’s truck. The sheriff and his men came back, looked around, took another report. They’re investigating.”

Julia gasped. “Oh, my God! Who would do such a thing? You don’t think ... Oh, I’ll whip that mean old bastard myself if --”

Ethan held up a hand. “Whoa! We don’t know that it was your daddy.”

Julia snorted and took a sip. “Who else would it be?”

He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know, Jules. Your dad is my best bet, too, but we can’t go around accusing people without evidence. Trust me, after seeing that the bullet went through right where Jamie’s head would be if he were driving, I was ready to march over to the Quad J myself. It’d make me feel better to beat the shit outta him, too, but I’ve had time to think. I know it’d be much more beneficial, if not as satisfying, to press charges and go at him that way. But only after we have proof --”

Jules jumped up and practically ran to Jamie, tucking herself under his arm and into his side. “Oh, baby!” Ethan could hear her sobs from where he sat.

Jamie set down the spatula, pivoted, and wrapped his arms around his sister. He glanced over her head at Ethan with a helpless look on his face.

Ethan grinned. He’d wanted to take Jamie into his arms, too, when he’d first spotted the damaged truck. Wanted to make sure Jamie was safe.

Jamie arched his right brow, silently asking for help.

Ethan took pity on him. He got up and hugged Jules, disengaging her from Jamie. “He’s all right, Julia. Let him finish cooking breakfast.”

She nodded and returned to her seat, dabbing at her eyes. “I’m okay. I just ... it’s ... that’s scary.”

Yeah, it was -- real scary.

Jamie pulled out plates and filled them. It wasn’t long before he joined them at the table. He sat down next to Ethan. “Dig in.”

Ethan smiled, watching Jamie do just that. “Thanks.” His Blue Eyes was hungry as well as tired, it would seem.

Jules took a bite. She stared at Jamie shoveling food into his mouth for several seconds, then asked, “Jamie, honey, did you know your shirt is on backwards?”

* * * * *

Ethan kissed the chest under his cheek and laid his head back down. “You talk to Julia when y’all went riding this afternoon?”

Jamie ran his fingers through Ethan’s hair. “Yup.”

“What did she say?”

“About the shooting?”

Ethan looked up into those pale blue eyes. “Yeah.”

Jamie’s hand stilled in Ethan’s hair, and his head lifted from the pillow. “She thinks Daddy is responsible.” Jamie shook his head and lay back on the pillow. “She’s even a little pissed at John. She wants John to leave the Quad J. Wants him to leave Daddy.”

“To be honest, I’m beginning to think that, too. But I can see why John doesn’t want to just up and leave.”

The hand in his hair resumed stroking. “He has a lot to lose, Ethan.”

“And you didn’t?”

“Umm.”

“Well?”

“It’s not the same.”

Ethan raised his head from Jamie’s chest, scooted up, and leaned on an elbow. “How so? You lost your home and job. I’d say you lost your father’s affection, too, but I’m beginning to think you never had it in the first place.”

Jamie turned on his side and leaned on his own elbow. “The Quad J is John’s birthright. He was raised -- hell, he was
conceived
to take over that ranch. He’s been conditioned from birth to run the place. Somewhere along the way, it became what he wanted, too.”

Ethan nodded. “I get that, but family is more important than a damned piece of land.”

“What about the Tin Star? Would you feel the same if we were talking about the Tin Star?”

“Yeah, I would. I’d trade the ranch in a heartbeat to have Dylan back. Hell, I’d trade it for my daddy, too, but he’d feel like you. He’d kick my ass for even thinking about giving the place away.” He sighed “It’s just a place, Jamie. It’s not who I am.”

Jamie leaned over and brushed a kiss across his lips. “But it is to some degree.”

Ethan raised a brow.

“It’s part of your identity, your history. Your family’s history.”