Out of the Storm (Buckhorn, Montana #1) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,52

guess.

“Are you sitting down?” Nels asked.

It was freezing cold outside, and he was in no mood for games. “Just tell me you have something good.”

“You now owe me, buddy,” Nels said. “I ran the fingerprints the minute I got the mug. I hadn’t expected anything. Most people don’t have their fingerprints on file. You can’t believe what came up. You were right. His name isn’t Jon Harper.”

Collin swore, his breath coming out in a white puff of air. “Please don’t tell me that it’s Daniel Jackson.”

“Nope, it’s Justin Brown.”

“Who the hell is that?” he demanded, stomping his feet to stay warm. When he glanced toward the window into the café, he noticed that everyone in there was watching him. He turned his back on all of them. Damn voyeurs. As if he didn’t know they were following his life and Kate’s. What else did they have to do in this godforsaken town?

“Justin Brown is just a cop who busted some mob-like crime syndicate in Oklahoma, of all places. Most of them went to prison, but they still had contacts outside. They hired some thugs to kill him. Blew up his car. They’re still looking for him.”

He couldn’t believe this. “You’re sure?”

“That’s the name that matches the fingerprints on the mug. Justin Brown. One of the most wanted lawmen in the country. There’s a bounty out on him. Not even dead or alive. Just plain dead.”

“How much?” Collin asked.

“Not enough to get yourself involved in this mess, I can tell you that. This could get real ugly, fast. I wouldn’t want to be around when these guys catch up to him.”

Collin didn’t know what to think. Hadn’t he known Jon Harper was hiding something? But, while he’d thought the man was on the run and hiding out here in Buckhorn, Collin had never expected this.

“Do me a favor. Find out everything you can about Justin Brown, especially what he did before he became a cop, and let me know. Thanks. You’re right, I owe you, and I’ll make good on that when I get back to Texas.” He disconnected and considered what to do with this information. All he knew for certain was that he no longer wanted a late breakfast. He needed a good stiff drink because all it would take was one phone call, and Jon Harper would no longer be a problem. As it was, Nels could be making that call right now.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

KATE WAS SURPRISED that Collin hadn’t already left. She’d gone to breakfast by herself. Bessie had made sure that she ate, sitting down to visit with her as if they were old friends.

After that, she’d gone to see Jon. Each time she pushed open the old carriage-house door, she was half-surprised to see him. Earl Ray had warned her that he might run. But each time, she was relieved to find him hard at work. She had seen that he was finishing a rocker as if it was for a customer. Was that all that was keeping him in Buckhorn?

She’d taken her seat in the rocker she knew he’d brought out to the shop for her. It was the same one that had been in his house—the one he felt wasn’t good enough to sell.

Today, she’d told him about a summer day she and Danny had spent at the beach in Galveston. As she talked she could almost feel the salty spray on her face, smell the briny scent, sense the soft sand between her toes.

Jon had given no sign that he’d been listening, but she’d known he was. At times he had stopped for a few seconds, looked away as if remembering something before he’d returned to his work.

There was so much she had wanted to tell him, but she promised herself there would be other days. She had slipped out, leaving him to his work, hoping he knew she would be back, praying he wouldn’t run away from her, and fearing her stories of a past meant nothing to him because they hadn’t been his.

And yet, she couldn’t help the closeness she felt to him. Her heart always beat a little faster in his presence. Whatever the connection between them she felt, it was as real as the snow and cold outside his workshop. At least it was for her. She told herself she would keep trying. She wasn’t giving up. Today there had been a moment when Jon had stopped working and looked at her. Their gazes had met and held. It