Out of the Storm (Buckhorn, Montana #1) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,57

did you—”

“When you arrived. I had to know what you were running from. I love this town and the people in it. I couldn’t have you hurting any of them.”

Jon shook his head. “What took you so long? Why show it to me now?”

“I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t gotten involved with that woman and her fiancé.”

“Excuse me? I didn’t get involved with her. I did my best to send her on down the road.” Earl Ray merely held his gaze. “What’s in here?” Jon asked, holding up the envelope.

The old man stepped into the kitchen to tend to the coffee maker that had finished brewing from the smell of it. “Everything.”

Jon stared at the man’s back, finding that hard to believe. “You weren’t a war hero.”

“Who says?” Earl Ray demanded with a smile as he turned from the coffeepot with two filled cups. “Sit down.”

He sighed as he tossed down the envelope on the table, pulled out a chair and sat. He felt anxious on so many levels. “Why the interest in me?”

“I had to know what you were running from,” Earl Ray said. “Not just for the sake of the town as it turns out. But for your own good. I had to know who you were if I was going to protect you.”

“Protect me?”

“Let’s not beat around the bush. You stopped here today to give me a chance to talk you out of this fool thing you’re thinking of doing—going after Kate.” Earl Ray held up a hand. “Because, you know what will happen if you do. Those men you’re running from? If you go after her up to that border, the shit will hit the fan, and when it does, everything will come out. Those men chasing you? They’ll know where you are and they’ll come for you. It will make it easier for them if you’re behind bars.”

“It’s too late. They’re probably on their way. My coffee mug Matthews took? He had my prints run through the system. They already know. Kate just warned me by calling me Justin. I can’t save myself, but maybe I can her. She’s in trouble and not just because her fiancé is a jackass and a probable drug smuggler.”

“I agree. But how much more trouble would you be putting her in if you go after her? According to you, you’ve never laid eyes on the woman until a few days ago. So, what do you care?”

He shook his head. “Whatever made you a war hero, it wasn’t because you turned a blind eye and let someone die.”

“Maybe not a blind eye, but I was forced to let people die. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions. Kate could be tougher than you think.”

“I know he forced her to go with him.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Because I tried to stop her.” He hated admitting it. “I thought... Hell, I don’t know what I was thinking. I thought about telling her what we’d learned about Matthews. Instead she told me that Collins was meeting some of his associates who are on a ski trip up north. You and I both know what’s up north, and it isn’t a ski hill.”

“You think she was trying to tell you where she was going?”

“She wanted me to know that she had already figured out that Collin Matthews was a liar and probably worse. I have no proof that he’s headed to the border to commit a crime. But I know he’s forcing her to go and she’s scared—not for herself but for me. I saw it in her eyes.”

His old friend smiled. “You saw all that in her green eyes? And she’s a beautiful woman who just happened to see her dead husband in your eyes.”

Jon shook his head, refusing to rise to the bait. “It’s more than that.”

“I suspect it is,” Earl Ray said quietly. “Let me ask you this. Let’s say you go after her. What are you going to do when you find her? She wouldn’t have gotten into that man’s car unless he had some leverage on her. It could be you, but I suspect—”

“She has two daughters,” he said, remembering her fear. “Mia and Danielle. Mia owns a graphic-design business. Danielle is finishing college at Rice University. It would be just like that bastard to use her daughters against her.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Earl Ray said. “You don’t need to get involved. Especially since you know the cost. Especially since you don’t know this woman. We