even aware that Will had guessed the secret. Will planned to let him know when the time was right, maybe on his wedding day.
They sat around the cozy kitchen table—Jasper, Will, Tori, and Erin, with one chair saved for Bernice and another, with the place set, for anybody who happened by. Bernice was just setting the platters of food on the table when the back door opened and Beau stepped in.
“Smells good.” He was grinning, his face ruddy from the morning chill. “Hope you saved me a place.”
“Right there.” Will nodded toward the empty chair. “How’s Natalie this morning?”
“Still asleep, I hope.” Beau pulled out the chair, sat down, and began filling his plate. “She was up past midnight, tending a sick mare over at the Johnson place. With the baby on the way, she needs more rest than she’s getting.” He glanced across the table at Will. “Hey, I saw you on the news this morning, brother. It seems you’ve become a local celebrity, gunning down a drug dealer in the night. Maybe they’ll send that hot Mindi Thacker out from the TV station to interview you.”
Will groaned. It was typical of his younger brother to turn a crisis into a joke. Today it rankled him, even though he knew that whatever happened, Beau would have his back. “It’s not funny,” he growled. “Tori just filled me in on the legal implications. And Abner Sweeney’s on his way out here now to ask more questions. You’re welcome to sit in.”
“Maybe I’ll do that. Especially if Abner still sees me as a cross between James Bond and Elliot Ness.” Beau’s past career as a DEA agent had impressed the sheriff, who still called him to discuss the occasional drug case.
“I’m guessing I don’t have to tell you anything else.” Will’s subtle nod toward Erin was a signal that he didn’t want to say more in front of his daughter.
“It was on the news.” Beau speared a pancake with his fork. “Bernice, I swear your breakfasts just keep getting better. It’s lucky for us some gentleman hasn’t come courting and stolen you away from us.”
Accustomed to his banter, Bernice shook her head. “Beau Tyler, you could sweet-talk a skunk, and I’d pay to see you try it.”
Laughter drifted around the breakfast table. In the past Will had treasured mornings like this, with the people he cared about gathered in the warmth of the kitchen. It was sad how rarely it happened these days. In no time at all, with Erin growing up, Bernice and Jasper getting old, Tori making new choices, and Beau, as well as Sky, involved in starting new families, these times would be gone forever.
Where would he be by then?
If the worst happened and he ended up on trial, he could be looking at the world through prison bars.
CHAPTER 3
“You say you couldn’t tell who the man was, Erin?” Abner Sweeney checked his antiquated cassette recorder, to make sure it was still working, and put it back on the coffee table. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his neck. He was under orders from Stella to find something—anything—that might incriminate Will Tyler in her brother’s death. So far, this poised twelve-year-old girl wasn’t giving it to him.
“He was wearing a helmet that covered his eyes,” she said. “I could sort of see his mouth, but not really because it was dark. I thought he was the robber we heard about on the radio. I’m pretty sure my dad did, too.”
“Did the man say anything?”
“I couldn’t hear. The window was closed.”
“I see.” Abner nodded, vaguely aware that he had to pee. It tended to happen when he was nervous, and he was nervous now. Not so much because of the girl, but because of her lawyer mother, sitting to one side, watching him the way a cougar would watch a sheep, ready to pounce at the first misstep. At least he’d managed to keep Will out of the room by insisting he had to question him and his daughter separately.
“Let me ask you something else, Erin. Did either of your parents tell you how to answer my questions?”
“Yes. They told me to tell the truth.”
“Then tell me the truth now. Did you see the knife?”
“Yes.”
“Where was it?” Abner tried to ignore the urges of his bladder. Maybe he needed to have his prostate checked. He was getting to that age.