Page 120 of You'll Find Out

“Oh, Dean—”

‘’It’s true!” Dean’s fist pounded onto the top of the desk. Becca nearly jumped out of her skin.

She wavered for a moment, trying desperately to understand her brother, the brother she had once trusted with her life. The question faltered on her dry lips. “How . . . how do you know that this man . . . the one that hurt you . . . how do you know that he was connected with Brig?”

“Who else?”

“Someone who bears a grudge against you . . .” she was thinking as fast as she could, hoping to find someone, anyone, other than Brig who might be responsible. “ . . . like Jackie McDonnell. Maybe she was behind it.”

Dean’s eyes flared dangerously. “Iknowit was Chambers, Becca.” He glanced around the room nervously. “Look, I don’t have much time. I need a check for a couple of grand.” The checkbook was lying open on the desk. Dean picked it up.

“You need two thousand dollars?” Becca repeated. Too much was happening. She needed time to think and understand what was happening. “Why?”

“Because I’m leaving, damn it!”

“Leaving? Why?”Becca felt her entire body beginning to shake.

“I just can’t sit around here any longer and watch you make a fool of yourself over Brig Chambers—”

“That’s not what’s bothering you.”

“The hell it isn’t.”

Becca watched her brother through new eyes, but she gave him one last chance, praying silently that her suspicions weren’t founded. “This has something to do with Jackie McDonnell and her baby, doesn’t it?”

Dean laughed mirthlessly before his eyes narrowed. “Leave her out of this. And as for that kid of hers . . . how do I know that it was mine? Jackie had been making it with half the guys in the county. I wasn’t about to raise some other man’s bastard.”

“Dean!”

He shook an angry finger under her nose. “I told you not to tell Brig about Gypsy Wind, but you had to, didn’t you? And he had to come back here and start digging everything up all over again. This is all your fault, Becca—”

“Oh, God, no,” Becca whispered. Tears pooled in her round green eyes. “Sentimental Lady—”

“Shhh!” The sound of a car racing down the drive caught Dean’s attention and he put a finger to his swollen lips to silence his sister. His eyes glittered dangerously when he glanced out the window and a bitter smile thinned his lips. “Damn!” A silver Mercedes was speeding on the gravel driveway. Dean recognized it as belonging to Brig Chambers. “I’ve got to get out of here, Becca, and now. Give me the money—”

“You can’t run,” she murmured, her trembling voice betraying her battered emotions.

Dean’s eyes were filled with undisguised contempt. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

“But I don’t understand . . .”

“I just bet you don’t. And you probably never will.” He ripped a check out of the book and stuffed it into his pocket before grabbing the loose cash from the top desk drawer. “Just do me one last favor, will you, Becca?”

“What’s that?”

“Give me a few minutes to get out of here,” he requested. A small shadow of fear clouded his gaze for a split second. Becca felt her stomach begin to knot.

“What . . . what do you want me to do?”

He was undecided. “Hell, I don’t know. Anything. Stall Brig. Do whatever you have to, tell him you think you saw me out in the far pasture . . . tell him anything to get him off my back and give me a running start.”

Becca’s hands were shaking as she stepped toward Dean and placed her palms against his shoulders. He stiffened while tears streamed down her cheeks. “I think I know what you’re running from, Dean, and it’s a mistake. You can’t begin to hide—”

“You’re a miserable excuse for a sister!” Dean screamed at her as he shook himself free of her grasp and knocked her to the floor. “I knew I couldn’t count on you!” He ran to the window and opened it. Quickly he calculated the fall. It was only two stories, less than twenty feet. Surely he could make it. He poised on the window ledge and cast one last insolent glance of hatred at his sister. For the first time Becca noticed the shiny butt of a pistol peeking out of his pocket. He wrapped one hand around the gun while with the other he took hold of the ledge.

“Don’t!” Becca shrieked hysterically from her position on the floorboards. Her hair was tangled, her face contorted in fear, and she sobbed uncontrollably when she witnessed Dean lower himself out of the window and finally release his grip on the ledge.“No!”She heard him drop, the hollow sound of a body hitting unyielding earth.

Brig burst into the room. His eyes darted from the open window to Becca’s ashen face and the terror reflected in her deep green eyes. The concern on his face deepened. “Are you all right?” he asked as he raced to her side and took her into the strong security of his arms. “God, Becca, are you all right?”

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