Page 47 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
Josie closed her eyes for a moment as she recalled the moment she came face-to-face with her sister’s beau and would-be killer. He was handsome and cocky and so sure of himself that she wanted to scratch his eyes out.
“He’s done a number on Amy Sue,” she said. “He knows it and I know it, and worse, we both know there is no way to stop him.”
“Stop him from what?” Cordell asked.
She looked up at him, took a sip of her wine and put down the glass on the small table next to her chair. “I just talked to your brother. Shane has a long rap sheet. He went to prison for years for manslaughter after running down a pedestrian while driving drunk.”
He nodded. “Shane told me.”
That surprised her, but it shouldn’t have. She let out a laugh. “Of course he did. He seems so transparent. He just wants to put the past behind him and make a new life here with my sister.”
“I know that feeling,” Cordell said quietly. “It’s what my brother and I tried to do.”
Josie groaned. “You think I’m judging him too harshly.”
“What do you really have against him?”
She met his gaze. “I have this feeling.”
“Your second sight.” He nodded. “I remember you telling me about it.”
“Did I?” It must have been in a weak moment. She didn’t tell people because it made them uncomfortable, as if they thought she could read their minds. Or maybe worse, see their futures. Most people didn’t want to know what was coming. Josie didn’t, either, she thought with a grimace.
“I have this awful feeling that my sister is in danger from this man.” She told him how the two had met, about the letters she’d found in her sister’s room, how Shane was in the same prison as Roger Grimes and how scared she was that she wasn’t going to be able to stop what she feared was going to happen.
“This is one hell of a gift your grandmother gave you, isn’t it?” Cordell said when she finished. “What are you going to do?”
Josie shook her head. “I don’t know what to do. Amy Sue won’t listen to me, and Shane… Anything I say only makes it worse.”
“Maybe you could kill him with kindness. Anything else will end up with you in prison.”
They shared the wine and Josie stayed as dinner was delivered from the café.
“I have a thought,” Cordell said in the middle of their meal. “What do you think he wants from your sister?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“He could get that somewhere else. If he targeted her as you say, there is something specific he wants that only Amy Sue can provide.”
Josie blinked. “The only thing we have of value is the farm. But my grandmother left me in charge of it because she knew I would never part with the place. So it’s in a trust. Amy Sue has no claim to it.”
“But does Shane know that? I hate to even mention this, but what happens to the farm after you’re gone?”
Her blood turned to ice water as she stared at him. “It would go to Amy Sue unless I had an heir.”
“Too bad we can’t make one quickly enough,” Cordell joked. “Josie, in all seriousness, if this vision of yours is true, you’re in more danger right now than even your sister.”
* * *
WhenJosie returnedto the farmhouse, she didn’t see either Amy Sue or Shane. Cordell was right. Shane wanted something—something more than her sister.
She thought of earlier in town with Cordell. “I was hoping we could go to a movie in Billings some weekend,” he had said as he walked her to her car. “Might be just what you need to get your mind off this for at least a night. Also, you’d be completely safe with me.”
He’d leaned in then and kissed her. She’d lost herself in that kiss, wanting more, needing more. “A movie?” he asked as he pulled back.
She’d nodded because she’d missed him and the thought of spending time away from Shane and her sister was maybe exactly what she needed. So far, she’d handled it all badly.
“Maybe we could make a weekend of it,” Cordell had suggested.
