Page 106 of Brooke's Bliss
But it might make people think, might lead some to askquestions.
“I think this is about a drawing I did,” Bay said quietly.
Max hopped on the hood of his truck.Well, hopped was astrong word to use for the awkward maneuver, but then the guy was getting upthere in years.“I thought Shane was the one who saw something.”
“But if it was Shane, they would simply kill him.Theywouldn’t need to do all this.It’s easy enough to send someone in and theneventually the guy they sent in is alone with Shane and oops, accidents happenon ranches.Shit.That’s why they stole the damn safe.”
It was all falling into place, and he was on the edge ofpanic.He wanted to get back in the truck and plow through.That gate wouldn’thold if they hit it hard enough.He needed to get to them.He would giveKingman everything if it meant Brooke was safe.If it meant his brothersurvived.
“What the hell do they want with a drawing?”Max asked,somehow staying calm.“Can you give it to them?”
“If it’s the one I think it is, then it’s in my sketchpad inthe foreman’s house.I usually take it with me, but we weren’t supposed to belong,” Bay admitted.“I left it on the bar in the kitchen.I think a couple ofBrooke’s books are on top of it.I thought about that because I like it whenBrooke’s on top, so I liked her books being on top of mine.”
“Too much information,” Max gritted out.“Why would theycare about your drawings?I mean I can see Stef trying to steal them since he’scertain you’re some sort of brilliant artist person, but Kingman doesn’t give acrap about art.”
There, Max would be wrong.Kingman actually had some lovelyexamples of contemporary Southwestern art, including a couple of pieces thatshould have been in Native American museums.But that was all about showingoff.Kingman’s art gallery was like his mansion.Meant to intimidate and bringglory to Kale Kingman.
“There was this woman.She’d been on the ranch for a coupleof years,” Bay said, his anxiety growing.“Kingman didn’t have many women onthe team, but she seemed close to him.And then one day she was leaving.I wasworking near the house that day and I saw her getting ready to leave.There wassomething about the whole scene, some deep emotion I didn’t understand but Ihad to catch.I know that sounds weird…”
“Stef Talbot has been my brother for my whole life.Youthink I don’t get the weirdo art stuff?Trust me.I’ve had to sit while Steftried to capture some shit I didn’t understand.It’s a damn tree.There arethousands of them around here, but Stef’s got to paint that one.All right, buthow did Kingman even know you had it?”
Oh, he remembered now.“It was right before Thanksgiving,and one of the guys was being an asshole.He got hold of my sketchpad andstarted looking through it.When I walked in they were all making fun of me formy drawings of Brooke.Saying I was a pervert but hey, could I introduce themto that girl?”
“They were talking about my sister?Bay, I don’t care whatanyone tells you, it’s your job to kick the ass of any man who looks her way.”
He wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle any man since she wasgorgeous and every man with eyes would look at her, but he would take care ofthe ones who touched her.“Anyway, they were all joking about me sitting arounddrawing women I could never have, but one of them pointed to the picture ofMeli Smith.I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now I wonder.”
“You wonder?”Max put the binoculars to his face.This partof the G was in the valley surrounded by mountains, but the land where they hadthe houses and the barns was fairly flat.Max should have a decent view if thebinoculars were powerful enough.Even from Bay’s place he could see the housesand the barn, at the least the roofs.Max was higher.“What does Kingmandrive?”
“A black Escalade when he’s showing off, but he’s gotseveral cars.A couple of Jeeps.A tricked-out F-150 when he’s working,” Bayreplied.“But it’s been a couple of months.He trades them in pretty fast.”
“There are three vehicles I don’t recognize.Two trucks, andthere is that Escalade,” Max confirmed.“It looks like they’re mostly in Trev’shouse.He’s going to lose his shit on those boys when he gets back here.Bay,they’re all armed.”
Bay’s gut clenched.“Can you see Brooke?Shane?”
“No,” Max informed him.“I’ve got two men on the porch.Theylook like they’re guards.Probably the lookouts.One just walked out.He’sheading for the barn.”
“Henry and Nell are in that barn, along with Noah and Lucy.”What the hell was about to happen?Where was Brooke?Did they already have her?Had Shane already tried to defend her?Nell was pregnant.She couldn’t getkilled for his mistake.He would never fucking survive being the reason thetown mourned.He could jump that fence.“I’m going in.”
“Don’t.Not if Henry’s there.”
Yes, Henry Flanders, the dude who ate tofu and claimed to besome kind of badass.Except he didn’t actually make the claim.It was a townlegend.“I need to go make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”
Max snorted.“Yeah, you need to help Henry.Get up here.Iassure you Henry already knows what’s happening.Maybe not the whys, but heknows they’re here.I hope like hell Brooke and Shane went out to that barn tosay hello and they’re with him now.”
Bay climbed onto the truck and took the binoculars from Max.
He heard the sound of a gunshot.At least he thought it was.It came from the barn, maybe.It was muffled from the distance.The man who’dbeen stalking to the building stopped and he said something.It was only asecond later before he turned and walked back toward the house.
A shot.He’d walked away because he was confident whoeverwas in the barn was dead.“I think someone was in there and they finished offthe people in the barn.I think I’m going to be…”
“Yeah, wait for it,” Max advised.
He was getting ready to jump that gate and run like a madmanwhen he saw the barn door open slightly and a familiar figure slip out.
Henry Flanders moved with the grace of a true predator.
“There he is,” Max said with what seemed like a sigh ofrelief.“We need to get in.He might need help.There are a lot of them.Theleast we can do is lock down the barn, though I assure you Henry’s left strictinstructions to shoot anyone who tries to get in, so we’ll have to be careful.”
