Hard Rain. B.J. Daniels

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СКАЧАТЬ Flannigan had looked like a broken man.

      The man who walked from his shop out to the patrol car as Frank parked and exited looked strong as a bull moose. He’d aged well, as if determined not to let what had happened defeat him. Or maybe he wanted to live because in his heart he had to believe that Maggie would come home one day.

      If so, Frank hated to think what this news would do to him.

      “Sheriff,” Flannigan said, extending his hand. As they greeted each other, Flannigan glanced in the backseat of the patrol SUV as if expecting to see someone there. Pushing eighty, his face was weatherworn and wrinkled, but like his work-strong body, the keenness in his piercing green eyes belied his age.

      “Flannigan, I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

      The older man nodded. “It’s Maggie, isn’t it?” he asked as if he’d been expecting this news for the past thirty-five years.

      “We don’t have a definitive identification yet, but based on what she was wearing the day she disappeared and other evidence found at the scene, it’s her. We’re investigating her death as a homicide.”

      Flannigan took a step back before slumping against the vehicle. Frank started to reach for him, but the older man waved him off. After a few moments, Flannigan pulled himself together.

      “I’d like to ask you some questions, but those can wait,” the sheriff said. “I understand, though, that her room was left as it was thirty-five years ago. I’d like to take a look in it, if you don’t mind.”

      To his surprise, Flannigan shook his head. “No reason to talk about it that I can see. No reason to go snooping in her room, either. What’s done is done.” He started to turn away.

      “I’m going to need your help to find her killer. If there is anything you know about what happened to her, now is the time to tell me,” the sheriff said.

      “Just let me know when I can bury my daughter,” Flannigan said.

      “I’m not sure how long it will take after the autopsy.”

      He spun back around, his once-handsome face a mask of fury. “She hasn’t been through enough? You’re going to let them cut her up?”

      “We’re looking for evidence that will—”

      “Bring her killer to justice?” Flannigan spit out the words. “Her killer is dead and buried. There is no bringing him to justice.”

      “We don’t know who killed her without—”

      “Everyone knows who killed her and why,” the big man erupted. “You’re looking for a way to save him—and his senator son.”

      “You’re wrong. If her killer is dead, it may seem like hollow justice to you. But I’m determined to find your daughter’s murderer. That’s why I need your help. You were one of the last people to see her alive. If you—”

      “I already said no.” The elder McTavish shook his head and walked away. Over his shoulder, he said, “You’re on private property, Sheriff, and it’s time for you to leave. My daughter’s been through enough. Please leave before I do something I might regret.”

      In the distance, Frank could see a pickup headed this way, moving fast. He recognized it as one driven by Finn McTavish, Flannigan’s younger brother. The sheriff waited a little longer, watching the staggering steps of Maggie’s father, not wanting to leave the man alone. Then he got into his patrol SUV and drove away as Finn pulled up in the yard.

      Frank only got a glimpse of the man’s face. Finn already knew. Which could only mean Brody knew the victim’s identity the moment he’d seen the body.

       CHAPTER FIVE

      GRACE HAMILTON WATCHED the young lovers cross the pasture arm in arm.

      “That conniving bitch.”

      “Grace,” JD said in that reprimanding, disappointed and impatient way of his. He put all his disgust into her name so he didn’t even have to bother to say more.

      Her husband was always taking up for that woman her foolhardy son had brought into their home as his wife. Not for long, though, if Grace had anything to do with it.

      “Give Sarah a chance,” JD said. “Buck loves her. Isn’t that good enough?”

      “His name is Buckmaster. If I had wanted him called Buck, I would have named him Buck.”

      Her husband gave her a weary look.

      “You may be fooled by her because she’s pretty and nauseatingly coy, but believe me, there is nothing sweet or helpless about that woman. She knew exactly what she was doing when she married our son.”

      “I don’t have the energy to argue with you about this,” JD said. “I’m going to ride up into the Crazies and fish for a while.” He stepped to her and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

      She clutched his arm, desperately wanting back the man she’d married. She felt JD slipping out of her grasp as he pulled away to leave. He’d been pulling away now for what? Months? Or was it years?

      “I didn’t mean to—”

      “Grace, please try to make our son and his bride feel welcome here in our home. I’m begging you.” He turned and left before she could respond—no doubt why he’d left so quickly.

      She turned back to the window. Buckmaster and his bride had stopped in the pasture to embrace. She watched them kiss and then draw apart. Sarah Johnson Hamilton looked back toward the house as if sensing she was being watched. Could she see Grace standing before the window?

      Grace didn’t think so until she saw Sarah give her a self-satisfied smile before turning back to Buckmaster.

      Her heart began to pound harder. The woman was evil. Grace had felt it the moment she’d met her. There was something dark and...broken in Sarah. Why didn’t JD believe her?

      Because JD prided himself on seeing the best in everyone. Because her husband was a fool—just like her son, she thought uncharitably.

      She watched her son and his wife head back toward the house. She had tried to talk to Buckmaster, but, like his father, he’d cut her off, saying she just needed time to get to know Sarah. Not wanting to alienate her son, she’d backed off.

      But now as she hurried down to her room, closing the door behind her, Grace knew she had to find a way to save her son from this woman. And she would have to do it alone since she couldn’t depend on JD to help her.

      In fact, she wasn’t sure she could depend on JD anymore at all. He’d promised that he would never leave her, but a part of him had already left to be a senator, she thought as she moved to the window in time to see him ride away toward the mountains.

      First her son, and now she was losing her husband.

      * * *

      SENATOR BUCKMASTER HAMILTON СКАЧАТЬ