Page 35 of October’s Cowboy Beau

“I’ve been trapped in a small town with all of you for a week,” I joked.

Beau’s hand settled at the small of my back. “Trapped?”

I glanced at him. “Temporarily detained.”

Roman laughed.

The contact lasted only a few seconds before Beau dropped his hand, but Rachel caught it. Her eyes flicked between us, and the corner of her mouth moved.

I ignored her.

Kaycee returned to the spreadsheet. “Whoever made these arrangements used legitimate services and didn’t mind paying for it.”

“Which means the Jordan family wasn’t hiding cattle,” Beau said.

“No.” Roman shook his head. “Your family was hauling them.”

Beau looked at the ledger again, and I could only guess at what he was thinking. It wouldn’t take much for Mustang Mountain to decide the Jordans had been part of some hundred-year-old conspiracy. How long would it take for that to get from the Mercantile to the feed store?

Rachel seemed to understand the risk to Beau’s family name as well.

“If we write about any of this, we’ll be clear about what the Jordans were doing,” she said. “Hauling and boarding. Nothing here suggests anything else.”

Beau nodded. “Good.”

She closed her notebook. “And nothing leaves this room until you say so.”

That surprised him. I saw it in his face before he covered it.

“Thanks.”

Rachel shrugged. “We’re trying to solve a mystery, not create another feud.”

“Speak for yourself,” Roman said. “I was hoping for at least one dramatic accusation before lunch.”

Kaycee shut her laptop. “You fell in love with a journalist. There’s no one but yourself to blame.”

The room felt lighter after that. They spent another half hour photographing the pages Beau approved, then packed up with more evidence and still no proof that Daniel was Margaret’s son. But the Cedar Draw stock hadn’t vanished. Somebody had moved it, carefully, all the way to a Hale.

I walked the others to their vehicles while Beau stayed inside and put the ledger away. Rachel paused next to her truck.

“You know you could’ve told me about those boxes two days ago.”

“They weren’t mine to tell you about.”

Rachel smiled. “That answer explains a lot.”

“About the records?”

“Sure.”

I pointed at her truck. “Go.”

She laughed and climbed in.

When I went back inside, Beau was returning the ledger to the second shelf instead of putting it back into the box.

“Moving up in the world?” I asked.