“I can get lost in my work sometimes. The pathologist in Golden did a good job. He was thorough and methodical, especially since he wasn’t sure what he was dealing with. Took tons of samples, which we’ll have to unearth to have run, but with the visual findings—the frothy blood in the lungs, the edema, the organ engorgement—I’m willing to bet good money that Gerhardt was exposed to abrin, and that’s what killed him. We have to buy your dad a nice bottle of wine or something for pulling the pieces together. If the cattle had some of the same findings, we may have found our staging ground.”
Xander nodded. “It was a smart catch. But then again, he is a smart man. We need to go talk to Will Crawford sooner rather than later.”
“What do you think he knows, Xander? What is he holding back?”
If I only knew.
“I think he might have an idea who is behind this. And might know what he plans to do next. The more I think about our conversation yesterday, the stranger it all seems. It’s one thing to shut the site down and go dark for a while to protect yourself—that I understand. But to come back here, to be close to home...and with the connections to the Mountain Blue and Gray, who he has friends in, that tells me he’s worried. Worried about his own family.”
Saying it out loud felt good. That’s exactly what had been bothering him, that Crawford ran back home to Daddy when things started coming off the rails. Either he knew something and was trying to protect his own, or he was afraid of an attack, and was hiding out.
Whichever the case, he was acting pretty damn strange, and Xander felt he might be the key to all of this.
“Why don’t we go there now, then? See what we can find out. Maybe the vet could meet us back at your folks’ house?”
“That sounds like a great idea.” Xander stood, began to gather their things, then saw a flash out the window. He couldn’t help the wide smile splitting his face. Damn, the girl hadn’t changed a lick.
“Sam, hold up. Here’s Carly now.”
He watched her run lightly up the stairs and enter the restaurant, blue eyes searching for him. She was still cute, still lithe and trim and bursting with energy. When she found him, she ran across the room and launched herself at him. He had to drop his bag to catch her. Good grief. Ever the cheerleader.
She laid a big fat kiss on him, then, still clinging, looked up at him and said, “Xander Moon, you get handsomer every time I see you.”
“And you get prettier.” He disengaged himself and set her gently on the floor. “Dr. Carly Skinner, meet Dr. Samantha Owens. Sam’s one of the best forensic pathologists in the country.”
Xander was surprised when Sam simply nodded her head and said, “Hello.”
The reticence Sam was showing was unusual. He’d never seen her be anything less than cordial to anyone before. Carly didn’t seem to notice, she just started prattling on about coming back to Dillon and marrying Reed and “Don’t you remember that time, Xander, when we all went skinny-dipping...” and Sam pulled into herself more and more.
Xander didn’t quite know what to make of it, so he just nodded and smiled and tried to catch Sam’s eye, but she was assiduously avoiding his. He listened to Carly reminisce for a bit, reminded himself again that she was a total jaybird, then pulled her back to the matter at hand.
“Sam wanted to talk to you about the cattle lost over at Gerhardt’s place. Were you able to get the records?”
“Sure, I’ve got them, right here.” She patted her backpack. “That was a big ol’ mess, I’m telling you.”
She turned to Sam. “I’m sorry to fawn all over him. I just haven’t seen Xander Moon in forever. We haven’t had a catch up in ages—what, was it when you got out of the Army? What’s that been, three years? You came home and we had dinner that night and you were gone again, lickety-split. Didn’t even give me a chance to sink in my claws. And I pined away so much Reed took pity on me and asked me to dinner, and I married him just because I couldn’t have you.”
Xander was finally catching an inkling of what the problem was. Sam wasn’t enjoying hearing about this aspect of his past. It hit him like a ton of bricks. Oh. Oh!
He stepped closer to Sam and put an arm around her, but the damage was done, she just stood there.
“You are so full of it, Carly. You never had eyes for anyone but Reed.”
“Yeah, yeah. You could have given him a run, Xander, if you hadn’t run off.”
“Let’s talk about the cattle, shall we?”
Carly nodded enthusiastically. “Sure thing. But I think we need to go somewhere a little more private for this. Don’t want to freak out half the town with the photos. It ain’t pretty.”
“Let’s just head over to Reed’s office, then.”
“Sounds good.” She punched him in the shoulder. “Tag. You’re it.”
She took off at a jog and he damn near followed, reinstituting the game they’d played as children on the mountain. Sam’s gaze was mutinous though, so he offered her his hand in a peace gesture. She ignored it, watching the door where Carly had disappeared with a combination of anger and longing etched on her face.
He realized he was in serious trouble. She was righteously pissed off.
“Uh, sorry about that. Carly’s always been a little enthusiastic.”
“No worries. Let’s just go ahead and get this over with.” She wouldn’t meet his eye, and all he could think was uh-oh.
Uh-oh, and by God, she loves me.
Chapter 41
Washington, D.C.