Sandra Orchard - Fatal Inheritance

“No!” Becki folded her arms over her chest. “Even if they had, I wouldn’t sell to them.”

Josh nodded, his expression grim. “The trouble is you couldn’t trust anyone who offered to buy the place not to turn around and pass it on to the developers for a tidy commission.”

“Well, like I told my sister, I’m here to stay.” Sarah had hated being dumped here every summer. Unlike her big sister, Becki didn’t have a life to speak of in the city, and she wouldn’t miss it in the least. She happened to like the slower pace of rural living. Maybe she’d even start writing again in her spare time.

“Where will you work?” Anne asked.

“Huh?” Becki shook her sister’s voice from her head and focused on Anne. “I haven’t figured that out yet. But I’m sure I can find something before my savings run out.”

Anne let out a sigh. “Not many new jobs around since the economic downturn.”

“Never mind that for now.” Josh sat beside Becki on the sofa, and her heart jumped at the touch of his knee. “Who else might have sent this note?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean...who didn’t want you moving here badly enough to attack you?”

She dug her fingers into the seat cushion. “You think the note and incident in the barn are connected?”

Obviously he did. Which meant whoever was slinking around the property had been expecting her.

TWO

What would Sarah say if she saw her now, sleeping under Josh’s roof?

Well, trying to sleep. Becki flopped over in the unfamiliar bed. Shafts of moonlight shone through the edges of the drapes, highlighting a pair of 4-H trophies perched on the bookcase of Josh’s old bedroom.

Her sister would probably feel bad to learn that Josh never got over her. That is...if Sarah was who Anne had meant. Maybe not, since he’d still had a couple of years of high school left after their last summer visit. But he’d sure had it bad for her then.

Becki rolled over and punched the pillow. She didn’t want to think of Josh mooning over her sister, especially considering how unreasonable Sarah had been acting lately. Despite her denials, she must’ve sent that note. Who else?

The two of them were the only living relatives.

Josh was blowing the whole situation way out of proportion. The note and prowler couldn’t be connected. She’d probably just surprised a couple of teens who were afraid of getting caught fooling around in Gramps’s car. As a cop Josh must see that sort of thing all the time.

But then why was he getting so worked up?

Josh feels responsible for your grandparents’ deaths.

Becki’s heart clenched. That had to be why Josh wasn’t taking any chances.

If only he’d...

She squashed the wishful thinking. If she let her thoughts go there, she’d never get to sleep.

Closing her eyes, she tried not to think at all. An hour later, she was still awake.

A glass of milk might help. She listened for sounds of Anne and Josh still milling about. Hearing none, she pulled on her bathrobe and stole downstairs.

The computer and desk lamp were on in the otherwise darkened living room, but there was no sign of Josh.

She tiptoed to the desk to see what he’d been working on. His internet browser was open to a page about an antique-car theft. Did Josh really think some sort of theft ring had targeted Gramps’s car?

She skimmed the article but couldn’t see any similarities between that theft and her situation.

A beam of light flashed across the window.

She flicked off the desk lamp and peered past the curtain.

A tall figure disappeared around the corner of the house.

Was that Josh?

The kitchen door banged open.

She shrank deeper into the shadows. It had to be Josh. An intruder wouldn’t be so noisy. The glow of the computer screen cast eerie shadows on the walls.

Tripod bounded into the room, tongue lolling, followed by Josh, his cell phone pressed to his ear. “Hey, Hunter, can I borrow your game cameras for a couple of weeks?” He walked to the desk and flicked on the lamp. His gaze abruptly veered her way. As his eyes landed on her bare toes, his eyes widened, then quickly traveled up to her flaming cheeks.

“Huh?” He half turned and lowered his voice.

“Yeah, the one with night vision and motion trigger,” Josh muttered into the phone. “No, not animals.” He pushed back a corner of the curtain and stared out into the deep blackness of the country night. “I’m looking to catch a human.”

A human! Becki tugged her bathrobe together more tightly. Why hadn’t she stayed in bed?

At least there she could have blissfully deluded herself into imagining there was nothing to be afraid of.

* * *

Becki woke early the next morning. She might have let Josh evade her questions last night, but today she intended to get answers. She dressed quickly and tiptoed to the stairs. Halfway down, the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee greeted her, reminding her that early had a whole other meaning in farm country. She should’ve paid more attention to that rooster crowing before the crack of dawn.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Anne chirped as Becki meandered into the sunbathed kitchen. Anne handed her a mug of coffee. “How’s the head?”

“Good.” If she didn’t count the gazillion questions that had raced around it all night after overhearing Josh’s plan to catch her prowler. “Josh doing chores?”

“They’re long done. He only has chickens to feed these days. He’s changing my oil. Probably almost done with that, too.”

“Will he have to do anything in the fields today?”

“No, he doesn’t farm.” Anne set a covered platter on the table. “The farmer down the road rents the land.”

“But I thought... Josh always talked about running the farm one day.”

“Sometimes childhood dreams don’t look so rosy when you grow up.”

Becki sank into a chair. Her sister had said the same thing. She stiffened her spine. Gran and Gramps’s farm was the only place she’d ever felt truly happy. Sure, it wouldn’t be the same without them, but she couldn’t bear to lose it, too.

“By the time Josh resigned from the military,” Anne continued, “Dad had sold off too much of the farm for Josh to make it profitable again.”

Becki envisioned him wrestling down a burly drug dealer instead of an ornery cow. “So that’s why Josh became a cop?”

“He wanted—”

“To serve and protect,” Josh finished for his sister as he strode into the kitchen and plopped a small cage on the counter.

The “criminal” he’d protected them from emitted a tiny peep, and Becki couldn’t help but giggle.

“What have you rescued this time?” Anne peered around his shoulder.

He stepped aside, allowing them both to see. A tiny sparrow with a broken wing huddled in a corner of the hamster cage.

“Oh, the poor thing.” Becki snagged a piece of toast from the breakfast Anne had spread on the table and sprinkled crumbs into the cage. “Where did you find it?”

Anne rolled her eyes. “The strays always seem to find him.”

“What am I supposed to do? Ignore them?”

His sister tipped onto her toes and planted a kiss on Josh’s cheek. “Nope, you’d never. That’s why I love you.”

Josh pulled Anne into a fierce hug, revealing a depth of feeling that caught at Becki’s heart. His eyes lifted to hers. More brown than green this morning, they held a warm familial affection that Becki could only dream of now that Gran and Gramps were gone.

Anne ducked out of his arms and grabbed her purse from the counter. “If my car’s done, I need to go. Enjoy your breakfast.” Anne shook a finger at Becki. “And no heavy lifting. If you get dizzy or your headache persists, have a doctor check you over.”