Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (reading the story of the .TXT) 📕

cutting a person’s throat. The drowning had been made to look like an accident. But Grady’s body had been held down with rocks.

“I’ll stop by later,” he told the coroner as he walked to his patrol SUV. There was someone he needed to talk to.

Hud found Chase fixing fences on the Sherman Jensen ranch. He could understand why Sherman needed the help and why Chase had agreed to working for board. He was a good worker and Sherman’s son was not.

Chase looked up as Hud drove in. He put down the tool he’d been using to stretch the barbed wire and took off his gloves as he walked over to the patrol SUV.

“Did you get the prints off the cup back?” Chase asked.

Hud shook his head. He’d been a little busy, but he’d check on them the first chance he got. He studied the man his daughter had been in love with as far back as he could remember. Out here in his element, Chase looked strong and capable. Hud had thought of him as a boy for so long. At twenty-four, he’d still been green behind the years. He could see something he hadn’t noticed when he saw him at the marshal’s office. Chase had grown into a man.

Still he found himself taking the man’s measure.

“Marshal,” Chase said. “If you’ve come out here to ask me what my intentions are toward your daughter...” He grinned.

“As a matter of fact, I would like to know, even though that’s not why I’m here.”

Chase pushed back his Stetson. “I’m going to marry her. With your permission, of course.”

Hud chuckled. “Of course. Well, that’s good to hear, as far as intentions go, but I’m here on another matter. When was the last time you saw Dillon Ramsey?”

Chase grimaced. “Did he think that’s why I was in your office the other day?” He shook his head. “That I’d come there to report our fight? So he decided to tell you his side of it?”

“Actually no. But I heard about it. Heard that if Mary hadn’t broken it up, it could have gotten lethal.”

“Only because Dillon was going for a knife he had in his boot,” Chase said.

Hud nodded. Chase had known about the man’s knife. The knife Dillon had been killed with. “So the trouble between you was left unfinished.” Chase didn’t deny it. “That’s the last time you saw him?”

Chase nodded and frowned. “Why? What did he say? I saw the way he was trying to intimidate Mary.”

“Not much. Someone cut his throat last night.” He saw the cowboy’s shocked expression.

“What the hell?”

“Exactly. Where were you last night?”

“Here on the ranch.”

“Can anyone verify that you were here the whole time?”

“You can’t really believe that I—”

“Can anyone verify where you were?” Hud asked again.

Chase shook his head. “Can’t you track my cell phone or something? Better yet, you know me. If I saw Dillon again, I might get in the first punch because I knew he’d fight dirty. But use a knife?” He shook his head. “Not me. That would be Dillon.”

Hud tended to believe him. But he also knew about the knife Dillon kept in his boot, and he hadn’t seen Chase in years. People change. “You aren’t planning to leave town, are you?”

Chase groaned. “I have a carpenter job in Paradise Valley. I was leaving tomorrow to go to work. But I can give you the name of my employer. I really don’t want to pass up this job.”

Hud studied him for a moment. “Call me with your employer’s name. I don’t have to warn you not to take off, right?”

Chase smiled. “I’m not going anywhere. Like I told you, I’m marrying your daughter and staying right here.”

Hud couldn’t help but smile. “Does Mary know that?”

The cowboy laughed. “She knows. That doesn’t mean she’s said yes yet.”

“Are you all right? I just heard the news about the deputy,” Chase asked when he called Mary after her father left. “I’m so sorry.”

“Dillon and I had broken up, but I still can’t believe it. Who would want to kill him?”

“Your father thought I might,” he said. “I just had a visit from him.”

“What? You can’t be serious.”

“He’d heard about the fight Dillon and I had in front of your building,” Chase said. “I thought maybe you’d mentioned it to him.”

“I didn’t tell him, but he can’t believe that you’d kill anyone.”

Chase said nothing for a moment. “The word around town according to Beth Anne is that Dillon had been with someone in the woods. A woman. You have any idea who?”

She thought of Lucy, but quickly pushed the idea away. Dillon had said he was going to ask her out, but she doubted he’d even had time to do that—if he’d been serious. Clearly, he’d been seeing someone else while he was seeing her.

“I’ll understand if you don’t want to go with me late to see the next man on my list,” Chase said.

“No, I’m going. I’m having trouble getting any work done. I’m still in shock. I know how much finding your father means to you. Pick me up?”

“You know it. I’m going to get cleaned up. Give me thirty minutes.”

“You questioned Chase about Dillon’s murder?” Mary cried when he father answered the phone.

He made an impatient sound. “I’m the marshal, and I’m investigating everyone with a grudge against Dillon Ramsey.”

“Chase doesn’t hold grudges,” she said indignantly, making Hud laugh.

“He’s a man, and the woman he’s in love with was seeing another man who is now dead. Also, he was in an altercation with the dead man less that forty-eight hours ago.”

“How did you know about the fi—”

“I got an anonymous call.”

“I didn’t think anyone but me...” She thought of Lucy. No, Lucy wouldn’t do that. Someone else in the area that night must have witnessed it.

“You can’t possibly think that Chase would...” She shook her head adamantly. “It wasn’t Chase.”

“Actually, I think you’re right,” her father said. “I just got the coroner’s report. The killer was right-handed. I noticed Chase