Shifting Calder Wind (Calder Saga 7)

“Please come in, Sheriff.” Hattie paused in the doorway, holding the screen door open for him.

“No. Tell whoever your friend is to come out.” Logan shifted a little closer to the cabin wall, ready to seek its protection and make himself a less easy target.

Slipping past Hattie, Laredo went inside, his gaze sliding to Chase. “I told you he was a careful man.”

Chase took Hattie’s place in the opening, making himself fully visible without setting foot outside. “I can’t do that, Logan. It’s better if I’m not seen here.”

“Chase?” Logan still questioned what he was seeing. “You’re alive?”

“Yes, and I plan on staying that way awhile longer. Come in.” Chase moved away from the door.

Logan followed him into the line shack. “What are you doing here?” he demanded, anger showing at the way he and everyone had been tricked, both then and now. “Why did you let us all believe you were dead?”

“At the time it suited my purpose.” Chase crossed to the table and pulled out a chair.

“I always knew you were a hard man, Calder, but I don’t think you realize what you put your daughter and grandchildren through, not to mention—” Logan stopped, eyes narrowing. “Jessy knows you’re alive, doesn’t she.” It was a statement, not a question. “All the times Culley saw her slipping up here, it was to see you.”

“She knows,” Chase confirmed. “But she is the only one who knows outside of those here in this cabin.”

“Why?” His gray glance flicked to the red welt that reached into the hairline above Chase’s temple. “And what happened to your head?”

“You might as well sit down. This could take a few minutes.” Chase gestured to one of the other chairs and sat down. “Hattie, will you pour some coffee for us?”

Keeping to the facts, Chase told Logan as much as he knew about the attempt on his life and its aftermath. On occasions, he deferred to Laredo, letting him fill in any blanks he could. Logan listened without interruption until he was finished.

“I have trouble believing Markham is behind this.” Logan continued to mull that one over. “There are a few circumstances that appear to point in his direction, but you haven’t built any case against him— or given me a good reason to pin my suspicions on him.”

“I remember something, but . . . I can’t quite remember what it is.” The frustration of that slipped into Chase’s voice, giving an edge to it.

“So, why did you decide to make yourself known now?” Logan lifted his coffee cup.

“O’Rourke’s murder.”

Logan nodded in understanding. “As close as the body was found, it was only a matter of time before you would be discovered.”

Laredo disagreed. “If Chase didn’t want you to know he was here, it would have taken dogs to find him.”

“Laredo’s right,” Chase confirmed. “My decision to come forward has nothing to do with fear of discovery. O’Rourke’s death changed things because I’m certain Markham killed him.”

“Now you really are reaching, Chase,” Logan said with a mildly amused shake of his head. “Markham had even less reason to kill O’Rourke than he did you.”

Chase replied with a question of his own. “What can you tell me about the note that came up missing? The one Jessy gave to Cat. I understand that Tara is convinced that Jessy took it.”

“You think Markham is behind that,” Logan guessed.

“Why not?” Chase countered. “He wouldn’t have known what was written on it. For all Markham knew, it could have been something that would have pointed to him.”

Logan thoughtfully rubbed a hand across his mouth, then glanced at Chase, a stony hardness in his gray eyes. “You may have just convinced me, Chase. I remember now that after the note came up missing, Culley made a point to remind Cat that he had seen Markham poking around the desk.”

“And Markham mentioned to Jessy that he had seen O’Rourke at Fedderson’s the other morning. My guess is that’s when Culley accused Markham of taking it—and ultimately sealed his fate,” Chase stated. “I don’t know when or where Markham did the killing, but I think he probably dumped the body around here in an attempt to throw suspicion on Laredo, especially if he had somehow learned that you were checking on him.”

“And finding some answers, too.” Logan pushed his cup away, glancing up when Hattie breathed in sharply. “Just what do you know about him, Chase?”

“I know he saved my life. And if you are referring to that business in Mexico, that happened a good many years ago,” Chase replied. “I’m not going to tell you to ignore it. Neither one of us would have much respect for the other if I did. But I am going to ask that you forget it for a while. Whatever else you might say against him, Laredo is the kind of man you want watching your back when things get hot. And they will get hot very soon. That note has Markham running scared right now, but it’s a smart scared. Laredo and I agree that he has probably picked out his next target. But we don’t know if it’s Jessy or Cat.”

“Now I get it.” Logan nodded. “That’s why you decided to come back from the dead—to make Markham readjust his sights. You plan on becoming a decoy.”

“It’s the quickest way that I know to flush him out,” Chase stated. “O’Rourke’s death made me realize that I don’t have the luxury of waiting until I completely recover my memory.”