Shattered Trust (Colorado Trust 4)

look twice as bad.”

Marley took a bite of toast but had trouble chewing it. She washed it down with half a glass of juice. Then she pushed her plate aside and simply toyed with her fork. Thoughts of Nate taking money from Dale Blake pounded against her conscience.

“Jordan, settle down, will you?” Justin commanded. “I’ve got a few things to take care of this morning and then I’ll come to the office and we can think this thing through. Maybe go talk to Dad and Mom and see if they have a clue what it’s all about…I know…yes, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He hung up the phone and returned to the table. “Sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” she assured him as he picked up his fork. He speared a piece of sausage, lifted it halfway to his mouth, then dropped it back on his plate.

“Stupid bastard, trying to blackmail us. It’s crazy—all of it. At some point things have to return to normal—right?” He looked at her. “Right?”

She wondered what he’d say if she told him about Nate’s possible involvement in his grandfather’s death. That wasn’t normal at all. Guilt surged forward, and she kept her gaze downcast. “At some point.”

“Yeah, at some point.” He lifted the sausage again and took a bite. When he looked pointedly at her plate, she told him she wasn’t hungry. She didn’t correct him when he assumed she was worried about Nate. He was right—just not the way he thought.

On the drive to the hospital, Justin called Chuck and verified he hadn’t seen anyone else at the job site the night before. He also checked if Chuck had any business meetings he’d conducted on site that day—someone dressed in something other than the customary jeans, tee shirt, and steel-toed work boots for the construction workers. Again, no dice.

At the hospital, Marley waited impatiently for the nurse to let her in to see her brother while Justin went to ask how to reach the shift supervisor for the paramedic team that had brought Nate in the night before.

Justin returned as she stood to go into Nate’s room. Their eyes met, and he shook his head to her silent question. At this point, there was no logical explanation for that flat-soled footprint other than Nate’s half-drugged whisper that someone else had been there.

Marley took a deep breath and pushed open the door. When Nate saw her, his expression relaxed in relief. She took his hand and forced a smile to her face.

“You’re looking better this morning,” she said, leaning to kiss his cheek.

His gaze shifted to the opposite side of the bed.

“Hey, Nate,” Justin said. “You realize this constitutes being late for work?”

Justin’s attempt at humor didn’t even crack a smile on Nate’s face. He must really be feeling bad, Marley thought. “What exactly happened last night?” she asked point blank.

Her brother shifted slightly in his bed. “I’m not really sure how it all happened. It’s a little fuzzy.”

Marley noticed he avoided looking at Justin, and her stomach churned all of a sudden. “You said someone was there.”

“I don’t remember…”

Marley stepped closer to the bed with the same feeling of dread that she’d gotten the night he’d told her about Karl Hunter. “Who was there, Nate?”

Chapter 19

Nate stared straight ahead. Impatience gnawed at Justin, and he leaned on the bedrail.

“We went to the site,” he told Nate. “We found footprints that didn’t belong—someone wearing dress shoes, or something with a flat sole. It’s obvious you know something, so who was it?”

Nate turned his head to Justin. A spark of defiance lit his eyes even as he swallowed hard. “At first I thought it was you.”

“What?” Marley exclaimed as the same disbelief exploded inside Justin.

“But then I saw your twin and things were already so blurred…I’m not sure who it was anymore.”

Nate’s implication became clear, and Justin fought a surge of anger. “Jordan would never do something like this.”

“Why would you even think Jordan would try to hurt you?” Marley asked Nate.

“I didn’t get a good look at the guy,” Nate defended before zeroing in on his sister to add pointedly, “Whoever it was.”

“Justin didn’t do it.”