Standing His Ground: Greer (Porter Brothers Trilogy 2)

“I wish. The fool thing is hiding under the porch. He’s too afraid to come out. He knows I’ll kill his mangy ass.”

Tate finished tearing off the chicken gate, leaning it to the side as they started cleaning the chickens away.

“You can’t kill Hunter. I think even Holly would notice if you switched out dogs.”

Greer was ready to take his chances. The coon dog was useless.

The brothers were used to working side by side. They removed the chicken carcasses, throwing them in the back of his old truck. It was getting dark, so he would have to wait until morning to whitewash the hen house, but the spotlight that was rigged to flood the yard allowed them to mend the fence and fix the gate.

When that was finished, they went inside the house, where Tate had called Sutton to come over once the chickens had been cleared away. She had made quick work of cleaning the house that had been in shambles.

“I made a pile that couldn’t be fixed and needed to be thrown away. Tate, can you help me turn the couch and chair over?”

Greer moved Sutton out of the way. “Let us wash our hands. We’ll do it.”

They righted the couch as Dustin bagged up the plates and picture frames that been destroyed.

“I’ll take the quilts to my house and try to fix them,” Sutton offered.

“I’d appreciate it. Ma worked on those quilts every winter.” Greer stared at the quilts, knowing that it would be nearly impossible for Sutton to repair them. His mother had made four of them for each of her children and one for herself.

Rachel had taken hers when she had married Cash, and Tate had taken his out of the cedar chest when he had married Sutton. His, Dustin’s, and their mother’s had been taken from the chest and ripped to shreds.

“At least they didn’t succeed in burning the house down.” Dustin went to the sink to remove his gloves and wash his hands in the sink. “That gas can outside the back door would have been enough to take the house and the barn.”

“They didn’t go near the barn.” Greer took his hat off in a fit of rage, slinging it at the wall that paint had been slung onto. All the work he had been doing on the house had been destroyed.

“I’m sorry, Greer. I know how hard you’ve been working on the house.”

He shrugged away from Sutton’s compassionate hand on his arm. “I’ll go to the store in the morning and buy some more paint. I’ll have to order another sink and toilet. I was going to put them in this weekend when Logan was with Holly.”

“What did Knox say when Tate called him?” Dustin asked.

“He just took pictures and left. Didn’t say much at all.” Tate sat down on the couch they had righted. “If my dog hadn’t kept barking, we wouldn’t have known anyone was here until the fire detectors went off. They trashed the video camera in Greer’s room, so we couldn’t have a way of showing him who could have done it.”

“I don’t need a camera to know who did it.” Greer sat down on the chair, burying his face in his hands before looking up at the stares of his family. “Diane had to have done it.”

Dustin shook his head. “She couldn’t have. Whoever killed those chickens knew how to …” His brother stopped talking, seeing the certainty in Greer’s eyes.

“Yeah, I’m certain she did it. What I want to know is who helped her. She’s seeing Luke, but the Hayes live on the other side of the mountain, so they could have come in the back way to our property.”

Tate scooted over, so Sutton could sit down next to him. “We can’t accuse the Hayes without proof.”

“When I get my proof, we can settle with them, but I’ll be dealing with Diane myself.”

“Why do you think she was behind it?” Sutton’s eyes went from her husband to his.

Greer remained silent. He knew his brothers were going to give him hell at his answer.

“Greer, what did you do?”

Jerking to his feet, he paced around the room, coming to a stop in front of the couch where Tate was sitting and Dustin was standing behind him.

“I told Diane that if she could stay faithful to me for a few months, I’d marry her. When I took Holly to the jewelry store the other day to buy her ring, Dalton must have told her that I was going to marry Holly.”

“Why would Dalton tell Diane?” Dustin looked at him, not getting the message he was trying to tell them.

“Diane’s been messing around with Dalton,” Tate answered for Greer.

“Yeah, I caught them in bed together. I told her I was done with her then. I guess she believed me when Dalton told her I was buying a ring for Holly.”