Colton's Lethal Reunion (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Based on Ace’s outburst to his father after Payne had removed him from the board, Kerry and some of the others might not agree with his assessment.

“I move that this board track down the real Ace Colton.” Selina didn’t miss a beat.

Ainsley frowned, tapping a pen against the empty legal pad in front of her. Marlowe, after a brief, but clearly irritated, look at her ex-stepmother, looked to Rafe and Ainsley, “Do I have a second?”

They were two people short—Ace and Payne. Rafe felt the weight of their absence as he thought over Selina’s declaration. Genevieve had Payne’s proxy and they could get it if they needed it.

Looking for the real Colton heir opened a Pandora’s box that none of them, other than Selina, apparently, wanted unlocked. Not only was it disloyal to Ace, but according to Colton Oil bylaws, the CEO of the company had to be a biological heir. The real Ace could have legal grounds to come in and take over. Possibly try to change the company’s direction. Take the money and run.

“I need a second for the motion before we can open the floor for discussion,” Marlowe said.

“I second, but let the record show that it’s only so that we can discuss,” Ainsley said.

Fifteen minutes of Marlowe, Ainsley and Rafe trying to find a logical reason not to vote to hire someone to find the man who’d been switched as a baby with Ace, ended up with Marlowe calling for a vote and having it be unanimous. In favor of starting the search.

Ace was their brother. Their leader.

But someone else knew he wasn’t a Colton. Someone knew more about them than they did. And it appeared that that someone had been willing to see Payne dead over the news.

They all knew Ace didn’t shoot their father—even if they had no evidence.

And the fact that Payne was shot right on the heels of that email and the DNA test that had proven Ace not to be a biological Colton was too much of a coincidence for any of them to think that the two weren’t related.

Since they couldn’t find who sent the email, they were going to have to find who was behind the baby switching. Marlowe and Callum had already met with a hospital administrator, but the nursery and birth records from the day of the kidnapping had all been burned in the fire that broke out that long ago morning. So who knew that Ace wasn’t the somewhat sickly child that Tessa Colton had given birth to that night in the wee hours before Christmas morning? And how did that information lead them to who wanted the Colton board to know that Ace wasn’t really one of them?

Who wanted both Ace and Payne out of the way?

And why?

Rafe had no answers.

But he fully believed they had to do whatever it took to find that person.

Just as he knew that he was going to give everything he had to helping Kerry find out who’d killed her brother.

After walking out on their love as he had, it was just something he had to do.

Chapter 9

After her meeting with Odin Rogers, Kerry spent some time digging into Marlowe Colton’s life a bit more deeply, while she figured out her next move with Odin. Marlowe was known to be a workaholic. Was it possible she’d wanted to be CEO of Colton Oil so badly that she’d sent the email regarding Ace’s parentage? But that didn’t really make sense. If she’d known her brother wasn’t a biological Colton, she could simply have told her father discreetly and asked for a DNA test. Or given him what proof she had.

So she hadn’t known about Ace, but when they’d found out, she’d assumed she’d be named CEO. Perhaps she had been pissed that Payne had temporarily appointed himself to take Ace’s place before naming her to the position. So she’d shot her father?

But she had an alibi—her brand-new fiancé, Bowie Robertson.

They’d been at his place. Making love, in case anyone wanted to run forensics. Or so she’d been told. She didn’t figure she’d get a warrant for those bodily fluids. Or get any proof even if she did, considering the time that had passed.

Nothing in any of the records she could search showed Marlowe to be anything but what she appeared, and from what Kerry had witnessed the night she’d barged into their family grieving session to bring in Ace for questioning, Marlowe had been hit hard by the shooting. Nothing, past or present, showed someone who’d resort to violence. She’d never even had a speeding ticket.

So she was on the bottom of the suspect list. Still there, but at the tail end.

Kerry’s list of leads was dismal. There were some forensics that she was still waiting on. She’d received a report on the bullet that had hit Payne. It was a common bullet from a common gun that was sold regularly—meaning any of a thousand people could have purchased it legally just in their part of the state and just in the past year.

And her shooter could have come by it illegally. She spent time looking at reports of guns stolen, cross-referenced them to anyone who seemed to have any link with the Coltons but so far had come up empty. And she looked for recent sales of ammunition, came up with several just in their area south of Tucson, but, again, nothing hit with any cross-reference searches.

Still, she’d spend the hours it took to follow up on all of the names, just in case.

And she kept thinking about Odin Rogers. Had to know what the man was up to. He sure as hell wouldn’t just be sitting around watching TV all day or spending his days investing money. Who did he see? Where did he hang out? What was he up to, right then, while she sat at her desk at the police station, looking for one particular gun in a sea of thousands?