Page 12 of Dead Man's Alibi

But nothing was going to put a damper on this.She wouldn’t let it.She led Cal back into the kitchen and put her hand to her stomach, a kind of silent promise to the baby…

Until she caught Cal glancing at her curiously.

She dropped her hand and turned away, focusing on making sandwiches for the three of them.

She was right, it was only about five minutes of awkward silence that wasn’tusuallyawkward before she heard the back door creak open and Landon stomping his boots on the mat.He’d wash his hands and take care of muddy outer clothes in the mudroom, then appear in the kitchen.

Aly’s gaze was on the doorway between the rooms, her hands doing the rote work of preparing a meal without her even having to look down.

When Landon finally appeared, his hair was a little mussed from the hat he would have taken off and hung on the peg in the mudroom.His dark eyes already held concern, and they searched the room until they landed on Cal at the little kitchen table shoved up against the wall.

His mouth firmed, ever so slightly, before he smiled.Before he made any greeting, he crossed to her as he always did, dropped a quick peck on her cheek, but his gaze was on Cal.All worry and concern.

That was going to have to take the front seat for right now.She could hardly tell Landon about the test with Cal right there, and while she could drag him out of the kitchen for a few minutes, Cal had news.Important news.

Bad news.

“Saw your car.Everything all right?”Landon asked Cal.

“More or less.But there’s something you guys need to know about.”

Aly took the plates over to the table, which was really just big enough for two, but they squeezed around it rather than move out to the dining room.

Aly listened as Cal explained that a murder had happened.That it was someone Nate had worked for.Her stomach roiled, and she didn’t know if that was worry or a pregnancy symptom.

She only managed two bites of her sandwich while the men plowed through theirs.

“So, Nate’s a suspect?”Landon asked carefully.

“Nothing as formal as that, and I don’t think it’ll get that far.Jake’s a good detective.I don’t think he’ll let personal feelings get in the way…”

“But?”

“Sam has concerns.”

“Of course Sam has concerns,” Aly said, wringing her hands together.Both men looked at her plate and barely touched sandwich but neither said anything.“My God.She must be a wreck.”When Sam’s father had been arrested for Marie Bennet’s murder, Aly and Sam had been best friends.

Then Aly had turned on Sam when Sam hadinsistedher father didn’t do it and tried to place the blame on Benjamin Bennet.Aly had stuck with the Bennets, and she’d been wrong.So wrong.

“Yeah, she really seems to be,” Cal said, sounding almost as if he couldn’t quite believe it.“I’m handling everything though.I just wanted you guys to know what was going on.I don’t know how far Hayes is going to push this, but if he comes around here with questions, I want you to call me.No one talks to him without a lawyer present.About anything.”

“Is that necessary?”Landon asked.

“I don’t know for sure, but I know it’s smart.And in Nate’s best interest.So that’s what we’ll do.”

*

Landon didn’t reallyhave time to dawdle after lunch, not in the middle of calving.But he knew Aly would be worked up about this news, and he wasn’t too thrilled about it either.

Cal had done his best to ease their concerns, but how could they not be worried?

Benjamin Bennet had walked free for fifteen years, unpunished for murder, because of some shoddy police work and an easy scapegoat.

Would history repeat itself?

This time with their brother being the one paying for something he didn’t do?

It seemed so completely implausible, and yet what had life been the past year but implausible thing after implausible thing?Much of it down-to-the bone bad.