Page 42 of Dead Man's Alibi

Swallowing down her worry, she kept an arm around Sam.“Are you hungry?”Aly asked, even if it was silly.“I’ll make you some lunch or a snack or—”

“I’m just going to lie down, I think.Same room as before?”Sam had spent the night last summer when they’d all had a little too much to drink.

Aly had never seen Sam so pale.So quiet.So withdrawn.Even last month, when she’d stumbled across a dead body and been visibly affected, she hadn’t been this.“Yes, same room.I’ll—”

“No, I’m fine,” Sam said, walking past Aly, not looking at Landon.She just went to the stairs and trudged up them, apparently completely unaware three people stared at her retreating back in shock and worry.

“I’m going down to the jail,” Cal said quietly once Sam disappeared down the upstairs hall.“I’ll talk with Nate, try to set up a meeting with Hayes.See what our options are.”Cal glanced at where Sam had disappeared.“Nate’s more worried about her than himself.”This seemed to bother him, though Aly didn’t understand why.

It didn’t matter.“We’ve got her.You tell him that.We’ve got her.However long we need to.”

*

Landon couldn’t sleepthat night.Cal had texted updates that evening, but they weren’t really updates.Just information.There’d be a bond hearing, then an arraignment.Landon didn’t really understand it all and found he didn’t want to.

Aly was dead asleep next to him.Pregnancy, no doubt, because normally she’d be an anxious, pacing wreck.But the past few days she’d been exhausted and throwing up.

And Nate was in jail.For murder.

What was it about Bennets and murder?

Just a little over a year ago, he’d believed his father innocent of everything Sam had accused Benjamin Bennet of.For nearly fifteen years, it had never occurred to him that his father could be so cruel.So heartless.So evil as to kill his mother.Landon hadn’t seen the horrible man underneath because he hadn’twantedto.He’d wanted life to make sense.

Did that lesson demand he consider Nate capable of murder?Hehadbeen a soldier.Away from the family for fifteen years.What did Landonreallyknow about his brother?

Yeah, Landon wasn’t getting any sleep tonight.He slid out of bed.Walked carefully to the door, avoiding the spots that would creak.Aly slept soundly as he slipped out of the room.

He went downstairs, edgy and irritated with his own line of thought.Of course, Nate hadn’t killed anyone.Believing that wasn’t keeping his head in the sand.It wasn’t denial like it had been before.Because he didn’t have to work to convince himself, like he’d spent so much time working to defend his father.All because he’d been so desperate to keep a status quo that had felt safe.

It hadn’t been.

So, yeah, Landon’s radar was way off, but Nate wasn’t a murderer.Wasn’t like Dad.Nate had never asked anything of Landon, ofanyone.He never demanded loyalty.He’d never done anything but follow his own carefully crafted moral code.

And felt guilty over not helping this woman who’d, by all accounts, been incredibly difficult.

But somehow, thinking about this only made Landon all the more disgusted with himself for spending so many years defending his father.Sure, Dad was a master manipulator.He’d fooled better, smarter men than Landon.Hell, he’d fooled Aly.It wasn’t a moral failing to have believed in Benjamin Bennet, Landon tried to tell himself.

But it felt like one at the moment, sitting here wondering if he was supposed to question his brother’s innocence too.

Edgy and unable to go out and work it out with chores or something physical since it was the middle of the night, Landon questioned his options.Maybe a beer on the porch.Maybe go look out at the stars and remind himself he’d gotten through a lot, so why not one more thing?Because this ranch had survived over a century, even when every kind of shit hit the fan.

He just needed tomove.Even if it’d likely be freezing outside.Maybe the bracing cold would knock something loose inside of him, so he’d know how to move through this moment.

He went to the door, then stopped.It was unlocked.Concerned, since he always locked up before bed, Landon was careful when he eased it open, nice and slow so it wouldn’t creak.

Sam stood on the porch, faintly outlined by the moonlight.She was dressed in the same clothes she’d arrived in, but the chill of a spring night was too much for the thin thermal she was wearing.She didn’t seem to notice the cold though.She had her hands wrapped around the porch railing, and she was staring not up at the stars, but out at the empty gravel lot.

Cal had dropped her off, so she didn’t have a vehicle.His and Aly’s trucks were parked in an outbuilding behind the house.If she wanted to go somewhere, she was stuck.Which had likely been Cal’s intention.

She’d shown up looking like a ghost, and that hadn’t gotten any better.She hadn’t come down to dinner, so Aly had gone up and fussed.

Landon could turn around and go back to bed without dealing with this.He could go wake Aly up and have her deal with it.After all, she and Sam had repaired their friendship, mostly.And even if Sam and Landon had found a common ground, analmostease with each other over the course of the last year, they’d spent a lot of years before that at serious odds.Surely, she didn’t wanthiscompany right now.

And yet he found he couldn’t convince himself to do anything but step outside.“Thinking about running?”

Sam didn’t jump or spin around.She must have heard him open the door or step out.“Yeah.”

The honesty was good, he supposed.“You could, but Aly would just hunt you down in the morning.Drag you back up here.Force feed you muffins and positive reinforcement.”