McCullen's Secret Son (The Heroes Of Horseshoe Creek Book 2) by Rita Herron Read Free Book Online

had done well on the rodeo circuit.
    Both financially and with the women.
    An empty glass sat beside the bottle, and she poured herself a finger full, then found Brett sitting in the porch swing with a tumbler of his own.
    He looked up at her when she stepped onto the porch, his handsome face strained with the night’s events.
    “I should go home,” Willow said from the doorway.
    Brett shook his head. “Not tonight. We’ll pick up some of your things tomorrow, but you aren’t staying in that house until this is over and Leo’s killer is dead or in jail.”
    “But—”
    “No buts, Willow.” He sipped his whiskey. “It’s not safe. Besides, we shouldn’t disturb anything in the house, so when we do call Maddox in, he can process the place for evidence.”
    He was right. “I realize this is putting you in a difficult position with Maddox.”
    Brett shrugged. “That’s nothing new.”
    Willow sank onto the swing beside him. She’d never had siblings although she’d always wanted a sister or a brother, especially when she was growing up. Her mother had died when she was five, and she’d been left with her father who’d turned to drinking to drown his problems. That alcohol had finally killed him two weeks before she’d graduated from high school.
    Another reason she’d gravitated toward Brett and it had hurt so much when he’d left town. She had literally been alone.
    “I know you’ve had issues, Brett, but your father just died, and you and your brothers should be patching things up.” She took a swallow of her own liquor, grateful for the warmth of the alcohol as it eased her nerves. “Family means everything, Brett. When you don’t have one anymore, you realize how important it is.”
    Brett’s gaze latched with hers, but the flirtatious gleam she’d seen years ago and in the tabloids was gone. Instead, a dark intensity made his eyes look almost black.
    “I’m sorry you lost yours. I know that last year with your dad was rough.”
    It was Willow’s turn to shrug, although it was Brett leaving a second time that had sent her into Leo’s arms. Made her vulnerable to his false charm.
    “My family is Sam now. I can’t go on if something happens to him.”
    Brett reached out and covered her hand with his. “We will find him, I promise. And I’ll make sure whoever abducted him pays.”
    She desperately wanted to believe him.
    “There’s something I have to ask you, Willow.”
    A knot seized her stomach at his tone. “What?”
    “Where were you earlier today?”
    Willow tensed. “Why? You don’t think
I
shot Leo, do you?”
    He hesitated, long enough to make her think that he had considered the possibility. That hurt.
    “No,” he finally said. “But I have to ask, because the police will.”
    Willow sucked in a sharp breath. “I did errands, had to drop off some of my orders. Sam was staying with my neighbor Gina, but apparently Leo picked him up.” That sick feeling hit her again.
    “This other woman can corroborate your story?”
    Willow pinched her lips together, angry. “Yes, Brett.”
    Would she need a more solid alibi to prove that she hadn’t killed her husband?
    * * *
    T HE PAIN IN Willow’s eyes made Brett strengthen his resolve to help her. “Do you have any idea who abducted Sam?”
    She shook her head, her hair falling like a curtain around her face. “I didn’t recognize the man’s voice. And he wore a ski mask.”
    “You said that Leo didn’t have a bank account? Where did he keep his money?”
    Willow traced her finger along the rim of her glass. “He kept cash in a safe when he lived with me. But he cleaned that out when he left.”
    “It seems odd that a businessman wouldn’t have had bank accounts, maybe even a financial advisor.”
    “I thought so, too, but he just got defensive every time I mentioned it.”
    Brett rocked the swing back and forth with his feet. “Where did he go when he moved out?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “He didn’t send child