Long Range (Joe Pickett Book 20)(28)

“Keep our heads on a swivel,” Nate said. “It won’t be the first time someone has come after me. But it’s the first time I had a wife and a little angel to protect. It makes everything three times more complicated.”

Joe agreed as he flipped the steaks. They had perfect grill marks on them.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was worried,” Nate said.

Joe had never heard Nate utter anything like that. It shook him and he didn’t know how to respond.

“I know you’ve got a lot going on with the shooting and all,” Nate said. “But I may need some help. You may hear of someone coming into the area that I don’t. Or you may run into someone who could be working for the Sinaloans. I guess I’m asking you to keep your eyes open and ears turned on.”

“Of course I’ll do that,” Joe said. “Does Liv know?”

“Not yet.”

“You should tell her,” Joe said. “That’s one thing I’ve learned over the years. Don’t keep secrets. I’ll help you however I can, but Liv is smart and tough, she’s your best ally.”

“Better than you?” Nate asked. He seemed genuinely interested in the answer.

“Better than me,” Joe said. “Don’t get me wrong—I’ll do whatever I can, of course. You can count on me. But if it weren’t for Marybeth’s involvement over the years, I’d be washed-up, homeless, or dead. You’ve got to trust her with everything, Nate. She’s smart and clever and she’d do absolutely anything necessary to protect Kestrel.”

Nate thought it over while Joe moved the meat from the grill to the platter. Finally, he said, “I’m going to set up a range and teach her how to shoot.”

“That’s a good start.”

“If something happened to her or my little girl . . .”

“I know,” Joe said. “Believe me, I know.”

“This is hard sometimes,” Nate said.

“It is, but it’s worth it.”

Nate did something he’d rarely ever done. He reached over and gripped Joe’s shoulder and squeezed it.

“I’ve got a question for you,” Joe said. “Don’t you have experience with military snipers in the field?”

Nate nodded that he did. Joe didn’t know the particulars and Nate hadn’t shared them, but he was aware his friend had been in hot spots all over the world with a team of special operators.

“Do you have some time to look over a location with me tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“Great,” Joe said. “Let’s eat.”

*

JOE OUTLINED THE FACTS as he knew them about Sue Hewitt’s shooting at dinner, although Nate was much more interested in hearing about the bear attack. He found the circumstances as puzzling and discordant as Joe and Mike Martin had. So the conversation had been steered away from the local crime.

Not so Marybeth. She wanted details and he recapped his day from landing at the Saddlestring airport to climbing into bed.

“Do you have a prime suspect?” she asked him.

“No. There are people I want to talk to. And I want to figure out where the shot was fired. That’ll help us home in on the weapon itself.”

“What does our new sheriff think?” she asked.

Joe shook his head. “Either Kapelow is some kind of brilliant detective with his own special powers and a theory of his own, or he’s absolutely clueless and he’s mucking up the investigation before it can get started. I can’t decide which, but I’m leaning toward the latter.”

“I hope you’re wrong,” she said.

“Yeah—me too. Judge Hewitt will blow a gasket if we don’t find the shooter. Or he’ll decide to take matters into his own hands.”

Marybeth nodded in agreement. She said, “I heard this evening that Sue’s chances aren’t good. But she’s strong. I hope she pulls through.”

“I hope we find the guy,” Joe said. “And I think we have to find him fast. The longer it takes, the less chance we have, unless someone comes forward.”

*

JOE SAT UP in bed with the table light on until Marybeth finished scrubbing her face in the bathroom and emerged in her nightie and slippers. Even without makeup she looked fresh and beautiful, he thought. She’d been going for early-morning swims at the high school and her limbs were toned.

She slid in next to him with a novel about singing crawdads, but she hadn’t yet opened it.

“I’m surprised you’re still up after the day you’ve had,” she said to him. “Didn’t you say you were up at three-thirty?”

“Yup.”

“You need to get some rest.”

He sighed. “I’ve got so much on my plate right now I feel paralyzed.”

There was the grizzly bear attack in the Teton Wilderness, Sue Hewitt’s shooting, and now the possible revenge of the Sinaloa cartel on his friend Nate. He told Marybeth about Nate’s meeting with Jeremiah Sandburg, the ex–FBI special agent and the threat he’d gleefully warned Nate about.

Afterward, she said, “Liv said he was acting strangely after the motor home left.”

“Nate always acts strangely,” Joe said. “But that’s why.”