Kansas Nights [Kansas Heat 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (11 page)

If having both Tony and Cindy taking pieces off Collin’s hide wasn’t enough to appease Kathy, she certainly walked away feeling gratified that Collin had failed in his mission. He might have wrecked her car, but Collin hadn’t managed to stop her from making it to the Reece brothers’ ranch. That’s just where Tony agreed to take her after Cindy had hauled her car off.

Kathy didn’t deny that she’d enjoyed shooting Collin a smug grin as she’d walked away with the sheriff. Now she cast the same smile in Jack’s direction as she hopped out of Tony’s truck and into the large yard in front of the ranch’s main house. Jack stood off in the horizon, a dark, angry shadow that tracked her every step up the porch.

Amanda greeted them with the enthusiasm of an inmate long banished to solitary confinement, refusing to let Tony leave without a cup of coffee. Kathy trailed behind them into the kitchen, pausing only long enough to cast a look over her shoulder, but Jack had disappeared. She suspected he was off to go listen to whatever bugs he had planted in the house. Kathy didn’t doubt the mics existed, and if they didn’t, then this would all be a waste of time.

Heading into the kitchen, she joined Tony at the old, wooden table tucked along the front wall, taking the seat beside him as Amanda brought over the coffeepot and an extra cup. Amanda locked gazes with Tony in a pointed look as she began filling up all the mugs.

“So? Anything new?” Amanda asked that question with enough depth to have Tony shooting a quick look in Kathy’s direction before shrugging.

“You two don’t have to pussyfoot around anything just ‘cause I’m here,” Kathy informed them, hoping like hell Jack was listening in.

“We’re not—”

“I know.” Kathy cut Amanda’s denial off with an exasperated huff. “What? Do you think I’m dumb?”

“No, of course not,” Amanda rushed to assure her. “It’s just—”

“That I wouldn’t be able to spot a conspiracy?” Kathy finished for her, turning the statement into a question as she cast Amanda an overly dramatic look of surprise. “Will’s dead, money’s missing, Amanda’s locked up out here. I can connect those dots, thank you very much.”

Tony snorted, rolling his eyes before pinning Kathy with his sour look. “Whatever it is you think you know, Kathy, you don’t want to know.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re nosy.” Amanda smiled at her own blunt summation, settling into her seat on the other side of the table before informing Kathy of the fact she was more than well aware of. “It gets you into trouble.”

“And we’ve had enough funerals,” Tony tacked on. “I’ve told Amanda and Cindy the same thing I’m about to tell you, let the
authorities
handle it. We’re not going to have a repeat of the Big Berry incident. Got me?”

“Are you ever going to let me live that down?” Kathy scowled at Tony, more than tired of hearing about Berry.

“No,” Tony answered instantly. “You
enticed
a known rapist to chase you.”

“And I led him right to you!” Kathy shot back, because despite all the grief people gave her about that event, everything had turned out fine. Better than, actually. “
And
I collected three thousand dollars in reward money.”

“You could have gotten yourself killed or worse.” Tony growled, his features showing the strain of his temper. “And this time it definitely will be worse.”

“I couldn’t live with that,” Amanda stated softly, breaking apart Tony’s and her argument with the quiet grief in her tone. “There’s enough blood on my hands.”

Ah, hell.
Kathy should have figured Amanda would feel guilty about everything. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t to blame. Amanda had always felt responsible for Will. Reaching out, she gave Amanda’s hand a quick squeeze and offered her a smile.

“Don’t worry, Mandy. I’m not in any kind of danger.”

“And you’re not going to do anything that will land you in any,” Tony finished for her.

“Of course not.” Kathy shot him a frown for being so bullheaded. Tony was ruining her moment and probably making Jack feel all sorts of vindicated. Kathy couldn’t allow that. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back and pretend like nothing’s going on, especially not if Amanda’s going to be charged with accessory to murder.”

“
What?
” Tony shook his head as his nose wrinkled like he’d smelled something foul. “You’re crazy and you’re talking crazy. Nobody’s going to charge Amanda with anything. Trust me, I would know.”

Knowing she had both Tony’s and Amanda’s shocked attention, Kathy just shrugged. “I just figured. I mean, Will can’t steal over twenty million dollars on his own. Shit, even if it was all in hundreds, that much money would still weigh over five hundred pounds. No way could Will lift that.

“He had an accomplice.” Kathy came to the logical conclusion, watching as Amanda’s eyes slowly widened with confusion while Tony’s narrowed with a dangerous level of annoyance. “No offense, Tony, but knowing what dipshits most cops are, somebody might be inclined to conclude that accomplice was Amanda given Will hardly knew anybody else.”

“
Nobody thinks that
.” Tony ground out the words, keeping his tone low despite the veins bulging under the heat of the flush running up his neck.

“None of your guys, but I’m sure this goes beyond your jurisdiction.”

“What is she talking about, Tony?”

“Don’t get upset, Amanda. I told you, she’s crazy.” Tony’s assurances lacked any comfort, given his hard tone, but that sharpness did help his accusations when he turned them on Kathy. “Look what you’re doing. Are you happy with yourself?”

“So he had an accomplice.” Amanda drew Tony’s attention back to her before Kathy could defend herself. No longer sounding tired or weak, Amanda glared at Tony. “Did you really think I hadn’t figured that one out on my own? Please. I was never that stupid.”

“Now, Amanda—”

“Don’t ‘now, Amanda’ me. I’ve been stuck in this house for too many damn weeks to be tolerant or patient. I want to know why the hell you haven’t found this damn accomplice yet.”

“Especially because it can’t be that hard.” Kathy rallied with Amanda, egging on her friend’s annoyance. “There can only be so many suspects.”

“I’m—”

“Oh, no.” Amanda cut Tony off again, but this time she directed her comments toward Kathy. “There could be more than you think because ol’ Tony and his buddies in blue think Will was whoring around.”

“
Amanda!
”

“You mean pimping?” Kathy asked over Tony’s outraged roar, completely confused. “Or in that he got around?”

“Don’t answer that.” This time Tony cut off Amanda, his tone hard enough to force obedience. “That is confidential information regarding an open case, and you’re about to give it to junior detective over here and get her into more trouble than she already is in.”

“I’m not in any trouble.” Kathy felt a need to point that out, even if it was probably a lie. Right about then, Kathy figured Jack was plotting his revenge.

“And it’s going to stay that way,” Tony snapped at her. Shoving out of his seat, he brought the conversation to a close. “Now if you ladies will excuse me, I have work to do. I’ll talk to
you
later.”

“You’re going to get it.” Amanda snickered as Tony sauntered off.

“I’m going to talk to you later, too,” Tony shouted out before the door banged closed behind him. The second Kathy heard the front latch click, she lost her smile and jumped on Amanda.

“Are you really going to trust him to get you out of this mess?”

“Of course,” Amanda grumbled, shooting Kathy a dirty look. “Tony’s like a brother to me
and to you
.”

“And when he’s Tony, I trust him,” Kathy agreed. “But when it comes to Sheriff Black, he’s a cop, and you know what they’re good for.”

“Lots of things,” Amanda retorted. “Maybe you ought to remember that on more than one occasion they’ve saved your sorry ass.”

“Yeah, normally right before they put me in jail,
and
that includes Sheriff Black.”

“But you kind of like jail, don’t you?”

“Yeah, well, you know the baloney-and-mayonnaise sandwiches keep me coming back.” Kathy couldn’t help but smile despite her determination to present an indignant front.

“I know that you didn’t read about the missing
twenty million
anywhere.”

“You don’t know—”

“I’ve read every single article on Will and the missing money. Trust me,” Amanda assured her, “it’s become like a personal obsession. There isn’t anything that I haven’t read, and not a
single
thing has mentioned the
amount
of money. Yet you know. Got to figure that’s what Tony’s going to grill you on later.”

Kathy snorted and rolled her eyes. “And here everybody calls me paranoid. Just because you think you’ve read everything doesn’t mean you have. How else would I know it was more than twenty million?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Amanda shrugged. “Maybe Jack Daniels likes to talk in bed. Didn’t think I knew about that, did you?”

“If I said I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Kathy asked hopefully, not really wanting to have this conversation where Jack could hear.

“I’d tell you I might be stuck in this house, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get a daily dose of gossip, and your name is on everybody’s lips. Of course, I figure that was the point, because God knows why else you’d pick up that man.”

That’s why she didn’t want to talk about Jack while he eavesdropped. She couldn’t very well go on about how hot the man was. That would only feed his ego, but if she told Amanda the truth, that she’d gone after him to pump him for information, Jack would probably rush right into the kitchen and start World War III with her. That left Kathy with nothing but an old, tired defense.

“It was the rum.” Kathy shrugged. “You know almost anybody looks good when you’re drunk.”

“You weren’t drunk.” Amanda shot that down with the confidence of somebody who had actually been present at the time. “I know you, Kathy. You picked him up because every woman has been panting after him and you like showing them all how it’s done.”

“Okay.” That sounded good and neutral to her. “You got me. I’m actually trying to become the whore everybody says I am. Speaking of, nobody told me that Will was in the club.”

“Oh please.” Amanda dismissed that accusation with a huff. “The evidence was so clearly planted.”

“There was evidence?” Kathy had only been teasing, assuming Amanda hadn’t been serious. Apparently, she had been.

“A journal or log or ledger says so.” Try as she might to make that sound irrelevant, Amanda’s words carried shocking weight. “I don’t know what it is because they won’t show me, but clearly it has to be fake. I mean, seriously, Will couldn’t
give
it away.”

“Maybe,” Kathy agreed, thought part of her did wonder. She hesitated to make that opinion known, though, afraid it would trigger Amanda’s temper. That didn’t need any help right then.

“I mean, hell—” Warming to her argument, Amanda’s voice rose as she lifted out of her chair. “I was impressed if Will remembered to bathe every other day, and you’d think a prostitute would have to at least be clean.”

Kathy choked on her coffee, not sure how to point out the stupidity of that statement. Not that she’d ever actually met a hooker, but Kathy had watched enough true-crime television to know that when it came to sex, a person got what they paid for. Some people were cheap, and they kept the drug-addicted streetwalkers in business. Kathy kind of figured Will fell into that class.

“And he never went anywhere,” Amanda pointed out. Jerking a box of cookies out of the cupboards, she used it to emphasize her next point. “A prostitute has to go out and find customers. I doubt Will would have even known where to go.”

Kathy did, too. Considering all the points Amanda made, she had to agree that her friend’s logic made sense. It also made it more obvious that Will would have needed an accomplice. An accomplice solved a lot of problems. Kathy had to figure that Amanda knew that, too.

“The only thing that makes sense is that somebody is framing Will.” Chunking the cookies onto the table, Amanda’s expression lightened as she paused. “You good with coffee or you want something else?”

“Coffee’s fine.”

Kathy’s assurance had Amanda refilling both mugs before she settled down. “It’s kind of like a forbidden treat for me. I have to sneak my coffee in ever since the brothers found out it wasn’t the best thing for pregnant women to drink.”

Kathy froze, her mind latching onto that last revelation. Turning it over and over didn’t clear any of her confusion, though Amanda seemed oblivious to Kathy’s shock. She just kept rambling on as she dumped one spoonful of sugar after another into her mug.

“And do you know how hard it is to wake up in the morning without any caffeine? I’m living in hell here.”

“You’re pregnant?”

“Huh?” Amanda blinked before scowling at her. “Oh, I figured Cindy’s definition of she wouldn’t tell anybody would include telling everybody. I guess she actually kept her mouth shut on this one and I was only joking.”

“Cindy knows?” The sharp indignation that flared with that revealing comment had Kathy stiffening up. “Does that mean Rosy knows, too? Am I the only one who doesn’t? Why am I always last to know things?”

“Please, you’re almost never last.” Amanda snorted. “And if Rosy knew, she’d have told the whole town already.”

“Well, this…this changes everything.” She’d been about to say how great the news was when it dawned on her that the timing couldn’t be worse.

“Oh, no. You’re breaking up with me.” Amanda flattened her hands on her chest in a melodramatic gesture she ruined seconds later by cramming a cookie into her mouth and talking around it. “Don’t worry, Kathy. I’ll always remember you fondly.”