Cowboy Truth: Cowboy Justice Association #3 by Olivia Jaymes

rash.”
    “That doesn’t explain the pizza.”
    “That’s just because I’m going to be hungry. I’ll meet you at my house at seven.”
    Logan turned and walked toward Wade, leaving Ava alone. She refused to let herself think about any sort of danger involved. She’d talked to policemen in her research and they’d told her the low rate of violence for most of them. Some went their entire careers and never discharged a weapon.
    Nothing was going to happen to her. Or anyone for that matter. Whoever killed Bill Bryson had done it for a reason. A reason that probably didn’t include killing anyone else. Corville didn’t have a serial murderer running around it.
    That would only happen in one of her books.
    *   *   *   *
    “You’re making Uncle George nervous. Can’t you lay off of him? He lost his brother for chrissake.” Wade rubbed the back of his neck. “He didn’t kill Dad.”
    Logan really wanted to believe that but George Bryson’s behavior post-murder wasn’t helping him in the least. He was putting up roadblocks at every turn, and Logan was already tired of the game.
    “Then tell him to stop acting like an asshole and start cooperating. He’s being evasive and difficult.”
    Wade winced at Logan’s plain speech. “He’s just upset. There’s no way he would have hurt Dad.”
    “So far he’s the last person to talk to your father. Do you know what they were talking about?”
    Wade looked away. “No, but it was probably business. You know how Dad was.”
    Logan didn’t like the shifty-eyed look his friend had just given him. What was it with the Bryson family? They’d circled the wagons and no outsider was going to be allowed to threaten them.
    “I know how Bill was. Business first always.” Logan tossed his beer into a nearby trash can. “Just tell George to start cooperating. No one wants to eliminate him as a suspect more than I do.”
    Logan spied Drake out of the corner of his eye and murmured some excuse to Wade, making a beeline for his best deputy.
    “Any news on ballistics?”
    Drake pulled his hat off and shook his head. “State lab said it’s going to be Wednesday before they have anything to tell us. They’re backed up but trying to make this a priority.”
    The state never made a small town’s problem a priority. Drake was his best deputy but hadn’t yet had to deal with the bureaucracy outside of Corville.
    “First lesson in dealing with the state lab? Never take your foot off their neck.” Logan grinned. “They’ll feed you all sorts of bullshit and then put your stuff to the back of the line.”
    Drake’s mouth turned up at the corners. “I’ll make sure I call tomorrow at least twice.”
    Logan slapped Drake on the back. “Put Jillie on it. She’s got contacts she can squeeze. Any good news?”
    “I was able to get the last three statements from the guest list. All of them left the wedding early and weren’t anywhere near the Bryson’s when it went down.”
    “Corroborating witnesses?” Logan watched as Mary Bryson, Lyle’s new wife, headed straight for Ava who was nursing what appeared to be the same glass of wine she’d had earlier. Mary had a determined look on her face. Ava’s posture stiffened, her lips pressed together, clearly not happy to deal with her sister.
    “They had a few drinks at Tommy’s bar and there were several witnesses including Tommy himself,” Drake replied, his gaze following Logan’s. “Ava Hayworth is a nice girl. I went to school with her although she was a year behind me. She’s smart too. She was president of the Drama Club.”
    Logan couldn’t think of a woman less prone to drama than Ava. He liked her calm demeanor even when looking at a dead body. Mary was currently shaking her finger in Ava’s face and a wave of protectiveness came over Logan unexpectedly. Ava rolled her eyes at her sister and looked to be handling things just fine, but he still didn’t like it one bit. Nodding his head at Drake, he