Fatal Inheritance by Sandra Orchard Page B

at the quarry. She was upset enough.
    By the time Josh had gleaned every detail she could remember from the afternoon, Hunter had reappeared at the door. “The cameras didn’t pick up anything, but we got a couple of numbers for those phone calls. Last one was yours. The other three came from a cell phone, but the number couldn’t be traced.”
    “A pay-as-you-go?” Criminals’ phone of choice.
    “Yeah.”
    Josh rubbed his chin. “Could they tell how long ago the phone was activated?”
    “Yesterday.”
    Bec’s face blanched.
    Josh motioned for Hunter to give them some privacy. After the door closed behind his friend, Josh touched his finger under Bec’s chin and tipped her face toward him. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
    “Someone’s going to a lot of trouble to scare me off this property.”
    Josh searched her eyes. “Do you still think it’s your sister? That she hired someone to do this?”
    “It’s the only thing that makes sense, but I just can’t believe she’d go this far. I mean...those were real bullets!”
    Josh rubbed his palms up and down her upper arms. “Tell me about Neil.”
    She croaked out a laugh. “It couldn’t be him.”
    “From where I was standing, he looked like exactly the kind of guy who’d stoop to scare tactics to get what he wanted.”
    “We’re not even dating.”
    Josh dropped his hands to his sides. “Looked to me like that wasn’t his choice.”
    Her face flushed a bright red. “He accepted my decision.”
    “On the surface maybe. But deep down, I’m thinking he figured you’d eventually come to your senses. Only, now you’ve moved outside his sphere of influence, so to speak.”
    She shook her head vehemently. “He doesn’t own a gun. At least...I can’t imagine him owning one.”
    “They’re easy enough to come by.” Josh’s hand skimmed his own holstered weapon as he tried to tamp down his irritation that she was defending the guy.
    Her chin dropped to her chest. She reached out a trembling hand and ruffled Tripod’s fur. “I can’t believe he’d...He wouldn’t shoot a dog.”
    So she conceded that he might shoot off a gun to scare her into fleeing back to the city?
    Josh pressed his lips together to stop himself from saying it. He definitely needed to do a background check on the creep.
    The more he thought about it, a guy like Neil was exactly the type who’d take an interest in a collector’s item like the 1913 Cadillac parked in the barn, too. He’d probably snuck into town ahead of Bec and planted that note in the mailbox, then got caught nosing around the barn and panicked.
    “I was thinking...” Bec pushed the hair from her face and stiffened her spine. “Whoever made those calls must have been phoning to see if the place was empty so they could come back and steal the car.”
    “If he’d called once, maybe. But three times so close together? Not likely.”
    Her gaze drifted to an old family picture on the mantel of Bec and her sister. The muscles in her jaw flexed. Then suddenly she snatched up the phone.
    “Who are you calling?”
    “Sarah.”
    “I’m not sure that’s such a—”
    Wes, the officer directing the search, poked his head around the door. “Josh, can I have a word with you outside?”
    “Be right back,” he said to Bec. He joined the other officer on the porch. “What’d you find?”
    “Two possibilities. Seems your dog’s been ripping through the neighbors’ farmyards chasing cats. One of your neighbors said it wouldn’t be the first time a farmer’s taken a potshot at a roving dog.”
    “He say which farmer?”
    “Nope, but we found these in the dirt around the house.” Wes held out his palm.
    Josh examined the small hunks of metal. “Air-rifle pellets.”
    “Yup. Looks like our shooter was a kid playing around or someone who just wanted to scare the pup off.”
    “Or Becki.”
    Wes clapped his hand closed around the pellets. “My advice is that you keep your dog tied up and you won’t