Second Chance Colton

Now that he thought about it, he’d never seen the man actually attend a Christmas party. The chief was fair and honest, but not exactly a pleasure to get along with.

Ryan put off calling Benson for a few minutes, giving himself time to nail down exactly what he would tell his boss when he called him. Benson preferred having the maximum amount of information delivered to him using the minimum number of words.

“‘You, too’ what?” Big J asked the moment he saw his son putting his phone away.

Caught off guard, Ryan could only eye his father quizzically. “What?”

“That person you called, the one you told to send that crime scene unit of yours out here, you said ‘me, too’ when he or she said something to you,” Big J said. “I’m just asking what you were talking about.”

He supposed it would do no harm to fill his father in on something that was innocuous. “The forensic expert said she was sorry you were going through this.” Okay, so he had reworded it, but he thought it might make the situation a bit more palatable for his father if Big J thought the head of the crime lab sympathized. “And just so you understand, it isn’t my crime scene unit. It’s the police department’s crime scene unit.”

“But you’re part of the police department, aren’t you?” his father pressed doggedly.

Ryan could see where this was going. Nonetheless, he played along. “You know I am.”

“Then it’s your crime scene unit,” Big J concluded triumphantly.

Ryan paused. It wasn’t very hard to read between the lines. “Dad, this isn’t a matter of you and I being on opposite sides of this investigation.”

Big J became defensive. “Yeah, I know. I was the one who called you and told you to come here in the first place, remember?”

“Yes, Dad,” Ryan replied, doing his best to remain patient, or at least to sound as if he was being patient. “I remember.” There were times when he wished he’d never left the Marines. He had a feeling that this would soon be one of those times. “I’m going to tape off the crime scene and then talk to Brett,” he told his father, knowing that the man wanted to be kept abreast of everything that was going on.

Though it was far from standard procedure, he was trying his best to keep Big J informed, hoping that would be enough to keep his father in the background rather than hovering front and center.

“But this is the bunkhouse,” Big J protested. “You can’t go ‘taping’ it off. I’ve got people sleeping here at night.”

He really felt as if they were butting heads at every turn. And the man wasn’t dumb. He knew better, yet he kept challenging him.

“You’re going to have to make other arrangements for them for the time being, Dad. I’ll try to get this processed as soon as possible, but until that happens, your ranch hands are going to have to sleep somewhere else.”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.