Defiance: A House Divided (The Defending Home Series Book 2) by William H. Weber Page A

potty humor.”
    Ann was off to the side, weeping quietly. Nicole saw her mom and began crying herself.
    “If Shane’s still alive,” Brooke began, choosing her words carefully, “then who did we bury?”
    “Could be anyone,” Colton said.
    Dale wasn’t so sure. “Not to get too graphic, but they needed to use someone recently dead.”
    “Also someone about the same height and weight as Shane,” Sandy added. Her days as a deputy were no doubt kicking in.
    “Then it sure as heck wasn’t any of the bikers I rode in with,” Zach assured them. “Those boys were grizzlies to a man.” He stopped himself. “Unless it was Hawkeye. He was killed minutes before the cartel attacked us.” His gaze shifted to Nicole. “What was the point of all this?”
    She sat with her arms crossed, not saying a word.
    “Give me ten minutes and I’ll get her talking,” Dannyboy said. Hawkeye had been his childhood friend and the thought of the cartel desecrating his corpse no doubt infuriated him.
    Dale would never allow that to happen, but decided to remain quiet. If empty threats would get Nicole talking, he was more than happy to indulge Zach’s young friend.
    Dannyboy stood up and made a threatening move toward Nicole, who stuck out her arms to shield herself. “He wanted what was rightfully his,” she said, spewing the words like they’d been trapped behind her lips for months, maybe even years.
    Dale looked on in stunned amazement.
    Her eyes met Dale’s and she struggled to hold his intense glare. “He loved you, Dale. Believe it or not, he loved you to death. He wanted you to be proud of him. Seemed nothing he ever did was good enough. Same went for your father. When Dale got the property, I guess for Shane that was a final slap in the face.”
    “So he decided to have us killed and take it for himself,” Dale shouted in disbelief.
    Nicole shook her head. “He made an agreement with Mayor Reid that you, my parents and myself were not to be harmed. Once you were cast out, we would run the well on the mayor’s behalf.”
    “And what about the rest of us?” Colton asked. Zach, Sandy and Dannyboy were just as eager to hear what she had to say.
    She shook her head, her eyes downcast.
    “We were as dead as dog meat,” Zach said, then turned to Duke. “No offense, ol’ boy.”
    Dale pivoted toward Ann, who was still crying, his voice soft, wounded, as he said, “Please tell me that you weren’t part of this.” Ann and Walter had become like parents to Dale and the thought of being betrayed by them was almost too much to bear.
    “They had nothing to do with this,” Nicole swore, seemingly relieved to be getting it out, but also visibly frightened with the looming prospect of punishment or even death.
    “So that time Shane took off in the pickup,” Dale began.
    “He’d gone to meet with Sheriff Gaines,” Nicole replied, hardly missing a beat. “To insist that he wouldn’t help them unless he guaranteed your safety.”
    “Oh, how noble,” Zach spat.
    Brooke’s eyes went wide. “And the goats? He poisoned them, didn’t he?”
    Nicole’s eyes closed as though anticipating a blow. “No, that was me.”
    Colton just shook his head. “This keeps getting better and better. Next you’re going to tell us one of you killed JFK.”
    Dale lifted his face, which had been buried in his hands. “So let me get this straight. We’d be turfed out to die and the two of you would carry on as if nothing had happened? Did you really think a principled man like your father would allow that?”
    “We didn’t think that far ahead, I guess.”
    “Of course you didn’t,” Dale went on. “But there’s one thing that isn’t adding up for me. Shane was far too lazy and frankly self-involved to conspire his way out a paper bag. Someone else had to be pulling the strings, putting ideas in his head, poisoning his mind even more.”
    Nicole hid her face in her hands and wept, rocking back and forth. But even Dale could see