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The jangle of her cell phone, which she’d slipped into her lab coat, startled her She snatched it up and glanced at the display name

“Tori, what is it?” Natalie felt as if she were struggling for air

“I just spoke with the sheriff According to him, Slade had a semiautomatic assault rifle, a Barrett” Tori’s voice was taut with strain “It should be in his gun safe I know Beau had to open the safe to find your shotgun Think carefully Did either of you handle that rifle?”

“I didn’t, but Beau did” Natalie’s throat tightened with each word “He lifted it out of the safe and put it back”

“Then I’ve got bad news Slade was most likely killed with that kind of weapon Sky found the bullet and casing at the scene The sheriff ’sby to collect the one you have Try to stall theet there”

“Tori, they just left” Natalie felt her knees giving way She sank onto the arun, and it’ll have Beau’s prints on it”

“There’s no way the ballistics will loomy faces Tori, Will, Sky, and Jasper had joined him in the ranch house parlor to discuss the latest development in the murder case “They’ll run the routine tests, compare the bullets, and that will be the end of it”

“But that could take time,” Tori said “The nearest ballistics lab is in Lubbock, and I know for a fact they’re backlogged Meanwhile, the sheriff and the DA will be building their case against you any way they can”

“What the hell kind of case can they build against an innocentat anybody else? Like that bartender?”

“About that bartender” Beau had heard back froreat news, but he had to share what he’d learned “They ran facial recognition on Sky’s photos and got a hit His real name is Nick Tomescu He’s in the database for so and possession but no violence involved Back in Jersey he was a runner for the Ruot busted, which may be part of why he’s holed up in the boondocks under an alias”

“But can he shoot?” Jasper demanded

“Nobody seems to know He has no ed to keep it off the books”

“So he’s not a great candidate for our shooter, but we can’t rule him out,” Sky said

“At least h,” Beau said “Here’s another tidbit they dug up The ether—same mother, different fathers”

“So ither,” Torihim”