Badge and a Saddle (Heroes in the Saddle Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

neighbors
sent a ranch hand over to handle the daily chores, charging them a ridiculously
reduced fee as a way of honoring Bennet’s contribution to the community during
his years as sheriff.
    Rex and Bennet
hired more help only when they needed it, but the herd grew smaller every year from
the lack of attention. His detective’s salary covered the costs but gave him
very little more to live on, much less make improvements on the ranch.
    Rex slowed and
stopped in front of the house, and slid out of the truck, leaving Mina
sleeping. Pretty, like a naughty angel with that messy red hair all sticking up
and uneven. Naughty angel? He shook his head. “Get that shit out of your
thoughts.”
    He stepped up onto
the porch, avoiding the long ramp that had been built to accommodate a medical
walker. The inside door stood open, so he knocked on the screen door.
    “Come on in,”
Bennet Cader’s voice called. “You own the place, so you don’t need to knock.”
    The voice made Rex
smile. He stepped inside and spotted Bennet pushing his walker toward him, the
brown slippers Rex had given him for his birthday sliding along the linoleum
floor. Only in his early sixties, the man had succumbed to a degenerative
disease that kept him unsteady and weak.
    “Good to see you,
boy.” Bennet’s voice shook a bit, but his smile lit his craggy face. Tall and
rail-thin, the man’s flannel shirt and jeans hung on him. He’d lost weight.
    “Bennet.” Rex took
the man in a hug and patted his back. “How are you doing?”
    Pulling back and
giving Rex a grin, the older man nodded, fast and excited. “Better, now that
you’re here. What’s the occasion? Ain’t my birthday again, is it?”
    “I brought
someone. Sleeping in the truck, now.” He gestured toward the front door. “But
it’s work this time.”
    Bennet glanced out
the door. “Work?” He wheeled himself past the kitchen table. “Sit, and I’ll
make coffee while you tell me the story.”
    Rex wouldn’t dare
offer to do it for him. The man had his pride. He took a seat and a deep
breath. “She’s a missing person.”
    Bennet turned, raising
an eyebrow. “Why are you handling this, and not the sheriff’s
department?” The man had been the county sheriff for twenty years before his
health forced him to retire. He was the reason Rex had joined the police force
and become a detective. That, and the prospect of incarcerating criminals like
the one who’d shattered Rex’s world when he was a kid.
    “Rex?” Bennet
hadn’t moved.
    “She’s from
Austin, disappeared there, and somehow this landed on us.” Rex had thought it
strange when the request had first crossed his desk. His partner had, too, but
then a few days later, Sontag had gone at the case with a gusto the veteran
hadn’t shown for very many cases. “I haven’t reported that I’ve found her yet.”
    Now Bennet’s other
brow shot up. “Not standard procedure. You got a reason for this?”
    “She doesn’t trust
the police. She claims they shot a man by the university, with not just one
police department involved, but possibly two or more.”
    “Yeah?” Bennet
turned back and worked on the coffee.
    Rex could almost
hear the gears turning in his mentor’s head, and would give him time to
process. He walked into the living room, which used to be the dining room.
They’d moved all the furniture in this room and turned the old living room into
Bennet’s bedroom when he couldn’t make the stairs any more.
    The television Rex
had given him the Christmas before had all the right cords and cables to hook
up her camera. “She has it on video, the shooting. Well, most of it.” If she’d
just kept the telescope steady, he wouldn’t be having these doubts surfacing.
    “Let’s take a
look.” Bennet stood behind him. The guy could sneak up on anyone, walker or no
walker. He was a consummate law professional.
    “If she’s not
awake in an hour, I’ll go get her.” He looked out toward his truck. How had