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“I found the car in town, but nobody was around. My guess is they had another vehicle waiting and ditched it,” Coy said as they all sat around the table. The car came back stolen from Oklahoma, and the plates were stolen from a different rig from the other end of Texas.”

“That car had a purpose, and it wasn’t a good one,” Kenzie added.

Rip looked at Devyn, “So this was an attempt on a hit. No accident.”

“We don’t have proof, but how could it not be at this point?” Coy asked.

“Sis, I don’t think you should leave anymore,” Nash said, landing a comforting hand on Devyn’s shoulder. “I don’t like how this is going.”

“I’m pretty content just staying right here on the ranch,” Devyn said, holding the kitten they’d rescued as she fed it a bottle. “Besides, this little lady needs round-the-clock care. You don’t suppose she was part of the plan, do you?”

“I doubt it.” Coy grinned. “They didn’t really need to lure you with a cat to do what they were trying to do. And to be fair, they were likely aiming for any one of us.”

“Well, coincidence or not, she’s either the reason I was in danger or the reason I was lucky,” Devyn said, kissing the top of the kitten’s head.

“Danger’s a good name. Suits her.” Rip said as the kitten tried to make his way to Diesel, whose curious head was in Devyn’s lap while Rip was working diligently on a computer. “I’d watch him close with her.”

“Aw, Diesel’s a good boy. I think he likes her.” Devyn said.

Rip snorted, “Yeah, as a snack, maybe.”

“He’d never…” Devyn rubbed his nose, and Diesel quickly pulled his head away from her touch and used it to push the kitten back up to Devyn’s chest. “See? He’s protecting her.”

Rip watched Diesel, gentle as can be, “You’re going to untrain all the tough shit right out of him.”

“Nah. He’s still a tough guy on the outside. He just has a gentle soul. Common theme around here.” She said, looking around the room.

“Right.” Coy said, rolling his eyes, “I did a sweep, and there aren’t any cameras anywhere in this damn town. Whoever was behind the wheel today had just enough of a jumpstart on me to get into a different rig and disappear. For all I know, I drove right by them and wasn’t the wiser.”

“Dashcam,” Rip said. “My rig has one. I’ll download the footage and run it. See if anything hits.”

“It’s worth a look, but I don’t recall seeing but maybe a couple of other vehicles, and a couple were people I knew that have lived here as long as we have.”

“Still might be worth a look, though,” Dillon said. “Get me the footage. I’ll do the analyzing. I’ll know who’s local and who isn’t.”

“Did anyone else find the timing of that car suspicious?” Kenzie asked.

“Like maybe our friend Ellis Steele gave them the heads up were on the move?” Coy asked.

“Bingo.”

“Yeah, I thought about that too. We have his phones being monitored. Anything comes out of that office, we’ll know it. As of right now, it doesn’t appear there was a call made or message sent.” Coy shared.

“You have a warrant for that, right?” Devyn asked.

“Of course.” Coy winked, then looked at Ransom, “He’s the warrant.”

“Perk of the job.” Ransom teased. “Actually, they don’t need me. This is all on the up and up, Dev.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” She shook her head, “I’m supposed to uphold the law, and here we are, sitting around the table, breaking it left and right. You all might land in a jail cell before the bad guy gets ya.”

“Not a chance,” Coy said. “He’s right. We have… legal authority.”

“Who the hell are you?” Devyn asked. “That’s a lot of authority .”

“Someone with a lot of responsibility… and authority,” Coy said, looking over Rip’s shoulder. “We logged in yet?”

“Almost. Killion is getting us in. Something about back doors and trojan horses.” Rip replied. “I never understand the geek talk. Just know what to do once he gets me in.”

Coy turned to Charlotte, “You’re sure you want to do this? It’s not too late to back out. I assure you that you will not feel any consequences, either way, but if your conscience…”

Charlotte put her hands up, “Stop right there. I believe in good character and a strong moral compass, and this fits that bill. I’m happy to help y’all out. Delilah was a good one, and I want to help bring justice in her name.”

“Fair enough,” Coy said.

“We appreciate this, darlin’,” Nash went on. “I know the decision wasn’t made lightly. Hacking into your companies servers and hunting down medical records and bills for our Mama… well, there isn’t thanks enough.”

“Listen. Somethin’ was bothering her for quite a while, and the more I’ve learned here in the past several days, the more I have to think we’re about to unbury whatever that was. I would hate to think she wasn’t resting in peace.” Charlotte continued, “She deserves peace, and not all of these questions about her final days looming over her legacy.”

“How are you that nice?” Devyn asked. “I really don’t get it.”

“Kindness goes a long way, sugar.” Charlotte winked, “And I really dislike assholes, and I’m starting to think there were quite a few haunting her as much as they’re haunting you all.”

Devyn looked to Dillon, “Did she just say asshole? I swear I just heard sugar dumplin’ buns over there say asshole.”

Dillon nodded, “She did indeed, and somehow even that word sounded sweet coming out of her mouth.”

“I think I like her,” Devyn whispered.

Dillon snickered, “I think we all do.”

“Here you go,” Rip said, turning the laptop in Charlotte’s direction, “Does that look familiar?”

Charlotte nodded and rubbed her hands together mischievously, “That’s our system, alright. Why is this so thrilling when I know it’s so bad?”

“Because being bad is fun, sweetheart.” Nash winked. “How long does she have?”

“Not long.” Rip said, “Get it all and get out as quick as you can. If we’re getting too close to a problem, I’ll get a heads up.”

“I’ll grab the itemized billing statements, payment receipts, and insurance transactions first,” Charlotte said as she went to work on the computer. “Then, I’ll grab her medical records, though I do advise that maybe you just stick those away unless you absolutely need to know something.”

“I appreciate your concern for our Mama’s privacy, but I think she would understand why we were doing this. Besides, we already know she had cancer.” Coy shared.

“I understand that, but I mean… it might be hard to read. The doctor notes. Radiology reports. It’s all very detailed and presents a very specific… timeline, if you will.” Charlotte said as delicately as possible.

“Like a roadmap to her decline and ultimate death,” Nash muttered under his breath.

“You can hold your loved ones’ hand through the entire thing and think you’ve lived it with them… until you read those documents. I don’t know why, but it’s…”

“I can only imagine.” Devyn cut her off, sensing the emotion building in Charlotte’s voice. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

Charlotte nodded, her eyes never leaving the screen, “I do. My sweet Mama had a similar battle. And even with my experience, those records were rough. Like reliving it all over again. I don’t particularly advise it.”

“You’re up,” Coy said, sharing a computer with Nash. “This should get you into Mama’s account you were paying on with the information you used to make those deposits on the loan.”

“How?” Nash said as if the computer was foreign to him. “Don’t I need her social security number or a password?”

“Not at all. Just the account number on which you made payments. Looks like there were a couple of accounts attached to her.” Coy said, “Either of these look familiar? We can’t see anything but the account number right now, and we get this wrong; we set off a lot of alarms that will be tough to shut off because financial institutions don’t mess around.”

“I thought you said there wouldn’t be any consequence here…” Nash nervously questioned. “I’m not trying to catch felonies of any kind.”

“And that will land you dozens of them.” Devyn chimed in.

“Thanks. That was helpful.” Coy sneered. “You won’t be liable, Nash. I’m just saying it’s best if we don’t sound those alarms. You good?”

“I’m good. Let’s just get it over with.” Nash said. “Let’s do this.”

The group stayed at the table together for longer than anyone cared to admit, hunting for answers everywhere they could. With multiple downloaded files safely stored and just as many printed stacks of paper, they closed the computers, and everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“That loan didn’t pay for the cancer,” Coy grunted. “Just as we suspected.”

Nash flipped through pages of medical bills, shaking his head, “Not even a little bit. I can’t believe this is how much there is left to pay. How do people afford this?”

“They don’t,” Charlotte said. “It’s unfair, really, like putting a price on life.”

“And in this case, there’s a large sum due, and she didn’t even get a second chance at life.” Nash tossed the papers on the table in frustration. “Dying is expensive.”

“I think we should have the itemized bills further analyzed.” Coy continued.

“You think she was charged incorrectly?” Charlotte asked, “I can help if…”

“Not exactly.” Coy interrupted. “I think we need to make sure she got all the treatment she needed and nothing extra.”

“Extra?” Charlotte questioned, awareness washing over her, “Oh, you think… Oh my…”

“Care to fill us in?” Devyn huffed.

“I think what your brother is eluding to is… what you all would consider… foul play?” Charlotte swallowed hard, nearly choking on her words. “I, uh, I can help you sort that out. I’m not an expert, but I’m the closest one you probably have here. And, like I said before, you probably shouldn’t read the chart notes unless absolutely necessary. It can be heartbreaking.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Coy nodded. “You find anything out of the ordinary –– bring it up. We have people who can dig deeper if we give them a starting point. I don’t want to exhaust resources on a gut feeling.”

“Understood.” Charlotte’s eyes welled up, “Just the thought of…”

Nash covered her hand with his, “I know, honey. We all know.”

When a single tear escaped her, Dillon spoke up, “Charlotte, no matter what you find in there, know that we don’t hold you accountable. If something was done maliciously…”

Charlotte nodded vigorously and swiped the tear away as if she’d dug deep and found a new source of strength, “I know. I can’t say it would sit right with me for obvious reasons, but I understand. Please… let me help you with this.”

Coy quickly glanced at each of the siblings and nodded, “Thank you, Charlotte.”

“The other thing we need to dig into, Coy, is these financials. If that money didn’t go toward her treatment, where did it go, and why?” Kenzie asked. “I know we still have a lot of unanswered questions, making it hard to determine what applies and what doesn’t, if anything, but I think it’s pretty clear now these things are all connected, and Lilah had many secrets that she was juggling, all the way to her grave.”

“It’s a fair conclusion,” Coy said. “It’s so out of character for her, but then, she even kept the cancer from all of us until she couldn’t any longer. There’s a lot about our mother, none of us knew. Not even you, Nash, and you spent the most time with her in her final year.”

“I hate to say it, but she did seem different. Stressed. Anxious. On edge. Quiet. I just assumed it was the cancer.” Nash said, “In hindsight, I can see there being much more to that than just being ill, and I wish I saw it for what it was.”

“The secret that killed her?” Devyn deadpanned.

Coy put up a hand to stop the speculation from getting out of control, “Hold on, we don’t know…”

“Sure, we do,” Devyn replied, her words full of pain and sorrow. She didn’t trust me, changed her will, and took out loans that could rob us of the only home any of us have ever known…”

“We won’t let that happen. The debts are large, I’ll admit, but we aren’t going to lose this place –– we have some money…” Dillon started.

“As do I…” Coy chimed in.

“I wish I did, but I already put it toward this place. I don’t have much left.” Nash admitted.

“You’ve done more than your share already, brother.” Cut shared. “Nora and I have put away a fair amount, and it can all go toward this place. It’s our legacy and…”

“You’re all missing the point.” Devyn chuckled maniacally as if the joke was on them, and she was the only one who got the punchline. “She lied to us. All of us. Even if only by omission. We inherited a lot of debt, medical bills, property, and shell companies we can’t even unravel and access, and the biggest inheritance of all… her secrets. Secrets that have us all huddled here like a damn compound because someone, or something, got rid of her, that wasn’t the cancer, and we’re all next.”

“Dev…” Coy began, but she wasn’t listening any longer.

“No. There’s nothing you can say that changes the facts,” Devyn stood from her chair, “She lied. Left us in danger. Didn’t trust any one of us or respect us enough to warn us of… of… anything. Just hung us out to… die. That’s who Delilah Stone was. The real Delilah Stone. You all can keep defending her. Feel bad for her. But I, for one, am done. I have no idea who our mother really was, and I don’t care any longer. I just… I just want…”

“Devyn, you don’t mean that.” Dillon corrected.

“I do, Dill.” Devyn looked around the space from person to person and then beyond. “None of this is real. It’s all a lie. One big fat fucking lie, and if you all don’t get your heads together on this, you won’t survive this any more than she did.”

Devyn marched out of the room, her kitten in hand and Diesel on her heels, but Rip stopped her at the doorway.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Anywhere but here.” She tried to push past him, but Rip didn’t budge. “Get out of my way, or I’ll shoot you again.”

“ Where … are you going?” he growled.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m headed for the barn. There’s a punching bag in there unless you’d rather play the part yourself.”

Rip stepped aside.

“Great. I’m allowed to go. You sure it isn’t too dangerous? I’d hate to be shot at or run down on my way out there.” She scanned the room, and nobody made eye contact. “Great. You know where you find me.”

Devyn marched out of the room unopposed, leaving a deafening silence in her wake.

“Jesus. How did this happen?” Coy asked under his breath. “Especially given our line of work, Dill.”

“I don’t know. I guess we were a little too confident. We saw what we wanted to see: our sweet mother and our family home being run just as it always has without a hitch.”

“She’s not wrong,” Cut said. “We really didn’t know who our mother was. At least in the last year or so.”

“And with her mixed in the pictures on that lawyer’s wall today,” Coy added. “I believe Devyn’s right. We didn’t have a fucking clues who our mother was.”

“Or did we?” Nash defended. “Maybe she was still exactly who we knew her to be, navigating something bigger than her, the best she could… alone. Maybe we were the problem. That’s an awful lot for her to do unnoticed. What does that say about us?”

“I agree.” Cut sighed. “Until we found out she was sick, we all just sort of went about our business, focused on our own lives.”

“I know I’m an outsider looking in, but I think I’m the closest an outsider can get and have a little perspective, but isn’t that how it’s supposed to be? You’re all adults. You’re supposed to live your own lives, as was she. It isn’t like you missed something right in front of you,” Kenzie shared, “Lilah hid something –– something pretty big it seems –– from all of you. You guys are all good at what you do, but she was clearly better. Instead of blaming yourselves for becoming exactly who she raised you to be or blaming her for wanting to protect you from something, how about we look at this with a new set of eyes…”

“I agree and couldn’t have said it better.” Nash interrupted. “Just because she kept us in the dark doesn’t mean she intended to forever. Perhaps she just ran out of time, and really, at this point, does it even matter? Figuring out why she didn’t tell us what was happening doesn’t solve the mystery at hand.”

“Unless it does, Nash,” Coy said. “Maybe breaking down what Delilah was up to and why she kept it so quiet will help us solve whatever the hell this chaos is around us. One kind of goes with the other, ya know?”

“Sure. But the new perspective needs to be that she did this out of love or just leave the emotion out of it all altogether. We keep coming at this thing as Mama did something hurtful. Who was she, and why were we so damn blind is nothing more than a distraction.”

“Look who’s the smart one now.” Coy grinned. “You’re… right, and I can’t believe I’m saying that.”

“I guess we know who the wise one is among us.” Cut laughed. “And… he’s right.”

“Maybe,” Nash went on, “Instead of blaming Mama and feeling… hurt. We should take the time to get to know her.”

“With all due respect, isn’t it a little late for that?”

“Not at all, Kenzie. Mama’s all around this place.” Nash rebutted. “Everywhere we look…”

“We need to reconnect with her,” Coy said.

“And follow the money, big brother.” Nash winked.

“And that.”