CHAPTER 23
Kenzie
“You lied to me.” I wasn’t interested in mincing words or wasting time. I’d found my father at his lavish office in the heart of downtown Missoula where he had an exquisite view of the mountains.
Including the area that had recently burned.
If you looked closely enough, you could see the scarred remains of the devastated section of forest, a blight that would take years for Mother Nature to rebuild.
All because someone was greedy.
I was positive I was on the right track. After returning to my parents’ ranch, I’d spent the better part of the morning going over the contracts for the stadium, the geological surveys the project had been required to undergo, and I’d also made a few calls to the Fire Department Bureau, hoping to talk directly to either the fire marshal or her assistant marshal. They were still in the field.
What I had learned after carefully pretending to be an attorney working for displaced owners was that arson had already been confirmed, mostly from finding a particular accelerant used on two devastating fires. While that was all I’d been provided given the ongoing investigation, it fueled ugly thoughts that my father was up to something other than bringing a rodeo into town.
While I’d found limited information on the fire in Dallas, the investigators had deemed the fire an act of arson. I’d put in a call to Dallas County’s fire inspector, again pretending to be someone I wasn’t in hopes of garnering information. I could be a little devious when necessary.
“What exactly have I lied about?”
“This for one.” I tossed a sheet of paper across his desk I’d had printed; the colorful social media ready announcement of the rodeo had already proven a powerful draw. I’d stopped by a coffee shop on my way to see my father and the people inside were all a-buzz about the event.
And about seeing Axe on a bull once again.
He barely looked down at the piece of paper, his smirk an indication he’d anticipated my pushback. “I told you the rodeo was important. You seemed on board last night.”
“I was very clear, Daddy, that I needed time to think about my participation.”
“You had twenty-four hours. When I didn’t hear from you, I assumed you were on board. I had no idea the television station was going to run the story. They didn’t get it approved by me.”
“Bullshit.” I slammed both hands onto his desk, feeling the burn of years of distrust and frustration with him. He waspositively gloating. “You knew exactly what you were doing. You discovered an opportunity with Axe because he saved my life. You ran with it without as much as asking whether Axe would be willing to help you. Trust me. He wouldn’t have been and won’t have anything to do with this charade now. Your plan backfired.”
When I leaned back, crossing my arms, he smiled as if he had something to use against me.
Or against Axe.
“He’s not good enough for you.”
“How many times do I need to say the same thing? You have no say in my life and as far as I can tell, Axe is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met in my life.”
“He’s just like his father.”
“How so, being honest? Caring about his family? You proved to me that you couldn’t care less about your own daughter. Why the hell am I here?” I closed my eyes, wishing I could just walk away.
“I do care about you, McKenzie. You don’t know the Beckett family like I do.”
“Is this about the stupid fire Axe accidentally set as a kid?” I could instantly tell my father had no idea what I was talking about. All this time, Axe had believed he was the reason for the feud. “You don’t remember.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Interesting. I shrank back, uncertain what to think. “You heard about the recent fire at the old mill, the one near Sterling Stadium?”
“Yeah, I heard something about it.”
“It was arson, Dad. Confirmed today. Just like another fire in Missoula. While I haven’t checked the location, what do you want to bet the fire behind the reason Will Beckett died has something to do with your great entertainment complex?” I studied him carefully, knowing from my childhood his telltale tics when he was fabricating a story. “What about the fire that destroyed the stadium in Dallas? You hear about that? My guess is no, but the timing is suspicious. Ordinarily, the rodeo events would already be laid out for next year. Likely the year after that, but gee whiz. Suddenly, a new stadium needs to be found.” What little I’d read about the Dallas location was that it had been around for a long time, on target for being renovated. And situated on a piece of very valuable land. My mind was already churning with possibilities for the reason the stadium might have been torched.
“Are you insinuating I had something to do with those fires?”
“I don’t know, Dad. Did you? If I did a deep dive into your finances, would I discover absolute corruption with this land development deal?”
