Page 145 of Rangers Unexpected Return

“Then you should’ve said that.”

“Mace.” Judy’s voice was calm. “Hold him there.”

“With pleasure.”

Evan struggled once.

I tightened my grip.

“Do it again,” I warned him.

He stopped moving.

Trigger stood in front of Rylie, one hand near his weapon. Sheriff Tate moved closer and pulled Evan’s shirt away from his waistband.

“No gun,” he said.

I searched Evan carefully before removing a phone from his back pocket.

“That’s what I was reaching for,” Evan snapped.

“You reached behind your back while everyone in the room thought you might be connected to seven murders,” Judy said. “That was a poor decision.”

“No kidding,” I muttered.

Robert Mills’s voice came through the speaker of Judy’s phone.

“What’s happening? Judy?”

She picked it up from the table. “Your brother is standing inside Sheriff Tate’s house.”

“That’s impossible.”

“No, it isn’t. Sheriff Tate has known Evan since he was born. So has Rylie. They’re both looking at him.”

Sheriff Tate folded his arms. “It’s Evan.”

Rylie stepped around Trigger. “I know what he looks like.”

Robert said nothing.

The silence stretched long enough that even Max stopped growling.

Judy’s expression changed.

She wasn’t confused anymore.

She was angry.

“You didn’t know where your brother was,” she said.

“I told you. He called me from our father’s cabin.”

“No. You said he had been there since yesterday.”

“That’s what he told me.”

Judy’s gaze settled on Evan. “Then why did you state it as a fact?”