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"Justice?" His father let out a laugh. "For years I chased down the bad guys and did my best to get them taken off the street. The Kirk brothers are just one example. Those boys should have been locked up. Instead, because of overcrowding in corrections, they got probation for the first offense and saw very little jail time for the second. The law put them back on the street and they ended up killing Judge Randolph. I saw them come running out of his house, no matter what you believe."

"You sure you didn't see a chance to get Ty and Mason Kirk off the streets for good?"

Brick shook his head sadly. "You're wrong, but let me ask you this. This murder you got on your hands, what if you find out who killed her but you can't prove it? You think you'll be able to pass that killer on the street every day knowing he did it and him thinking he got away with it?"

"We aren't talking about the Kirk brothers now, are we."

Brick took a drink of his root beer. "Just hypothetical, son."

"Right before he was killed five years ago, Judge Randolph was threatening to have you fired from your job," Hud said. "He seemed to think you'd been playing fast and loose with your position of power."

"Five years ago, I was getting ready to retire, you know that. What would I care if the judge got me fired?"

"If you'd gotten fired, you would have lost your pension," Hud said.

Brick laughed. "And you think I'd kill someone for that measly amount of money?" He shook his head still smiling as if he thought this was a joke.

"Maybe the judge had something on you that would have sent you to jail."

He laughed again. "Hell, you would have gotten the marshal job if I had gone to jail."

Hud knew now that he'd only taken the deputy job to show his father. Brick had been dead set against it and done everything he could to keep Hud out of the department. But his father was right about one thing, Hud would have been up for marshal in the canyon.

"Tell me something," Hud said. "Why were you so dead set against me being a deputy?"

"I knew what kind of life it was. I didn't want that for you. Maybe I especially didn't want it for Dana. I know how much your mama hated me being in law enforcement. Isn't it possible that I was trying to protect you?"

It was Hud's turn to laugh. "I think you were protecting yourself. You knew I'd be watching you like a hawk. I think you were worried I'd find out what the judge had on you."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but the judge had nothing on me. In fact, he was about to be removed from the bench," Brick said. "He had Alzheimer's. He was losing his mind. His allegations against me were just part of his irrational behavior."

Hud stared at his father. Could that possibly be true?

Brick picked up their empty glasses and took them to the sink. "I'll admit I've made my share of mistakes," he said, his back to Hud. "I thought you only took the deputy job to prove something to me. I didn't want you following in my footsteps for the wrong reasons."

Hud had taken the job for all the wrong reasons. But law enforcement must have been in his blood. It had turned out to be the right career for him.

His father turned to look back at him. "Did you know your mother wanted me to go into business with her father? She married beneath her. We both knew it. Everyone told her she could do better than me. She just wouldn't listen. She thought I'd change my mind once you were born." He turned back to the sink.

Hud stared at his father's back, thinking about the things his mother used to say about Brick. She'd been angry at her husband as far back as Hud could remember. Now he wondered if a lot of that anger and resentment hadn't stemmed from Brick not going to work for her father. Had she been embarrassed being married to a small-town marshal?

Brick shut off the water and dried his hands. "I know you think I killed your mother, not cancer. Maybe I did. Maybe her disappointment in me caused the cancer." He stood against the sink, looking small and insubstantial. "I was sorry