Wyoming Tough - Diana Palmer [55]
“Hell, I appreciate what you’ve done,” Cane said. “You’ve got the business head. Tank may be the marketing specialist, and I do like showing off our bulls at cattle shows with a little help from our cowboys who travel with me, but you’re the one with the genius to know where to put the money so that it will grow. That’s no mean feat in a flat economy.”
“I had help. Our stockbroker is the genius. I just followed his suggestions.” He looked worried. “Who could have taken that egg?” he wondered aloud. “And when did it go missing?”
“I don’t know. Sometime between the time that Morie left and you found the key. The question is, who had the key and the opportunity to get into the cabinet?”
“Couldn’t have been a break-in,” Mallory said, thinking out loud. “Not with our security system in place.”
“And I’d bet my stock portfolio on Mavie’s honesty,” Tank added.
Mallory nodded. “So would I. Her former boss isn’t the sort to suffer a thief any more than we are. She was with him for twenty years until he had to give up his ranch and retire, leaving her unemployed. She’s been a welcome addition to our staff.”
Cane pursed his sensual lips. “Bates, maybe?” He was thinking out loud. “He was the one who claimed to see Morie playing with the egg. Interesting, because Darby says she kept her door closed anytime she was in the bunkhouse, and she kept it locked.”
“Suspicious,” Mallory said flatly.
“A woman in a bunkhouse full of men would lock her door,” Cane shot back. “Especially one like Morie. Darby told me that she lived off campus when she was in college, because she refused to live in a coed dorm even if the whole world thought it was all right.”
His eyebrows arched. “She could have been lying.”
“Why do you think she lied in the first place?” Cane demanded. “Because Gelly said she did?”
“Let’s not bring Gelly into this,” Mallory said defensively. “I’m very fond of her.” He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets. “She’s having all sorts of financial problems because her father made bad investments.” He shrugged. “Maybe I should marry her….”
“I’m leaving the day she comes in the door,” Cane said harshly. “And Tank will go with me.”
“In a heartbeat,” Tank agreed. “We’ll take our share of the ranch profits with us,” he added in a cold tone. “You and Gelly try staying afloat financially with only a third of the land and cattle!”
“You wouldn’t do that,” Mallory returned, wounded.
“I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Tank assured him with flashing brown eyes.
“So would I,” Cane agreed. “I’m not living with Gelly.”
“What has she ever done to make you two so hostile?” Mallory exclaimed, exasperated.
Cane looked at Tank. “Blind as a bat.”
“And stubborn as a mule,” Tank agreed. “Can’t tell pyrite from gold.”
“Morie stole the egg,” Mallory roared. “She took it and hid it in her rucksack and was going to sell it!”
“Sure.” Cane took the fake egg in his hand and showed it to Tank. “And she replaced it with this one after we put it back in the cabinet,” he added with a droll look at his brother. “Of course, she was on her way home in a bus at the time. I guess it’s magic.”
Tank nodded. “And funny thing, the key reappeared in Mal’s coat pocket.”
“How convenient.”
“Gelly couldn’t have taken the egg,” Mallory said doggedly, answering a charge they hadn’t made verbally. “She hasn’t ever been alone in here!”
“We had a conference call from the state cattlemen’s association committee on grazing,” Cane reminded him. “All three of us went into the office to take it. Mavie was in the kitchen cooking dinner and Gelly was in here alone. As soon as we came back, she said she had an urgent matter to attend to in town.”
Mallory felt sick. “It couldn’t be her,” he protested, but it was a weak protest.
“If you believe her innocent, let’s prove it,” Cane said. “I know the best private detective in the business, Dane Lassiter from Houston. Let me have him do