ShotgunRelations by Ann Jacobs

running a ranch and her husband’s been dead for years.
She admitted to me last night that she’d let Frank know about Karen and Bye’s
wedding several days beforehand.”
    Jack thought for a minute before he
replied. “Frank doesn’t impress me much but I wouldn’t go quite so far as to
accuse him of rustling. I know he’s been the Laughing Wolf’s foreman since Liz
was a kid. She trusts him—so much so that she lets him walk all over her at
times.”
    “I know. Mavis leans on him even more than
Liz does. I told her what I suspect and asked her to be careful around the
man.”
    Jack recalled hearing Liz tell Sheriff
Atkins that Frank had neglected to mention having hired and fired employees
around the time the Laughing Wolf had lost cows from a pasture where nothing
had been cut and the gate had remained locked. “You may be right. Have you
talked to Atkins or somebody from the Rangers’ task force about this?”
    “No. That’s my question for you. If I
report my suspicions and they’re wrong, will Williams have a case against me
for slandering him?” Four stood and paced the length of Jack’s small office,
stopping to peer out the window toward the street. “I’d ask Karen, but I don’t
want to interrupt her and Bye’s honeymoon.”
    “Frank could sue you in civil court.
Anybody can sue anybody over anything if they feel like it. Whether or not he’d
win would be another story. I’d argue, if I were defending a case like you
describe, that the accusation was made to law enforcement with the intent of
helping to uncover a ring of rustlers. Most judges would dismiss a suit like
that, but if the plaintiff insisted on a jury trial anything could happen.”
Jack flipped on his computer and reviewed an abstract of the Texas statutes on
character defamation. “Here’s what the law says.
    “‘To prove defamation of character in
Texas, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant made a false statement
to a third party about the plaintiff with the required degree of fault. The
amount of fault required differs depending on whether the statement is about a
public official, a public figure or a private individual.’”
    Four turned around and looked at the
screen. “Stop quoting the law and tell me in plain English what this means.”
    “You’d be accusing a private individual, so
Frank wouldn’t need to prove that you made the false derogatory statements with
malice, only that you accused him negligently. In other words, you accused him
based on nothing more than unfounded suspicion. If I were you, I’d share my
doubts about his innocence with the task force people but nobody else.”
    “I see. How much do I owe you for this
fifteen minutes of your time?”
    “Nothing. First visits are free, not just
for you but for everybody who comes in here. If you’re ready to go, I’m going
to lock up and drive out to the Laughing Wolf. I’ve got a feeling Liz is going
to need some moral support.”

Chapter Five
     
    “You told Sheriff Atkins that I lied,”
Frank said, his face beet-red and his fists clenched by his sides as though he
wanted to use them on her.
    Liz met his gaze. “No I didn’t. I told him
you must have forgotten about the three new men that came on and the two we
fired around the time the cows were taken. Don’t look at me that way.”
    “They think I may have been involved now.
Me, after I’ve spent almost fifteen years babysittin’ you and your mama since
your daddy died.”
    About to agree that she shouldn’t have told
Sheriff Atkins, Liz hesitated when Jack strode into the barn, stopped beside
her and put his arm around her waist. How had he known she needed his strength
at just this moment?
    Frank stepped back as though he expected to
be attacked. “Stay out of this, lawyer. You don’t own this place just because
you’re fucking Liz.”
    Moving with catlike grace, Jack strode
forward and grabbed Frank by the front of his shirt, lifting him until the toes
of his scuffed