Free Hard Rain by B. J. Daniels Page A

alone, son,” Finn said as he got to his feet and started to walk past him.
    Brody grabbed his father’s arm, making Finn look at him with alarm. He’d never talked back, let alone laid a hand on the man who’d raised him.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, letting go. “But I’ve heard that my whole life. Don’t you think it’s time I knew the truth?”
    “The truth?” his father repeated, suddenly looking tired. “I’m not sure you want to hear that this woman you’ve taken a fancy for...”
    “Harper?” He couldn’t imagine what she could have to do with any of this. It had all happened so long ago.
    “Her grandfather, Senator JD Hamilton, killed your cousin as sure as I’m standing here. And now Maggie’s name will be dragged through the muck all over again. If this doesn’t kill my brother... I’m sorry, son, but the best thing you can do is stay away from Harper Hamilton.”
    “If it’s true and JD Hamilton killed Maggie, then why didn’t he go to prison for it?”
    His father sighed. “Even if we’d known then what he’d done with her, he would never have seen a prison cell. He was a senator who was in line for the presidency of the United States.”
    “You don’t know that. Still, if there had been any proof that something had even happened to her—”
    “You think he would have let any proof surface? Maggie’s killer went free. Just as his son will make sure that JD Hamilton’s reputation stays intact while Maggie’s is...” His voice broke. “Please, Brody, leave this alone. Leave Harper alone.” With that his father headed toward the shop his uncle had disappeared into earlier.
    Brody stood on the porch, shell-shocked by everything that had happened. He’d never heard his father talk like this. Finn loved America, the only home he’d known. Did he really believe there would be no justice for Maggie? Worse, did he paint Harper and her grandfather with the same brush?
    He balked at the idea, not wanting to believe it. Not wanting to let go of the hope that, as bad as it was, he and Harper might defy the odds and have a chance of a future. But hadn’t he known when he’d seen Maggie’s body buried on Hamilton land that their chances had gone from bad to worse? All he could think about was what this would do to Harper when the truth came out.
    Brody heard his father call out, “Flannigan?” and watched as his uncle came out of the shop and met his brother. He couldn’t hear what his father was saying. Flannigan had always seemed like a giant. His eyes welled with tears as he saw the big man stagger. Finn laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder as Flannigan bent his head and wept.
    * * *
    R USSELL LEFT M ILLIE Hansen staring unseeing out the window in the lounge and walked down the rest-home hallway. If Millie was in her right mind—even momentarily—then she believed that Dr. Ralph Venable had returned to the States.
    Since the doctor had sent Millie a postcard from Brazil after he’d left Montana, Russell was betting that he would do the same on his return. Apparently the doctor had been as fond of Millie as she had been of him. Dr. Venable wouldn’t know that anyone was onto him.
    The doctor had been working in a hospital in South America, assisted by a woman named Sarah Johnson. Russell’s Sarah. He thought of all the times he’d been afraid of what her past would reveal. And then it had turned out that there was no big secret. Except for the fact that Dr. Venable dealt in wiping away memories. He seemed to have done a great job on Sarah since, as far as Russell knew, she still hadn’t remembered those years.
    What Russell wanted to prove was that the real villain behind the brain wiping had been Sarah’s own husband, presidential candidate Senator Buckmaster Hamilton.
    Sarah was blind when it came to her former husband. She still loved him—a sentiment that could have been sublimated into her mind by Dr. Venable.
    Not that it mattered. Once Russell exposed Buckmaster,