Whew, updated this one too! Hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading and the feedback!

Matt had gotten up early that morning with the sunlight that streamed over the ranch, caressing it before it would intensify into another scorcher. The humidity had picked up as well promising that the monsoons that hit the parched region this time each year were on their way.

He had gone on a shorter run, and then showered before he had been set to drive to his meeting with Jack, who he had called the previous day. C.J. had also gotten up earlier to go with Roy to look at the horses that Bo and Lamar had been taking care of while the rest of them had been in L.A. He knew that she needed the time spent away from her own worries to pursue some other activity and she had always enjoyed working with young horses, training them and breaking them to saddle in the gentle but persuasive style that had defined her in wrangling.

He smiled as he thought it had defined her in other ways as well. His cheeks flushed a nice shade of pink amid his skin tanned by time spent in the sun when he thought of those ways. He had been watching her surreptitiously while trying to fend off Nadine at the Wrangler and he had wanted to crack a pool cue over Zeke's head when he put his hands on her rather than just slam his sorry ass against the wall. But C.J. had wrangled some useful information out of him about his relationship with Dylan's wife.

Nadine…well she had just been Nadine. Coming onto him just as she always did even though her husband had just been found dead not long before. He really didn't know yet how long she had at least suspected that he had run into foul play and hadn't just skipped out on her when he disappeared.

And C.J. well she had kept him at arm's length but he had plied a few kisses out of her while they had been relaxing on the chaise before they had headed off to bed…separately. He knew that she hadn't really wanted to spend the night alone but the uncertainty of her future at least as far as she had been concerned had made her reticent about her present. He would just have to convince her that she wasn't going down for Dylan's murder, wasn't spending the rest of her life in some dark prison cell and that together they would search for the real killer until they found him.

Or her.

Because maybe there were more than a few women who had passed through Wild Fork who had wanted to kill him. After all, he sensed that C.J. had been included in that category at some time but he just knew she didn't go out and do it. Wanting to and doing so were two entirely different things, something that had been drummed into Matt many a time during his investigative career.

Matt got out of his car and walked into the local office that Jack frequented on occasion although he spent most of his time in his larger headquarters. He had grown up like Matt in this town and they had attended school together, though Matt spent most of his time not studying or not toting a football on the ranch while Jack had spent most of his spare time learning politics from his daddy…and often from Matt's as well.

The secretary greeted him and told him that after finishing up a phone call, Jack would see him. Matt looked around the office and saw pictures of his friend posing with various dignitaries including several that he recognized. Not to mention members of the town's own political circle that seemed unchanged from one generation to the next, being passed down from father to son.

Matt had just been thankful that college and then the military had freed him from the tight hold that the town might have had on him otherwise. Jack walked out and smiled when he saw Matt, holding out his hand.

"It's been a long time," he said.

Actually it had been less than five years but Matt understood what he had meant. That time passed more slowly in small towns like this barely on the map while in metropolises like where Matt lived, it sped by too quickly to believe.

"I'm sorry to hear about your dad," Jack said, "You have my condolences."

Matt nodded.

"How's your father doing," he said.

"Still going strong but he's finally ceded his spot to his son."

Matt followed Jack into his office.

"You're here about C.J.'s case, aren't you?"

"They arrested her in L.A. in the office," he said, "and extradited her quickly here even though they had only discovered Dylan's body barely a month earlier."

Jack scratched the back of his neck as he gestured for Matt to sit down.

"Well in this case, the evidence pointed to her," he said, "I wish it didn't but there you have it."

Matt just stared at him.

"Evidence," he said, "All they found was the necklace."

"That's true…at least until the DNA results come in," Jack said, "You might not like to hear this and lord knows I don't like saying it, but it looks like she killed Dylan."

"Why would she do that?"

Jack sighed.

"You don't know about the two of them?"

Matt leaned back in his chair, checking out all of the certificates and awards given to Jack hanging on the wall. Mixed in were several photos that looked like they were family captured at various social events.

"How's the wife doing," Matt asked, "Eloise, her name is, isn't it?"

Jack nodded.

"Wife and kids are doing great," he said, "They're on the coast at the summer house."

"And you're here working…"

"Well Matt, I've got the Dylan case and several others," he said, "No rest for the D.A. until people stop committing crimes."

"People like C.J."

Jack sighed again.

"Matt, she was the last one seen with Dylan," he said, "and they weren't acting friendly towards each other."

"That makes sense because she didn't like him Jack and he wouldn't leave her alone."

"Nadine his wife said that she pursued him," Jack said, "although she's been known to exaggerate on some matters."

Matt wondered how Jack had reached that assessment of her.

"Nadine had plenty of motives to kill him," he said, "Why isn't she being investigated?"

Jack clasped his hands on the desk.

"Every possible suspect has been investigated Matt, but we keep returning to C.J. as the primary one."

Matt just didn't understand that at all. In the past few days, he had run into numerous people led by Nadine that could have gotten the job done. Dylan hadn't seemed to be that popular in town, being some sort of ladies man while flaunting it at his wife and Matt knew Nadine was capable of a lot including possibly murder if she had been filled with rage at his dalliances.

Then again Nadine dallied as well with more than a few of the town's eligible and not so eligible men. After all, he had known that from experience when he had hit the sheets with her before heading off into the military and when he had returned with Christina. Nadine had pursued him paying little mind to the fact that he had been in a serious relationship with someone else

Then again even he had lapsed in that area himself while in town not that his relationship with Christina hadn't been in serious trouble to begin with. But when they connected again while he helped clear her of a murder frame up, they had come to terms with the past and she had fallen in love with and eventually married a senator in Washington, D.C.

"Matt, you do know about the report she filed on him?"

Matt returned back to the present which had him in the office sitting with Jack who looked at him pointedly.

"What report?"

"You'd better ask her about it," he said, "Suffice it to say she made an allegation against the now dead man and it was investigated."

"What was investigated?"

Jack sighed, resting his head back on his hands.

"Like I said, you'll have to ask her but it didn't exactly help her when we were searching for murder suspects."

"You're wrong about Dylan's killer," Matt said, "C.J. didn't do it and the real murderer is probably still hanging around town throwing out red herrings to conveniently pad your case."

Jack shook his head.

"What do you take me for," he asked, "I could see a false lead coming a mile away."

"I don't think so Jack," Matt said, "After all, someone's just bought you hook, line and sinker. You know your father was a lot smarter than you're acting now."

Jack's eyes changed suddenly looking a lot less friendly.

"Who are you to judge," he said, "You don't have a law degree and the expectations of the voters on your shoulders every day."

Matt knew that the voters hadn't been the one that had put his friend into power; it had been the ruling cabal that had anointed the son after the father's days of reign had ended. A bunch of older men of privilege and wealth fighting for the scraps of power in a small town which didn't impress Matt all that much because he had been around the world and had seen real power welded. In the business sphere, he held more power than these folks did in the political.

But he wasn't the type to rub it in even though he wanted to with Jack if just to get to see him other alternatives than C.J. as Dylan's killer.

"Are we done here Matt," Jack said, "because as much as I'd like to shoot the breeze with you about old times, I've got tons of work to do."

Matt started to rise then he paused.

"Dylan…he worked for your office didn't he?"

Jack's mouth tightened.

"Worked for me, what do you mean, he's just a ranch hand?"

"And he also worked as a reserve deputy for the sheriff's department," Matt added, "You work with that department don't you to build your cases."

"Well yes…but we didn't work with Dylan."

Matt noticed that the timbre of his friend's voice had shifted slightly, enough to tell him his suspicions were at least close.

"Did he do odd jobs for your office?"

Jack covered his unease with a smile that looked a bit forced.

"Of course not…we occasionally bumped into each other but Wild Fork's a small town…everybody meets up with everyone else at one time or another."

"I'm betting it was more than once with the two of you," Matt prodded, "Did he do the jobs for you that no one else would touch?"

Jack blanched at that point and his voice trembled.

"I think you'd better leave now," he said, "And tell C.J. that we'll see her and her attorney at the prelim."

With that, Matt knew he had been dismissed but that it hadn't mattered. He definitely knew that Jack was hiding something in his history with the deceased.

C.J. had helped Roy with the yearlings that Bo and Lamar had placed in the paddock. They sorted them out and after handling a few of them, C.J. knew that the two men had put their eye for good horse flesh to good use while Roy had been away from his spread. In between, she and Roy had talked about the town and how little it had changed.

"Nadine sure hasn't changed," C.J. said, "She's still after Matt and her husband's just been buried last week."

That had been when Nadine had finally been able to gain custody of her husband's body from the coroner's office after the last of the forensic tests had been completed.

"Women like her become…shall we say…fixed in what works for them."

Definitely true about Nadine, C.J. thought, remembering how she had hung out with Matt and had actually lasted longer than some of the other women he had bedded. But she really didn't seem to miss her husband all that much. Maybe in part because he had after all, been missing in action for several years before the discovery of his impromptu grave.

"I wish she could have kept her husband busy enough to leave the rest of us alone," she said quietly.

Roy looked over at where she now sat on the rail of the paddock fence.

"The suspect list for his killing should be a fairly long one," he said, "but Nadine should be at the top of it."

C.J. sighed.

"But she's not, it's me and I'm not saying I didn't want to do it…but I didn't…I couldn't have done it."

Roy knew that but it had just been between the two of them for all this time, a chapter which had been closed or so she thought.

So she had hoped.

"Matlock's very taken with you," he said, "It took him long enough."

She chuckled.

"It took me longer," she said, "He'd been making overtures for a while but I kept him at bay."

Roy nodded and she smiled.

"Not surprising considering our somewhat…interesting history."

Matt's uncle shrugged.

"History matters in different ways but it's what you do with the here and now that's important."

C.J. definitely couldn't argue with that, but the uncertainty of the future could hold a person back as well. She didn't want to let herself fall in deeper with her lifelong friend only to lose him forever if she wound up being convicted of Dylan's murder.

"It's the future that scares me."

Roy's face grew earnest.

"C.J., you're not going to prison," he said, "We're going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen."

She sighed.

"I know but they really believe they've built this strong case against me," she said, "And I did have motive because at the time he disappeared, I wanted him gone."

Roy shook his head.

"You wanted him to stop hurting you and there's a difference."

She rubbed her eyes.

"The DA's office doesn't see it that way," she said, "and I used to work for Jack until…"

Well until she had stopped working for him and no doubt, her ex-boss was finding ways to use that against her as well, anything to strengthen his case.

"Matt's hoping to find some more information from Jack," Roy said, "that he had ties to Dylan."

"I wouldn't be surprised," C.J. said, "Dylan got away with an awful lot."

She jumped off the rail and walked back into the house.

She later drove to Alexis' salon to get her hair done, because she needed something to get her mind off of the case and because she wanted to catch up with an old friend. Alexis had been happy to see her and told her that business had been slow for a while so she could easily fit her in. C.J. didn't want anything complicated, just a trim and maybe some highlights. She rarely had the time in L.A. with her workload to have her hair done.

Alexis set to work on it happily enough, telling C.J. as she had before that she had beautiful hair. C.J. had been a bit nervous at first because she and Alexis hadn't gotten along so well the last time she had been in town but her friend appeared genuinely happy that she had dropped back in Wild Fork, circumstances aside of course.

"You hadn't missed that much of course," she said, "Everything's done slower in a town like this one, even time."

"It sure hasn't changed much," C.J. said, "except for the construction."

Alexis nodded.

"They were going to put a mall there until…Dylan turned up."

C.J. thought it had been the perfect place to dump his body where no one would easily find it under a few feet of dirt. After all, the lot had remained empty used only for the kids to play on until a developer got his hands on it with visions of revitalizing Wild Fork in his head.

C.J. sighed; to revitalize a town implied that it had a history of life whereas Wild Fork had never been anything but what it remained today.

Alexis snipped some hair off as she chatted about who had married whom and did what, when to who since C.J. had last dropped by. None of the news surprised C.J. much because people pretty much behaved as predicted just as their parents and grandparents had done before them.

Except for her of course.

"I'm a bit surprised you two wound up together," Alexis said, "but in a good way."

"I'm surprised too," C.J. admitted, "but we've been friends forever and we worked together to build two businesses."

"I read about his corporation in the national news sometimes," Alexis said, "Since he's a local success story, the rag takes his stories right off the wire."

"We've been working pretty hard at it," C.J. said, "But he gave up being CEO and now runs his investigative firm."

Alexis shrugged.

"He's always been good at finding things, and finding out about them too."

C.J. nodded, thinking that skill of his had only grown better over the years he had spent honing what he had been trained in military intelligence to use to help those who came to him with perplexing cases to solve.

"Well we've really enjoyed it," she said, "and somehow we found each other."

Alexis smiled.

"That's great," she said, "So are you going to get married…when all this murder business is over and done with."

C.J. hedged and shook her head.

"We just got together," she said, "Trying to figure out how to make it work."

"Doesn't take much of that if you've known someone for a long time," Alexis pointed out.

"It's different when the relationship changes," C.J. said, "not that I'm complaining."

Alexis fluffed up her hair and started mixing up the colors for the highlights.

"So what's Matt think about these murder charges?"

"He knows that I didn't kill Dylan," C.J. said, "and he's helping me clear my name."

Alexis started in on the coloring.

"Most people know you didn't kill him," she said, "I think they think Nadine popped him off in a rage because he cheated on her again."

C.J. sighed because she knew that wasn't all he had done to Nadine. Who might not be one of her favorite people in the world but who hadn't deserved it and she thought that part of Nadine's problem with her now was that she knew it.

"Houston's been great at flying out here with his uncle and staying with me since my bail release doesn't allow me to leave the county," she said, "We could all be here for months."

"He's always cared about you," Alexis noted, "He wouldn't be anywhere else."

"My lawyer's pushing for a quick prelim and he hopes the judge will rule in our favor and that will be the end of it," C.J. said.

Alexis looked skeptical.

"And who do the judges work for in this town?"

Damn, her friend had a point. Everyone in power was interconnected with someone else and it was downright incestuous in some cases.

"I heard Matt was at the Wrangler last night and got into it with Zeke…"

"That's true, I was with him."

Alexis nodded.

"Yeah you had a starring role in the rumor mill," she said, "Zeke came onto you and Matt jumped in and defended your honor."

C.J. suppressed a chuckle marveling at the hive of activity that generated in a small town's rumor mill.

"He did slam Zeke against a wall after he touched me," she said, "but no one sent the night in jail or anything."

Alexis shook her head.

"I can tell things are going to get exciting with the two of you around."

"I just want my life back so we can go home," C.J. said, "No offense."

"None taken," Alexis said, "I don't plan on spending my whole life here either."

C.J. returned back to the ranch and Roy had gone out to help Bo and Lamar water the horses as an intense heat had baked the town. Summer had always been the time of year when most of the town's population that could get away, did retreat to the gulf coast to enjoy the somewhat cooler temperatures. Not that it didn't get hot even at the beaches but not like the oven that Wild Fork could be in the middle of summer.

She ran into Matt in the kitchen where he had poured himself some tea. His shirt still remained dampened by sweat so she could tell he'd been working.

"How are the horses doing?"

"They finished up for now until it gets cooler," he said, "But the two hands have done a great job."

She nodded and his eyes narrowed.

"You look…different."

She smiled at him and shrugged.

"I just had Alexis do my hair while I pumped info out of her," she said, "the rumor mill's already hopping with what happened at the Wrangler."

"Not much…I just put a guy in his place and told him to keep his hands to himself."

She wrapped her own arms around his waist and looked up at him.

"Yes you did," she said, "because the only hands I want to feel on my skin are yours."

He brushed her lightly on her mouth with his own and then deepened the kiss. She closed her eyes, whirling in the sensations that filled her. He stroked her mouth after they broke apart.

"I always did enjoy this…"

She looked up at him.

"Me too…"

He rubbed her back with his fingers as they held each other.

"Every time we were together, it was so wonderful…well maybe not for Christina that last time."

He brushed the hair off of her face.

"Christina and I had our own problems that had nothing to do with you," he said, "It wasn't ever going to work out between us."

She looked at him and knew he meant it but her mind still went back to that night and its aftermath… which seemed suddenly like yesterday when for most of the time, it had felt as if it were in the distant past…