by Lynn Shannon
“I’m very sorry,” Pastor John said. “Maybe I should’ve come forward with the information anyway, but I didn’t think it was important. I was wrong.”
“You didn’t know.” Megan passed a glance at Luke. “We all seemed to have missed something with this case. Did you speak to my aunt about this, by any chance?”
“No. We’ve never talked about it. June did come to me to discuss Wade. This was before the murder, of course. I tried to reach out to your brother, but he wasn’t interested. Then Franny mentioned she’d also been encouraging him to come in. Wade called while I was on the retreat. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but I often wondered if things would’ve turned out differently if I’d been here.”
“The what-ifs…” Megan let out a breath. “They stink.”
Nine
He watched through the night vision binoculars as Luke and Megan crossed the church parking lot. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Mistakes were piling up, one after another. His fingers brushed against the cold metal of his rifle. It was tempting to shoot them now, but there could be witnesses. He didn’t need another screw up.
Luke’s gaze swept across the parking lot. The ranger paused as if he sensed someone watching.
You can’t see me, but I can see you.
Hunting was second nature to him, and he’d parked his vehicle in the shadows across the street from the church. As expected, Luke’s gaze drifted over him without stopping, and a rush of adrenaline flooded his veins. Tatum was smart and irritatingly moral, but he wasn’t a superhero. He was a man like any other.
And men bled.
He’d hoped to avoid killing the ranger, but the chances of that happening were over. Luke would never stop now that he suspected Wade was innocent. No, the issue wasn’t whether they would die. It was how.
He imagined their heads exploding like watermelons from the force of a bullet and a sick satisfaction washed over him. Murder wasn’t something he hungered for, but the last few days had filled his mind with dark thoughts and a clawing desperation. Pushed into a corner, a man would do anything. Even kill.
Luke’s truck drove out of the lot, his taillights fading into the night.
Soon. It would all be taken care of soon.
Ten
Megan rubbed the cotton ball soaked in nail polish remover over June’s big toe, erasing the chipped purple polish. Someone pushed a cart down the hall of the hospital, the screechy wheel loud enough to be heard through the closed door.
“After meeting with Pastor John, it’s obvious Chad Dickerson could be involved. If he found out his sister was going to marry Skeeter…” She whistled. “I could see him be angry enough to confront her. Maybe Dan knows Chad has motive. Or worse, he knows Chad killed Franny and he’s helping to cover it up?”
Her aunt didn’t answer. June’s eyelids remained closed, her hair spread across the pillow. Various tubes creeped out from under the blankets. A monitor silently tracked June’s heart, the pulse steady and strong. She’d been moved out of ICU this morning, and her condition remained stable, but she hadn’t woken yet.
Megan had read it was possible for coma patients to hear things around them even if they couldn’t react. Maybe it would be better to talk about sunshine and butterflies, but her aunt had never been fond of wearing rose-colored glasses. If June were awake, they’d be discussing the case.
“Then there’s the mystery caller. I have no idea who she is, but I’m worried about her. She sounded terrified.” Megan rummaged inside her purse and pulled out a bright-yellow nail polish. It was June’s favorite color, the same shade as a sunflower. She shook it and applied the color to her aunt’s toenails. “Of course, I’m not going to leave town, but don’t worry, I’m not being foolish. Luke will stick to me like glue until we solve the case.”
She finished the right foot and moved on to the left. “In other news, I went to church. You’d be proud of me. I thought it would be weird since I haven’t attended service since Wade’s arrest, but it wasn’t. It was…comforting.”
That had surprised her as had the way her heart longed to go back. Something about singing the hymns and hearing the Bible readings had settled her. As if she’d been on a long journey, lost and wandering, only to unexpectedly find her way home.
“Almost done.” Megan did a final swipe with the polish and took a step back to admire her work. “There. Beautiful. I don’t want you to wake up and see chipped nail polish on your feet. It would drive you insane.”
She slipped her hand into her aunt’s and watched the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest. June was breathing on her own, a good sign, but things were still iffy. Either she would wake from the coma or she would slip into a vegetative state. A drop landed on their joined hands and Megan realized she was crying. She bit her lip.
God, I know we haven’t talked in a long time, but I’m lost. I’ve been lost. And I could use some help here.
As far as prayers went, it wasn’t great. And nothing dramatic happened, like June opening her eyes or twitching her fingers, but considering Megan hadn’t talked to God in three years, it felt like a huge step forward.
She spent another twenty minutes with her aunt before kissing her cheek and going out into the hall. Luke was chatting with the trooper standing guard outside June’s room. He shook the man’s hand before intercepting her. “Ready?”
“Yeah. I’ll come back tonight again to check on her. Thanks for waiting.”
“I don’t mind.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Mom’s on her way. She’s bringing a book to read to June, but I was afraid to ask which one. Your aunt may wake up knowing how to make Baked Alaska or with a newfound love of romance novels.”
Megan chuckled. “Considering June doesn’t know how to make grilled cheese without burning it, I’d love for some of your mom’s cooking skills to rub off on her.”
He laughed and the sound sent a warmth spreading through her. As much as she wanted to keep the boundaries up between them, each moment in his presence made it harder.
“I saw the doctor speaking with you earlier.” Luke pushed the button to call the elevator. “Any change?”
“No.” She dug around in her purse. Her fingers brushed against plastic and she yanked out a bag of jelly beans. “Although I’m taking the move out of ICU as a good sign. June didn’t have many injuries, which is surprising considering the car sailed into a ravine. The head trauma is the most serious, and we just have to be patient.”
She opened the bag and held it out. “There are a lot of red ones.”
The old joke earned her a heart-stopping smile. Luke claimed he only liked red jelly beans and, when they were dating, ate all the cherry-flavored ones out of her packages.
“Thanks.” He plucked out a few. “Sheriff Franklin sent a message and asked for more time to find Franny’s file. The storage room is a cavern, so I’m not surprised. Want to run by and talk to Kyle now?”
“That would be great.”
Kyle was her brother’s best friend and had been with Wade on the night of Franny’s murder.
She popped a few more jelly beans in her mouth. “Could we stop by June’s house first? I want to grab the saddles from the tack room. The lock on the door isn’t great and I don’t want them stolen.”
Luke had collected Cinnamon on Sunday morning while Megan was still asleep and brought the horse to his ranch, but he hadn’t known to collect the saddles too.
“Sure.” He zipped up his jacket as they exited the hospital. “That’s a good idea.”
In the car, she checked her emails on her phone, but thankfully, there was nothing pressing.
“How long will you be able to stay in town?” Luke asked. “It can’t be easy to juggle your cases from here.”
“It’s not, but Grace has taken over for me. One benefit of a partner is that we share the caseload and help each other out when personal matters get in the way. My goal is to stay as long as necessary to get June well and this case solved.”
Both thi
ngs could take a long time, but thinking too far ahead was draining. Megan would deal with it one day at a time.
“I’m curious, how do you decide which clients to represent?” He took the exit off the freeway toward June’s house. “A lot of criminals claim to be innocent.”
“True. Grace and I research each case before agreeing to represent it. We never want to help anyone guilty of murder. At the same time, the system isn’t perfect and sometimes innocent people end up behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit.” She paused. “June does the same with her cases. She handles insurance fraud and stuff like that to pay the bills, but there were criminal cases she was passionate about.”
He tapped his thumb against the steering wheel. “I wish June had talked to me about her investigation.”
“My aunt is stubborn, independent, and protective. She wouldn’t have done anything to put your career in jeopardy. Without proof of Wade’s innocence, reopening Franny’s case would’ve set off a hornet’s nest of issues for you.”
Luke blew out a breath. “That’s…irritating.”
“Isn’t it?” She tossed him a look. “Pot meet kettle.”
He rolled his eyes and his mouth twitched. “Yeah, yeah. I got it.”
Her aunt’s house came into view and Megan inhaled sharply. The destruction was extensive, and the closer Luke drove, the worse it got. The chimney stuck out, a lone sentinel, protecting broken wood and blackened bricks. The plants in the front yard had been trampled. The roof, damaged by the fire and the water from the fire hoses, caved inward. Everything her aunt had worked for was gone. June would be devastated.
Luke parked in the driveway, and his hand closed over hers. Strong and warm, his touch was gentle and grounding.
“It sucks, Megs, no doubt. But she can rebuild.”
She closed her eyes, shoring up her emotions. There would be time to grieve later. Right now, getting her brother out of prison and her aunt well required all her emotional energy.
Megan squeezed his hand. “I know. And it’s only stuff. The most important thing is that no one was hurt.”
She glanced at Luke and their eyes caught and held. It became hard to pull air into her lungs. Her emotions were all tangled together. Years of friendship and love didn’t disappear, no matter how much she’d tried to make them. If he’d died saving June…or her…
“Come on.” Luke jerked his hand away from hers. “Let’s get the saddles.”
She swallowed hard and fumbled with the door handle. The slap of cold air was a welcome relief, cooling her heated cheeks. They walked across the yard in silence.
The air inside the barn was scented with hay, leather, and horse. Megan took a deep breath. Whenever she was troubled, this was the place she went. Her hand traced over the worn wood of a stall door on the way to the tack room.
She pulled out her spare set of keys and shoved the right one in the lock, but the door to the tack room swung open on its own. Her heart skipped a beat.
She hurried to flip on the light, relieved to see the saddles untouched. Hers was on the far right, the leather polished and clean. Oh, June. It’d been three years since Megan had used the saddle, yet her aunt kept it prepared and ready.
“Megs, don’t touch anything.”
Luke’s order sent chills down her spine. She turned and gasped. Written on the wall in blood-red letters was a warning.
Keep digging around and you’ll die.
The perpetrator was hoping to scare Megan off, or deter the investigation, but every threat backfired. It fueled Luke’s determination to get to the truth.
“The paint’s dry. There’s no way to know how long it’s been here, Luke.” Brent hitched up his duty belt and stepped back to survey the horrible message. Static came out of the portable radio on his shoulder before cutting off. “We don’t even know if it was meant for Megan. It could’ve been a warning for June.”
“Except she never reported it.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. I know for a fact, June received threats a couple of years ago on another case she was working, and she never reported those either.”
“He’s right,” Megan said. She stood with her hands on her hips, eyeing the message, fury glimmering in her eyes. “June might not have told anyone. And I haven’t been in this room since arriving in town.”
“Spray-painting the threat seems to be the main purpose for jimmying the lock.” Brent pointed to the saddles. “Those are still here, so the perpetrator wasn’t after a quick buck. Fingerprinting might not yield us anything, but I’ll get the kit from my car and try anyway.”
He strolled out of the tack room.
“I touched the door handle. Even if there were fingerprints, I’ve probably smeared them.” Megan yanked the clip from her hair, sending it cascading down her shoulders in a golden wave, and rubbed her scalp. “If the perpetrator thinks this will make me back down, he’s got another thing coming. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You mean, we,” Luke said. “We’re not going anywhere.”
The tension in her body eased. Her lips curled into a smile that kicked his pulse up a notch. “Right.”
Brent re-entered with a field kit. “Hey, dispatch told me they’ve located Franny’s case file. I’m gonna need some time here, but you don’t have to wait. Why don’t you guys go on ahead?”
“We were going to take the saddles over to my ranch,” Luke said.
“I’ll do it after I’m done. Megan, I’ll need to collect your prints to exclude them, but we can do that later.”
“Thanks, Brent.”
During the short drive, Luke’s mind twisted with various possibilities. The warning on the tack room wall was amateurish and silly. It didn’t fit with the carefully planned attacks carried out on June and Megan. Nothing about this was adding up or making sense.
He pulled into the parking lot at the sheriff’s department and rounded the vehicle to open Megan’s door.
“Let’s go over to the pharmacy and talk to Kyle first, as we’d planned,” he said. “His property butts against June’s. Maybe he’s noticed someone hanging around in the last couple of weeks.”
As they made their way down the sidewalk, Luke noticed her gait wasn’t even. “Is your leg bothering you? Let’s go back. We can drive—”
“No, it’s just a bit sore. I’ll be fine.”
Stubborn woman probably wasn’t taking her pain meds. He offered his arm. Megan hesitated before sliding her hand into the crook at his elbow. Heat radiated out from the point of contact, wiping away any trace of a chill from the February air.
Luke knew he should keep a firm distance, but recalling the look on Megan’s face while they were talking in front of June’s house pushed logic to the wayside. In the depths of her green eyes, he’d seen an echo of the love they’d once shared. It weakened his resolve, and he’d been tempted to lean over and kiss her.
The same feeling, along with a host of memories, tugged at him as they strolled down the sidewalk. Megan’s hair shimmered like spun gold in the sunlight, and when she smiled up at him, Luke felt like a superhero. He needed to get control of this before his heart ended up in serious trouble.
The pharmacy was on the corner and the automatic doors slid open when they approached. Every head in the place turned in their direction. Luke ignored the stares and beelined for the back counter where prescriptions were filled. Kyle caught sight of them and stiffened. His narrow shoulders and mop of shaggy hair made him look more like a teenager than a man in his twenties.
“Luke. Megan. What can I do for ya?”
“Hi.” Luke greeted him with a smile. “Sorry to drop in on you, but I have some questions about a couple of incidents that happened on June’s property.”
“I don’t know anything about the fire.” His voice, thickened by a Southern drawl, was loud enough to carry across the store. “I wasn’t home when it happened. I was here.”
“I’d still—Oof!"
Luke cut off as Megan’s elbow jabbed h
im in the ribs. He glared at her.
“Sorry. I was trying to find something in my bag.” She smiled sweetly before setting her purse on the counter and rummaging around inside. “I have a question about something else. June’s doctor at the hospital wants to change her thyroid medication. Can you explain the possible side effects?”
Luke glanced over his shoulder. Mrs. Patchinson, the elementary school principal, pretended to study a box of cold medicine while eavesdropping. An employee in the next aisle had edged closer, still holding the same magazine from earlier.
He shot them both a glare, but it had no effect.
Kyle went into a short spiel about the medicine and picked up his pen. “I’ll write some of this down for you. That way it’ll be easier to discuss with the doctor.”
Megan nodded. “That’d be great.”
He scribbled on her paper before folding it over and handing it back. “Is there anything else?”
“No, that’s it. Thanks.”
Megan nudged Luke, more gently this time, and headed for the door. The heat of everyone’s stare seemed to bore into their backs. He followed her around the corner and out of potential eyesight range.
She opened the note. “Kyle says to meet him in the alley behind the hair salon in ten minutes.”
“This is ridiculous.”
She let out a half laugh and slipped her hand back into the crook of his elbow. “This is small-town politics. I would’ve thought you’d be better at it by now.”
“I’ve only lived here for seven years. Maybe I need another seven to understand it.” His mouth twitched. “You’ve been away for three years but fall right back into it like a duck to water.”
“I grew up here. That makes a difference.” She shook her head. “How does June stand it? The looks and whispers. The hostility. It’s already making my skin itch.”
“I think it was tough for a while, but things died down. We’ve kicked it all off again with the investigation.”