Protective Order

by Rita Herron

  Griff left, his heart heavy. Why did he sense that Ginny had just said goodbye to him?

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Two weeks later

  Ginny laid a bundle of sunflowers on top of her sister’s grave and sank down beside it.

  “It’s really over, Tess,” she whispered. “Robert Bouldercrest is in prison and according to the police, he’ll never be free again. They’ve charged him with four counts of murder, kidnapping, stalking and assault.” The gas can and the lighter Griff had found had Robert’s prints all over them. So did Ginny’s room at the inn. Robert confessed to setting the wildfires as a diversion.

  Jade had called to report that the man who’d attacked her in the alley was a drifter who’d been passing through. They’d caught him assaulting another woman and trying to steal her purse outside a hotel on the edge of town and he was in jail.

  As the news sank in, Ginny—Reese—had finally begun to relax again and had taken back her real identity. Although she’d probably always look over her shoulder and she fully intended to keep up her self-defense training, she’d started sleeping better and the nightmares were fewer and further between.

  She’d stowed her gun in a safe and hoped she never felt the need to pull it out again.

  “I’m so sorry I let you down.” Tears fell freely from her face, but she didn’t bother to wipe them away. She pressed her hand over her mother’s grave. “I’m sorry I didn’t take care of her, Mother. I...wish I could turn back time. Be smarter.”

  Forgive herself. She was still struggling with that.

  Suddenly sunshine burst through the dark storm clouds, and a rainbow streaked the sky, the colors dancing across her sister’s grave.

  Reese’s breath stuttered. Then she looked down at the ground and saw flower buds beginning to push through the ground.

  Flower buds in all different colors.

  Emotions overcame her, and she pressed a kiss to her fingers then to Tess’s tombstone.

  Beloved Sister, Best Friend and Wonderful Artist.

  Tess had brought so much life into the world, had loved and lived in the moment, had painted landscapes full of joy and beauty.

  The rainbow, the flowers...was her sister trying to send her a message?

  Looking up at the rainbow again, she felt a burst of hope for the future. She whispered that she’d be back, then hurried toward her car.

  An hour later, she studied the mountains in the distance as she drove toward Whistler. She’d dreamed of Griff every night and wanted to talk to him again.

  To see if a future for them might be possible.

  The temperature warmed with each passing hour, and she noticed tiny flower buds on the trees dotting the mountainside.

  Griff’s words about honoring her sister by living her life were going to be her new mantra. Now that she’d decided what that path would be, she wanted to tell Griff about it.

  Her car chugged around the winding mountain road, and she slowed as she approached Griff’s cabin. It looked even more picturesque now with the wildflowers blooming on the mountain and the sun slanting off the dark green foliage.

  Nerves gathered in her belly as she parked, climbed out and walked up to the front door. What if Griff didn’t feel the same way about her? What if he didn’t love her?

  She almost turned around but stopped herself. She’d overcome her worst fears by facing down the man who’d terrorized her. That had taken courage.

  She had to summon her courage now. Still, her heart was on the line.

  But instead of running away, she wanted to run toward her future. She only hoped Griff would be in it.

  She’d started by changing her hair back to its natural color. No more colored contacts either. No more Ginny Bagwell.

  Feeling more like herself, she rang the doorbell and twisted her hands together as she waited. A minute later, the door opened, and Griff stood on the other side, looking so sexy and handsome that her stomach fluttered. Surprise flickered in his eyes, then a smile, bolstering her courage.

  “I missed you,” she said, then mentally kicked herself. That wasn’t how she’d planned to start the conversation.

  His smile widened. “I missed you, too.”

  Relief whooshed through her, and she offered him her hand. “I have things to tell you, but first I want to introduce myself. My name is Reese Taggart.”

  His gaze met hers, and he nodded. “Hello, Reese.” Then he cocked his head to the side. “You remind me of someone.”

  “I do?”

  He nodded. “Yes, someone I fell in love with.”

  “That girl, the one who wanted revenge and lied to you...she’s gone.”

  “I hope she’s found peace,” he murmured.

  “She has. I mean I have.”

  A smile glittered in his dark eyes.

  “As a matter of fact, I’ve decided to use my story to help others. I’ve been working on a series of articles about domestic violence.” She licked her suddenly dry lips. “I’m also studying counseling so I can become a victim’s advocate for domestic violence victims.”

  “Really?”

  She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I talked to your sister-in-law Jade about it when she called to update me on Robert’s case.”

  “I think that’s a great idea, Ginny—I mean, Reese.”

  “I just wanted to tell you.” She hesitated a minute. Her courage faltered, and she started to leave.

  “Wait,” he said. “Don’t go.”

  She looked into his eyes and felt a connection that rocked her back on her heels.

  “I fell in love with Ginny,” he said, “and that girl was part of you. I think I’m going to love Reese even more.”

  Then he pulled her into his arms, closed his mouth over hers and kissed her.

  Six weeks later, she said I Do to the man she loved in the gazebo Griff built for their wedding behind the home they would share together.

  As she kissed her husband, she heard her sister’s angelic voice singing to her from the heavens.

  * * *

  Look for the final book in

  USA TODAY bestselling author

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  Mysterious Abduction

  Left to Die

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  Chapter One

  The dark clouds barreled over the Catalina Mountains, and the skies opened. The rain pelted the highway, steam rising from the scorched asphalt. The first monsoon of the season had hit the Sonoran Desert with a vengeance, gleefully dousing the hot, thirsty landscape.

  Jolene slammed on the brakes of her truck, her back wheels fishtailing for a few seconds. She pounded one hand on the steering wheel and shouted. “Learn to drive!”

  She couldn’t risk getting into an accident right now, not with her cargo. Her cell phone rang from the console, and she glanced down at the display showing her cousin’s name before answering and switching to speaker.

  “Hey, Wade. What’s up?”

  “It’s Gran.”

  “Gran, if you’re just going to keep borrowing Wade’s phone, why not let me get you one of your own?”

 
“I don’t know why I just can’t get my old phone back.” Gran clicked her tongue. “This is not progress.”

  Jolene twisted her lips. “Landline phones were discontinued on the reservation, Gran. They figured everyone had a cell phone.”

  “They figured wrong.” She coughed.

  “Are you still congested?”

  “It’s nothing. I called to find out when you were coming over. Wade told me you left town for a few days.”

  Her pulse picked up speed. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. Does something always have to be wrong? I just wanted to visit with one of my favorite granddaughters. Where did you go?”

  Jolene took a sip of water from the bottle in her cup holder. “I was in... Phoenix, visiting friends.”

  “Rain’s rolling in.” Gran sighed. “I felt it in my bones two days ago.”

  “It’s already hit up here, confounding all the drivers from out of state. I’m just south of Tucson, so it’s following me down to Paradiso.” She cranked on her defroster. “It’s going to be a good soaking.”

  “Well, you keep track of those weather patterns more than I do.” Gran sniffed and said something to someone in the background—probably Jolene’s cousin Wade. “There have been a few changes in town since you left.”

  Jolene rolled her eyes. Gran loved to gossip. “In two days? I doubt that, Gran.”

  “You know that young Border Patrol agent, Rob Valdez?”

  “Pretty face, pumped-up arms? Yeah, I know Rob.”

  “He’s off the market.”

  “What market would that be, Gran?” Jolene clamped her mouth closed against the laugh bubbling against her lips. She knew exactly which market Gran meant.

  Gran huffed out a breath. “The marriage market, Jolene. He and some young woman left on an extended vacation together.”

  “A vacation? You’re kidding. That seals his fate right there. He might as well attach a ball and chain to his ankle.”

  “Oh, you can laugh, but he was an eligible bachelor, one of the few left in town.”

  “Nice guy, but not my type. Too young for one thing.”

  “I know your type, Jolene, and the loss of Rob isn’t so bad given the other news I picked up while you were gone.”

  Jolene’s jaw tightened for a second. “Don’t keep me in suspense, Gran. What is this other blessed event that occurred to counteract Rob Valdez’s vacation with a woman?”

  Gran paused for maximum dramatic effect. “Sam Cross is back in town.”

  Jolene’s hands jerked on the steering wheel, and a wall of water from the puddle she’d veered into washed over the side of her truck. She swallowed. “Sam’s back?”

  “I know Sam is your type.”

  Jolene gripped the steering wheel. “Sam is married. That is most certainly not my type.”

  “He’s divorced.” Gran moved the phone from her mouth and yelled, “Just a few more minutes, Wade.”

  Jolene snorted. “He’s been back for two days, and you already know his marital status? I doubt it, Gran. He would never leave his daughter.”

  “He had lunch at Rosita’s yesterday, and Rosie told me he wasn’t wearing a wedding band and when she asked to see pictures of his daughter, he showed her pictures on his phone of the girl but none of his wife.”

  Tears stung Jolene’s eyes, and she blinked them away. “That’s it, then. No wedding ring and no pics of the wife. You and Rosie are quite the spies.”

  Gran lowered her voice. “You don’t have to pretend with me, Jolene.”

  “Sounds like Wade wants his phone back.” Jolene cleared her throat of the lump lodged there and said, “I’ll drop by the rez tomorrow. I have something to do tonight when I get home.”

  “Drive carefully and come over any time tomorrow.” Gran must’ve handed the phone back to Wade without hanging up, as voices floated over the line before Wade cut off the call.

  Jolene blew out a long breath. What was Sam doing in town? It must have to do with work. He wouldn’t be in Paradiso long, and she could probably avoid seeing him. She hoped she could avoid seeing him.

  She drove the rest of the way to Paradiso hunched over the steering wheel, the rain not putting her on edge as much as the task before her. She could do it. She had to do it. As her father had taught her, sometimes the ends did justify the means.

  Twenty minutes later, as she rolled into Paradiso, the rain came in with her, lashing through the town, flooding the streets. By the time she pulled into her driveway, the storm had spent itself with the dark clouds rushing across the desert and breaking apart at the border, as if an invisible wall existed there.

  She pressed her thumb against the remote-control button in her truck that rolled back the garage door. She slid from the vehicle and took a quick glance around her neighborhood before opening the back door of the cab. She pulled out her overnight suitcase and set it on the ground, and then she grabbed the duffel bag on the back seat with both hands and hauled it from the truck.

  She hitched the strap of the bag over her shoulder and lugged it into her garage, wheeling the suitcase behind her. She stashed the duffel under a counter next to her ski boots and bindings, nudging it into place with the toe of her wet sneaker.

  She locked her truck and closed the garage door, standing still in the middle of her garage for several seconds until the automatic lights went out. Her eyes picked out the duffel bag in the dim confines of the garage, and then she spun around and charged through the door connecting her garage to her kitchen.

  There was no turning back now.

  She unpacked her suitcase. She hadn’t lied to Gran about spending a few nights away, but she’d been in Tucson, not Phoenix. Nobody needed to know where she’d been.

  After she unpacked, she searched through her kitchen for suitable dinner fare and ended up grazing on hummus, crackers, a stale flour tortilla and a handful of trail mix.

  She watched the time on her cell phone and the rain outside the window. When the digital numbers ticked over to ten o’clock and the remainder of the storm clouds skittered across the sky, she headed for her bedroom and changed into a pair of jeans and a dark blue T-shirt.

  She grabbed a small purse and a backpack, leaving her phone charging on the counter. Stepping from the kitchen into the garage, she hit the lights and stuffed some gloves, a spade, a flashlight, a rope, wire cutters and a few other items into the pack. She opened the garage door and unlocked her truck. The purse went into the front seat and the backpack went into the back.

  She returned to the garage and curled one hand around a shovel. She balanced it on her shoulder and approached the truck. The puddle of water in the bed rippled as she laid down the shovel.

  Placing her hands on her hips, she pivoted toward the garage and eyed the duffel. She huffed out a breath and strode toward it, her boots clumping on the cement floor of the garage.

  She dragged the bag from beneath the counter and hauled it over her shoulder. She swung it onto the floor of the truck’s back seat and brushed her hands together—as if that were it. That wasn’t it. That was part one.

  She climbed into her truck and punched the remote with her knuckle. She watched her garage door settle into place before backing out of her driveway.

  When she merged onto the highway, she flicked on her brights. The crescent moon didn’t have enough power to light up the desert, and the road didn’t have many travelers. When the odd car did approach from the oncoming lane of traffic, she dimmed her lights.

  Finally, she didn’t meet any other cars coming the other way, and she expelled a breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding. Nobody else would be out here at this time of night.

  Her headlights illuminated the mile marker on the side of the highway, and she glanced at her odometer to track the miles. At two miles past the marker, she eased off her gas pedal and pe
ered over the steering wheel.

  She spotted the break in the highway and turned onto an access road. Her truck bounced and lurched as it ate up the rough ground beneath its wheels.

  If you didn’t know the fencing was there, you could drive right into it, but she caught the gleam from the metal posts and the heavy-duty wire strung between those posts.

  She pulled up next to the fence and cut her lights. Her flashlight would have do. She didn’t want to advertise her presence on this land, just in case another driver saw her lights out here from the highway. She hopped from the truck, opened the back door and snagged her backpack first.

  Flicking on the flashlight, she ran its beam along the length of the fence. It hadn’t been designed to keep people out so much as to stake a claim.

  She ground her teeth together and ducked between the two wires that stretched from post to post. At least nobody had thought to electrify this fence, but again they didn’t have anything to protect—not yet.

  She stumbled across the desert floor for about twenty feet, and then dropped to her knees at a slight dip. Her flashlight illuminated the area—no rocks, no cactus, no distinguishing features.

  She wedged her pack in the dirt to mark the spot and jogged back to her truck. She grabbed the shovel and wrestled the duffel bag from the back seat. The items slowed her progress back to the perfect spot, but she still had enough energy to do what she came here to do.

  She dragged the backpack out of the way and plunged her shovel into the sand. In and out, she dipped the shovel into the sand and flicked it out to the side.

  Sweating, she pinched her damp T-shirt from her body and surveyed her work. How deep did it have to be? Enough to conceal but not hide forever.

  She unzipped the duffel bag at her feet, positioned it at the edge of the hole...and dumped the contents into the shallow grave.

  * * *

  SAM PUSHED HIS laptop away and with it, the faces of the missing people. Gone without a trace. How did that happen? And all of them last seen near the Arizona border towns.