She must have been planning to tell him about the baby that night. Hadnt she realized that he would have been excited about the prospect of being a father? He would never have deserted her. Never.
As he left the house, he tried to swallow the lump in his throat at the realization that if he was right and Jessica
had never left the spot under the trees that night, then his baby had died with her.
I think I have everything I need for now, Halley said a few moments later as she and Millie came out through the screen door to the porch and started down the steps to where Colton was waiting.
As she headed for her patrol SUV parked in the yard, she shot him a look. He could tell that shed found more of Jessicas handwriting and it matched the letter hed received fourteen years too latenot the ones someone had been sending her parents in the interim.
Ill let you know what we find out, the deputy promised Millie whod followed them as far as the vehicle and stood looking even smaller and even more terrified.
Colton saw her glance back toward the house. Sid stood in the doorway. Millie Granger visibly shuddered at the sight of her husband. As Colton looked toward the man in the doorway, he thought of the mans temper, his obsession with Jessica, his hatred of Colton. What if Sid had followed his daughter that night and caught her at the secret spot on the creek?
You all right? the deputy asked as she started the SUV.
He could feel her gaze on him as he suppressed a chill at the thought of what Sid Granger might have been capable of when it came to his daughterwas still capable of doing when it came to his wife.
You didnt know she was pregnant.
It wasnt a question but he answered anyway. No.
I assume the baby was yours?
He looked over at her, anger hitting him again with sudden heat. Why would you even ask that? You saw the letter. She wanted me to run away with her.
Halley nodded, but said nothing until they were back at his pickup parked at the edge of the road where hed left it earlier. As he started to get out of the patrol car, she said, Im going to need a sample of your handwriting.
EMMA WOULD HAVE SAID she was the luckiest woman in the world if anyone had asked her just three seconds ago.
Moments before shed been lying on the soft warm blanket on the pile of hay beside her husband, his arm around her, trying to catch her breath after their love-making. Shed been wondering if other people their age still felt like this, and felt bad for them if they didnt.
But then Hoyts cell phone had vibrated on the blanket beside him and hed snatched it up, checked to see who was calling, then hed seemed to hesitate as if wanting to take the call and yet
Go ahead, Emma had said, sitting up to stretch. She knew how he was about business. Running this ranch was what kept him young.
I really need to take this. He rose stark naked and walked down to the end of the hayloft.
Any other time Emma wouldnt have paid any attention, but something in the way Hoyt was standing, his back to her, his shoulders slumped over slightly, his voice low
Her heart suddenly took off at a gallop as she noticed something that hadnt fully registered before. This wasnt the first time hed checked to see who was calling and said, I need to take this, and hurried out of the room. Or taken the call out on the porch. Or rushed downstairs. Or, like now, moved to the other end of the hayloft. These calls werent about ranch business.
Ice-cold fear moved through her. She couldnt hear what he was saying but she could read his body language. There was secrecy in the way he spoke into the phone.
Emma tried to fight the terror that clutched her heart like a fist. She told herself that she was being foolish. Hoyt loved her. Only her. She had no reason to question his love.
He snapped the phone shut, turned toward her and she saw his face and knew. Her husband looked guilty as hell.
Emma had never thought shed be one of those women who didnt want to know the truth. But right now, she felt too vulnerable, lying naked on a horse blanket in a hayloft after making love to the man she loved.
Quickly she hid her own face so he couldnt see her fear as she reached for her clothes.
HALLEY CALLED SHERIFF MCCALL CRAWFORD, who was in Great Falls tied up on a federal case, to update her on the Granger case.
Sheriff Winchester, I mean, Crawford, McCall said with a small laugh.
The sheriff wasnt the only one who was having trouble getting used to her married name. Most everyone in town still referred to her as Sheriff Winchester. When Halley filled the sheriff in, McCall told her to let the state crime investigators take the case from here on outand to wait for their arrival.
When the team arrived by small plane that afternoon, she drove them to the crime scene, which a deputy had cordoned off, and waited to make sure nothing was disturbed.
Earlier, shed told Colton to go home, warning him not to leave town.
Hed actually pulled himself together
enough to chuckle at that on the drive back to his pickup from the Granger house.