LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter Seven

      Chris glanced at his passenger as he turned his pickup off the highway onto a gravel road. Thanks to his SWAT team, he’d managed to get the witness out of the station without Henson or Bolton being able to give chase. It was hard to follow someone when the only exit door was blocked by three cops with guns. But he was already having buyer’s remorse.

      The chief was going to kill him for this.

      Julie sat stiffly, clutching the armrest as if it were a lifeline, staring through the windshield. Was she also regretting the decision to flee? Wondering if she’d gotten herself into worse trouble than she was already in?

      “This isn’t the way I go to my house.” She leaned forward to peer at the narrow gravel road and trees crowding in that were revealed in the headlights. “I assumed you were taking me home. Is this a back way?”

      “Your home is still taped off as a crime scene. You can’t go there until it’s released.”

      Her shoulders slumped, but she nodded. “This seems awfully far from town to be leading to a hotel.”

      “It’s called Harmony Haven. You’ll see the place over that next rise. See how the sky is lighter up ahead? That’s from the security and landscape lights.”

      “A bed-and-breakfast then?”

      He steered around a pothole, surprised the road was in such poor condition. Then again, there’d been a lot of rain this past month, and he hadn’t been down this way in quite a while.

      “Chris?”

      He shook his head. “It’s not a B and B. It’s a private home on a horse-rescue farm. It belongs to my friends Dillon and Ashley. They’re not here right now and I figured they wouldn’t mind us crashing for the night.”

      Any argument she might have been about to give was forgotten as they topped the rise and Dillon’s property came into view. Julie stared in wonder at the beautiful vista laid out before them. It pleased him that she seemed so awestruck. He felt that way every time he came here, especially at night because of the way the lights cast an ethereal glow on the place.

      With the sweat equity he’d invested to help Dillon get this place up and running over the years, he couldn’t help feeling proprietary about it. But with Dillon married now, Chris’s visits had become less frequent. Newlyweds needed their privacy, even more so now with a baby on the way. His jaw tightened. If it weren’t so late, he’d call the hospital for an update on Ashley. He’d have to remember to call first thing in the morning and check on her.

      He pulled the truck to a stop beside the two-story white farmhouse and took a moment to enjoy the view himself. Soft floodlights that Ashley had insisted upon, which were more for ambience than security, dotted a long, pristine, white three-rail fence and acres and acres of lush green pastures that went on forever.

      The enormous stable was partially visible behind the house. He parked at the end of the home’s enormous wraparound front porch that boasted white rockers and an old-fashioned swing hanging from chains.

      “It’s beautiful,” Julie whispered, seemingly mesmerized as the light breeze teased the swing back and forth, the chains creaking in rhythm with the sound of cicadas.

      “I reckon it is.” He cut the engine, admiring her profile. The lights from the yard sparkled on the honey-blond highlights in her brown hair. She had a small, pert nose and pale skin with a smattering of freckles across both cheeks. A lock of her hair hung forward and he barely resisted the urge to brush it back.

      “Harmony Haven,” she whispered, as if testing the name on her tongue. “You said it’s a horse rescue?”

      He waved toward the stable, the main doors sealed up for the night. “There are a couple dozen horses in there, another dozen or so out in the pasture. Ashley and Dillon run horse camps every summer and adopt out most of the herd. Then rescues trickle in throughout the year and they work on rehabilitating them, regaining their trust. A couple months from now this year’s first campers will arrive. There’s a bunkhouse farther out for the farmhands and a second bunkhouse for the campers.”

      “Ashley and Dillon are married?”

      He nodded. “Almost a year now.”

      “Then who’s Harmony?”

      Chris’s smiled faded. “Dillon’s baby sister. She loved horses even more than he does, which seems impossible.”

      “Loved? Past tense?”

      “She died a long time ago. Hang tight. I’ll help you down.”

      Before she could ask him any more questions or dredge up memories of the past, he hopped down from the truck and hurried to the passenger side. Although his black four-by-four was suspended a lot higher than the average pickup, it wasn’t quite a monster truck. It was just high enough for his six-foot-two frame to be comfortable climbing in and out. But Julie was almost a foot shorter than him, which meant he’d had to lift her up into the truck back at the station. Something he’d realized he didn’t mind one bit. She sure was a pretty thing.

      She’d just opened her door when he reached her. With a mumbled apology, he put his hands at her waist and lifted her down. As soon as her shoes touched the ground, she stepped back, forcing him to drop his hands. She seemed awkward, uncomfortable as she smoothed her blouse over her khaki pants.

      “Why didn’t we go to a hotel?” She followed him as he led the way toward the front porch. “Why drive so far from town?”

      He stopped with his boot on the bottom step. “There’s only one hotel in Destiny. Nelson would have looked for you there.”

      Her brows shot up. “I didn’t know we were hiding from her.”

      He smiled. “We’re hiding more from my boss than from your ADA. I’m on administrative leave, which means I’m not even supposed to talk to you.”

      “But you want answers, like you said at the station.”

      He nodded.

      “You aren’t too good at following orders, are you?”

      “Not when I’m shut out of a case where I had to kill a man.”

      She swallowed and looked away.

      “Look,” he said. “I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do. For now, we’re just escaping the inquisition back there and getting a good night’s sleep. As a bonus, I ensure that Nelson doesn’t whisk you off to Nashville overnight.”

      She stood on the first step, then moved up one more, making her almost eye level with him.

      “You seem to think that if Kathy tells me to do something, I jump to do it. What gave you that impression?”

      He shrugged. “I think it’s more that she drove three hours to come to your rescue. Allowing you to talk anymore to us would have pretty much defeated the purpose in her driving down here. Lawyers don’t want their clients to talk. Ever.”

      He took the stairs two at a time and paused at the door.

      When she joined him there, he added, “This place has the best security around. No one is going to sneak up on you while you’re here. You’re safe.”

      Her

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