LITMIR.BIZ

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children’s rooms. He scanned the corners before entering, then realized Elsie had slept in this smaller room. The unmade bed indicated she had left in a hurry.

      Had the man attacked her here?

      He stepped forward, and examined the rumpled bed-clothes, but saw nothing that might identify her attacker. A suitcase was open in the corner, and a small travel bag sat on the floor in the bathroom, but there was no intruder. Anxious to get back to her, he noticed a door to an attic, but it was locked on the outside, so the intruder couldn’t have entered through it. He also spotted a similar lock on the basement door on the main floor.

      She glanced up at him when he entered, still wary, but at least she had stopped shivering. And she hadn’t run, either.

      “I didn’t see anyone. Do you know how he got in?”

      A curtain of her long curly hair fell across one cheek. “No.”

      “Were the basement and attic doors locked last night?”

      She shivered visibly. “Yes. They stay locked.”

      He walked back to the fire and started to kneel in front of her, but she drew back her shoulders and he paused, keeping his distance. He had to win her trust if he was going to convince her to return to Falcon Ridge with him.

      “Did you see what the man looked like?” he asked.

      Her eyelashes fluttered, and she sipped the coffee. “No, but he had the devil’s eyes,” she said in a low voice.

      He frowned. “And you thought it was me?” Anger hardened his voice this time as the memory of his father being falsely accused of murder raced back.

      She shrugged. “You are following me. I…still don’t know the reason.”

      He heaved a breath. If she believed the tales about the devil living in the woods and thought he’d attacked her, maybe she wasn’t quite stable. How could he take her back to Falcon Ridge like this? Deanna Timmons would be devastated.

      “Either tell me or get out,” she said, her voice stronger.

      He nodded, considered a lie, but that wouldn’t be fair and would only prolong the process. He needed to know if she wanted to go home to see her mother. Then he could decide what to do.

      “Your mother hired me to find you.”

      Elsie gasped, a strained silence stretching between them. She’d almost gotten her trembling under control, but the cruelty of his statement triggered another onslaught. Her hand shook so hard she sloshed coffee over her fingers and had to set the cup down. His eyes pierced her. But he said nothing, simply waited.

      Pain so raw and deep she felt as if she’d been sliced open tore through her. How many times had she told herself it didn’t matter that her mother had sent her away? That no one wanted her?

      Elsie finally found her voice, although she hated the tears that laced it. “You’re lying,” she choked out. “Why are you doing this to me?”

      He arched a black eyebrow. “I’m not lying, Elsie. It’s true. She sent me to find you.”

      The anger she’d relied on for years resurfaced to give her strength. “My mother is dead,” she snapped. “Now, get out of here.”

      Chapter Four

      Elsie stood, willing Deke Falcon to leave her in peace. Not to open doors to the past that held pain so intense she’d once thought she’d die from it.

      But instead of moving, his black eyes pierced through her as if he could see all the way inside her soul. “Who told you that your mother was dead?” he asked in a low voice.

      She clutched the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “My father. Now, I asked you to leave, Mr. Falcon.”

      “It’s Deke, Elsie.” He tried to reach for her but she backed away. “And your mother is not dead. She’s very much alive and she wants to see you. She still lives in your old house in Tin City.”

      A bitter laugh escaped her. “Now I know you’re lying. My mother sent me away years ago, back when my friend Hailey died.”

      A long tense second followed. “Hailey is alive, too.” His voice dropped a decibel, almost apologetic as if he thought she’d already known. “Everyone thought she was dead, but she came back to Tin City a few months ago.”

      “What are you talking about?” Elsie whispered. The memory of the night Hailey had disappeared hung like a dark cloud, still vivid in her mind. In spite of the fact that her mother had warned her to stay away from the Lyles, she had crawled into the attic to visit Hailey earlier that day. But she’d left when Hailey’s daddy had come home. Hailey’s father had been cruel and abusive, and the two girls had both been terrified of him. Elsie had felt guilty that she’d abandoned her friend.

      “Hailey and her family were killed that night,” she said. “By the caretaker who lived next door. His name was…” She hesitated, then suddenly the name shot into her head. “Falcon…. Mr. Falcon….”

      Harsh lines slashed his jaw as he scowled with anger. “Yes, Randolph Falcon, he was my father.”

      Dear God, Deke Falcon’s father was the hatchet killer.

      Fear bolted through her. Why had he come to her now?

      She took a step backward, but her foot hit the hearth, and she nearly tripped. He grabbed her arms, but she wrenched away. “Please don’t hurt me. Just leave,” she pleaded.

      “I told you, I’m not here to hurt you, just like my father didn’t hurt anyone,” he said between clenched teeth. “Your mother sent me to search for you. She wants to see you. The night Hailey’s parents were killed, your father took you away. Your mother has been looking for you ever since.”

      Elsie staggered, unable to accept his declaration as true.

      “It’s a long story, Elsie, and I’m not leaving here until you hear me out.”

      She swallowed hard, trying to remember Deke from childhood. There had been three Falcon boys, all older than her, all mean as snakes. Their father raised falcons, and the school kids claimed the boys were strange, that they communed with wild animals.

      Deke removed an envelope from his shirt pocket and pushed it toward her. “Look at these. They’re pictures of Hailey’s wedding. She married my brother, Rex. Your mother attended the ceremony.”

      “Now I know you’re fabricating this story. If Hailey returned, she’d never marry the son of her family’s killer.”

      Deke closed his eyes as if she had stabbed a knife in his chest. When he opened them again, pain had settled in the dark brown depths. “My father didn’t kill Hailey’s family. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Rex, Brack and I run a P.I. firm. Last year, we reopened my father’s case and when Hailey returned, they discovered that she’d repressed memories of the murder.”

      “It turns out that Hailey’s father had a twin brother. He came to help Hailey, her mother and brother escape the abuse, but Hailey’s father showed up and killed the mother and son. Hailey ran into the woods. Everyone thought she had died, but she climbed into a small boat and a trucker found her later. She had lost her memory and wound up in foster care. When Hailey came back to Tin City, her father, who’d been hiding all these years, tried to kill her. My brother saved her.”

      Hailey’s sweet face flashed into Elsie’s mind, and tears filled her eyes. “Oh, my God. You’re serious, aren’t you?”

      “Yes, Elsie. My father was cleared. Hailey and Rex married.” His solemn eyes spoke the truth.

      Elsie’s head was spinning. Hailey was alive. Mr. Falcon hadn’t killed Hailey’s father.

      If that were true, maybe Deke was telling her the truth about her mother.

      “Look at the pictures, Elsie.

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