LITMIR.BIZ

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thanks,” he said when the woman had finished. “I’ll be there in twenty.”

      Mara’s stomach fell as Billy ended the call. She didn’t know what she had expected of the man she’d left with no more than a note on his pillow and no hint whatsoever that she was pregnant with his child. But his taking a work call hadn’t been on the list of possibilities. She straightened her back. Alexa squeezed her little arms around Mara’s neck in her sleep. The slight movement wasn’t missed by Billy. He looked at his daughter before his eyes cut back to her.

      “You have a world of explaining to do,” he started, voice low. He had finally landed on an emotion. Anger. “First you just up and leave, then you don’t talk to me for two years, and now you’re saying that—” He stopped his voice from going any louder. Without breaking eye contact he reached for the raincoat on the wall next to them. “A body has just been found and I need to try and get to the crime scene before this rain messes everything up. If it hasn’t already.” He slid into the coat. “I’m sorry.” He ran his finger across the brim of his hat. “It’s been a long day and I didn’t expect to see you.” His eyes trailed down to Alexa before meeting Mara’s again. His expression softened, if only a little. “I would ask you along, but I don’t think a crime scene in the rain is a good place to have this talk.”

      “I’ll agree to that,” Mara said. Before she could add anything the sheriff’s expression changed again. It became alert, ready.

      “Wait, you said you needed my help?” he asked. The angles of his face seemed to go tight. While Mara had no doubt he was ready to listen to her with all of his attention, he was also still thinking about the crime scene. The sound of pounding rain probably wasn’t helping.

      “I can wait until you’re done,” she said. The urgency that had driven her from their home that morning had ebbed considerably, especially now that she was there, standing in Billy’s house. Maybe she had been foolish to leave so suddenly and come running back to Carpenter.

      And its sheriff.

      “Are you sure?” She could see his resolve splitting. She nodded.

      “I can go check in to the hotel off Miller Street, if you think it will be a bit.”

      “Why don’t you just wait here? It’s not like you don’t know your way around.” Heat rushed up to Mara’s cheeks at the comment. She doubted he’d meant to stir up old memories. He was just stating a fact. She did know her way around, having spent countless hours there trying to plan a way to stop her father. A pursuit that had had unexpected outcomes.

      “Oh, I wouldn’t want to intr—”

      “Mara.” Billy’s voice took on a low edge. “Stay.”

      An easy command for any smart woman to follow from Billy Reed.

      Alexa stirred in her arms.

      “Okay,” she relented. It would be nice not to have to run Alexa back out into the bad weather. Plus, she doubted after the information she’d just hit him with, Billy would leave his house until he had the whole story. She couldn’t blame him. “I’ll wait until you get back.”

      An expression she didn’t quite understand flashed across Billy’s face, but when he spoke his voice was normal, considering everything.

      “Help yourself to any food in the fridge,” he said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

      Mara thanked him and moved out of his way as he went out into the storm. The Billy she’d known years before hadn’t changed. Justice and protecting those within his jurisdiction still prevailed.

      “Well, Alexa,” Mara said once she’d heard his Tahoe leave. “This is the Reed family home.”

      A little uncertainly, Mara slipped off her shoes and padded through the entryway and into the living room. Surprisingly, or maybe not, nothing seemed to have changed since the last time she’d been in the house. The old dark hardwood grounded a room that had been the heart of the Reed family for two generations. Sure, some of the furniture had changed—the black leather couch certainly hadn’t been Billy’s mother’s choice, and neither had the plasma flat-screen—but the cozy feel of a house well loved and well lived-in hadn’t diminished one bit.

      Mara kept on her tour with a growing smile. From the living room she went to the kitchen, the dining room and the open office. She was looking for clues that might tell her what had happened to Billy since she’d left Carpenter. The family pictures of the Reeds still dotted the walls, including some new additions and marriages, while other pictures specific only to Billy also popped up occasionally. Mara stopped and smiled at one in particular that caught her eye.

      Standing in front of a crowd of Riker County residents was the dark-haired man, moments after he’d been officially elected sheriff.

      The old affection began to break through an emotional dam she’d spent years building. Then, just as quickly, she was back to that morning, when she’d stood on her front porch across from the stranger who had threatened her life and the life of her child. If anyone could deal with the mystery man it was the Riker County sheriff.

      Alexa moved in her arms. This time she woke up.

      The cold that had started to spread in the pit of Mara’s stomach turned to warmth.

      “Well, hello there,” she whispered.

      Alexa looked up at her mom. Just shy of fifteen months, the toddler might not have known much about the world, but that had never stopped her beautiful green eyes from being curious.

      Just like her father’s.

      * * *

      IT TOOK FIFTEEN minutes to get to the ditch that held Bernie Lutz’s body. Billy could have taken three hours—hell, three days—and still not have been able to completely process what had just happened. A herd of elephants could have stampeded alongside his Tahoe as he navigated the muddy back road and it wouldn’t have distracted him. Mara’s sudden reappearance alone would have stunned him. But this? Alexa? Mara Copeland on his doorstep with a baby?

      His baby.

      “Get a hold of yourself, Billy,” he said out loud. “You’ve got a job to do first.”

      Had Mara been wearing a wedding ring? Billy shook his head. He needed to focus on one thing at a time. He needed to put everything that wasn’t Bernie Lutz out of his mind. At least for the moment.

      He sighed.

      Yet, there Mara had been. Staring up at him through her long dark lashes, asking for help.

      And he’d just left.

      His phone went off, dancing on the dash before he answered. This time it was Matt Walker, currently Riker County’s only detective, thanks to the retirement of his former partner. Like Suzy, Matt was direct when he spoke about work.

      “Henry got a tarp up, Billy,” he yelled over the weather. “But the road runoff is washing everything away. I went ahead and called in the county coroner.”

      Billy swore.

      “It hasn’t rained in weeks, and the one time we need it dry is the one time all hell breaks loose.”

      “It could be worse,” Matt said. “We could be the body in the ditch.”

      Billy nodded.

      “You’re right,” he said, sobering. “I’m a few minutes out. If the coroner gets there before me, go ahead and load him up. Maybe if we act fast enough we can salvage some evidence.”

      “Ten-four.” Billy started to hang up but Matt cut back in. “And Billy? Just from looking at him, I’m going to say that his girlfriend might have been telling some kind of truth. He’s beaten pretty badly. His death wasn’t fast, by any means. See you when you get here.”

      He ended the call.

      Thoughts of the past half hour

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