“Thank God,” she said as she met them. “Are you all right?” she asked Colette.
Colette all but ignored her sister’s question. She had to know about Brook. “Where’s the baby?”
“She’s sleeping in her crib. Now, let’s get you home.”
When they got to the ranch, Abby quickly took over, ordering Belinda to make hot coffee and insisting Hank carry Colette to the sofa in the living room. She put a call in to Dr. Washburn, then shooed everyone but Belinda out of the room. “We need to get you out of those wet clothes,” she said. “Belinda, run and get the flannel robe out of my closet.”
Within minutes Colette was warm and dry, wrapped in Abby’s robe and sipping a hot cup of coffee. Hank stood against the door, his gaze dark as it lingered on her.
“Now, tell us what happened. Where have you been?” Abby asked.
“I went for a walk and ended up out at the Walker place. There’s an old root cellar out there. When I opened the door and looked in, somebody came up behind me and hit me in the head. I don’t know whether I fell or was pushed down the stairs, but when I regained consciousness I was at the bottom of the stairs. I found my way back to the door, but couldn’t get it to open.”
“Somebody placed rocks on the door so she couldn’t get it open.” Hank’s eyes held a darkness as profound as what Colette had endured in the root cellar. “Somebody tried to kill her.”
His words hung in the air and for a moment nobody spoke.
“I’m calling Junior Blanchard,” Abby said, rising from the sofa and heading toward the phone.
Dr. Washburn arrived and shooed everyone out of the room. After examining Colette thoroughly, he told her and the others what she already suspected. She had a bump on her head and badly bruised ribs. “You’ve suffered a shock and the best thing for you is rest,” he said when he’d finished. “Although you’re probably going to be sore enough you won’t want to do anything but stay in bed for the next couple of days.”
“And I’ll see to it that’s exactly what she does,” Abby stated.
“You won’t get any complaint from me,” Colette replied, grimacing as she changed positions on the sofa. “I don’t intend to leave this house until we know exactly what is going on.”
A knock sounded at the door. “That’s probably Junior. Maybe he’ll be able to help us sort out this whole mess,” Abby said, then went to answer the door.
She returned a moment later with the tall, gray-haired man in uniform. His rugged face creased with a warm smile as he approached Colette and took both her hands in his. “Abby explained to me about your memory loss. I didn’t realize the other morning when I stopped in that you didn’t remember my ugly mug. I was a good friend of your daddy’s.”
“And he’s been a good friend to us,” Abby added, smiling fondly at the big man.
He released Colette’s hand and sank into the chair opposite her. He took a moment to get settled, scratching his belly, then pulling a toothpick out of his pocket and popping it into the side of his mouth. “So, what’s up?” he asked Abby.
It took only a few minutes for Abby and Colette to explain to him what had happened. Colette realized Hank was no longer in the room. He’d disappeared at some point before Junior had arrived.
Junior listened patiently, swirling the toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other then back again. When they’d finished, his smile was gone, replaced by a deep frown that wrinkled his broad forehead.
“I knew I should have been keeping a closer eye on my girls,” he said more to himself than to anyone in particular. “Your daddy, God rest his soul, was my best friend in the whole world, but he’ll haunt my butt the rest of my days if anything happens to one of you.”
He scratched his protruding stomach once again. “Abby, I’ll need a list of all the men you’ve got working right now. Have you seen any strangers around the place? Any vagrants?” Abby shook her head and he turned to Colette. “Have you made any enemies since coming back home?”
Colette hesitated, remembering Billy Sims’s dark eyes glowing with dislike. “Only one.” She quickly relayed to the sheriff about Billy’s drunkenness and Abby’s resulting censure.
“I’ll check him out, along with the others.” He rose. “And now I want to talk to this Hank fella who found you.”
“I’ll go with you and get that list for you,” Abby said. Together they left the room.
Belinda moved to sit on the sofa at Colette’s feet. “Want more coffee?” she asked.
Colette shook her head. “I just wish this nightmare was over. I don’t understand what’s happening. I’m afraid and don’t know who to trust.”
“You know you can always trust me and Abby.”
Colette smiled. “That’s the only thing I know for sure.”
When Abby returned she was once again alone. She sank down on the chair near Colette and Belinda. “Junior says he’ll be in touch. He’s going to run a background check on all the ranch hands and he said for you to stick close to us until he can figure out what’s going on.”
“I wish I knew what was going on,” Colette said in frustration.
