“Gale, I know that. But you’re asking me to choose.”
“Nope. I’m not. You said what you wanted and I’m intelligent enough to understand. No one is going to come after me. I’m too much out in the open and you know it. Not only that, they’d have to deal with my brothers, and let’s be honest, this person isn’t that stupid if they are a local. There would be no place for them to hide in the world if Clay was after them. And Rory can take care of himself.”
She saw the change in her brother’s eyes. She was getting to him. “I hope you’re right because when Clay gets here, who the hell knows what will come out of his mouth.”
She pulled her phone out of her purse. “I’ll take care of it.” She hit Clay’s name and waited while it rang. Her brother answered. “Don’t come here and lecture. I mean it. I’m not walking away and neither is Rory. Help us get answers or drive your ass back home.”
“Hello to you too,” Clay said, his grouchy tone loud enough for her to pull the phone back.
“Don’t be cute.”
There was silence for a few seconds. “Don’t make me have to get revenge for you,” Clay snapped, then disconnected the call.
She turned to Ford. “See how easy that was?”
“You tell yourself that,” Ford said. “While Clay and I are up worrying.”
And that was how you put guilt on someone’s shoulders.
25
PLENTY TO LOSE
It’d been three weeks and all Rory had was his gut instinct, a major headache, and more guilt to carry that he could put someone else in harm’s way.
There was one week left of his time here and he was ready to hit the ground running. He was going to extend the stay whether or not he found answers.
If for no other reason than to be with Gale. To learn more about her, and find out if what they had was something they could continue.
He hadn’t needed the Ridgeway brothers to give him a “talk” about messing with their sister.
It was almost comical how defensive Gale got about it and him. No one had ever been in his corner before and it was why he had to rush and move faster now.
He was feeling life moving around him positively and he was damn well going to be part of it.
Which was why on Monday morning he was knocking on Detective Miller’s door. There was a car in the driveway and he wasn’t leaving until he finally talked to the guy.
“Hello,” a woman said when she answered the door.
“I’m looking for Logan Miller,” he said. “My name is Rory Connors and I’ve been trying to reach him.”
“Hang on,” the woman said and shut the door. He knew that coming here might be a mistake and Miller wasn’t going to talk to him. Or would be pissed off. But damn it all, he was tired of being ignored.
The door opened a minute later. “You’re persistent,” Logan said.
“I am. Warning letters, conversations, and my place being broken into aren’t going to change that.”
“What?” Logan asked and moved onto the front porch. “I’ve been out of town and out of reach. We got back last night and I saw your emails.” It’d been over a year since he’d reached out to Detective Miller for any update on his sister’s case. Until now, there’d been no reason to do it more frequently than he’d been.
“Oh,” he said. “Sorry to bother you, but I was hoping you could answer some questions for me as the last detective to work on my sister’s case.”
“Don’t be so formal,” Logan said. “We’ve talked a few times in the past few years. I’ve got nothing new to report and have been retired now for over six months.”
“So I heard. Don’t you want to know what I’ve got and what’s been happening since I returned here three weeks ago?”
Logan sighed. “What I’d like to do is put this town and all this shit behind me. That I’m getting calls and emails from Daniel McGregor is only pissing me off and now I’m inclined to believe it has to do with you.”
“You’re joking.”
