“So, Trish stirred up trouble as usual,” Chloe said with a raised eyebrow.
“Has she done so in the past?”
“Oh, yes.” Chloe nodded. Slicing a piece of pumpkin bread, she put it on a plate and handed it to Charley. “She went out with Cash once or twice years ago, and so I invited her to the Halloween party also…years ago. Anyway, as you may have guessed after meeting Tracy, Cash is partial to redheads.”
“Tracy is an absolutely stunning redhead,” Charley said. “Gracious as she is sweet.”
“Yes. We all love Tracy. She has been the perfect match for Cash. He couldn’t be happier, and Tracy is devoted to him.”
Charley smiled. “That’s so wonderful.”
“As for Trish, she pulled theI’m pregnanttrick on Cash too.”
“Seriously?” Charley asked as Chloe nodded. “But she wasn’t?”
“No, she was not.” Chloe rolled her eyes much as she had the previous night.
“But she was so convincing,” Charley admitted.
“She was convincing with Cash too,” Chloe replied. “He told her that he wanted to see a pregnancy test. And he said if she did have a baby, he’d demand a paternity test.”
“What happened?” Charley asked. Though she wasn’t hungry, she politely took a bite of the pumpkin bread, because Chloe was eating hers.
“Trish told Cash since it was Halloween, she was just trying to scare him.” Chloe frowned. “She admitted she wasn’t pregnant right then and there. But it was the last time Cash ever went out with her.”
“Wow, I cannot imagine pulling such a horrible trick on a man,” Charley said.
“Me neither,” Chloe said and glanced at her watch. “I was hoping Derek would hear back from Owen by now.” No sooner had Chloe spoken those words than Derek, Cooper, and the German shepherd entered the house through the back door. The dog trotted straight to Chloe. “Hi, boys,” she said to her husband and son as she petted Spike. “Cooper, Charley brought her new puppy with her to visit today.”
“Cool! Hi, Charley.” Cooper asked, “Where’s the puppy?”
“In the family room with the twins,” Charley said. “His name is Wyatt Earp.”
“I’m gonna go see him,” Cooper said and took off down the hall.
“Wyatt Earp, like Sully,” Chloe said to Charley and looked at Derek. “Coffee?”
“Sure,” he said as Chloe stood to let him sit on the bench seat across from Charley. “Hi, Charley. You’ve heard about Sully?”
“Hi, Derek,” Charley said to the former deputy sheriff as he rubbed his forehead. “Yes.”
As Chloe fixed Derek’s coffee, she asked, “Any news?”
“Yes.” Derek sat up straighter as she sat down beside him with his coffee. “But not from Owen. Since I hadn’t heard from him, I called the sheriff’s office and talked to a buddy.”
“Tell us, please, what you found out, Derek,” Chloe urged.
“Yes, please,” Charley said. Expecting the worst, her body was nearly numb from fear and anxiety. She crossed her arms over her heart and hugged herself.
“The crash wasn’t discovered until early this morning. Trish Potter was driving, and the car went over an embankment at a curve in the road on the way to her house,” Derek said. “Because it rolled all the way to the bottom of the ravine, no one saw the wreck until daylight.”
So, while Charley lay crying all night, Sully lay at the bottom of a hill? She cringed and silently berated herself. Please God, let Sully be alive.
“Are they alive?” Chloe asked.
Charley dug her nails into her arms as she waited for Derek to answer.
“My buddy at the sheriff’s office said Trish died instantly.” Derek looked from Chloe to Charley and said, “Sully was in the hospital, unresponsive but alive as of two hours ago.”
