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Judy climbed out of the sheriff’s SUV and shut the door. She had pulled her hair back, but a few strands had escaped around her face. She looked tired. We all did.

She caught me staring.

I turned toward the house.

I’d been doing that a lot since she arrived in Eagle River.

Looking at her.

Getting caught.

Pretending I hadn’t been.

When we were teenagers, I’d thought she was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen. Back then, it had been simple. I’d wanted to hold her hand, kiss her behind her parents’ garage, and make her laugh hard enough that she snorted.

She had only done that once.

Then she’d threatened to kill me if I ever told anyone.

The woman standing beside me wasn’t that girl anymore. She was a homicide detective who had followed a serial killer across Texas. She carried a gun, studied every window before entering a house, and looked at a crime scene without flinching.

But when her eyes met mine, I felt exactly like I had at seventeen.

Only stronger.

A hell of a lot stronger.

“You coming?” she asked.

“I was waiting for you.”

“No, you weren’t.”

“I could’ve been.”

Her mouth twitched.

That tiny almost-smile hit me harder than it should have.

Max moved between us and bumped his shoulder against Judy’s leg.

She looked down. “At least one Walker knows how to behave.”

“His last name isn’t Walker.”

She scratched behind his ear. “It is now.”

Max leaned into her hand like he’d already chosen sides.

Traitor.

Sheriff Tate unlocked the front door. Trigger went inside first, his gaze moving through the quiet rooms before he motioned for Rylie to enter.

I didn’t find anything strange about it. Trigger was a Ranger. Protecting the people he loved wasn’t something he had to think about.

It was part of him.

Sheriff Tate closed the door behind us. “The boxes are in Rylie’s old room and the hall closet. I put some in the attic after she moved away, but I don’t remember what’s in any of them.”