Page 322 of Rangers Unexpected Return

“You called me.”

“No.”

The woman’s voice trembled.

“You called me.”

Judy looked at her phone.

“I didn’t.”

A faint sound came through the speaker.

A door closing.

Then footsteps.

Judy’s expression changed.

“Elizabeth, are you alone?”

“How do you know that name?”

“We found Emily’s box.”

The woman gasped.

For a few seconds, there was nothing except her breathing.

Then she whispered,

“She hid it.”

“Yes.”

“She told me she would.”

Judy’s eyes filled.

“Emily kept her promise.”

The words broke something on the other end.

Elizabeth began to cry.

Not loudly.

The quiet, wounded crying of someone who had carried fear for most of her life.

“I thought she got away.”

Judy closed her eyes.

“She stayed behind so you could.”

Elizabeth sobbed once.

Mace placed his hand against Judy’s back.