Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I haven’t spoken to Carly since we left and this isn’t the best time. I’m aching to hear her voice, to listen to her talk about the animals on the ranch. Hell, I’ll even listen to talk of shoveling manure if she’s the one doing it.
Except I can’t do it now. Not on the way to the ER and not with Chance and Miles in the car.
Looking over my shoulder, I pull a U-turn and floor it toward the hospital closest to Mom’s house. It’s ten minutes away, but at least I know she’s breathing and headed to St. Anne’s.
“Don’t you want to get that?” Miles leans forward and sets his forearms on the two front seats.
I glance at Carly’s name, but then it disappears. She ended the call.
“I’ll get back to her.” When I know my mom is stable and things aren’t a total shitshow.
Except it rings again. I grit my teeth and press the accept button. No way can I blow Carly off twice in a row. It felt wrong the first time.
“Hey, baby. Can I call you back? Now’s not—”
“No.” Her voice is breathy through the speaker. “Oh my God, Austin. You won’t… I mean…” Her voice is breathy.
My heart is already on overdrive and now it’s full out in a stampede. Mom. And now Carly. She’s freaked.
“Breathe and tell me what’s wrong.”
Chance’s cell rings and he pulls it from his pocket, puts it to his ear.
“At the dam. I… I… I found a…”
“It’s okay, baby. Just tell me.”
Her breath comes in rapid puffs through the phone. “A… A dead body.”
“What the fuck?” Miles murmurs.
I don’t know who Chance is talking to, but his face goes hard, his jaw clenches, and he looks at me and nods. He’s getting the same info from someone else. A foreman maybe? Hell, it could even be Mayor Vance for all I fucking know.
For the second time in a few minutes, I slam on the brakes and pull off the road.
“There’s a dead body on the ranch,” Chance confirms. “At the creek. We have to get back. Together. Now.”
“My mom’s headed to the ER,” I say. “I have routes to fly.”
“Your girl needs you,” Miles says.
“So does my mom,” I snap.
I’m being pulled in multiple directions, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t fucking know where to even go.
“Austin—” Carly practically sobs.
Her cries tear at my chest like invisible knives.
I run a hand over my face. Fuck. What the hell am I going to do?
25
CARLY
* * *
I’m exhausted. And caked in dry mud.
Lexie’s at the police station with me and we’ve been questioned for hours. I’m not sure how many more ways we can say we know nothing about the body I found.
After the two of us totally freaked, we stood on the bank of the creek and pulled our shit together. We decided we’d both ride back to the ranch to get help. Neither of us wanted to remain behind with the body. It wasn’t going anywhere.
So we took the ATV to the stable, which happened to be the closest building, and called the police. Only when they arrived did we lead them back, a few of the ranch hands joining us. Photos were taken and then the body loaded into a body bag for a trip to the morgue.
“You said the Bridgers were at the dam yesterday?” Chief Bryant asks.
He’s close in age to my parents and nearing retirement. Not much happens in Bayfield, so a dead body is definitely news. I’m not sure if he knows what to even do about it. The last big thing to happen in town was…me. My kidnapping.
“Yes.” Lexie runs a hand over her hair that’s snarled and wispy from our hasty trips back and forth from the creek.
“My father was upset about the dam blocking other neighbors’ access to water. The men dismantled the dam yesterday at his… suggestion.”
“Now they’re out of state,” the sheriff says. “All three of them. That’s convenient.”
“I don’t think they’re on the run, sir.” I try to keep the man focused. It’s not my place to mention the will and the weird requirements that go along with it. “Austin had some issues with his family business.”
“I thought the ranch was family business,” Bryant counters.
“Austin is new to Bayfield, as you know. He has run a seaplane company with his mother for years. I’m not sure though what this has to do with the body.”
Sheriff Bryant purses his lips.
I swallow. “You don’t think he has anything to do with this, do you?”
“Well—”
“Austin’s only been in Bayfield for what… two weeks? I’m not an expert on dead bodies—”
“Then you don’t need to continue.”
“I did trip over him, Sheriff. I got quite the look at the man. The body. He… it’s been there a while.”
Lexie takes my hand in hers and gives it a squeeze. “Can we go, Sheriff? You know where to find both of us if you have more questions.”