Colin got on the phone. Jodie, the receptionist, picked up.
“Hey, Colin!” she said in her usual cheery voice. “I noticed you’ve got someone at the gate. What’s going on, sweetie?”
“Hey, Jodie. This one’s a little odd. I don’t think there’s anything wrong, but—yeah, I know, we have to be careful. Can you put me through to the boss, please? Tell him I have a woman named Maren Walsh and a little girl named Juniper who are here to see Arden. They don’t have an appointment.”
“Arden?” Jodie’s voice filled with surprise. “Is she a client?”
“No, says she’s never met her. No appointment. I don’t think she even knows what Arden does for a living. But she needs to see her.”
“Sheneedsto see her?” Jodie sounded incredulous.
“Yeah, she does. And I agree. But, I need to clear it with Kyle first. Like I said, it’s…odd.”
“Okay, Mr. Mysterious, I’ll put you through.”
“Thanks, Jodie.”
A click, a couple moments of silence while Jodie talked to Kyle, then Colin’s boss was on the line.
“Colin. Who’s at the gate?”
“Boss, her name is Maren Walsh and she has a little girl with her—Juniper. They’re here to see Arden.”
“That’s what Jodie said. But why? What do they want with my wife?”
Colin looked down the drive at the little girl sitting in the car, watching him with those silver-gray eyes.
“You need to see it for yourself, boss. Once you do, I think you’ll get it.”
FIVE
Arden Volker McGuire’slast spring cleaning chore of the day was dusting the great room. After seeing her client Edith first thing in the morning, she’d changed into her grubbies and started scrubbing down the kitchen cabinets and counters and cleaning out the refrigerator. Once that was done, dusting let her wind down and daydream. The breeze coming through the patio doors brought in the scents from the awakening woods—evergreens, much-needed rain, the bed of sweet-smelling hyacinths blooming right off the patio.
Arden dusted the wooden mantel on the stone fireplace, working her way toward the center where Sean’s photograph held its usual place of honor. She’d put it back the morning after Kyle came back from Los Angeles to propose to her. She could look at Sean’s photo and smile softly, remembering their childhood, and even the last letter he’d written before his final mission that let her know he was sorry about their fight.
She paused with the dust cloth and looked at Sean. Dress uniform, those familiar silver-gray eyes steady and proud, the ghost of a smirk at the corner of his mouth like he held a secret joke he was waiting to tell.
You always were a smartass.
“Miss you,” she told him. “Every single day.”
Something fell in the room behind her.
Arden didn’t startle. She glanced over her shoulder at no one—just the empty great room, early-afternoon light coming in warm and golden through the windows. From his dog bed near the hearth, Camo lifted his black-and-gold head and looked in the same direction, ears pricked, then settled back down with a satisfied huff. That’s when Arden noticed a slew of greeting cards that had been sitting on a table were now scattered across the floor.
“Afternoon, Nancy,” Arden said mildly, and went back to her dusting.
Nancy Satin Holliday, Arden’s great-great-great-grandmother, had been making her ghostly presence known since the first hard frost, which was right on schedule as far as Arden was concerned. Nancy had always been more active in the cold months. She’d been a restless—as well as scandalous—woman in life and her restlessness didn’t go away just because she was dead. Arden found the idea, whether it was true or not, more comforting than unsettling. She liked the idea that Nancy still watched over the ranch and her descendants. So, even if it was only the breeze that had knocked down the cards, Arden acknowledged herallegedcattle-rustling granny anyway.
Arden wiped the dust cloth toward the far edge of the mantel and glanced idly to her right, out through the wall of glass toward the back deck.
A red-tailed hawk sat on the back of one of the patio chairs, watching her. Its head was cocked slightly to one side with an air of calm assessment, as if it had knocked on the door and was waiting politely to be let in.
Arden lowered the dust cloth.
If you happen to see a hawk, wave. Because that’s me.Sean had written those words in his final letter to her.
She felt her lips curve up before she’d even decided to smile.
