An SUV appeared on camera, leaving the ranch and heading down past Watchdog’s main offices to the gate. That would be Edith Hartley—one of Arden’s therapy clients leaving after her session. The SUV appeared at the gate a minute later. He smiled and waved her through. She thanked him in the soft, distracted way people did when they were already thinking about something else. He watched her vehicle disappear down the road, then picked it back up on camera at the turnoff from Watchdog to the road leading into Lyons.
Quiet descended again for the next couple of hours. He scrolled through his phone, avoiding the news, and finally settling on a playlist from his music app. He was leaning back in his chair, thinking about what he wanted for lunch after his shift ended in an hour, when the camera feed from the lower road caught his eye again—a white Subaru, coming up slow. He checked the list. Nothing matched—no vehicle description, no expected arrival.Could be one of Arden’s horse owners, he reasoned. She still boarded a couple of horses for people, but he didn’t recognize the vehicle as belonging to either of them. Could be a new Watchdog client who hadn’t called ahead. Could be someone who got lost and was looking for directions, or could be nothing.
His hand moved to the radio anyway as the vehicle slowed to a stop. The woman behind the wheel looked both exhausted and wired.
Colin leaned out the window. “Good afternoon. Do you have an appointment?”
Her eyes went huge. “No, I don’t. I didn’t even know I was coming here. Do I need an appointment? I’m looking for a woman—her name is Arden Volker. Does she work here? Live here?”
She was trying for polite, but her smile looked nervous.
Colin noticed movement in the back seat.
Oh, no. Not a kid. And not one this cute. And terrified-looking.
She clutched a stuffed Snoopy in one arm—Waylon would get a kick out of the Snoopy—and what looked like a couple of rags in the other. No, wait—not rags. One of them had eyes and a nose and a pair of ears. A teddy bear. But one that looked like it had been torn to shreds. He had a feeling she hadn’t loved it to death.
Only one type of person tears up a little kid’s teddy bear.
Anger rose from his gut to his chest.
Shit. Why does it have to be a kid?
Colin looked past their car down the road. He couldn’t hear any gravel crunching, and there were no cars on the camera. He turned back to the woman.
“Are you in immediate danger?”
As soon as he asked, she looked behind her as well, as if the devil was right on her heels. “No. No, I’m not.”
“But you looked anyway,” he said.
“I did,” she answered hesitantly as her hands tightened on the wheel. Then she glanced at the little girl in the back seat. “Can we discuss this away from… Is it okay if I get out of my car?”
“Aunt Maren?” came the little girl’s voice from the back seat. “Where are you going? Is this him?”
She was still looking at Colin when she said it.
Him,he wondered.Him who?
Then she said the words. “Are you my daddy?”
She might as well have thrown a bucket of ice-cold water at him.
“Am I yourwhat? No way, kid.” He turned back to the woman—Aunt Maren, apparently—who looked absolutely mortified. “What’s happening here?”
“I’m s-s-sorry. She’s had a rough twenty-four hours. We both have.” She sniffed, holding back tears.
Colin immediately felt like an asshole.Stop being such a prick. He extended his hand. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m Colin. Colin Hale.”
She took his hand so hesitantly, Colin died a little inside. The second she touched his hand and looked into his eyes, he wanted to confront anyone that might be coming after her.
“It’s nice to meet you, Colin. I’m Maren.” She turned to the little girl. “It’s all right, sweetie. I’m just going to talk to this niceman right here. I’m getting out of the car for a second. I just need to stretch my legs—you know I’ve been driving all day.”
“And all night,” the little girl muttered under her breath. The eye-roll that went with it seemed much more adult than what a—four-year-old? Five-year-old?—would normally produce.
“It’s okay, hun. We’re not going anywhere,” Colin reassured the little girl, hoping that would be about the last thing he’d have to say to her.
Colin didn’t do kids. No way, no how.
