Page 38 of Beneath Still Waters

“He was older than me too.”

Lacy plowed into her and held her tight. “Let’s not do that ever again. I’ve been a target before, and I have no desire to become a walking target.”

“I don’t either.” She pulled back. “That guy. Did you see his run? Would you say he was older too?”

Lacy furrowed her brow. “I . . . Ferd, I’m older than you. What do you mean byolder?”

She couldn’t put her finger on it but the way he lifted his knees when he ran made her assume, without any further examination, that the man who’d shot at them was older or never ran. Now that she could scrutinize her thoughts, she wasn’t sure she wanted to put a number on it. “I don’t know. Older than forty?”

Lacy tilted her head and squinted at the sky. “Yeah, I would agree with that. If he is older than that, he’s fit. He only hesitatedbecause he didn’t know how to deal with two of us. If I hadn’t decided to follow you . . .” Her face scrunched.

“No. Don’t live like that. Youdidcome. Thank you for your help.”

Sirens wailed as three cars pulled up the driveway. “Who called?” She hadn’t even reached for her phone yet.

“There was shooting and anyone over at The Haven would call right away if they heard them.”

Ferd nodded.Mom would.Ferd took her phone from her pocket and called Mom as she turned her back on all the noise heading right for them.

Before she let Mom say anything, “Mom, I just wanted you to know I’m okay. I’m sure you heard the sirens. We’re all okay.”

Mom’s voice trembled. “Oh, praise God. I heard the shots and immediately called. I was terrified. They even warn us around here before they set off fireworks. That was just shocking. Horrible. I had visions of abductions. Murder . . .”

Shooting wasn’t all that rare, even on places nearby, but the shots had been close enough to Wayside Ranch that everyone had to have known the shots were too close.

“Ferd?” Duke’s hand on her shoulder distracted her.

“I’ve got to check in with the police. I’ll talk to you later, Mom. I just wanted you to know I’m okay.”

“Connor too?”

She beamed. Even though Mom was no relation to Connor at all, she still cared about him and tried to mother him. “Yes, he’s fine too.” She hung up and caught the worry in Duke’s eyes.

He waited until she shoved her phone into her back pocket before he took her shoulders and gave her a subtle shake. “Why didn’t you call me? Immediately. Are you okay?”

She stepped back out of his reach. “Mentally or physically?”

“Both. As soon as I heard the call come through, I was going crazy. May have slightly exceeded the speed limit we’re supposed to stick to.”

She couldn’t help grinning. “Glad I could give you the excuse.”

“Okay, I know you’re okay now.”

“Thanks for the evaluation.”Thanks, Duke, for the levity.

His breathing slowed to normal. “Okay, in all seriousness, tell me what happened.” He waved her over to a nearby bench.

They walked side-by-side, away from the other officers and Connor. “It’s crazy to me that you immediately assumed I was the issue. There are no less than eight victims of human trafficking here right now, and you assumed I was the target.”

His face scrunched, then he looked away. “I don’t know how I can explain it. Maybe it was because of yesterday and how shaken up you were all the way to Cheyenne, but I couldn’t convince myself it was anyone but you.”

Okay, that sounded too much like friendship. Time for the investigation again. “I don’t know the people we’ve interviewed well enough to guess who a man in all black might be based on his gait, but he was older than forty. Maybe even older than forty-five. I would say that with some degree of certainty.”

“You think this has to do with the Bailey case?”

She nodded. “I have no doubt. What’s really strange is they seem to think I’m the issue. Not you. Why is that?”

“I wish I could answer that question. Can you show me where it happened? I might be able to locate a casing or a bullet fragment, but we’ll probably need a metal detector out here.”