Page 155 of Taken Away

“I need your help.”

The humor vanished instantly.

“All right,” he said at once. “Where are you?”

“Can you come to the winery?”

A brief pause.

“Now?”

“Please.”

He didn’t hesitate.

“Give me twenty minutes,” he said. “I’ll be there.”

Relief washed through her.

“Thank you.”

“Aubrey?”

“Yeah?”

His voice gentled.

“Whatever it is, don’t sit there alone with it, yeah? I’m on my way.”

The line disconnected.

Aubrey lowered the phone.

Then looked back at the pile of secrets spread across Mabel Blackwood’s bedroom floor.

Did I ever really know my family?

Blackwood Estate Winery

Aubrey waited for him in Mabel’s office.

The folders sat stacked on the desk.

The small box of cards rested beside them.

She’d tried putting them away twice.

Both times her hands had started shaking.

So she’d left everything exactly where it was.

Moose lay in his usual spot near the window, front paws crossed.

When footsteps sounded in the hallway, his head came up.

A second later, Declan O’Rourke filled the doorway.

Dark suit. Loosened tie. That familiar, slightly rumpled competence.