Page 185 of Taken Away

Anne studied him.

“No,” she said. Her smile softened. “I suppose he didn’t.”

That was all.

But it was enough to shift something in the room.

Willow slid the Blackwood Burger in front of her, followed by a generous wedge of chocolate pie.

“Eat,” Willow said. “You can lecture us about our failings after.”

Anne laughed and picked up the burger with surprising enthusiasm for someone so polished.

Ned checked his watch and slid his empty plate away.

“I better get back to Moonshine Creek,” he said, tossing some bills on the counter. “Campers start wanderin’ if I’m not there to point ’em at the right fire ring.”

“Tell ’em to come into town and spend money,” Willow called. “I got books gatherin’ dust back there.”

Mary Lou dabbed her mouth and pushed back her chair.

“If you need the real story, come by the visitor center,” she told Anne. “I’ve got more pamphlets than sense and all the gossip to go with ’em.”

“Oh, I fully intend to,” Anne said. “You think I came all this way for the scenery?”

At the window table, Luke pulled a few bills from his wallet and dropped them by his plate. He caught Willow’s eye and tipped his head toward the counter.

“Put mine on my tab,” he said. “And start one for her too. Sheriff might want to buy her a coffee later.”

Willow’s mouth pinched, but she nodded once.

As the bell chimed again behind him, Anne’s voice carried over the clatter of dishes and hum of conversation.

“I’m just sayin’,” she said, licking a smear of sauce from her thumb, “if somebody thinks they’re gonna guilt my daughter into stayin’ here because Mabel wrote it into a will, they’ve got another thing comin’.”

Scout watched him go, then looked back at Anne.

“Burke is gonna love this,” he muttered.

Luke stepped out into the thick June air and headed up Main toward the sheriff’s office, already framing the conversation in his mind.

Anne Langford was back in Sylva.

She’d just announced to half the café that she’d come to save Aubrey from the mess Mabel left behind.

THIRTY-NINE

Jackson County Sheriff’s Department

Sheriff Burke Scott

Burke was halfway through a stack of reports when Luke walked into his office without knocking.

That alone got his attention.

Luke usually knocked.

Burke looked up. “What?”