Page 228 of Taken Away

“No hesitation there.”

“Because there’s no reason for one.”

“You’re sure?”

“Sheriff, Bennett McCrae would have laid down in front of a tractor before he let harm come to Mabel Blackwood.”

“And yet she didn’t tell him about Walter.”

“No.”

“Because she didn’t trust him?”

Patsy’s eyes narrowed.

“Because she knew exactly who he was.”

Burke waited.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning Bennett’s loyalty is a beautiful thing until it becomes a weapon.”

Burke wrote that down.

Patsy sat back.

“Mabel didn’t want vengeance. She wanted order.”

Order.

Burke looked at the planner again.

It had never been just a calendar.

It was the work of a woman trying to ensure Blackwood survived the very people who loved it.

Walter Grady had taken $75,000 from Blackwood.

Mabel had forgiven him.

Forgiveness wasn’t the same thing as trust.

Maybe that was when the planner had stopped being a calendar and started becoming a blueprint. Not just for Blackwood. For the people she hoped would someday protect it.

Burke closed the notebook.

Walter Grady had moved much higher on Burke's list.

Not because Patsy suspected him.

Because Mabel had quietly stopped trusting him with Blackwood's future. She'd already begun preparing for someone else to lead Blackwood.

“All right,” he said. “Now tell me about Harold.”

Patsy looked toward the old photograph in the hallway.

For a moment, she only stared at it.