Page 242 of Taken Away

Slowly, Bennett slid it back into place.

Not because he loved Aubrey less.

Because guilt, he was learning, did not loosen simply because love had begun.

He rested his fingertips against the wall beneath Claire's photograph.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Then, after a long moment, quieter still⁠—

“Not tonight.”

Bennett turned away from the photograph and went back to Aubrey.

FORTY-EIGHT

Blackwood Winery

Walter’s Office

Walter Grady’s office sat at the back of the administration building, with a view over the rear vineyard and the rolling hills beyond Blackwood.

Sara Parker had already called ahead.

Walter was expecting him.

Chloe met Burke near the front desk with a polite smile and a set of keys in her hand.

"Sheriff Scott, good to see you again."

“You too."

“Walter said to bring you straight back.”

She led him down the narrow hall, past framed harvest photographs and old newspaper clippings about Blackwood’s charity dinners, founders’ events, and summer festivals.

Chloe unlocked the door at the end of the hall and pushed it open.

“Walter’s office.”

Burke stepped inside.

Walter wasn’t there.

The room was warm, lived-in, and orderly in the way of a man who had spent most of his adult life inside it. A scarred oak desk sat near the window. Two filing cabinets lined one wall. A braided rug covered part of the plank floor beside the desk.

And near the door, tucked neatly against the baseboard, sat a pair of brown leather loafers.

Burke noticed them at once.

Soft leather. Worn soles.

Chloe followed his glance.

“Ohhh,” she said, almost laughing at herself. “Walter ran out to the production warehouse. He always changes into his boots if he’s going across the yard. Too much mud this time of year.”

Burke turned back to her.