Page 44 of Daybreak

“Mind if I come in?” Trudy said.

Holly put the laptop aside and patted the side of her bed. “Of course not. Are you okay?”

“I’m as fine as any of us can be right now. Is everything okay at your work?” Trudy asked.

Holly sighed. “Funny you should ask. I just got an email from the boss, wanting to know when I plan to return.”

“I wondered as much. Are you worried about your dad?” Trudy asked.

“Yes. When we leave, and Travis packs himself off to college, Dad will be alone. The thought of that breaks my heart,” Holly said.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Trudy said. “If it helps for you to know this, I intend to move back to the ranch to be with him. Santa Fe is just where I went after I was widowed. It was hard to be here without my cowboy. I have friends in Santa Fe, but no one I can’t bear to leave. What I can’t bear to think about now is leaving my son alone.”

Holly gasped. “Oh, Granny! That’s wonderful. Have you talked to Dad about it?”

“We’ve talked. I think I’ve convinced him that the older I got, the less I looked forward to being alone, and it would break my heart to leave here again, knowing he would have no one to come home to when the day’s work was done.”

Holly went weak with relief. “I’ve felt the same way, and I’ve been thinking it was going to fall on me to stay.”

“Absolutely no need,” Trudy said. “Garrett and I will get Travis settled at college. You leave when you’re ready. Don’t jeopardize your livelihood for us. We’ll be fine. Just take as long as you need to rest up before you begin that long drive back to Dallas, okay?”

Holly’s shoulders slumped with relief. “Thank God for you, Granny. When Travis called me about the wreck, the first thing I told him was to call you, because I knew you could get here quicker. You are our rock. You always have been. You always will be.”

Trudy gave Holly’s hand a quick squeeze. “Family matters. Never forget that. Now you get some rest. If you want food later, there are countless leftovers in the fridge. Help yourself.”

“I will, Granny. Love you.”

Trudy smiled and patted her knee. “Love you, too, sugar,” she said, then left Holly on her own.

Holly’s relief was huge. She logged out of her laptop, turned off the lamp beside her bed, then crawled beneath the covers and closed her eyes, unaware that Gunner was already gone.

* * *

When Gunner stopped to refuel, he checked his phone again and found an innocuous message from Cliff, thanking him for the notes on the hanging-man case, that they’d arrested the brother’s partner, and that Gunner had been right all along.

It was a good message to receive, knowing they’d brought another killer to justice, and then he thought about how he was going to feel, no longer being a part of that world. Am I going to miss it? No. These last few weeks have destroyed all the faith and trust I had in it.

The gas pump kicked off. He grabbed the receipt, got back in the Jeep, buckled up, and resumed the trip.

* * *

It was nearly 10:00 p.m. when Gunner drove into his neighborhood. But instead of driving straight to his house, he turned into the alley behind it, shut off his headlights, and used the security lights to guide him into the garage from the back way.

Grateful that the long drive was finally over, he retrieved his bags and deactivated the security alarm long enough to get inside, then reset it. The timer he’d set for the lights was obviously still working. The two lamps in the living room were on, and a light was on down the hall toward the bathroom, just as he’d set it. But if anybody had been watching his house, they should have figured out by now that the lights were on a timer, so he turned off the timer and went through the house, turning on lights as he went. If someone had been watching the house, they needed to know he was home.

He carried his bags to the bedroom, then went straight to his closet, unlocked the gun safe where he kept his service weapon, made sure it was loaded, and then put it by his bed and began unpacking.

The whole time he was putting up clothes and tossing others in the laundry basket, he was counting on something from Asher that would identify the guilty party and get the target off his back.

* * *

Cliff Beale had just finished typing up the details of the arrest they’d made on the hanging-man case. It was the notes Gunner left for them that set them in the right direction. Perry Caldwell, the surviving twin, was enraged and in despair, finding out it was Ron Ames, his own partner, who’d killed his brother, and when the police confronted Ron Ames in front of Perry, he fell apart, admitting it all. Thanks to Gunner, this case was closed.

Cliff leaned back and looked across his desk to the empty chair where Gunner used to sit. That man had saved his life twice in the years they’d been working together, and he considered him a friend and a confidant, as well as his partner.

He missed him. Something had gone wrong between them, and he didn’t know what. He was hoping when Gunner came back that they would be able to work it all out. Lieutenant Samuels told all of them not to call him. But Cliff had sent him a text and wasn’t going to apologize for it. All he wanted was to see him walking back into the department in his long, hurried stride, with his usual blank-face stare barely visible under that black cowboy hat, and a zero sense of humor.

He sighed, logged out of his computer, locked up his desk, and walked out. Supper would be waiting, and he was on a tight leash with his wife.