Page 240 of Rangers Last Promise

I understand that better than he knows.

Twenty minutes later, the station’s power is back on.

Plywood covers the shattered window.

Deputies process the bullet and search the abandoned truck.

Trigger and Blaze found one shell casing in the alley, but no shooter.

The black pickup was stolen from a ranch outside town two days ago.

Vance is gone.

Again.

Grant’s lockbox sits in the middle of the conference table.

A camera records from one corner of the room.

Lieutenant Ross has photographed the lid, bottom, hinges, and damaged lock.

Now Sheriff Tate stands beside the table with a pair of bolt cutters.

Mara looks at me.

“You should do it.”

“Why?”

“It was Grant’s.”

“He was your brother.”

“He was your brother too.”

The words hit me harder than they should.

I look at the initials scratched into the lid.

G.E.

Grant Ellis.

Ranger.

Friend.

Brother.

Tate offers me the bolt cutters.

I take them.

The handles feel heavier than they are.

Mara moves beside me.

Her hand touches the center of my back.