Page 140 of Rangers Unexpected Return

Rylie moved closer to Trigger.

Sheriff Tate watched Evan carefully. “You were one of the deputies who searched for her.”

“That was afterward.”

“You questioned Rylie,” I said.

“My father told me to talk to the campers.”

“Your father was the sheriff.”

“Yes.”

“And he put you in charge of interviewing teenage girls connected to a suspicious death?”

“It wasn’t considered suspicious.”

“Emily disappeared during a storm and turned up dead in the river three days later.”

“She slipped.”

“You sound certain.”

“That was the determination at the time.”

“Whose determination?”

“The medical examiner’s.”

“Not your father’s?”

“My father followed the evidence.”

“What evidence?”

Evan’s mouth opened.

No words came out.

I stepped closer. “You interviewed Rylie. She told you Emily gave her that sweatshirt the night before she disappeared.”

“I interviewed dozens of people over the years.”

“This case involved a dead teenage girl. I imagine you remember it.”

“That was more than eighteen years ago.”

“But you recognized the sweatshirt.”

“I recognized the name of the camp.”

“What did Rylie tell you about it?”

“I don’t remember.”

Rylie’s face had gone pale, but her voice was steady. “I told you Emily loaned it to me because I was cold.”

Evan looked at her. “If you say so.”