Page 167 of Rangers Unexpected Return

Someone had kept those secrets for more than eighteen years.

And now he was killing every woman who knew they existed.

I read the last lines of Emily’s letter.

“I don’t know which brother I saw. It was dark, and he covered his face when he realized I was there. He was holding Sheriff Mills's badge.”

Sheriff Tate’s voice came through Trigger’s radio.

“Trigger, do you copy?”

Trigger lifted it. “Go ahead.”

“I checked the old property records. Walter Mills never owned a cabin outside Dallas.”

I looked at Mace.

“Then where is Walter?” he asked.

Sheriff Tate continued. “There’s more. The number that called Robert twenty minutes before Evan arrived at my house belongs to a landline.”

“Where?” I asked.

“The old camp office.”

Every flashlight in the room swung toward the desk.

Its cord had been cut years ago.

I stared at the severed wire.

Then the phone rang.

15

MACE

The phone rang again.

Every flashlight remained pointed at the disconnected telephone on the desk.

Its cord had been cut.

It couldn’t ring.

“That isn’t the phone,” Judy said.

The ringing stopped.

Silence closed around us.

Max turned toward the desk, but his nose wasn’t pointed at the telephone. He moved around the side and lowered his head toward the bottom drawer.

The ringing began a third time.

“It’s inside the desk,” I said.

Trigger moved Rylie farther back while Judy approached the drawer.