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“I taught you how to shoot,” he said.
“Yes, you did. But I won’t kill to cover my lies. I’ll kill to save the lives of innocents.”
“Then I guess there’s nothing left for me to do but this.” He lowered the gun.
“Drop it to the ground, Frank,” Drake said.
The man looked straight into Drake’s eyes. Then he jerked his arm up.
Drake dove to the side and rolled to his feet in time to watch Frank plant the pistol barrel against his chin and pull the trigger.
“No!” Abby tried to go to her father, but Cassie grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her away from the carnage.
Sheriff Barron burst through the front door, breathing hard. “Holy hell.”
Drake took the gun from Abby’s grasp and handed it to the sheriff. “It’s over. Frank’s dead, but you might need an ambulance for Mrs. Watson—if she’s still alive.”
Cassie bent to touch her fingers to the base of her throat. After a few moments, she shook her head.
Drake pulled Abby and Cassie into his arms. “I’m taking my family back to town. You can question us there.”
“Go,” Sheriff Barron said. “I’ll handle this.”
Drake led the two women out to Hank’s truck.
“I should take my SUV back to town,” Cassie said.
Drake shook his head. “I’ll get some of the guys to come out and bring it back. You need to come with Abby and me.”
Cassie took one look at Abby’s pale face and nodded. “Absolutely.”
Drake opened the back door of the pickup and helped Cassie up.
She slid across to the middle of the seat and buckled her seatbelt while Drake helped Abby climb into the truck.
Cassie secured the seatbelt over the girl’s lap, and then wrapped her arms around her. “You’re going to be all right.”
Abby looked into Cassie’s eyes. “I know. It’s just a lot to absorb. I have no family. No one.”
Cassie lifted Abby’s chin, forcing her to look into her eyes. “Wrong. You have me, and you have Drake. We’ll always be here for you. We’re your family.”
“That’s right,” Drake said. “We’re family.”
Abby nodded, tears welling in her eyes. “But I don’t have a father and a mother.”
Cassie smiled. “No, but we found your grandparents. They will be beside themselves that we found their granddaughter.”
Abby’s brow wrinkled. “I have grandparents?”
Cassie nodded. “Drake and I have met them. They live in Idaho, and they are the nicest people. Oh,” Cassie fumbled in her pocket for her cell phone. “And I have a photograph of your real mother when she was pregnant with you. Would you like to see it?”
Tears flowed from Abby’s eyes. “Yes!”
Cassie found the photo and turned the phone toward Abby.
Drake’s eyes burned as tears filled Cassie’s.
Abby took the cell phone from Cassie’s hands. She stared for a long time at the happy woman in the photo. “I have her hair,” Abby said, touching her own silky blond hair.
