Book 13 - Page 66 (1/2)

“You think they’d leave CJ?”

“I wouldn’t want to think so, but I wouldn’t think Eric would entertain notions of helping kidnappers just to get back at us, either.”

“Too bad I wasn’t able to track them while we were in the forest.”

He pulled her tighter into his arms. “Best little tracker in Colorado.”

“And Oklahoma and Texas. Not that I’m bragging,” she said with a smile.

He kissed her forehead and smiled a little, but a crease marred his brow.

“What’s wrong?”

“I wonder what evidence North could have of your uncle’s involvement in your parents’ murders.”

“He wouldn’t tell me. I think he wanted to see me.”

Tom scowled at that. “I suspect to convince you to stay with him. What triggered the killings? Do you have any idea?”

She took a deep breath and let it out. “My parents were getting ready to celebrate my sixteenth birthday.” She gave a soft snort. “Sweet sixteen and I didn’t have any friends around my age to celebrate it. You know what my father gave me? I mean, it was sweet, but not exactly what I had expected.”

Tom caressed her arm and shook his head.

“A boot knife. To protect myself with. Like I said, it was sweet of him to worry about me, probably because of the trouble I’d had with wolves who didn’t like what I was. But still, I was thinking more of a mare. A boot knife? I was away from home both days when they were murdered. If I had been there either day…” She shuddered.

Tom rubbed her arm. “Your father wasn’t home when your mother was murdered?”

“No. He had broken some horses for someone, and he went to deliver them. I was at the mercantile that day, picking up some goods my mother wanted. I—I returned home after my father did and found him in a state. He was just numb. I’ve never seen him so… shocked. He wouldn’t let me see her body. He buried her alone. I had… a sense that he knew who had done it. I asked, but he just shook his head.

“Two days later, he sent me into town for some supplies. I—I didn’t want to go. He insisted I take the boot knife with me. He was acting really strange. I wanted him to go with me. But he said he needed me to do it. I begged him to go with me. I was scared. I didn’t take the knife with me. I hadn’t wanted it. When I was halfway to town, I almost turned around. I had like a sixth sense something bad would happen.”

“He was meeting someone. Meeting the person he suspected killed your mother. Family,” Tom guessed.

“I think so. He didn’t want to tell me. I believe he confronted whoever it was, and that person got the best of him. He was stabbed to death. It was awful. Maybe that’s what had happened to my mother and that’s why my dad didn’t want me to see her. I was terrified. I was certain whoever had done it would want me dead next. North arrived and—”

“North?”