North Country(100)

“And the time you spent helping Logan in the fields yesterday is worth far more than that,” she counters, a hint of defiance in her voice. “I shouldn’t even be charging you for those muffins. In fact, here, let me fix that—”

I tap my card against the machine’s scanner before she can reverse it. The smirk I get in return tells me that’s what Annie was hoping for. “You’re gonna force me to stop coming here one day.”

“She’ll just send food home with Isla.” Sarah rounds the bakery counter, tugging on her coat. “You can’t win against her. Stop trying.”

I shake my head at Annie’s stubbornness and offer a muttered “Thank you” as I collect the bag.

“Have a lovely week!” Annie’s triumphant smile trails me out the door.

Sarah is on my heels, flicking the button on the lit Open sign that hangs in the window before following me outside.

“How are you feeling?” Every time I see her, her belly has grown exponentially. Carrying twins for a second time—and at forty—has its special set of challenges. It doesn’t help that Sarah takes after her mother, unable to sit still for long.

“Like, if I make it through this round, Jon better be taking me somewhere hot and sunny, with no children.”

“As if you’d last one day there without complaining that you miss them,” I tease. When we were young, it was often Sarah, Logan, and I running through the fields together. She’s the closest thing to a sister I’ll ever have.

But her expression is serious. “I need to talk to you about Logan.”

“Okay?” Wariness creeps into my voice.

She glances over her shoulder as if to make sure Annie hasn’t followed us out. “When he was helping me with deliveries last Thursday, we ran into Hank Murphy at the gas station.”

“Logan told me all about that.”

“Did he tell you that he nearly lost it?” Her eyebrows arch. “I watched him, Emery. He got right up in Hank’s face. I thought he was going to hit him.”

“Yeah, Hank’s special skill is getting under people’s skin. ”

Sarah shakes her head, more to herself. “He told me what that guy Travis Dorsey did to him. The threats, the picture he had of you. I wish I’d known about it back then. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so hard on him.” Her brow furrows. “If that guy keeps poking and Logan finally snaps—”

“We’re not gonna let that happen.” I grab hold of her hand, squeezing it tight. “I’m not going to let that happen. I promise.”

She nods, accepting my words. But the fear remains in her eyes.

And my resolve solidifies.





Chapter 33





Emery




“I don’t like having my phone blown up by Brad Whitley on the daily,” Doug Freeman’s nasally voice drones in my ear. “He’s becoming a fucking thorn in my side. And he had the balls to go above me to Robinson. Can you believe that!”

You mean like he has the balls to go above me to you? I lean back in my office chair and close my eyes as my boss commiserates over speakerphone first thing Monday morning, before a day of meetings. “Welcome to the club. At least you don’t have him showing up at your office.”

“He’s hounding me to put the detectives back on the Monroe case.”

“He doesn’t like that there’s no one actively looking. Can you blame him?” As much as I don’t want to defend Brad’s tactics, if I put myself in his shoes, I’d be throwing my weight around too.

My boss grunts in my ear. “If there was something there, Terry and Schmidt would have found it.”

And yet there has to be something there. Holly didn’t evaporate into thin air. We’ve all missed it, me included.

“And why does Brad keep goin’ on about investigating Logan Landry?”

I stifle my groan. “Because he’s got it out for him and he has for years.” As I’ve already explained to Doug, more than once. “Your detective spoke to Logan Landry and excluded him as a suspect. End of. ”

“Is this guy actually as dangerous as Whitley says?”

“No!” I burst, my annoyance getting the better of me. “He dove into freezing water to rescue a complete stranger a week after he got out. Saved her life. He works all day on his family’s ranch and shows up for his parole meetings on time. He just wants to live in peace.”

“Well, Whitley seems to think you’re too close to this family to see things objectively. He says there’s a major conflict of interest here.”

“Are you kidding me, Doug? I have a conflict of interest? How about we discuss how a member of the detachment board is trying to steer my detachment’s priorities for his own personal vendetta?”

Mike’s face appears in my office window with a questioning look.

I hold up a finger to signal needing another minute. “You’re welcome to send your detectives back here to rework the case, if you think that’ll make a difference. We all want to bring Holly home.”

“That’s not an option. I’ve got them on something else and, uh …” He fumbles for his words. “That wouldn’t be a wise use of resources given the case’s status.”