Page 12 of Return to Laurel Valley

“But I’m going to give it to you anyway because I have been married before and communication seems to be a big deal where women are concerned. Apparently, they don’t want you to fix things. They just want to talk about it.”

Blaze grunted. “If you can fix something, why wouldn’t they want it fixed?”

“A question for the ages,” Boone said, shrugging. “All I’m saying is to leave the file alone and just ask her what you want to know.”

Blaze stared at him stubbornly, so Boone pushed the file across the desk. He knew he was prying. And he knew there was truth to what Boone was saying. But somehow he found himself opening the file anyway.

He was greeted by the sight of her picture taken at the academy. She looked much the same as she did now, only there was a naïvety in her eyes in the photograph that had long since been lost. Her long dark hair was slicked back from her face in a tight bun, and her class-A uniform was crisp and fresh.

She had the instincts of a cop, and he knew without a doubt that they would make a good team professionally as well as in their personal lives. But there was something that had caused her to hand in her badge and gun and leave her training and everything she’d worked for behind.

It didn’t take him long to find it. He read the transcript of her last call—the domestic that could have ended her life just as easily as her partner’s. His heart broke for her. He knew what that kind of pain was like, and how the memories didn’t discriminate between dreams and reality. Those memories could creep into the mind at any moment, and they could become debilitating if you let them run rampant and didn’t control them.

Lily had no family she could lean on, and she’d admitted herself there was no one in her life she could share the burden with. But she needed to share it with someone. She would only be living a half life, never achieving her purpose or full potential as long as that moment in time held her captive.

“You should have taken Boone’s advice,” Lily said from behind him in a voice cold enough to give him frostbite. “If I’d wanted you to fix me then I would have told you what was in that file.”

Chapter Six

“I took the keys off the hook and used your ATV to get here,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind the intrusion.”

“What’s mine is yours.”

“Except privacy apparently,” she said, her smile at odds with the iciness of her voice.

Boone cleared his throat and asked, “How did you get in?”

“Someone was leaving through the back door. Just good timing I guess. I’m assuming everyone already knows who I am, otherwise he would have asked what I was doing instead of holding the door open for me.”

Blaze massaged the back of his neck as the tension there grew tighter.

“Anyway,” she said. “I saw a couple of boats hitched up to pickup trucks out back. Any chance I could borrow one so I can start tracking my skip? I’m thinking he’s probably hiding in a barn or an empty house. And he would’ve tried to get as far outside of town as possible before the storm hit to reduce his chances of being seen.”

“Yeah, that’s the same conclusion we came to.” Blaze moved to the maps tacked onto the wall and pointed to a spot with his finger. “These are your two most likely areas. He would’ve had a lot of miles to cover before the storm hit. Laurel Valley is bigger in square miles than it looks, and the ranches cover hundreds of acres. The next town over is Myrna Springs, but it’s another two-hour drive with nothing in between, so I doubt he’d have kept going before the storm hit.”

“Any empty buildings in that area?” she asked.

“A few. Mostly barns and empty cabins people rent out during the season. They’re most likely all vacant now. The people around here know flooding is a possibility during the rainy season so houses are built up on higher ground. The barns too. It’s just the overflow from the lakes that make the roads flood like this.”

“What kind of vehicle was he driving?” Boone asked, moving to stand beside them so he could see the maps.

Lily kept her gaze on the map, trying to run scenarios in her head while not letting how close Blaze was standing to her make her uncomfortable. “He stole a dark blue Tahoe in South Dakota. I found a gas station attendant who remembered seeing it once we crossed the border into Idaho, and Linda from The Lampstand remembered seeing a dark SUV driving through town yesterday morning. She said she only noticed it because he was impatient to pass her while she was trying to park. There aren’t a lot of places to stop out here for him to boost another, so I have to assume he’s still driving the Tahoe.”

“Any word of an abandoned vehicle sighting?” Blaze asked Boone, since Boone had been on call all morning.

“Nothing yet. But sometimes those back roads don’t have a car on them for days. There are cabins here and here,” Boone said, circling the spots on the map. “One of them is in the flood zone, so unless he’s an idiot, he’s probably not camped out there. But the other one has possibilities. You’ll definitely need a boat to get there though.”

“I’ll take her,” Blaze said. “You’ve got Earl and his posse to deal with.”

“Thanks for reminding me,” Boone said dryly. “Maybe I’ll just get them to meet me at the River Rock Bar and get them drunk so I can keep them out of my hair.”

“You always have the best ideas. Maybe I should give you a raise.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt your male-bonding time, but I don’t need a guide. I can take the boat and be back before it gets dark.”

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Blaze said. “Those vehicles are police property. So that means you’re stuck with me.”

Her smile was sharp as a knife, and Blaze felt the cut from where he stood. “Let’s get moving then. If we’re lucky, I can be back in New York with my skip by this time tomorrow.”

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