Page 12 of The Risk

Or in the caverns beneath.

She shuddered, imagining. A friend she’d known for several years had been kept captive in one of those caverns, a former mine shaft, a few years ago.

That was a stain the town would never be able to erase.

Thankfully, Bailey had survived. She was now married to the sheriff. He was a nice man. They had a beautiful baby boy, too. Chantal’s mother babysat him occasionally. She’d known his grandmother before she’d died, too.

Chantal was going to think of positive things.

Of how beautiful life in Value could be. Wonderful things like her nieces and nephew, like the fact that Genny’s oldest brother’s wife was pregnant again. It was their fifth—and George had had a vasectomy eleven months ago after a pregnancy loss had left Ronnie with some complications. The family was laughing and happy about the new baby, even though there were a few problems with the pregnancy now.

Calvin, Gene’s son, had drawn Chantal a picture of her rabbits. He wanted Chantal to come get it today. To see him and his Aunt Genny. Chantal was a woman on a mission.

Genny helped with Calvin every day. Chantal adored the little boy, too.

There was love.

Happy things.

She wasn’t going to think about a dead woman buried in her father’s field.

Chantal made it to the top of the hill.

She just kept walking.

She was halfway to the last fence on her father’s property when a large man appeared out of nowhere.

Behind the boulders she, Genny, and Giavonna used to climb all the time.

Chantal screamed. This wasn’t one of the hands for the Hillers. She was sure of it.

She tried to run. Chantal fell, her hands scraped against the hard Texas ground. She got back to her feet. Tried to get away.

But there was no escape.

Another man came out from behind the trees.

Chantal screamed one more time before the larger of the two men knocked her to the ground.

9

Fences were noton his list of favorite things to do. Damned near on the bottom of Gene’s list. Gene was working the fence line between his place and the Fieldses' yet again. For some reason, the wire they’d been using kept getting loose. Gene was trying to figure out why it kept happening.

However it was happening, it was pissing him off.

Grady and Gunn were clear across the property, dealing with the same problem. Gene was going to check the wireless signal out here again. If it had improved any, he was going to put a camera out here for a while. If a wireless one wouldn’t work, he’d be putting up a trail cam.

He was starting to suspect someone was messing with the fencing on purpose. They didn’t keep any of their higher-ticket cattle out here, and all the Fieldses had were a dozen Angora goats and Chantal’s little rabbits. There was no financial reason someone would mess with the fencing out here.

But... he wasn’t stupid.

Fencing didn’t come down that fast or that neatly without help. Someone was pissed at them—and screwing with their property. He mentally tried to make a list of anyone he mighthave angered. Or his brothers. Even his sisters. It could happen—Giavonna did work for the prosecutor’s office, and Greer for social services.

He looked at his horse. He preferred the horse over the four-wheelers they had on the place. The horse was just... a more peaceful way to work. Reminded him of the way things had been for centuries, man and animal working side by side.

Gene was a simple man, he knew that.

A caveman throwback, his sisters had pointed out a time or a million before.

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