Page 15 of Caleb's Cause
“What is your name?”
“Katherine. Katherine Miller. I’m from Los Angeles. I was told to come here, that I would be safe.”
“Who told you that?” Clark asked. He didn’t crowd her, and tried to keep his voice calm.
“My mother.” She looked at Erin in confusion. “Did I get the name wrong? Mom told me to find Emily Riceman in Fool’s Gold, Colorado. She told me once I told my story, that Emily would keep me safe.”
“Who is your mother?”
“Is Emily here?”
“We’ll get to that,” Erin said. “We have questions first.”
“I understand. My mother is Ilsa Miller, she said she grew up here and while she lived here, Emily Riceman was her best friend. Except they weren’t Miller and Riceman when they grew up together. I don’t know what Emily’s maiden name was, but Mom’s was, believe it or not, but Mom grew up as Ilsa Smith. She said she was eleven when she moved away from here. She also said they stayed in touch over the years, but would lose touch every now and again, because of life.” Katherine looked around, and asked again.
“Is Emily Riceman here?”
“I’m sorry,” Erin said gently as she took one of the chairs from Tom’s desk and settled in, facing Katherine. “Emily was our mother.” She pointed to Clark, who stepped up beside her.
“Wait, you said, ‘was’?”
“Yes, we lost both our parents a little over six years ago in a fatal accident.” She held up her stump. “When I lost this.”
“Pardon me,” Katherine said and stared at everyone in wide-eyed shock. “I am so fucked right now.” Then she seemed to pass out.
CHAPTER 6
Katherine came toowith a jerk and shoved the hands in front of her face away from her. She looked around in confusion at all the faces bending over her, and shook her head. “Please, tell me I didn’t pass out.” When no one answered, she struggled to sit up, and looked around at everyone. The person who was squatted down next to her hadn’t been there before and she looked at him with a frown.
“I’m sort of a doctor here,” he said with a chuckle, and looked at the other man on her other side. “So is he.”
“How can you be a sort of doctor?”
“I’m a physical therapist, and a chiropractor, he’s a vet.”
“The animal kind?”
“Yes,” Tom laughed and threw his head over his shoulder. “Those are the military kind.”
“Holy shit,” Katherine said as she saw the men from earlier, and struggled to stand, but the guy who had held the nasty smelling crap beneath her nose helped her to her seat. She looked at the only other woman there, and asked quietly, “Emily Riceman is really dead?”
“Yes, I’m sorry. Can you tell us what type of trouble you’re in? I promise you, we can help.”
Katherine looked doubtful, but looked back at Erin as she started talking. “The eight men standing behind me are all former Navy SEALs. The three standing off to the side have been on this ranch for the last sixty years. They knew Emily and Jeremy, my father. The man who you first talked to is my head of security, but he is also a former FBI agent.”
“Oh, wow, yeah, I guess I should be safe here. There’s only one problem.”
“What’s that?” one guy asked, and he smiled at her. “I’m Caleb.”
“Oh, hi. If I tell you what’s been going on, there’s no guarantee, but there might be a chance that I could bring trouble to you all.” She didn’t know how to react when everyone threw their heads back and laughed.
“Bring it,” they said as one, causing her to sit straighter. She looked around the room, and said quietly.
“It’s not pretty.”
“It never is,” Erin said. “Before you tell us what brought you here, I have one question, totally off topic, but I need to ask.”
“What’s that?”
