Page 14 of The Way Back Home
“Hang on,” he yelled, loud enough to be heard outside. When he opened the door, he looked every bit like he’d just woken from a sound sleep—because he had.
“Morning, Bill.”
“Everything okay here?” the sheriff asked, peering around Noah’s shoulder.
“Yeah, of course. Just taking advantage of the day off. What’s going on?”
“Sorry to disturb you, Doc. We had some trouble last night up at the ranch. Wanted to check on you, make sure you’re all right.”
“Trouble?” Noah asked, stepping aside so Bill could enter. Anything else would arouse suspicion. He and Bill weren’t exactly friends, but he had no reason to deny him access. “What kind of trouble?” Noah tried to sound curious without being too interested. “Mona seemed fine when I left her last night.”
“Mona’s fine, Doc. It’s one of her workers. The stablehand.”
“The new kid?” Noah filled a carafe from the tap and poured it into the tank of his coffee maker, yawning as he did so for Bill’s benefit.
Bill smirked. “You obviously haven’t had the pleasure. Ain’t no kid, Doc.”
“We were never formally introduced,” Noah said, treading a fine line between truth and fiction. “I’ve onlyseen him from a distance, and he seemed too small to be a grown man,” Noah said with a sideways glance, pouring beans into the basket.
“Ain’t no man either.”
Noah hit the button and waited until the grinding stopped before turning to the sheriff, one eyebrow raised in interest. “Mona failed to mention that. Not that she had any reason to.”
As the coffee started brewing, Noah leaned back against his counter, crossing one ankle casually over the other. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on, or are you going to make me guess? Because if we’re playing twenty questions, I’ll need my coffee first.”
Bill regarded him for a long moment. Noah met and held his gaze. As one of ten children, he’d mastered the look of innocence early on, lest he get blamed for everyone else’s sins.
“Mona’s new hand is a woman. I came by to pick her up last night, and she bolted.”
Noah’s lips quirked. “Your date bailed on you?”
Bill got red in the face. “Wasn’t like that, Doc. There’s been a string of break-ins in the area lately, and Ruth, down at the diner, told me about a transient that came in a few weeks ago. Old Joe said he saw her walking out this way with nothing but a pack on her back. And, hell, everyone knows Mona has a soft spot for strays.”
Noah nodded sympathetically, hoping he didn’t seem overly eager for the sheriff to be on his way. “So, what can I do for you?”
Bill looked around the room again, but he wouldn’tfind anything unusual. Medical journal updates on the coffee table. Dirty boots by the door, standard equipment for someone who worked at a hippotherapy ranch. Certainly nothing that would suggest he was harboring a fugitive.
“I think she’s hurt. Took a tumble over the split rail when she took off, and I found blood on a sharp rock there. You being the doc and all…” He let the statement hang.
“You figured she’d come to me,” he guessed.
Bill nodded.
“No one came knocking on my door last night, Sheriff,” Noah said, which was technically true. “But I doubt she’d get far with a serious injury.”
“You’d be surprised,” Bill muttered, running his hand across his jaw again. “Okay then. Had to check. I imagine she’s long gone by now, but if she happens by, give me a holler, will ya?”
No way in hell would Noah agree to that. “Do you have any reason to think she’s dangerous?”
Bill paused, and for the first time, he looked unsure. “I tell you, I don’t know what to think, Doc. Most people don’t go running if they ain’t got nothing to hide.”
“Scared maybe?” Noah suggested.
“Maybe.” A shadow passed over the sheriff’s face, followed closely by his hand. “Ah hell. I just wanted to talk to her, you know? Ask a few questions. She fell when she was running away from me, so I feel kinda responsible.”
Having seen Teagan’s injuries firsthand, Noah waslow on sympathy. “Did you check the nearest urgent care?”
“Don’t know that she could have made it that far, but, yeah, I checked. Nothing.” He looked at Noah. “If she didn’t find her way here, then I don’t know where she went.” He shook his head. “My deputy and I are going to sweep the woods again. Maybe I’ll find something I missed last night. I want to find her, but I hope to God she’s still breathing when I do.”
