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The device was locked with a password. Ivy tried the number of the Gracey Ranch address. When that failed, she entered her father’s birthday. That wasn’t it either.
Her mother’s birthday opened the device, and with a pang, Ivy stared at the lock screen, a photo of her parents. One of the final pictures ever taken of them, at a local banquet to benefit wildlife preservation.
Her mother was blonde and beautiful, smiling for the camera. Her father’s arm was around her waist—and he was looking down at her with love expressed in his eyes.
God, what it must have been like to lose a love like theirs. No wonder her father had never recovered.
She swiped the screen and saw there weren’t any messages. There was a flurry of notifications from the camera security system installed at the ranch.
A quick scan of them revealed that the cameras had been pinging his phone with new footage since the day he entered the hospital.
She paused outside the door of his room and opened one of the notifications. She clicked the link to view the footage and stood there staring at the tiny screen.
The cameras were set to video any movement. The first one was a ranch dog running past the camera.
Great. This could be a futile search if there were ninety notifications about Brutus running around chasing their chickens.
After viewing a few more, Ivy wondered if her father really had been upset by something he saw on his phone.
Then she opened a video of the pasture overlooking the pond.
Her stomach bottomed out. A camera focused on the pond would definitely be incriminating evidence against whoever dumped Dude in there. After flipping through a few screens, she saw that the pond was not in view at any time. The cameras seemed to pick up views from everywhere but the pond.
If foul play was involved in Dude’s death, it seemed they couldn’t rely on the cameras to provide the evidence.
It also cut off the kiss she and Hunter had shared.
She searched more of the videos and froze at what she was seeing onscreen.
A man in dark clothes crouched beside the fence. He looked to be cutting the wire.
God, Hunter wasn’t just an alpha-hole. He had been protecting her for a very good—and terrifying—reason.
Ivy jolted into action, stowing away the phone and walking into her father’s room.
Meadow and their dad looked up at her entrance. She held up her hands. “The nurse on duty isn’t sure where the other nurse placed the phone. She’s going to ask during the shift change.”
The bald lie would probably earn her a lot of bad juju, but she didn’t care.
Something fishy was going on, something that upset their father enough to send his heart rate through the roof.
But it didn’t slip by her that he didn’t mention what that was. If it were a mere matter of a trespasser on the land, he wouldn’t hesitate to say so. In fact, he’d get an army of neighbors out there with their guns to protect the perimeter at night.
So why wasn’t he doing just that? What stopped him from protecting what was his?
What stopped him from paying all those bills—ones due months before he ever had that heart attack?
She had to show Meadow, Colton and Hunter the phone. Tonight, they’d go through the footage together.
* * * * *
Hunter took a seat at the kitchen table next to Colton. “Sorry I’m late. I had to grab a shower.”
“We’re glad you don’t smell like cow shit.” His buddy cracked a crooked smile, one of the genuine ones from the old days before years of battle wore them all down. “Besides, Ivy isn’t here yet.”
As if she’d just been waiting for her name to be announced, Ivy appeared in the doorway.
Hunter stared at her harder. No, he couldn’t be seeing…
