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“Not a threat? He’s holding a gun, Dad.” I clench my jaw, searching the area for any weapon, but I walked out here defenseless.
The hammer on the revolver releases as it falls to the man’s side. “It’s for my protection, I assure you.” His body sways a bit, and Mom rises to catch him before he falls. Her kind hands help him find a seat on the bench near Dad. I know she’s basically a saint, but protecting her attacker feels over the line. But then, on second inspection, the man doesn’t look like he could be much of a threat even if he tried. Even the simple task of keeping his eyes open seems to drain him. The gun slips from his grasp as Mom takes it and sets it on the side table, muzzle pointed away.
“What’s going on?” I can’t seem to find up. Nothing about this makes sense. I can’t stop staring at the stranger who seems to have come out of thin air. But then, if his face weren’t swollen. If he weren’t so tired or bruised… I’ve seen him before. Years ago. Back when Dad used to have him out to work on the horses once a year.
“Rhett, you remember, Dr. Walter Hutchings, don’t you?” Dad lifts his eyebrows, waiting for me to make the connection. “He’s here to get his daughter.”
“His daught—” It clicks into place. “Sunny? But she said—”
“I’m dead. Yeah, I know.” Dr. Hutchings sets a hand to his side. “Bullet went straight through. Did plenty of damage, but we’ve seen worse, haven’t we, Buddy?”
It hardly feels like a time for jokes. Not when Sunny’s name could be cleared. But Dad laughs heartily at their past adventures.
“Wait,” I should sit down before I pass out, “that means she didn’t kill you.”
“No, Eliza didn’t kill me.” He groans and shifts to alleviate the pain. “She didn’t pull the trigger.”
I can’t hold my question in any longer.
“Then who did?”
Sunny
“I jammed it inside here.” I sink to my knees, reaching deep into the log. I put it in here the night of the bonfire. After Monroe and once Rhett left me still stuck in his state of shock. I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I’m glad I did.
My fingers lock around the grip. With a jerk, I loosen it from the crevice. I pull it free and rise to my feet.
“That’s it?” Tucker frowns. “Are you sure?”
“Why? Does it look different?”
“No,” he’s quick to assure me, “that’s it. But what about the pictures? Where did you put those?”
My heart sinks. With as steady a grip as I can manage, I level the gun at my stepbrother. “That’s twice now. I could write off the first one, figure you got confused, but twice, Tucker? You’re slipping.”
“Eliza, put the gun down.” His hands rise, palms up. “Are you crazy? You’re gonna kill me.”
“The pictures, I never told you someone left me pictures. In fact, I never told you someone left me that care package on my bed.” I move around the back of the log. “What was your plan? Hope that I remembered enough to feel guilty? Hope I was so overwhelmed with guilt that I just turned myself in?”
“What are you talking about?”
“When I ran, that really messed things up, didn’t it?” I shake my head, putting distance between us. “You killed him, didn’t you, Tucker? You killed my father!”
“I didn’t kill him, Eliza!” His eyes turn pleading. “Put the gun down. You’re scaring me. I think you’re headed for another break.”
“I didn’t break the first time! You keep feeding me these lies, pretending you aren’t a part of this, but I know you are.” My hands shake for the first time. I don’t have it in me to shoot him. I can’t. “Stay away from me, Tucker. Stay back or I’ll shoot.”
His head shakes slowly. “But you won’t, Liza, you won’t shoot your brother, will you?”
Chapter 27
Rhett
T
The old vet sighs he old vet sighs with the weight of a thousand mistakes on his shoulders. “You know, you never realize the errors you make will come back to haunt you like this. I always thought I was making the right choice in marrying Charlene and giving Eliza a mother, but now, I don’t know. I second guess myself.”
“Who shot you?” I should wait for him to answer, but knowing the torment that has been Sunny’s reality, I can’t let it go.
