Page 111 of Rangers Last Promise

Mrs. Grady looks between us.

“What exactly have you gotten yourself into, Mara Ellis?”

“I wish I knew.”

“Well, when you figure it out, tell me. Nobody tells me anything around here.”

Sheriff Tate mutters, “That's because you tell everybody.”

“I heard that.”

“You were supposed to.”

She marches back across the street.

Mara watches her go.

“She'll have Doc and me married by lunch.”

Sheriff Tate looks at his watch.

“It's eight thirty. I'd give her until ten.”

Mara glares at him.

I decide silence is survival.

Deputies finish processing the house forty minutes later.

No forced entry.

No broken windows.

No damaged locks.

Nothing.

Sheriff Tate stands at the kitchen counter reading the preliminary report.

“Who has a key?”

“Me.”

“Anyone else?”

“Mom had one.”

“Where is it?”

“I don't know.”

“You didn't find it when you cleaned out her house?”

“No.”

“What about your father?”

“He died nine years ago.”