Page 90 of Rangers Last Promise

Grant Ellis.

She looks at me.

“This is it.”

“Where's the key?”

“At my house.”

For several seconds, neither of us says anything.

We found it.

After fifteen years, we found Grant’s lockbox.

But we still can't open it.

Mara almost laughs.

“Grant would think this was funny.”

“He absolutely would.”

A deputy calls from outside.

“Sheriff!”

Something in his voice sends us both toward the door.

Tate is standing beside Mara’s patrol SUV.

A white envelope rests beneath the windshield wiper.

No one saw who put it there.

Mara pulls on gloves before touching it.

Her name is written across the front.

MARA ELLIS.

She opens the envelope.

One photograph slides into her hand.

It shows her house.

Taken tonight.

On the back are six words.

Mara reads them aloud.

“Bring the key or Doc dies.”

Every trace of humor leaves the night.

I look at the photograph.