Megan studied the map. “If June thought she was being followed, she would’ve taken the more remote route to flush them out. That could also explain why she turned her cell phone off. She didn’t want to be tracked.”
“Do you know her passwords? Maybe she saved something on the cloud?”
“I already checked last night and there was nothing. My aunt preferred pen and paper when something was critical, or she was worried someone might be looking for it.” She rocked back on her heels. “Dan isn’t happy about our investigation.”
Luke tilted his head. “You think he might be involved?”
“In her voice mail, my aunt said I shouldn’t trust anyone, and Wade was attacked in prison. It makes me wonder.”
“Be careful about jumping to conclusions, Megs. Dan’s not my favorite person, but there’s no indication he’s done anything wrong in this case. It’s not easy to have your work questioned, especially since he’s campaigning to be the next sheriff.”
“Maybe that’s all it is…” She blew out a breath. “I dunno. I don’t trust him.”
Luke’s phone vibrated, and he pulled it from the clip on his belt. One glance at the screen and his expression went flat. He hit the reject button.
“Do you need to take that?” Megan asked. “I can step out.”
“No, it’s fine.”
She squinted at him, trying to place the tone in his voice. It shouldn’t matter. It was none of her business. But there was a tension in his shoulders and a hint of pain buried in his expression. It tugged at her heartstrings. Megan’s palm itched with the urge to run her fingers over the line of his jaw, and the buried desire to kiss the frown from his mouth welled up.
Not going to happen. She forced her gaze back to the map and her mind to focus on the task at hand. June. Her brother. “When can we talk to Pastor John?”
“Tonight. We can go to service together and interview him afterward.”
“Perfect. Do you have photographs of the accident and the things collected from the car? I’d like to look at them.”
“Yep. They’re on my computer.”
He sat in the leather desk chair and pulled them up on screen. Megan inhaled sharply. June’s vehicle was unrecognizable. A hunk of blue metal resting on rocks halfway down the ravine.
“It’s a miracle she wasn’t killed instantly.” Megan grabbed the mouse and clicked through the photographs. “The inside looks clean. You didn’t find a zip drive tucked in the side pockets or the glove box?”
“Nothing.”
The photographs of the accident scene ended and individual evidence shots began. Her aunt’s blouse and pants. Five keys on a Hello Kitty key chain. The shattered cell phone.
“Hold on.” Megan’s heart skipped a beat, as her brain caught up to her eyes. She flipped back to the picture of the keys.
“What is it?”
“There’s an extra key. That’s the car, the house, the office, and the barn’s tack room.” She pointed to each one as she ticked them off but stopped at a light gold one with a triangle cutout on top. “But that one doesn’t belong to June.”
He frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. She’s had the same set of keys since I was sixteen years old.”
Luke zoomed in closer on the photograph. “It’s too big to be for a safe deposit box. Maybe a storage unit?”
“She could’ve made a copy of the evidence.” Excitement rushed through her body and she bounced on her toes. “Or even her entire investigation. How many storage unit places are there in the area?”
He quickly did a search. “Around fifty within a two hundred mile radius. That’s a doable list. I’ll shoot it over to Weston and we can start calling.”
Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and the rush faded as quickly as it’d come. The hospital? She yanked out her phone, but the number flashing across the screen wasn’t one she recognized.
“Hello.” Silence. There was breathing on the line so someone was there. The hair on the back of Megan’s neck stood up. “Hello?”
Luke leaned in closer, and she angled the phone so he could hear.
“You need to leave town,” a woman whispered. “It’s not safe. Please go, otherwise he will kill you.”
Luke tried to focus on the church service, but the desperation in the woman’s voice from the phone call kept bleeding into his thoughts. It made him want to wrap Megan in bubble wrap and keep her on the ranch where she was safe.
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She was singing the closing hymn, her beautiful voice lifting to the heavens. She pulled the hymnal they were sharing closer to turn the page and nudged him. A slight tease for not singing along. Luke nudged her back and Megan’s lips turned up in a small smile. His gut clenched. Under ordinary circumstances, it would’ve been embarrassing to acknowledge how much he still cared, but nearly losing her in the fire had humbled him.
He wished there was a way to fix what was broken between them, but it was a fool’s errand. Even if—and that was a big if—they proved Wade’s innocence and got him out of prison, it wouldn’t matter. He’d broken her trust. Luke knew from his own experiences some wounds changed a relationship forever.
The service ended, and people started filing out of the church.
“Megan? Luke?” A woman’s voice came from behind and they both turned.
Rosa Crenshaw, owner of the local coffee shop and one of June’s good friends, worked her way up the aisle against the flow of traffic. Trailing behind her was a younger woman, in her mid-twenties, dark hair tucked into a long braid.
Rosa embraced Megan. “Oh, hon, it’s so good to see you.” She pulled back and reached out a hand to affectionately pat Luke’s arm in greeting. “How’s June?”
“She’s getting better, but progress is slow.”
“We’ll keep her in
