Chapter 21: The Plate

Wyatt's POV

I went to the sheriff's office at eight on Monday, and I went alone.

Melinda was asleep in my bed with her braid across my pillow.

I had left a note by the coffee.

"Gone to file. Come at ten. Biscuit has the porch."

We had agreed on Monday.

Jared's photograph of the forty-thousand-dollar invoice was still on her phone, with his name and Shea's under the amount.

Shea's account had gone dark the same hour.

Melinda hadn't answered either of them, and I wanted the report in before they could.

I still wanted to do the first part without her in the room.

She had spent a week proving what had been done to her.

I wanted the paper to start with somebody else saying it.

The sheriff's office was a low tan building behind the courthouse.

It had a flag out front and a bench by the door.

The woman at the front desk looked at my gray shirt and badge, and her face softened.

"Ranger Hennessey. Everything all right up on the trails?"

"I need to file a report."

"Cairn damage? Somebody's dog?"

"Reckless endangerment," I said. "A woman left without water at Mescal Point, last Wednesday, at noon."

Her pen stopped.

"Is she all right?"

"She's alive. I found her at the overlook and handed her water."

"Who left her?"

"Her fiancé and her foster sister. In a rental SUV. On a video."

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