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“Um, well, no. But?—”

“Did you get lost the two days you were in Wilder?”

“No, Daddy. I…” She raised her gaze to his once more, her eyes filled with realization and wonder. He felt privileged to witness a link in the chain that had held her self-esteem down for so long break. “I didn’t get lost. Not any of those times. Why did I think I had a bad sense of direction?”

His girl. She put that together quickly. “I don’t know, gypsy. But now you know it isn’t true. And I bet the more you start to think about it, the more you’ll realize there are other things you believe about yourself that aren’t true.”

Sam cleared his throat. “I have a few more questions, if you don’t mind.”

Chance glared at his friend but nodded. “Go ahead.”

Sam smiled at Joy before asking, “So, what happened after you took the pictures and realized you were lost?”

Joy tightened her grip on Chance’s finger. He would give anything to be able to do this for her, but he couldn’t.

“I figured out I was in the alley behind the One Shot Saloon. I was about to leave the alley when the door behind the saloon opened. A man I’d never seen before stumbled out, or at least I thought he stumbled.”

Sam nodded. “Did something happen to change your mind?”

Joy’s breathing quickened as she pressed tighter against Chance’s side. While it felt great that she considered him a safe harbor, he hated she needed one. He caressed her arm, trying to offer what little comfort he could.

“Yes,” she said, her voice growing softer, as if the words themselves might hurt her. “Eddie stepped out after the man.”

“Were you surprised to see him?”

She shook her head. “No, you could find Eddie there most nights. What surprised me was he had a gun pointed at the other man. If it was his, it was a Colt forty-five.”

Sam jotted the information down in his notebook, and Joy turned to him. “I thought it was a joke, at first. I promise. If I’d known, I would have… well, I don’t know what I would have done. But I would have tried to do something.”

Thank God she hadn’t. Chance couldn’t even think about her trying to distract Eddie. She could have been killed. “You did the right thing, babygirl. There was nothing more you could have done.”

Sam had more questions. Chance wished he could relive what happened that night for his gypsy so she wouldn’t have to. But all he could do was hold her and help her through it. Sam better damn well get all his questions asked and answered because Chance wasn’t going to let her live through this again.

Sam waited for Chance to give the go-ahead, then said, “I know this is hard, Miss Joy, but can you tell me what happened next?”

Joy was trembling so hard she might as well have been having another seizure. “E-Eddie sh-shot him.” She shook her head as if to wipe away the memory like those Etch-a-Sketches he played with as a child. “I… he just forced the man to his knees, pointed the gun at his chest, and… and shot him.”

Tears streamed down Joy’s face. Chance had never felt more helpless in his life. “It’s okay, babygirl. Daddy’s got you. We’re all here for you. No one can hurt you now.”

“Oh, God, Daddy. I w-was so sc-scared. I tried to back up, get closer to the wall so he wouldn’t see me. But I tripped.”

Chance closed his eyes, holding her close as he rocked her in his lap.

“It was h-horrible. I fell, and when I did, my finger was on the shutter button. The flash was on, so when I fell, the camera lit up the alley. Eddie saw me. And his face, I’ll never forget the look on his face. He was so angry.”

She turned to face him and grabbed his shirt. “I knew, Daddy. I knew if he caught me, he’d shoot me just like he had that man. But I twisted my ankle when I ran, and he was catching up to me. He almost had me, but Jordy Carter was working late at the bakery and backed out from behind his store just in time to block Eddie.”

Thank God! Chance’s heart was beating almost as fast as hisgypsy’s must be. He could have lost her before he ever knew her. His blood turned cold.

“Keep going, Miss Joy,” Sam said. “Just get it out so we can move on from the scary part.”

Joy continued her story. “I made it to my car and got inside. After I locked the door, I tried to start my car, but it w-wouldn’t crank. Eddie c-came running around the corner and made it up to the car. He wasn’t thinking about anything but getting to me because he was screaming at me to open the door. When I told him no, he aimed the gun at me, and I knew he was going to shoot. But when he pulled the trigger, it didn’t fire. He tried over and over, but it wouldn’t fire. I finally got my car to crank and drove straight to the police station.”

“That’s good, Miss Joy. You’re doing real good. Is that where you met Detective James?”

Chance shot Sam a look he hoped the sheriff understood. Friend or not, the sheriff needed to wrap this up. He needed to get her upstairs, find a way to help her calm down, and forget everything she had just had to remember.

“Last thing, Miss Joy. What did Detective James tell you? Was it his idea for you to go into witness protection?”