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“Glad to help,” Matthew said while Justin was engrossed in a call coming in over the radio. “Tonight’s our last night workingthird watch. The Chief wanted me to get a feel for it in case I’m ever needed to cover someone else’s shift.”

“Not much goes on around here when the sun goes down.”

“Yeah, it’s been pretty quiet.”

Katherine didn’t know what else to say, but it struck her as odd that this was their easiest conversation, especially with Justin close enough to hear everything they said. Maybe it was because Justinwasso close. Maybe they needed someone else around, so neither of them was tempted to cross a line.

“We’ll have to come back and have a meal sometime. Justin says you’re a good cook.”

“Sure… everyone’s welcome at The Copperwall.”

Although it was something Katherine had said countless times before, it came out a lot less inviting this time. Even to her own ears, the tone of her voice seemed less than welcoming.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Justin called out. “We gotta be going. There’s a situation up the road. Thanks again for the hospitality.”

“No problem,” Katherine said after inwardly flinching at Justin’s choice of words. She hadn’t felt very hospitable, and if she could, she would’ve responded by saying something friendlier, but the window of the cruiser was already halfway up as they were pulling away.

Watching them leave, Katherine noticed Matthew looking over his shoulder at her. Even in the dimly lit parking lot, the disappointment on his face made her stomach twist and turn, and she didn’t know why. He looked as disappointed as she’d felt so many times before, and she regretted her aloof manner and bland response.

“Oh, hellfire and damnation!” She scowled, sounding like her father as she twisted the key in the ignition, bringing the truck’s engine roaring to life. “One minute, I’m drooling, the next minute I’m Miss Manners, andthenI’m acting like a jerk.”

Stretching the seat belt over her chest and locking it in with a click, she couldn’t get the look on his face out of her mind.

“Maybe I need to see a shrink,” she said, shifting the truck into drive. Stomping on the gas, she tore out of the diner’s parking lot.

Driving in frustrated silence, she rounded the first corner of the curvy road that led to Fraser Farms, grateful she’d headed home before the annual charity event had ended. She didn’t want to be stuck behind a long line of partygoers trying to get home.

Rounding the second corner, she spotted a cluster of emergency vehicles on the road ahead. “Not now,” she groaned, realizing this must’ve been the situation Justin was talking about.

A crumpled van, looking like it’d been hit by a tornado, was surrounded by flashing lights. Police cars, fire trucks, and two ambulances were parked nearby, but no one in or around the scene seemed to be moving with any sense of urgency.

Still able to make out the bold red lettering across the side of the vehicle, Katherine spoke the words out loud, wondering where she’d heard them from.

“All The News. All The Time.”

The closer she got, the faster she tried to pass the wreck. The sight of any accident or even emergency vehicles always made her stomach twist and turn into unbearably anxious knots. But this wreck was something different. By the look of the van and the lack of urgency in how the scene was being handled, it was clear that anyone involved would have needed a miracle to make it out alive.

“All The News. All The Time,” Katherine repeated the slogan out loud, lowering her gaze to the road ahead of her front bumper as she drove by. Because she’d been distracted by herown anxious feelings, it took a while before the truth began to register.

Tonight’s report at Fraser Farms. The demolished news van and the way the accident was being handled. And finally, the look on Justin’s face when they pulled away from the diner.

Was Julia Brandon gone?

Chapter 7

It was Sunday, and The Copperwall Diner was closed like every Sunday. A promise Katherine had made to Millie Fraser on the day they agreed Millie’s Place would become Katherine’s diner.

“Sundays are for God, and rest, and family,” Millie had told her when she sat across from the Fraser family matriarch more than five years ago to hash out the details of the purchase.

The retiring grandmother had summoned Katherine to her home, urging her to bring a lawyer, then promptly excused all legal counsel from the room upon their arrival.

“Did you know the diner was a gift from my dear husband, Hamish?”

Katherine watched Millie pour two cups of tea. “Yes, ma’am, I did.”

“‘Ma’am…’” the older woman had laughed, shaking her head. “I’ll never get used to that. You’d better call me Millie.”

“Yes, Millie,” Katherine said, feeling more nervous than she’d ever felt before.