Page 28 of Fatal Deception

She frowned at the overturned earth in a perfect rectangle. It was shallow, but it was long. Almost like a…

Grave.

Her heart gave a jerk and she looked around. The sky was blue, the scenery vast. She saw some cows out in the east pasture. The fence that separated her land from the Kirk Ranch.

But she was utterly alone out here. Her, the sky, the mountains. And only the vague hints that anyone would hear her if she screamed.

Everything that had once been a comfort now felt vaguely threatening.

You’re being ridiculous. She got up off the cold ground, winced at the pain in her ankle. She didn’t have time for a sprained ankle. Not that it was that bad. Just…she should probably stay off it for a bit and that wasn’t happening.

She looked around again. No sign of anyone. Just this…shallow, rectangular hole. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe Norman or someone from the Kirks had dug this for—for…something.

She shook her head. As much denial as she’d like to be in, with the ashes, the gravestone and theshooting…this was too much.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket. Instead of calling him, she just sent off a text.

I know you’re busy, but I need you to come out to the stables.

In a few seconds, his response popped up.Asking for help? Are you dying?

She didn’t reply to that as it felt a little too close to the overall vibe of the situation. She reminded herself that no one had tried to hurt her. That this was all silly scare tactics.

Butwhy?

She waited, leaning her weight on her left leg over her right, until Copeland finally appeared over the rise, huddled into her father’s coat. Still weird.

When he finally reached her, his expression was the usual stoic, not-quite frown, definitely not a smile. Until he saw the hole. His eyes narrowed, his mouth firmed. Anger danced there.

“What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know. It wasn’t there yesterday, and it looks like…”

“Yeah, I know what it looks like.” He pulled out his phone and began to take pictures. “Let me guess. You don’t have any cameras out here?”

“On the entrance, but not here in the back.” She would have gotten her back up about the way he was talking to her, but she was getting used to it. Starting to understand all that irritation was how he dealt with the situation, not really anything to do with her.

He swore under his breath, took a few more pictures. Then looked around, all while Audra stood still. She didn’t want to move. Didn’t want him seeing her limp. She had a feeling that would make his bad mood worse.

She wasn’t foolish enough to think he cared about her, but she did think under all that bluster hecared. A sort of generic care that had driven him to be a cop, to solve crimes for a living. Whatever Thomas saw in him, under all the prickle, that made him consider him a friend.

“What should I do?”

“Leave it for now. I don’t know that there’s really much we can do with it, but I want to think it over before we mess with potential evidence. That doesn’t mess anything up for you, does it?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine as is.” She’d need to stick a flag or something to mark it so she didn’t trip and turn herotherankle, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.

Especially with the way he was looking out at the horizon. There was an intensity in his gaze. Like he could justlookand see whatever threats were out there.

She really hated thinking threats were out there.

“What else do you have to do? You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

“I’ve got a gun on me.”

“You still shouldn’t be out here alone. What else is there to do?”

She opened her mouth to tell him she could handle it, but then he’d get mad at her for saying he didn’t need to help.Which was ironic, because it wasn’t even about that now. She just didn’t want him to see that she’d hurt herself.