Page 49 of Fatal Deception
She pulled up the video-conferencing app and clicked Rosalie’s name. Rosalie answered after only a few rings, her face popping up on the screen. She was framed by a pretty window with a bunch of buildings in the background. On the other side of the world.
It was so weird. Their whole lives since Rosalie had been born, they’d lived in the same house, been in each other’spockets, and then Rosalie had moved out last year and now she did things like jet off to Europe.
Audra knew some people probably thought she was jealous, but she wasn’t. She didn’t want to leave or go anywhere. But she wasso gladRosalie, with all her restless energy, was doing it. Especially with a husband who appreciated her just the way she was.
If therewasjealousy, it was maybe there, in the doting partner, but Audra wasn’t about to think about that with Copeland staring at her from across the room.
“Well, look at you, Ms. Italy,” she greeted, forcing herself to smile.
Rosalie grinned. “It’s probably sacrilege to say while I’m here, but I think you’d hate it.”
Audra laughed in spite of herself. For all the different regrets she might have had about her life up to this point, staying put was never one of them. Even with danger swirling, this was the only place she wanted to be.
But Rosalie’s smile faded. “What’s wrong, Aud?” Rosalie asked, concern in her tone. “That’s your fake smile. Stiff and weird. Which is concerning since Natalie and Norman had very similar smiles when we talked to them the other day. Everything’s okay, right? With Vi and—”
“Vi’s perfect and so is Fox. This isn’t about them. Or Franny. Or anyone really. There’s just some…issues with the ranch. I asked Natalie and Norman not to worry you about it. I’m handling it.”
“You always do.” But Rosalie was frowning. “What kind of problems?”
“You don’t need to worry.”
“I didn’t ask if I needed to worry. And if you tell me what kind of problems, I won’t. Because I know you can handle it. Ifyou won’t tell me, that makes me think it’s more than just the ranch.”
“It’s not. It’s just…a few odd things. The power went out. We had some fence damage. A little fire in the shed.”
Rosalie’s forehead scrunched up. “That’s a lot of odd things. How did a fire start in the shed?”
“Well, they’re still trying to figure that out,” Audra hedged.
“Who’s they? Did they put the fire inspector on it? That means someone set it. Did someone set a fire in the shed? Who would do that? What’s going on?” Rapid-fire demands. Exactly what Audra had wanted to avoid.
But she didn’t scowl. She didn’t let her frustration shine through. She smiled placidly and spoke calmly in return.
“Rosalie. It’s fine. I’m sure they’ll come back with some reasonable explanation.” She was so deep in her lie she forgot Copeland was there. Until he said her name.
She glared at Copeland, but he looked wholly unrepentant.
“Who’s that?” Rosalie demanded, bringing Audra’s focus back to the screen.
“Uh.” Audra looked to Copeland, feeling helpless and stupid. If Rosalie knew Copeland was staying here…
“Tell her or I do,” he said with absolutely no softness or give.
“Alright. I’m getting freaked out, Audra. Who the hell is thatguyand—”
“It’s Copeland,” Audra said flatly, trying to keep her sheer fury at him out of her tone. “The fire was set by someone. Hawk Steele is looking into it. All the other problems we’ve had here aresmallandpetty, but someone is doing them, and Copeland is investigating.”
Rosalie’s expression wasallworry now. “You’ve got a detective and a fire inspector investigating these so-called odd things. That’s notodd, Audra. It’s threatening and dangerous. How long has this been going on?”
She was going to lie. It would have been so easy to lie, but Copeland was glaring at her and he was going to undercut the lie if she told it, which would make things worse. Damn him.
“Just…a few weeks.”
“So thewholetime we’ve been gone? Oh my God. We’re coming home.”
“Rosalie, no.”
“I’m ready to come home. I miss everybody, and I want a whiff of Fox before he doesn’t smell like newborn anymore. This is a better reason than me just being whiny and homesick. We’re coming home.”