Page 11 of High Country Escape

“Yeah, I get it. Bad timing.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Forget I asked.”

His awkwardness charmed her. “I won’t forget,” she said. “And I hope I’ll see you again.”

His eyes brightened and she felt that look in the pit of her stomach. Smolder, May had called it. Was that what this feeling was? Not burning, but an unfamiliar warmth.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’d like that.”

“Yes.” She opened the car door, but still didn’t get out.

“Will you be okay?” he asked. “Here by yourself?”

“Yes.” She had good locks, and she knew how to defend herself. She would be all right. Ledger was devious and even dangerous, but she also knew something else about him. The man was a coward.

But Roxanne—when it really mattered, Roxanne was brave. She was a survivor.

Chapter Four

William “Billy” Ledger is an American convicted sex offender, child rapist and kidnapper infamously known for committing the abductions of a nine-year-old girl he renamed “Alice” in 2006 in San Antonio, Texas, and a ten-year-old girl he called “Mary” in 2009 in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was discovered and apprehended when “Mary” escaped and ran to a store where she called police. She led law enforcement to the house where she and “Alice” had been held captive. He was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to life in prison.

The Monday after Roxanne’s accident, Dalton sat on his sofa, researching William Ledger, the man Roxanne thought had run her off the road. He read through the Wikipedia entry twice, a pain in the pit of his stomach and anger tightening his chest. How did Roxanne know a man like William Ledger? Was she Alice? Or Mary? How had such a horrible thing happened to her?

He closed the screen and sat back. No wonder Roxanne had been so upset, if she thought her former kidnapper was the man who had run her off the road. But that couldn’t be right, could it? The article said William Ledger had been sentenced to prison for life.

He leaned forward and began searching further, but could find nothing more about William Ledger. Maybe he could have dug deeper and eventually found what he wanted, but he had a faster way of getting information. He pulled out his phone and punched in a number.

“I’m working, Dalton. What do you want?” His oldest brother picked up, his voice clipped and no-nonsense, but that was Aaron every day of the week.

“Do you know who William Ledger is?” Dalton asked.

A pause, then Aaron’s tone was sharper. “Why are you asking about him?”

“I was first on the scene at Roxanne Byrne’s accident yesterday,” Dalton said. “I heard her say she thought the person who ran her off the road might have been William Ledger. I just finished reading the Wikipedia entry about him.”

“Then why are you calling me?”

“Because you’re a sheriff’s deputy and you can tell me how a man who was sentenced to life in prison could possibly be running around free.”

Aaron blew out a breath. “Ledger was paroled two weeks ago. But you didn’t hear that from me. We don’t want word to get out that we’re looking for him.”

“How is that possible? I read what he did to those girls.” The article had been mercifully short on details, but Dalton could imagine, and anything he thought of probably wasn’t as bad as what had really happened.

“His attorney appealed and his sentence was lowered due to some legal technicality and he was credited for time served and released,” Aaron said.

“So it could have been him who went after Roxanne?”

“Doubtful. He was in prison in Texas. Roxanne is here. She’s changed her name and kept a low profile.”

Dalton swallowed. He didn’t want to ask, but he wanted to know. “Was she one of the girls he kidnapped—Alice or Mary?”

“If you want to know that, you should ask her.”

“I’m asking you. Was she?”

Another sigh. “She was. Her lawyers and the court did a good job of keeping the girls’ real names out of the press and Roxannehas never done an interview about it. I don’t know how Ledger would have found her.”

“But what if he did find her?” Dalton asked. “What does he want with her?”

“Who knows what a person like that is thinking? Look—don’t go telling this to anyone. Not only is it nobody’s business, but the more people who know Roxanne’s story, the more danger she might be in.”