he’d had no idea which was the right one to walk through. But he’d fixed that and walked through three of them.
He left Rae and Evelyn, grabbed his coat and boots, and tromped down to the barn to check on the horses in their stables. The cold air slapped him in the face. As much as he struggled with feeling at home—anywhere—he could never get this place out of his blood.
When he’d needed to flee from what had happened, Emerald M and Heath had been waiting for him, and he couldn’t have been happier to stay.
For a while.
Admittedly, he could think a lot clearer here in Wyoming, and even more so on this ranch. That was, without Heath around. They loved each other, but their personalities clashed too much for comfort. Liam had hoped they could find a way to get along.
Maybe the security job would work out and he could move closer to town or the resort. But all that would have to come after Zoey’s disappearance had been resolved.
God, please let her still be alive somewhere.
While he would want that for anyone—life over death—he had a personal stake in this disappearance because of how it would affect Rae. He couldn’t bear to see her lose her sister-in-law.
If Zoey was still alive, he could think of a few terrible reasons why she would have disappeared, and he wasn’t sure they were better alternatives to death. Still, after what she’d already been through, Zoey sounded like a true survivor.
Like Rae.
As he approached the barn, he heard raised voices. Now he understood the real reason Heath valued Liam’s supervision. He wouldn’t bother eavesdropping. He pushed the door open and walked in on Leroy and Pete exchanging heated words.
“Hey,” he said. “What’s this about?”
They stopped and stared at Liam. Hands on his hips, Pete looked away. Neither of them appeared willing to tell him what was going on.
“In case you weren’t aware, Heath left me in charge while he’s gone.” He wished he hadn’t said that. He could sense resentment from both men. He could understand their perspectives. Liam showed up just a few months ago and now was suddenly in charge? What did he know? How would Heath want him to handle this? He held out his palms. “Look, I know I’m the new guy, and you both know more about the inner workings of this place than I do, but we’re not exactly guest-ranching at the moment. I’m happy to help resolve any issues if you want to share them.”
“All due respect, Liam,” Pete said, “you’re not around enough to help.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
5:56 p.m.
Evelyn encouraged Rae to go ahead and eat because the stew was best eaten hot, and Liam could be a while. So Rae sat at the table with the older woman and enjoyed the most amazing venison stew. It warmed her up inside.
“Any news on your missing sister-in-law?”
“We still don’t know where she is.” Rae lifted a spoonful of stew to her mouth.
“I’m so sorry. The only thing I know to do is pray, so I’ll keep praying for her and for your family.”
“Thank you.” Rae took another bite of stew, though her appetite was quickly disappearing. After her visit with Sam and learning that she had been in contact with Zoey recently and also had a stash of those thriller novels, Rae had the strong sense that she was closing in on the truth.
God, where is Zoey? Help me find her.
The front door slammed. Rae heard Liam removing his coat and boots. Then he entered the kitchen, his expression hard. He approached the counter and his eyes grew wide. “You didn’t wait for me?”
“You told me to eat,” Rae said. “Evelyn did too.”
He laughed. “I did. You’re right. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”
Oh, now he was just teasing. But behind his smile, he seemed upset.
Evelyn had gotten up from the table to ladle stew into a bowl for Liam. “There’s corn bread too.”
She set the stew and corn bread in front of Liam. He started in immediately.
He finally slowed long enough to notice she was watching him. “What?”
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Sure. Just peachy.” He focused on his meal.
Was he still upset with her for leaving the resort? Nothing she could do about that now.
“I can see something’s on your mind, Rae,” he said. “Why don’t you tell me?”
Rae had not gotten an answer about the Zane Williams books, but she’d known by the look in Sam’s eyes that Sam had in fact sent them to Zoey.