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  "Aaron? I haven't thought about him in years. He left not long after you did. Doc said he went to school somewhere up north to get his medical degree. I always thought he'd come back here and help Doc, but he never did." Rand absently gave the swing a push, setting it into motion. "I wonder what happened to him?"

  Maddie shrugged. "I don't know. He probably ended up in jail. I know he was stealing drugs from your father or his dad and selling them, because he came out to the house a couple of days later and brought my dad some Oxycontin. My father had never been to a doctor in his life, didn't trust them, so there was no way the prescription was legitimate. Anyway, I told him to stay away and not sell my father anything else. I said I was going to tell your father."

  Rand sat up a bit straighter, his gaze boring into hers. "And what did he say to that?"

  "He said if I breathed a word to anyone, he'd tell you the baby was his, and he'd produce a paternity test to prove it."

  Rand cocked one eyebrow.

  "Don't even ask. Of course there was no way. I'd never been with anyone but you. But how would you know that? If he somehow could make it look real and official, would you have believed me?"

  "Of course I would have!"

  "Yeah? Are you really sure about that? You were seventeen, already defensive because of your parents' attitude toward me. Faced with that kind of evidence, you would have at least had doubts. Anyway, I decided that it would be best if I took Doc's advice. I called my aunt in Dallas and told her what was going on. She'd tried many times to get me to come live with her, but I felt responsible for my father. But now that I knew he was taking drugs, I couldn't wait to get out of there. You know how I felt--feel--about drugs."

  "Yeah, you were a regular crusader."

  "Still am. So, Aunt Claire said she'd come get me and then we'd decide what the best course of action would be." Maddie chewed her bottom lip for a minute. "But I still had to get through graduation, had to see you every day and pretend everything was perfectly normal. I was dying inside, and I couldn't tell you what was going on."

  "The day after graduation, everything fell apart. Your father saw me drive up before you knew I was here. I think you were out in the barn. He came outside and confronted me about the baby. He'd seen the prescription in his files. He told me there was no way in hell I was roping you into a shotgun wedding and wanted to know how much money it would take to get rid of the baby. I told him no amount of money in the world would make me do it, but he tossed $500 at me and told me to get lost, that I'd better not ever show my face around here again or he'd have me and my father arrested for drug dealing. Seems he already knew what Aaron was doing, and that my father was not only taking the drugs, but selling them as well. And he said it would be easy to prove I was in on it, even though I wasn't."

  She paused, and Rand stood up, pacing the length of the porch and back. His face showed so much emotion--anger, pain, confusion. She hated what this was doing to him, but they'd come this far. They had to finish it. Should have finished it years ago.

  "So my father knew you were carrying my baby? He never said a word. Damn him! What right did he have to treat you like that? I was old enough to make my own choices!"

  The ragged fury in his voice made her want to retreat, to give him time to assimilate what she'd already told him. But what if something happened and she never got the chance to tell him the rest of it?

  "The rest of it was my fault. I got back in my car and hightailed it out of here. When I got home, my father was waiting for me, my prenatal vitamins in his hand." She faltered, remembering the fear of that day. "He didn't say a word, just lashed out with his fists. He beat me up pretty good. I told him what your father said about having us both arrested for the drugs, along with Aaron, and that I was getting rid of the baby. I thought that would make him stop beating me."

  She gulped. "It did. He shoved me across the room, picked up the phone and called Aaron to warn him about your father, then he grabbed his rifle and left the house. I laid there for a while, worried that he'd hurt the baby and still pretty much in shock. Finally, I called my aunt and she called the sheriff. I didn't know what to do. I tried to call you, but you didn't answer. No one did. And you know the rest."

  ***

  Rand felt like he was going to be sick. He'd known his parents hadn't approved of Maddie, but he'd never thought his father could be so cruel, so uncaring. And when Maddie had needed him so badly, he hadn't been there for her. When he'd come back from the barn, his father hadn't said a word. Hadn't mentioned that Maddie had been there. Rand had showered and headed into town for a dentist appointment, never knowing what had transpired, and never suspecting how his life was about to be turned upside down.

  And Maddie. God, what she'd gone through. Pregnant, scared, and alone. Treated like dirt by his father, beaten by hers. No wonder she'd left town and never looked back.

  He hated hearing the whole sordid tale with every fiber of his being, but he now had answers to a lot of questions that had bugged him for years.

  He went to Maddie and pulled her up from the swing. Her face was streaked with tears and he couldn't resist pulling her close, wrapping her in his arms the way he would have done if she'd told him she was pregnant way back then.

  After a few minutes, he let her go. "I have so much to say to you, so many apologies that I just can't think right now. But I also have something I need to tell you. Until the day he died, your father insisted that he didn't kill my parents. That he probably would have, but someone else had done the job for him. He never would say who that someone was, so I thought he was just grandstanding. Then he had a heart attack and died before his trial. Case closed. But now I wonder…"

  "You think he might have been innocent? He was certainly capable of murder, at least that day he was."

  "I don't know. But I do know that if Aaron was involved, all the evidence was compromised because Doc performed the autopsy, handled the evidence. The town didn't have a coroner back then. Still doesn't, in fact. Now we send evidence up to Dallas for processing. But things were simpler back then." He needed to get back to the office. He had a theory, but he needed to check a few things out first. Like where Aaron went after he left Greendale, and where he was now.

  "Come on." He grabbed her hand, locked the front door, and headed down the steps.

  "Wait. Where are we going?"

  "To my office. I'm not letting you out of my sight until it's all sorted out and someone's behind bars.

  ***

  Maddie felt awkward riding with Rand in the squad car. He refused to let her drive her own vehicle back to town, saying it stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the pickups and older sedans most of the people in town drove. She couldn't argue with that, but she hated relying on someone else to chauffer her around.

  At the station, Rand booted up his computer and started an internet search. At his request, Maddie called Detective Thacker in Oklahoma and told him to add Aaron Myers to the list of suspects and to move him to the top of the list.

  It was all beginning to make a strange kind of sense to Maddie. Aaron had always been a little weird, more so as he got older. But even back in elementary school she'd steered clear of him. He'd been a bit of a bully, pulling girls' hair, pushing kids down on the playground, stealing pencils and stickers. She had no idea if he'd moved beyond that in the typical pattern of serial killers to include torturing small animals all the way up to murder, but, if so, surely there was some evidence somewhere, even if Doc had used his influence to bury as much as he could.

  She could understand a parent trying to protect his child, but not if that child was a sociopath capable of murder.

  "Bingo!" Rand said, loudly enough to make Maddie jump.

  "What? Did you find something?"

  "Oh, yeah. " He swung his chair away from the computer to face Maddie. "A couple of interesting things, in fact. The first murder happened just after you left Greendale. A few days after that, your father died."

  "How are thos
e two things connected?"

  "Because the first murder happened in this county. Almost in Smith county, but just this side of the line. Guess who acted as coroner?"

  Maddie didn't have to guess. Rand had told her Doc served as coroner back then.

  "And two, your father had never had a single heart problem before he died, right?"

  "Not that I know of. He'd always done physical labor, seemed pretty strong and healthy."

  Rand nodded. "That's how I remember him, too. So how much do you want to bet that when I find the jail logs for back then, I'm going to find Doc listed as a visitor just prior to you father's death?"

  "You think Doc killed my father? But why? Why would he risk his career doing something like that? My father probably would have gotten the death penalty anyway."

  "Come on, Maddie. Think like a judge. You know the answer."

  The realization slowly dawned, filling her mind with possibilities, sorting through them, and coming up with the most likely reason. "He was afraid my father would tell who really killed your parents."

  Rand nodded. "The only thing I can't figure out is what this has to do with Aaron killing your friends."

  "Yeah, me either. I mean, Anne never met him or knew him back then. Her only connection to Greendale was me."

  "And how did he know Anne was connected to you? And why would he kill her?" He printed out a file from the computer and handed it to Maddie. "Here's a profile and report the FBI did years ago on what they called the Hangman. He only killed young women between the ages of 16 and 22, he killed once a year, in late May or early June, and he always shot them once in the head, hung them from a tree branch, then cut out their tongues."

  Maddie's hands shook as she read the report. "In his mind, he was killing me, over and over again."

  "Right. So why did he change everything up for Anne? She was blonde, she was murdered in early May, and he went way beyond his normal hunting grounds." He thought for a minute. "Here's my theory. He somehow found out where you were, and followed you around. Seeing you probably put him into a frenzy and he couldn't stop himself from acting out. Most likely he regretted his indiscretion, because he's a creature of habit and killing her threw him off his game."

  Maddie nodded. "Okay, I can see that."

  "Then, because he absolutely couldn't kill you before it was time, he couldn't resist at least taunting you, letting you know that he was nearby. I'm betting he didn't expect you to bolt and run back to Greendale."

  "How could he? I never expected to return here, myself." But by doing so, she'd played right into his hands, coming full circle so that he could kill her right where it all began. She had to leave, had to take Brandy and run. Somewhere he couldn't find them. But where? Her aunt had died several years ago, she had no other family, and her only real friend was dead because of her.

  Maybe it would be safer to leave Brandy here with Rand. Aaron had no interest in her daughter. If she left, alone, maybe Aaron would follow her and Brandy would be safe. "I have to leave. I have to get somewhere far away before he finds a way to get to me." She stood up, pacing the small room. "I don't know whether to leave Brandy here or take her with me."

  "No." Rand shook his head. "You're safer here. Most everyone in town would recognize Aaron if he shows up. We won't leave you and Brandy alone for a minute. I'm calling in the FBI to hunt him down and I'll ask the state police to take over policing the county until he's caught. That way I can devote all my time to keeping you and Brandy safe."

  "I can't put your life in danger, Rand. You're the only family Brandy has left. She'll need you if…"

  Rand pushed his chair back and rounded the desk, stopping in front of her. "It's what I do, Maddie. Protect and serve, and all that. And there's no way in hell I'm letting him get to you, or Brandy. I will hunt him down, and I'll kill him if I have to." He slid his fingers into her hair and tilted her head up, dropping a light kiss on her mouth. "I'm not going to lose you now that I've finally found you again."

  Maddie leaned into him, wanting his warmth, his strength. She was so tired. Tired of running, tired of being afraid, tired of being strong. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. And God, it felt so good.

  They stood there, in the middle of Rand's office, drawing strength from each other, for several long minutes. For the first time in days, Maddie felt safe. But Aaron was still out there, and so was her daughter. She pulled out of Rand's arms and pulled out her cell phone. "I need to call Linda and have her bring Brandy back."

  Rand grabbed his keys. "Let's go to the theater and pick her up. I don't want to risk anyone getting to her between there and here."

  ***

  Maddie breathed a sigh of relief when Brandy walked out of the theater with Linda and Missy.

  "Mom! What are you doing here?"

  "Rand and I decided to pick you up." She watched as Rand drew Linda aside to explain what was going on.

  "Has something happened? Did you figure out who's after us?" Brandy twisted her hair around her fingers, a sure sign that she was nervous. She'd worked hard to break that habit a couple of years earlier, but she relapsed under stress.

  Maddie put an arm around Brandy's shoulders and walked her to the car. "Yeah, we have a pretty good idea. Now all we have to do is catch him."

  "We? Mom, you're not going to try to catch him, are you?"

  "No, I'll let Rand do that. But we're going to do whatever we can to help him. Starting with sticking together. No more going off with any one else, okay?" At the look of dismay on Brandy's face, she said, "It's just for a couple of weeks. Then it will all be over."

  "How can you know that? What if they don't find him? I don't want to hide forever. I miss my friends. God, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I even miss my school." A tear rolled down her cheek and she swiped it away with one hand. "I want to go home."

  Maddie understood how Brandy felt. She'd wanted to go home for years after she'd run from Greendale. And finally, she was home. But she didn't tell Brandy she was seriously thinking about staying. For a young teenager, a small town could feel isolated, boring, if you didn't have lifelong friends to hang out with. But Rand was here, and Maddie was beginning to feel like she couldn't bear to leave him again.

  "Okay, Linda's going to follow us back to town. I need you two to hang out at the station for a while until I get things organized, then I'll either take you out to the ranch, or…" He raised an eyebrow at Maddie's expression. "Or, I'll stand watch at your house. Either way, I'm not leaving the two of you unprotected for even a minute."

  "If it's okay with you, I'd feel safer in town where there are other people nearby. The ranch is too isolated and it would take too long for help to arrive if something did happen." It was the truth, though maybe not all of it. She still didn't want to go in that house, even though it was now Rand's and his parents could no longer hurt her. She knew she'd have to force herself to do it at some point, but not until this whole thing was over and she felt strong again.

  "Good point. Okay, I'll line up deputies to guard you twenty-four, seven. And I'll be around most of the time, too. But I also need to be able to help find Aaron. With you in town, I won't be more than two minutes away. Now," he said, ruffling Brandy's hair, "let's go catch us a bad guy."

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  It didn't take long for Brandy to get bored at the station. Cody tried his best to keep her entertained, taking her on a tour of the offices, introducing her to several of the deputies, even fingerprinting her and taking a mug shot. But as the hours wore on, she became restless and begged to go back to the rental house. She refused to call it home.

  "Cody, maybe you could go to the house and get Brandy's computer? That would give her something to do." Maddie gave him the key and he hurried out, obviously relieved to have something to do besides babysit a sulky teenager.

  When he came back, he asked, "Did you leave the front door unlocked?"

  Maddie thought back to the morning. They'd left very early, before da
ylight. Had she forgotten to lock the door? No, she was positive she had. She'd even locked the bolt, which had to be done with the key. She shook her head. "I'm positive I locked it. Why? Was it unlocked?"

  "Yeah. I'd better go find Rand. You stay here. We'll go check things out."

  "Uh-uh. I'm going with you. You wouldn't know if anything was missing or out of place anyway."

  She followed Cody to Rand's office. He was talking on the phone and typing on the computer at the same time, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Hang on, Detective Thacker," he said into the phone when he saw Cody and Maggie. "What's up?"

  Cody told him about finding the house unlocked. Rand cursed and picked up the phone again. "I have to run out to Maddie's place. Something's up. Can you fill the FBI in for me? I already have things lined up with the highway patrol and the sheriff's department from Smith county is going to help out for a few days. I'll check in with you as soon as I get back."

  He grabbed his hat and headed for the door. He turned to Maddie. "You stay here with Brandy. No one's going to hurt you here."

  "Not a chance, Rand. I already told Cody I was going with you."

  He sighed. "Were you always this stubborn? Or did you learn it in law school?"

  Maddie smiled. "I like to think it's a developed talent."

  "Fine, but Brandy stays here. I don't want to try to watch you both."

  "Not a problem. Now that she has her laptop, she'll be fine. She's set up in Linda's office."

  Rand entered the house first, gun drawn. Cody stayed on the front porch with Maddie, standing behind her as though to protect her from anyone on the street. When Rand came back, he gave them the all clear and they stepped into the house. Rand locked and bolted the door behind them. "Take a look around and see if anything's out of place."

  Maddie followed him through the house room by room. Everything seemed fine. Domino slept peacefully on Brandy's bed, barely opening one eyelid to acknowledge their presence. They looked everywhere, including in closets and under the bed. Nothing. The back door was locked securely from the inside, as was the door to the garage.