Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (reading the story of the .TXT) 📕

“Yes.” That, she saw now had been a mistake. “Then you know I never stopped loving him.”

“But he stopped loving you.”

She brought her horse up short as the trail widened, and Lucy rode up beside her. “Lucy—”

“You’re the one who told me about this Fiona woman he had the affair with,” she said, cutting Mary off.

“It was one night.”

Lucy shrugged. “Or so he says. You said this woman called you. Said they were engaged. Why would she do that if they’d only had one date?”

Had Mary told her about that? She couldn’t remember.

Lucy must have seen the steam coming out of her ears. “Don’t get angry. I’m only saying this because you need someone who doesn’t have a dog in the fight to tell you the truth.”

She had to bite her tongue not to say that they didn’t have that kind of friendship. “I appreciate your concern. But I know what I’m doing.”

“It’s just that he hurt you. I don’t want to see him do it again.”

“We probably shouldn’t talk about this,” Mary said, and spurred her horse forward. The sooner they got to the top of the mountain and finished this ride, the better. Chase was right. Somehow Lucy had wormed her way deep into Mary’s life. Too deep for the short time they had known each other.

Lucy was jealous of her being with Chase, she realized. Had he sensed that? Is that why he didn’t like Lucy? Why she reminded him of Fiona?

They rode in silence as the trail narrowed again, and Lucy was forced to fall in behind her. When they finally reached the top of the mountain, Mary felt as if she could breathe again. She blamed herself. Lucy had been kind to her. Lucy had managed to somehow always be there when needed. Mary had let her get too close, and now it was going to be awkward having her for a tenant directly below her apartment.

She just had to make it clear that her love life was none of Lucy’s business. When they rode back to town, she’d talk to her.

Hud listened to his wife’s frantic call. He thought of the cup that Chase had brought him wanting the fingerprints checked. “Lucy? You’re sure that’s what he said?”

“She’s a barista at a coffee shop across the street from Mary’s building and one of her tenants.” He thought of the plain white cup.

“Chase sounded terrified. He’s on his way here. I tried to call Mary before I called you. Her phone went straight to voice mail. I’m scared.”

“Okay, don’t worry,” Hud said. “I’ll find this Lucy woman and see what’s going on. If you see Mary, call me. Keep her there until I get to the bottom of this.”

He disconnected, fear making his heart pound, and headed for his patrol SUV. The town of Big Sky had spread out some since the early days when few would have called it a real town. Still, it didn’t take him but a few minutes to get to the coffee shop. As he walked in, he looked about for a barista with the name tag Lucy. There was an Amy and a Faith, but no Lucy.

“Excuse me,” he said to the one called Amy. “Is Lucy working today?”

“Day off,” she called over her shoulder as she continued to make a coffee that required a lot of noise.

“Do you know where she might have gone?” A headshake. He looked to the other barista. Faith shook her head as well and shrugged.

Dana had said that Lucy rented an apartment across the street. He headed over to Mary’s building. With his master key, he opened the door and started up the stairs. An eerie quiet settled over him as he reached the second floor. He knocked at the first door. No answer. He tried the other one. No answer.

He was thinking about busting down the doors when the second one opened. A young man peered out. “I was looking for Lucy,” he said.

“Lucy? The woman who is renting the apartment next door? I haven’t met her but I overheard her and Mary talking about going horseback riding.”

“Do you know where?”

“On Mary’s family ranch, I would assume.”

Lucy had gone horseback riding with Mary? He quickly called the ranch as he took the stairs three at a time down to his patrol SUV. “Dana,” he said when she answered, “a tenant in the building said that Lucy and Mary went horseback riding. You’re sure they aren’t there?”

“I don’t see her rig parked by the barn unless...” He could hear Dana leaving the house and running toward the barn. “She parked in back. They must have come in the back way,” she said, out of breath. “Oh, Hud, they’re up in the mountains somewhere alone.” He heard the sound of a vehicle come roaring up.

“Who is that?” he demanded.

“Chase.”

The marshal swore. “Tell him to wait until I get there. Don’t let him go off half-cocked.” But even as he said the words, he knew nothing was going to stop Chase. “I’m on my way.” The moment he disconnected, he raced toward his patrol SUV.

Hud swore as he climbed behind the wheel, started the engine and headed for the ranch. It didn’t take much to put the coffee cup and the barista named Lucy together with an apparently disturbed woman named Fiona Barkley who had a lot of priors in her past. His dead deputy had seen the report and kept the results to himself. He had the tie-in with Dillon and the barista, he thought his stomach roiling. His daughter was on a horseback ride with a killer.

Lucy gritted her teeth as she watched Mary ride to the edge of the mountain and dismount. As she stared at her back, there was nothing more Lucy could say. She could tell that Mary was angry with her. Angry at a friend who was just trying to help her. Mary thought