She sounded scared still, but more tired. To give her a boost, he wagged the drumstick. “I bet the cops’ll find the house and the bad guys. We’re friends with the sheriff, and he’s pretty smart. Maybe the bad guys don’t even know you escaped.”

“Maybe. He said, on the phone to somebody . . .” She frowned, tried to remember. Then Julia came over with the phone.

“Caitlyn, somebody wants to talk to you.”

“Is it Daddy?” Cate grabbed the phone. “Daddy!” The tears came again, spilling down her cheeks as Julia stroked her hair. “I’m all right. I got away. I ran and I’m with Julia and Gram and Dillon. Will you come? Do you know where to find me?”

Julia leaned down, kissed the top of Cate’s head. “I’m going to tell him exactly.”

“Gram’s making scrambled eggs. I’m so hungry. I love you, too, Daddy.”

She handed the phone back to Julia, swiped at her tears. “He cried. I never heard him cry before.”

“Joyful tears.” Gram put a plate with eggs and toast in front of Cate. “Because his little girl’s safe.”

The little girl plowed into the eggs while Gram plated up the rest.

She ate all the eggs, the toast, and had just started on the pie Julia put in front of her when someone knocked on the door.

“The bad guys—”

“Wouldn’t knock,” Julia assured her. “Don’t you worry.”

Still Cate’s chest hurt as if someone pressed on it when Julia walked to the front door. When Dillon took her hand, she squeezed it hard. And held her breath even though it made her chest hurt more when Julia opened the door.

Then everything fell away, everything, when she heard her father’s voice. “Daddy!”

She leaped out of the chair, ran out of the kitchen, ran to him as she’d run toward the trees. He caught her, swung her up, held her tight, tight, tight. She felt him shaking, felt his scratchy whiskers on her face. Felt his tears blur with her own.

Other arms went around her, folded her in—warm and safe.

Grandpa.

“Cate. Catey. Oh, my baby.” Aidan drew her back, and his eyes filled with more tears as he looked at her face. “He hurt you.”

“I fell, because it was dark. I ran away.”

“You’re safe now. You’re safe.”

As Aidan stood, swaying with her, Hugh turned to Julia, gripped her hands. “There aren’t words to thank you.” He looked beyond her to where Maggie and Dillon stood watching. “All of you.”

“You don’t need them. You have a smart, brave girl here.”

“Dillon found me, and his mom fixed my cuts, and Gram made me eggs.”

“Ms. Cooper.” Aidan tried to speak, simply couldn’t get words out.

“Julia. I put on coffee. The sheriff’s on his way. I felt it best to call him, though I realize you probably want to take Caitlyn home and deal with that there.”

“I’d love some coffee. I just want to call my wife, let her and the others know we have our girl.” Hugh stroked a hand down Cate’s hair. “If it’s not imposing, I think talking to the sheriff here and now would be best.”

“There’s a phone in the kitchen.” Maggie stepped forward. “We don’t get decent cell service here. Maggie Hudson,” she added and offered a hand.

Ignoring the hand, Hugh embraced her.

“Well, this has been a day, and the sun’s not up. We meet the bravest girl in California, and I get a hug from Hugh Sullivan. Come on back, Hugh.”

“Cate’s mother finally took a sleeping pill not long before you called,” Aidan explained. “She’s going to be so happy, Cate, when she wakes up and sees you. We were so scared, so worried.” He lifted her bandaged arm, kissed it.

“Why don’t you and Cate sit down, catch your breath. I’ll go help with the coffee. How about some more hot chocolate, Cate?”

Still cuddled close to her father, she nodded. “Yes, please.”

But even as she said it, headlights swept across the front windows. “That should be the sheriff. He’s a nice man,” she told Cate.

“Will he go after the bad men?”

“I bet he will.” Julia walked to the door, opened it, stepped out on the porch. “Sheriff.”

“Julia.”

Red Buckman looked more like a surfer than a cop. He may have cruised past forty to inch his way toward fifty, but when time allowed, he still grabbed his board and hit the waves. His hair, a short, sun-bleached braid, fell just over the collar of his jacket. His face, tanned and lined from his hours on the beach, on the water, often held a deceptive “whatever” expression.

Julia knew him to be smart, sharp, and dedicated. Just as she knew he and her mother had an easygoing friends-with-benefits relationship.

“I don’t think you’ve met Deputy Wilson. Michaela, this is Julia Cooper.”

“Ma’am.”

Beside Red, the dark-skinned beauty with the honey-glazed eyes looked all spit and polish in her khaki uniform. Barely old enough to drink, Julia thought, and standing like a soldier in her high-shine shoes.

“Caitlyn’s in the living room with her father. Her grandfather’s here, too.”

“Let me ask you first. Are you sure the kid didn’t just run off from home?”

“There’s no question of that, Red. You’ll see for yourself when you talk to her. She’s settled down, but that child was terrified, and she’d damn well been terrorized. She wanted to call nine-one-one and her father.”

“Okay then. Let’s get to it.”

He went inside, his deputy a half step behind him.

From Aidan’s lap, Cate gave him an unblinking once-over. “Are you really the sheriff?”

“That’s right.” He pulled a badge out of his pocket, showed her. “It says so right here. Red Buckman,” he said to Aidan. “You’re Caitlyn’s dad?”

“Yes, Aidan Sullivan.”

“And you’re okay with us talking to her?”

“Yes. You’re okay to talk to Sheriff Buckman, aren’t you, Cate?”

“I was going to call nine-one-one, but Dillon found me before I could. So Julia did.”

“That was the right thing. Take a seat, Mic,” he told the deputy—who shot him a look at the “Mic” but complied. Red sat on the coffee table so he’d be face-to-face with Cate. “How about you tell me what happened, right from the start?”

“We had lots of people at Sullivan’s Rest because my great-grandda died.”

“I heard that. I’m sorry about your great-grandda. Did you know the people who were there?”

“Mostly. After people got up to talk about him, to tell stories and everything, I got to change into play clothes, and play outside with my cousins and the kids. And after a while, we were going to play hide-and-seek. Boyd was It, and I had my hiding place picked out.”

She frowned at that, just an instant, then told her story.

Red didn’t interrupt, only stood a moment when Maggie came in with Hugh Sullivan. He took his coffee, nodded at Cate. “You keep going, honey.”

He saw Aidan’s stricken face when she spoke of the threats—broken fingers, the gun—watched the father of the child battle tears.