Connie raised his head. “We didn’t give him any of his toys.”

“We’ll take some to him,” she said. “Come to bed and let me hold you.”

“I’m okay,” he said, sniffing back his tears, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand.

“Neither one of us is okay,” she said. “Come to bed with me. I need to take care of what’s left of my family.”

He stroked her cheek. “You okay?”

“God, not at all,” she said. “But we’re going to hang on to each other and get through this. There isn’t anything they can throw at us that will break us. Because we’re a really powerful team.”

“Lotta tears on this one,” he said.

“Yeah. It might take us a while to get through it.”

* * *

“I can’t imagine what I was thinking, saying I liked being around family, after all,” Dakota said. “My family is falling apart.”

“Some rough times have been had,” Sully said. “How’s my little Sierra getting by?”

“Connie says she cries way too much, but in deference to her pregnancy, she’s eating and resting. And she took some toys to Mrs. Jergens in Fairplay. She said everything looked okay and the cousin was a nice enough girl. Sam was as excited as a puppy to see her and then didn’t want to let her go. The cousin said, ‘Y’all visit any old time.’ Connie said Sierra cried for hours afterward.” Dakota shook his head. “Those poor kids.”

“This Jones family has had some high drama,” Sully said. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“There’s a rumor going around that you’ve had some drama, too. Your girlfriend is out of town and you had yourself a stalker?” Sully chuckled. “That’s pretty interesting stuff.”

“Yeah, there was this woman vandalizing my property,” Dakota said. “She must’ve thought that would make me desire her. It did not. Sid thought that was a perfect time to go to California and do some work for her old boss. She’s been gone a week. I don’t love it, but Sierra is my main concern now.”

“I wish she’d come out here,” Sully said. “You know, Maggie’s mother divorced me and took Maggie away when she was about six. I didn’t see her at all for years and I grieved something terrible. I think that was the right thing for her mother to do—that girl needed better schooling and parenting than she was getting here. But that didn’t make it any easier. I don’t know that I can entirely relate to what she’s going through, but I’d sure like to see her.”

“I’ll tell her that, Sully,” Dakota said. “And for what it’s worth, even with all the drama, I like the connections I’ve made here.”

“Don’t fret too much, son. That girl will come back to you.”

“I hope so.”

“And Sierra is strong. She’ll get through this, but I wish she’d come and see me.”

“I’ll tell her.”

Despite Dakota’s worry and concern over Sierra, Sid was constantly on his mind, as well. He talked to her every evening. She sounded tired but happy. She was putting in long days but she said it was so wonderful to work beside Dr. Faraday again. “He reminds me that I have abilities I shouldn’t take for granted.”

“Is he almost done reminding you of that?” Dakota asked. “Because I miss the hell out of you. And everyone is falling apart back here.”

“And no sign of Neely?”

“Did you expect there to be?” he asked. “She’s a ghost.”

* * *

Neely had been invisible for nine days and she was ready to reemerge. It had been her experience that, given a little time, people didn’t remember things. If they did remember, they doubted themselves if a question was thrown at them. They would begin to think, Oh, maybe that wasn’t exactly what happened. I could be mistaken. She sauntered into the bar and grill, hopped up on her favorite stool and looked around. Not many people present. It was Dakota’s day off and from diligently watching she had learned that he liked to visit the bar early in the afternoon, sometime between lunch and dinner, so he could be mostly alone with the bartender.

She’d gone to a lot of trouble with her appearance today. She always did.

She tapped her finger on the bar, waiting. The last nine days had been dull and she was ready for a little fun. She hadn’t been having much fun. She shopped. She’d done a little shoplifting, simply for the thrill. She’d picked up a couple of guys, but they were so eager and willing it just hadn’t been much of a challenge. She’d had a lot to drink and amused herself with the idea that she’d played this AA crowd with her hard youth and difficult sobriety, so she went to a couple of meetings in Denver, picked up one of her guys there. It took him five minutes to fall in love with her. She was bored out of her skull.

Finally someone came out of the kitchen. He slapped the napkin on the counter. Then he looked at her. They connected eyes.

“Where’s the usual bartender?” Neely asked. “Sid?”

“My sister? She’s away.”

“She’s your sister?”

He lifted a brow. “Something you didn’t know.”

“Well, of course I didn’t know. I don’t spend very much time here!”

“And I’m afraid you won’t be,” Rob said. “We won’t be extending service to you. I’d like you to leave.”

“You can’t do that!” she said.

“Well, look at that. You are completely flabbergasted. The police are looking for you. Maybe you should check in with them to get the full story.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” she demanded.

He chuckled. “Oh, man, you are not nearly as smart as everyone thinks, are you? The police department put a video on Facebook and Twitter, looking for this woman who likes to slash tires and pour acid on vehicles. That would be you, correct?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“The local news picked it up. You’re wanted, it seems. I knew exactly who it was but didn’t know your name, just that you’d been in the bar. Looking into it a bit further, turns out you like to vandalize the property of my patrons and my sister. That makes it personal.”

“You’re out of your mind,” she said, pulling her phone out of her purse. “You’re going to be pretty embarrassed...” She started clicking away on her phone. “Why are you just standing there?” she asked hotly.

“I’m so interested to see your expression when you find it. The Facebook post from the police has gone viral.”

“You better be kidding,” she grumbled.

“Just search for ‘Woman pouring acid on Jeep’s hood,’” he suggested with a bland smile.

It took a couple of moments, then she gasped. Her eyes narrowed. Her features suddenly relaxed. “This is contrived. Photoshopped.”

“I doubt it,” he said. “You might want to check in with the police.”

“What for?” she asked. “It’s some kind of hoax. Give me a club soda with a twist of lime. Now.”

He stood there for a second, then he called a kid from the kitchen. “Trace, you know who this is?”

“The woman from the news? Looks like her.”

“Thanks,” Rob said. He turned back to Neely. “No club soda. No lime. No service. You’re not welcome here.”

“And if I don’t leave?” she asked.

“I’ll call the police. They’d be happy for the call.”

She grunted and left.

Neely stomped down the street to the police department. This was outrageous. She would get this straightened out. She walked in. “Where’s the chief?” she demanded of the two people behind the counter.

Stan came out of the back, stirring a cup of coffee. “Well, hello there,” he said. “And how can I help you?”

“You can start by putting up a retraction of this bogus video you have on your Facebook page!”

“Come in, Ms. Benedict,” he said pleasantly. “Have a seat here at my desk. I can see you’re upset.”

“I’m not at all upset,” she said. But when a female police officer opened the little half door at the end of the counter, she entered and went to the chief’s desk. “I’m going to sue you, that’s all. And you’ll not only run a retraction, you’ll pay through the nose.”

“I doubt that,” he said. “Both videos have been verified as authentic. I guess you didn’t notice the camera at the back of the bank building. That one’s a little fuzzy, since you had your head down a lot. But with a little help we got a couple of good close-ups.”

“You’re full of shit,” Neely said.

“And that little cabin that Dakota Jones rents? Well, some strange things have been happening to Dakota’s car and on his property so he worried about something happening to the place while he was away. He has some nice furnishings in there. He had a surveillance camera sitting right up in the corner, right behind a bird’s nest. Convenient.”

“You’re just lying,” she said. “It’s all Photoshopped!”

“From what?” he asked, lifting his eyebrows. “Nah, it’s the real deal. And our sister cities in the valley were kind enough to run the videos, too. Including Aurora. A few of them ran it on their local news. It’s made the rounds. I’m surprised you didn’t notice it sooner.”

She relaxed into her chair. She smirked at him. “If you think you have a case, why aren’t you arresting me?”

The female police officer stood from behind a desk. “Boss?”

“You can go. I know you have things to do, Tippin. Thanks.” He looked back at Neely. “I’m sorry. What was that question? Oh—I got it. Arrest, right. Well, to tell the truth, that took some thought. See, I can charge you with malicious mischief and malicious destruction of property. I think it’s a terrible thing you did. Our judge will think so, too. But the penalty that goes with it,” he said with a shrug. “Just not satisfying enough. So I thought about it and decided I wasn’t going to charge you this time. Instead, I’m going to save these videos in case there are more. I hate the thought there could be more, but I wouldn’t be surprised. It seems to be your pattern. You know—those restraining orders, vandalism, breaking into houses, stalking...” He scratched his head. “I wasn’t too surprised to learn this wasn’t your first brush with the law. Disappointed but not surprised.”