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“Yes,” Emily chimed in. “Who would even remember, let alone care—”
“I remember and I care,” Rozalyn shot back. “So does my father. Do you know the man you married at all? Or what matters to him? Do you have any idea what that article did to him?”
“I’m sure Mother didn’t know Mr. Lancaster wrote the article when she offered him the guest house,” Drew said.
“Of course not,” Emily said. “I would never do anything to hurt Liam. Or you, Rozalyn, dear. He told me he was a friend of Liam’s, and since there was no place in town to stay…”
“Excuse me. There is someone here to see you,” the maid repeated.
“Ilsa, can’t you see we’re about to have dinner?” Emily snapped. “Tell whoever it is to come back some other time and close the doors behind you.” She shot Rozalyn a look as if to say now everyone in town will be talking about your behavior.
“It’s the sheriff. He wants to speak to Rozalyn,” Ilse persisted.
“Rozalyn? Why would the sheriff want to talk to her?” Emily said as if it was the prince at the door with a glass slipper. “Oh Rozalyn, you didn’t already involve the sheriff in our affairs, did you?”
“What do you want me to tell the sheriff?” the maid asked nervously. “Should I tell him to come back?”
“No, Rozalyn and I will both see him,” Ford said. The maid turned tail and disappeared down the hall. “If you will excuse me,” he said to Emily and the others. “I apologize, Emily, but Rozalyn and I really do need to talk to the sheriff.”
Ford took Roz’s arm and practically dragged her out into the hallway, closing the French doors firmly behind them.
“We have to talk,” he whispered. “I had no idea Liam had a daughter. But now that I do… I’m here because I think your father is in trouble.” He held up a hand to ward off her questions. “I will explain later. Right now we need to see the sheriff. I assume you called him about earlier and that’s why he’s here?”
She jerked free, but he could see her anger deflating at his words. “My father’s in trouble?”
“Possibly. Look, you called the sheriff about what you thought you saw at the falls, right? Let’s get this over with, then you can tell me what you think of me at length,” he said reasonably. “And I’ll tell you everything I know about your father.”
She obviously didn’t feel like being reasonable. “I want to know why my father is in trouble and what that has to do with you and I want to know now,” she said, keeping her voice down.
He groaned. “There isn’t time now.” He looked past her to where the sheriff was standing and watching them, then lowered his head and said quietly, “If you say anything to the sheriff, I’ll deny it and you will never know why I’m here.”
Her eyes flared with anger.
“Let’s tell the sheriff what you saw,” he added, loud enough that the officer of the law could hear.
Her body trembled with obvious rage as he took her arm and drew her toward the front door and the sheriff.
“Mitch,” she said when she saw the uniformed man at the door. She broke free of Ford’s grasp and rushed toward the sheriff.
Mitch? She knew him? Of course she might. She must have lived here until her mother had died. Sure. The conversation he’d overheard in the garden was starting to make sense. So was her relationship with the people in the dining room.
Ford met the sheriff’s interested gaze, and felt his insides tighten. The sheriff had come for more than just a statement from Rozalyn about a possible suicide at Lost Creek Falls. Ford stood back, watching the sheriff’s face and Rozalyn’s body language. She hugged the cop and they exchanged a few pleasantries, then Ford heard the words he’d been dreading.
“A fall? Is Dad all right?”
The sheriff had taken off his hat. “He’s in a coma, Roz.”
“We have to get him flown out to Eugene, to the hospital there—”
The sheriff was shaking his head. “His condition is such that the doc says he can’t be moved right now.”
“I’m going to the hospital to see him,” she said, pushing past Ford as he joined them. She ran up the stairs, no doubt to get her purse and car keys.
Ford found himself under the sheriff’s intense scrutiny.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” the lawman said.
“No, I’m Ford Lancaster.” From the sheriff’s negative reaction it was obvious Ford’s reputation had preceded him.
The sheriff started to ask him something, but behind them, the dining room doors burst open. Ford was surprised it had taken Emily this long.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
As the sheriff filled her in, she burst into tears and called for Drew. Suzanne finally came out seeming more irritated than anything else. “Liam’s been hurt,” Emily cried. “Drew, will you drive me to the hospital?”
“Of course, Mother,” he said.
“I just need to change,” she said looking down at her shoes. Ford would guess she didn’t want to get them wet.
“I’ll stay here, Mother,” Suzanne said. “In case anyone calls.”
Why would anyone call? Ford wondered. Suzanne still held her wineglass. She drained it and turned back to the dining room. A look passed between Suzanne and Emily before a tearful Emily ascended the stairs with Drew following after her.
Ford noticed that Emily hadn’t asked about Liam’s accident. “Where was he found?” he asked as the others left him and the sheriff alone.
“Up Maple Creek. When did you get to town?”
“Rozalyn followed me in from Oakridge.”
“Then you saw the jumper at Lost Creek Falls?” The sheriff sounded surprised.
Ford shook his head. “I’m not sure there was a jumper. I think she might have…imagined it. She’s been pretty upset about her father—and with good reason it seems. Who found him?”
“Some Bigfoot hunters. They dropped him at the hospital.” The sheriff glanced up the stairs as Rozalyn hurried down.
Ford reached for the keys dangling from her fingers. “I’m driving you.”
“I’d like to have a few words with you at the hospital,” the sheriff was saying to Ford.
“No problem.” He took the keys from Rozalyn before she could protest. The sheriff raised a brow, probably expecting Rozalyn to put up a fight. “We’ll see you at the hospital, Sheriff,” Ford said.
Roz let Ford open the passenger side door of her SUV for her, then watched him hurry around to slide behind the wheel.
She leaned back against the seat, fighting panic, as she gave him the four-block directions to the Timber Falls hospital. Her father was in a coma. Mitch said he’d fallen from a cliff up Maple Creek Road and had been found by some Bigfoot hunters. Hadn’t she known something had happened to him? If only she’d come sooner. If only—
Her gaze swung to Ford, suddenly remembering what he had said. “What did you mean when you told me my father was in trouble?” she asked as they neared the hospital.
He shot her a look, then turned back to his driving. “Let’s just go to the hospital and find out what we can for now, all right?”
“No,” she said, sitting up a little straighter. “You said it was the reason you were here. Did you mean Timber Falls? Or the house?”
“There isn’t time to get into this right now. I’ll tell you everything,” he said, meeting her gaze. “After you see your father.”
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