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“Aren’t you just the sweetest thing?” Violet was all smiles for her husband.

The mention of horses had caught Mattie’s attention. “Were you out riding today, Mr. Carter?”

“Sure was. I couldn’t wait to get back in the saddle. It’s been years since I’ve had a good horse.”

“Where did you ride?”

“I went out east of town in those open meadows where the creek runs through. There’s some good fishing in Timber Creek.”

Mattie nodded agreement. “This is a nice business you have here. Will you be working behind the counter, too?”

“Maybe on occasion, but I’m mostly just the handyman.” He looked at his wife, returning her smile.

Violet cuddled up to him, taking hold of his upper arm and squeezing it to her bosom. “And I do appreciate my strong-armed carpenter. He did all the work inside here, including building this counter for me.”

To Mattie, the woman’s theatrics were a little over the top, but her husband seemed to be eating it up, gazing at her with nothing short of adoration.

“Anything to make you happy, my dear,” he said. “I’d better get this done, so we can go home for the evening. Are you about ready to close up shop?”

“I might as well. All the kids have headed home, everyone but Riley. And Deputy Cobb is taking her home now, too.”

John looked at Mattie. “Your daughter?”

“My friend,” she said, glancing at Riley. The girl seemed focused on rubbing away a smudge on the countertop.

“I thought you looked too young for a daughter her age.”

Mattie shrugged. “Moms and daughters come in all ages.”

“Riley’s mom died several months ago,” Violet said, her words casting a shadow across the girl’s face.

“I’m sorry to hear that, young lady,” John said, pausing for a moment. “Well, you’re welcome in here anytime. Violet will look after you. She loves kids.”

Red blossomed on Riley’s cheeks, and she murmured something that could be taken for a thank you.

Mattie decided to end the girl’s discomfort by ending the conversation. “We’d better be going. It’s nice to meet you both.”

They said their goodbyes and went out to the car. Robo scrambled to the front of the cage to greet them.

“Hey, Robo,” Riley said, reaching through the steel mesh to pet him. “How ya doin’?”

He answered by leaning in for an ear scratch.

“What do you think of this place?” Mattie asked, truly wanting Riley’s opinion.

“It’s fun. After the other kids left, Violet let me play one of the games for free.”

“That was nice of her.” Mattie thought the couple had been almost too sweet, but otherwise, the ice cream parlor had felt like any mom-and-pop establishment you might run across in any small town. “Where’s your dad?”

“I don’t know. I thought he’d be home by now, but he hasn’t answered my text.”

“Do you want dinner?” Riley seemed to be a bottomless pit, and Mattie didn’t want to go home alone tonight.

“Sure!”

“Let’s swing by the Pizza Palace and grab something. I want to tell you about a lady named Teresa Lovato who might have an after-school job for you. And if you’re interested, I could take you by after dinner to meet her.”

“All right. But Violet said she might have a job for me.”

“That’s great. Maybe you could find a way to do both.”

Looking satisfied, Riley leaned back into her seat.

Mattie decided she would tell Mama T about Willie’s death tonight, though she would spare her the details. She couldn’t bear the thought of bringing that kind of horror into the good woman’s world.

* * *

By the time Mattie drove up to park in front of her yard, her house was as dark as her spirits. She twisted the key to turn off her vehicle, reclined her seat slightly, and settled in, listening to the clicks coming from the front end as the engine cooled. She couldn’t bear entering her empty house, and she needed a few minutes.

The evening had held one bright spot—the time she’d spent in Mama T’s upstairs dormer room playing a board game with Riley and the kids. Afterwards, Riley had suggested that she read the kids a bedtime story, and Mattie sneaked away to find her foster mother downstairs in the kitchen. She wanted to tell Mama T about Willie before she heard about it on the Timber Creek grapevine.

At first her foster mother had been stunned by the news. “He can’t be dead. You were going to see each other in just a few weeks.”

Then she’d wept softly while Mattie fought to remain dry-eyed. She’d been afraid that if she broke down, she wouldn’t be able to stop crying, and she still had to drive Riley home. Upon their departure, Mama had once again reminded Mattie to come over to meet Doreen the next day.

Mattie rubbed the knots at the base of her neck. It seemed to mean a great deal to Mama T for her two foster daughters to meet, so she needed to try to get back to town early enough to make it happen.

Robo came to the front of his compartment and rattled the gate with his nose. He must’ve been wondering why they were sitting here doing nothing. She popped open the latch, and he jumped through to stand on the passenger seat, training his gaze on the front porch, his next destination.

Mattie stroked the soft fur between his ears. From inside her chest pocket, her cell phone signaled an incoming text, and she took it out to check. The message was from Cole, asking her to call as soon as she could—it didn’t matter what time.

He’d sent three texts and had made one missed phone call, but she couldn’t bring herself to dial him. She felt emotionally and physically exhausted and the last thing she wanted to do tonight was blubber out her misery on the phone. She sent a text that said she was tied up in a meeting, and she would call him in the morning.

Robo pushed his nose under her arm and jiggled it, and then stared at her when she began stroking his fur again.

“You want me to pay attention to you, huh?” Mattie put her face against his and hugged him close. “Let’s go inside and get ready for bed.”

Tomorrow will be a big day, she thought as she exited her vehicle, Robo bailing out behind her. We’ve got to find something that will lead us to Willie’s killer.

Using the last bit of energy she had left, she climbed the porch steps and used her key to let herself into her dark and lonely home.

FIFTEEN

Tuesday

Mattie joined Sheriff McCoy at the front table in the briefing room, while Robo settled on the floor underneath. Scheduled to observe Willie’s autopsy, Stella had left for Denver before dawn. Brody and Agent Lawson were still up at the gravesite.

The sheriff was pouring coffee from an insulated carafe. “Coffee, Deputy?”

Mattie reached for the cup he was handing her. “Have you heard from Brody this morning?”

“He called in at six. They plan to excavate one of the depressions that you spotted when you were on the ridge. Their radar revealed dense objects, some elongated, some round. Lawson suspects the presence of skeletonized remains.”

“In just the one spot?”

“In all three actually.”

That hit Mattie hard. What were they dealing with here?

“They’ll work on the one where the images appear closer to the surface. They’ll know what they’ve got sometime today,” McCoy said.

“I want to take Robo and search that area for anything that could be evidence.”

“Garrett Hartman is on call to transport today. Cole can’t manage another day off.”