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  I had reached her in time to watch the fierce green fire die in her eyes. She was mortally wounded, but there was no revenge, hatred, or malice in her eyes. She could not focus properly on me. Her poor body had gone into convulsions. Her mouth was open, but no sound was coming from it.

  I realized there was nothing I could do for her, but offer her an escape from her terrible pain.

  I reached down and kissed her cheek, I swear her eyes swiveled and looked at me. In that moment we learned more about each other than ever before. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d shed a tear, but I couldn't stop them pouring down my eyes. We both knew in that moment what needed to be done.

  She was ready to go.

  She had crawled as far as her wounded body would allow her to, to get back to me. Now it was my turn.

  “My brave Cepti. Don’t you worry none. I’ll take care of everything. No more suffering for my beautiful girl.”

  I swallowed my pain, lifted her head, and snapped her neck quickly like it was a twig.

  Her lifeless body lay in my hands. It had been years since I’d lost anyone of value in my life, and I’d almost forgotten how that felt. Now I’d lost one of my family. The pain was indescribable. Chepi was young and so full of vigor I had even imagined she’d outlive me, and worried what would happen to her when I was gone, but she’d been cruelly robbed of her best years.

  Suddenly, the pain was too much and I roared an almighty scream of anguish. I’d dabbed the tears away and with my almost frozen crimson hand, I yanked the arrow in one clean thrust out of her chest. Her blood was already becoming solid in the freezing temperatures.

  For a second I stared at the arrow. A Tac arrow!

  I knew then this was no accidental killing. Whoever shot Chepi was a professional hunter with one of the most expensive and accurate crossbows available. Its bolt speed is so incredible that no animal in the world would have time to react before it hit. Its power was such that it would penetrate any fatty tissue and shatter any bones in its way at eighty plus yards.

  Considering it had felled a wolf, it was probably a PSE Tac Elite. My grief quickly turned to the kind of black rage that completely engulfed my senses. An owl hooted back in the spruce, a tree cracked sharply with the frost as the rest of my family members started appearing all around me. Andak, Adam, Rolak, Koa, Lobo …

  One by one they had come to pay their last respects. I heard a sound and whirled around, more animal than human. I had forgotten about her. Lara was standing in the middle of the snow holding a blanket in her shaking hands.

  “Kit,” she cried out, her voice filled with fear.

  “Don’t come any further,” I said. My teeth were chattering.

  Instead of turning away and going back to the house, she came forward, one arm outstretched, her feet sinking into the snow. I pulled Chepi’s still warm carcass into my lap and heaved her up as I got onto to my feet.

  Carrying the dead body of my daughter, I walked towards Lara.

  As we reached Lara, her hand connected with my arm. Instinctively and quickly she threw the blanket over my shoulders. Then we ploughed back to the house through the thick snow where I laid Chepi on the floor of my living room.

  My feet were blue and I was shivering uncontrollably.

  Lara came close to me and pressed her body to mine. I had been alone for so long. Closed off to everyone. Then this woman came, brought a sweetness I had never known and … an enemy.

  Someone who doesn’t want me to be with her.

  Thirty-five

  Lara

  We buried Chepi that morning. The air was still and bitingly cold, and I could hear the wolves milling about. Kit said wolves could smell death from an awful long distance, but I don’t know if they completely understood that Chepi was gone forever. They must have known something serious was happening though, because the mood was somber.

  Kit cried for her last night.

  He left the bed before dawn and quietly crept downstairs to sit with her. When I went down an hour later I crouched down beside him and held his face in my palms. His tears wet my hand. It was as if he lost a child.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  “Her suffering was short,” he said quietly.

  I never realized just how much he loved that wolf, but I knew how he felt. I had lost the ones I loved before, and I knew that there was not a single thing anyone could say that would have made things better for me. Only time could slowly make you forget the worst of the pain. I just held him tightly in my arms and cried for him.

  Now as I stood in the cold, still air, listening to the sound of the earth falling on poor Chepi, I didn’t feel sad. I felt fury. I knew exactly who had done this. I couldn’t tell Kit because that could escalate everything out of control. Sawyer, being the coward he was, would simply deny everything. Everyone else, except, maybe Elaine, would think I was a fantasist looking for attention.

  Who in their right mind would even believe that a handsome man, engaged to the belle of the town, would be so infatuated with a blind girl he would come out in the middle of a freezing night and kill a wolf belonging to her lover? It sounded unbelievable and crazy even to me.

  “Come on. Let’s go in,” Kit said.

  I turned towards him, my hands outstretched. “I love you, Kit.”

  He drew in a ragged breath. “I hope the day never comes that you regret you ever met me.”

  I frowned. “Why should I regret loving you? You’re a good and kind man.”

  “I hope you’ll always remember that,” he said sadly.

  “What is it, Kit?” I asked worriedly.

  He took my hand in his and placed his cold lips lightly on my cheek. “Let’s go back inside. You’re freezing.”

  “Are you hiding something from me, Kit?” My voice came out hushed and frightened, even though I was not. Not even a bit. I trusted him with my life.

  “For what it’s worth, darling, I’d rather die than lie to you, or see harm come to you. Let’s not talk of that now. It will all come out one day.”

  His hand tightened around mine and my insides churned as he began to lead me towards the house.

  Thirty-six

  Kit

  Sheriff Bradley was a man with sly eyes. You could find men like him all over America. Corrupt excuses for men, who were not interested in the truth or upholding the law. They were only interested in being the lapdogs of the richest families in their counties, going to extremes to help them maintain their wealth. In return they get to play a little power trip game called “I’m The Sheriff” for as long as possible.

  The Sheriff squinted his eyes at the bloody arrow I had placed on his table. “So no one actually threatened you?” he said. There was something challenging about his voice.

  It made my blood boil, but I controlled it. Nothing was going to bring Chepi back, but I needed to send a warning to my enemies. They had fucked with the wrong guy. “No.”

  “So it could be kids messing about with arrows.”

  “It could, but it’s not. It happened at 3.00 a.m.”

  “Could be hunters then.”

  “Wolves are protected by law. No one is allowed to hunt them down … Sheriff.”

  His glance flicked at me, then away. “I’ll investigate of course, but it’ll be hard to find someone based on an arrow. A lot of people have crossbows these days.”

  I took a step closer and watched his body make an involuntary start in fear. “It belongs to a very expensive weapon. At a guess, I’d say it was a PSE Tac Elite, but since you’ve got the arrow you don’t need me to tell you that. You can track it down easily. And once you find out that it is a $3,000 weapon, I’d start with the grand families of this fine town.”

  He sucked his teeth. “Like I said, I’ll investigate, but I don’t hold out much hope. As you’re probably aware, crossbow owners are not required to have licenses.”

  “There are tire and boot marks outside my property.”

  “I’ll get my deputy to go
on by and check the evidence.” The way he said evidence set my teeth on edge, but there was not a thing I could do about it.

  I took a step back. “You be sure to warn all your mighty friends that I don’t have very good eyesight, and if I catch anybody prowling around on my land at night, I could mistake him for a bear, shoot first, then ask questions later.”

  The Sheriff bristled impotently. “Are you threatening to shoot one of the town folk?”

  “No, I’m threatening to shoot any bear that comes onto my property.”

  “Good, because if you cause any trouble in my town I’ll haul your ass behind those bars so fast, it’ll make your head spin,” he said, jerking his head towards a door where his lockup probably was.

  The idea of the bloated worthless man hauling my ass off to his jailhouse was laughable. I smiled nastily. “If you don’t like your townspeople shot, I suggest you find my shooter before I find bears on my land.”

  Then I turned around and got out of his office.

  As I walked across the road to the pickup, I could see Lara’s white face through the windshield. She looked so lost and vulnerable that something inside me broke even more. I’d been lying to her. Soon I’d have to tell her the truth. I just hoped she’d take it better than I expected her to. I took the last few steps, opened the door, and climbed in.

  “What did he say?” she asked cautiously. She obviously already knew exactly what the good Sheriff would say.

  “He said he’d send his deputy around to look at the tracks, but he made sure I understood that nothing would come of his investigations. In his opinion too many people in this town own crossbows.”

  She frowned, then fell strangely quiet.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Will you drop me off at the library, Kit. I need to talk to Elaine.”

  “I’ll hang around for you.”

  “No, I have some chores to do as well. I’ll get Elaine to drop me off at your place later.”

  “Nah, the roads are bad. I’ll drive back into town this afternoon for you.”

  She nodded, but I could tell her mind was elsewhere. We drove to the library in silence. When I stopped the car, she turned towards me.

  Her hand reached out and grabbed mine. She held it tightly. “Take care, darling. Drive safely.”

  I got out and helped her get down. A woman in a black coat was watching us. She was frowning. I didn’t give a shit. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her deeply.

  When I raised my face, Lara smiled at me. There was something sad about her smile. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Kit.”

  “I hope you’ll always think that.”

  She frowned slightly. “Is someone staring daggers at us?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “It’s a woman in her forties in a black coat and knitted hat, isn’t it?”

  I glanced back at the biddy. If looks could kill … “Bang on target.”

  “That’s Marybeth Luther, one of the town’s busybodies. I swear she’ll make me so angry one of these days, I’m gonna tell her to stop judging me because the way to God’s heart is the same as a man’s. On your knees.”

  I smiled. I loved this woman. I think I’ve loved her from the time I saw her get out of that blue Toyota. It’s easy for people who have many distractions to scoff at the concept of love at first sight. That must be what happened to me. I took one look at this fresh, young, exciting, innocent, sweet girl and fell like a ton of bricks. Until she came I’d fooled myself into believing I needed no one.

  “Tell her anyway,” I said softly.

  “Okay, you better go. I’ll see you later.”

  “No, I’ll wait here until you go into the library.”

  She shook her head. “I need to do some grocery shopping first. Go on. Let me wave to you.”

  “I’ll see you at my house about three o’clock,” she said.

  “See you later,” I said softly.

  I left her by the side of the truck and went back in. I watched her wave until I could no longer see her in my rear view mirror.

  Thirty-seven

  Lara

  I didn’t go to the grocery store, and I didn’t have any errands to run. I shook my cane out and went back the same way we came, back to the Sheriff’s office. The pavement was icy and treacherous so I walked slowly. When I opened the door to his office, he was about to go home. He was standing by the coat rack.

  “Lara,” he said, his voice lacking any warmth at all.

  “Hello Sheriff.”

  “I was just about to leave for another meeting, but what can I do for you?”

  I walked to his desk and sat opposite his empty chair. Sighing audibly, he placed his hat down on the table, and lowered himself into his chair. “Right. Let’s hear it.”

  “The person who shot the wolf was Sawyer Bennet,” I said.

  The silence that followed was so profound that the expression you could have heard a pin drop became true.

  “Sawyer,” he repeated incredulously when he got over his deep shock. “He couldn’t hurt a fly if it was shitting on his nose.”

  “He’s not what you think he is,” I insisted.

  “Well, what is he?” he taunted.

  “He’s hidden. He’s angry, and resentful, and devious. Very devious.”

  “On what basis are you making this very serious allegation?”

  I swallowed. “Because he told me he was going to show Kit.”

  “Show Kit?” he echoed.

  “He was going to punish him,” I said impatiently. I knew he was being deliberately obtuse. He was trying to make me feel that I was being stupid or irrational.

  “Punish him for what?”

  “For being with me.”

  “Why should Sawyer Bennet care who you’re with?”

  “Because he’s in love with me.”

  Sheriff Bradley coughed politely. “Lara, are you aware that Sawyer is about to feature in the Haverbrooke’s family portrait?”

  “Yes, but he confessed to me that he’s in love with me, and he’s just marrying her for the money,” I cried. I could see that, just as I had expected, I was getting nowhere. I even sounded completely crazy to my own ears.

  The Sheriff cleared his throat. “Look, Lara. I know Sawyer is prettier than a sugar lump, and every unmarried gal this side of the river is secretly sweet on him, but don’t you think you’re carrying this too far.”

  “I’m not telling a story,” I almost shouted with frustration.

  “I’m not calling you a liar, buttercup, but is it possible that you could have misheard, or … misunderstood?”

  “I’m blind, Sheriff Bradley, not stupid.”

  “It’s my job to look out for you, but I won’t be able to protect you if you insist on practicing bein’ married to Carson, and go around making all kinds of outlandish accusations. Have you told Carson what you just told me?”

  “No.”

  “Good. I suggest you don’t. We can’t have everyone taking the law into their own hands. He’s not proper civilized, that Carson. He’s got the makings of a hothead. So you leave it to me. I’ll conduct a proper investigation into the matter.”

  “Will you talk to Sawyer?”

  “If I find any evidence to implicate him, I’ll do more than talk to him. You can be right sure of that.”

  “I want you to tell him that if he doesn’t stop coming around to Old Man’s Creek and causing trouble, I’ll call old man Haverbrooke myself.”

  At the mention of the Haverbrooke name the very air in the room changed, became colder than a frog’s behind.

  “I wouldn’t advise that course of action, Lara. Mr. Haverbrooke is a very busy man, and he doesn’t take kindly to unfounded, unproven slurs to his family name.”

  “Well, I’m not lying,” I cried hotly. “You can believe me or not, but I wanted it noted that I came here and told you that Sawyer Bennet is dangerous and needs to be stopped.”

  “My cat is more danger
ous than Sawyer. I don’t know where you got the impression that he’s dangerous, or in love with you, but he looks like a very happy soon-to-be-groom to me.”

  “I think you’ll find that he owns a crossbow.”

  “I think you should stop poking about in other people’s business.” His voice had lost that honeyed cajoling tone and was downright stern.

  “I’ll lay money that you’ll find he was there last night. You’ll see his shoe prints and his tire tracks in the snow.”

  “It’s possible he was out hunting around Old Man’s Creek, but that’s not exactly a crime,” he said calmly.

  “It’s not hunting season,” I retorted angrily.

  “It’s getting late. You better run on home, or back to Carson if that’s where you’re heading.”

  I stood up, frustrated, furious, and helpless. “You won’t do anything about what I’ve just told you, will you?”

  “I will. As soon as I get some evidence,” he said calmly. “I can’t go cautioning people on the say-so of a slip of a girl.”

  I nodded. “Fine. I will take care of this myself.”

  “Take a bit of fatherly advice from me, young lady. Stay away from Sawyer and his family. Don’t think I won’t put you behind bars just because you’re blind.”

  “Thank you for your time, Sheriff. You’ve been most helpful,” I said through clenched teeth, and stormed out of his office.

  Outside, it was snowing lightly. Light flakes fell on my face. I turned towards the high street. Jimbo, the guy from whom I bought most of my wood pieces for my art, stopped his pickup to ask if I wanted a lift home.

  “Thanks,” I said, and got into his overly hot truck, with its smell of damp dog, and the sound of windshield wipers swishing.

  “You look damn near frozen, girl.”

  “It’s cold,” I agreed.

  “It’s about to turn colder than my mother-in-law’s heart tonight,” he said.

  “Jimbo,” I said, “you hunt, don’t ya?”

  “Sure do.”

  “Do you ever hunt with Sawyer?”

  “Keen shot, he is, but I haven’t been out shooting with him ever since he got that corncob stuck up his ass, pardon my French.”