Easy Ride by Suzanne Ruby

Author:Suzanne Ruby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-08-04T16:00:00+00:00

9

KIRBY STOOD AT the threshold of Kelly Farms, at Todd Kelly’s invitation. She wasn’t so sure she wanted to see this woman-child who had accused Adam of such a terrible thing. Yet, this was one threshold she needed to cross to get to the truth.

Madison’s own brother had admitted that his little sister possessed quite a propensity for telling lies of all shapes and sizes, without compunction. That she had more emotional problems than one little girl should have to shoulder, and that he’d done what he thought necessary to protect her. Now, he insisted Kirby hear Madison’s admission for herself.

“Straight from the horse’s mouth,” he had said over the phone. “Let’s get this out in the open, undo the damage to that young man’s reputation if we possibly can, and give everyone’s wounds a fighting chance to heal.”

She knocked on the only front door she could find and was greeted by a nice-looking young man clad in a flannel button-down, faded working jeans and cowboy boots. Clint Eastwood, circa 1956, but without the celebrity shine.

“Come on in, Ms. Montgomery. Have a seat.” He pointed to a hickory ladder-back chair facing a matching desk.

The place smelled of tobacco and burned coffee and saddles.

He eased into the distressed leather executive chair on the other side, picked up the phone receiver and punched in some numbers.

“Madison. Come see me in the office, sweetheart. What? Yes, she’s here.”

He hung up the phone and exhaled a long sigh. “She doesn’t like to meet new people. And I’m sorry to make you come all this way. Your coworker never responded to my phone calls, some ten months ago. I guess they finally passed the message along to you.”

Kirby blinked. “You tried to call our station?”

“Yep. I called that Seth Wainwright character directly. Twice. Got his voice mail both times. He never returned my call.”

That explained a lot. If presented with a retraction from the accuser, Seth would have to admit he was wrong in airing the story and endure the subsequent hand slap. So he sacrificed Adam’s career and reputation by letting his initial report stand. No wonder Adam didn’t care for reporters.

Just as she started to regret how she’d canceled on him, a soft knock on the door jolted her from her thoughts.

A young, gangly teenager with glasses and braces and long, stringy blond hair entered the room but parked herself near the door.

“Madison, this is Ms. Montgomery.”

Kirby held out her hand for the girl to shake, but Madison stared at her own feet instead.

“Madison, I want you to tell this nice lady what happened at Becker Farms last year between you and Mr. Drake.”

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” Madison said without looking up.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Todd said. “You aren’t being punished. We talked about this less than an hour ago, remember? We gotta make it right, and Ms. Montgomery might be able to help us do that.”

Madison seemed to consider his words while Kirby held her breath.

“Nothin’ happened. Mr. Drake never did nothin’ to me,” Madison finally offered.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.