Treacherous Trails by Dana Mentink

Author:Dana Mentink
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-12-07T19:36:35+00:00

FIFTEEN

Ella was tickled at the look of pride that shone on both Evie and Betsy’s faces. Betsy might not fully understand what was going on, but she knew she had helped and that was enough.

“We’ve been doing some digging on Bruce Reed,” Evie said as Tom came in to listen, holding a cup of steaming coffee and settling next to Owen.

“Good to have you home, son,” he said.

Owen closed his eyes and exhaled. “Good to be here, sir.”

Pain grooved lines into Owen’s forehead and she wished again she had not drawn him into this dangerous cat-and-mouse game with Bruce Reed. If Reed had sent Tony to retrieve the thermos at all costs, she felt certain there was nothing he would not stoop to. There had been no word from Larraby. Tony had not been apprehended. Tony and Reed were two dangerous threats, in addition to the trial, which loomed ever closer. The sound of the jail cell door clanging shut echoed in her mind. Fear clogged her throat.

Evie continued. “I’m not the greatest investigator, of course.”

“You always managed to sniff out the trouble I got into no matter how much I covered my tracks,” Keegan said.

Owen raised an eyebrow. “She just followed the smoldering trail of destruction.”

When the chuckles subsided, Evie continued. “There wasn’t much finesse involved in our cyber sleuthing, I’m afraid. We just searched Bruce Reed’s name and read every tidbit we could get our hands on about the man. It is positively scary how much information is out there, cluttering up the internet.”

Ella’s stomach went tight, desperate to know what Evie had discovered.

“We stumbled across a few facts. First off, his real name is Dale Reed—Bruce is his middle name. He was raised on a farm in Ohio, which apparently he detested according to a biography I’ll get to in a minute. There’s a reference here and there, he left Ohio and eventually worked as a bus driver and he was involved in an altercation with a passenger over which he lost his job. Apparently, the passenger made some crack about him being short and Bruce threw him down the steps and onto the sidewalk.”

Keegan snorted. “Definite anger management issues.”

Evie nodded. “But here’s the juiciest bit.”

Ella found her hands were clasped tight together. She forced herself to relax.

“I read this part aloud a couple of times to Betsy and showed her the picture. She indicated it was the same man who entered your house.”

The feeling of his cold fingers pressing on her throat made Ella swallow hard. So easy.

“It’s a biography included in a newsletter. It indicated that Reed started working at a stable in Colorado, first as a groomsman and then teaching riding lessons. There’s a little paragraph bio about all the instructors and the pictures too. Here’s what it says. ‘Bruce Reed was one of eight children raised on a goat farm in Ohio, but tending to livestock left him wanting more. He moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he met and married Violet Wilder, a fellow horse lover.

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