eyes twinkling, and patted the waist of her jeans. “I keep mine on an empty chamber, for safety. Staying alert is important for old ladies who live alone, particularly when there’s so much trouble in town. Besides, I have your girl to think of.”
“Why do you think I trust you with Lily?” Ryder asked, returning her smile. “Anybody who was an MP is bound to be a good, safe guard.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“You never forget,” he countered. “It’s like riding a bicycle. The programming sticks in your mind.”
“And muscle memory.” Opal’s grin spread. “Wanna see me fieldstrip a .45 auto blindfolded?”
“Maybe later.” Ryder eyed his child. “I promised the princess some ice cream.”
“You spoil her.”
“And love every minute of it,” he said.
That made Opal chuckle. “Wait until she’s a teenager, and then tell me you feel the same way.”
He sobered. “I’m not in any hurry.”
Her touch on his arm was gentle, motherly. “You should think about a mama for her, you know. Every girl needs a mother, particularly as she gets older.”
Ryder chose to turn the serious moment into a joke and arched an eyebrow. “Are you applying for the job?”
“Hah! I sure would if I was about thirty years younger. Of course, if you like your ladies real mature...” Opal patted her short cropped hair with one hand and rested the other on her hip.
“I’ll keep you in mind,” Ryder promised. “I know you can cook.”
“Yup. And I shoot straight, too.”
“Yeah.” His eyes were on Lily. “I just wish this was a peaceful little town again. Even after losing Melanie it seemed relatively safe here. Everybody thought her murder was an isolated incident for a long time.”
Opal sighed. “I know what you mean. How were we to know those other two fellas were victims, too? How’d that Carrie person choose ’em in the first place?”
“Because they reminded her of me,” he said quietly. “I told you she killed Melanie out of jealousy. After that, she apparently fixated on a rookie officer who had light-colored hair like mine. When Mike Riverton didn’t ask her for a date to the Police Dance two years ago she made his death look like an accident by pushing him down stairs. The following year, Brian Miller ignored her too and ended up dying in a fire when his house went up in flames.”
“You never told me all that before.”
Ryder nodded. “We held back details about the case and Carrie’s motive to keep from causing a panic. Besides, Veronica Earnshaw didn’t fit the victim profile.”
Staring at him earnestly, the older woman said, “No, but Carrie might have thought you were interested in her.”
“We can’t rule it out,” Ryder told her. “That’s a big reason why I don’t dare show favoritism to any woman. Not until Carrie’s caught and jailed.”
“Meaning, no dating.” Opal turned to gaze fondly at Lily. “That’s too bad.”
“It’s more than just dating. It’s what goes on at work, too. If Carrie even imagines I’m spending too much time with another woman, that woman will be in danger.” Like Sophie has been.
He shivered, then pulled himself together and banished destructive thoughts as he called out to his daughter. “Time to go, Lily. If we don’t get there before the Cactus Café closes, we’ll have to buy our ice cream at the mini mart.”
She proceeded to tell each cat goodbye before getting to her feet. “They want to go, too, Daddy.”
“Miss Opal doesn’t want them outside,” he countered.
“’Cause of the snakes, huh?”
“Right. And traffic and coyotes and all kinds of dangers. They were raised inside. This is what they know.”
“But you could protect them, Daddy. You can do anything,” Lily said, gazing up at him in adoration.
“I wish I could.” Ryder was thinking back to the night he’d been too caught up in his job to pick up his wife from town. That was the night Melanie had been ambushed.
In Ryder’s mind, no matter who had actually shot and killed her, part of the blame belonged to him. He’d be atoning for the rest of his life.
Grasping Lily’s hand and holding tight he led her to the door, then paused to peer out into the yard. Nobody, Carrie Dunleavy included, was ever going to take someone he loved from him again. Not while he still had breath in his body.
And after that? He set his jaw. He knew he should trust God in all things, even the life of his darling Lily, but he kept remembering Melanie. They had believed together that the Lord had blessed their marriage, so why had He allowed her to be taken?
An overwhelming sense of doom enveloped him. He scooped his daughter into his arms, held her tight and jogged to the patrol car. This must be the way Sophie had felt when she’d imagined a menace besides the snakes, he concluded. Instinct for self-preservation had kicked in and she’d reacted to it on a basic level.
One thing was clear. Some gut feelings were God-given and had better be heeded. To ignore them was not only foolish, it was akin to laughing in the face of his heavenly Father.
“Forgive me, Lord,” Ryder whispered as he fastened Lily in the backseat. A scripture verse popped into his head. “Lord, I believe. Help Thou my unbelief.”
No lightning bolts shot down from heaven. No angels sang. But Ryder was calmer, stronger, more self-assured as he circled to the driver’s side of the car. The Desert Valley police were going to catch whoever had been threatening Sophie, whether it turned out to be Carrie or not. As chief, he would see to it.
Only one thing took priority. The innocent little girl in the backseat. She always would.
* * *
Nervous despite her dog and reloaded pistol, Sophie had trouble sleeping. It didn’t help that Phoenix hogged the bed. She shoved him over and threw back the covers as soon as the sun began to peek over the top of the red rock horizon. Morning was usually one of her favorite times in the desert, with fresh, cooler air and pristine silence.
Today, however, she had enthusiastic company. Phoenix spun in circles at her feet and raced from the room as soon as her bare feet touched the floor. “Okay, okay. I’m coming.”
Not knowing how well he was trained, she figured it would be smart to slip some clothes on and let him out quickly. Boots didn’t exactly go with cargo shorts but she wasn’t letting her dog set foot in the backyard until she was sure there were no live snakes left.
She snapped a leash on his collar, tucked her gun into one of the pockets on the shorts and opened the back door. Except for remnants of last night’s carnage, the place looked deserted. Sophie hesitated. There was no guarantee that her front yard
