are you feeling?” Asteria sat on the cot beside her.
“A little sore.” She watched Asteria out of the corner of her eye as she spoke. She had to be careful here. She couldn’t afford to upset Metwater’s biggest fan. “That was some fall.”
“What were you doing at the Prophet’s trailer?” Asteria asked. “And don’t give me that lie about counseling.”
“Why don’t you believe I went to him for counseling?” Michelle asked.
“Because you’re not the counseling type. You don’t confide in people.”
No, she didn’t. And even if she did, she wouldn’t reveal anything personal to a man like Metwater. She didn’t want him to know so much as her shoe size, in case he could find a way to use it against her. “I went there to complain,” she said. “The men in this camp are lazy bums who don’t do their share of the work. He needs to put some of them on kitchen duty, instead of making us look after the children and prepare all the meals while they sit around and wait to be fed.” She had no trouble getting into this rant, since it was one she had voiced before. The other women agreed with her, but none of them were willing to do anything about it.
Most of the tension went out of Asteria’s shoulders. “You shouldn’t bother him with something like that,” she said. “Not late at night.”
“It wasn’t that late.” She shifted Hunter to her other arm and took another drink of coffee. “Anyway, he wasn’t there.”
“If he wasn’t there, why did you go inside?”
“The door was unlocked. I only stepped into the living room and called for him. I mean, it wasn’t like I was going to go into his bedroom or anything.” She held her breath, hoping Asteria would believe her.
“So you didn’t see him at all?”
“No. I waited a few seconds, then turned and left. I must have caught my foot on the step on my way out.” The cop, Ethan, hadn’t believed that lame story for even a minute, but Asteria was buying it the way the former socialite would once have snagged a coveted designer gown in her size.
“Did you see anyone else?” Asteria asked. “Either in the motor home or on your way there?”
Someone else? That was an interesting development. “Who?” she asked.
“Did you see Sunshine?”
“Sunshine?” Starfall tried and failed to match a face to that name.
“The girl who’s been hanging around lately.”
Ah! The girl who had been shamelessly flirting with Metwater. Starfall saw where this was going now. “No, I didn’t see her,” she said. She hadn’t seen anyone but Metwater and his fist.
“I knew those Rangers were lying,” Asteria said. “They told me that when they questioned the Prophet about what had happened to you, he told them he was with Sunshine. They were just trying to upset me so that I would tell lies about the Prophet.”
If you’re sleeping with a guy, it’s probably okay to call him by his first name, Michelle thought, but she kept quiet. Asteria—the former Andi Matheson—had bought Metwater’s line about being a holy seer one hundred percent. She was his favorite follower—and also his wealthiest—and she couldn’t even see the connection between his favoritism and her money. “What kind of lies did they want you to tell?” she asked.
“That he hit you. Which is ridiculous, because you know how much he hates violence.”
Right. “I’ve heard him say several times that he hates violence,” she agreed. Though he had had no trouble trying to beat her brains in last night. She still wasn’t sure how she had managed to break free and run for the door. If the two Rangers hadn’t been standing right outside, would he have pursued her and maybe even killed her?
She set down her coffee mug, suddenly sick to her stomach. “I need to take a shower,” she said. Some of the men had built a shower shack at the other end of camp. Water came from a plastic barrel that sat on top of the shack. The sun heated the water, and the plastic showerhead had an on-off switch that allowed the person showering to control the flow. It wasn’t the Ritz, but it wasn’t bad.
“Do you want me to watch Hunter while you do that?” Asteria asked.
“That’s okay. I’ll take him in with me.” Hunter liked to sit on the floor and play in the puddles that collected around her feet. Until she was sure she was safe, she wasn’t going to let the baby out of her sight.
She finished the coffee, then collected a towel, soap and shampoo, and picked up Hunter. “Let’s go take a shower, buddy,” she said, bouncing him on her hip. He giggled, dimples forming on either side of his mouth. Smiling in return, she headed toward the shower shack.
She had just turned onto the path to the shower when Daniel Metwater stepped out in front of her. She stumbled to a halt, heart racing, searching for a way out. But the woods grew close to the path on either side and Metwater blocked the way forward. She could turn and run, but he might be able to catch her.
She stood, frozen, as he approached and put a hand on her shoulder. “I heard you had a bad fall,” he said, gaze focused on her bruises. “Are you all right?”
The absurdity of his words, and the false concern in his voice, shocked her out of her fear. She stumbled back, wrenching away from him. “No, I am not all right.” She checked to make sure no one was close enough to overhear them. “And I didn’t fall. You and I both know it.”
“As long as no one else knows.” He wrapped his hand around Hunter’s arm. Now if she tried to pull away, the baby would be hurt. “I meant what I told you,” he said. “If you want Hunter to stay safe, you won’t say a word about this—or about that locket—to anyone.”
She wanted to spit in his face—to tell him that she was going to expose his brother as a murderer and him as a fraud. But she couldn’t do that. She had to protect her son, and find a way to keep them both safe until she could get the proof she needed. “I know how to keep my mouth shut,” she said. “I haven’t told anyone about what I know, and I’ve been here for months.”
“Make sure you don’t.”
She left, wanting to run but forcing herself to walk. She could feel his gaze boring into her back all the way to the shower shack, and when she reached the shack and glanced back, he was still watching, the hatred in his expression making her tremble all the way to her toes.
* * *
SUNSHINE HARTFORD VIBRATED like a terrified rabbit. Her left leg bounced and her upper lip twitched as she stared, wide-eyed, at the trio of officers gathered around her at Ranger Brigade Headquarters. Ethan and Agent Carmen Redhorse had picked her up at her apartment in Montrose and brought her in for questioning, thinking if they could rattle her a little she would be more likely to confess the truth.
But Ethan hadn’t intended to frighten her so badly she couldn’t speak. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Miss Hartford,” he tried to reassure her. “You haven’t done anything wrong. We only want your help in drawing a clear picture of what happened last night at Daniel Metwater’s motor home.”
“A
