Hazardous Homecoming. Dana Mentink

back. Joining your brother?”

      “Temporarily,” Cooper said.

      “Hmm. Bad time for both you boys to be back in town,” Pickford said, fingers poised above the keys.

      “Why shouldn’t we be here?” Cooper said. “It’s our property, and Peter hasn’t done anything. He’s got a right to live here and so do I.”

      Pickford shrugged. “Just thinking the climate might not be good, since the Alice Walker case just officially reopened.”

      Cooper was about to tell the sheriff exactly what he thought of the climate, when a silver-haired, mustached man entered. Perry Hudson. Ruby’s father was probably nearing sixty, if Cooper remembered correctly, but his shoulders were still square and his body trim and athletic.

      Pickford’s mouth tightened.

      “Mick told me over the phone,” Perry said, rushing to Ruby and assuring himself that she was unharmed. He raised an eyebrow at Cooper. “I think I owe you a thank-you for helping my daughter.”

      Cooper allowed his hand to be shaken. “Surprised you started with a thank-you.”

      Perry frowned. “I know we’ve got bad blood between us...”

      “Because you tried to prove my brother kidnapped Alice Walker.” Ruby flinched at his tone, but he didn’t let it slow him. No more kid gloves. If Peter was going to claim any chance at a future, it was up to Cooper to lay the groundwork. Cooper’s “live and let live” philosophy would not serve here.

      “I investigated your brother,” Perry said calmly, “because he was the likeliest suspect and he was in the proximity at the time.”

      “Which doesn’t make him guilty. And your son Mick was close in age to Peter and in the same proximity.”

      Mick glared and started to answer, but Pickford cut him off.

      “That’s why we checked him out, too, as well as investigating Lester Walker,” Pickford said. “Can we get on with the matter at hand? My wife has a pot of chili on the stove.” He flicked a glance at Perry. “You know how good Molly’s chili is, don’t you Perry?”

      Perry stared at him. “Yes.”

      Cooper didn’t understand the subtext of whatever was going on between Pickford and Ruby’s father. Hostility? Distrust?

      Ruby detailed the encounter with Josephine Walker. “So we have to get that locket.”

      “All right,” Pickford said, grabbing his radio. “Let’s just go do that.”

      They did not make it farther than the front counter before the door banged open. Josephine clumped in, a shocked silence burying them all for a moment at her wild-eyed stare, her dress bunched and knotted, dirty hem dragging on the floor.

      Pickford recovered first. “Mrs. Walker. Come into my office. We were just making plans to go see you.” They returned to the back and he continued. “Ruby said you’ve got a locket. I’ll need to have a look at that.”

      “He’s coming back,” she said. “He called me a few minutes ago to tell me so.”

      “Who has, ma’am?”

      “My husband.”

      Cooper tried not to look disbelieving, but he knew Lester Walker had taken to acting strangely, convinced that the Hudsons or Peter knew something they weren’t telling about his daughter’s abduction. Days after Alice’s abduction, he’d disappeared, too, though the police had no evidence to suggest he’d done anything to his daughter and had not even been in the county when she was snatched. Indeed the man was grief stricken, according to accounts that Cooper had heard. Lester hadn’t been seen since, that Cooper was aware of.

      Pickford fiddled with the three-hole punch on his desk. “Your husband is coming back, ma’am? Mr. Walker?”

      She nodded, a smile of satisfaction pulling at her thin lips. “Yes, and he’ll make sure my baby is found.” Her eyes slid to Ruby. “You’re going to pay now. For what you did.”

      “She did nothing,” Mr. Hudson said.

      “Oh, yes,” Mrs. Walker singsonged. “Oh, yes.”

      Cooper saw delicate patches of color deepen on Ruby’s cheeks.

      “I did not hurt Alice, Mrs. Walker. She was my friend, and I’ve grieved every day since she disappeared.” Her voice hitched, and she cleared her throat. “You need to give Sheriff Pickford the locket so he can have it DNA tested.”

      She glared at Ruby. “It’s at home. My husband is on his way to get it. He told me when he called.”

      The chief held up his hands to soothe her. “All right. We’ll just call your husband to talk it over. Okay? What’s the number?”

      “He doesn’t have a cell phone. He called from a pay phone on his way to our house. He must have felt deep in his soul what was happening with our Alice, and he called just at the time we needed him the most. I told him about the locket.”

      “We’ll go talk to him in person, then, at your place.”

      “That’s a good idea, before anything happens to the locket.” Ruby strode to the door.

      “Not to be rude at all, Ruby, but this is a police matter now. You’re not to tag along.” The sheriff shot a glance at Perry. “Or any of the clan.”

      Cooper knew he was included in the directive, as well. Stay away. Let the police handle it. The last time he’d trusted the police to handle things, his brother had been brought in for questioning, turned into the object of hatred by the whole town. He wasn’t going to intrude on an investigation, but he was not going to be the mild-mannered bystander either.

      Ruby’s expression was a blend of anger, determination and exasperation. He was struck by the fact that as much as he did not have fond feelings for the Hudson family, he could not deny that it was hard to tear his eyes away from Ruby. Her hair was the kind of rusty red found in autumn leaves, skin creamy and porcelain, but she was certainly not fragile. Ruby was dainty and graceful, but he knew there was steel running along her spine.

      “He’s right. Let’s take you to the doctor and see to your injury,” Perry said.

      Pickford focused again on Josephine. “You’re very fortunate that Ruby wasn’t injured badly and isn’t pressing charges, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take action if I believe you’re intending to hurt someone. I’m going to insist you go speak to one of the doctors at the hospital right now.”

      Josephine frowned.

      “Let’s have you all wait outside for just a minute,” Pickford said. “I need to make a phone call.”

      Mick was already heading to the door, looking relieved that he’d been sprung from the tiny, crowded room.

      Perry thanked the sheriff and nodded to Cooper before he exited, as well.

      Considering the Hudsons were low on the list of his favorite families, he could not explain why he took a step toward Ruby when Josephine walked by. Maybe it was the memory of Josephine standing over her, triumphant. Or the feeling that something about Lester’s well-timed phone call felt wrong, like the scream of a chain saw cutting through a silent forest morning.

      Josephine surged close and Ruby backed into Cooper’s steadying arms.

      “Now you’re going to get what’s coming to you,” Josephine said, her breath stirring the hair around Ruby’s face, one side of her mouth drooping slightly. “You’ll be punished, just like you should have been all those years ago for hiding the truth about what happened to my girl.”

      Ruby’s cheeks flushed and went pale as milk. He tightened his sideways embrace. “Accusations can ruin people, Mrs. Walker.”

      She peered at him. “Peter