Chapter 8

8

Chantal wasn’t going to let what had happened keep her from loving the ranch that had been in her family for generations. She wasn’t going to give the woman’s killer that satisfaction.

It still took three days before she was ready to venture out of her family home.

She was going to go see Genny. She was worried about her friend, for one thing. Someone at the hospital had been causing trouble for Genny and their friend Aubrey. Aubrey and Genny were trying to figure out how to deal with her.

It was Mandy, of course. Nurse practitioner Amanda Kirby.

Gene’s ex-girlfriend, who had hated Chantal forever.

Chantal had been two years behind Mandy in high school. Chantal had never really understood the other woman’s animosity. She’d never even interacted with Mandy that much back then. But Mandy had enjoyed bullying her.

Bullying Chantal, Genny, Giavonna... until Giavonna had clocked her one, anyway. That had been fun to watch. Giavonna had grown up with five older brothers—she’d known how to throw a punch. Giavonna had made it count, too.

When Mandy had been dating Gene, she’d turned all sweetness and light with Gene’s sisters.

Giavonna, Greer, and Genny hadn’t bought it for a single moment.

After everything with Gene, Mandy had been even more horrible to Genny. Now Mandy was turning her putrid self in Aubrey’s direction. It burned Chantal to even think about it. Aubrey was very reserved and was one of the kindest women Chantal had ever known. She didn’t deserve this at all.

Nasty bullies like Mandy mattered very little in the grander scheme of things. But if the woman kept up her ugliness, she could make it hard for Aubrey at the hospital. Chantal was going to have to talk to Charlie, see what the stalking laws at work actually were. Maybe her older brother could help. If nothing else, he might have some ideas on how they could deal with her.

She had no idea what Gene had seen in a woman like that. Mandy was a pit viper, spreading poison everywhere.

Why did people have to be like that? Cruel?

She crested the hill. She’d deliberately taken the longer path to Genny’s. She wasn’t going to the dead woman’s hill ever again.

At least not any time soon.

Sometimes she was convinced ghosts lived in the small hills around Value, Texas.

Or in the caverns beneath.

She shuddered, imagining. A friend she’d known for several years had been kept captive in one of those caverns, a former mine shaft, a few years ago.

That was a stain the town would never be able to erase.

Thankfully, Bailey had survived. She was now married to the sheriff. He was a nice man. They had a beautiful baby boy, too. Chantal’s mother babysat him occasionally. She’d known his grandmother before she’d died, too.

Chantal was going to think of positive things.

Of how beautiful life in Value could be. Wonderful things like her nieces and nephew, like the fact that Genny’s oldest brother’s wife was pregnant again. It was their fifth—and George had had a vasectomy eleven months ago after a pregnancy loss had left Ronnie with some complications. The family was laughing and happy about the new baby, even though there were a few problems with the pregnancy now.

Calvin, Gene’s son, had drawn Chantal a picture of her rabbits. He wanted Chantal to come get it today. To see him and his Aunt Genny. Chantal was a woman on a mission.

Genny helped with Calvin every day. Chantal adored the little boy, too.

There was love.

Happy things.

She wasn’t going to think about a dead woman buried in her father’s field.

Chantal made it to the top of the hill.

She just kept walking.

She was halfway to the last fence on her father’s property when a large man appeared out of nowhere.

Behind the boulders she, Genny, and Giavonna used to climb all the time.

Chantal screamed. This wasn’t one of the hands for the Hillers. She was sure of it.

She tried to run. Chantal fell, her hands scraped against the hard Texas ground. She got back to her feet. Tried to get away.

But there was no escape.

Another man came out from behind the trees.

Chantal screamed one more time before the larger of the two men knocked her to the ground.