Chapter 35

35

Charlotte disappeared. She'd told Meyra that she was going to the TSP building to see what the lab needed from her. Charlotte had a determination in her eyes that Meyra thought she understood. The people who had been hurt in Texas were Charlotte's friends. Meyra wasn't stupid—she doubted her cousin would be going back to Wyoming with her. And that was okay. Meyra could fly back by herself.

Or with Brandt.

Meyra had stayed with him and his brothers. He had held her hand and pulled her close when they shared a booth seat in Charlotte's favorite diner in Finley Creek. Everyone in the restaurant was kind of quiet. She liked it there—it reminded her of her own diner in Wyoming. It even had the same kind of paneling on the walls.It smelled the same as home, too.

That was probably why Charlotte liked it.

Everyone was watching the big television in the corner. There were a lot of people in there with police uniforms on. And some of Charlotte's friends that Meyra had met before were in there. Including Zoey. She'd been shot before when Charlotte had.

Her husband was a cop, Meyra thought. She'd come over to their table and spoken with Brandt and his brothers. Asking how their family was and saying she was going to the hospital after she took her kids to a babysitter or something. Other people asked questions, too. Brandt just answered them patiently.

People liked him. It was hard to miss.

He introduced her, too. Held her hand. Like they were together.

Which she supposed they were.

She never would have flown across the country to get to him if they weren't together, after all.