“If he had answered, I would’ve asked where he was and what was going on. But I figured he wouldn’t answer me because he knew I would give him away. I would give him up. He knew I would do the right thing, and he didn’t want to put me in such a tough position.”

“Would you have given him up? You once said he saved your life. So that means you owed him.”

Another car steered along the road, and Terra watched as it passed. She pulled back onto the road and kept driving—to where, she wasn’t sure.

“Of course I would have done the right thing, Terra. How can you even ask me that? And, yes, he saved my life. And he’d come to see me here. Not only that, but he said he could help with my new venture. He wanted to be part of it. To invest in it. Said he had come into some money.”

“This is what you should be telling the other investigators. I shouldn’t have come to the ranch. I don’t want to jeopardize the investigation or—”

He held up his hand to stop her. “You’re going to want to hear this. He wanted to invest in Gramps’s campaign.”

The discussion in Gramps’s office during the party.

“And you know this because he told you? Or Gramps told you?”

“Because I overheard the conversation. And I overheard another conversation but thought I had misunderstood. Now I’m not so sure.”

“Tell me.”

“I think Gramps wanted someone to break into that safe. That he planned for us to be gone.”

Terra kept driving, but she wanted to park again. “How can that be, Owen? This is all . . . I don’t believe it’s what it looks like.”

“You don’t want to believe it.”

“You’re right. I don’t.” She tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “Just what do you think was in the safe?”

Owen stared at his hands. “I don’t know. All I know was that I was at the stables this morning, early. I couldn’t sleep last night. When I saw your vehicle, I made my way over. I knew we needed to talk away from the house. What do you make of it?”

“I need time to figure it out.” She needed time and access. Knowledge she couldn’t get if she was no longer in on at least her part of the investigation.

“What are we going to do?”

“You’re going to keep doing what you do, Owen. There’s no reason why this has to ruin your plans for the future. You aren’t involved in anything criminal. You keep working with the horses and your connections to build your team. I believe in your project, and I believe in you.”

“And you? What are you going to do?”