Chapters (110)
- Cover
- ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- PROLOGUE
- I
- II
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- PART TWO
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- PART FOUR
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- EIGHTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Excerpt from LOST RIVER
- LITTLE PARIS
- DILLON
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
Her papa had already taught her how important keeping secrets could be.
That night, after Mel shook free from Garrison’s agents, she went and bought bandages and pain pills and everything else Lucas had asked for, as well as new clothes for the girl and the boy. For the next five days, she brought them anything she thought they might need and, with Javy translating, learned their entire story.
Everything that had happened to them, and how they had come to the Big Bend.
She cried more than once, holding both their hands, but cried hardest when the girl asked to hold Jack.
—
JAVY AND LUCAS spent one whole afternoon pulling the police equipment out of the Charger—after their story, and talking with Chris and Garrison, Mel had a damn good idea where it had come from—and they buried it all out on Javy’s property. Javy then used a sledgehammer to put some fresh dents and scratches in the car, and to finish the disguise, splashed some green paint along the wheel wells and the trunk.
He also found a new license plate, but Mel never asked him where he got it.
—
WHAT SHE WAS DOING was wrong, in the strictest sense of the word.
She was, after all, withholding information about a huge federal investigation, helping to hide two illegal aliens, and, in every way but saying the words out loud, lying to Chris. But Mel remembered what she told him only a few days before Fox Uno and America had descended upon their home:
There isn’t any real right or wrong here, only what you have to do.
And right or wrong, this thing with the young couple was something she had to do. If she and Chris were going to live with his decision about Fox Uno, then she was going to live with her decision about Chayo and Neva.
She was fine with that.
—
SHE SETTLED BACK INTO THE SEAT, as Chris continued to talk. She let the wind through the open window hit her face.
It felt good.
Before Chris had brought her out to the house, she’d asked Javy how Chayo and Neva were doing today, and he’d pretended not to know who or what she was talking about.
But he’d said it with a smile.
Neva had talked about having relatives around Murfee, but she’d also talked about Houston . . . Dallas . . . the whole wide world.
The last time Mel had seen Neva and Chayo, they’d been sitting on the bunkhouse bed together, holding hands, sharing secrets of their own.
The future.
And if that was the last time she was ever going to see them, that’s how she wanted to remember them.
She reached over and grabbed Chris’s hand from the steering wheel.
There were no good ways to lie, but some secrets had to be okay.
V
Garrison leaned down next to her, close, and told her everything.