Page 113 of Sheriff's City Girl

“Okay,” I said, taking another breath. “I guess we’ll see if there’s any answers. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Perfect. See you and your mom for dinner later,” she added with a laugh before hanging up. I waited for Jess’s familiar face in the sea of teenagers, and it only took a few minutes before she showed up.

Jess trotted up to the passenger side of the car, and pulled at the door handle, giving me a sheepish look as she climbed into the passenger seat. “Did you read them?”

“Read the texts from Cody?”

“Ugh,” she facepalmed herself. “I just wanted to know if he was okay. I know that I shouldn’t have reached out, and I know that he’s not even going to get them because he’s in jail.”

I reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I didn’t read your texts,” I said softly. “I just read the couple from him that popped up on the screen when I found the phone. And I think you should read them. He said that he didn’t do it, but he knows who did—but to read all of his messages.”

Jess’s eyes went wide. “Well, what did they say?”

“I don’t know,” I handed her the phone. “I’m not going through your messages. I didn’t think that was the right thing to do. I figured that maybe you should read them and see what they say.”

She nodded, a surprised look on her face. “Thanks for not going through my phone.”

“You’re welcome,” I chuckled. “Now, read those messages.”

“Okay, okay,” she slid the screen open to the messages, her mouth immediately dropping open. “We need to find Dad.”

“Why?” I demanded, my heart racing. “What is it?”

“He didn’t do it,” Jess turned to me. “He didn’t have anything to do with the fire or the cattle rustling, but the night of the fire, he found out who did…”

“And who is it?” I nearly burst with anticipation, throwing my hands into the air.

“It was Jackson.”

I shook my head. “No… No, there’s no way. There’s no way that happened.”

“He says that Jackson was trying to get revenge on Lucas for family reasons? That makes no sense,” she added, shaking her head. “But either way, we have to find Dad. Maybe he just heard something wrong.”

I nodded, though something in my gut told me something was very, very wrong. “I’ll call him and see where they are.” I clumsily clicked on Mason’s number and held the phone to my ear, my heart pounding.

“Hey, honey, how’s the day going with your mom?” Mason’s voice sounded cheery, and I could hear the sound of people talking in the background.

“It’s going well, but I was hoping to come and talk to you,” I said, keeping my tone as calm as possible.

“Okay… Well, I’m at the café right now. Sarah’s doing a great job of running things. I think she’ll do fine when you go on maternity leave.”

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll be there soon. Love you,” I said quickly, hanging up the phone and letting out a sharp breath. “If it’s my guess, I bet he’s eating lunch with Jackson right now.”

“Great,” Jess muttered, her face mirroring the same worry I was feeling. “This is going to be interesting.”

And just then, my phone rang…

It was Lucas.

Chapter Fifty

Mason

“That was weird,” I glanced down at my phone as Emma had hung up suddenly.

“What’s weird?” Jackson chuckled, shaking his head. “You just not used to someone checking in on you still?”

“Ha ha,” I rolled my eyes at him. “No, it was just weird that she was asking where I was, and then told me that she’d be here soon. She almost sounded worried or something.”

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