Page 28 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

To do what her father had asked?

To find her mother?

To find the answers to questions she’d been asking all her life?

She closed her eyes and prayed. Most of her days began with prayer and Bible reading. Not that she hadn’t done a lot of both the night before when she’d feared the stranger outside, but having missed her time with God that morning, she felt off her game.I need You, Lord. Give me wisdom.

Am I being foolish?

Am I like my mother? Am I crazy?

She’d spent years praying she wasn’t like her mother, watching for signs of her own insanity. Was this one?

But God’s peace settled into her heart. God had been with her throughout this journey, and He was with her now.

She opened her eyes to find Garrett watching her closely.

“It is worth the risk. I know that doesn’t make sense to you, and I can’t explain it.”

She expected him to ask her what she was up to, what she hoped to gain by staying there. Maybe she should tell him,but she wasn’t ready to share her plans. Fortunately, he only nodded.

Aspen liked that he didn’t pry. “I’m not crazy,” she reiterated. “I don’t want to stay here without some protection. Will you help me?”

For the first time since he’d stood on her front porch with two cups of coffee, he gave her a genuine smile. “What’d you have in mind?”

“An alarm system, for one. But without a landline?—”

“As it happens,” Garrett said, “I remembered last night that you don’t have cell service. You can cancel the appointment, but?—”

“Wait…appointment?”

“They’re going to install phones. I made some assumptions about what you’d want.” He shifted in his chair, seeming nervous. “I should’ve asked you, but I didn’t want to come back that late, and if we hadn’t called until today, they probably wouldn’t get out here until tomorrow—or even Monday. I know a guy at the phone company, old friend from school. I did a little cajoling, and he’s gonna come out around four. Along with the landline, I got you their best internet service—the price difference between that and the next one down is negligible. And TV service. You won’t get any reception up here without it. You can change or eliminate anything, but my friend told me to order everything so the tech would have the equipment in his truck, whatever you decide.” Garrett took a piece of paper from his breast pocket and slid it across the table. “You can call from town if you want to change the appointment.”

A phone, internet, and cable? Garrett had taken care of that for her? “That was…” Her eyes stung. She blamed fatigue, and maybe relief. “Thank you so much.”

He shrugged it off and glanced at his watch. “If we head to town soon, I can get an alarm system installed before they arrive,and then we can hook it up so the police will be alerted if anyone tries to break in.”

“I have my own errands to run—and my own car. I don’t need to go with you.”

“I’m not leaving you alone here, if that’s what you’re thinking. Do you own a gun?”

“Uh…no.” She wasn’t sure what to respond to first—his thinking he could tell her what to do, or that crazy question about the gun. She decided to ignore the first and deal with the second. “Do you?”

“Several handguns, a few hunting rifles, and a shotgun. I’ll bring you one. Handgun, that is.” His lips twitched as if the idea of her having a shotgun were humorous.

As if the rest weren’t.

She was still processing. “You ownseveralguns?”

“I’ll teach you how to use it. You need to be able to defend yourself.”

“It’s not that I’m against guns, but?—”

“Let’s hope not, all things considered. The locks on this place have all been updated, and the windows are nailed shut. But there’s no?—”

“Nailed shut? Why?”

“The guy who lived here before…”

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