Page 96 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

She quelled a rise of irritation. Jeff Christiansen had ethics, and she admired that. She just wished she could compel him to see things a little differently. “Someone tried to run me off the road yesterday.”

A beat of silence was followed by, “What do you mean? You were in an accident?”

“I mean someone followed me up Rattlesnake Road and rammed into my car, twice.”

The attorney gasped, but Aspen wasn’t finished.

“I nearly crashed into a tree, then hit a weird incline. My SUV ended up on its side. I got out moments before it slid over a cliff.”

“Were you hurt?” He sounded genuinely concerned.

“The point is, it wasn’t an accident. Somebody did that to me, on purpose.”

“I’m so sorry that?—”

“I’m not looking for your sympathy. I’m saying… Look, I know you’re trying to fulfill your obligations to my father, but could you at least consider something for me?”

After a moment, he said, “I will, if you’ll consider something for me.”

She hadn’t expected that. “Fine. Me first. Maybe the dealings you had with my father have nothing to do with any of this. But if they do, then don’t you think my father would want you to elevate my safety over your confidentiality agreement?”

“Ah. But it’s not like you think it is. And now it’s my turn. Do you remember when you first told me about your plan to come here?”

Back in November, the first time she’d spoken to him. She’d found his name in her father’s paperwork related to the house. “I remember you tried to talk me out of it.”

“Because that’s what he would have wanted. What happened to you last night, that’s what your father was trying to avoid. That’s why he moved to Hawaii. That’s why he never told you all the things you’re bound and determined to dig up now.”

“But he told me to come here. He told me?—”

“Either you misunderstood what he was asking, or he was out of his mind.”

He’d been lucid. She also knew he hadn’t said everything he’d wanted to say before a coughing fit summoned the doctors.

Had she misunderstood?

“He told me to find her, to do right by her.”

“I wasn’t there for that conversation,” Jeff said. “And it’s not that I don’t believe you, but I don’t believe that’s what your father wanted for you. For himself, perhaps. But not for you.”

“You don’t know what he said or what he wanted. You hadn’t known him for years.”

Jeff didn’t argue her points. His voice was low and steady. “I believe your father wanted you to be safe above all. In fact, Iknow that’s what he wanted. He told me more than once, and not just when you were a baby. I helped him purchase the house here a couple of years ago, if you remember. He told me then as well.”

“But maybe I’ll be safer if you tell me?—”

“Because of that”—he spoke over her—“I will tell you nothing. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Your father trusted me, and I won’t betray that trust. If you want my counsel, here it is: Leave town. Sell the house, get out of New Hampshire, and don’t look back.”

The conversationwith Jeff was still ringing in her ears an hour after she ended the call and checked that task off her list.

Could he be right? Could she have misunderstood? Dad hadn’t been able to finish what he’d wanted to say, but he told her to find her mother.

Hadn’t he?

She was beginning to question everything. The thing that wrecked her, the thing that broke her heart into a thousand little pieces, was that she’d never know. She’d never be able to ask him to clarify. Dad was gone. And it seemed his last task had been to send her on a journey that put her life in danger.

Which didn’t make sense at all.

Aspen’s father would never have risked her safety. Never.

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