Page 45 of Midnight Secrets

I pulled the corner of my lip between my teeth, thinking. “Not really, no. Marie mentioned once that Warren had a brother, when I asked about why they were moving to Massachusetts. I asked if it was to be closer to family. She said hers was out that way, in Virginia, but that Warren’s only family, his brother, lived out of the country.”

“Really? What country?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Because maybe that’s where Warren went.” He turned, swinging a leg over his ATV. Settling onto the machine, he picked up his helmet. “Come on. Let’s get back so I can do some digging into Warren Hammond’s family.”

Not about to argue—I wanted answers too—I donned my helmet and hopped onto my four-wheeler.

This time, he led the way.

So, I let my mind wander.

I thought about the Hammonds and poor Marie. Why would someone want to kill her? She was a schoolteacher. Did her husband do it? Did she cheat on him? Or he on her? In any case, that didn’t warrant murder. Few things did.

But if he didn’t do it, who else would want her dead? Was it a break-in gone wrong? Did the burglar expect the house to be empty, and she surprised them?

Except nothing was missing. Not that I could tell, anyway. Ozzie wasn’t being very forthcoming with the details.

Not that I could blame him. I wasn’t a detective. Just someone with a vested interest, since I knew the victim and found her body.

A quick shudder went through me. Last night was the first night I hadn’t had a nightmare about finding her. I wasn’t sure tonight would be the same. Not with our excursion drudging up all the memories.

I rolled my shoulders, trying to shrug off my maudlin thoughts. I just needed to replace those memories with something pleasant.

My gaze traveled over Ozzie’s broad back as he rode in front of me.

Maybe if I held on to the image of his sunny smile when I fell asleep it would banish the bad dreams.

The man had a potent smile. It made my insides mushy. Which perplexed me a little. His brother had the same smile, but I didn’t get the same feeling with Ellis.

Movement registered in my peripheral vision. I looked over in time to see the long, expansive brown face of a moose coming directly at me.

A quick shriek flew from my lips, and I yanked on the ATV’s handlebars, hoping to avoid a collision with the animal.

But I turned too hard, and the machine tipped.

As I toppled over, hooves pounded the earth inches from my face.

CHAPTER 16

Ozzie

The change in pitch of Claire’s ATV engine was my only clue something was amiss before I heard the crunching scrape of metal and plastic over the rocky ground.

I let off the throttle and glanced back.

It took several moments and a few rapid blinks for my brain to believe what it saw. Running away from Claire’s overturned ATV was a moose with one antler.

Her four-wheeler’s front tires spun lazily and the engine sputtered.

“Claire!” I braked and spun around, riding back to check on her.

Riding around the other side, I found her lying on the ground, helmet beside her, kicking at the seat of the ATV with her right leg, the left one pinned beneath the machine.

I cut my engine and hopped off. “Shit! Are you all right? What happened?”

“That moose came out of nowhere. I swerved to avoid him and tipped over. Can you set this thing up so I can get my leg free?” She pushed at the seat again with a wince.

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