Page 15 of Colton First Responder (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Grayson turned on the sound on his computer and listened to a couple of those reports.

They all ended with the fact that the female prisoner being transported from court back to the local prison had apparently escaped.

The authorities suspected that the passenger, Savannah Oliver, had killed the driver so she could flee. Her handcuffs had been found beside the destroyed van, after all.

Oh boy, Grayson thought. The idea hadn’t crossed his mind, since he had seen Ari and the van and the tree that had caused the driver’s death. But not everyone had. And the photos on his phone wouldn’t necessarily do away with the suspicion.

What would Savannah think of these additional accusations against her?

He felt certain he would soon find out.

Chapter 5

Savannah had previously looked around the cabin for a TV or radio or anything else that would allow her to learn what was happening in the outside world, but she’d found nothing.

The tall, unsteady-looking set of wooden bookshelves along one of the walls held quite a few volumes about the area and fish and traveling, but nothing that would provide her with the kind of knowledge she now sought.

And until Grayson returned with the phone he’d promised, she was on her own here.

Was that a good reason simply to leave in order to learn what she could about how the earthquake and aftershocks had affected Mustang Valley?

No, she intended to stay here, at least for today, and see if Grayson really did return. But she would of course remain alert and conscious—in case he wasn’t the one to arrive first, or at all.

The cops, if they weren’t overwhelmed with quake stuff, were probably looking for her.

And if she could figure out an inconspicuous way to do it, she wanted to be out there soon, somewhere, somehow, looking for Zane, or talking to any people she thought of as his coconspirators, like Schuyler Wells. As if she’d had any interest in him, social or professional.

Although, at the moment, she was definitely interested in finding—and talking to—Schuyler, too, since unlike Zane, he was still out and about. However, he was also the kind of person likely to call the cops to pick her up right away if he had any knowledge of where she was.

She had pondered why Zane would fake his own death, and figured that, if nothing else, it would be to spite her. To hurt her for dumping him. And maybe his finances weren’t as good as he let on to the world, so he’d wanted to find a way to hide. She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that he was a horrible person who lied and cheated and she should never have married him.

And, it seemed, Schuyler had become his coconspirator. For money? If so, Zane must still have some.

“I’ll figure it out,” she muttered to herself, again sitting at the table that had become a sort of refuge in this remote cabin, drinking another bottle of water—and hoping that Grayson brought some more when he got there.

If he got there.

But she couldn’t stay here for long—certainly not after she came up with a viable plan to track down the people who had done this to her, and somehow extract the truth.

Now all she needed to do was determine how.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, downtown Mustang Valley was a mess.

Oh, in the nicer area where Grayson’s office building and other newer, well-constructed ones were located, the earthquake damage was visible but not extensive. The cracks didn’t appear too deep in some of the walls, although there were fractures in the streets and debris had fallen on the streets from the structures. Maintenance crews were already out there working on repairs, though Grayson assumed there would be more in upcoming days.

The sidewalks were at least mostly passable, so he walked toward the other area of town that had been around longer without upgrades. He’d assumed the damage would be more obvious there, and it was: deeper gouges in the streets often turning them from two-lane to one—or less. There were also larger portions of the buildings that were ruined, reminding him a bit of the cabin where Savannah was.

Savannah. She remained on his mind a lot, largely because of his promise to buy her supplies...but not entirely. He kept wondering how she was doing, if she trusted him to keep his word and was waiting for him to return. Whether anyone official had been looking in that area for her—or had found her there.

He figured he would hear about that if it happened. Her disappearance might be a result of the earthquake, but it had newsworthiness of its own, particularly under the circumstances of the driver’s death. Grayson understood that. He’d be a lot more dubious about her innocence, too, if he hadn’t talked to her. Believe her? Maybe. He hadn’t liked, hadn’t trusted her ex Zane, so maybe she wasn’t making anything up.

As he continued walking, he thought about his siblings. He had only ducked into his wing at the ranch late last night and out of it fast this morning so he hadn’t seen any of them, but he had called most of them as he left that day. He might not be close with them, but he wanted reassurance that none was hurt. Fortunately, he heard only good news.

He’d even spoken with Ace. He still considered him his brother, even though Ace had taken a DNA test after the email that the Colton Oil board received. It confirmed that he was not a biological Colton. Grayson might not be good buddies with all his family members, but he didn’t dislike Ace.

Now he noticed he was far from alone here. There were more pedestrians than automobile traffic, but the few cars there proceeded slowly, causing traffic jams. No one looked at him, and he paid no attention to anyone else.

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