Page 17 of Colton First Responder (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Then he got into his car and drove first to the nearby grocery store, where he would stock up even more on basics, then head toward the fishing cabin where he had last seen Savannah. Would she still be there?

* * *

As she’d anticipated, Savannah had spent the morning pondering what she could, what she should, do to get her out of this fix and find the men she needed to resolve it.

She focused on her need to find Zane and turn him over to the police. The real question, then, remained how she would be able to do that. Surely his anger at her wanting to be rid of him because of his lies and infidelities wouldn’t keep him away from his former, normal life forever. Though his faking his death with the idea of getting her thrown permanently in prison... well, she didn’t know how he intended to return and deal with that.

Or could he get people to continue to run his business for him here and give him access to its proceeds?

She eventually stood up, figuring she wasn’t getting anywhere just sitting at the table. Now she was walking around outside the house for the second time.

Looking into the surrounding woods, enjoying occasional views of birds and the tree branches waving in the wind, inhaling the scent of the outdoors, and paying attention to her footing, hoping there wouldn’t be any further earth movement that day.

Most important, she was thinking and trying to come up with different methods, different angles to get out of the mess she was in.

Attempting to dive into Zane’s mind, despite his not being here, despite his being out of her life—at least as her husband.

Zane had run an investment bank and liked using social media and tech in many aspects of his life. He’d surrounded them with various security devices in their home, which at that time had helped to make her feel protected.

Yeah, from everyone but Zane.

Despite not being a techie, she believed she had a reasonably sharp mind. Sure, she was considered a socialite and didn’t have a genuine, well-paying career, but thanks to her family resources, and, more recently, Zane’s, she had spent her time learning about various charitable enterprises and participating in events where money was collected to help people in need.

Unlike her.

Before she’d been accused of murdering her husband, at least.

What would come next for her? Freedom, she hoped. And plenty of time to determine what else she wanted to do with her future now that Zane would be out of her life—hopefully in prison instead of her, for his chilling attempt to scam the authorities and frame her.

More charitable functions? Maybe, but if so she would get more involved, maybe even find a way to help manage one or more of them. She was unsure what her financial situation would be, of course, but it should be okay thanks to the money she had inherited from her grandparents that had supported her before, as well as her divorce settlement from Zane. She would deal with it, no matter what.

And—well, oddly enough, she was very impressed with Grayson and what he did. Would she want to learn to become a first responder, too?

She would definitely like to be able to save lives. She had always enjoyed helping people when she was helping to run charitable enterprises before. And now, she wished she’d been able to help Ari, no matter how indifferent he had been to her. And even if she hadn’t been shackled inside the van, she doubted if she could have done much more for him.

Still...

“Okay, time to go back inside,” she finally muttered to herself, watching a crow in the air above her spread its wings and soar off, uttering a caw as if agreeing with her.

She entered the cabin again and locked the door behind her.

Though she had hand-bathed several times, she really, really wanted a shower. She had already begun using a clean towel that she had found in the bathroom, and recognized she could make even better use of it. Plus, she had peeked into the shower stall and seen a substantial bar of soap on a small shelf inside it.

Now was a good time to start her new life, whatever it might wind up being. And she’d just as

soon do it clean.

At least, thanks to the bag she’d brought here, she had a change of clothes. So far, she hadn’t changed, but she looked forward to wearing something different from the outfit she still had on that now reminded her of her latest courthouse appearance—and all that had happened afterward.

Of course, the other outfit looked very much like this one. And the shirt and slacks were a good reminder of her current freedom, which she hoped would now last forever.

She went into the bathroom and rinsed off the bar of soap, although it already appeared clean enough to use.

Then she stepped into the shower.

Not for long, though. She only wanted a short shower. And she knew full well that, despite the water working, the power wasn’t turned on here, so it wasn’t a big surprise that the water never warmed up. The April Arizona air around here wasn’t extremely cold, but it wasn’t particularly comfortable. She soon turned off the water and dried herself.

That was when she thought she heard a noise from somewhere inside the cabin.

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