Page 43 of Colton First Responder (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“Okay,” Grayson said. “I’ll leave now. Here’s my card.” He reached into his pocket and drew one out, handing it to Wright, who acted as if it was covered with fatal bacteria. “Please contact me anytime you think of somewhere I should look to locate Ms. Oliver. Surely that’s to your benefit, too, and hers. If you do your job well, you might even get her found innocent, but it’ll be harder if she’s spent a lot of time on the run. Even if she is innocent, she could look guiltier that way.”

“Exactly.” Wright let his breath out in a sigh. “And I understand you’re just doing your job, too. For her benefit, I’ll let you know if I think of anyplace she might have gone, though as I said, I don’t know of any possible rendezvous points.”

“Then maybe I should talk to Mr. Wells directly to see if he will give me that information. I’ll let him know that I have spoken with you and that you suggested I contact him.”

“Oh no. Don’t do that.” Wright’s tone seemed almost frantic, but then he seemed to force himself to calm down. “I think it would be better if you just let him know why you’re trying to find Ms. Oliver, since they were apparently at least close friends. And now, I hate to chase you out, but I am expecting an important phone call on another case and need to prepare for it.”

Sure, he hates to chase me out, Grayson thought. But he said his goodbyes, said he would be in touch again—and watched Wright’s face grow stony—then left.

Chapter 13

Grayson fought the urge to call Savannah as he got into his car. After meeting that awful attorney, he felt even more worried about her.

Sure, he could rush right out to the cabin and visit her, but what good would that do now? No, he had to act normally—or as normally as possible.

Since the quake, and the dinner with his siblings, he had been meaning to go to the hospital to visit his father. He’d received plenty of text messages from his siblings reminding him but no updates on Payne’s condition.

Why not go now? He wouldn’t stay long. And so Grayson drove to the Mustang Valley General Hospital, which wasn’t far from the law office. He parked in the lot at the back and walked around the large, well-respected hospital to the front entrance.

And was surprised, and unhappy, to see Selina Barnes Colton there, walking toward the outside door in the wide hospital lobby.

Selina had been his father’s second wife, disliked by all of Payne’s kids and his current wife, Genevieve. She was on the board of directors of Colton Oil, nonetheless, and also its VP and PR director. From what Grayson understood, that was because his former stepmother was holding something over his father, but he didn’t know what.

Grayson had an urge to leave. Or at least enter the hospital another way.

Selina saw him, approached the door where he stood, and came outside. He drew in his breath as he stood there.

Selina was a pretty woman, with long brown hair and blue eyes that always seemed to be amused. She had perfect cheekbones and a lovely chin, all touched up by attractive makeup, and her left ear and its earring were often exposed by her hairstyle.

Too bad her personality didn’t match her looks.

“Well, Grayson, what a surprise. When was the last time you’ve been to the hospital to see your dad? He was shot in January, and now it’s April.”

He thought about making excuses, but why do that with her? “Not everything is done with the purpose of being recorded for posterity or on cameras, security or otherwise. I may not be viewed as a perfect son who visits often, but I think of my dad often and privately send him all my best thoughts.” Or at least some. He might not adore his dad, but he certainly didn’t want him to die.

Selina laughed. “How adorable. That sounds like hokum from that Affirmation Alliance Group. Those do-gooders are all over town spouting their positivity—and that makes me want to barf.” She gestured across the street from the hospital. Sure enough, Grayson saw one of those Affirmation Alliance tables there, where two members sat. In front of them was a banner that said Displaced From The Earthquake and Need Assistance? Let Affirmation Alliance Group Help! There was even a line of three people waiting to talk to the men behind the table.

But Selina had started talking to him again. “Enough of that. And your being here? You know, Grayson, your dad figured before that you think he’s a corrupt jerk, so why be fake and sit at his bedside and pretend to feel something you don’t?”

He’d come here to see his dad, damn it, no matter what this woman said. He wanted to push past Selina and do what he’d set out to.

But he also recognized that Selina was right. He was being fake by coming here, and he’d be fake if he visited Payne and spouted platitudes his father probably couldn’t hear.

It wasn’t that he really hated his father. But he did hate how Payne had tried to make Grayson obey him even as an adult, rather than live his own life. Maybe things would be different if his mother had lived...but why even contemplate that now?

Without saying another word to her, he stalked away to return to his car—hating that Selina had won.

Once inside his car, he pondered what to do. Something to improve his state of mind, certainly.

As a result, he headed his SUV out of town toward the desert outside Mustang Valley, where Norah had said Chad brought Winch to look for the missing young man. Had they found him yet? Could Grayson help? Even just trying would make him feel better.

And help him forget this fiasco of an attempt to see his father.

As he drove along the main road that wound through the area, Grayson figured that without more information, he was unlikely to locate any of the searchers, let alone his employees. Of course, this was also the direction toward the town of Mountain Valley, and if he couldn’t find the search group, he could at least spend a little time there looking for the items on Savannah’s list.

Which would give him a better excuse to go visit her later than just to tell her what a jerk her lawyer seemed to be.

It didn’t take long to get outside Mustang Valley and onto the road through the desert. Grayson became more determined to meet up with his first responder employee who was out there and see how things were going. He called Chad on his car phone system.

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