Page 28 of Sean

“What did Wilson call the guy while complaining?”

Julia thought about that. “Mostly just insulting names. If he ever said his real name, I don’t remember it.”

“Do you have the address?” Sean asked.

She did…sort of. Julia found a scrap of paper and a crayon to write it down. She’d sent cards and such there for several years—writing the address was mostly muscle memory. “I’ll do some digging and ask Owen to use his resources, too,” Sean said. “We should be able to find out pretty quickly who lived closest to Mira and Wilson.” He gave her shoulder a small squeeze and left the room.

Julia was still feeling off-kilter with this new information. Having Sean at her side, helping her, took so much of the stress off her. He was a great partner, whether he recognized that or not.

Julia kept busy with the kids throughout the day. She introduced them to Maverick from a safe distance, walked some of the bridle trails on the property, pointing out spring flowers and buds. They visited a pond and saw tadpoles swimming under the surface. All the while, she kept an eye on Amos and Lucy, looking for signs that they were upset by the morning’s conversation. She didn’t notice anything unusual and was heartened by that.

After dinner, she got them settled for the evening a little early when she noticed they were tired from tromping all over the property. She was exhausted herself due to lack of sleep and plenty of fresh air, but she needed to find Sean and ask what he’d learned. She could hear other adults on the porch, enjoying the warm evening, but she found him in the den. He was just finishing a call when she walked in.

“That was Owen,” he said, resting his hip against the desk. “We’ve tracked down the couple who lived next to Mira and Wilson. They moved out of the condo building themselves last year, but I have a current address for them. Owen’s working on locating other people who were close neighbors in case we need to talk with them as well.”

“I can’t believe how fast that happened.”

“We’ve got resources.” He was watching her face. “You’ve got resources. I know you tried to manage this alone, but you’re not alone anymore.”

“I had Helen and Sophie to lean on when I needed it.” She had been terribly frightened and alone during those weeks when it had been just her and the kids, though. She was still scared of what could happen, but it was so much better to be with others, especially Sean. He made her feel safe.

“They’re good friends,” he commented, “but you need a small army to fight Wilson. Now, that we have the intel, what do you want the battle plan to be?”

“Me?” she asked. He was leaving the next step up to her? She’d thought about her options throughout the day. She could have Sophie hand over the video to the police, or they could go forward with their own investigation. That’s what her head and heart were telling her to do.

“You don’t have to decide tonight. Sleep on it. You look like you could use some rest.” He hesitated before going on. “Did the sadness come in the night like you thought it would?”

She sighed. “Yeah, it did.”

“You could have come to get me. Talk it out a little.”

She almost had. She’d paused outside his door and listened. If she’d have heard sounds that indicated he was awake, she would have knocked.

“I didn’t want to bother anyone, and I’m used to managing on my own.” When she’d been actively working as a photographer, she’d always been independent, solving her own problems. Maybe that was why she’d initially resisted accepting the offers of protection that Ethan had made. Only desperation had driven her to contact Sean. Now, she wished she had done so sooner.

“Let me know what you want to do,” he said.

She didn’t need the night to figure that out. “I want to talk to this neighbor. He might have a valuable clue. But going to him means leaving the ranch, which has me nervous. Plus, I don’t want to take the kids with me. They shouldn’t hear what gets said.”

“That’s easily dealt with. My family will watch over the kids while we go. We can be there and back in a day.”

“Will we tell them why we need to go?” She felt bad about the burden she’d placed on his family.

“I think that’s best. The more information they have, the more they’ll be able to protect Amos and Lucy. I should have realized that from the beginning.”

“You were only trying to protect them from legal consequences. I understand that.” She valued everything he’d done for her so far. And she was coming to see that he wasn’t the grouchy loner that he’d appeared to be at first. He was caring, even sweet, at times, and seemed to get what she was going through. The simple things—taking her hand, teaching her to feed a horse—meant so much to her.

Adult voices came from the living room. Sean gestured in that direction. “It’s a good time to talk with everyone. No kids around. I’ll do the talking if you want me to.”

“We’ll do it together.” She mentally gathered herself as they went into the living room.

“We’re going to watch a movie,” Kelly said, looking up at them. “Do you want to join us?” A bowl of popcorn and cans of soda sat on the coffee table.

“Maybe,” Julia said. “First, I need to ask all of you something.” She was suddenly afraid to trust her voice to ask for the favor she needed, so she sent Sean a pleading glance.

“Julia and I have to drive to Virginia Beach tomorrow to interview someone who might know more about what happened to Julia’s sister,” Sean explained. “We can’t take the kids with us.”

“You don’t need to ask,” Joe said. “We’ll be here for them.”

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