Chapter 51

“The gun is hers,” Terrell confirmed. “All the guns on the ranch were either hers, or, umm, they used to belong to my uncle David.”

“Why didn’t you call the police?” Cortez inquired, undoing the ponytail that kept her brown-dyed hair tied back.

“Even after what happened to Carrie, the police couldn’t protect Al or stop that man from finding us,” came from the doorway. Eleanor. Dakota didn’t know how much of the conversation she heard. “We didn’t think the police could or would help us. We figured we’d be better off taking care of it ourselves. Obviously, that didn’t work.”

Her speech provided a perfect combination of deception and truth, immaculately stitched together. Even the delivery, the way she walked slowly into the room as though she didn’t want to intrude, clearly came from an expert at lying. He couldn’t help but feel intimidated by her. Good thing the agents couldn’t see most of his face, thanks to the oxygen mask. His jaw hung open in awe.