Greer clutched her backpack with her hand. “It’s okay, Danni.”
Danni didn’t budge.
Bragg arched a brow, not sure if he should be annoyed or impressed. “This is a quiz?”
“Yeah, asshole, it’s a quiz. Give up some names or tell it to the cops.”
“Danni,” Greer warned.
He rested his hand on his hip. He admired Danni’s spunk. “Santos, Winchester, Beck.”
“Beck.” The Ranger’s name eased most of the suspicion in her face. “I know him.”
“Were you at his wedding?” Bragg tossed in the detail knowing not many outside the Ranger circles would know about the marriage.
That mention deflated the last of her trepidation. “No. I had to go back East and visit my mother. I would rather have been at the wedding. Beck’s wife, Lara, is my favorite teacher.”
Bragg arched a brow. “Does that mean you’re convinced I’m not here to bother Greer?”
She didn’t answer right away. “Yeah.”
Aware Greer watched him closely, he kept the menace and growl from his voice. “Good. Now scram so I can talk to her.”
Danni’s eyes narrowed. “This about the call and the trace?”
“It is.”
“So, you’ll figure out who rattled her?”
“I will.” And he meant it. The urge to put hands on the guy remained strong.
“Fine. See you next week, Greer. Looking forward to working the harvest.”
“Thanks, Danni, for everything. You’re a rock.”
She grinned. “I know.”
Both watched the kid drive off.
When her taillights vanished around a corner, Greer eyed Bragg. “How did you know about the call?”
He met her gaze, noting the dark circles under her eyes. She worked hard, maybe too hard. Technically, her life outside his case was none of his business. But he’d never wasted much time on technicalities. “Word gets around.”
“Not that fast.”
“It does when I tell everyone with a pulse that I want to hear about it if your name comes up.”
She arched a brow as annoyance snapped. “Really?”
He didn’t mind the annoyance and preferred it to the fear that had flashed when he’d first called out her name. With no hint of apology, he nodded. “Until my case is solved and my nephew is off your property I’m keeping an eye on you.”
Her fingers clutched the strap of her backpack. “I’m not sure how I feel about it.”
Ignoring her statement, he said, “There’s a coffee shop a couple of blocks away. Let’s grab a cup.”
She combed long fingers through her hair. Bracelets rattled. “I have an early call at the vineyard.”
He wasn’t going to let her go that easily. “Me, too. But a half hour won’t make a difference either way. I’ll follow you.” Saying please didn’t come easily to him. He wanted to find out about the caller and to spend time with her. “Please.”
Finally, she nodded. “See you there in a few.”
In his SUV, he followed her the two blocks and when she climbed out of her truck, he was there. Inside he ordered a house coffee, black, and she ordered a latte. With soy. He reached for his wallet.
“I got this,” she said.
He shook his head. “No, I do.”
“I can pay.”
“Not while I’m breathing.” He tossed a twenty-dollar bill on the counter and a scrawny teen with spiked hair scooped it up.
When they were settled in a booth he gave her a moment to sip her coffee and savor. In the café’s brighter light those circles under her eyes looked darker and her hair a little messier as if she’d run her hands through it. She wore the silver bracelets like always. Even at the fancy party the other night she’d worn the bracelets.
“Tell me about the call.”
She stiffened. “Creepy. We tape all our calls.”
“I’ll be sure to listen to it. But I want to hear it from you.”
She shook her head as she traced the rim of her coffee cup with her fingertip. “I’ve heard it all. Sad people. Angry people. Despondent. Desperate. But this gal. She said my name as if we’d met.”
“A woman?”
“Yeah. She had a strange voice. Almost childlike.”
“Did you recognize the voice?”
“No.”
“Did you use your name when you answered the phone?”
“Yes. I always do. It makes it more personal.”
“Greer is an unusual name.”
“Kind of why I used it. It was different from Elizabeth.”
“Is it a family name?”
“No.” She sipped her coffee. “My mom loved old movies. Greer Garson was one of her favorites. Jeffrey’s middle name was Robert for Robert Taylor.”
He sipped his coffee. Right before dispatch had called tonight he’d been fighting fatigue. Now he was wide awake. Not because of the coffee but because of Greer. She injected energy into him. “So what did the caller say?”
“She talked about sin.”
As she gave him the rundown anger and fear banded in his body. He really did want to take this person apart. “What did she mean by ‘you and the others?’”
“I don’t know. But she must know about me and my past.”
“Your past is not hard to dig up. A Google search tossed out a good bit of it when I searched.”
She frowned as if the idea unsettled. “At first I thought it was someone’s idea of a sick joke.” She ran her finger under the bracelets. He caught the faintest glimpse of those thin white scars. “But she was serious. She believes everything she said.”
“Did she mention Rory or Sara?”
“No.”
“Anyone else from Shady Grove?”
“No.”
Her hands and the silver bracelets encircling her wrists drew his gaze. The urge to lay his hand over hers intensified as the seconds ticked by. “What do the bracelets mean? You never take them off.”
The question caught her off guard. She glanced at them and realized she’d been touching them. Straightening, she shrugged. “They’re just bracelets.”
“You always wear them. Always. And when you’re tense you touch them. They’re important to you. There are three of them.”
She stared at them, her gaze pensive. “You are a Ranger, what do you think?”
He sat back in his booth and stared at the challenge in her gaze. “In the accident three people died. Your brother, his girlfriend, and Elizabeth.”
She n
odded slowly. “Bingo.”
“But you didn’t die.”
“The person I was did perish. I could never have slipped back into Elizabeth’s life after the accident.”
“It’s been twelve years.”
“And time changes nothing. Jeff and Sydney are still dead. I never want to forget what happened.”
“No sane person forgets that kind of an accident, Greer. No one. You don’t need bracelets to remember.”
“I’m afraid I will.” She whispered the words as if it were a dark secret. “I’m afraid one day I won’t think about Jeff or Sydney and it will be as if they never lived. I can’t let that happen.”
“When did you start wearing the bracelets?”
“My aunt Lydia gave them to me when I told her I was afraid of forgetting. She pulled the three bracelets out of her jewelry box and clasped them around my wrist.”
“Did you wear a bracelet at Shady Grove?”
Her brow furrowed. “Yeah. Red rope bracelets. I made them for everyone. I called us the red team. I left mine behind.”
Both his victims had worn red rope bracelets. His gut knotted.
“Why do you ask?”
“No reason.” He managed a smile. For now, he’d keep the detail close. “Do you always wear those bracelets?”
She hesitated as if the words bore too heavily. “On the anniversary of the accident, I go to church and have them blessed by the priest. I pray for the dead. I want them to know I still care. Still remember.”
So much life bubbled inside of Greer. He saw it every time he looked at her. She had much to offer, but the past hung around her neck like an anchor. “Anybody go with you?”
“No.”
“Your mother?”
She sighed. “Mom tries. She does. But losing Jeff just about killed her. He was all she could ever have dreamed of in a son. No mother should have to bury a child.”
“I’ve read the accident reports, Greer. You were fifteen and no one should have let you drive home that night. No one.”
“I thought I could handle it.”
“You were a kid. It wasn’t your call.”
“I didn’t want to disappoint Jeffrey.”