Taut muscles in her jaw softened a fraction. “I know.”

“Watch your step with my boy.” He wrapped the words in threat and menace.

Her shoulders stiffened as if he’d insulted her. “If that’s all you got, I’ve work waiting.”

Her annoyance didn’t deter him. In fact, it drew him. “Got one more question for you, Ms. Templeton.”

She glared at him now, a brow arched and a hand on her hip. “Shoot.”

He studied her expression closely. “I investigated a murder bordering your land yesterday.”

A hint of remorse darkened her gaze. “I heard about that. Some fellow hanged himself.” And then as if to head off his next question, “A cruiser came by yesterday and spoke to my farm manager while I was in town. I’m supposed to call him back but haven’t gotten to it.”

“You hear anything else?”

“No. I don’t have time for gossip and news. So if you’re here to ask me about the dead person, I’m afraid I can’t do much for you. I spend most of my days here working. I don’t venture out much.”

And yet you’d made your way into town yesterday to talk to my boy. “I think you might know the victim.”

“Could be, but I only know a handful of people in the area.”

He studied her face closely. “The victim’s name was Rory Edwards.”

Irritation gave way to surprise. Pursing her lips she drew in a deep breath, letting it out so slowly he barely saw her move. “Is this some kind of trick? Are you trying to prod information out of me because I hired your nephew?”

“No trick. The medical examiner confirmed the identity of the body yesterday.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “I’ve not seen Rory in a long time. At least twelve years.”

“You’ve had no contact with him in this time?”

Her lips pursed. “I had a message on my voice mail a week ago. The caller said he was coming to see me. He was an old friend. I did not return the call.”

“Why not?”

Blue eyes clouded before sharpening. “Some matters are better left in the past.”

“I get the impression he still cared about you after all this time.”

She shook her head. “I have no idea.”

“I searched his room last night. He had a box full of recent pictures of you.”

Her face paled. “I don’t know about that.”

“Can I ask how you two met?”

The grip on her biceps tightened. “I get the sense you already know.”

Apprehension rolled off her and all but slammed into Bragg. Rory Edwards and her past were sore subjects. “Answer the question.”

She glanced around as if making sure no one was around. “We met when we were teenagers. We were both in a clinic for troubled teens.”

“You both tried to kill yourself.”

The lines in her forehead deepened. “I’m not proud of that time, but what does it have to do with Rory’s death? Like I said, I haven’t seen him in a dozen years.”

Bragg unclipped his phone and scrolled to the picture he’d taken of the photo found at the crime scene. He held out the phone, coaxing her closer toward him. “You remember this picture?”

She didn’t approach right away but then moved closer. The soft scent of soap rose up around her. No flowery perfumes or exotic scents but simply clean soap. His body tightened, unmindful of logic or reason.

For a long moment she didn’t say a word and then she cleared her voice. “It was taken the last night we were both at the camp. Rory left the next morning.”

“How’d he end up with the picture if he left?”

“I sent him a copy from camp. I didn’t want him to forget me.”

“His brother said you wrote to him several times a week but Rory’s father threw out the letters.”

Her jaw tensed, and he suspected an old wound opened. “I guess one letter made it through.”

“Rory never forgot you.”

She stepped back. “I wish he had.”

“Why’s that?”

“Really, do you have to ask? It was a painful time, and I’ve done my best over the last twelve years to forget about it.”

He locked his phone and tucked it back in its cradle. “Were you really able to forget?”

She cleared her throat. “Rory’s family did us a favor by keeping us apart. But the rest? No, I have not forgotten that I wrecked a car and killed my brother and his girlfriend. I ruined so many lives. I carry that with me every day.”

“That why you tried to kill yourself ?”

A darkening in her gaze told him his words struck their mark. “The months after the accident were a painful time. My parents’ marriage fell apart and my mother ate tranquilizers like candy. I saw it as my fault. When you’re sixteen life is black and white. I thought it was better for everyone if I left.”

She raised her hand to brush back her hair. The silver bracelets jangled and for a faint second he saw the pale lines marking where she’d cut into her wrists.

“Were you drunk the night of the accident?”

She swallowed. “I’ll give you credit, Ranger. You ask the questions most people think or talk about behind my back.”

“Had you been drinking?”

“The police cleared me.”

He’d been fishing for a yes or a no. And he suspected she evaded an answer to annoy him. “And your family had a really damn good lawyer. Were you drunk?”

“No, I didn’t have one drink that night. That’s why my brother asked me to drive. My crime was that I’d had my learner’s permit a matter of days, had no experience, and didn’t have the sense to tell Jeff no.”

“When did you see the other car had switched into your lane?”

Her head cocked. “The cops didn’t believe there was a second car.”

“Humor me. When did you see it?”

She hesitated as if weighing each word. “I don’t know. Not soon enough.”

“Radio blaring, brother and girlfriend laughing?”

“I think so,” she whispered.

“Lots of distractions.”

Greer closed her eyes and nodded. For an instant, she grew still and calm as if drawn back to another place and time. For a moment she didn’t speak. He watched her closely, and to his surprise pity mingled with his suspicions.

When she met his gaze again anger had sharpened her blue irises into sapphire shards. “I’m sorry Rory killed himself. I am. No one deserves to carry that kind of pain. No one. But I won’t stand here and rehash the past. I won’t.”

“And when did you say you saw Rory last?” He repeated questions often. Questioning someone involved in a murder investigation was like a fishing expedition. Sometimes tossing the same bait in the water garnered better results the second time. Police work and fishing were often about patience.

“I haven’t seen him in a long time, and I really can’t help you.”

Elizabeth Greer Templeton was a hard one to read. She said all the right words and hadn’t triggered any alarm bells. But the best liars spun the best tales.

Bragg realized pushing Greer could ruin the job for Mitch. But he had to push, not just for Rory’s sake but especially for Mitch’s. If she was unstable in any way, he needed to know it.

He studied her face closely. “I don’t believe Rory killed himself.”

Her head cocked. “He wasn’t the man hanging from the tree?”

“Oh, he was strung up from the tree all right. Hell, he was a sight to see. Hell of a mess.” Graphic details shocked, tossed people off balance and triggered unexpected reactions.

Her lips flattened but she kept silent.

“I don’t think there is a way a man could have secured the rope, shimmied up the tree, and then hung himself. If he’d jumped with the rope around his neck, it would have just about snapped his head off. The rope did slice into his neck, but the marks cut like a man dangling versus falling.”

“And the purpose of that graphic description was meant to do what?” No missing the pop of annoyance.

He wasn’t ready to talk about the cigarette butt or the tire tracks. Though he did note the flatbed truck behind her.

Shifting gears he said, “What have you been doing all these years, Ms. Templeton? You sure haven’t been in the news at all.”