Sierra Falls

“Sorry about your car.” Laura’s voice was small and cracking, and she coughed, clearing her dry throat.



Sorrow was beside her in an instant, easing onto the bed, pouring some water from a pitcher at her bedside. “Forget the car.” She stroked the hair from her sister’s head. “Hey, you did me a favor. It’s a miracle the thing still ran.”



“Remember when Dad got it?” Laura asked, and the girls laughed at the memory.



“Totally. He used to wax it every weekend, right before Sunday night football.”



Laura rested her head back, a wistful smile on her face.



“There were times,” Sorrow said, “when I wondered who he loved more, that car or us kids. I was shocked he handed it down to me. I thought for sure he was going to save it for BJ.”



Laura’s response was instant. “Nah. Of course it went to you.” She looked away, her eyes suddenly glimmering. She gave a shuddering sigh, and Sorrow could tell her sister was trying to hold back the tears. “I always screw things up.”



“Are you kidding?” Sorrow took her sister’s good hand in hers and patted it. Laura was the favorite, the golden girl—the one who never screwed up. “That’s just the painkillers talking. You know you’re the family princess.”



Laura pulled her hand away. “What are you talking about? You’re Dad’s favorite, you always have been.”



Sorrow felt her jaw drop open, but darned if she could think of anything to say to that.



“Don’t give me that look,” Laura said. “Dad would never have let me take over the lodge.”



Sorrow regained her voice. “As if you’d ever want to.”



“Oh, please.” Laura scooted herself up on the bed, looking ready to rant. “I’d have loved to work more around the place. But Dad always second-guesses me. Why do you think I took off? It’s not easy being the oldest.”



The room was silent but for the general muted buzz and whirr of the machines. Sorrow had spent years feeling abandoned by her sister. But what if Laura hadn’t run from the family? What if she’d felt she had no choice but to leave, driven to prove herself?



“You really want to stay?” Sorrow asked finally. “Like, to live in Sierra Falls again?” She still didn’t believe it.



“It’s what I just said, isn’t it?” Laura sighed.



“Seriously, Laura. Permanently permanently? As in, you’re not going to get bored and take off again?”



“Permanently,” Laura said. “I swear. I pinky swear it.”



Sorrow saw her sister in a new light. “You’re being serious.” Laura staying. She sat with the notion a moment, remembering what Billy had told her. Why not let her sister help more? Sorrow had been too proud to see it, but finally the light clicked on.



Then Sorrow laughed outright, thinking of another side benefit. Sharing lodge duties also meant sharing the blame when things went wrong. “You know, actually, we totally need you. Please stay.” She gripped Laura’s hand. “You must stay. I don’t know what my problem has been anyway. You’d be awesome—you have more business experience than the whole town put together.”



Laura looked away, fiddling with her IV tubes. “Dad would never have it.”



“Shut up!” She gave her sister a gentle nudge on her good arm. “Mom and Dad would be thrilled to have you around again.”



“Okay,” Laura admitted, laughing at Sorrow’s vehemence. “You’re right. I’m not being fair. But sometimes I think Dad respects me more in concept. Like, he can think about his eldest daughter out there, driving her fancy car, being Urban Business Barbie, but he doesn’t need to be around to witness all the screwups.” She blinked a few times, tears shimmering in her eyes. “And believe me, they are many.”



“Well, forget that,” Sorrow said. “You’ll be the Sierra Falls Rural Business Barbie. And we’ll screw up together.” She beamed at her sister. “Oh my God, Laura. You don’t understand. I’d give anything to spend less time with accounting ledgers, and plumbers, and snow shovels.”



“I’d be happy to share it with you.” Laura gave her a bland look. “I’ve been trying to tell you that since I got home.”



“Girl, you want responsibilities, I’ve got them coming out of my ears.”



Laura’s answering laugh turned into a cough, and Sorrow was quick to bring the cup of water to her mouth.



“We just need to get you better.” Sorrow watched her sister’s trembling hand reach for the cup and the way her throat moved slowly and convulsively. “Thank God Eddie came along when he did. I’m going to give the guy a big kiss when I see him next.”



Laura raised a brow. “Won’t the sheriff be jealous?”



“Okay, you can give him a big kiss.” Sorrow narrowed her eyes on her sister. That she was staying made it a whole other ball game. “Maybe you should, Laura.”



“Should what?”



“Go for Eddie. I’ve seen the looks between you two.”



“Eddie?” Laura scowled, then grimaced from the pain of it. “If you saw me give Eddie Jessup any look, it was clearly either scorn or distaste.”



“But he’s so cute.”



“I’ve learned my lesson—I’m staying away from pretty boys. If I date anybody, it’ll be some nice businessman.”



“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sorrow tamped down a surge of anger. If Laura was going to be staying in Sierra Falls, she was going to need a massive attitude adjustment. “Not only have Eddie and his brother built a great business, but he’s outside all day, working with his hands and body. I don’t know, Laura, that sure seems pretty sexy to me.”



“I’d never be interested in a man who uses tools.”



Sorrow snorted with laughter. “You just lobbed me a softball.”



Laura rolled her eyes. “Okay, Miss Dirty Mind, if we’re being specific, I’d never be interested in a man who works as a contractor.”



“So then why are you blushing?”



“I am not blushing,” Laura snapped. “I haven’t blushed since seventh grade.”



“Maybe that’s part of your problem.” It came to Sorrow in a flash, exactly how best a girl’s attitude got adjusted. “Maybe a good mountain man who makes you blush is just what you need. Give up on those city dorks in khakis whose idea of foreplay is talking about mutual funds.”



Laura guffawed. “Who put a nickel in you? Jeez, the girl gets lucky with the town sheriff and all of a sudden she’s Dr. Phil.” Her sister’s tone was joking, but Sorrow saw how she did consider it for a moment. But then Laura shuddered. “He drives a vehicle best suited for monster truck competitions. That giant red pickup. Can’t go there.”



“What’s wrong with Eddie’s pickup?”



“It’s a kind of tacky, isn’t it? Like he’s overcompensating.”



“You know what they say about the size of a man’s truck,” a deep voice said from the doorway.



Laura’s cheeks flushed pink.



Sorrow grinned to see a couple of Jessup brothers. “Eddie, Mark, hi!” Under her breath, she sang, “Blushh-innng.”



“We found the doctor,” Eddie said, shoving his brother into the room. “But I don’t know if you can trust him. I hear he sucks.”



Mark shouldered him back, and the sight of a white-coated doctor roughhousing was comical. “You’re just jealous I got all the brains.”



Eddie flinched his shoulder away. “Whatever, dude. Mom likes me better.” He got a wicked look in his eye and walked right up to Laura’s bedside, putting a finger under her chin. “Plus I have the biggest truck. Isn’t that right, sugar?” He winked.



Sorrow snickered to see the pink in Laura’s cheeks flame positively crimson.



“Jessups,” Laura said in a strangled voice. “They’re all over the place.”



“Can’t get away from us.” Eddie sat on the edge of her bed, and she inched away.



Mark snagged the chart that hung from the foot of her bed and flipped through. “Haven’t seen you in a while, Laura.”



“Not since you graduated high school,” she said. “I was in eighth grade then. So, yeah. Long time.”



“Wish the circumstances were better than a fractured clavicle.”



Sorrow read over his shoulder. “You and me both, Dr. Mark.”



“We need to figure out who did this,” Eddie said in a steely voice, his shift in tone marked.



Sorrow nodded somberly. “Billy is investigating.”



Mark raised a brow. “Billy, is it?”



It was Sorrow’s turn to blush. “The sheriff and I have become friendly.” She continued in her best business-as-usual voice, “He believes too much has happened around the lodge. And now, with the accident…it’s just too suspicious.”



Eddie pinned Laura with a look. “Good thing Miss Fancy-pants here will be running off soon. Staying safe. Right on schedule.”



Her sister resembled something like a deer in headlights, so Sorrow spoke for her. “Laura’s sticking around this time.”



“Oh, is she now?” Eddie’s eyes glinted. “Sounds like something I need to investigate.”



Thirty-nine



Billy needed to question Damien, and if he couldn’t get the guy into an interrogation room, he’d do one better. A bar. The Thirsty Bear Tavern, to be exact. He’d considered meeting at a neutral spot like Chances across town, but when taking a man’s measure, it was best to poke, prod, and provoke, targeting his most sensitive spots, getting under his skin. Which meant meeting at the tavern—ground zero for Damien’s relationship with the Bailey family.



“Thanks for meeting me,” he said when Damien came in. He forced an easy smile. The town of Sierra Falls seemed to love the guy, but from the start, he’d struck Billy as arrogant, slick, and too young to know better.