Jake rubbed a hand across his jaw, thinking of Sheriff Collins.
A man Jake had never trusted.
A man who smelled like trouble even when he tried to look holy.
Elise’s eyes filled, but the tears didn’t fall yet.
“I knew if I stayed,” she whispered, “I would disappear too.”
Jake didn’t blink.
“So I slipped onto a freight wagon heading out of town,” she said. “Rode it as far as the river. Then I walked… until my legs gave out.”
Her voice cracked on the last part.
“And that’s how you found me.”
And then, for the first time since Jake had lifted her from the grass, Elise began to cry.
