Free Sudden Second Chance by Carol Ericson

man.”
    “Your father and mine were two sides of the same coin, weren’t they?”
    “And now you’re driven to find your real family, but what if this journey doesn’t end well?”
    “You mean what if I’m not Heather Brice, loved and missed by her family?”
    “Can you take the disappointment?”
    “Of course.” She dug into her oatmeal to hide her confusion. She’d been so convinced she was Heather, she hadn’t allowed any doubt in her worldview—until now.
    “When do you start your interviews? I can probably get Deputy Unger to talk to you. Maybe if his mom’s still in town, she can talk to you about Heather’s family.”
    Beth took a sip of tea to melt the lump in her throat. Only yesterday after she’d sprayed Duke in the face with pepper spray and he’d stalked off had she figured she’d get nothing more from him, and yet here he was, offering to save her again.
    Despite his hard shell, he had a soft heart. That was why he thought he could save all the kids of the world.
    “I thought...well, I figured you were done helping me with cold cases.”
    “I don’t see this as a Cold Case Chronicles ’ investigation. I see this as a Beth St. Regis investigation.”
    “I figured you’d be done with that, too.”
    “Maybe I should be.” He bit off the end of a piece of bacon.
    “Duke, it was never just about the evidence.” She hunched forward. “I don’t know how you could’ve believed that after what we had.”
    “You used me, Beth—straight-up.”
    “I took the case files from your room when I spent the night with you, but I didn’t spend the night with you to get the case files. How could you think that?”
    “Easy. We had sex and then you snuck out in the early morning hours, taking my files with you.”
    She sighed. If he’d let her prove to him that she wanted him regardless of what he could do to help her, she could convince him in one night.
    She dropped her spoon into her bowl as the truth punched her in the gut. She did still want Duke Harper, had never stopped wanting him. She just had one more truth to tell him and she didn’t know if he’d ever get over that one.
    He turned the file toward her. “Do you want to see this or is it just more fun skulking around in my room?”
    “I’ll take a look.”
    While Duke polished off the rest of his breakfast, Beth sifted through the pile of papers in the folder. Apparently, Timberline had suffered from a flourishing meth trade as the town’s economy tanked. A lot of money exchanged hands and there had been a spike in crime. Could the drug dealers have branched into trafficking? It happened all over the world. Why would a small town in Washington be immune?
    She closed the file. “That’s some scary stuff.”
    “You can see it’s not a stretch to imagine that druggie bunch might’ve been into some other serious crimes.”
    The waitress tucked the bill between the salt and pepper shaker and Beth grabbed it. “I’ll use my expense account in exchange for the information. You see? Everything on the up-and-up.”
    “Sounds fair.” Duke stood up and stretched. “I’m going to have a few meetings today with local law enforcement. Are you going to start making calls and setting up interviews with tomorrow’s budding TV stars?”
    “I suppose I have to start somewhere.” She handed her credit card to the waitress. “Who knows? Maybe someone will recognize me as Heather Brice.”
    She signed the receipt and joined Duke outside. “I hope the rental company replaced my car already.”
    “I’ll drop you off at the hotel.” He placed a hand at the small of her back, propelling her toward the car. “Stay alert. Don’t leave stuff in your car and make sure nobody’s following you.”
    “Following me?” She hugged herself. “That’s creepy. I hadn’t thought of that.”
    “Just watch it. I’ll even replace your pepper spray for you.”
    He started the car and wheeled out of the gravel parking lot of the