Free Missing with Bonus Material: The Secrets of Crittenden County, Book One by Shelley Shepard Gray Page B

woods around the creek beckoned her. There, she could get lost on one of the many trails and paths that ran along the water. Picking up her pace, she rushed forward. And, to her surprise, didn’t have the desire to look back at all. In fact, at that moment, she wished she could keep walking forever.
    To get far, far away. As far away as possible. Then she would figure out what to do next.

Chapter 8
    “The thing about Perry was that he never seemed Amish to me. ’Course, in a lot of ways he didn’t seem like anything at all. He was just Perry, for better or worse.”
    W ALKER A NDERSON
    Y eah?” Walker said into his cell phone after hastily grabbing it from amid the clutter atop his dresser.
    He heard a faint rustling in the background, then a throat clearing.
    “Walker? Is that you?”
    A curious buzz rang through him as he recognized the voice. Low and sweet and faintly accented. “Yeah, it’s me,” he said, unable to keep the smile out of his voice. “This is Lydia, right?”
    “Yes.” Pure relief filled her tone. “I was afraid I’d read the number wrong. Is this a bad time to talk?”
    “Not at all. You called at the perfect time.”
    “Ah. Gut . I mean, good.” Her voice was rushed but still thready-sounding. Far less sure than when they’d spoken face-to-face.
    “Walker, when you said that you were willing to meet me to talk about things, did you mean it?”
    “Sure I did.” Of course, while he had meant it, he wouldn’t have bet a nickel that she’d take him up on it.
    “Then could we meet? Soon?”
    “Yeah. Sure.” Running a finger along the only empty area on his messy desk, he cleared his throat. Realizing that she was most likely outside at one of the Amish phone booths that some families shared, he said, “Did something new happen? Did Detective Reynolds make you scared or something?”
    “Something did happen, but it wasn’t with the police detective. This is more personal.”
    “Is it about Perry?”
    “No,” she said after a moment’s pause. “It’s just that, well . . . something came up that has surprised me very much. My mind is so muddled, I’ve realized that I need to talk it through. To, ah, someone who isn’t Amish.”
    Walker was as confused by her statements as he was by the way she was choosing him to confide in. They hardly knew each other. “And I’m the only non-Amish person you know?”
    “Of course not.”
    “Then why me and not somebody else?” He could almost feel her apprehension through the air. But he wasn’t going to give her an easy way out. No way did he want to agree to meet her alone, just to get blindsided. He’d had enough of that with Abby—she was a champion at finding any excuse to corner him in order to talk about her problems.
    “Because of everything with Perry, and the way you know how much I’m struggling with his secrets, you might be the only person who could understand.”
    She sounded so upset, he quit questioning her. “How about we meet tomorrow afternoon?”
    “I could do that . . . if you wouldn’t mind picking me up at my family’s nursery?”
    Picking her up sounded like a date. And though that wasn’t what she meant, warning bells went off in his head. Picking her up would give anyone who saw them together a reason to ask questions.
    She seemed to realize that. “I could also meet you in town at the Pizza Hut around five. Would that work better for you?”
    “Yeah. That works better for me.” The Pizza Hut was on North Main, one of the closest streets to Highway 60 and the Amish community. From her house to the Pizza Hut, it was only five or seven minutes by car. But by buggy or bike, it could take almost an hour. Maybe even longer if she was walking. “Lydia, are you sure you can get there?”
    “It won’t be a problem.”
    Used to worrying about Abby, he almost asked Lydia how she was going to get to town. But then he stopped himself. How she got to Marion wasn’t his business. In addition, now that