Free I'll Find You by Nancy Bush

just making it all up, though she’s always been sharp as a tack. It took a lot for her to finally ask me to help her, since we’ve never been on close terms. That’s how much she wants Tucker.”
    “She thinks Teresa’s to blame?”
    “She thinks Teresa had a hand in the accident that killed Stephen.”
    “And you do too?” No wonder he’d been so harsh in the beginning.
    “She’s got some things to answer for. She didn’t waste a lot of tears over Stephen, and she took off with his son almost from the moment he was gone. She’s been missing ever since, probably by design.”
    “You must have something more . . . ?”
    “Suspicions. I just want to find her. Even if she’s not to blame, she’s completely self-serving, and I want to make sure Stephen’s son is okay. That’s what Victoria says she wants too, though I think she’d like Teresa to be declared an unfit mother.”
    “What happened to Stephen?”
    “A hunting accident. He was out with a friend. Something happened and Stephen got in the way when the friend’s rifle discharged. Shot him in the chest. Devastated the friend.”
    “But . . .”
    “I know. How is Teresa responsible. Victoria says she was having an affair with the friend. His name’s Edmund Mikkels.”
    “And she got him to kill your brother?”
    “Half brother. Not necessarily, but I believe she had an affair with Edmund. That’s just how she operates.”
    “No wonder you wanted to kill me,” Callie murmured. “Well, I’m not her. I don’t have anything to do with any of this.”
    His gaze, which had been centered on her face, slowly moved to the bracelet at her wrist. “Where can I find this Aimee?” he asked.
    Callie struggled with herself. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to trust in him implicitly, but she wasn’t exactly batting a thousand when it came to her judgment of men. “All right, I lied. I picked the bracelet up at a pawnshop.”
    The words were out before she even thought them through. Careful, she warned herself, wishing she could take them back.
    “What pawnshop?”
    “I—hmmm. It was in Barbados. I flew there first, for a couple of days, and the bracelet was on display in the window.”
    “Barbados?”
    “Yes.”
    Lies, lies, and more lies. After giving him a straightforward and credible story about her past now she was lying. And she was such a terrible liar! But she wasn’t about to bring up Tucker yet. She believed him, to a point. Believed that, like herself, he’d doled her partial truths, and until she knew the whole story, she wasn’t going to say anything that she didn’t need to.
    “Stephen gave Teresa that bracelet or she took it,” he insisted in a low voice.
    “Maybe she pawned it,” Callie said.
    “I don’t think so.”
    Callie felt as if a cold hand had traced a line down her back. She’d made a whopping mistake. He knew she was lying.
    “Who’s the friend who gave it to you?” he asked.
    “I just said—”
    “I’ll believe the first story.”
    “Well, I can’t help that.”
    They were at an impasse. “All right. I’ll take you back and we can figure the rest out.”
    “What do you mean?”
    He made an impatient sound. “What do you think I mean? I mean, you’re my connection to Tucker and Teresa. You need to get back and take care of yourself, and I need to repay you for all the trouble I’ve caused.”
    “I’m fine. Truly.”
    “You took a hit and you’re scraped up—”
    “A misunderstanding.”
    “You said I attacked you,” he reminded her.
    “Well, I didn’t mean that, I was just trying to . . . goad you. But you’re absolutely right. I did this to myself.”
    “What the hell’s going on?” he asked. “You’re being awfully agreeable.” He was looking at her with the same narrow-eyed suspicion he had earlier.
    And suddenly she was done. Reaction, or the realization that anything she said to this man was dangerous until she had more information—both, probably—caused her to just