Free Protecting the Dream by Michelle Sharp Page A

imagine living anywhere else. Do you think you’ll be moving in?”
    Jordan took a breath, looked back at Liz. “Uh, Ty has loved this place since he was a kid. I’ve always been a city girl, but I think I could get used to it, too.”
    Liz emptied the bag of food and, sure enough, the ducks waddled back to the water. “Ellie and I used to sit by this lake and chat for hours.”
    “You were friends with Ellie Henderson?”
    “Good friends.” Liz gave a sad nod.
    Interrogating the neighbors probably wasn’t going to make a great first impression, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. “You know, I’m kind of curious about the history of the horse ranch and why it’s been empty for so long. Can you tell me what happened with the Hendersons?”
    The grim set of Liz’s expression convinced Jordan she’d overstepped. The older woman’s hands fisted around the empty brown bag. “Joe was in a car accident and, well, it just crushed Ellie. She never recovered from the loss. Less than a year later, we lost her, too.”
    “She passed away?”
    Liz choked out a humorless laugh and looked back up at Jordan. “That depends on who you ask. Technically, she went missing. The gossips around town say she took off after Joe died. But that’s ridiculous. I know she’s dead.”
    Jordan didn’t want to come right out and agree with Liz, but the idea that Ellie Henderson was alive did seem ridiculous. Especially since Jordan was pretty sure she’d been connecting with Ellie’s spirit. “Why do people believe she took off?”
    “Mostly because her body was never found. And the ranch was having financial difficulties. Joe’s accident was in October of 2004. I’ve never seen anyone as inconsolable as Ellie was. To the point that she just . . .” Liz shook her head and teared up. “I couldn’t get through to her. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get her to talk to me.”
    Liz shrugged. “I don’t like to carry on rumors, but there was talk even before Joe’s accident that the ranch was struggling money-wise. But Ellie never mentioned anything like that, and I didn’t think it was my place to bring it up. I was trying to be a good friend. Now I think a good friend would have insisted on knowing things and pushed harder to help.”
    Jordan decided guilt was the great equalizer. Almost everyone had just enough tucked away to make sure happiness didn’t get out of hand.
    “I don’t think you can bully someone you’re supposed to be friends with into telling you their private business. I bet Ellie knew you were there for her.” Jordan gestured to the big boulder. “Why don’t we sit for a minute?”
    Jordan sat, but Liz only leaned against the rock.
    “I hope she knew I would have done anything for her. I loved her as much as I loved any of my own sisters.”
    I loved you, too, and I’m sorry I didn’t confide in you.
    Jordan didn’t say the words, but they were front and center in her mind. Without a doubt, she’d heard and felt Ellie.
    Sure as she was sitting on Ellie’s boulder.
    Sure as they were overlooking Ellie’s lake.
    Ellie’s words played in her mind with a sharp, precise clarity, every bit as clear as Tara’s thoughts had come to be.
    But Jordan didn’t relay the message. She’d only barely admitted to Ty the oddness of hearing his dead sister; she wasn’t going there with a woman she’d just met.
    “A man moved into Ellie’s stable only weeks after Joe died,” Liz said. “Ellie said he’d worked with Joe before and was going to help with the horses, but she barely spoke to anyone after he came. Then a few months later, she disappeared. He claimed she up and left, told him to take care of things while she went to stay with her sister in California. But I called Ellie’s sister.” Liz turned and met Jordan’s gaze. “There was no visit planned. No one heard from Ellie after that.”
    “Didn’t the police investigate?”
    “I think so, but there was no body. She and