Free Walk Through the Valley (Psalm 23 Mysteries) by Debbie Viguié

out her phone to call Jeremiah.
    “Hello?”
    She closed her eyes and felt herself relax slightly at the sound of his voice. Regardless of all the craziness they’d had that day just hearing his voice made her feel better, safer somehow.
    “Hey, it’s me,” she said.
    “How are you?”
    “Better than I expected to be, honestly. Kyle just came out of another surgery for internal bleeding, and we don’t know much else at this point. My parents are a wreck although Dad is holding it together better than Mom is. Kyle’s fiancée is banged up and has a broken wrist but otherwise seems okay. She’s nice.
    “Fiancée?”
    “Yeah, apparently they got engaged two days ago. Seems like everyone’s getting married. Well, if he survives, he will be. It’s just such a mess,” she said.
    She could hear the exhaustion in her own voice, and that was never a good thing.
    “So, what happened?”
    “It was an accident. They were driving back from her parents’ house when some idiot ran a red light, slammed into their car, and then took off.”
    Jeremiah was silent for so long she finally asked, “Are you still there?”
    “Yes, sorry. I was just thinking. Are you sure it was an accident?”
    “That’s what they’re saying. Why?”
    “It’s just, the last time Kyle was the victim of accidents, it turned out not to be so...accidental.”
    She knew he was referencing the cattle drive that they had all been on together. “I hadn’t thought about it,” she said quietly. “He’s here on vacation, though, so it can’t be a work thing.”
    “Hasn’t he done shows in Vegas before?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Maybe someone he encountered back then has some kind of issue with him.”
    “I hope not,” Cindy said, pressing her free hand to her forehead which was beginning to throb. She’d have to remember to go back into the store and grab some aspirin.
    “Sorry, I’m still jumpy from last week. I’m sure I’m just being paranoid,” Jeremiah said swiftly, as though sensing her distress.
    “I know, I had a hard time believing with all the crazy risks he takes and stunts he pulls that this is all because of something so common as a car accident. It’s just a crazy, unexpected accident.”
    Like our sister.
    She bit her lip, focusing on the pain so she wouldn’t start crying at the thought. She pulled it back together and then quickly asked, “How are things there?”
    He paused for a moment and then said, “That guy Christopher showed up at my house asking for my help to prove that his boss is innocent before the man’s reputation is irredeemably trashed.”
    “Wow. What did you say?”
    “I said ‘no’. I have too many other things going on, and I am not interested in getting that close to the situation given how many reporters are going to be covering every aspect of it.”
    “Kind of goes against that whole ‘the man of mystery in the shadows’ thing, doesn’t it?”
    He actually chuckled which made her smile. “A little bit.”
    “I really don’t believe that guy did it.”
    “Well, when you get back I’m sure you can figure out who did.”
    “Yeah, but Christopher was right about one thing. Every hour that suspicion is on him makes it that much harder for him to recover politically even if he is exonerated. Besides, what if the real killer goes free? Then I’d end up having to testify at his trial as to what I saw and an innocent man could go to jail. I couldn’t deal with that.”
    Jeremiah sighed on the other end of the line. “Cindy, do you want me to work on this and keep you in the loop?”
    “Yes, please.”
    There wasn’t anything she could do to help her brother, but there was something she could do to help Henry.
    “Alright. I’ll do it for you,” he said.
    “Thank you.”
    “Now go get some rest.”
    “I will,” she promised.
    “And call the minute you know anything.”
    “You, too.”
    “Goodnight,” he said.
    “Goodnight.”
    Reluctantly she ended the call. She sat there for