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By Root 916 0

picked up, not surprised to hear his daughter’s voice; she’d left a message at the office but he’d forgotten to call her back. Troy’s day had been interesting and he was eager for an opportunity to analyze what he’d learned that afternoon. The coroner’s office had finally sent him the complete report on the remains discovered in the cave, and the information had given him pause, to say the least. He needed an opportunity to digest what had been revealed and decide how to proceed. His one hope was that media interest had died down sufficiently to let this latest development pass without attention.

“Dad, are you listening to me?” Megan asked impatiently.

“What is it you want me to do something about?” Troy asked, just so she’d know he’d heard her the first time.

“You didn’t return my call,” she said.

“I was in a meeting.”

“I know, that’s what Cody said, but I asked him to explain that this was important.”

Troy’s assistant had mentioned the phone call and that Megan had sounded upset. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I had every intention of phoning you back, but time got away from me.” He didn’t want Megan to feel he didn’t consider her calls important; however, since she’d gotten pregnant, his daughter seemed to be in a perpetual state of crisis. “Tell me what’s wrong,” he said, setting the mail on the kitchen counter. The microwave clock told him it was ten to seven, which explained why his stomach was growling. He hadn’t even had a chance to remove his coat. A light rain had begun and tapped against the kitchen window.

“It’s about Faith,” Megan began.

Troy stiffened. “What’s happened now? Has there been another disturbance?” He’d been worried about the prowler and wondered if she’d taken his advice and installed an alarm. He hoped she’d asked Grace and Cliff about a motion sensor light, too. He’d recently checked with his deputies about the neighborhood; according to Deputy Weaver, things had been quiet on Rosewood Lane. If anyone was pestering Faith, she hadn’t reported it, nor had she contacted Troy.

“Nothing’s happened at the house that I know of—not that Faith’s said, anyway.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Megan sighed and he was afraid she might break into tears, an occurrence that had become commonplace in the past few months. It’d been the same with Sandy, Troy recalled. His wife’s emotions had been volatile during her pregnancy.

“Faith’s moving,” Megan said, her voice low.

Frankly, Troy didn’t blame her. In fact, he approved.

“Well?” Megan demanded.

“Well, what? Actually, I think it’s a good idea.”

“You can’t mean that,” Megan said with a gasp. “What’s the matter with you? You can’t let Faith move away! You just can’t.”

Clearly Troy was missing something. “Okay, let’s go over this again. Start from the beginning.”

“Okay,” Megan said impatiently. “I met her for lunch. We do that every so often, you know.”

Troy did, and was grateful for any information his daughter could provide regarding Faith.

“She’s helping me with the blanket I’m knitting for the baby. I’m practically finished and it’s really nice.”

Troy smiled, excited all over again at the prospect of becoming a grandfather. He knew one thing for sure—his grandchild was going to be a very spoiled baby.

“She almost didn’t tell me. In fact, I had the distinct feeling Faith wasn’t going to mention it.”

“She realized you’d eventually pass it on to me.”

“Probably,” Megan agreed. “At any rate, just as we were leaving and Faith was putting on her coat, she said she’d decided to move. She said that coming back to Cedar Cove had been a mistake. Her home in Seattle sold so quickly, she hadn’t thought everything through. Now she thinks it might be better if she left the area entirely.”

Shock rippled through Troy.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Megan asked.

Troy couldn’t speak for a moment. Faith wasn’t moving from one house to another; she’d be moving to another town. Troy knew why. She wanted to get away from him.

“I…see,” he finally managed.

“You aren’t going to let her leave, are you?” Megan asked, sounding like a little girl who wasn’t happy with