What had he been doing? Had he taken pictures of her? Did he know about Missy?
She needed to call Fran right now. She flung down the receipt and yanked her phone out of her pocket.
Then she had to face reality—her phone was shattered.
A sob started in her stomach and wrenched its way up, catching in her throat for only a moment before it came soaring out of her mouth.
Chapter Five
Ted had no idea what was going on, only that something bad was happening. Emma looked one breath away from pure panic, and Ted knew what that looked like. He’d helped a couple of newboots when they’d come to River Bay, and Raymond had suffered a complete panic attack his first night.
It had been as scary for Ted as Raymond, and they’d been friends until the day Ray got to walk out, a free man.
Emma was about to lose it, and Ted stepped closer to her as a sob came out of her throat. He gathered her tight, because he knew more now than he had when he’d attempted to help Raymond.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “You’re okay. You’re right here.” He held her tightly against his chest, and he couldn’t complain when her arms came up and around him too. She clung to him as if she needed him to stand, which was actually fine with Ted.
Strangely enough.
“Just take a breath,” he said. “Okay? In with me, Emma.” He drew in a long, deep breath, but she ignored him completely. “And out,” he said anyway, releasing his breath. He did it again, and this time, she matched her breath to his.
“Tell me what’s in your head,” he said.
“I can’t.” Her voice was thick as honey and filled with misery.
“Who was the man that was here earlier?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s the problem.”
Ted didn’t quite get how. “You didn’t talk to him?’
“No, I assumed he was the pest guy, because he had that truck with the grasshopper.” Her breath was hot against his chest, but she’d started to calm.
“You thought he was checking the meters?”
“Yes.”
“Or was the pest guy.”
“Yes.”
“But he wasn’t either of those.”
“I don’t think so.”
Ted didn’t either, but he wasn’t sure why it mattered. Emma didn’t seem like the type of woman to be scared by her own shadow, even though she had screamed when she’d seen him earlier that morning.
So why would she literally fall apart over a man coming to the house? Surely they had dozens of people coming and going around this ranch. One dude in a blue truck shouldn’t send her into a frenzy.
Unless she has something to hide, Ted thought, and he realized he’d just hit the nail on the head. Hard.
Emma had something to hide. Something big, and with someone new on the ranch, asking questions, she was afraid…of something.
Ted couldn’t even imagine what, but he knew he’d seen her somewhere, and his guess was in a file for one of the cases he’d worked at his law firm, many years ago. He’d doubted himself for a few hours last night, but this morning, looking at her again in the barn, and then again just now in the house, and he knew.
He’d definitely seen her face before, either in person or in a picture.
“Ted?”
Ted released Emma, but she didn’t move very far from him. Ted stepped to the corner of the house and waved to Nate. “We, uh, need a second.”
“Need a second for what?” Nate started striding toward them, and Ted ducked back around the corner.
“He’s coming.”
Emma wiped at her face, but she’d done a number on her makeup. Her perfectly swept on eyeliner had smudged, and she had streaks down her cheeks. “I’m fine.”
“What’s going on?” Nate asked. “First, you’re all upset that we have to—oh.” His eyes had landed on Emma, who kept her head down while she kept trying to wipe her eyes and not have black come away on her fingers.
“I need a minute,” she said, and she spun and went toward the back corner of the house.
Ted and Nate stood in the shade, staring after her.
“Teddy,” Nate said slowly. “Tell me you did not make that woman cry.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” Ted said quickly. He explained what had happened in literally the last four minutes, and Nate’s eyes got wider with every sentence.
“So who was that guy?”
“She doesn’t know,” Ted said. “She freaked out hard, Nate. There’s something going on with her.”
“I can ask Ginger,” Nate said. “Should we go wait in the air-conditioned truck?”
“Heavens, yes,” Ted said, breathing a sigh of relief. He walked with his friend around the front of the house and to where Nate had parked in the driveway. “How well do you know Emma?” he asked. “Do you know what she’s involved in?”
“You think she’s involved in something?”
“Yes,” Ted said simply. Women didn’t fall apart because someone rang the doorbell and then went around the side of the house. This ranch was crawling with people, and it would take someone with some special skills to do something unnoticed.
But maybe Emma had been dealing with someone with just those kind of special skills. Ted’s mind whirred, especially when Nate didn’t say anything. The man never did just fill the silence with chatter, and Ted normally appreciated that.
Emma appeared in his rear-view mirror, and Ted opened the door and slid out. “Do you want the window or the middle?” he asked.
“Window, please,” she said, her voice stronger now. Her makeup had been cleaned from her face, and she hadn’t redone it. Ted stared at her, finding her natural beauty even better than the gorgeous woman she was with dark eye makeup and blemish-free skin.
And in that moment, he also knew who she was.
Emma Clemson, of course.
Emma Clemson, the girlfriend and known associate of Robert Knight, a suspected crime ringleader from the Knight family of criminals. They operated all over southern Texas, moving people and drugs, committing petty thefts and assaults, and sometimes, if they had to, people ended up dead.
It had been Ted’s firm’s job to find as many of their known associates as possible and interview them about a specific incident that could put Larry Knight, Robert’s brother, behind bars for a very long time.
He’d been right. He’d seen her picture in a case file.
She lifted her eyebrows, and Ted realized he’d fallen into simply staring at her while he reviewed the case mentally. “Sorry,” he said, hurrying to get back in the truck and slide over next to Nate.
“I need to talk to you tonight,” he murmured to his best friend as Emma climbed onto the seat next to him.
“Deal,” Nate said just as quietly, and then he reached for the volume dial on his radio. “Okay, phones first?”
“Yes,” Ted said. Nate set off down the dirt lane that led to the highway, but Ted couldn’t relax. He sat straight and tall, not daring to let any part of him touch Emma. Tension radiated through the cab, despite the pop music playing, and Ted couldn’t help turning his head to look at Emma again.