Remembering the woman he had first met, he felt just awful. Right now her shoulders seemed a little slumped and she was so silent it didn’t feel right. Not that she constantly chattered, but rarely was she this still, as if she’d crossed a bridge too far tonight. It was all his fault and too late now to fix it. He’d wandered into this town, basically blind to the real danger he was in, thinking of looking up an old friend. After all, they’d told him they weren’t sure anyone was after him. He certainly hadn’t suspected his own people were involved in hunting him down. But regardless of what he had known or not, it remained that he’d allowed apparent voices of reason to persuade him to stay, that everyone would be safer if he did. He didn’t question Ryker’s motives, or the sheriff’s. They had made a lot of sense. But Julie in the middle of this made no sense at all. Ryker had honestly thought that if they told Julie this was dangerous, she’d just back off.
