Read Online Hard Evidence by Roxanne Rustand - Free Book Online Page A

flashing white against his tan.
    He glanced over, and Janna felt her pulse pick up when their gazes collided, held, then veered away. Did he feel it, too—that subtle sense of awareness, even from across the room?
    From the corner of her eye, she saw him shift in his seat and whisper something to Ian, then they both looked up at the beautiful old stained-glass window above the altar.
    Easily over a hundred years old by now, its intricate, richly colored depiction of Jesus and his flock had entranced her from the first moment she’d ever walked into this church as a shy and awkward girl of ten, on the arm of her great-Aunt Sarah.
    Claire had rarely found the time for Sunday-morning trips to church, but when Aunt Sarah moved back from New York, she’d promptly begun rounding up the McAllister girls every Sunday without fail.
    Sarah had brought them to faith and had provided the kind of gentle nurturing that none of them had experienced at home. She was at her heavenly peace now, resting beneath a modest headstone on the hill outside, and when she died, she’d taken a big piece of Janna’s heart with her.
    Rylie nudged her. “Momma, are you sad?”
    “Just remembering, sweetheart. Remembering some dear old friends.”
    Mrs. Sawyer launched into the first bars of “How Great Thou Art” and with just the first notes, Janna felt a sense of peace and comfort surround her that lasted through the rest of the service. The passages from John 14, read during the lesson and echoed in the sermon topic, kept playing through her thoughts. “…Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
    Perfect words, given at a perfect time…which happened so often when she listed to a sermon or turned to read passages from her Bible.
    After the final hymn, Janna curved an arm around Rylie’s shoulder and moved down the aisle with the crowd to shake the pastor’s hand at the door.
    “Good to see you,” he boomed. “It’s been a long, long time. And who’s this young lady?”
    Rylie ducked her head and hung back, then shyly extended her hand. He enveloped her hand between his own massive paws. “Pretty as a picture—just like your mom. Y’all come back next week, okay?”
    Janna grinned, enjoying the folksy Texas accent he’d retained despite moving north decades earlier. “We’ll definitely do that.”
    “Maybe you can even get your momma and Tessa to come along.” He winked at her. “There’s plenty of room.”
    But probably not enough room in Claire’s stubborn heart…and after a traumatic incident in Tessa’s life during her early twenties, she’d fallen away as well. “I’ll pray about it,” Janna said.
    “Me, too.” They chatted for another minute, and when the pastor turned to greet some others, a trio of women came to stand in front of Janna, their smiles genuine but uncertainty flickering in their eyes.
    Janna blinked, taking in familiar features blurred by added weight and the passage of time. Still…
    “Betsy? Maria? And—oh, my word. Ivy? ” She took a deep breath and hugged each of her old classmates in turn. As a ranch girl, she’d had an hour bus ride each way and had been too isolated to develop strong bonds with the town girls, but these three had been the closest friends she’d had, even if their friendship had been limited to the hours during school itself. “It’s been such a long time!”
    “You disappeared the day of graduation,” Maria whispered. “We were worried . Your mom was always sooo mean to you, and—”
    “Maria!” Frowning, Betsy tilted her head toward the churchgoers who might be within hearing distance.
    “Well, it’s true,” Maria countered. “We called the ranch, but your mom never returned our calls and the housekeeper wouldn’t—or couldn’t—say where you’d gone.” Casting a quick glance at Rylie, who had wandered over to stand with Ian, she lowered her