The Fire Still Burns by Crystal-Rain Love Page A

you're not hers to leave behind.  Still, it felt the same way, and he realized, then, that a part of him had rejoiced at her return.  He choked back laughter, amazed at his own ignorance.  A part of him had believed it was a second chance.  He'd actually believed somewhere deep down that she still carried a spark of what they'd shared thirteen years before, and that it was enough to keep her, but she didn't have any intention of rekindling anything with him.  So why had she looked so miserable a moment before?  She had to care.
    “I saw the look on your face when you were going down memory lane just now, Brynn.  It was guilt.  Tell me what went wrong and we'll both deal better—”
    “Stop it, Adam.”  Brynn's sharp command cut him off.  “You said it yourself.  The chief is right.  We need to let it go and move on.  Do it for your brother and I'll do it for my son and our future.”  She closed her eyes and shook her head.  “What we had was over years ago and I know there are still feelings there, but we have to just sweep all that under the rug and go on with our lives.”
    “How can I move past it when there's this big question hanging over me?”
    “Trust me, Adam.  There's nothing I could tell you now that would fix things.”  She looked at him, her green eyes pleading.  “Too much time has passed.  Things that should have been said weren't.  Discussing what happened won't help at all.  Just believe me on this.”
    Adam looked at her, saw the desperation in her eyes and reluctantly gave in.  She'd called him all those years ago to explain her side of the story, but he'd slammed the phone down.
    He couldn't get the image of her and Cal out of his mind long enough to give her a chance to speak.  Zeke's words had kept running through his mind— She’s cheating on you with your own best friend, everyone knows it —and if she'd been a man he would have beaten her to death, he was that furious, that hurt.  Now she wasn't going to tell him anything, and he was just going to have to live with being haunted by the questions he hadn't cared to have answered when he'd had the chance.
    “Fine,” he said, conceding to the fact he was asking for answers thirteen years too late.  “We focus on the case and then go our separate ways.  You're the one with the investigation experience.  What's our next step?”
    She seemed to let out a breath of relief before rising from her seat to walk to the door.  With a glance over her shoulder, she announced their next move.
    “We look into the disappearance of Rachel Wood.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eight
     
    Adam leaned back in his chair and watched in amusement as Sheriff Clarkson squirmed under the weight of Brynn's killer glare.  The agitated woman leaned over the man's desk, her fists firmly planted on the oak top.
    “What do you mean there isn't much to tell?  A young, pregnant girl goes missing and you don't know anything?  You should have a whole file on her.”
    “Brynn, we know this girl,” the thin but powerfully built sheriff explained using a mellow, soothing tone as though he were calming down a two-year-old in the middle of a tantrum.
    “The Wood girls are nothing but trouble.  She most likely skipped town with whoever the father of her baby is.”  He raked a long-fingered hand through his short crop of brown hair.
    “Most likely isn't a definite, is it, Sheriff?  It's not your job to assume what Rachel Wood did, it's your job to find her.”  
    “Now look here, little lady,” Sheriff Clarkson rose from his chair behind the massive desk.
    “Wait a minute, both of you,” Adam spoke for the first time since the two had entered the office.
    “There's obviously a lot of temper in this room and it's not going to help us do anything productive.  Brynn, the police apparently have reason to believe leaving town unannounced is normal behavior for Rachel Wood.”  He held his hand up, palm outward, when Brynn