Tattered Legacy (A Nora Abbott Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page B

end, then a breathless continuation. “I taped it all just in case. You’ll know where the camera is. You know … if I can’t call.”
    Nora listened to the silence for a few seconds before the automated voice invited her to delete the message or save it to the archives. She pressed the archive number before it disconnected.
    She replayed it again and again, noting the call had come in the evening before Lisa’s accident. She checked the other five messages. All were from Abigail the morning after Lisa’s accident. Nora was so changing her phone plan as soon as she got home.
    “She sounded scared,” Nora told Abbey. He opened his mouth to pant in the warm Jeep.
    Fiery Furnace was a labyrinth of rock fins and canyons in Arches National Park. While Canyonlands encompassed a huge tract of land south of Moab, Arches was a smaller, if no less dramatic, park just a couple of miles north of town. Lisa had mentioned Fiery Furnace a few days ago. What about Tokpela Ranch?
    She started the Jeep and turned the wheel to make a U-turn across the lanes and head to Moab. What should she do about Lisa’s call?
    Just as the Jeep moved into the middle of the road, a white pickup popped over the western hill. Instead of slowing, the pickup seemed to gain speed. The driver laid on the horn.
    Electricity sparked in Nora. Her mind blanked.
    The truck sped toward her like a flash flood in a slot canyon, arrowed at the very spot where she sat frozen, hands on the wheel.
    She stomped on the gas and shot across the road, straight into the sandy shoulder. She slammed on the brakes before crashing into a stand of willows. Abbey tumbled from the seat to the floor, coming to rest on top of the box of ashes.
    Still leaning on the horn, the pickup sped past her bumper, close enough to shake the Jeep. Nora turned in her seat, spotting the black cowboy hat of the driver as the pickup slowed, eased into the right lane, and continued around the curve and out of sight.
    Not nearly as shaken as Nora, Abbey scrambled back on the seat. He wagged his tail and licked at Nora’s face. She managed to avoid his tongue as she sucked in a breath.
    Blood that had froze in those milliseconds of panic now thinned and surged. She concentrated on breathing. After a few seconds, Nora leaned over and righted Lisa’s box. Thank goodness the lid was still nailed shut. She couldn’t have faced her best friend’s spilled ashes.
    Nora put the Jeep into reverse. It revved. The tires spun in the sand; the Jeep didn’t budge. She shoved it into first and hoped to rock it to gain momentum. More spinning.
    “All this rock around here and I have to find a sand pile,” she grumbled. Abbey didn’t care.
    Nora climbed out and located the shovel she kept in the back. She went to work. The six-hour drive, the exertion, and the sun stole any crispness that had remained from her shower a million years ago at her apartment in Boulder.
    She dug a trench behind the wheels, found a few large stones to line it, and reversed the Jeep. It popped out onto the road and Nora and Abbey were back in business, sweaty, irritated, and craving a cool drink.
    By the time they made it to the Read Rock Bookstore and circled around the block to find parking in the back, not many cars remained. An alley ran between the bookstore and another building that led to Main Street.
    Easing the Jeep into a spot shaded by the building that would catch enough cool breeze to keep Abbey comfortable, Nora frowned at her disheveled appearance. She rummaged in her overnight bag, found a brush to run through her hair, and scrubbed the dried sweat from her face with a hand wipe from a container she kept in her glove box. It was the best she could do for now.
    She pulled Abbey’s collapsible dish from the back, filled it with water from the jug she always carried in the Jeep, and waited while he lapped it up.
    Moab was a small town of about five thousand that spread across the valley floor. Settled by Mormons, it had