Hidden Summit

until about ten after nine and by that time when Brie answered the door, she had a shocked look on her face. “Les,” she said solemnly.
    “What?”
    “Conner’s okay, but there’s been a shooting at the courthouse.”
    Leslie dropped the coffees, and they splattered all over the front walk and her feet. “Oh, God,” she said, not even bending to wipe the hot coffee off her feet.
    “Conner is okay,” Brie repeated. “Come in, just leave that mess and come in.” Brie grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. “Someone shot the defendant and a couple of the people with him. Three were wounded and two are in surgery.”
    “What did your lawyer friend say?”
    “He’s waiting for information himself. He said to sit tight. Obviously Conner won’t be in court today. I’m sure you’ll hear from him when he has more details. Come in and sit down—there’s news coverage.”
    Leslie walked in on shaky legs, sitting in the great room in front of Brie’s big screen, clutching her paper bag of sticky buns. “Are you sure it’s not Conner?”
    “Absolutely sure. Max said he told the police escort to take him back to his hotel and he’s waiting for more information. When a shooting victim goes into surgery, it could be something easily treated or it could be serious. Max has no idea at this point. Max said when he knows where they stand with the continuation of the trial, he’ll call. Obviously, he has a lot on his plate right now.”
    “Can I try Conner’s phone?”
    “I tried calling him, Les. It went straight to voice mail, but I didn’t leave a message. I’m not sure if he just has nothing to say or if he has the phone turned off from when he was going to the courthouse. Let’s try to stay cool. He’s not hurt. He wasn’t involved. Someone went after the bad guy.”
    They watched the same coverage over and over for two hours with no new information. Finally, at noon, Leslie had had enough. “I’m going to shop for some groceries and go home,” she said. “If I can stay busy making soup or something I might not lose my mind. My TV reception is spotty, but I have a phone. If there’s any new development, will you call me?”
    “Of course. Will you be all right?”
    “I have to be all right,” she said. “He’ll call me the second he has something to tell me. I know he will.”
    Leslie went to Fortuna, bought beef, barley, fresh vegetables, flour, yeast, apples, butter, a few other things and headed home. She got a soup going, a bread rising, an apple pie in the works. She didn’t cook and bake to eat but to keep her hands busy and her mind free and her body in the house where the phone was.
    She knew she’d hear from him.
    Conner drove around Clear Lake and up the highway toward Humboldt County. He’d been on the road for four hours. Before he headed into the mountains, he pulled off the road and placed a call to Max.
    “Did you notice I’m missing?” he asked.
    “Frankly, I’ve been too busy for that,” Max said. “Where are you?”
    “Just about back in Virgin River,” Conner said. “Any new developments?”
    “A significant one. It hasn’t been released to the press yet, so please give it a few hours before you throw your freedom party. Mathis didn’t make it out of surgery. The bullet went through his heart—impossible to repair. His lawyer will recover, his son is fine and the shooter is in custody. Randolph’s girlfriend. Or whatever. Apparently you weren’t the only one to worry he wouldn’t be convicted. And Randolph did in fact dope up Mathis’s daughter.”
    “God,” Conner said, shock and relief flooding through him.
    “That’s right, my man. No more trial.”
    “You don’t sound that happy.”
    “No, I am. There’s at least one bad guy off the streets. He looked real upstanding, but he was a bad guy, you can trust me. But what the hell,” Max said. “I wanted to get him!”
    Conner actually chuckled. “You’ll get the next one.”
    “Wanna bet I’ll never have a witness with a conscience and balls like yours?” Max asked.
    “Nope. Don’t want to take that bet. Been fun, buddy. Good luck.” And he clicked off and got back on the road.
    He might’ve driven a little fast on the road up the mountain to Virgin River. The clock on the truck console said almost five o’clock, but there was plenty of sunshine left on this day and he was so damn glad he’d made a decision to just drive. He was done with this nightmare. Right after he reassured