man in town.
On the fourth afternoon, Anna was sleeping when Cheyenne Higgins called.
Ronald recognized her number and put the phone on speaker.
“I heard you’re back, little soldier,” she said with a laugh.
The nickname was meant to shrink him.
“My sons are protected,” Cheyenne continued. “My husband runs this town, the police, and the courts. Take your daughter when she’s discharged, and be grateful we’re letting you.”
Ronald looked at Anna’s face against the pillow.
He said nothing.
Cheyenne mistook his silence for fear.
“Luke says that when you finally come looking for him, he’ll finish what he started with her.”
The hospital room seemed to contract around those words.
A soft oxygen hiss came from the next bed beyond the curtain.
Anna shifted beneath the blanket but did not wake.
Cheyenne hung up.
She did not know the call had been on speaker.
She also did
