Excerpt from Whispers:

  Rick closed his eyes and slightly turned his head. Elle knew he was concentrating on something, maybe he was looking for a certain word.

  “Who’s singing?” he finally asked.

  “Rhonda Vincent,”

  “That’s why she sounds familiar,” he said. “She collaborates with Dolly now and then.”

  “Eastern Tennessee . . .,” Elle recalled where Hadley was from. “Dolly Parton . . . it makes sense. If you follow Dolly you’ve probably heard Vincent.”

  “No way not to follow Dolly,” he said with a smile. “Is that Keith Urban?” he asked of the male voice that had joined Vincent’s.

  “A discerning ear,” Elle said. “Don’t know what I’d do without music.”

  “What CD are we listening to?”

  “It’s a playlist I compiled several years back during my placid period.”

  Rick smiled. “And she has a good vocabulary, too.”

  Elle shook her head and returned the smile. “Sometimes I come home, throw everything in a chair, lie down on the sofa, close my eyes, and just listen.”

  “It’s great background music,” Rick commented.

  Elle got up and walked over to the media player. She reached in a drawer and slipped a new flash drive into a USB port and copied the playlist. She faced him and asked if he would like something to drink.

  “No, I really need to get on the road.” He rose to his feet. “I’d like to get there before dark to have some time to visit before dinner.”

  Elle detached the thumb drive.

  “Hold on a minute,” she said before placing the plastic cover on the device. “Mood music for your trip. Dolly’s on there with a couple of selections from the Trio album with Ronstadt and Harris.”

  “Thanks, Wyatt.” Rick leaned over and tapped the gun case sitting on the coffee table and said, “See you Thursday.”

  “I’ll send details.”

  She walked him to the door.

  “Goodbye, Wyatt.”

  “Goodbye, Hadley.”

  She closed the glass door and watched him walk to his truck. He opened the vehicle’s door and held up the flash drive just before he got in and drove away.