Sanctuary Lost WITSEC Town Series Book 1 by Lisa Phillips

of them were beautiful. “These are my sisters, Maria
who is married to Tom. They have two kids. And this is Antonia and
Sofia. They run the nursery and organize all the landscaping in
town.”
    John shook their hands.
    “That’s my brother, Diego.”
    The young man Matthias pointed to stood with
the table of ranch guys but waved at him. Diego’s features differed
from Matthias, his coloring darker whereas Matthias seemed to favor
his mother.
    Matthias must have seen John’s frown since he
added, “Takes after the Puerto Rican side of the family. Mama is
Greek.”
    Olympia wandered over.
    John included her in his smile. “You have a
beautiful family.”
    “They’re a handful, every one of them.”
    “Mama!” Plump Sofia’s hands shot to her
hips.
    John laughed at the gleam in Olympia’s eyes.
They might drive her crazy but she loved each one. He looked
around, searching for Pat. He was at the back of the room in
conversation with the lone woman who’d entered late. She’d crouched
to Pat’s level and nodded at something he said.
    “Excuse me.” John made his way over and put
his hand on Pat’s shoulder. “Hello.”
    The woman looked up and his breath caught.
Her eyes were dark almost black and the same shade as her long,
straight hair. “Sheriff. I’m Andra.”
    “Andra?”
    “Yeah, Dad. Like Alexandra, but without the
Alex part.”
    She shot Pat a smile. “I should be
going.”
    “Somewhere to be?”
    Her smile dimmed. “Yeah, home. And it’s a
decent walk so I should head out before it gets too dark.”
    John nodded. He didn’t make a point to argue
with a woman if he could help it and she seemed pretty determined
to leave. Though, run away was probably a more accurate
description.
    “It was nice to meet you.” She kept her eyes
on Pat and then turned to the door.
    John looked at his son. “How’d you get all
the way over here?”
    Pat shrugged. “She didn’t have anyone to talk
to, so I came over to say hi.”
    “That was nice of you.” John squeezed his
shoulder. “What’s she like?”
    “I think she’s lonely. Don’t you think
so?”
    “Could be. We’ll have to find out.”
    “There’s no need to worry about Ms. Caleri,
Sheriff.”
    He turned back and saw the doctor, one arm
around his wife.
    “Caleri?”
    Harriet swallowed like there was a bad taste
in her mouth. “Andra Caleri. She keeps to herself and in return no
one bothers her. Except when she shows up at the medical center and
yells at me for no reason whatsoever.”
    “Is there something about her I should know?”
John could look it up in Andra’s file but it was better to get
people’s opinions. That said more about someone than a report
did.
    “Just give her a wide berth as much as you
can. That’s what we do.”
    The doctor nodded. “It’s best that way. I’ve
heard she’s not very sociable. People who show up at her house on
accident don’t have anything good to say about the experience.”
    How did you show up at someone’s house by
accident?
    The question must have shown up on John’s
face because the doctor said, “She lives outside of town, up in the
mountains some but no one knows precisely where.”
    Harriet nodded. “Some people think she’s
lived by herself for so long it’s affected her mental state. If you
know what I mean.”
    Right. She seemed sane enough to John, but
how did you tell? “Well, I appreciate the heads-up.”
    “Goodnight, Sheriff.” They swept out the door
as a single unit.
    “Why were they mean about Andra? She’s
nice.”
    John looked down at Pat. “I’m not really
sure. Maybe Andra doesn’t get on well with some of the people in
town. Or maybe she just likes her privacy.”
    “Like when you go in a stall because you
don’t want to stand by everyone else at the urinal?”
    John laughed. “That is exactly what privacy
means.”
    “But Andra’s a girl.”
    “Girl privacy is probably different, but she
could still want that.” John ruffled Pat’s hair