When I selected “Earth to Emily,” I didn’t notice that it was the second in Pamela Fagan Hutchins’ Emily Bernal series.
Emily Bernal grew up very close to her rodeo riding father and devoted mother. Things were near perfect until her father simply disappeared. Due to her riding skills, Emily secured a college scholarship. She married, but that imploded when her now ex-husband announced that he was leaving her for another man.
Broke and confused, Emily was forced to return to Amarillo and move in with her mother. She has a job as a paralegal for the devastatingly handsome lawyer, Jack Holden. She’s got a serious crush on Jack, but he is ambivalent. Later, we learn that he lost his wife and children in a car-bombing meant to kill him.
About six months ago, Emily helped rescue little Betsy from a human trafficking ring. Ever since, she has been working toward adopting the little girl but has lots of hoops to go through before she has a chance.
It is mid-December bitter cold when Emily is asked to help find two teens who have run away from a CPS foster home. She and Jack head for the nearest Love Truck Stop knowing the kids would be trying to hitch a ride. Just as they arrive, they hear gunshots. A trucker has been killed.
In the chaos, Emily spots the teens, but they refuse to let her help. They do accept her business card then disappear into the blizzard. Later, they call Emily, asking for her help. She picks them up and drives to the hanger where Jack stores his plane.
She says they are her friends and need a ride to New Mexico. He knows the teens witnessed the trucker’s murder and can’t think of any better way to keep them safe. So, he takes the kids along to his family ranch in rural New Mexico.
There they meet Mickey and Laura. The couple asks no questions and agrees to let them stay for the week while he and Emily sort out the next steps.
One of Jack’s current clients is charged with assaulting an officer but swears he didn’t do it. When Jack’s custom-made saddle appears in the man’s resale shop, Jack gets to the truth. Alan recently inherited the business and discovered that his late father was being forced to buy and sell stolen goods. When he refused, he was beaten and warned that his family would be hurt next.
As Jack probes possible connections with the police, Emily blunders into the case and narrowly escapes with the license number of the delivery truck. Dancers have been disappearing from a local hot spot, but the police don’t seem interested. So, when one of the women asks Emily to meet her, she agrees. But when she gets there, the woman is dead and Emily is questioned by a police officer she has had previous unpleasant encounters with. She and Jack agree that this is no coincidence.
As they piece together the trucker’s death and the stolen goods issue, Emily and Jack find too many connections to ignore. As much as they need help, they don’t know which cops they can trust. When Jack and Emily return to the ranch, the teens have disappeared. Using horses and Mickey’s amazing tracking talent, they arrive at an abandoned mine.
That leads to the climactic confrontation with the killer behind it all, Emily and Jack get a chance to talk, she learns the truth about her father’s disappearance, and Jack makes a surprise proposal. I’m sure book three will include even more adventures for Emily, Jack and their extended family.
Our attitudes can help us treat life as an adventure. Your public library can supply books that take us on amazing adventures. Just drop by soon and check it out.
AT A GLANCE
Book: Earth to Emily (Emily Bernal, Book 2)
Author: Pamela Fagan Hutchins
Publisher: SkipJack Publishing
Year published: 2015
Number of pages: 290
