Beyond Risk

by Connie Mann

  Before they left town, they stopped at the funky boutique in a converted Victorian where Natalie worked. As soon as Charlee and Hunter walked into the incense-heavy front room, an older woman in flowing, colorful robes glided in their direction. “Charlotte.” She air-kissed both of Charlee’s cheeks and then smiled at Hunter. “And who might you be, handsome?”

  “Lieutenant Boudreau, Fish and Wildlife, ma’am. And you are?”

  “Delores Fairbanks, but you can call me anytime.” At Hunter’s smile, she laughed. “Or just call me Delores. What brings you here, Charlotte? How’s your mother? Natalie said she had to get home, so she couldn’t come in to work yesterday afternoon.”

  “That’s why we’re here. What time did she call you, Delores?”

  “Well now, it was the middle of the day. I know we were quite busy. Lots of gals pop in during their lunch hour to pick up a wedding or shower gift this time of year. Must have been between noon and one or so, I’d say.” Her penciled eyebrows rose. “Why? What’s wrong?”

  “Nat didn’t show up at the hospital. Nobody has seen her since yesterday.”

  Delores put a hand to her ample bosom. “Oh, dear heaven. What could have happened?”

  “That’s why we’re here.” Hunter produced another card and handed it to Delores. “Please call me immediately if you hear from her.”

  “Sugar, I may call you even if I don’t.” She grinned, then sobered as she saw their expressions. She cleared her throat. “Please let me know when you find her so I won’t worry.”

  “We will.” Charlee leaned in for more air-kisses and then they climbed back into Hunter’s truck.

  Hunter turned them toward Ocala and called Josh, asked him to meet them at the hospital with his fingerprint kit. Charlee leaned back against the headrest and turned to look at him. “We have to find her.”

  “And we will. We’ll take I-75 back, in case we’re wrong and she went that way. Keep an eye out for her car.”

  Charlee nodded, desperate for something besides her fear to focus on. They scanned the roadside as they headed south, Charlee hoping against hope they would find her sister’s car, maybe a note inside that she’d hitched a ride…something.

  But they reached the hospital in Ocala without finding a single trace. Charlee called Pete as they pulled into the parking garage. “Anything?”

  “That’s what I was going to ask you,” Pete said.

  “Her roommate hasn’t seen her since yesterday. The deputy keeping an eye on her isn’t answering his cell. And Delores hasn’t heard from her since she called in around lunchtime to say she had to get home because of Mom. We checked Route 441 and I-75 between here and her apartment and didn’t find any sign of her.”

  “I called all the area hospitals. She hasn’t been brought in under her name or a Jane Doe, either. FHP hasn’t reported any accidents.”

  “So where is she?” Charlee couldn’t keep the worry out of her voice.

  “We’ll keep looking, squirt. Be tough. Is Josh there yet?”

  Charlee looked in the rearview as her brother pulled up behind them. “He just got here.”

  She hung up, then squeezed her eyes shut for a second, rubbed at the ache in her chest before she looked at Hunter. “He has her.”

  He met her gaze without flinching. “It looks that way. But we can’t be sure. Let’s see if Josh can get any prints from the phone while we check in with your dad.”

  She hugged Josh before she and Hunter headed through the hospital. Outside her mother’s room, Charlee summoned her best smile. No way did she want to add to the burden her folks already carried.

  When they walked into the room, her father’s eyes lit with hope. “Did you find her?” His smile faded as he saw Charlee’s face. He looked from one to the other. “Did you find out anything? Where could she be?”

  Charlee hugged him, then guided him away from the bed, in case their mother could hear them. “We’re still working on it. Pete and Josh are, too.”

  Her father glanced over at the bed, then back, his face bleak. “You have to find her. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to her, too.”

  With that, her big, strong bear of a father wrapped her in his arms and burst into silent sobs that tore Charlee’s heart to tiny little bits. She’d never seen him cry. Never seen him anything other than the solid rock that held their family together. Whatever it took, she’d stand by him and help hold him up.

  She ran a hand down his back and hung on tight. “We’ll find her, Dad. I promise. We won’t stop until we do.”

  “See that you do.” After a few minutes, he eased away and sat back down by her mother’s bedside.

  Charlee went to the other side and placed a gentle kiss on her mother’s cheek. “Come back to us, Mama. We need you. We love you.”

  Her father clasped Hunter’s hand. “You keep my girl safe. If something happens to her…” He let the thought trail off.

  “Yes, sir. I’ll do whatever it takes.” The two men exchanged a nod, and Charlee and Hunter left the room.

  “Let’s go check in with your brothers,” Hunter said.

  Chapter 26

  Hunter jogged to keep up with Charlee on the way back to the parking garage. He understood her frantic need to do something, to find Natalie right this minute. But he also knew—as did she—that if they didn’t take the time to think it through, to figure out who had her—or at least make a really good guess—they’d waste time running in circles. And that they couldn’t afford.

  “Anything?” she asked as soon as she reached Josh, who had the tailgate down and was using it as a worktable.

  Josh shook his head. “The phone has been wiped completely clean. Not even Nat’s prints are on it.” His cell phone rang. “Tanner.”

  “Meet us at Charlee’s cottage,” Hunter said as he climbed into the truck. Josh looked up from his call and nodded that he understood. Hunter headed back toward Charlee’s place.

  She growled when he pulled up to a fast food drive-through. “I really can’t eat,” Charlee said when he handed her a burrito.

  Hunter unwrapped his with one hand while he drove. “I know. But we need to think, cher, and for that we need fuel.”

  She nodded, took a small bite and choked it down, then took another and another until she had finished the whole thing. He gave her major points for that. She did what needed doing for the sake of her loved ones, every time. He would do no less for her. And that meant finding Natalie, ASAP.

  As soon as they reached her cottage, he walked around the outside, grabbed the palm frond, and climbed up to access the camera’s SD card, hoping they’d get lucky this time. Once back inside, he opened his laptop on the kitchen table. “Talk me through what happened a year ago, would you?”

  Charlee sank into the chair opposite and took a sip of her sweet tea, rubbed her eyes. “Haven’t we been over it enough?”

  “No. Because like you, I think we’re still overlooking an important piece somewhere.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  He picked up the newspaper clipping she’d been sent. “You said Tommy looked a lot different then. How so?”

  “Well, he wasn’t broken then, if you know what I mean. His hair was groomed, he took care of himself.”

  He inserted the SD card while he spoke, loaded the photos. “What about JJ and Nora? We saw their yearbook pictures. Did they look pretty much like that?”

  “Yeah, why?” She jumped up. “Wait. I have a picture.”

  She hurried into her room and came back carrying a photo. She held it out, and Hunter took it from her. “We took a group shot before we left that day. It, ah, it was my first solo trip as guide, so…” She shrugged.

  Hunter studied the photo. “Okay, so there’s JJ and Nora with you in the front. There’s Tommy and Sally.” Hunter pointed. “Who’s that?”

 
“That’s James, Tommy’s brother.”

  Hunter switched from the photos to the report from last year, started scrolling. “He wasn’t with you, though, right?”

  “He was supposed to be, but he didn’t go with us, no.” Charlee slid back onto the chair, frowned as she thought back. “There was some bad blood between Sally and James. He started ragging on Nora about how she was talking to JJ, so Sally jumped in and told him to stay out of it. It wasn’t his job.” Charlee waved her hands. “The whole thing escalated in a hurry, and before I knew it, Sally stormed off one way and James the other. She came back, but James didn’t. After a while, Tommy said we should just go on without him.”

  Hunter was working out the logistics in his mind when his email chimed. He read the short message, then looked up at Charlee. “Tommy and James Jennings’s mother drowned in her bathtub when James was seventeen, Tommy was ten. At the time of her death, the boys’ biological father was in prison.”

  Hunter could see Charlee’s mind racing down the same track as his. She drummed her fingers on the table. “You think James is behind all this? Because of the water connection?”

  Hunter fired off another email, then stood and paced, his mind working through the possibilities. He leaned both arms on the table. “What if James didn’t leave? Or what if he came back and killed JJ? Or maybe JJ’s death was an accident, but he tried to kill Nora?”

  Charlee’s eyes went wide as she followed the thought. “And I interrupted him.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and started rocking back and forth. “I-I never even thought about it. I should have. Dear God, what if it’s been him all along? He’s got Natalie.”

  Hunter came around the table and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Easy. Take a breath. Let’s make sure before we go off half-cocked. It’s still just a theory, albeit the best one we’ve got.”

  He went back to the photos from the trail camera and scrolled through them. “Come on, come on,” he muttered, flipping back and forth between photos. He squinted, leaned closer.

  “What did you find?” Charlee leaned over his shoulder. “Can you make it any clearer? Or is there a better shot of his face?”

  Hunter kept flipping back and forth, frustration roiling in his gut. “No, not really, but maybe Byte can work his magic.” He snapped a photo of Charlee’s group shot, then sent that and several different shots from the trail camera to Byte to run through facial recognition, see if they matched. Then he used the dates Byte had sent and ran a search on James Jennings. While he waited, he drummed his fingers on the table as Charlee flipped through the pages of the old case file, both of them searching, desperate.

  “Yes.” He read the report that popped up and shot Charlee a look of triumph. “James was questioned in his mother’s drowning death in the bathtub. His fingerprints are on file. He was a juvenile then, but we should be able to access his prints, given the nature of the situation.”

  He fired off an email request for that, then picked up his cell. “Hey, Sanchez, listen, do me a favor. I know it’s a real long shot, but run down to the Outpost and dust the canoe and kayak registration forms filled out the day Brittany died for prints, would you? Thanks.”

  * * *

  Charlee felt like she was going to burst out of her skin. She escaped Hunter’s concerned gaze by taking refuge in her room, desperate to settle her mind, force the panic away. Her hands tingled, and her heart raced like a runaway train. She sat down on the side of her bed and put her head between her knees so she wouldn’t hyperventilate. Slow, deep breaths. In, out…in, out.

  She had to be strong. After a few minutes, she stood and paced, still taking slow, deep breaths. She wouldn’t be able to help anyone if she didn’t calm down.

  As she paced, she turned toward her dresser and stopped. Sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains and glinted off something on the dresser top. She stepped closer to investigate, surprised to find a gold, heart-shaped charm lying there. It looked like it should be on a charm bracelet or necklace—and she’d never seen it before in her life.

  Maybe it belonged to Natalie? No. Her sister never wore gold, only silver, and only chunky, funky modern pieces. This necklace was more old-fashioned. She turned it over. Fourteen carat gold. Not costume jewelry, so definitely out of her sister’s price range. Their mother used to wear gold all the time. Had she given this to Natalie, and Nat had left it here?

  That didn’t make sense either. Natalie hadn’t been to the cottage recently.

  Her heart started racing again, so she sat on the edge of the bed, repeating her slow-breathing routine. If Hunter saw her now, he’d know she’d turned into a complete weakling.

  “Yes! We got him! Charlee?”

  She ran to the kitchen, heart pounding all over again. “What did you find?” She leaned over his shoulder and took a deep, calming breath, inhaling his clean male scent. She did it again. He exuded utter calm, and everything inside her settled as she absorbed his strength.

  He pointed to two images on his laptop, side by side. “Byte got a hit through facial recognition. Byte used what we sent, plus a photo Troy had taken on the river the day Brittany died. Despite the bleached hair and beard, Oliver Dunn and James Jennings are the same person.”

  Charlee leaned closer, stunned. Her eyes bounced back and forth between the two images, merging them in her mind. “Unbelievable. I never even guessed. He didn’t act the same or move the same or anything.” She shook her head. “I should have seen it.”

  Hunter looked up. “Stop. You shouldn’t have. You weren’t supposed to. That’s the whole point of a disguise. Besides, how much time did you spend with Oliver, I mean James, that day last year?”

  Charlee thought back. “None, really. Just enough to get introduced, collect paperwork, and go over the safety check. After his fight with Sally, I never saw him again.” She banged her fist on the table. “We have to find him!”

  The charm popped out of her hand and hit the table.

  “What’s this?” Hunter asked.

  “I just found it on my dresser, but it’s not mine. I don’t think it’s Natalie’s either. Not her style.”

  Hunter thought a moment, then picked up his cell phone. “Mrs. Jennings, may I speak to Nora? No, ma’am, I just have a quick question for her.”

  Charlee froze as she realized what he was thinking. No, oh, please no.

  “When was the last time you saw her? Okay, take a deep breath, ma’am. You said the window to her room is open. Is there any sign of a struggle? Good, that’s good. My guess is she just snuck out of her room. Does she do that often? Then it’s a safe bet she’s done it again.” He paused. “Ma’am, does your daughter wear a gold, heart-shaped charm on either a necklace or bracelet?”

  Charlee leaned closer so she could hear the conversation.

  “Her father gave it to her for her last birthday,” Sally said. “Actually, two gold charms on a bracelet. One for Nora. And one for…JJ. It’s here on her dresser. But…one of the charms is missing. How do you know this?” Her voice rose. “What’s going on? What’s happening with Nora?”

  “Nothing that we know of yet. But I’d like you to call your daughter, Mrs. Jennings, and check in. Let me know when you hear from her. I just want to be sure there’s nothing more going on here than normal teenage behavior.”

  Charlee could hear Sally Jennings yelling more questions and accusations as Hunter disconnected the call.

  She met Hunter’s troubled gaze. “You think he has Nora, too?”

  “Not necessarily. He might have taken the charm to make us think that.”

  “But you think he has Natalie. And he’s the one behind everything.”

  “It all fits.”

  James wouldn’t hesitate to kill, not after Brittany. That’s the part Hunter wouldn’t say. She knew exactly what she had to do, how to end this thing. She also knew he’d never go for it. Her
heart pounded, and she sat on her hands to stop the trembling. The whole idea sounded crazy, even to her, but it would work.

  “We’ll find her, cher. You have my word on that.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” She straightened, met his gaze head-on. “But I’m not sure you’ll find her in time.”

  Hunter studied her, folded his arms over his chest. “What are you scheming in that beautiful head of yours?”

  “We use me as bait to draw him out.”

  Hunter froze, didn’t move a muscle, but fury exploded in his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was utterly calm and controlled. He stood, leaned over her. “Over. My. Dead. Body.”

  Charlee stood and forced him back a step. He wouldn’t intimidate her, not now. This mattered too much. Her sister’s life hung in the balance. “Just hear me out.”

  “This is not open for discussion.”

  “It absolutely is. I am not done talking about this.”

  “Well, I’m damn sure done listening.” He grabbed her upper arms and hauled her close. “I won’t lose you to this lunatic, cher, do you understand? I won’t risk you, too.”

  He pulled back when he realized what he’d said. Charlee seized the opportunity. “I’m not your brother, Hunter.” When would he finally realize that?

  “No, you’re not. But you’re just as important to me.”

  The words dropped like a ticking bomb into the sudden silence.

  Charlee’s breath caught. Oh, this so wasn’t the time for this conversation, even though his words made her heart sing. “Then you have to trust me to do what I need to do.”

  He made a slashing motion with his hands. “This doesn’t have a thing to do with trust. It has to do with skill sets and strategy. This guy is a cold-blooded killer. I know you’re trained law enforcement, but one person is no match for this guy, Charlee. Let your brothers and me do our jobs and get this scumbag.”

  “While I stay here and bake cupcakes for the team?” she asked sweetly.