Caleb didn’t like any of his story, but this was another part that hurt more than the rest. Nina kept rapt attention on him as he hurried through it.
“We pretended Des had stopped breathing,” he continued. “Screamed for the man, cried our eyes out, yelled until our voices broke. For a second I think even I forgot that it was an act. Our captor was absolutely fooled. He dropped his guard when he went to check for a pulse. That’s when the three of us attacked.”
Nina’s eyes widened. It was a look that had been reflected back at him when he told the story to his father and mother after they were rescued. That memory, that feeling of shock and fear and relief at being safe, inspired a truth no one outside the family had been told.
“For all the times I have thought about what happened then, I can’t seem to remember how exactly we did it,” he said. “We just somehow synced up and became this unstoppable force. Even Desmond with his leg, the three of us overpowered him, managed to buy enough time for us to get to the door, and lock him in. Then we just left. Went into the trees and kept going until a Good Samaritan found us and took us to the department.”
“The man was gone when you led law enforcement back?” Nina asked.
He nodded.
“We had been held in an abandoned house just outside of the town limits and deep inside the forest. By the time we could lead them back nothing and no one was there. But that didn’t stop everyone from trying to solve the who and why of it all.”
He looked around the barn. The music had picked up but he hadn’t noticed. They were swaying to their own beat. One that was just the two of them. “My dad was a detective then, and even though we eventually learned to cope with what happened and move on in our own ways, it beat down on Dad. For years after, he continued to work the case. Late nights, early mornings, weekends and holidays. It just...it got under his skin and stuck and there wasn’t anything any of us could do about it. He wouldn’t listen. Not only had it happened in his town, it had happened to his kids.” Caleb looked over Nina’s shoulder. His mother was laughing at something Declan said. Even the sheriff was smiling. It helped loosen the ache that had formed at thoughts of the past. “The reason why my mom felt like she had to throw this party was because she saw firsthand what stress could do to someone. That case, that tragedy, as many people in town call it, sent him to an early grave. He couldn’t find any peace and his heart just gave out. So this—” he looked around the barn once more. “This is my mom’s way of making sure we see the light in the darkness. See that, even though something bad happened, that something hurt us, doesn’t mean that everything is hopeless.”
Caleb searched Nina’s face. Her focus had never wavered once as he had spoken, empathizing where most people would have in the story, yet now her expression was changing. Into one he couldn’t recognize.
After a moment she slid her hand down to his chest. Caleb felt its warmth through the fabric of his shirt.
“Thank you for telling me. I know how hard it can be to carry something like that. Even harder to let it go.” She averted her eyes and took a breath so deep her chest nearly touched his. Somewhere during his story and their dance, they’d gotten close. Closer than he’d meant to...or maybe exactly where he wanted to be.
Had she wanted that, too?
Nina exhaled. Her eyes climbed up to his.
“And I know this because of the real reason my mother died.”
Chapter Thirteen
The mesmerizing glow of the lights twinkling overhead had been doused by an overwhelming darkness. The music cut off so quickly there wasn’t even a whimper. The partygoers all quieted for one lost and lonely moment. Fear exploded in Nina’s chest. Her breath caught. She clung to Caleb’s shirt.
There she had been, for the first time, sharing a moment with someone and having the desire to share back. Nina had seen the pain and sorrow in Caleb’s eyes as he recalled what Molly had referred to as the famous Nash triplet abduction. She believed he was genuine in what he said. Nina didn’t understand why he was sharing but found herself entranced by the vulnerability behind his blue, blue eyes. It was like she was being pulled deeper into them. Closer to the man until she felt the heat of his body against hers.
He had cast a spell on her with his honesty.
And Nina was going to return the favor.
That’s when the power cut off.
“It’s probably the breaker,” someone called into the darkness. “This place hasn’t been used in years.”
“I’m closest to the door. I can go check on it.” Nina felt the rumble of Caleb’s words through her hands against his chest. A small flash of shame went through her at how tightly her fingers had burrowed into his shirt. He pressed his hands over hers. When he spoke again it was directed to the partygoers. “If you have cell phones, pull them out and use the flashlights.”
Caleb pulled her hands away but kept one in his own. “Let’s go,” he said, voice low so she knew he was addressing her.
“Thank you for not leaving me,” she whispered, meaning it with all of her being. Shame or no shame, she was terrified of the dark.
They moved slowly as the partygoers started to talk. Small beams of light sprang up on either side of them. Nina wished she had her phone. She’d left it back at the Retreat, trying to embrace the party and its social side with more enthusiasm. She wondered if Caleb had left his phone behind, too. It wasn’t like he’d miss a work-related piece of information. The sheriff had been eating pie in the same room last she’d seen him. Not to mention his partner was a few feet away.
Caleb directed them off the makeshift dance floor and past the few chairs that they’d set up earlier that day. Nina’s foot caught something. She stumbled. Her hand slipped out of his as she tried to steady herself.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I just tripped over something.” She swung her hand back out until it connected with his. His grip was tighter. She doubted that would help if her clumsy feet decided to take her out again.
They moved around whatever had blocked her way. She could feel his impatience. Not that she blamed him. The darkness was impossibly thick. The only things she could see were the slightly illuminated faces of those who had their phones out. They were far enough away that their light did very little to help guide them.
But they had to be close to the side door now.
“Nina? Where are you?”
The hand around hers tensed. Nina’s blood turned to ice in her veins.
Caleb’s voice wasn’t in front of her, leading. It was behind her.
Which meant the hand she was holding—
“Caleb!”
The hand yanked her forward. It caught her off guard. She yelled out again, this time terror garbling her words.
“Nina,” Caleb shouted. His voice was closer but felt impossibly far. “Someone bring me a light!”
The barn behind her exploded in noise and movement. The grip on her hand tightened to the point of pain. She dug her heels into the floor and pulled back.
“Let go!”
And just like that, the person did.
The unexpected release sent Nina cartwheeling backward. Before she hit the ground, she bumped into something solid. Two arms encircled her. Nina tried to fight out of fear.
“It’s me,” Caleb said at her ear. Relief flooded through her but dried up quickly.
“Someone was dragging me!”
Caleb didn’t hesitate. He pushed her around and behind him before she could completely right herself.
“I need a light,” he yelled again.
“Here,” Declan said behind her shoulder.
The light from his cell phone was the answer to a prayer. It moved across her, pausing to make sure she was okay, before going to his brother. But Caleb wasn’t there anymore.
“Someone was dragging me,” she repeated to the sheriff.
“Stay here.” Declan’s voice was hard. Nina didn’t argue. The beam of light went ahead of him as he swept the area in front of the door. “Jazz, check the rest of the room. No one leaves.”
Jazz said she understood. Declan and his light went after his brother.
A few moments later another small light found Nina. It was Brando. She had only talked to the man briefly but now she reached out and took the arm he offered her. Wordlessly, he led her back to the dance floor. The rest of the partygoers had converged there. Some with lights, some without. They waited in silence. Whether it was out of fear or that they were simply trying to listen to any clues that could tell them what was going on outside, Nina didn’t know. She watched in muted fear as Jazz took her light and went across the barn.
“It’s just us,” Jazz confirmed. She came back to the dance floor. Her husband’s light showed the detective had a gun in her hand.
Did Caleb have his service weapon?
Nina ran her thumb over her wrist.
Would he need it?
The sound of metal scraping against something outside tore Nina’s attention to the wall behind them.
“The breaker box,” Clive said from beside her. Molly’s eyes were glowing orbs of concern in the dark at her husband’s side. He had one arm around her and another placed on Dorothy’s, a steadying grip that was easy to see despite the poor lighting. In fact, everyone around her was holding on to each other. Like the survivors of a sunken ship, huddled in a lifeboat lost at sea. Even she was threaded into that group by Brando’s arm.
Nina would have stopped to think about how that made her feel, to be included by relative strangers in such a scary situation, but then the power went back on.
The twinkling stars that dotted the spaces between the rafters came to life while the slight thrumming of power vibrated the speakers. Slowly the members of the group disengaged from one another.
Nina was the first among them.
Her gaze caught and stuck on the floor between where they stood and the side door.
“Oh, my God.”
Her hand went to her mouth, already trembling.
When Jazz had swept the room for someone hiding in the shadows, she hadn’t focused on the floor. Neither had Nina as she walked with Brando to the middle of the room. Why would they?
But now, beneath the lights she’d once thought beautiful, there was no denying someone had been focused on her in the dark.
And way before the lights went out.
“What the hell?” Jazz breathed, following Nina to the first pile.
Caleb hurried through the side door. Nina felt the relief in her chest but couldn’t bring herself to express it. Instead she dragged her gaze back to the floor.
Scattered on the weathered wood were printed-out pictures and not just a few. She guessed there were at least fifty between where she stood and the door. Which would have been odd all its own.
Yet the subject of every picture was her.
* * *
THE DEPUTIES OF the Wildman County Sheriff’s Department spread across the ranch with a vengeance. Nina stood next to one of its best detectives in the barn, trying to detach from the situation as much as she could. The pictures hadn’t been touched, at Caleb’s insistence. Apparently more people were coming to try and see if they couldn’t lift prints from them.
Not that Nina particularly wanted to pick the pictures up. Nearly all of them were visible as they were. Plus the theme was obvious.
“Some of these were taken before we met. Before the stream and the email,” she said to Caleb. Since talking to Declan and Jazz he had been circling the area covered by the pictures. Like a creature stalking its prey, even though neither he nor Declan had seen whoever had been in the barn. A point of deep frustration for both men. “I mean, that one over there, the one where I’m laughing and wearing the striped shirt, that’s a few days after I came to town. And that one—” she pointed to a slightly out of focus picture taken of her profile as she stood in front of one of the cabins at the Retreat “—I’m pretty sure that was my first day of work. I’m holding my clipboard with my first week’s checklist.”
“And some of these are after we met,” he stated, voice tight. He was right. Nina wasn’t the only person in all of the pictures, just the common denominator. Caleb could be seen at her side, just as Dorothy, Molly, Roberto and Clive were in others. However, whether it was because she had spent more time with Caleb than the others in the past week or not, the detective was in the majority of those featuring Nina and someone else. Several were from them around the Retreat. The two closest to her were of them at Overlook Pass. One had been taken at his house the first day she’d met him. When she’d blamed him for the picture and email.
It scared her.
It made her angry.
“I know Daniel Covington said that he just happened to be at the stream when I showed up and decided it would be funny to freak out the outsider with the email but this—” she waved her arms out over the closest pile “—this isn’t funny.”
Caleb let out another frustrated breath. He placed his hands on his hips, showing his badge now prominently positioned on his belt, and faced her.
“This isn’t Daniel Covington’s handiwork.” Nina was about to point out Daniel had already admitted to sending the email but Caleb gave her a look akin to guilt. She held her tongue. “I was going to tell you before the party but decided to wait until later. I didn’t think it was connected at the time, but now?” He shook his head and rubbed a hand across his jaw. There was still a smattering of dark stubble across it. “Daniel Covington was attacked in his house late this afternoon. We don’t know who did it yet and his girlfriend had no clue, either.”
“You think he was too hurt to do this?” She refused to let Daniel off of the hook. He’d already proven how much of a creep he could be.
Caleb shook his head again. “He’s in the hospital.”
Nina put her hand on her stomach, worry further knotting inside.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Caleb’s eyes flitted down. Slowly he took her other hand. Nina’s heartbeat leaped at the contact. Caleb, however, looked the opposite of pleased. His thumb ran over her wrist. There was still a red mark where their mystery person had grabbed her and squeezed. “Coming in here to scatter the photos and to do this was...”
“Nightmare inducing?” she offered, partially trying to lighten the mood with a teasing tone while also meaning it.
Caleb ran his thumb over the spot once more. When his eyes were on her again there was an icy chill to them.
“It was incredibly brave and stupid. A bad combination,” he spelled out. “Whoever did this wants us to know they’re still out there.”
Nina barely resisted a gulp of fear.
“They want us to know they’re—what?—stalking me?”
“Why else go to all of this trouble? And that’s what it is. Trouble. This took time to keep up. Again, not to mention, they chanced this big reveal at a party. One the sheriff and other law enforcement officers were attending. They just basically flashed a sign saying, ‘hey there,’ as though they’re taunting us.”
Nina couldn’t fight that point. The pictures of her were more than damning evidence that whoever was behind this was no longer remaining under the radar.
“If Daniel Covington didn’t do this and it’s not a prank, then that means that there’s someone else out there who’s following me.” Her nerves froze over. She felt her eyes widen as she realized something that had been floating on the edge of her thoughts. “Caleb, what if I’m the reason your house was targeted? What if I’m the reason everything you own is gone?”
Caleb’s expression hardened. He took his hand out of hers and ran it along the side of her cheek. Nina’s body pulsed at his touch but her mind stayed focused on his words.
“You
listen to me, Nina Drake, and you listen to me good,” he said. “The only person at fault is the person who physically set my house on fire. Whether that’s the same person or not, you have my word that we will catch everyone who’s guilty. And that isn’t you. Not in the slightest. Okay?”
Nina breathed in and out slowly to steady herself. She nodded.
“Okay,” she murmured.
The detective smiled.
Then it was back to work again.
* * *
SAMANTHA NOVAK WAS smiling down at Nina, her braces looking particularly gruesome in the weird light around them.
“You’re so stupid,” Samantha said, full of glee. “I swear, I don’t know how you function.”
Nina knew Samantha was fourteen. Just like Nina knew she was also fourteen. They were out on the private beach near their school. Nina was lying on a quilt, the sand around it so white it was blinding. Samantha was hovering over her, still grinning.
“You’re going to be late, idiot.”
Nina looked around, confused. The ocean was dark and rolled toward them. A horse neighed somewhere in the distance.
“Late for what?”
Nina stood. She tried to brush the sand off herself but it wasn’t sand anymore. It was chunkier. Darker.
Samantha’s smile turned menacing. It always did when she was bullying Nina.
“Who do you think I am? Your mom? Figure it out, idiot.”
Nina blinked and Samantha was gone. The sand was darker, the waves angrier. The quilt was covered in the weird sand. Nina walked away from it, still brushing it from her clothes.
Reining In Trouble (Winding Road Redemption Book 1) Page 12
