Keeping 6 (Rock Point Book 1)

by Freya Barker

  The rows of bookshelves cast off long, dark shadows without the benefit of the overhead lights. Still, I prefer to go in without flipping the switch. I press my back against the farthest shelf from the front and ease my way along to the other side, my gun drawn. From the corner of my eye, I can see Jasper’s caught up with me and is slipping into the next aisle over. We methodically clear each of the aisles before we meet up at the counter.

  “Nothing,” Jasper states the obvious.

  “Get your kit. Let’s check this place while we’re here.”

  While Jasper pulls out his gear and starts sweeping Kerry’s office, I put a quick call in to Keith.

  “Nothing here,” he says. “Her car’s in the driveway, but it doesn’t look like anyone’s home.”

  “Nothing here, either. Have you been inside?” I want to know, but the pregnant silence tells me enough. It is Blackfoot, after all. “Signs of struggle?”

  “None,” is the curt answer.

  “Thank God for that. Dammit, Blackfoot—you know we can’t just go barging in without—”

  “I know,” he bites off. “I also know that by the time a missing persons report is properly filed, we could be up to a day or more later. In the meantime, she could’ve been hurt in there.”

  I clasp the back of my neck with a hand and lift my face to the ceiling. “Let’s just stick with that,” I concede. “As soon as you’re done there, get over to Kerry’s store. Jasper started a sweep.”

  “Fifteen minutes,” he’s quick to answer before he adds, “and you be ready for a full-on task force briefing in my office for four this afternoon. I just got a text now.” Just as he hangs up the phone, the same information buzzes on my phone. Wonderful.

  Jasper comes out of the back office, holding his phone up. “Did you see that?”

  “Yup, I did. You done back there?”

  “I am,” he says without elaborating. “You gonna tell me what’s going on?” For a moment, I’m undecided and by the raise of Jasper’s eyebrow, I can tell he notices.

  “Probably,” I answer ambiguously, “but first I want to know what you found out from the postmaster and what turned up back there that has you playing word games with me.” The fact he didn’t immediately say clear when I asked about the office didn’t pass me by.

  Jasper’s face settles in a lazy grin. “You’re far too smart for your own good, boss.”

  “As are you, my friend. Now spill.”

  “Took a bit of convincing, the guy considers himself knowledgeable on the dos and don’ts of law enforcement, probably watches too much TV, but I managed to make him see the light.”

  “I bet you did.” I play along, not quite able to hide a smile.

  “Mostly boxes, the occasional padded envelope. No real pattern to it and not from any single source that he’s noticed. He doesn’t really make note of the sender but says most of the boxes arrive through UPS. He records the UPS tracking number and the weight. Apparently the last box he received weighed just shy of ten pounds and was collected almost a month ago.”

  “Does he have someone picking up for him?” I want to know.

  “Nope. Always him. Always first thing in the morning.”

  “Did you take down the tracking number?” He doesn’t answer, but his expression says enough. “Fine then. First chance you get, see what you can find out. Now,” I shift gears. “What did you find?”

  “What? No tit for tat?” he says with a smirk.

  “I want both your tits before you get anything.”

  “Boss!” Jasper burst out laughing. “You joke? Man, I wish Luna was here to witness it. She’ll never believe it.” My growl is enough to get him back on track.

  “Two bugs. One on the top ledge of the doorframe and one in the phone. Micro-sized, unfamiliar markings,” he informs me, his face now devoid of any humor. The grinding in my gut just got cranked up a notch.

  “Save them for Blackfoot. He’s on his way. Start with the phone in here.”

  KERRY

  It’s been two hours since Jasper picked up the key, and I haven’t heard a thing. That’s good, right? I figure it means they’re still looking and they haven’t found anything...worrisome.

  I haven’t moved from the window, although Luna urged me to have some lunch with her. She finally gave up and brought me a sandwich, which is still sitting on the side table, untouched. I can’t eat. The events of the past weeks have been swirling through my head, and aside from the major ones, I can’t seem to shake the feeling something was up with Marya. Almost the entire time. Then that weird rushed end to our last telephone conversation, almost as if she wanted off the phone instantly. It was right after I’d noticed the voice in the background and called her on it. It had sounded familiar. I’ve been racking my brain to place it. Maybe I should tell Damian about it.

  I’m still contemplating if I should mention anything when his familiar dark SUV comes up the driveway. I’m not even aware I’m running for the front door until I hear Luna yell at me to stop. By that time, I’m already swinging the door open. A hand on my arm stops me from tearing out of the house when Luna catches up. As Damian steps out of his SUV, a second car, a patrol car, comes pulling in right behind it.

  “Get inside, Kerry,” Damian orders as he walks up in long strides. I try to read the answers to my questions on his face, but his professional mask is firmly in place. When he reaches me and I haven’t moved yet, he puts his hands on my shoulders. “Babe—Inside.” This time his face gentles as he turns me around, wraps his arm around my waist, and walks me straight to the couch.

  I just now notice Keith Blackfoot coming in behind us, closing the door. This can’t be good.

  “We haven’t found Marya.” Damian doesn’t pussyfoot around. “She’s not at the store, and Keith checked her house, she’s not there, either. Honey? Is there anywhere else she could be?”

  “Oh...I...I’m not sure,” I stammer. “Normally I’d say her mom’s, but she’s taken Marya’s boys with her to visit her sisters. Silverado I think, Marya said.”

  “Don’t worry,” Keith speaks up. “I’ll find her contact information. Maybe she decided last minute to go up with them,” he offers lamely.

  “That makes no sense,” I counter. “She’d never do that without letting me know. I just talked to her yesterday, and she never said anything. In fact, she told me she’d talk to me today.”

  “Can you think of anything else? Someone she could be with? A friend she might seek out if she ended up sick?” Damian is gentle with his questions, but I can sense the urgency behind them. He’s worried, too. That’s when I start talking. I start with her uncharacteristic behavior, the insistence to keep her new man’s identity a secret for now. And I finish with yesterday’s telephone call.

  “Where could you’ve heard it before?” Blackfoot asks, referring to the male voice in the background.

  “Trust me, I’ve tried hard to think of it, but I just can’t place it. It could’ve been a customer or a store clerk or maybe someone at the bank. I have no idea.” Damian and the detective share a look. One that has the hair on my arms stand on end. “What?”

  Both sets of eyes turn to me, but this time it’s Damian who speaks. “Jasper is on his way. As soon as he gets here, he and Keith are going to search your house.”

  “My house? But I—” I almost shoot up from my seat, but Damian’s large hand on my shoulder keeps me firmly in place.

  “I need you to go pack a bag. You’re coming with me.”

  My stomach drops. It’s like I’ve landed in a parallel universe. This morning I had this man’s mouth on me and his fingers in me. Now he’s going to take me in? I don’t understand.

  “But why are you taking me in?” I manage, my voice wobbly.

  “Taking you in? What are you talking about?” He tightens his grip on my shoulders and pierces me with his eyes.

  “Oh, for God’s sake,” Luna blurts out. The first I’ve heard her say since the men got here. “Your bedside mann
er sucks, boss. You haven’t explained one damn thing to her. Why don’t you try that first before you scare the crap out of her?”

  I keep my eyes on Damian, who is glaring at Luna, but then turns to me with a remorseful smile as Blackfoot starts to chuckle behind me. “Sorry, Gypsy. Force of habit. Keith and Jasper are going to check your house for bugs. Listening devices or cameras,” he explains when my face twists in distaste at the mention of bugs. He’s talking about another kind of bug.

  “There were two in your office and another three in the store. Each of your phones were bugged. There’s a possibility whoever managed to get into the store, managed to get into your house, as well.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Damian

  “At least it makes a bit more sense now.”

  I turn to look at Kerry, who received the news someone was keeping some serious tabs on her rather quietly. Once Jasper went to work, she reacted with only a flinch the first time his handheld gadget gave off the high-pitched whine, indicating the presence of one of those little suckers in her kitchen phone. Only when Jasper followed us into her bedroom and started running the detector over the clothes she had stacked on the bed to pack did she gasp, as a full body shiver ran through her.

  I think it hit her at that time how vulnerable she is. When you discover someone’s been in not only your car, but your business and your house, it tends to put things into perspective. And it’s scary as hell when a wireless camera the size of a pinhead is found in your living room.

  “What does?” I ask her. We’re on our way to my house, and I’m taking the long way, making sure I don’t have any tails. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think they are keeping an eye on her, as well. Not many people know where I live, it’s not something I advertise, and I believe it’s the safest place for her to be until we get this sorted out. Once again, Kerry’s Korner is closed for business because of this investigation, and there’s no way I’d let Kerry stay at her place under the circumstances.

  “I’d been racking my brain to figure out how they’d know I would have the box in my car, but they probably heard me mention it when I talked to Kim. Only thing I’m still a bit confused about is if the box is gone from the car, does that mean they have it? And if that’s so, they wouldn’t have reason to be interested in me anymore, right?”

  “Maybe,” I start carefully. “But we can’t know that for sure. In fact, we know very little for sure at this point. I’m guessing, though, that you received the wrong shipment. Two boxes, two locations. Except, whoever was waiting on the shipment of stolen goods received your order and sounded the alarm with the auction house. They likely discovered the two shipments left at around the same time and concluded you must have received the other one. The attempt to retrieve it was obviously unsuccessful, because by some weird twist of fate, you never had the books there. They were sitting in Cortez.” I glance at her and see she’s mulling this over. I release one hand from the steering wheel and put it on her leg. Without even looking, she puts her hand over mine and laces our fingers.

  “I hate feeling this out of control,” she admits softly while still staring out the window.

  “I’m getting that.”

  “Do you think Marya’s disappearance has to do with this?” she asks, and this time I feel her eyes on me. I give her hand a quick squeeze before I answer.

  “I think true coincidences are rare, but I promise we’ll do everything in our power to find her.”

  “She has little boys, Damian. And her mom. She wouldn’t just take off.” The wobble in her voice almost has me pull over, but my cutoff is coming up. Best just to get her to safety first.

  “I know, babe.”

  The moment we round the bend at the top of the hill, the Animas River spreads out in front of us, and from the corner of my eye, I see Kerry leaning forward to take it all in.

  “Oh my God. This is gorgeous!”

  I smile at the instant change in mood. It’s what coming home does to me after long days of poking around in humanity’s underbelly. It’s the reason I bought this place. My house is a two-story log home with a porch that wraps around the front and halfway down the sides. In the back, I built a large deck that overlooks the Animas River. My sanctuary. A place only my family visits occasionally.

  Bella’s car is parked on the circular drive, and as I park behind her, she steps through the front door. Any surprise she might have displayed at seeing Kerry in the passenger seat is gone as quickly as it appeared.

  “I was just about to get your bed made up,” Bella says to Kerry as we walk up the steps. A nice attempt at a save, but I get the feeling it doesn’t escape Kerry. Still, there’s a world of acceptance in that simple statement, and I’m grateful my sister is trying to make this as easy as possible for her.

  With a smile and a soft spoken, “Thanks,” Kerry follows Bella inside where she is immediately dragged through to the kitchen in the back, leaving me to deal with the bags.

  I briefly toy with the idea of moving Kerry into the master bedroom but quickly change my mind. I don’t know how long she’ll be here, and given that she just told me she hates feeling out of control, I figure it would be wiser to let her have her own space. I have a feeling the harder I push her, the stronger her resistance will be.

  Bella is staying in the room on the opposite side of the hallway, so that leaves the spare room on the other side of the master bath. Close enough for her to come find me if and when she wants.

  Downstairs in the kitchen, I find Kerry sitting on a stool at the island and Bella pouring a healthy glass of wine for her.

  “You want something to drink?” Bella asks.

  “I can’t. I’ve got to get back to the office. I should be back for dinner but will give you a call later.”

  James Aiken called a meeting. I’m guessing to clear the air between Blackfoot and Ella. She must’ve been pissed when she got here and found out he’d ignored her instructions to wait for her. I’m going to take the lead from Keith on this one. I know he’s suspicious and I understand why. And I’m not about to divulge I’ve got Kerry staying at my place. Jasper and Luna know, and so does Blackfoot, but I have no intention of volunteering that information. Not with so many questions up in the air.

  Ignoring my sister, I turn Kerry’s stool so that she’s facing me and tilt her chin up. “You’re safe here. I have a top-of-the-line alarm system, and in case of an emergency, Bella knows where I keep my guns. Just so you know, other than Blackfoot and my family, no one knows about this place. Have you handled a gun before?” I ask her.

  “It’s been a while, but yes.”

  “Good. And Bella is a pretty decent shot.” I ignore the huff coming from my sister. “Just in case,” I reinforce. “I hope to be just a couple of hours, but if it gets much later, I’ll call.”

  Without waiting for an answer, I cover her mouth with mine, kissing her thoroughly. When I come up for air, my sister is dramatically fanning herself with a potholder, donning a big smile. “Behave, brat,” I shoot in her direction.

  “Whatever,” she fires back, completely unimpressed.

  “Bella...” I growl, and she rolls her eyes, sighing deeply.

  “Fine, oh Lord and Master,” she concedes with a curtsy.

  I lean in for another quick taste of Kerry’s mouth, who is watching our sibling interaction with a smile, and then I round the island to give Bella a peck on the cheek on my way out the door.

  KERRY

  Damian’s house is stunning. Surprisingly light inside, due to the full-height, two-story windows that go up almost clear to the cathedral ceilings at the back of the house. Both the kitchen and a family room are bright and open, and from wherever you are, you can see the gorgeous river valley. I have no problem seeing myself staying here for a few days, despite the somewhat awkward realization I’ll be housing with Damian and his sister.

  Taken in by the charm of the house, I almost forget why I’m here when the realization hits like a cold bucket of water and
I wince.

  “Want to tell me what happened?” Bella asks, her head tilted to one side. We’d been sipping wine and Bella talked about her new job coming up but never questioned why I was here. “My brother left before I could grill him, and I didn’t want to pry,” she adds, making me smile, because I have no doubt she could drag out his best-kept secrets. It’s obviously clear how much these two care about each other.

  “We can’t find Marya. She’s the one who was supposed to open the store today. I talked to her yesterday, and she encouraged me to stay home another day. Said she’d take care of the store. Her boys—she’s got three young boys—are off with her mother to visit relatives.” A lump gets stuck in my throat at the thought of those kids.

  “Is it possible she would’ve taken off on her own for a bit?”

  “And leave the store unattended? Not a chance. Especially not after she was the one to push me to stay home.”

  “I guess...does her mom have any ideas?”

  “Keith Blackfoot was going to try to get hold of her. I just can’t believe she’d take off like this, and your brother and Blackfoot seem to feel the same way. There’s too much going on to have it be coincidental.”

  The thought something may have happened to Marya because of the situation I’ve landed myself in is eating at me. Bella, who appears to be as perceptive as her older brother, seems to pick up on my somber mood and quickly changes topics. I’m quietly grateful as she begins to list our options for dinner, and the next hour or so, we work surprisingly well side by side in the kitchen to put together a meal. Worry about Marya is never far from my mind, though. Despite our companionable chitchat about places to rent—I give Bella the name of my real estate agent—and things to see and do. Even though I am cautious enough not to think too much about any kind of future with Damian at this time, I can’t help get excited with the prospect of Bella moving here. I really like her, and it would be nice to have a real friend near. I miss Kim.