Harlequin Romantic Suspense May 2018 Box Set

by Regan Black

  Laura felt as if she might vomit. There was no end to the number of people who were being sucked into her drama.

  “Are you sure?” was all Rico said.

  “Of course we are.” Paddie spoke for the two of them. “And we’ve got another suggestion. Two adults traveling almost always makes better time than two adults traveling with a small child. Not as many bathroom breaks or need for a regular meal. And a lot less noticeable, too. People tend to fawn over children, especially pretty little girls. We’d be happy to have Hannah stay with us for a few days. Ari and she get along nicely and I think they’d have a good time together.”

  Leave Hannah? With people who were virtually strangers.

  There was no way.

  But they were right. About both things. Anybody traveling with a child got more notice and a child definitely made you less agile. Children functioned best under routine.

  But…

  “It’s totally up to you, Laura,” Rico said. “Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

  Rico had known these people since he was a kid. He trusted them. They trusted him. They’d already gone out on a limb for her and Rico and were willing to do more.

  “Let me talk to Hannah,” she said, pushing back her chair.

  CHAPTER 18

  In the bedroom, she found Hannah and Ari playing with Ja-Ja and several other dolls. “Having fun?” Laura asked.

  “Yes. Can we stay for a while?”

  “Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. How would you feel about staying for a couple days with Ari and Jennie and Paddie? Rico and I have some errands to take care of. Adult errands, and it might be kind of boring for you.”

  “Where would I sleep?” Hannah asked.

  “With me,” Ari said, pointing to the double bed.

  “How many nights?” Hannah asked.

  “Not more than five.”

  “That’s how many days a week I used to go to daycare.”

  “Exactly,” Laura said. “So, is it a good plan?”

  “It’s a great plan,” Hannah said.

  Laura pulled her close and took a deep breath, pulling her little girl scent deep into her lungs. She was going to miss Hannah terribly, much more than Hannah would miss her.

  “Okay. Then come say goodbye to Rico. He’s going to want a hug, too.”

  * * *

  Rico hadn’t been all that confident that Laura was going to let Hannah stay. It was a generous offer from Jennie and Paddie and probably a really good idea, so he was grateful when Laura and Hannah came back in the room and Hannah stretched her arms up for a goodbye hug.

  He held the little girl in his arms and wondered how she’d so quickly worn a path directly to his heart. “I used to stay at Jennie’s and Paddie’s house when I was a little boy,” he said. “I know you’ll have a great time. And I’m going to leave Lucky here, too, for you to play with.” Lucky could be useful as a watchdog, which was a reason to let him go along. But an animal also required some regular care and maintenance that potentially could slow them down or make them more memorable. It was better he stay with Hannah. “Go play, sweetie,” he said, putting her down. “We’ll see you real soon.”

  Once the little girl was out of the room, Jennie spoke. “Let’s get your SUV in our shed. We moved our SUV out of the garage and into the shed earlier, just in case. It’s already hooked up to the trailer.”

  They’d been pretty sure of themselves that he was going to accept the plan. Probably because it was a good one.

  Jennie got up and fished a key fob off a hook near the door. “Here’s the key,” she said.

  “Better give them the extra one, too,” Paddie said.

  She gave Paddie a patronizing smile and opened a drawer. Stuck her hand inside. Then tossed a second fob to Rico. “Paddie is not letting me forget that I misplaced my keys on one of our last trips. He’d taken the second set and you’d have thought he was the second coming.”

  Paddie just smiled.

  Rico appreciated that they were trying to keep it light and easy. As if it wasn’t a big deal for him to have to borrow their vehicle because he was hauling a stolen vehicle and the police might be looking for him.

  “The two of you can wait there while Paddie checks out the roads near your property and brings back the Mustang. I’ll stay here with the girls.” She looked at Laura. “Hannah will be fine. I raised five children and now I’ve got seven grandchildren. I know what I’m doing.”

  “There is no one that I would trust more,” Laura said. He saw a hint of tears in her eyes before she leaned in to hug Jennie. “Thank you for being such a good friend to Rico,” she added.

  His own throat felt a little tight. He wasn’t used to accepting help and it was a humbling experience. “I won’t forget this,” he said, looking at both Paddie and Jennie.

  “We know that,” Jennie said. “Now the three of you need to get going.”

  “Can I have a hand towel?” he asked. Paddie grabbed a couple from a kitchen drawer and then held the door open for him and Laura. He and Laura got back in their SUV while Paddie walked to the shed that sat fifty feet behind their house. Paddie must have had the opener in his pocket because the big overhead door started to rise. Rico pulled in and parked his black SUV next to Jennie’s red one that was hooked to the black trailer. He killed his engine. Then he tossed Paddie his garage door opener so that the man could get to the Mustang.

  In just minutes, Paddie had pushed the snowmobile out of the shed and had closed the door behind him, leaving them in the dark. They heard the roar of an engine and knew he was off.

  As the noise faded, it became very quiet in the shed. Rico turned to Laura. “Are you really okay with this?”

  “I have to be. It makes the most sense. You’re the one who should have misgivings. If we get stopped by the police for any reason and they see the Mustang, you’re going to be in as much trouble as me.”

  “We won’t get stopped. We’ll do the speed limit. There won’t be any reason for them to stop us. There’re lots of SUVs on the road, pulling trailers.”

  “Will we try to drive it straight through?” she asked.

  “You did it once,” he said.

  “I don’t know how,” she said.

  “We’ll make it.” He looked at his watch. “It’s almost six thirty. We’ll be in Nashville by noon tomorrow.”

  “Are we just going to park somewhere and drive the Mustang out of the back of the truck?” she asked.

  He smiled. “We might not be quite that blatant about it. We don’t want anybody getting too curious and taking a picture of Jennie’s license plate. But we’ll figure out a safe way to leave the Mustang once we get there, in a spot where it will be found relatively quickly.”

  “A police lot,” she said, her tone clear that she was joking. “With a note. Something like, I think you’re looking for this.”

  “Maybe. If we’re feeling especially helpful.”

  She turned to look at him. “I’ll be feeling especially grateful,” she said. “But I guess car theft isn’t my biggest legal worry.”

  “One thing at a time,” he said. It was advice he needed to follow. The idea of her going to prison for abducting Hannah was simply unacceptable.

  They sat in silence, each lost in their thoughts. More than forty minutes went by until finally, the door of the shed opened and Paddie drove the Mustang in. With three vehicles and a trailer inside, it was a tight fit. He quickly shut the door behind him.

  “Anything?” Rico asked.

  “No sign of anybody on the roads,” he said. “I suppose it’s possible that somebody could be hiding in the woods, but I don’t think they’d go to that extreme if they simply wanted to talk to you to see what you might know about the Mustang.”

  Rico agreed. “Let’s do this,” he said.

 
Paddie pulled car ramps off the wall where they were hanging. Got them in place and then Rico very carefully drove the Mustang into the back of the trailer. It was an easy fit with several feet to spare. He used the towels to very carefully wipe down every inch of the car and to make sure that there was no telltale evidence of Laura, Hannah or, now, himself. Before he shut the door, Rico tossed the ramps into the trailer—they would need them when they got to Nashville and had to drive the car out.

  Paddie extended a hand to Rico. “Good luck, son.”

  Rico shook the man’s hand and then leaned in for a quick hug. Then stepped aside so that Paddie could hug Laura.

  “We’ll be in touch. If there’s any need, just call my cell phone,” Rico said.

  They climbed into Jennie’s SUV. Rico pushed the garage door opener and took a minute to adjust the mirrors. Then he waved to Paddie and slowly pulled out of the shed.

  They were on their way.

  * * *

  Once they got out of the mountains and a hundred miles south, they were out of the snow. Laura marveled at the difference and how naïve she’d been about mountain weather. Thus far they’d only seen one police car, parked in a highway median, hoping to catch speeders. They’d passed by without even a glance from the cop.

  She knew Rico had seen the car but he hadn’t twitched, sped up or down, or in any way exhibited the bone-chilling fear that had immediately spread through her body.

  She’d barely settled down when Rico’s phone rang. Her first thought was Hannah. Rico looked at the number and said, “Seth.”

  He was hopefully calling with news about Hodge Rankin. “I want to hear,” she whispered.

  “Hey, Seth,” Rico said. “I’ve got you on speaker.”

  There was a pause on the other end. “Do you tell me that because you’re afraid of what I’ll say if I’m not appropriately warned in advance?”

  “Yes,” Rico said. “What do you have?”

  Seth laughed. “Hello, Laura. I’m not sure how close you are to this Hodge Rankin but I think his last name might be fitting. Because he’s pretty rank, if you get my drift.”

  “How so?”

  “He doesn’t seem to be gainfully employed, at least there are few tax records for him, but he appears to live pretty well, in that he has a nice car, travels out of the country frequently, drinks expensive wine that gets shipped in from his favorite winery in Spain once a month, and works through a broker to collect antique stamps.”

  She’d done her best to investigate Rankin and knew about the car but none of the other things. “How did you find all that out?” she asked, irritated that she’d been so inept.

  “I don’t kiss and tell, Laura. But let’s just say that once I figured out where he banked and that I used to date a woman who still works there, it was pretty easy.”

  She raised an eyebrow at Rico.

  He shrugged. “For some reason, Seth’s girlfriends all want to remain friendly once the dating is over.”

  “Because I don’t feed them a line of crap,” Seth said easily. “They respect that. Anyway, one has to wonder how that kind of lifestyle can be maintained without a steady income. But fortunately, the personal banker made good notes in the database linking several large deposits back to the source. It appears that Rankin has been the beneficiary of two large life insurance settlements. The first payment was a couple years ago. He was the beneficiary of a five hundred thousand dollar policy that his fiancée had through her work. And most recently, he came into almost a million dollars when Ariel Collins died.”

  Laura felt sick. Absolutely sick.

  “How did his fiancée die?” Rico asked.

  “That was public record. Hit by a train in Brooklyn, New York. After fireworks on the Fourth of July. Platform was really crowded and a couple guys got into a fight. The crowd surged, in an effort to get away from the fight, and somehow she fell onto the track at the wrong time. Rankin was there and I was able to surface a couple photos of him. He looks very distraught.”

  Was it possible that it had been an accident? Just like Joe’s and Ariel’s deaths? She did not think so. Surely Detective Phillips had to know this about Rankin.

  “There’s something else,” Seth said.

  How much more could she take? “What?” she asked.

  “Another death. A woman by the name of Gloria Wise.”

  She looked at Rico. Knew that he was recalling her telling him about Hannah’s babysitter, Mrs. Wise. She’d never known that her first name was Gloria. And now the woman was dead. “That was Hannah’s babysitter,” she said, her voice sounding dull to her own ears.

  “Yeah. Shot coming out of her yoga class.”

  “When?” Rico asked.

  “Last Wednesday.”

  That had been the day that she’d taken off with Hannah. The day that Mrs. Wise would have gone to the daycare to pick up Hannah only to be told that she wasn’t there.

  “What do you think Mrs. Wise would have done first when she got to the daycare and realized that Hannah wasn’t there?” Rico asked.

  “I think she’d have immediately contacted Hodge Rankin. That is exactly what had happened the day before when Rankin brought those people to the daycare. He left with Hannah and Mrs. Wise still showed up to pick her up, probably because he never thought to tell her otherwise. She might have thought the same thing had happened again.”

  “But I thought you said that you called, pretending to be Mrs. Wise, to advise that Hannah was out sick. Wouldn’t the daycare people think it was weird that she shows up to pick her up the same day?”

  “Not necessarily. The office staff take the calls. All that the care providers, the people in the classroom, know is that this or that child isn’t there. And sometimes care providers get shifted between classrooms, so the person there when Mrs. Wise comes to pick up Hannah might not have been there the whole day. He or she has no idea if Hannah has been absent the whole day or perhaps picked up earlier in the day.”

  Rico drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “So let’s assume she calls Rankin and says, hey idiot, I made another wasted trip to the daycare. You got to start telling me when you’ve already picked up Hannah.”

  “And Rankin,” Seth says, easily stepping into the conversation, “says oh, yeah, sorry. And Gloria Wise, with an unexpected night off, decides to go to yoga. And she comes out all relaxed and full of deep breaths and gets shot.”

  “Because the next morning, when she reported to work and Hannah wasn’t there, she was going to know that something was really, truly wrong,” Laura said. She leaned her head against the side window. The cold felt good. It matched her heart. Had Gloria Wise died because of what she’d done? Because she’d removed Hannah from what she perceived as immediate danger, had she caused the woman’s death?

  She felt Rico’s hand on her leg and realized he was driving with just his left hand. He squeezed her thigh. “I know where your head is going. You think this is your fault. It’s not. It’s a matter of timing. If Rankin was selling Hannah, then she was simply going to disappear one day anyway. Then he’d have had to handle Gloria Wise. Her number was up the day she accepted a job with the guy.”

  “She was a nice woman.”

  “I’m sure she was. And somebody needs to pay for her death. And if we’re right, for your brother’s death and your sister-in-law’s and for the poor damn fool who got pushed in front of the train.”

  She was almost overcome with emotion. If Rico wasn’t here to help, she really didn’t think she would have the strength to go on.

  Seth cleared his throat. “You two need a moment?”

  “Nope,” Rico said. “Gloria Wise wasn’t the only loose end. There’s a whole daycare expecting Hannah Collins to show up the next day. Laura, it would be good to know what Rankin told the daycare. Do you think you could call them?”

  “If it he
lps,” Seth said, “the news of Gloria Wise’s death is public. She was buried yesterday. The newspaper is reporting that police are continuing to investigate the shooting.”

  Laura tried to think. “Maybe I could call my boss, be all apologetic because I’ve been gone without checking in and ask if I could get back on the schedule. Maybe I could mention that I saw Mrs. Wise’s obituary in the paper. That might lead us to talking about Hannah.”

  “Let’s try it,” Rico said. “Seth, you did good. Thank you.”

  “Good luck,” Seth said. “And stay away from Hodge Rankin.” He hung up.

  She would be happy to do that but didn’t see any way to figure this out without some contact with the man. “The daycare will be closed now,” she said. “I’ll need to call them in the morning.”

  “No problem. By the time you talk to them, we’ll be close to Nashville. I just hope Detective Phillips is in the office because I have a feeling that is going to be one of the first places we go.”

  CHAPTER 19

  At about two in the morning, Rico pulled over at a rest stop. “I’m going to close my eyes,” he said. “Just for ten minutes.”

  “Is that even worth it?” she said.

  “Power naps work. Uncle Sam taught me that.”

  “I feel guilty because I slept through most of Kansas.”

  “What else should you do in Kansas?” he teased. He’d been glad that she was catching a nap. She was going to need her wits about her once they got to Nashville. He was again so grateful to Jennie and Paddie for keeping Hannah. If Laura had her to worry about, there’d have been no sleeping.

  He pulled into a spot. There were probably at least a dozen semitrucks also using the rest stop as a bedroom. They, however, had nice beds in their cabs. He was going to have to simply push his seat back and do the best he could.

  He wished it was practical to pull Laura into his arms, to have her sleep on his chest. But the console in the middle made that pretty difficult. Instead, he simply reached for her hand. Her skin was warm and soft.