by B. J Daniels
“I see,” TJ said, trying not to laugh. This was too funny. She loved the woman’s honesty. “So you didn’t read at least the first one I wrote, out of curiosity?”
“I couldn’t get through it. But I never was much of a reader.”
TJ could hear the drone of the television in the background and recognized the sound of a daytime drama. They were keeping Nellie from her “soaps.”
“We’re sorry to have bothered you,” TJ said and Nellie quickly closed the door.
“Well, that was fun,” Silas said as they climbed into the pickup.
TJ chuckled. “Wasn’t it though.”
“You went to school with her?”
“We weren’t friends,” she said unnecessarily.
He laughed. “I would have never guessed.”
“I think we can scratch her off our list,” she said.
“I don’t know about that. She definitely has some hostility issues.”
TJ looked out the window at the town where she’d grown up. “Some of the people I went to school with thought I was stuck-up. Annabelle was stuck-up, but me?” She shook her head. “I was shy. Introverted. I’ve always had stories going in my head, which were more interesting to me than school. I remember being called on by the teacher and not having a clue what she’d been talking about. I’m sure the teacher and the other students thought I was slow if not stupid. My teachers used to tell my grandmother that I didn’t apply myself.”
“Me, I actually didn’t apply myself.” He shrugged and started the pickup. “Dot next?”
“Dorothy Crest? It seems unlikely that it would be her, but I guess that’s the point. Whoever True Fan is, it’s someone who is hiding behind anonymity.”
“True Fan is probably capable of putting on a good front to your face. The fact that he or she doesn’t sign his or her name makes me think that True Fan is a coward and probably not dangerous—at least face-to-face. But if they undermine your writing then they have to be dealt with.”
She smiled over at him. “Then by all means let’s go see Dot.” She put in a call to Annabelle, who informed her that Dot had bought her parents’ house and now lived in it with her husband, Roger. With Roger at work, TJ figured they would find her alone. She was right.
Dot came to the door in an apron, throwing it open, all smiles when she saw them. “Come in! This is such a treat. A real live famous author in my home.”
TJ introduced Silas.
“You write as well? Wonderful. You’ll have to tell me the title of your latest book so I can pick it up. I love to read when I have time, which isn’t often keeping up this house, you know.”
She led them through the living room, pointing out that she had all of TJ’s books on a special shelf of their own. The house was immaculate even though Dot kept apologizing for the mess.
In the roomy farm-style kitchen, she offered them cookies straight from the oven and coffee, saying that the coffee was always on at her house.
TJ took a warm chocolate chip cookie and listened while Silas visited with Dot. He asked about the paper she’d bought at the garage sale last summer, adding, “I think that’s where I saw you before.” He told her he’d been using his to write a novel on.
“I gave mine to the grandchildren. They love to draw and go through so much paper.”
TJ was glancing around the kitchen when Dot said, “You’ve never seen my house. Would you like a tour?”
“I’d love one,” she said, and got to her feet. The rest of the house was just as spotless as what TJ had already seen. In what appeared to be a den, she saw a laptop, but no typewriter.
“I’m halfway through your new book. I had to quit because I wasn’t going to get my work done.” Dot shook her head. “But I didn’t want to put it down. I’m in awe of the way you make our little town come alive.”
“You do know that the books aren’t about Whitehorse,” TJ said.
“Of course.” She gave TJ a wink.
“They’re supposed to be any small town in Montana.”
Dot either ignored her or didn’t hear her. “I’m so glad you stopped by with your friend. I’d seen him around but I had no idea he was a writer.”
TJ found it amusing that when locals called him a mountain man they were a little leery of him. But now that they would soon know he was a writer, his mountain man appearance would be accepted as just the way writers were.
They found Silas sitting where they’d left him in the kitchen, but TJ had the feeling that he’d looked around the lower floor while they’d been gone.
They thanked Dot and left, but only at her insistence that Silas take a few cookies for later.
“It’s her,” he joked as they drove away. “All that cheerfulness has got to be hiding something.”
TJ chuckled. “I had the same thought,” she said as she settled back against the seat. The sun shone in the pickup’s side window. She felt warm and content and realized she hadn’t felt like this in months—except in this man’s presence.
“Any other leads we should follow up, or should we have lunch?” he asked.
“You probably have other things you need to do,” TJ said.
“The sooner we find this creep, the better,” he said.
But as he drove down the main drag of Whitehorse, she saw him suddenly look in the direction of a man crossing the street ahead of them—and freeze for a moment.
“Silas?”
He didn’t answer.
“Is everything all right?” she asked, fearing what now had him looking like a man who’d seen a ghost.
He seemed to come out of his fugue state as the vehicle in front of them that had been waiting to turn finally moved. The man who’d crossed the street was now nowhere to be seen. He appeared to have stepped into the Mint Bar. “Sorry, I just thought I saw... Never mind. It wasn’t who I thought it was.”
But she caught him looking back at the bar and later watching his rearview mirror as if he thought they might have been followed. Whoever he’d thought the man was, his reaction had been powerful. Silas was still spooked and she had a feeling he didn’t scare easily.
Chapter Thirteen
Silas glanced at his phone and groaned inwardly. He was still shaken. The last thing he wanted to do was cancel out on TJ. But right now he had to take care of some business—and quickly.
“I’m sorry. There’s something I need to see about right away,” he said to her. “Can I take a rain check on lunch? I’ll call you later.”
“You don’t need to go see this Tom Harwood with me. I appreciate you finding the house where you got the paper. I can take it from here.”
That’s what worried him. “I don’t like you doing this on your own. I’ll take care of my business, then check with you later, if that’s okay.”
“Of course. But are you sure everything is all right?” she asked, looking worried. She’d seen his reaction to the man crossing the street. He felt bad enough that the man might have seen him—and TJ. He didn’t want her dragged into his dirty business.
“I’m fine. We’ll talk later,” he said, smiling over at her. He must not have been as convincing as he’d hoped, because she still looked worried.
“I need to go Christmas shopping with my sisters, so please, take care of whatever you need to, and don’t worry about me.”
He glanced over at her, his heart breaking a little with worry over her. “I can’t help but be concerned. That last letter...” What he wanted to say was, “We have to find True Fan before True Fan finds you,” but he held his tongue. She was already scared enough. She didn’t need him sharing his instincts or experience with her.
Unfortunately, those instincts and his experience on the job told him that True Fan would be making good on those threats—and soon.
As he pulled up in front of her house, he turned to her and reache
d for her hand. “Do me a favor, okay?” She nodded, seeming surprised by how serious he’d become. “Don’t go anywhere alone. Take one of your sisters if you insist on going out. Especially don’t go chasing True Fan. Wait for me. I’m not sure how long my business is going to take me but—”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
How many times had he heard those words? “That’s what they all say.” He felt her shudder. “Just do it for me.”
* * *
TJ FELT HER throat constrict. Silas was so worried about her that it gave her a chill. “I will. But promise me something,” she heard herself say. “Be careful. I don’t know what this business is you have to take care of, but I’m betting it’s dangerous from your reaction back there.”
He said nothing for a moment, just squeezed her hand. “I’ll call you later.”
She nodded as he let go of her hand. For a moment she was afraid to leave him. But he reached over and opened her door and all she could do was look at him for a moment before climbing out. It felt so strange to feel this close to someone she’d met only hours before. She was making her way toward the house when she heard him drive away. There was an urgency about his leaving that made it all the more frightening.
What kind of trouble was Silas in? Something to do with his former job? Or something to do with his more recent one as a private investigator? She knew so little about him and yet she felt she knew him. Just the first chapter of his novel had made her feel closer to him. She could understand why readers thought they knew her and feared some of them did.
Her heart ached as she turned to watch his pickup disappear around a corner.
“Well?” Chloe said from the open doorway.
“Is that what you’re going to say to me every time I return to the house?” TJ demanded as she stepped past her and into the warmth of the living room.
“It is if every time you leave it’s with that man,” her sister said.
Annabelle called from the kitchen that she’d made sloppy joes for lunch and TJ was just in time. Taking off her coat and dropping it on a chair in the living room, she followed the sweet, temping scent into the kitchen.
“I haven’t had sloppy joes since I left Whitehorse,” TJ said as she helped set the table. Chloe was standing in the doorway, arms crossed, looking upset. That was the problem with mystery writers and investigative reporters, TJ thought. We see things other people miss. Chloe knew there was more to Silas. She’d seen the darkness, the danger.
“Silas found the house where he bought reams of paper last summer at a garage sale,” she said as she took a seat at the table. Annabelle brought over the dish of sloppy joes and put it on the table before taking a seat. Chloe joined them, though with some reluctance.
“The paper is the same paper True Fan uses to write me letters,” TJ said. “Or at least it looks to be the same. So we asked who’d bought some of it at the garage sale last summer.”
“And?” Chloe said. She hadn’t touched her lunch yet.
“She gave us a few names. Dot, Nellie Doll, someone from the school and Tommy Harwood were the ones she could remember. She said Tommy used to follow us home from school all the time.” She turned to Chloe. “Do you remember that?”
Her sister nodded. “He had a crush on you.” She frowned. “Wasn’t he at the signing?”
“He was.” TJ took a bite of her lunch. “Annabelle, this is delicious. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
“So did you talk to the others?” Chloe asked.
“We didn’t get a chance to talk to more than Nellie and Dot,” she said, not looking up from her meal. “Silas had some business he had to take care of. He’s going to call later.” She lifted her gaze to meet Chloe’s dark blue one. “He isn’t True Fan.”
“No, but he certainly has taken an interest in finding this person, hasn’t he?”
TJ shrugged. “Maybe he’s more interested in me.”
Annabelle’s eyes went wide. “So something did happen at the cabin. Did he...kiss you?”
TJ laughed. “No, and nothing else happened either. He was a perfect gentleman.” She saw that Chloe felt that proved her point that Silas was in this just for the excitement. For the possible danger. That he was like Marc.
“So are we going Christmas shopping this afternoon?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.
“I thought we’d walk since it is such a nice day,” Annabelle said. “I want to find something for Dawson. I need your opinion. I found a shirt down at Family Matters. But is a shirt too unexciting for our first Christmas together—well, first this time around?” she added with a giggle.
It was impossible not to smile at their sister’s happiness. Even Chloe, whose brow had been knitted with worry, broke into a smile.
“I’ll have to see this shirt,” Chloe said, and finally began to eat her lunch.
TJ tried to relax. She hadn’t told them about Silas’s reaction earlier or her fears. She’d gotten close to this man so quickly. That alone should have been a red flag. That Silas was in some sort of trouble seemed more than likely. He’d tried to play it down, but she’d seen how scared he’d been. What did it take to scare a man like him?
She tried to put him out of her mind. It hadn’t been that hard with other men she’d met and even dated. But Silas... There was something special about him. And yet, Chloe’s fear that he was too much like Marc kept nagging at her. She couldn’t go through that again. Her heart couldn’t take it.
* * *
“YOU’RE SURE IT was him?”
Silas held the phone more tightly in his hand. “Not positive. I only got a glimpse of him.”
“Okay,” said his friend and employer at the PI agency Cal Barnum. “First things first, I’ll see if he’s still out here in New York. This town you’re in, it’s small, right?”
“It doesn’t even have a stoplight.”
“So there is little chance he just happens to be there?”
“None. If he’s here, then he’s come for me.”
“Maybe you should make yourself scarce,” Cal suggested.
Any other time, Silas would have taken that advice. “It isn’t that simple right now. I’m helping a friend with a problem she has.”
“A friend? A new female friend, I take it?”
“She’s in trouble. I can’t just drop it.”
“Okay, so how long before DeAngelo finds you?”
Silas pulled off his Stetson and raked a hand through his hair. He’d figured out how small towns worked pretty quickly after moving here. People weren’t suspicious. They were annoyingly helpful. Looking for someone? Hell, they’d draw DeAngelo a map to his cabin.
“I’m going to have to find him,” he said.
Cal swore. “I’m sorry. You knew it was just a matter of time. From the start, you’d been suspicious of that crazy bastard Nathan DeAngelo.”
Silas and Nathan had been thrown together as partners when Silas had started with the force. Nathan had been there for a while and had promised to teach him the ropes. It hadn’t taken any time at all to see that his partner liked cutting corners.
“I’d hoped he’d have the sense to let it go,” Cal was saying.
“That isn’t his way.” He put his hat back on, his mind already working. He had little choice. He’d have to run DeAngelo to ground—or wait at the cabin for the man to come gunning for him. Silas had never been good at waiting.
“Let me know if you hear anything I should know,” he said to Cal.
“Keep in touch and...good luck.”
It was going to take more than luck. He knew DeAngelo well. He’d helped bring the man down for his crimes. But when it came to hard time, the man had slipped the noose. Too many friends in high places. Too much dirt out there that DeAngelo was holding over even those in the judicial system.
&nb
sp; So where to begin looking for the man? Although that wasn’t the main question on his mind. What are you going to do when you find him?
* * *
TJ TRIED NOT to worry about Silas as she and her sisters walked uptown. Annabelle was right. It was a beautiful December day, the sun shining, the new snow so pure white and sparkling. Christmas decorations adorned all the houses they passed and each of the stores along the main drag of Whitehorse.
“We should drive down to Billings,” Chloe said, not as enamored with the small Western town as her sisters.
“This is so much better than the rat race in the largest city in Montana,” Annabelle said, and laughed because all three of them lived in cities that made Billings seem small.
“Okay, come see this shirt I found for Dawson,” she said, dragging them into the clothing store.
TJ spotted her former high school English teacher looking at scarves and quickly stepped behind the racks of clothing to escape. By now Ester would have finished the book. TJ didn’t want to discuss the theme or her mistakes in grammar. Ester was one of those teachers who couldn’t help wanting to continue to teach even in retirement.
Annabelle held up the shirt she’d picked out. “What do you think?”
It was a blue checked Western shirt. “It looks just like him,” TJ said.
“I’d just buy him a rope. He’s going to need it, married to you,” Chloe joked. TJ was glad to see that her older sister had quit worrying about her for the moment.
“What does that mean?” Annabelle demanded. “That he’ll want to hang himself or that he’ll have to hog-tie me to keep me on the ranch?”
“I hadn’t thought of either of those, but you have a point,” Chloe said. “Buy the shirt. He won’t care. He adores you and anything you give him, he’ll love it.”
Annabelle still looked skeptical. She shifted her gaze to TJ who smiled and nodded. “What he really wants for Christmas is you.”
“I need to go down to the gift shop,” Chloe said after Annabelle bought the shirt and had it wrapped and they exited the store. Annabelle said she wanted to look in the gift shop as well.
TJ had no desire to go into a place that sold her books for fear of running into someone who wanted to talk about the latest one. She knew killing off Durango was going to cause some readers to be upset. But she had to take the books where they led her.
