Calculated Risk

by Janie Crouch

  She wasn’t drawn to Noah at all like she was Tanner, but she definitely understood him.

  “Nice to meet you,” she murmured, taking a slight step back.

  He gave her a brief nod before turning back to Tanner. “I’ve already gotten three calls from Cassandra, since you’re not answering your phone, and one from Mom. Gotten quite an earful about how you ran a young mother and her twin babies out of town.” He raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t look like they got far. These yours?” he asked his brother, gesturing to the babies.

  “No,” Tanner said, rolling his eyes.

  “They’re not even mine,” Bree put in.

  Noah tilted his head to the side and gave something that looked like a rusty smile. “You always did know how to complicate things, bro.”

  Tanner chuckled, but it faded quickly. “They need to lie low here for a while. Completely off the grid. No phones anywhere around.”

  That request didn’t seem to faze Noah at all. He just nodded. “Trouble?”

  Tanner nodded. “Of a big kind.”

  “How big?”

  Tanner turned to her. “You want to provide details?”

  She balanced Christian on her hip and turned to the side. “I can’t. Not right now. I’m sorry, but I can’t give you details.” If anything went wrong, it would be signing their death warrants. Although she might have done that even if she didn’t tell them.

  “Makes it harder to protect you that way,” Tanner said.

  She swallowed the panic building up in her. “I know. Maybe I should leave. If you could lend me a car or—”

  “No.” Both Dempsey brothers said it at the same time.

  “But I—”

  Tanner moved closer until he was right in front of her. She had to crane her neck back to see him. “You’re not leaving here on your own. Nobody knows you’re here. You lie low like you said you needed to. We’ll figure out the rest.”

  “Okay. But if—”

  Tanner’s phone beeping in his pocket cut her off. He cursed under his breath when he looked at the screen. “I’ve got to get into town if we have any hope of keeping your location here a secret. Evidently I’m not very popular right now.”

  Bree bit her lip. “Are you going to get in trouble?”

  He winked at her. “I’m sure Mrs. A is ready to snatch me out of Sunday School class again. But in the end, all that matters is your safety. They’ll all forgive me after this blows over.”

  She grabbed his arm. “And if it’s not something that ever blows over?”

  “Then we take it one day at a time.”

  “How long do Zac and Gavin think they can buy you?” Noah asked.

  Tanner shifted Beth to his other arm. “Two or three days max. Then Gavin will make it look like Bree ditched the car.” He turned to her. “But if this Organization is as proficient as you say at utilizing electronics for their purposes, it won’t take them long to figure out they were tricked.”

  She looked over at Noah. “I’m not trying to lead danger to your friends.”

  Noah shrugged. “They can take care of themselves.”

  Tanner looked over at his brother. “Call Cassandra and get her to come out here, then once she is, figure out a way for her to get whatever baby supplies the kids will need. But don’t mention it over the phone.”

  “Will do.”

  “And you’ll probably want to carry.” Both men nodded at each other in clear understanding.

  “Carry what?” Bree asked.

  “His weapon. We’re not going to take any chances with your life. Everybody in town knows not to come around here—Noah doesn’t like company. Anybody else coming around is just looking for trouble. Cassandra, our sister, will get you anything you need.”

  Before Tanner could say anything else, Noah whistled at Corfu then swung up onto his horse and headed out without a word. They both watched him go.

  “He doesn’t talk a lot.”

  “I know,” Tanner said. “He has his own personal demons. But he’ll keep you safe. Even if you can’t see him, know that if I’m not here, he’s got an eye on you and the kids. Nothing’s going to happen.”

  Someone else she was dragging into danger. The list got longer and longer. “Tanner, I—”

  He put a finger over her lips. “Don’t say it again. You’re not leaving. I want you here. Noah wants you here, even if he can’t formulate the words. You’re not going off on your own.”

  He led her inside and gave her a brief tour of the small, charming house that was obviously dear to him. Tanner handed her Beth then reached over and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be home as soon as I can. It might be a while.”

  A few moments later, he was walking out the door. She just stared at the door he’d shut behind him.

  Home.

  For the first time in her adult life she would be waiting for someone at home.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Gayle Little didn’t say a word to Tanner as he walked into the department office. Gayle had been a staple in the department before Tanner’s dad had been sheriff. She’d been welcoming Tanner into the building since he was about ten years old.

  But not today.

  Today the coffeepot was cold. It was midafternoon, so not prime coffee-drinking hours, and Tanner had never demanded or expected Gayle to make it, she just always had.

  There was no fresh coffee today.

  And her glare was even colder than the coffeepot.

  Evidently word about him running Bree out of town had spread, which was exactly what he wanted, but it was still a little painful.

  He spent the next couple of hours going through the forty-nine voice mail messages, an untold number of emails and a dozen handwritten notes telling him—some more politely than others—what they thought of his actions with Bree. He didn’t dare set foot inside the Sunrise for a while. Mr. and Mrs. A were likely to poison him.

  Nobody was happy.

  Bree wouldn’t believe it if she could see it. Wouldn’t believe so many people would care about her.

  That was a misconception he planned to rectify once the danger had passed, no matter how long it took. And she could just keep sleeping in his bed while they worked on it. He would take the couch as long as he needed to.

  Or maybe, if he was the luckiest bastard on the planet, she might invite him to join her.

  He shut down the emails and deleted the voice mails. There was nothing he could do about them right now. His office phone rang, and he cringed when he saw who it was. This call he couldn’t ignore.

  “What can I do for you, Sheriff Duggan?”

  Blaine Duggan had been his boss since day one. She’d worked with Tanner’s dad and had promoted Tanner steadily over the years. She was his mom’s good friend, and he had nothing but respect for the older woman.

  “You’re quite the talk of the town today, Dempsey. My office is getting calls.”

  “Sorry, Sheriff. Guess I made an unpopular decision.”

  He didn’t want to lie to his boss, but he wasn’t sure if this call was being monitored.

  “Anything I should know about?”

  “Not at this time. I believe it was the right decision for my department and Risk Peak in general, and the people contacting you don’t necessarily have all the facts.”

  “Which is exactly what I told them.”

  “I appreciate your trust, ma’am.”

  He was about to say his goodbyes when she spoke again. “But I buried your father because he got in over his head and didn’t ask for help. I don’t want you making the same mistakes. Take care of yourself, Tanner.”

  The call clicked off before he could say anything else. He stared at the phone receiver in his hand.

  Was Tanner being just as blind as his father had been? He didn’t think Bree would put a gun to his h
ead, but he couldn’t deny that he was courting danger by bringing her into his house.

  But he still meant what he’d told her. He wasn’t leaving her to deal with this alone.

  He spent the next hour fielding calls he wished he could send straight to voice mail and looking over the report from the break-in to make sure there was nothing he’d missed.

  Nobody in the office was talking to him. Gayle still wouldn’t even look at him, so that at least allowed him to get a little more work done. He sent Ronnie to pick up Bill Steele from the construction site.

  Tanner wanted to talk to him again. Maybe the man would refuse to come in. He certainly had that right. But Tanner wanted to see the man’s face when he mentioned the Organization. The term was vague and obviously an inside reference, but Tanner was willing to bet Steele was familiar with it.

  Tanner wanted a name. A real name. He didn’t think Steele was working for said Organization, but maybe he had some details that would help Tanner better protect Bree and the kids.

  And like it or not, she was going to have to tell him everything she knew.

  Because there were puzzle pieces that didn’t fit. Like if the Organization was the current threat, the people who were going to kill them all, according to her, then why had she and her mother been running from them when Bree was a child?

  And if she hadn’t seen her cousin in a decade, why were the same people who’d been after Bree’s mom now after her cousin?

  First he would find out what Steele knew, then he would use it to frame all the questions he had for Bree.

  A tap on his door a few minutes later had Tanner looking up from his desk with a cringe. Was someone else here to tell him what a terrible person he was?

  Scott stuck his head in. “Hey, boss. I brought you a sandwich from the Sunrise.”

  “Did you tell them it was for me?”

  “No. Should I have? Do they do something special for your sandwiches?”

  Tanner let out a sigh. “No. They just probably would’ve spit in it—or worse—if they’d known it was for me.”

  “Because of the whole Bree situation?”

  He scrubbed a hand across his jaw. He needed a shave. “I guess you heard?”

  Scott’s baby face scrunched up. “The way the people around here are telling it, you lit her on fire before escorting her out of town.”

  Tanner rolled his eyes and took the sandwich Scott offered. “Got to love small-town drama. Bree told me she was leaving, and I didn’t try to stop her. Like you said, I think she might be caught up with the mob or a gang or something. While I feel bad for her, really, my overall priority has to be to the town.”

  “So you’re just going to leave the whole break-in alone? That doesn’t seem right.”

  Good for you, kid. Hold the line. “No, you’re right. I don’t care who it is, someone breaking into a house isn’t okay here. We’ve got forensics seeing if they can pick up any prints, but it doesn’t look hopeful.”

  “Didn’t Ronnie say you had a suspect? Anything come of that?”

  “It was Bill Steele, that guy who was making Bree nervous. But we didn’t have enough to charge him.” Tanner gestured to the chair in front of his desk. “Want to come in?”

  “Do you think Steele is one of the men who broke into her apartment?” Scott sat down as Tanner began unwrapping the sandwich.

  “Maybe. I’ve got some more questions I’d like to ask him. Ronnie has gone to bring him back. Hopefully he’ll come voluntarily, because we definitely don’t have enough to charge him.”

  But maybe he would want to go. Maybe, like Bree, Steele was concerned about phones tracking his location.

  Fine. If he wouldn’t—or felt like he couldn’t—come to the department, Tanner would go out and find him. Steele didn’t have to give him answers in an official setting, but he had to give Tanner some answers. It could be in the middle of a field as far as Tanner was concerned.

  “Would you mind if I sat in on the questioning? See if I can learn something?”

  “Yeah, we’ll see.” On one hand, the kid was pretty observant and might see or hear things Tanner missed. On the other hand, Steele was already pretty closed off. Having other people around wasn’t going to help the man feel free to speak.

  Tanner was one bite into his sandwich when his office phone rang.

  “Tanner Dempsey.”

  “It’s Ronnie. We’ve got a problem. Steele didn’t show up for work today.”

  “Did he call in sick? We know for a fact he was up all night.”

  “Nope,” Ronnie said. “Just didn’t show up at all. I got his address from Denny Hyde and went over to the place he’s renting. He’s gone, Tanner.”

  “What?” Tanner stood, sandwich forgotten.

  “Yep. He was renting Sue Ragan’s place that she made out of her barn. And by the looks of it, he lit out of here in a hurry. You need to get here right away.”

  “Why?”

  “We definitely should’ve arrested Steele while we had the chance.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Mrs. Ragan’s house was a couple of miles outside town, so Tanner drove, Scott riding with him, since the younger man looked so crestfallen at being left behind.

  As soon as Tanner walked into the room where Steele had been staying, he let out a string of curses that would’ve made a seasoned sailor proud.

  Steele had played him.

  The walls were covered in photos of Bree and the babies. Dozens of them. He’d definitely been watching her—stalking her—since the day he arrived.

  There were pictures of her at work, her walking home, her with Tanner, her taking a break at the back of the Sunrise. Worse, there were just as many pictures of the babies as there were of Bree.

  “Nobody touch anything,” Tanner said as he donned a pair of gloves and walked inside. “Ronnie, get the crime lab over here ASAP.”

  Ronnie was already calling it in when Tanner found a handwritten note listing Bree and the kids’ schedule and habits.

  Bree had been right to be wary of the creepy, thin man. This was nothing less than obsession.

  And Tanner had had the man in custody and chose to let him go. He’d clung to a more complicated scenario—that Steele had known or been a part of some sort of hidden nefarious organization—rather than the simple one that was undoubtedly true: Steele was fixated on Bree and the kids.

  And now wished he could kick his own ass.

  Had everything Steele said this morning been a lie? And why had he called Tanner last night when Bree had been in trouble? Before Bree had really been in trouble?

  “County forensics team is on their way, Tanner.” Ronnie came back in the room. “I spoke to Mrs. Ragan—she said Steele is paid up through the end of the month and she’s never had a problem with him. She heard him squeal out of here early this morning.”

  “Did she notice which direction he was going?”

  “Away from town. North up Highway 70.”

  So the same direction Gavin was driving Bree’s car. Was Steele the one who had put the tracker on it? Had the whole break-in at her house been a setup to get her to run scared?

  “Wow.” Scott whistled through his teeth. “This is some pretty advanced-level stalker stuff. Are we sure he isn’t Bree’s baby daddy?”

  “No, he wasn’t. She would’ve mentioned that immediately. Wouldn’t have been so creeped out by him.” Tanner couldn’t tear his eyes away from all the pictures of Bree. Pictures of her with people. Without them. Some with the babies.

  But no matter what the scene or the situation, she always had that stiff, pinched look on her face. In not one single picture was she smiling, even the ones with the babies.

  She always looked scared.

  He’d gotten so used to that look on her face that he didn’t even notice it anymore.

 
Bree lived in terror.

  He walked over to study one, obviously shot from a small camera at a low angle. Bree was standing with Mr. and Mrs. A, the babies and Judy. A couple of other people, features not seen in the shot, were loitering around, too. A crowd.

  Despite all the people around her, Bree looked completely alone. A misfit among laughing, content people. Like she didn’t know how to feel what they were feeling and didn’t even want to try in case she failed.

  Damn it. Tanner wanted to teach this woman how to smile. Wanted to provide her a safe place where she could learn to find the smile he knew was inside her.

  Ronnie cleared his throat. “This guy is a psycho. Maybe we shouldn’t have sent Bree off on her own if he’s now following her.”

  “Wasn’t she afraid she was going to end up in his basement? I thought she was being melodramatic when she said it yesterday, but now...” Scott held his hand out toward the pictures. “Maybe not. Are you sure we have no way of getting in touch with her? No phone number?”

  Tanner shook his head. He wanted to tell Ronnie and Scott what was going on but couldn’t. “Her phone was last seen in multiple pieces in her apartment. And she didn’t give any forwarding address. So, as far as we’re concerned, she’s gone.”

  Ronnie and Scott were both staring at him like he’d just kicked a puppy into oncoming traffic. He couldn’t blame them; just the thought of Bree being out there alone with someone this crazy after her made him sick.

  “Look,” he continued, “the best thing we can do for Bree is get an APB out for Steele and make sure all our contacts in other counties know he could be dangerous. Bree wanted out of this town. She’s an adult, hasn’t broken the law and we couldn’t keep her here against her will. Maybe she was going to family or something.”

  “What do we know about Steele?” Scott asked. “Any record?”

  Tanner shook his head. “Completely clean. After seeing this, I’m thinking probably a fake ID. Hopefully, the crime lab can get some prints and we can run them.”

  Scott looked around at the pictures again. “I just hope law enforcement finds him before he finds Bree. Because this is a man obsessed. And obsession is dangerous.”