Lone Defender (Love Inspired Suspense)

by Shirlee McCoy

  “How about we skip the instructions, you grab your bag and get out of here, sis?” Jonas broke in, and Rayne frowned.

  “What’s the hurry?”

  “You said it yourself. There’s some crazy stuff going on. I don’t want you caught up in any of it.”

  “I deal with crazy stuff every day at the shelter. What’s the difference?” But she grabbed a laptop, shoved it into a case along with a file folder overflowing with paper.

  “The difference is, this is my crazy stuff. Come on.” He lifted an overnight case that sat near the door, pulled the laptop from his sister’s hands.

  “My brother is bossy, in case you haven’t noticed.” Rayne opened a kitchen drawer and grabbed a handful of chocolate bars, apparently not at all concerned by Jonas’s hard glare.

  “I have,” Skylar responded, liking Rayne more with every passing moment.

  “I’m standing right here, ladies.” And he was getting impatient, pent-up energy rolling off him and filling the small room.

  “And standing there for another minute isn’t going to kill you,” Rayne shot back as she slung a purse over her shoulder.

  “It’s not me being killed that I’m worried about,” he growled, and Rayne handed Skylar one of the candy bars.

  “One of my not-so-secret stashes. Help yourself to more if you feel the need. Since you’re hanging out with Jonas, you probably will.” She laughed when Jonas shoved open the door, stepped onto the small stoop at the top of the stairs and gestured for her to follow.

  “Guess that’s my cue to hit the road. It was really nice meeting you, Skylar.”

  “You, too.”

  Rayne smiled, her deep blue eyes looking straight into Skylar’s. Probing, seeking, the intensity exactly like Jonas’s before she pulled Skylar in for a hug.

  “Be careful, okay? My brother’s heart was broken once. I’d hate for it to happen again.” The words were barely a whisper. Before Skylar could register their meaning, Rayne stepped back, offered an easy smile and walked outside.

  “Go ahead and get settled. I’ll be back up later.” Jonas issued the command and closed the door, shutting Skylar into the cozy apartment.

  Alone.

  Again.

  She frowned, irritated with her need for company. She’d spent her entire adult life living alone. She’d never needed anyone. Not even Matthew. She’d wanted him. Or, at least, wanted what he represented, but he’d filled none of the emptiness in Skylar’s heart, plugged none of the holes that had been left by her family.

  Maybe that should have been the first clue that he wasn’t the guy for her. That there was probably no guy for her.

  For her, love and family were elusive dreams. The harder she’d tried to hold onto them, the more quickly they slipped away. After Matthew, she’d given up trying. She had her life, her faith. She had friends. She had her work that made her feel like she was making a difference. She didn’t need a husband or kids to fulfill her.

  But she had wanted them.

  Wanted all the things she’d been denied when she was a skinny little girl living in squalor.

  “Stop it,” she hissed, shoving aside the melancholy mood and the memories and grabbing the clothes and boots Rayne had left out for her.

  She showered and changed, pulling on jeans that were a size too big and a cowl-necked sweater that showed too much of her scar. She tossed her sneakers into the trash, made a circuit of the apartment, even tested out the bed, but she was too restless to sleep. Too pent up to close her eyes. Despite her sore throat and throbbing headache, despite her fatigue, she needed to work. Needed to find answers. Find Redmond.

  And then she needed to get back to New York and move on with her life. Exactly as she’d planned she would.

  No more regrets. No more secret longings. No more feeling as if life were passing her by.

  No more gazing into blue-green eyes and feeling her heart flutter.

  She scowled.

  Her heart did not flutter when she looked into Jonas’s eyes.

  Much.

  She dropped down in front of a small desk in the corner of the living room, booted up the computer. She’d log into her email account, print out some of the notes she’d sent to Kane. She’d missed something when she was questioning the residents of Cave Creek. Something big enough to nearly get her killed. Maybe reading through the notes would clarify things.

  She tore open the chocolate bar, bit into it. She felt light-headed and worn, but she needed to keep going, needed to find answers quickly. Her life depended on it.

  And, if the way she felt when she looked into Jonas’s eyes was any indication, her heart might, too.

  NINE

  An hour seemed like more than enough time for Skylar to get settled into the apartment.

  More than enough time for her to get into trouble, too.

  Jonas crossed the yard that separated the house from the garage, jogged up the stairs and knocked on the door.

  Nothing. No voice calling for him to come in.

  Or to go away.

  No movement. Not even a hint that Skylar was inside.

  He knocked again, waited a heartbeat and opened the door.

  Silence greeted him, and he surveyed the room, saw Skylar at the desk, cheek pressed to the wood, damp curls spilling down her back. A half-eaten candy bar lay near her hand, and a pile of papers sat near the printer. She didn’t move as he walked toward her, barely seemed to be breathing.

  Out cold.

  Completely oblivious.

  She seemed more vulnerable than when he’d found her in the desert, more fragile than she’d appeared in the hospital.

  “Sky?” He touched her cheek, wasn’t surprised when she didn’t respond. Even the toughest person couldn’t keep pushing forever. Skylar had reached her limit hours ago.

  He lifted her from the chair, her solid weight reminding him of long ago days. Gabriella laughing up into his eyes as he carried her across the threshold of their New Mexico home, whispering sweet promises into his ear as he twirled her around the day she’d found out she was pregnant. The memories were bittersweet, and he swallowed them back as he settled Skylar onto the bed, pulled an afghan over her.

  Nothing like Gabriella.

  The thought flitted through his mind, just as it had at the hospital.

  Gabriella had been bright and sunny and sweet. No darkness in her eyes. No shadows. Joy and faith and trust, they were as natural to her as they were foreign to Jonas, and he hadn’t been able to resist their pull. Hers.

  A moth to a flame, that’s how he’d been, and he’d thrown himself into marriage the same way he’d thrown himself into everything. Eagerly.

  It should have lasted longer.

  Should have been the forever they’d both planned.

  He turned, the movement sharp and rigid with all that he felt, and was surprised when Skylar grabbed his hand.

  “Are you leaving?” Her eyes were glassy, her words slurred. More asleep than awake.

  “Just heading over to my place to shower and change. I’m going to set the alarm. If anyone tries to get in, it’ll go off here and at the house. Don’t try to be a hero. Lock the bedroom door and stay put. Let me handle any intruders.”

  “A hero? There aren’t many of those in this world, Jonas. I’m not one of them, but I’m beginning to think you may be.”

  “I’m no hero.”

  “No? Then how could you possibly be mine?”

  “Go back to sleep, Skylar.” His voice was gruffer than he’d intended, but Skylar didn’t hear. She was already out again, dark lashes fanned across pink cheeks, her breath coming even and slow. His stomach clenched, his pulse leaping with thoughts he had no business entertaining.

  Nothing like Gabriella, but Skylar was a flame in her own right, the shadows in her eyes, the secrets hidden there, calling out to Jonas in the same way Gabriella’s openness had.

  The thought followed him as he set the alarm and returned to his house, a cobweb he couldn
’t brush off no matter how much he tried.

  He showered quickly, grabbed a cheese stick from the fridge, paced across the kitchen floor.

  The silence of the house, the emptiness of it, mocked him, reminding him of the plans he and Gabriella had made, the dreams they’d shared.

  He rubbed the back of his neck and scowled.

  Obviously, the past few days had taken a toll on him. He was thinking too much about the past, letting his mind dwell where it shouldn’t.

  He’d moved on, but he hadn’t let go.

  Rayne had told him that a dozen times in the past few months, urging him to date again, to think about the future, to find God’s plan for his life.

  Not restoring old homes, either, bro. You’re good at it, but you’re better at what you were doing before. Finding people. It’s a God-given gift. How long are you going to keep wasting it?

  How much of a gift could it be when it cost him the ones he loved the most? What kind of hero couldn’t save his own wife and child? How could you possibly be mine, Skylar had said. As if he were her hero. Could he handle that responsibility?

  He’d lost his way since the murders, let himself drift along on the path of least resistance. Forgotten who he was, and maybe even who he was meant to be.

  God’s plan.

  God who’d let Gabriella’s life slip away, let baby Simon die before ever taking his first breath. God who hadn’t intervened to save either of them.

  Jonas lifted a photo from the coffee table. Gabriella as she’d been three weeks before the murder. Glowing with health, her belly pressing against the button-down shirt she’d borrowed from his closet, her hands resting on her stomach.

  We are so blessed, Jonas. God is so good to us.

  He could remember the moment like it was yesterday.

  If he had been the one murdered, if she had lost their son and Jonas in one day, in one heartbeat, she would have accepted the tragedy for what it was and laid the blame where it belonged, on the evil that dwelled in the world rather than on God. But he didn’t know if he could do that, even now.

  The phone rang, and he grabbed it, eager for a distraction. “Sampson here.”

  “Sampson, this is Rodger Smithson, sheriff of Cave Creek. Sergeant Maria Jessop with the Phoenix P.D. gave me your number. I’m trying to reach Skylar Grady.”

  “She’s resting.”

  “We were relieved to hear that she’d been found alive, and I wanted to thank you for your part in that.”

  “There was an entire search-and-rescue team involved.”

  “But you were the only one able to track her. Everyone around here will sleep better tonight. We were looking out for her while she was here, and it didn’t feel right knowing she’d gone missing from our town. She’s doing well, then?”

  “As well as can be expected.”

  “Good. Good. I have her things down here at the station. Suitcase. Laptop. Everything that was in the hotel room. Plus, a few things we pulled from the jeep. Wish we’d treated them like evidence when we found them but, at the time, there was no reason to think there’d been foul play. She’s free to come get the stuff when she’s ready.”

  “I’ll let her know.”

  “Great. We’d also like to take statements from both of you. We’ll be working closely with Phoenix P.D., but since Skylar was abducted in our town, the investigation is in our jurisdiction. The sooner you two can get in for that, the better.”

  “Like I said, Skylar is sleeping.”

  “You could wake her.”

  “I could.”

  “But you won’t?”

  “No.”

  “The thing is, Sampson, it’s imperative that we get this investigation moving. The longer it takes for us to have access to Skylar, the less likely it will be that we’ll find the person responsible.”

  “Persons.”

  “Pardon?”

  “There were at least ten people on the desert last night. You might want to send some men out. See what they can find. I gave the Phoenix police rough coordinates for some markers I left. A bloodhound might be able to pick up a scent and follow the trail.”

  “We could bring you out with us. I hear you’re one of the best.”

  “Sorry, Sheriff, my days of tracking are over.”

  “You tracked Skylar.”

  “As a favor to a friend of mine and Skylar’s.”

  “She’s fortunate in her friends, then. Without you, she’d probably be dead.”

  “She was in Cave Creek searching for a man named Daniel Redmond.” He ignored the sheriff’s comment, the image of Skylar’s blood seeping into rocky sand not one he wanted to dwell on.

  “That’s right.”

  “Did you know the man?”

  “I knew of him. He worked at a diner around the corner from my office. Can’t say we ever had much of a conversation, but he was new in town, so I kept my eye on him.”

  “Then you know who he hung out with? Who his friends were?”

  There was a moment of silence, a hiss of breath. “Look, how about you just get Skylar and come in for a chat? We can discuss everything then.”

  “Is there a reason why you don’t want to discuss it now?”

  “I’d be happy to discuss it if I hadn’t already covered all this with Skylar. The woman is like a pit bull. She gets hold of something, and she won’t let it go.”

  “A good quality in an investigator.”

  “A good quality if it doesn’t get a person killed. Listen, I have another phone call coming in. Come to the station with Skylar when you can. Like I said, the sooner the better.” He hung up, and Jonas dropped the phone back into the receiver.

  Skylar had said no one knew Redmond’s whereabouts, but the sheriff had said he’d kept an eye on the guy. Surely, he knew the man’s connections in town, his routines and habits.

  Or maybe the claim was just that. Maybe the sheriff hadn’t paid much attention to Redmond and was beating himself up over letting a deadbeat dad work in his town.

  A high-pitched shriek filled the room, and Jonas’s heart leaped, adrenaline coursing though him as the alarm pulsed its warning over and over again.

  He pulled his gun, raced out the door, barreled into Skylar. “What are you doing out here? I told you to lock yourself in the room if the alarm went off.” He dragged her in the house, pressing her against the wall, expecting bullets to fly.

  “I set it off,” she shouted, pushing against his arm, and putting her hands over her ears.

  “What?” He typed in the alarm code, his ears ringing as the room fell silent.

  “I said, I set off the alarm. I walked out the front door and it went off.”

  His jaw clenched, a million words he had no right to say dancing on the tip of his tongue.

  Skylar was an adult, a former cop, a private investigator. She knew how to protect herself, knew how to be smart and how to survive, but he wanted to chew her out anyway. Tell her that she’d been a fool to walk outside when she knew a posse was gunning for her.

  “Count to ten, Jonas, ’cause you look like you’re about to blow.” She patted his cheek, let her palm rest there, the gesture as light and teasing as Rayne’s would have been.

  Only Skylar wasn’t Rayne, and the contact shot through Jonas like lightning through a stormy sky. Skylar felt it, too. Her breath caught, her pupils dilating as she let her hand drop away and stepped back.

  “Remind me to give you the code tonight.” His voice was gruff, his muscles tight as he grabbed juice from the fridge, poured her a glass. “Drink.”

  She eyed him over the rim as he phoned the security company, her gaze uneasy and unsure.

  Funny. That was exactly how he felt

  Or maybe it wasn’t so funny.

  He hung up, tried to focus his thoughts.

  “I just spoke to Sheriff Smithson. His office is taking over the investigation from the Phoenix P.D. since you were abducted from their jurisdiction. He’d like to interview both of us. He also said
he has some of your things. You’re free to pick them up when you’re ready.”

  “I’m ready.” She set the empty glass in the sink, brushing past him as she walked out of the kitchen. Just a hint of contact, but Jonas felt it to his core.

  He frowned, grabbing his keys and wallet, tossing a jacket in Skylar’s direction. She pulled it on, hurried to the door, as eager to escape, it seemed, as Jonas was.

  By the time he’d locked the door, she was in the truck, her jean-clad legs and boot-encased feet disappearing as she shut the door.

  “What did you think of the sheriff?” Skylar asked after Jonas had climbed into the truck and started the engine. Jonas met her eyes. Wished he hadn’t. Everything she felt was written there. Trepidation. Confusion. Curiosity.

  It was the curiosity that might get them both in deeper than either wanted to go. Especially since it was a trait he shared.

  “Not much. He said he’d been keeping an eye on Redmond, but wouldn’t answer when I asked who the guy’s friends were. Where he hung out.”

  “Probably because he was tired of answering me when I asked.”

  “That’s what he said.”

  “The thing is, I asked a dozen times in a dozen different ways, and all he’d say was that Redmond hung out at the diner where he worked, spent all his time with the people there. No specifics. No names.”

  “Maybe he’s hiding something.”

  “Or he doesn’t know and doesn’t want to admit it. He’s arrogant enough to think he knows everything about the people in Cave Creek. It might stick in his craw that he doesn’t.”

  “It sounds like he didn’t make much of an impression on you.”

  “Actually, he didn’t. Not a good impression, and not a bad one, either. Which is unusual. When you’re a cop, it helps to know the good guys from the bad ones. I’ve almost always been able to do it.”