Security Measures

by Sara K. Parker

  * * *

  Hunter couldn’t sing. He was transfixed by Triss’s voice. She’d squeezed onto the bench next to Kaye, her legs stretched out to the side and crossed at the ankles. Maybe it was her casual slippers and leggings, or maybe it was the warm, lilting tone of her voice, but she seemed softer somehow. Relaxed in a way he’d never known her to be. He suspected that through finally telling her secret, she had been able to find a measure of peace in sharing the burden she had kept so close to her heart for so long. For that, he was happy for her.

  And now that Zach had been arrested, Hunter could transfer back to his former position without any reservations. It was as it should be, he told himself, even as Josie stood and wandered to the piano, playing with Triss’s hair as the crowd began to sing “O Holy Night.” Triss turned slightly to wink at Josie, and Hunter’s heart cracked open a little more at the shy grin on Josie’s face.

  They could have been good together, the four of them. In a different world, anyway. When Triss had told him about her daughter, he’d had a ray of hope for a few seconds. This was something he assumed they could get through together. But when she confided the depth of heartache she felt every time she allowed herself to get close to his kids, whenever she thought about all she’d missed with her daughter, he’d known.

  He would never try to convince her to stay. The cost would be too high. He’d done all the convincing and persuading he’d needed to do to get Viv to marry early and put off school. His selfishness had robbed her of her life. He refused to do the same thing to Triss, knowing that every happy moment would be tainted with sorrow.

  She had a plan and she’d worked hard for it. Maybe one day, she would think beyond her career and consider a family. But today wasn’t that day, and Hunter’s family wasn’t that family.

  By the time Kaye was running out of Christmas songs, Levi and Josie were running out of steam. Hunter scooped Levi into his arms, where his son promptly settled his head onto Hunter’s shoulder and popped a thumb in his mouth.

  “It’s about that time,” he said to Josie, who had curled up on the couch next to George, her cheeks pink from exhaustion. She pushed herself up from the couch and turned to hug George goodbye before walking over to Hunter and grasping his hand.

  “Sweet girl,” George said to Hunter. “Reminds me of my grandbabies when they were babies.” He stood. “I think I’ll be getting to bed myself.”

  Luke and Natalie stood as well, and Triss finished shoving the piano books in the bench. “Me, too, if I’m going to get up and run tomorrow,” she said.

  Josie pulled her hand away from Hunter’s and approached Triss with her arms wide open.

  “’Night, Triss,” she said, and Triss crouched, wrapping her arms around Hunter’s daughter and kissing her on the top of her head.

  “Thanks for singing with me tonight,” Triss said.

  Josie grinned. “I’m singing next week at my school’s talent show. Can you come?”

  “Oh, I—”

  “It’s on Friday.” She looked up at Hunter. “What time, Daddy?”

  “Six. But Triss has a lot going on right now, sweetie,” he said, giving Triss the out he knew she was searching for.

  Josie’s smile fell.

  “I would love to, but I work next Friday,” Triss said gently. Hunter knew she was telling the truth, but he also knew she could easily switch shifts with someone. “Maybe your dad can record it for me?”

  “Sure,” Hunter replied.

  Josie nodded, a small smile reappearing as she said goodbye to Triss.

  Triss walked with the group out of the commons before turning into the hallway that led to her apartment, and all the things Hunter wanted to say seemed poorly timed. Part of him wanted to tell Triss that he could wait for her. That if she ever came to a point in her life where she could consider a family, he’d still be here. But he knew the best thing for her, for his kids, for him even, would be closure. She’d said all she needed to say to him at the creek by the church. He would honor her wishes if it killed him.

  “Be safe in the morning,” he said as Josie opened the front door and cold air blew in.

  Triss nodded, her gaze holding his for a moment too long, as if she wanted to say things, too.

  Instead, she leaned forward and kissed Levi’s cheek, then held the door open for Hunter as he walked with his kids out into the bitter night. He heard her quietly ask her brother and Natalie to stay for a bit, and his heart constricted, knowing that she’d finally found the courage to tell her story—he hoped that her brother would respond in a way that protected her heart.

  He didn’t like leaving like this, with so many things left unsaid. He opened the car door for Josie and then buckled Levi into his car seat, then cast his gaze around the dark parking lot and to the lights still glowing from within Creekside Manor. Truth be told, he didn’t like leaving Harmony at all.

  Yes, Zach had been arrested, but his arrest had been so easy. The guy seemed smart. Why would he keep evidence in his apartment? Was he simply that confident that no one would suspect him? And he’d volunteered for the search. That was nagging at Hunter.

  He got in his truck and drove slowly out of the lot, scanning the darkened area and the trees beyond. If he expected to see a looming murderer, he saw nothing of the kind. Only nearly bare trees shivering in the cold night, and one of the new security officers doing a nightly patrol loop in a golf cart. He had no reason for the unease he felt as he drove through the opened wrought-iron gate and turned onto the highway. No reason to worry about Triss or the other residents after tucking his kids into bed and locking the house up.

  He still felt uneasy, and he still worried, but he certainly had no reason to set his alarm early enough to keep an eye on Triss on her morning run. Still, he stopped what he was doing and set his alarm.

  She’d be mad when she saw him following her, but she’d have to deal with it until Hunter was satisfied with the answers the police were able to extract from Zach.

  He climbed into bed and stared into the dark, thinking about the prayer meeting he’d been roped into the previous morning at the hospital. When Roman had shown up and offered to pray with Luke over Triss, Hunter had felt compelled to stay instead of leave, like he normally would. And he’d felt that same stirring he’d felt in the little Harmony chapel on Sunday.

  He thought about Josie’s sweet smile and Levi’s contagious energy for life, and how his wife would have wanted him to keep bringing them to church—not just on the holidays. As he stared into the pitch-black room, he was suddenly overwhelmed by the darkness, and he switched on his bedside lamp. At once, his pulse relaxed and he settled against his pillow, his mind drifting to the sermon on bringing all darkness into the light.

  It was painful to acknowledge, but he had not really been living for the past two years. He’d been surviving. Grieving the loss of his wife privately, trying to be two parents to his kids, figuring out how to care for them and support them, provide for them, and work all at the same time. What would it look like to start living again?

  Triss’s face flashed through his mind, but he didn’t allow himself to go down that path. He could start living again as a single dad to two kids. It would begin with somehow accepting the fact that this was his new life. For better or for worse, he had two amazing kids to love and protect and provide for. It was more than enough.

  It would have to be.

  He leaned over and double-checked his alarm clock, then closed his eyes, sending up a prayer that God would somehow shine light into this life he was trying to live.

  It seemed like only minutes later that his alarm clock woke him up. He got ready quickly and then set off toward Triss’s college campus. He’d catch her running on the road. Hopefully, he wouldn’t scare her.

  But he was just out of his driveway when he realized the truck felt rough on the road. He pulled over to the curb and s
tepped out, taking a quick walk around the vehicle only to find that the rear passenger tire was flat.

  Great.

  It wouldn’t take long to fix, but it wasn’t something he felt like dealing with on a cold fall morning in the dark. He pulled the truck into his driveway so he could get some light going, then grabbed out his jack. It was then that a thought occurred to him.

  What were the chances that he would wake up with a flat that would make him late to meet Triss? Alarmed, but figuring he was being overly cautious, he called Triss’s cell. When she didn’t pick up, he texted her, asking her to call back immediately.

  As he waited for her to respond, he yanked out his spare tire and made quick work of the tire change.

  She texted him as he finished tightening the bolts.

  On my run. Everything okay?

  He had brought the flat tire into the garage to inspect, searching for a telltale nail.

  He texted his reply.

  Planned to keep an eye out for you this morning. Woke up to a flat. What can I do to convince you to head back until I get there?

  He didn’t see a nail or screw and set down the tire to finish tightening the bolts on the spare and then put the jack away.

  Just got to the campus. I’m armed. I’ll be fine.

  He sighed. Of course she wouldn’t agree. And by the time he got to the campus, she’d be nearly done with her workout. He’d go, anyway, maybe have a little conversation with her about waiting to go places alone until they had more answers about the investigation.

  He went to the garage to close it up, but felt compelled to look at the tire again. The light in the garage was dim. He grabbed a flashlight out of his toolbox and inspected the tire more carefully. It didn’t take him long to find the cause of the flat, and when he did, his blood ran cold. A fine line, maybe two inches long, had been neatly sliced into the rubber along one of the tire grooves. Nearly undetectable. He dialed Triss with one hand as he closed the garage door with the other, and then jumped in his truck. Why wasn’t she picking up?

  THIRTEEN

  Triss’s legs were burning, and so were her lungs. The morning was brutally cold, and she’d found herself asking why on earth she felt so compelled to come out here and run the bleachers any day at all, let alone on a frosty fall morning.

  But the truth was, her early-morning runs were her way of gathering strength and clearing her mind. As she raced up the bleachers, she thought about Zach and how little she had truly known him. Sure, she had never had any real attachment to him, like she’d developed with some of the residents, but she was still shocked. He’d never seemed like a threat. How had those innocent eyes and smooth voice fooled them all?

  But even as she wondered, she was relieved the culprit had been caught. An investigation would certainly happen now, and maybe justice would be served if he’d participated in the deaths of the four deceased residents. She thought back to Iris and the ferry. Had Zach thrown her overboard? He certainly had the strength. But he’d been trying to save her—had alerted everyone and thrown her the life preserver. She frowned, remembering how he’d helped during Triss’s allergic reaction. And why target Triss in the first place? Why kill four residents?

  The questions would drive her crazy, and she could only hope that the entire truth would eventually be revealed. In the meantime, she was reclaiming her life. Last night she’d finally told Luke about her daughter.

  At first, his eyes had looked so stricken that she’d immediately wanted to take it back, keep the secret she’d been living with for far too long. Instead, she’d ventured forth, the story tumbling out like it had earlier with Hunter, only this time, she couldn’t read Luke’s eyes.

  By the time she’d finished, she’d been sure she knew what he was going to say. He was going to ask her why. He was going to wish she’d told him, insist that he would have helped. She braced herself for it.

  “I’d always wondered,” he had finally said, a sad smile on his face. “Thank you for telling me. I just wish you hadn’t gone through all of that alone.”

  Then he’d said what she’d needed to hear most of all: “You did the right thing, Triss. The hardest thing. The most sacrificial thing. I’m proud of you.”

  His words brought freedom, and her heart still swelled with the affirmation. He hadn’t said what she’d imagined all along he would say.

  But then, he’d opened his mouth again. “I have two questions.”

  Her heart had pitched as she waited for it. Waited for the regret and the “why didn’t you?” and the questions.

  “What did you name her? And do you think we’ll ever get to meet her?”

  At the memory, she blinked back tears, heart swelling with the love she’d seen in her brother’s eyes. She’d let the adoptive parents name her, but she’d called her Joy for the last two months of her pregnancy, as if speaking the name would somehow make it true for her life.

  Her footsteps echoed on the metal steps as she neared the bottom, and when she reached that final step, it was all she could do to motivate herself to circle around and head up for her last rep. The wind blew cold and fierce, and was somehow cleansing. She’d felt lighter ever since she’d told Hunter about her daughter. And even lighter after telling Luke. For all these years, her life had been driven by the secret as she’d thrown herself into her education and career path and shied away from relationships. All to avoid the grief of loss. But now that the secret had finally come to light, she suddenly felt more heavily burdened by the questions she had rarely allowed herself to ask.

  Where was her daughter? What was her family like? Was she happy? Healthy? Loved? She’d sent the email to the adoption agency earlier in the week, and its receipt had been acknowledged by a social worker. However, she had yet to hear any news about her daughter.

  She pushed through the burning quads and biting wind, nearing the top of the bleachers again, then jumped at the vibration of her phone in her jacket pocket.

  Probably Hunter again, she figured. She’d call him after she finished the set, or he’d worry himself into a frenzy and end up driving over here, anyway. Too hard to get her gloves off now, get her phone out of her pocket and answer.

  Finally, she reached the top, and considered the idea of laying off the daily bleacher workout for the rest of the winter. The phone stopped vibrating and almost immediately started again.

  Thirty seconds and she’d call back.

  But even as the thought flitted through her mind, a swift movement from behind made her stumble. She gasped, just as a dark figure came at her, some kind of weapon in hand. Before Triss could react, something heavy slammed into her, and she went flying.

  Her feet flew out from under her as she fell forward, missing several steps before smashing into the bleachers.

  Instinctively, her arms wrapped around her head, and her forearms were the first part of her body to connect with the metal edge of one of the bleacher steps. Sharp pain shot through her left arm, and she was tumbling forward, unable to stop herself, her body banging against each cold, hard step until she lost momentum and finally came to a rest.

  For a moment, she was stunned, pain flaring all over her body. She blinked, disoriented, and managed to roll to her right side, pushing herself up.

  Her adrenaline took over and she forced herself to ignore a throbbing ankle as she started to right herself. But footsteps crashed on the bleachers above her and she turned her head in time to see someone she never would have expected to be outside on a frigid morning.

  It took her a moment too long to realize that Courtney hadn’t come along for an uncharacteristic morning jog. In fact, she only realized it when Courtney got close enough for Triss’s running light to pick up the heavy black baton Courtney was wielding.

  Desperately, Triss started to roll toward the bottom of the bleachers, her good hand reaching under her jacket to retrieve her gun. Her fin
gers were clumsy under her thermal gloves, but she had to try. She grabbed at the holster of the gun as Courtney took a well-aimed swing. Triss managed to dodge the hit, but Courtney slashed the baton toward her again, relentless, her face contorted into a murderous rage. Triss’s cell phone kept vibrating.

  * * *

  Hunter was afraid of what he’d find when Triss didn’t answer his phone calls, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight of her sprawled at the bottom of the bleachers, scrambling for escape.

  Her attacker, dressed all in black, hovered over her, a heavy dark stick of some sort poised to strike again as Hunter lunged up the steps to reach her.

  “Freeze!” he yelled, gun already in hand.

  The dark figure froze, a pale face jerking upward.

  Hunter slowed, yards away now, his gun trained on who he now realized, with no small amount of confusion, was Courtney.

  “Drop it, Courtney,” he commanded, approaching with measured steps. All he wanted to do was run to Triss, call for help, make sure she was okay. But he couldn’t risk taking his eyes off of the girl with the wild-looking eyes who held what he now realized was a police baton like a deadly baseball bat, poised at shoulder height.

  “Put it down,” he repeated.

  And, to his surprise, she did. She let the baton drop, and it clattered to the bleachers, where it clanged down several steps before rolling to a stop. He lunged toward her, but she took off, feet flying across metal as she tried to escape. With barely a thought, Hunter holstered his gun and ran after her.

  To his surprise, Triss managed to get on her feet and follow her, too. With one swift leap, she brought Courtney down to the cold hard bleachers as Hunter caught up with the two.