Close To Danger (Westen Series Book 4)

by Suzanne Ferrell

  * * * * *

  Chloe stared after Wes’s retreating back. Relief coursing through her, irritation quickly on its heels.

  He’d known exactly what she’d believed. “I really enjoyed last night, Chloe.” He’d said those words just before he kissed her. She should know. Her mind had played those words and that kiss over and over in the two weeks since.

  Embarrassed, she glanced at the pea coat hanging on one of the pegs. His pea coat. The one he’d given her that day. The same one she’d worn every day since, like some stupid love-sick teenager wearing the football captain’s letter jacket. He was right. She’d drank too much to try and erase the fear surrounding her for weeks. And the next morning, she’d jumped to conclusions. Wrong conclusions, based on her feelings and not facts.

  “Since we’re pretty much snowed in here, how about we use the time to figure out who’s stalking you,” Wes said, returning with a laptop and some round electronic gizmo. He set them on the counter and slipped onto one of the stools.

  “What’s that?” she asked, taking the seat beside him.

  “Laptop.” He gave her a duh look.

  She wanted to slug him, but just lifted one no-duh eyebrow at him. “Really? I never would’ve guessed.” She pointed at the round piece. “I meant that.”

  “A retinal scanner.” He proceeded to power up the laptop, connect the scanner device to the USB port and cupping it in his hand, he held it to his eyes. Immediately, the laptop screen changed.

  “Impressive. But isn’t that a little excessive security? It’s not like you have government secrets in there, is it?” Chloe teased, stopping when she saw the seriousness on his face. She blinked then stared wide-eyed at him. “You’re telling me you do?”

  He shrugged as he typed. “More like government-only access programs.”

  She leaned in closer. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “It was a going-away gift from my former employers.”

  “Wait, you mean to tell me you worked for the government before coming to this little backwater town to work as a deputy?”

  He didn’t answer, just met her gaze with his own steady one.

  “What were you? CIA?”

  No answer.

  “NSA?”

  Again, just that steady stare.

  “Dark ops?”

  He blinked.

  “Oh, my God.” She inhaled quickly, then blew the air of her mouth in a big O. Inhaling again, the air caught in her chest once more, this time slowly letting it out as realization dawned on her. He wasn’t kidding. She was snowed in with a man who had deep, dark secrets. And he’d just shared one with her.

  “Oh, great. I just had to open my mouth and ask,” she muttered.

  “What?” He tilted his head to one side in curiosity.

  “You know the old saying in spy shows? If I tell you, then I have to kill you? Well, now you’ve told me. What happens next?”

  He shook his head. “Counselor, you have a vivid imagination. I’m not going to hurt you. If I hadn’t wanted you to know about my special talents, I wouldn’t have let you see this or answered any of your questions.”

  Still a little intimidated, but feeling safer, she wrapped her arms around herself. “So, you worked for some dark ops unit for a secret government group. Then you left to come here. Why?”

  “I was given a mission that I didn’t feel should’ve been undertaken, for a target we didn’t really know much about, and the intel was faulty. It went south. Most of my team didn’t make it back.” He leaned one elbow on the counter, rubbing his hand over his face, anger and distress warring on his features and in his eyes. “I’d had enough. I just wanted some peace.”

  “But when you left, they gave you special access to their systems? Why would they do that? You could leak that to anyone. Do anything to anyone.”

  “I said, I left. It doesn’t mean they’ve let me go. I have access because there may come a time when they need me to come back to work. For now, I’m on my own.” As he typed, several screens came into play. Then he opened up a blank page. “Why don’t we start with anyone you think might be the obvious candidate for your stalker?”

  CHAPTER TEN

  “That was a smoother ride into work than I thought we’d have. What with the blizzard blowing in nearly two feet of snow last night,” Bobby said as she climbed out of the cab of her husband’s gigantic truck.

  Okay, it wasn’t really gigantic, more like large. Of course when your spouse was six-feet-three inches tall and you were just five-feet-four, and had to use the special flip down step he’d installed just for you to climb in and out of the cab, the thing felt mammoth.

  “Jason said André slept the night here and the pair were out early, making sure the main roads into and out of town were clear. Personally, I’m glad they added our street to the necessary list,” Gage said, taking her hand to walk over the mound of snow and onto the partially cleared sidewalk. “Steady here, the sleet that came in first is frozen beneath the packed snow.”

  Glad for the thick work boots that were part of her deputy’s uniform, she held tight to his hand with one of hers, the other laying over her lower abdomen as they walked to the office door. Normally she wouldn’t care about a little fall, especially since she had extra padding in her lower half, but since she was pregnant with their first child, neither of them wanted to risk a fall this early on.

  At the door, she let out her breath and he leaned down to kiss her. “Safe and secure.”

  “I always am with you.” She smiled at him, letting her free hand rest on his chest a moment as he opened the door for her.

  “So, why did Jason go out with André to clear roads?” she asked as they entered the warm sheriff’s office and started stripping out of their winter gear.

  “In case André ran into any stranded motorists or accidents, I’d be there to help him,” the youngest member of the deputy division said, coming into the main room munching on a breakfast sandwich in one hand, a to-go box from the café in the other. “Pete had ham and biscuits this morning over at the café. I brought back a dozen.”

  “You’re a good man, Jason,” Bobby said as she took the box of sandwiches from him. Despite yogurt and fruit with her coffee this morning, she was ravenous.

  “Because he thought to go with André to search for stranded people? Or because he brought you food?” Gage asked, pouring himself a mug of coffee from the full pot in the corner of the office.

  “Both.” Bobby grinned before taking a bite of the flakey biscuit and salty cured ham. Heaven. Pete was definitely Lorna’s secret weapon over at the Peaches ’N Cream.

  Gage laughed and sat at his desk. “Okay, Jason, did you and André come across anyone stranded out in the snow?”

  “Luckily, no sir. At least not on the highway or any of the main streets. A few of the long-haul truckers made it into town before the roads got completely unpassable. Lorna’s had them tucked in at the café last night. They’re hoping to get back on the roads this morning, but I doubt they’ll be going anywhere soon. Roads east of town are pretty bad.” Jason laid several papers in front of him. “Those are the logs of calls that came in. The powerlines are down on the outskirts of town.”

  A moment later, the office door opened again and the large form of Deputy Cleetus Junkins entered. “Morning everyone,” he said, stamping snow from his boots over the mat at the door. “Sorry I’m a bit late. I wanted to make sure Sylvie was okay before I came in.”

  “And is she?” Bobby asked with a wink.

  A delightful blush pinked her friend’s cheeks. “Up and busy worrying about her clients. Afraid some of them, the elderly ones especially, will try to get to the salon even in this weather. Insisted I bring her to work early, just in case. I assured her Westen’s old timers had more sense than that.” He snatched one of the biscuits from the box by the coffee maker where Bobby had set them, then took his seat. “By the way, saw Doc Clint shoveling the snow over at the clinic on our way into town. He sa
id Harriett called him that she’d be late getting to the clinic due to no electricity out her way.”

  “Doesn’t she live up the river road beyond where Wes has his cabin?” Bobby said from her desk, already logging into her computer.

  “About a mile up the road,” Gage said. “The cabins there are fairly remote. Too bad Wes is out of town. He could help her dig out. It’ll be days before the power company or the road crews can get in there. They’ll want to make sure the town is set and probably the new housing developments first.” He paused a moment, as if far away.

  “What is it?” she asked. When he got that look, it usually meant he was playing with an idea.

  “Westen hasn’t had a snowstorm like this since before Dad and I moved to town. There’s a lot of elderly folk that live out on the farms and in the outlying areas. We’d best be trying to contact them.”

  “How are we going to do that if the power’s out, boss?” Cleetus asked. “A lot of the old folks still have land lines. Won’t the snow have knocked them down, too? And how will we know who to call?”

  “I bet Libby can get us a list of the senior citizens from the Senior Center, since she’s the county social worker and on the board of the center,” Bobby said, already getting her phone out. Libby was also the wife of Gage’s best friend and the town’s fire chief, Deke Reynolds.

  “My mom knows a lot of the folks who are elderly in her church congregation over at First Baptist,” Jason said. “She and the pastor’s wife, Mrs. Miller, are good friends with Mrs. White, the Presbyterian minister’s wife and Father Kowalski from St. Anthony’s. The four of them are on several local church charity committees together. I bet they’d be willing to help.”

  Gage nodded. “Give her a call. Tell them to coordinate with Bobby and Libby. Anyone we can’t get a hold of, those are who we send someone out to check on.” He pointed a finger at the young man who’d been up all night. “Then you get home and get some sleep. We may have more accidents later today as people start trying to get out and about. I may need you to come in early tonight.”

  “Will do, sir,” Jason said, pulling out his phone.

  “I could take some or the phone list over to the Dye Right,” Cleetus volunteered. “I know Sylvie and Ms. Twylla would be happy to help. Give them a chance to check up on their clients.”

  “Good idea, Cletus,” Bobby said. “I’ll give you half the list that Libby sends me.”

  Gage’s cell phone rang. He noted the caller ID before answering, then rubbed his forehead right between his eyes. “Morning, Tobias.”

  Bobby tried not to laugh. Tobias Rawlins was Westen’s Mayor. He’d been in school with Gage, Deke and Cleetus. For some reason he tended to get on Gage’s nerves, but Bobby knew that despite his occasional misstep into professional politician-mode, the mayor did have the welfare of Westen’s citizens at heart. Besides, he was one of the men who helped dig Gage out of the cave-in last year. That fact alone won her loyal support forever.

  “Jason was on duty last night. No, he’s already gone home,” Gage said, motioning for the deputy to get out the door. Jason, tossed on his coat as he was still talking to his mother on the phone and headed out the back of the office, a grin on his face. “I can be over at your office in a few minutes. I’ll bring the reports with me. Actually, my staff is already on top of that. I’ll give you details when I meet with you.”

  He hung up and gave Bobby a bland expression, lips pressed tightly and exhaling through his nose.

  She struggled and failed at hiding her smile at his discomfiture. “What did Tobias want?”

  “He wants a condition assessment report. His exact words. Apparently, the governor is calling a state of emergency for the entire state and wants information about things here.” He reached for his coat and hat. “He asked about the elderly in the outlying areas. I told him we were working on that. Deke and Harold Russett are meeting with us. André gave Harold a report of the roads this morning.”

  As the county engineer, Harold was in charge of all road maintenance and repairs in the area.

  “Anything I can do?” she asked, coming over to give him a hug.

  “First. Stay here. I don’t want to worry about you falling on the ice,” he said, kissing her quickly. “Cleetus can be your gopher if you need anything. Call Daniel, too. I know he’s on the evening shift, but if he can come in a little early. I think we’re all going to be on overtime, until things are back to normal. And if you can get ahold of the power companies that feed the area, I need an idea of how many are without power and when they might have it back on.”

  “Aye-aye, boss,” she said with a quick salute.

  “I mean it, Bobby.” He gave her the I’m-in-charge look. “You stay here.”

  “I promise. I’ll make your calls, then I’m going to try Chloe again.” First thing this morning she’d talked to Dylan, who’d slept at the hospital since the sleet had hit Cincinnati about the time she got off shift. The snow that blew in overnight had her stranded, leaving her to cover a shift on her day off. But when she’d tried Chloe’s cell it had gone straight to voice mail. “It’s not like her to not have her phone close by.”

  Gage gave her another hug, then started for the door. “Try not to worry about her. She’s a grown woman and can take care of herself. You raised her that way, remember? Besides, I’m sure she’s safe, wherever she is.”

  * * * * *

  “If I knew who was stalking me, I’d have gone to the police already,” Chloe said, not even trying to hide her frustration.

  “I didn’t ask who was stalking you. I asked who you thought a was likely candidate,” Wes said with a practiced patience that made Chloe’s teeth grind. Then he laid his hand on her knee, the warmth of his touch seeping through her jeans and dousing some of her building irritation. Too quickly he moved his hand and settled them back on his keyboard. “Just give me a starting place to begin searching.”

  Unfolding her arms, she rubbed the palms of her hands together back and forth slowly as she pondered his question. “Last night I was asking myself the same question.”

  “When you were here for the wedding, you mentioned Bolden Construction had been one of your firm’s clients.”

  “You remembered that?” The man really did pay attention to things. She’d forgotten they’d talked about it.

  “While Gage and Bobby were gone on their honeymoon, I had a little to keep me busy, besides making sure his crazy ex stayed locked up.” He typed on his laptop, then stopped to read something. “Ray Bolden, owner of Bolden Construction was tried for negligent homicide in the death of two of his construction workers due to his use of materials not up to code and lack of safety protocols. He’s currently serving twenty to life for each death.”

  “That’s him.”

  “Why would you think he’d be angry enough with you to stalk you or in this case hire someone, since he’s locked up? You’re a junior partner and not on the trial team.” Wes fixed that intense stare on her, making her squirm a little in her seat. “What did you do?”

  Damn, he was way too perceptive. She shrugged. Stared back into his eyes unashamed. “Some records of the arrogant bastard’s expenditures and invoices for his materials used on the project, may have somehow found their way into a junior DA’s files one day.”

  “Whoa.” Wes leaned back in his seat, astonishment written all over his face. “Isn’t that a little against the code of ethics for lawyers?”

  “Yes. Normally, I would turn a blind eye because we were the defense team. However, when our senior partners asked me to do a financial background on Bolden to confirm they could get a large fee from him, I stumbled upon evidence that proved he’d knowingly put those two men and others at risk, as well as anyone in the building should it have collapsed.” She turned her head to one side, letting the joint in her neck crack. “Again, I should’ve kept the information in house, except I happen to hear Bolden ridiculing the dead men for not knowing to be careful. When Mr. Berger, the most seni
or partner in the firm laughed along with him, I had to make a decision. Do what my bosses would expect or do what was fair and just for the dead men, their families and any potential victims in the future.”

  “You chose justice, even if it meant you’d get disbarred if anyone found out.”

  It wasn’t a question.

  She nodded. She’d just confessed to a deputy sheriff. Her career could end at that very moment.

  “Good for you,” was all he said, before returning to his computer once more.

  Slowly, she let out the breath she’d been holding.

  “How about anyone at your firm?” Wes asked.

  “There’s Dale Napier,” she said, glad to be on another possible suspect. “He’s a senior partner and my immediate boss. You met him last night.”

  “Mr. let-me-get-you-alone-and-try-to-intimidate-you in your office? I could see why he’d be on your list, for that reason alone. A male chauvinist of the first order. Any other reason he stands out on your radar?”

  Chloe couldn’t help a chuckle at Wes’s description of her leach of a boss. “Three months ago he made a pass at me when no one was in the office to hear him.”

  “Bastard.” Wes said, all teasing gone from his features. His lips pressed into a tight line, the muscle on the left side of his jaw twitching and his eyes hot with anger.

  Wow. The man could give intensity a scare. Then it hit her. He was angry for her. Angry that her boss would try to manipulate her into a compromising position. Other than Bobby and Dylan, she didn’t think she’d ever have someone who wanted to defend her.

  “I quickly shut him down.”

  His fingers already typing on the keyboard, he gave her a nod. “Good for you. How’d you do it?”

  “I asked him if he really wanted a sexual harassment suit. He’d backed off immediately.”

  “I bet he did.” The admiration in the former secret government operative’s voice, sent a shiver of pride through her.