by Terri Reed
What? Frustration rose at the back of his neck. He could feel his shoulders stiffen and pull back, in that old familiar way they’d done every time he’d caught Mona lying to him. He started to pull away. Then stopped.
There were tears building in the corners of Olivia’s eyes.
“I don’t have a home.” Tears flooded her voice, too. “Just a small apartment. I haven’t even bought curtains or shelves to decorate it because I live every day half expecting that something’s going to happen and I’ll need to move on. My mom, dad and Chloe all live in completely different places. Torchlight was the closest thing I had to somewhere I belonged and I chased this story hard because I didn’t want to lose that.”
He stopped himself from pulling away and felt her head fall into the crook of his neck.
“I always feel as though I’m clinging on so tight to everything because I’m afraid something’s going to take it away from me,” she said. “It’s exhausting. But spending time with you, seeing how you treat people, hearing how you just pray as if talking to God is as normal as breathing, reminds me of how much I miss having faith in something bigger than myself. You made me realize I miss praying. You made me realize I hate what it feels like to not trust anyone or anything. You’re such a good man, Daniel. You don’t disrespect Mona’s memory, even though she treated you badly. You take great care of Sarah, even when she pushes you away. You were even decent to Hawk and Rita and Jesse and Trent. You’ve been good to me. Even though I’m just some totally unwelcome, unwanted intrusion that tumbled into your life—”
Tears choked out her words.
“Hey! Listen to me.” He took her face in both hands. “I’m not going to pretend I’m happy that you came up here without telling your editor.” In fact, the tension in the back of his neck told him he’d probably need a bit of time to process out how he felt about it. “But you’re being way too hard on yourself. We all do lousy things. We all have moments we regret. Sometimes it feels as though I’ve more than used up my quota of forgiveness and second chances.”
His fingertips brushed the sides of her face. Her eyes were locked on his face. Even battered and exhausted, she was breathtaking. His voice grew husky. “And yeah, you kind of unexpectedly fell into my life, Olivia. But no, trust me, you’re not unwanted or an intrusion. Believe it or not, I actually really like having you around. I’m glad we’re in this together.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, a soft, gentle smile that set her eyes dancing. “I’m glad we’re in this together, too.”
The corners of his lips turned up into a wry smile. His fingers slid up into her tangled hair. She was so close he could feel her breath on his skin. He pulled her closer still and a thought crossed his mind that made his heart stutter a beat—
He’d never felt someone fit so comfortably and simply between his arms before.
Her head tilted toward his. His mouth brushed over hers. He let himself kiss her. Gently. Sweetly. With a tenderness he’d never felt before.
But their lips had barely met when she pushed him back hard.
“I’m sorry! I can’t!”
He let her go, feeling both stunned and embarrassed. Not to mention angry at himself. “Then, I’m sorry, too.”
“No, you don’t understand.” Olivia leaped to her feet. “Sarah told me she’d give me an exclusive interview on the condition I promised to stay away from you. And I didn’t say no.”
*
She watched as he frowned and the light dimmed from his eyes. Realizing she’d hurt him felt worse than anything he could have said. She turned away and let the drizzle outside fill her view.
I didn’t say yes to Sarah, either! I didn’t say anything. But I definitely considered saying yes. He deserved to know.
After all, what would happen when they showed up together at the motel and met up with Sarah? After hugs of relief and police reports, then what? They’d probably all be right back where they’d started. Olivia would still need a story to keep her job. Daniel would be more convinced than ever that it was best to find another reporter. The young, self-centered heiress would probably yet again force Olivia to choose between the job that she loved and the fledgling feelings she’d felt when Daniel’s lips met hers.
“Looks as though the rain’s let up for now.” Daniel stood up. “We should go. There’s no way of knowing when the next break in the rain will be, and I don’t want to get stuck out here all night.”
His voice was pleasant enough. He was back to using that same charming yet totally guarded tone he’d used when they’d first met up in the diner, for a coffee they’d never actually managed to have. As if they were now nothing but acquaintances again.
Maybe that was all they ever were.
“Good idea.” She didn’t meet his eye.
They stepped back out into the night and kept running, faster this time, as if they were both trying to hurry away from the moment of closeness they’d barely shared. He jogged ahead of her, casting occasional glances back to make sure she was still following. They stuck to the sidewalk until it disappeared and then ran along what would have been the shoulder. The rain had tapered, but water still coursed down the road. The news had reported that even more rain would fall by the time the weekend was through.
They climbed a hill. Faint lights of highway and the motel lay in the distance ahead. She breathed a sigh of relief. They trudged down, side by side, through the damp, dark air.
“The photographer who drove you up is named Ricky, right?” Daniel asked. “Do you trust him?”
She blinked. It felt like ages since either of them had said anything. “Yeah, he’s a really good guy. Why?”
“Who else knew you were coming up here?”
“Just Ricky. Again, why?”
Tension rose up her back. She couldn’t read his face in the darkness. But his voice was so calm and logical, it almost sounded cold.
“Because someone tried to kidnap you outside the diner,” he said. “Because someone brought trouble and violence to my house in the night. I let it go the first time you told me your friend from work couldn’t be involved. But now that I know you came up on your own without going through the proper channels, I’m beginning to think it’s even more possible the trouble came from someone on your end.”
Her jaw dropped and for a moment she couldn’t even think of what to say. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m deadly serious.” Now his voice had a bitter edge. “I’ve been doing nothing but thinking for the past while. All I can think is someone took a picture of us outside the diner and we still don’t know why someone would do that.”
“Yeah, but that wasn’t actually Ricky. You just thought it was. Remember? I found out he hadn’t made it back yet—”
He kept talking as though she hadn’t even spoken. “And then someone tried to kidnap you.”
“Yes, someone with a mask just like the three men who killed Brian and just torched your garage.”
“Yes. But he didn’t look like Rake, Brute or Shorty to me. His mask was similar but less distinctive.”
Yeah, she’d come to the same conclusion when talking with Ricky. None of the men who’d just blown up Daniel’s garage had the same gravelly voice that had taunted her in the car and on the phone.
“So maybe my abductor was the client who hired them. Or maybe he’s a fourth member of the Crew, and there are more Faceless men out there than we knew about. I don’t know. I just know that none of what we’re going through has to do with me or my paper.”
Why were they even fighting about this?
“How can you be so sure?” He let out a sigh that was so gruff it almost sounded like a growl. “We suspect all the trouble we’ve been in is connected to Brian, because he was a lying, stealing lowlife. I just took it for granted that someone tried to abduct you because of your connection to me. I even wondered if someone mistook you for Sarah in the darkness. You probably have wondered the same thing. But how can you be so sure that your own
reckless, impulsive tendencies to just do things without thinking haven’t been putting us in trouble?”
Because I’m not your former wife! I might be a bit impulsive, I might have interviewed those construction workers instead of hiding in the house as instructed, but I don’t consort with criminals!
The words crossed her mind, but she bit them back before they left her lips. He was obviously hurting. His life had been threatened. His truck and garage had exploded. It would be totally understandable if he was having trouble processing everything that had happened. The least she could do was take a turn being the calmer one.
“I’m sorry that you’re upset,” she said. “I’m really sorry for my part in that. I’m not proud of how I’ve handled everything. But rather than suspecting my friend, isn’t it a lot more likely that whoever killed Brian wants to hurt you and Sarah, too? Maybe someone he stole from is out for payback?”
“Yes, but hiring killers takes money. Nobody working construction is going to have the cash just lying around to hire a gang of thugs. A lot of them were living paycheck to paycheck as it was, even before Brian stopped paying them.”
Yes, but it’s not as if a newspaper photographer is going to have that kind of money, either. And that’s assuming he’d have any reason to attack us.
“It’s not that I don’t think several of them would have quite happily hurt Brian or even taken his life,” Daniel added. “But they’d just grab a baseball bat and take matters into their own hands. What I don’t understand is how hiring thugs with weapons and explosives fit in, even if they’re just low-level thugs. Because normal people don’t hire gangs. They don’t know how or even where to start. It’s more likely their client himself has gang ties.”
Good point. “I heard both Hawk and Rita have criminal records. Maybe they spent time in prison and made friends?”
“Yes, but it’s not likely. We’re talking the kind of drinking and assault charges where they pled guilty and got probation. It’s not as though they served long stints in the kind of high-security prisons that would house murderers and lethal arsonists.”
“What about Trent? He carried himself like a man who was capable of doing serious damage if he wanted to, and nobody knew much about him.” She was slipping into reporter mode now, but at least they were talking.
“Maybe,” Daniel said. “He’s definitely a dark horse that one.”
“Okay, and what about the police?”
“What about them?”
“Well, Ricky says the only reason he didn’t come back sooner, besides getting lost, is some cop sent him on a crazy detour. Some cop also harassed me at the courthouse just before Brian died, and he covered his badge number so I couldn’t report him. You’ve said all along that the cops haven’t been straight with you and you felt they’re treating you like a suspect. For that matter, my conversation with Constable Henry felt kind of off, too. So maybe we should consider there’s something dirty going on with the cops?”
Something else was niggling at the back of her mind. Something involving cops. But she couldn’t put a finger on it. She just wished she could talk to her sister. The insight of a detective would come in pretty handy right about now. Not to mention some sisterly support and understanding. While she hadn’t taken Chloe’s warnings seriously at first, maybe there’d been a good reason she’d told her to drop the story. But even her sister didn’t know she was up here with Daniel.
The ground leveled off beneath their feet, thankfully on higher ground than before, because now the water was barely over the soles of her shoes. Daniel fell silent. They trudged on and finally passed the boarded-up entrance to the remains of the shabby fairgrounds and playground. Next came a very long wooded lot. Scattered trailers and tents lay half-hidden behind the trees, barely illuminated by a handful of dimly glowing lampposts. If anyone from the Leslie Construction crew had moved their party here, they’d either moved it inside or given up and gone to sleep. It couldn’t be that many hours now until the morning. Finally, Olivia and Daniel crossed the tarmac. The shabby clown sign leered down at them.
The motel was a long brown building, two stories tall. Only a handful of the lights seemed to be working. A sagging balcony ran along the second floor. A man and a woman stood on it, leaning up against the warped and rusted railing. Their heads were bent together—they seemed to be staring down at where raindrops hit the yellow-green water of the algae-filled pool.
Olivia looked at the tops of their heads as she passed. The man had dark hair and a short-sleeved T-shirt stretched tight over his muscles. She tapped Daniel’s arm. “Isn’t that Trent?”
He grimaced. “I’m afraid so.”
So it looked as though at least one of the Leslie Construction team members whom Daniel had tossed off his property had made it here to the motel and RV park. Hopefully he wasn’t about to start something. Olivia didn’t know where she recognized the woman from though. She was tall, with long platinum blonde hair, jean shorts and cowboy boots. The blonde whispered something in Trent’s ear.
“How about her?” Olivia’s voice dropped. “She looks familiar, but I can’t place her.”
“I don’t know her,” Daniel said. “She’s not on the crew, and I don’t remember seeing her back at the house.” They stepped out of the rain and under the main office awning. “Now, I’m just going to run in and see about Sarah. You okay waiting for me for a second out here?”
Yeah, probably best they didn’t greet Sarah together. She and Daniel were bound to need a few minutes alone. Whatever Daniel decided to say to Sarah about the fact she’d offered Olivia an interview in exchange for walking out of his life for good, she was sure it wouldn’t be the easiest conversation.
There was a bench right by the front door. She sat. “No problem. I’ll be right here if you need me.”
“Thank you.” He smiled. His eyes met hers, and for a second, she thought she caught a small echo of the same sweet tenderness that had filled his gaze back in the abandoned church. Then he rubbed his hand over his face and the look was gone. “Once I sort out Sarah, I’ll see if we can each book rooms, even just to have a quick nap in. It doesn’t look as though the cops have gotten here yet. Back in a second.”
She turned her back from the office and watched the rain for a moment. Her tired eyes closed. Lord, I’m too exhausted and sore right now to even know what to pray, besides to say I’m sorry I haven’t trusted You in the past and thank You that we made it this far.
The office door flew open so hard the screen crashed against the wall. She leaped to her feet. Daniel rushed out and started toward the pool.
“Hey!” She grabbed his arm. “Where’s Sarah? Is she okay? Did she call the police?”
Anger burned in Daniel’s eyes. “The good news is that according to the motel manager she made it here about an hour ago just fine. But she didn’t manage to call 9-1-1 because their phones are dead. Most likely the phone lines went down in the storm. Their power’s down, too, so they’re on a backup generator. He offered her a room for the night. But she said she’d rather bunk in Rita’s motor home.”
Okay, only Daniel’s feet were still moving, dragging them both in the opposite direction of the campgrounds. Her hand tightened on his biceps. “At least we know she’s okay, right?”
Rita might not be his favorite person, but if he was just annoyed then she’d have expected a loud sigh at the news. Instead, Daniel looked ready to blow.
“Manager said he would’ve walked her to the RV park, but some big dark-haired guy in a muscle shirt pulled her aside and they started arguing about something—”
Uh-oh.
“—and his tall platinum blonde girlfriend jumped in the fight.”
THIRTEEN
Daniel glanced up. Trent and the platinum blonde were still standing on the concrete balcony just over the pool. He started for the stairs.
“How could the motel manager just let a teenager get bullied by strangers?” Olivia was at his side.
&nbs
p; “He didn’t know her age and he figured the platinum blonde was Rita.”
As much as he wanted to pelt up the stairs, taking them three at a time, he forced himself to walk. He didn’t want to fight. But when they hit the top of the flight and turned toward the pair, the platinum blonde glanced their way, tossed one hand in what almost looked like a dismissive wave, then took off down the landing. Trent scowled and started toward them.
Daniel turned to Olivia. “Just go back to the bottom of the stairs, wait there and stay out of harm’s way.”
“No. You talk to Trent. I’ll follow the blonde.”
Olivia only managed four steps before Trent’s arm shot out, blocking her path. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Olivia pointed over his shoulder. “I’m going to talk to your friend there.”
Trent’s jaw set firmly. “I don’t know what kind of business you think you have with my lady, but no you’re not.”
“How about the business that you were both seen fighting with Sarah?” In two strides Daniel had caught up to them. “Now, where is she?”
Trent shrugged. “I don’t know. That kid’s your business, not mine.”
Not good enough. Trent might be new to the construction crew, but he’d definitely been there long enough to be owed money, especially if Olivia’s research was correct and Trent had never worked on the books. The platinum blonde disappeared through a motel room door. That had better not be where Sarah was.
Olivia glanced back quickly at Daniel. “I really need to go talk to that woman. It’s important.”
In other words, Olivia recognized her from somewhere and wanted to run off and interview her. Her hand brushed his arm. Her fingers tapped gently on his skin. He pulled away. No, she didn’t get to try to use his own Morse code signal to chase down an interview.
