by B. J Daniels
If he couldn’t have McKenzie just yet, well, maybe he could satisfy at least one of his yearnings.
* * *
GUS CAUGHT MOVEMENT out of the corner of his eye. He had found the perfect spot in the barn loft. Through a small window, he had been able to watch the property as well as the comings and goings at the house. He’d picked the barn because he’d known that few people would come all the way up the hillside to the big barn, let alone climb up to the hayloft.
A few had made the hike but only given the barn a cursory look. The stables were much more interesting, and even some of the outbuildings. But since the place was immaculate, all the buildings painted white with dark green trim, it was easy to see that everything was well maintained.
He could sell this place in a heartbeat, he thought with aching regret. What did McKenzie know about selling this property? It should have been his listing.
He was thinking that when he saw movement off to his right in the pine trees. Gus turned, fear making his movement jerky. He’d forgotten why he was here for a moment and that kind of distraction was just when the man who had attacked McKenzie would take advantage.
But to his surprise, there was no one in the pines next to the barn. The breeze stirred the branches, casting shadows over the dry needles on the ground.
He reminded himself that he couldn’t get caught here by anyone or he would be going back to jail.
He might have convinced himself that he’d imagined the movement if he hadn’t heard a sound below him. As his heart began to pound, he pulled the pistol he’d brought and moved cautiously toward the hole in the floor where the ladder came up.
He’d lied to the cops about the man he’d seen at McKenzie’s condo. Even though it had been dark and the man had been dressed in a hooded black sweatshirt, he’d gotten a pretty decent look at him in the streetlamp. Once he saw him again, he’d know him.
He heard nothing below him. He thought about going down the ladder when he realized there was another way up into the loft—a second ladder on the other side of the large stack of hay.
Gun ready, he cautiously moved in that direction. The smell of the hay and dust filled his nostrils. As the floor beneath his feet creaked, he couldn’t hold back the sneeze. He stopped and listened again. No sound other than the breeze in the pines nearby.
There was no one. He felt both relieved and disappointed. His only hope of getting his job back was saving McKenzie, he thought as he heard a slight rustle in the stack of hay next to him.
* * *
HAYES MENTALLY KICKED himself as he walked the perimeter of the property one last time. The open house had ended almost an hour ago but there were some visitors who were just now leaving. He’d texted McKenzie just moments ago. She’d texted back that she was fine. He tried to relax since the stragglers were either couples or several groups of women. No lone male. At least not one who he’d seen.
Earlier he’d found tracks coming from the road behind the house. But with the property bordering the forest, there were too many places to hide for him to search for a vehicle. He couldn’t be sure that the tracks weren’t from the owner or one of the people viewing the house and property.
He’d also found a place where someone had stood for a while on a rise with a view of the house. The boot tracks were men-sized, but they could belong to anyone. He felt as if he were looking for a needle in a haystack. He couldn’t even be sure the man who’d attacked McKenzie was even here.
Since arming her with the gun, he’d had his misgivings. The gun had been more about making him feel better than any real protection for her. Now he hoped he hadn’t made things worse and she shot some innocent fool who surprised her.
But he couldn’t watch her all the time. Was it wrong to want her to have a fighting chance? Whether or not the gun would give her that...well, he couldn’t say. It would all depend on when her attacker decided to strike again.
He was about to head for the house when something caught his eye. For a moment, he almost ignored it. He was anxious to get to McKenzie. The last of the viewers were leaving. That would mean she was alone.
Staring up at the barn, he saw what had drawn his attention. The barn had four small octagonal windows across one side on the loft level. He saw now that there was something in one of the barn windows that hadn’t been there earlier.
Hayes glanced down the hillside toward the house, torn. Whatever was in the barn window probably was nothing. He needed to get to McKenzie. And yet... He quickly texted her.
Everyone gone?
Yes.
He could almost feel the relief in that one word.
Lock all the doors and wait for me.
Pocketing his phone, he walked quickly up the hillside toward the barn.
Earlier it had been hot, but now with the waning sun, the air felt cool. He could smell the pines, hear the breeze rustling the boughs. As he neared the barn, he slowed. A prickling at his neck made him pull his weapon before he stepped into the cool, hollow darkness.
The inside of the barn was empty. He glanced overhead to the loft, then at the ladder. There was fresh manure on several of the steps. Someone had been up there, someone who’d come in through the corral where the horses were kept.
At the foot of the ladder, he saw that there was another way up into the loft—a second set of stairs, these much easier to climb. Moving to them, he began to climb, the only sound inside the cavernous barn the pounding of his heart.
Hayes slowed near the top, weapon ready. The moment he peered over the top, he saw the man sprawled on the loft floor, the strewn hay around him discolored with the man’s blood.
As he eased up through the opening to the loft floor, he saw that the man’s throat had been sliced from ear to ear. From the color of the blood straining the hay, he hadn’t been dead long.
Hayes hurriedly surveyed the area, then careful not to contaminate the scene, checked the man’s wallet and identification.
Gus Thompson, the man McKenzie had fired.
Chapter Eleven
As Hayes came through the door, McKenzie turned, clearly startled. Hayes saw her hand go to the gun in her bag, but stop short when she recognized him. Relief washed over her features as she dropped the bag and stepped into his arms.
“You’re shaking,” he said as he hugged her to him.
“The deputies wouldn’t tell me anything, just to stay in the house. I saw the ambulance. I was so afraid it was you. What happened?”
“It’s Gus Thompson. I found him in the barn on the property.”
“Gus?”
“He’s dead. He was...murdered.”
McKenzie shook her head in obvious disbelief as she stepped out of his embrace. “Murdered?”
“The sheriff’s department is investigating. That’s all I can tell you.”
She looked as stunned as he’d been when he’d ID’d the dead man. “What was Gus...?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“If he was the one who attacked me...” Her voice trailed off. “He wasn’t.”
“It doesn’t appear so, but he definitely seemed to be stalking you. It could be he crossed paths with your attacker.”
“So my attacker was here! He was someone who came through the house.”
“Maybe. As I told you, with a property this size, he may have sneaked onto the place without anyone seeing him.”
“Except Gus.” She shivered. “I can’t believe he’s dead.”
“I’m sure the deputies will want to question you about who came through the open house.”
“But I don’t know anything. A half-dozen men came through alone, but that isn’t unusual.”
“What about that man who asked you out? Bob Garwood.”
She shook her head. “He’s not the first man who
came to an open house hoping to get a date with the Realtor. There were other men who could have been the one who attacked me.” She described several of the men who’d come through. “There was one, Jason Mathews. He gave me a funny feeling, but he came through with his wife, Emily, so....”
“I’ll check him out along with the others but there is a good chance the man who killed Gus didn’t come into the house.”
“You took down all the license plate numbers?”
“I did. I’ve turned them over to the sheriff’s department.” He hated to get her hopes up. If he was right about this man, the killer had gone years learning how to not get caught. He was good at this and he knew it. “We might get lucky, though.”
* * *
MCKENZIE HAD STOPPED trembling, but she was still shocked and shaken. After she’d talked to the deputies, Hayes had followed her back to her condo. She’d worked so hard, determined to be successful and independent. She hadn’t wanted to need anyone. Now her carefully built world was coming apart at the seams, and it scared her more than she wanted to admit how dependent she’d become on Hayes Cardwell.
She had to get control of her life again. That meant she needed answers—even those she knew she didn’t want to hear. “You said you were going to do some research to see if other women... There have been others, haven’t there?”
“Maybe you should sit down,” he suggested as they moved into the living room.
She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest as if she could hold back the fear that filled her. “Just tell me.”
“More than two dozen have disappeared over the last ten years. The more recent ones match your profile.”
“My profile?”
“Successful, single businesswomen who work late, shop late, have a lot on their plates.”
She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “I’m his type, that’s what you’re saying. Did any of them...?”
“None got away. I believe you might be the first.”
“Then they are all...”
“Still missing.”
She tried not to imagine the other women. “In other words, they’re probably dead.” She waited, seeing that he knew more than he was telling her.
“Several have turned up in shallow graves. They all went missing mostly out West. I suspect this man travels with his job. Since you have been the only one who he attempted to abduct in this area, I think there is a good chance that he lives here.” At her frown, he added, “Predators don’t normally hunt in their backyards. Too dangerous.”
“But he did.”
Hayes nodded. “With what I know about his type, he probably can go for a length of time and then something just snaps or builds to the point where he can’t help himself.”
“So I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Probably.”
“But now he knows who I am and if I’m the only one that ever got away...”
“That’s why you can’t stay here.”
She shook her head. “How long do you think I can hide from him, Hayes? I have a business to run. I need to work.”
He shook his head. “I don’t have all the answers.”
“I know.” She looked into his kind, handsome face. He hadn’t asked for any of this. All she wanted to do was bury her face in his strong chest. In his arms, she felt safe. But Hayes wouldn’t always be there to hold her and protect her. It was one reason she had to know everything she could about the man after her.
“You talked to the police about Gus?” She saw the answer on his face. “Tell me.”
“The coroner said Gus was hit with a piece of pipe. The blow wasn’t enough to kill him, but probably knocked him down, at least stunned him long enough for the killer to...” Hayes met her gaze. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”
“I got the man killed.”
“That’s not true and you know it. You had a restraining order against him. If Gus had stayed away, he would still be alive today.”
She stepped to the window, her back to him, her mind reeling. “What was Gus doing in that barn?”
“The police think he was spying on you. They found binoculars near the window and a bag with candy bars. It was the bag I saw in the window fluttering in the breeze that made me go up to the barn. He had hooked it on a nail next to him. When the breeze came up...”
She turned to look at him. “Why would he spy on me?”
“You said he wanted to talk to you. Maybe he thought he could get you alone and convince you to give him back his job.” Hayes shook his head. “Who knows.”
“The police think his killer was the man who tried to abduct me, don’t they?” She didn’t wait for him to confirm it. “Gus swore to the police that he followed him last night after the man called me from down in the pines by the wind chimes. If he was telling the truth, maybe he wasn’t there spying on me but looking for the man. But why would Gus do something like that?”
“Maybe he wanted to play hero and it got him killed.”
“If he was looking for my attacker, that means he could recognize him. Gus lied to the police.” That shouldn’t have surprised her. It would be just like Gus. Tears filled her eyes. “This is all because I fired him.”
Hayes stepped to her and took her in his arms. She didn’t fight it. She rested her cheek against his chest, soaking in his warmth, hoping to chase away the chill that had settled in her, even for a little while.
“McKenzie, none of this is your fault. Gus made some very poor decisions. That’s what got him killed.”
“Playing hero, isn’t that what you called it?” she asked as she pulled back to look into his dark eyes. “So anyone who tries to protect me—”
“Don’t,” he said, as if seeing where she was headed with this.
She shook her head and stepped away from him. “He’ll come after you next. I can’t let that happen.”
“I’m not Gus. He wasn’t trained for this. I am.”
“I want you to go back to Texas.”
* * *
“AIN’T HAPPENIN’,” HAYES said. “I’m staying right here and there is nothing you can do to drive me away, so don’t even try.”
She looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you because of me.”
He reached her in two long strides and took her shoulders in his hands. “Nothing is going to happen to me. Or to you. We are going to catch this guy.” He could see that she didn’t believe that. He wondered if he did himself.
“I thought if we set a trap for him... I thought today...” Tears spilled down her cheeks. She had a swipe at them. “It was a stupid idea and look what happened because of me.”
He could see her fighting to be strong. He’d never met a more courageous woman. “It wasn’t stupid. He was there, just as you’d thought he would be. Unfortunately, Gus was, too. Listen, I have a plan. It’s dangerous—”
She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “More dangerous than waiting around for him to attack me again after what he did today?”
“If I am right about this man, he’s had some experience at this. He’ll expect a trap. He knows the police and now sheriff’s department are involved. I’m sure he knows I’m involved, as well.”
“What are you saying? That he’ll lie low for a while?”
He nodded. He didn’t want to tell her that killing Gus would have relieved some of the killer’s...tension. The man would be satisfied for a while. “But whatever drives him will eventually reach the point where—”
“He’ll try to grab some other woman!”
“No. He can’t move on until he’s finished with you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Not positively, but based on what I know ab
out these types of predators...” He held her gaze. “But understand. The longer he goes, the more dangerous he will be.”
“Then you need to go back to Texas. Like you said, he knows you’re involved. If he killed Gus because he thought he was in the way...”
“Who knows what happened with Gus. The truth is, I believe you’re the only one who will be able to satisfy his need.”
McKenzie swallowed. “This plan you have...”
“Right now, you’re too accessible. He can fill some of his need too easily by simply seeing you and seeing that you’re afraid or cutting off part of your hair as a souvenir. You need to hide out for a while. The longer we let him dangle, the more his confidence will decline. He won’t know where you’ve gone. Then when you surface again...he’ll make mistakes.”
She felt her eyes fill with tears. “At least that’s what you’re hoping for.”
He nodded, not telling her what else he was hoping for.
“So I hide out until...until what?”
“Until he can’t take it any longer.” Hayes pulled her into his arms and stroked her back. He was hoping that he would find the bastard before that happened. “You have to trust me.” He drew back to look into her eyes. “Do you trust me, McKenzie?”
She nodded.
“Then the two of us are going to Cardwell Ranch.”
* * *
HE LICKED AT a spot of blood on his wrist that he’d missed and smiled. When he closed his eyes he could feel the warm flow of blood running over his fingers. But the best part was the look in Gus Thompson’s eyes when the man realized he was going to die—and with his own knife.
The fool had gone for a knife in his boot after his gun had been taken away from him. It had been too easy to cut his throat. True, killing him had been a risky thing to do, especially killing him in the barn loft. But the dried hay would make it hard for forensics to find anything. Not to mention all the people who had tromped through that place.
