“I’ve asked Deputy Mills to be assigned to you,” Caleb added. “I’ve been partnered with him since I transferred. He’s a good man and a good deputy. He’ll make sure you’re okay.”
Alyssa didn’t want to, but she nodded. Summoning up a smile of what she hoped resembled assurance, she skipped her gaze across Caleb and the Rickmans.
“That sounds good to me,” she lied. “I just hope he doesn’t mind a dog in his car.”
They all cut their gaze to Sergeant at her feet. Since Ted didn’t have any immediate family, that meant the Lab didn’t either. The suggestion had been made to send him to the humane society, but Alyssa couldn’t do that. Ted had loved the puppy, and Ted had always been nice to her. Until they could figure out a better forever home for the dog, Alyssa had offered to foster him. For a puppy he was well behaved. Plus, he seemed to have taken a liking to her. Maybe he realized what she’d done to save him or maybe it was more to do with the fact that she’d snuck into the break room at the department and fed him half of a ham sandwich. Either way he was coming home with her.
Eleanor and Robbie took turns hugging Alyssa and Caleb, to his obvious surprise, before wishing both of them luck. They were taken home by another longtime sheriff’s department deputy who promised their safety with enthusiasm. This left Alyssa and Caleb alone for a moment while Deputy Mills collected his things.
“It’s been a crazy two days, huh?” she started, avoiding any and all pleas for him to come back to her house. To what? Eat dinner and watch TV? To play with the dog? To just sit and talk? Or not talk at all? Her face heated. There were bigger things to be concerned about. “Probably didn’t think a small town like Carpenter had this kind of upset in us.”
Caleb didn’t smile. “Nothing about this town is what I expected.” His answer was low and charged. With what, Alyssa didn’t find out.
“I’m ready,” Deputy Mills called from the other end of the hallway.
Alyssa nodded and gave Caleb the smallest of smiles. “Good night, Deputy.”
It wasn’t until she was halfway down the hall that she heard him respond.
“Good night, Miss Garner.”
* * *
CALEB MIGHT HAVE gone home, but he had no intention of staying there. He stripped off his uniform, took a fast shower, and then dressed in his jeans and a plain T-shirt he’d gotten compliments for when he was in Portland. He didn’t know why that thought had popped into his head when he made the decision to grab that particular shirt, but then again, maybe he did.
Alyssa Garner.
He even hung back long enough to shave his face clean. Then he was out the door with no intention of coming back until the bomber had been caught. While he had meant what he said about trusting Dante, there was a part of Caleb that he couldn’t ignore. It wanted, needed to see this through with a front row seat. Not a spot in the balcony.
Plus, what he did on his off time was his own business, right?
Caleb spent the next half hour running around Carpenter until he got what he was looking for. Then he pointed the nose of his car in one direction. By the time he pulled into Alyssa’s driveway, it was ten after seven at night.
“I was wondering when you’d show up.” Deputy Mills got out of his patrol car and stretched.
Caleb figured Dante might give him some grief when he got there. Instead he rolled his eyes.
“Why don’t you get back into your car and focus?” Caleb said with a snort.
Dante laughed but obliged. “I’m not doing it because you told me to, I’m doing it because your lady in there just fed me a good helping of apple pie and I really like her.” He stretched one more time and got back into the car. “Just for the record,” he called through the open window.
Caleb smirked and gathered the bags from his back seat. It wasn’t until he was knocking on the front porch that the idea entered his mind that maybe Alyssa didn’t want him there as much as he wanted to be there. He looked down at the bags and thought at the very least he could drop them off. Then maybe park down the street to help keep an eye on the house.
But then Alyssa opened the door and gave him a smile he’d never forget.
“Caleb, what are you doing here?” Her smile dissolved. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, everything is all right,” he hurried. “I just thought you could use some backup.” He shook the bags in his hand. Together they held dog food, a box with a collapsible dog crate and two chew toys in them. He dropped his voice low, serious.
“I also was wondering if you have any more pie.”
Chapter Twelve
The pie was gone, the dog crate was assembled and Alyssa was yawning. As much as she wanted to pretend she wasn’t tired, the fact of the matter was that the day had drained her. She hadn’t had a moment to really sit and process what had happened. Let alone try to recover from it. A feat that was probably impossible. At least, until their mystery bomber was caught.
“Thank you for all of this,” she said, stifling another yawn. “I’ll pay you back.”
Caleb waved his hand through the air.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “You ran into a burning building to save the dog. I think you’ve done enough for one day.”
Alyssa felt her face fall before she saw Caleb’s concern cross his expression. “Poor Ted. Do you know he visited me in the hospital a few times after the robbery? We weren’t close—none of us really were—but afterward he made an effort to check on me. On Robbie too.” A lump started to form in her throat. She swallowed and spoke around it, willing herself not to cry. “I don’t know if I ever really told him thank you for that.”
They were standing in the kitchen, the breakfast bar between them. Caleb’s proximity wasn’t helping Alyssa to control her swerving emotions. She wanted to let her grief and fear out, but her self-preservation was making a stand. Though one look at Caleb, watching her intently, and she felt every part of her waver.
Even more so when he moved around the counter and put a hand on her arm. “I’m sure he knew you appreciated it.”
Alyssa was so surprised by the contact she didn’t immediately respond. The heat from Caleb’s hand wasn’t just pressed against her skin—it felt like it was consuming it. The urge to press more of him against her flew through her mind.
“Thank you,” she finally managed, breathy even by her ears.
Caleb didn’t smile, but he didn’t frown either. An in-between look born of thoughts she couldn’t guess at. He dropped his hand and took a step back.
“I’m going to go out to the car now,” he said. “I’ll help Dante keep watch on the place.”
“But you’re off duty, I thought.”
“True, but sometimes the job doesn’t end after a shift.” He cracked a quick smile and headed for the hallway.
“Or you could stay here,” Alyssa hurried. “I mean, in the house. If you’re off duty but still going to work, at least do it in comfort.” Her cheeks were on fire. Still she kept on. “And it’s not like you haven’t done it before, right? Plus, it’ll be nice to know I’m not alone.”
She was telling the truth, despite the embarrassment pooling in her cheeks. It would have been nice to have anyone like Eleanor and Robbie in the house or her sister or even Deputy Mills. But if Caleb stayed?
Well, that would be different. It would feel different.
Too bad she wouldn’t find out this time around.
“You’re not alone,” he said. “I—We will be right outside.”
Alyssa was sure she turned as red as a stop sign, but thankfully her head dipped low and she nodded on autopilot.
“You’re right,” she said. “Thanks again.”
Caleb opened his mouth and then instantly closed it. Whatever he was going to say, he must have decided it wasn’t worth saying.
<
br /> * * *
“SO, YOU GOT A girl back in Portland?”
Caleb was sitting shotgun in Dante’s patrol car, and while they’d been shooting the breeze for almost two hours, he hadn’t expected that question.
“That’s one hell of a segue from talking about sports cars,” Caleb pointed out.
Dante laughed. “Not when you keep looking over at the house with this expression.”
Dante twisted his face into a comical version of what Caleb assumed was the deputy’s attempt at trying to look “longingly” at something. Which he was not doing.
“First off, I’m doing my job by watching the house,” he said. “To do that I have to, you know, look at the house.”
“I’m looking at the house too, but not like that.” Dante attached another mock expression to the end of his words. “I have to figure, if you’re looking at her house like that, then you must look at the woman inside it with a little more intensity.” He shrugged. “And if that’s true, I have to also figure you don’t already have a girl. Or, if you do, then maybe you shouldn’t be paying as much attention to Miss Garner as you are, huh?”
Caleb didn’t like the man prying into his personal life, especially in the romance department. But he really didn’t like the insinuation that he was wronging another woman by being around Alyssa. He might be prickly but he was loyal.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I don’t have a ‘girl back in Portland,’” he answered, heavy on the air quotes.
Dante snorted. “Hey, now, buddy. Remember, you’re the one who wanted to sit out here with me and not in your own car. Don’t be surprised if I ask a personal question or two.”
Caleb rolled his eyes but knew the man was right. While he could have watched the house from his car, he hadn’t wanted to be alone. And he had been truthful when he told Alyssa earlier that he thought Dante was a good man. He sighed and tried to adjust his attitude. “My sister, Kathy, likes to say the chip on my shoulder takes up too much room and no woman can get close enough to me to see that I’m not a ‘complete jerk.’”
Dante was laughing again. Caleb couldn’t help cracking a grin thinking about his older sister. Even if she did give him grief.
“Sounds like a woman I’d like to meet. Not afraid to call out the hard-nosed Caleb Foster.”
Caleb kept his grin wide.
“She’s definitely not afraid to try to tango with me,” he agreed. Then something happened Caleb hadn’t counted on. He kept talking. “I think she’d like Alyssa, though.”
This time Dante didn’t laugh.
“They broke the mold when they made her, all right,” Dante agreed. “Not many people would have done what she’s done in the last year and the last few days.”
They lapsed into an agreeable silence. Then Caleb did something else he hadn’t betted on doing. He asked a question he shouldn’t have. “So, do you know if she’s seeing anyone?”
Dante’s face had lit up on his preparing to rib Caleb some more, he was sure, when his cell phone in the cup holder went off. With one look at the caller ID, any hint of humor was wiped clean from the deputy’s expression.
“Mills here,” he answered, tone hardened. It put Caleb on edge.
Whoever was on the other side of the phone started to talk fast. Caleb couldn’t make out the topic of conversation, but the way Dante’s body tensed, he doubted he’d like it.
“Yes, sir, I’m here,” Dante continued. “Deputy Foster is with me.” The other man said something else and ended the call before Dante could say goodbye.
“What’s up?” Caleb really wasn’t going to like the answer. He knew it in his bones.
Dante’s hand flitted to his holstered gun.
“Anna Kim, the female gunwoman from the bank robbery, was just found dead along with her prisoner transport,” he said, his voice grave.
Caleb’s adrenaline spiked. “Was Dupree Slater with her?”
Dante shook his head. “He was on a separate transport. One that was just found back in town. All the guards were dead in the back.”
“And Dupree?”
Dante shook his head again, this time with feeling. “Gone.”
Caleb swore something fierce.
“I have to check on Alyssa,” he said, already opening the car door. “I don’t know how he’s connected to what’s been going on, but I do know that he’s already tried to kill her before.”
“Caleb,” Dante said hurriedly, catching his arm to stop him.
“What?” he snapped back. He was seeing red. Red for a violent, bloodthirsty man who might or might not be coming for the witnesses.
“Get your gun,” Dante ordered. “The transport was just found, but it’s been out of commission since this afternoon.”
Caleb’s blood went cold.
“He doesn’t just have minutes on us,” Caleb started.
“He has hours on us,” Dante finished.
Caleb reached for his gun in a holster on his hip. He’d never put too much stock in ESP or the illogical claim that sometimes you just know something is going to happen, but right then and there, Caleb felt it.
Something bad was about to happen.
“So if he was coming for Alyssa,” he said, pulling his gun out and checking it, “then he could already be here.”
* * *
FALLING ASLEEP WAS EASY. Staying asleep wasn’t.
Alyssa wondered if it was a nightmare that had woken her. She’d already been pulled from sleep once by one filled with fire and smoke. It had spread a cold sweat across her body so badly she’d gotten frustrated and changed into the closest thing she could find: an oversize T-shirt she’d caught from a T-shirt cannon at a local football game and a pair of lacy sleep shorts in blue that couldn’t be seen, hidden beneath the shirt. Normally she would have worried about the amount of leg she was showing, but then again, the only person she’d invited to stay the night had turned her down.
Alyssa sighed and rolled over. She reached for her glasses, ready to brood at her cell phone. It was only ten o’clock, yet she felt like it should have been way past midnight, creeping up on a new morning filled with the unknown.
Why had the bomber not killed her?
Why was he targeting witnesses in the first place?
What about the man in glasses?
Caleb had assured her he was still being hunted, but they were having no luck. Then again, they hadn’t found a few of the courthouse-goers from the morning of the trial. Carpenter might have been small, but it was still big enough to get lost in sometimes.
Especially if that someone wanted to be lost.
Alyssa sighed again into the darkness of the room. The sound of stirring made her freeze. She glanced at the corner. The dog crate had been too bulky to place in the master bedroom, but then once Sergeant had gone to sleep she’d felt bad about leaving him alone. She’d snuck into the guest bedroom to sleep near him for comfort. After the nightmare, she realized maybe it hadn’t been all about making the dog feel safer.
Either way, there she was, staring into the darkness and trying to push all thoughts of Caleb, the bomber and being afraid from her mind, when she heard it.
The creak.
If she had been in any other house, she might have dismissed it, but she knew that creak.
It was the third-step creak. The one that, regardless of a person’s weight, still whined at any pressure applied to it.
The image of Caleb creeping up the stairs flashed through her mind. She couldn’t deny it created a sense of excitement in her too. Late night, just the two of them, wearing what she was. Had he come to say he wanted to be closer to her? For her safety or for more?
Fantasies she hadn’t thought were there before started to move through her thoughts. She sat up and swung her legs ov
er the side of the bed. Her cheeks were already heating up. What would she say? What would she do? What—
A dull thud came from her bedroom.
In the opposite direction of the creak.
One unknown sound might account for the deputy, but two?
Alyssa got out of the bed, put her slippers on and tiptoed to the wall. All the lights were off—the only way to get Sergeant to sleep—but she knew the room well enough to move toward the door in the dark without a sound, unlike whoever else was moving through her house.
She hesitated in the open doorway, the hallway night-light giving out only the faintest of illumination. Her sister had teased her about that small light, set on a timer, pointing out she wasn’t a little girl. But now, trying to figure out if she was just paranoid and hearing things or if she was stuck between two people creeping around her house, she had never been more thankful for such a small material object. Ducking low, she waited to see who would step into the light first, if anyone was there at all.
Alyssa held her breath, waiting.
For one moment she believed without a doubt she’d been overreacting. That even her house could still produce noises she wasn’t familiar with.
But then the unmistakable sound of footsteps padded toward her, coming from the stairs.
Her lips parted, mind already forming Caleb’s name, when the small light showed her something else.
Someone else.
“Hello, Alyssa. It’s nice to see you again.”
Dupree Slater smiled.
Seeing him was worse than any nightmare she’d had.
Because this time she was awake.
Chapter Thirteen
Alyssa tried to slam the door shut, but the man was faster.
He closed the space between them in a flash, grabbing for her before she could scramble away. The commotion woke Sergeant from his sleep. He began barking as Alyssa began screaming.
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