Nowhere to Turn (10 page)

Simon nodded. “After I get something to eat. I’m starving.” He slipped out the door and left her alone. She wondered if he would find his way back to her later, during the night. Over the past six months he’d had more nightmares than he’d ever had when Kurt had been living.

Dani pulled her Bible from the backpack on the floor and held it in her lap. She hadn’t been a Christian all that long, but she’d read the Bible cover to cover. Not all of it made sense. A lot of it did. The forgiveness part had hit her hard and wouldn’t let go.

Dani lay on her side and curled into a ball, holding the Bible against her stomach. She wondered if she would ever be free to
live her life as a normal person. She wondered if forgiving Kurt would be a step in the right direction.

Adam stepped into the smoky bar and paused, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness. When he could see, he let his gaze roam the occupants. Sadness curled through him. What did people think they’d find at the bottom of a glass or in the arms of a stranger they’d just met?

On a purely logical level, he supposed he understood. Loneliness, emptiness, made people act in ways they might never otherwise consider.

He had to fight that particular emotion on a regular basis, but he refused to make choices that would compromise his standards. He wanted the real thing, not phoniness wrapped in a pretty package.

His mind immediately went to Dani. Now she was the real deal as far as he could tell. She was also off-limits for now. Getting emotionally involved with someone he had to protect would not be a good thing. He would do his job and keep his emotions at a distance.

Right after he handed out a little warning.

The man he’d come looking for sat about ten feet to his left.

MONDAY EVENING
DECEMBER 8

Stuart sat at the table with three of his fellow agents. He didn’t particularly like the smoky atmosphere, but the bar provided obscurity. Something he and his buddies needed right now. He knew to anyone from the outside, they looked like any other partiers on a Monday night. They didn’t look like cops, they didn’t look like agents, they looked like four guys hanging out, living it up. Which fit in with their plans.

“Was it you last night?”

The low whisper caught him by surprise and he turned to see a familiar face. One he’d seen on his phone. “What?”

“You’re Stuart Harding, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Adam Buchanan.”

Stuart stared at the man. Adam’s narrowed green eyes glittered with suspicion and Stuart’s guard went up. “Is that name supposed to mean something to me?” The name didn’t, but the face did. Stuart trembled with the desire to plant his fist on Adam’s arrogant nose.

“No, not right now.” Adam stepped back and Stuart stood. They shared the same height.

Ignoring the questions on the other three faces, he followed Adam, intrigued by the man’s boldness.

And by the fact that Adam seemed to have the ability to see beneath the surface. He didn’t like that he was suddenly uneasy. Fresh anger rushed through him. He squinted. “What about last night?”

“Did you break into Dani’s house? Did you kill the woman who was there?”

Stuart drew in a hissing breath. “Of course not, are you crazy? Why would I do that?”

“Because you can’t seem to stay away from her. Because every time she turns around, you’re there. Because you have some sort of sick obsession with her. It’s called stalking.”

Stuart went cold. His friends read his body language. Hands covered their hidden weapons, ready to draw them on his behalf. He kept his voice low. “I knew someone broke in, obviously. I went over last night to see if I could help, but she said there wasn’t anything I could do and we’d talk later. So you tell me, pretty boy, if she has a state-of-the-art alarm system, how did her intruder get past it?” Stuart let his skepticism show.

“We haven’t figured that out yet. But I’m willing to bet you have the code to that alarm system.”

Stuart gave a soft snort. Of course he had the code. “So what if I do? I didn’t use it to break in and scare Dani. I don’t have to.” He stared at this new threat. “I just ring the bell and walk in when she opens the door. So don’t try to intimidate me. I know where I stand with Dani.”

Adam didn’t drop his gaze. A fact that made Stuart frown.

“You see,” Adam said, “that’s it. I don’t think you
do
get it. She doesn’t want you around. Stay away from her and stop harassing her or I’ll have to make a report to the OPR.”

Stuart flinched and hated himself for it. Office of Professional Responsibility and the FBI equivalent of Internal Affairs.

Adam leaned in. “And then I’ll go over your boss’s head. Might even name your boss as having excused prior unlawful acts. Want me to do that?”

Stuart felt the flush of rage begin at the base of his neck. But a twinge of fear had him hesitating. “Who are you and what makes you think you have the right to tell me to stay away from my dead brother’s wife?”

“Dani gave me that right when you tried to chase her down and attack her.”

Stuart blinked. “That was an accident. I wasn’t going to hurt her. I wanted to stop her from running.”

Adam looked surprised at his admission. “So you weren’t interested in the contents of the safe?”

“The what? No.” Stuart breathed a small laugh. “Why would I be interested in that?”

“Because Dani said you came over the day Kurt was killed to get something from the safe. She’d cleaned it out by the time you got there.”

Stuart frowned. “Kurt asked me to stop by and pick up something for him. I don’t even know what it was he wanted. Said he needed a small locked box and to just bring him the whole thing.”

“From what I understand, you and Kurt weren’t exactly best friends.”

“Couldn’t stand each other.”

“And yet you were willing to do his bidding?”

Stuart shrugged. “Sure. It gave me a reason to see Dani.” He saw no reason to keep his attraction for his sister-in-law a secret anymore.

Adam’s brow lifted. “I see.”

Stuart offered the man a small smirk. “I’m sure you do.” He let the smile slide from his lips. “So I suggest you just keep your distance from Dani and Simon. They’re mine.”

“I mean it, Harding, leave Dani and Simon alone. They have help now.”

Stuart curled his fingers into a fist, his anger still roiling within as he watched Adam turn and leave without a backward glance.

The man had no right to tell him what Dani wanted or didn’t want. Dani didn’t know what she wanted or needed. That’s why it was up to Stuart to take care of her.

His phone rang and he let out a slow breath as he realized who was calling. He kept his voice low and controlled. “What do you have?”

“I almost lost them, but managed to keep up.”

“And?”

“They’re at a safe house. One of them left. Adam, I think. I don’t know where he went, but everyone else is inside.”

“I know where Adam went,” Stuart muttered. “Don’t worry about him.”

“Fine. As soon as I dismantle the security system we’ll be in.”

Stuart thought for a few moments. “Don’t do anything yet. Just watch them. Tell me how many people are there besides Dani and Simon.”

“Just watch them?”

“Yes.”

“I can do that.” A pause.

“What is it?”

“Do you have someone watching me?”

“What?” Stuart frowned. “What kind of question is that?”

“So you don’t.”

“No,” Stuart said. “I don’t.”

“Okay, but I could have sworn while I was following Dani and the others, someone was following me.”

Stuart snorted. “Who would be following you? Don’t get paranoid on me. Just stay on Dani and wait for further instructions.”

“Right.”

Later that night, Dani looked in on Simon. He lay curled up on his side, his ever-present Nintendo game clutched in his hand. Against her better judgment she’d allowed him to keep the gift that had come from his uncle Stuart. Two months ago when Stuart had stopped by with the game, Simon had looked at it with such longing. And yet she’d seen the fear in his eyes too. On impulse, she’d taken the toy from Stuart and given it to Simon.

Maybe she shouldn’t have.

She sighed and stepped back, shutting the door. There were a lot of things she shouldn’t have done. Letting her child find some joy in a simple game wasn’t one of them.

Setting her shoulders, she turned and gasped. Adam stood there, watching her. “You scared me.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“Where did you come from?”

She caught the smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes in the dim hall light. He said, “I was walking the perimeter.”

“Oh. Is there trouble?”

“Not so far. Blake’s taking his turn.”

She nodded.

“We’re going to take care of you and Simon, Dani.”

“I appreciate it.”

His phone rang and he looked at the screen. With a sigh he stepped back. “I need to take this. When I’m done, we’d like to go through the bag from the safe. Do you mind?”

“Of course not.” She stepped into the room, grabbed it from the bed, and handed it to him. “Let me have a few minutes and I’ll be right there. It won’t take me long.”

“Okay.” He pressed his screen and held the phone to his ear. “Mom? Oh. Sarah. What are you doing on Mom’s phone?”

Dani watched him walk down the hall, then she closed her door, wondering about Adam’s personal life. She shook her head. She had no business thinking of him as anything more than a professional, the man who was keeping them safe. She didn’t need to be wondering about such personal things like his family. She needed to focus on getting away from Stuart and keeping Simon safe. Those were her immediate goals. Feelings for Adam weren’t an option.

The fact that she wanted to ask him about his family mocked her as she stepped into the bathroom.

Five minutes later, when she walked into the kitchen, the bag lay on the floor next to David, the contents spread over the table.

At the conference-sized table that seated twelve, David sat next to Summer. A man Dani had never seen before sat next to David. He held out a hand. “Blake Wyatt.”

Dani shook the offered hand. “Nice to meet you.” Blake looked like he belonged on the cover of a military magazine. “Which branch?”

He lifted a brow. A glimmer of respect and dimple in his left cheek peeked at her. “Army.”

She took the chair next to Summer. “Where’s your daughter?”

“With my sister and mother. I wanted to be in on helping you
as much as possible.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I’ll have to leave soon though. I mostly handle the office stuff, but your case is special.”

“Special?”

“It kind of reminds me of what I went through last year.”

“It was because of me,” David said quietly. “It was my fault she was almost killed.”

Summer hushed him. “Stop it. We’re past all that, but knowing someone is after you and you’re on the run for your life—well, I just want to be a part of helping you.”

“I understand. And thank you for that.” Dani decided she liked this woman and thought that under different circumstances they could have been good friends.

Her eyes fell on the objects from the safe. Adam slipped into the chair next to her and his shoulder brushed hers. Warmth traveled along her arm to the tips of her fingers. She felt a flush begin to rise and did her best to clamp down on the attraction.

It bothered her that she could be so drawn to another man so soon after Kurt’s death. Then again, it wasn’t
that
soon after. But was she really that needy? Was she so brainwashed that she was actually afraid to be on her own? Determined not to be, she reached for the nearest item. An envelope. “What’s this?”

“It’s got your name on it,” David said. “So we didn’t open it.”

“It was in the bag?”

“Yes, mixed in amongst the papers.” He lifted a brow. “You haven’t seen it?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t go through the bag very carefully. I just needed the money and the will. I didn’t care about the other stuff.” She studied the envelope, then slipped her fingernail under the flap. “But I don’t remember seeing this.” How had she missed it? The envelope contained one sheet: a letter. Typed in the same font as her name. She took a deep breath and scanned the words.

The more she read, the more she paled. Adam wondered at the contents and had to refrain from snatching it from her now trembling fingers. “What does it say, Dani?”

Adam exchanged a look with the other three at the table. Each face held concern. And each person didn’t want to butt in until she was finished.

She ignored his question for the next two minutes. Then she handed him the letter. “You can read it out loud. I don’t think I can.”

Adam glanced at the print. “‘My dear Danielle, I hope you never have to read this, but just in case I die, I wanted to let you know that you won’t have to grieve long.’” Adam stopped and glanced up at her. She stared at the table, her expression stoic, blank.

He continued. “‘You know my job is dangerous, it’s never safe. I take risks every day. Risks that ensure I’m making huge deposits in the bank for our future. They’re risks you’ll never know about, of course, but one day those risks might get me killed. Naturally, I’m not planning on it, but you never know. One other thing. You may think I’m not aware of Stuart’s obsession with you, but I am. Let me make myself clear, Dani. Only you hold the key to my heart. There’s no one else for me and there’s no one else for you. He will never have you. Once Stuart finally realizes that, he will understand that I will always win and he will always lose. I’ll see you soon, my darling. Kurt.’”

The silence echoed around the table.

Finally Blake spoke. “Sounds like he didn’t have all of his marbles in the circle.”

Adam placed the letter on the table. “Dani? What are your thoughts?”

She looked up, her face pale, eyes conflicted. “It’s a very oddly worded letter.”

“What do you mean?”

Her frown deepened. “Just the words. They don’t sound like him, his speech pattern, if that makes any sense. For example, he would never say I hold the key to his heart. Why would he write that?”

Adam rubbed a hand down the side of his face, thinking. “There are two lines in there that bother me the most. The ones where he says ‘you won’t have to grieve long.’ And then the last one. ‘I’ll see you soon, my darling.’ Kurt was abusive, we know that.” She flinched and nodded, and his heart ached in a strange way he didn’t have time to examine. “But it sounds like he might have arranged to have someone kill you in the event of his death. Would he do something like that?”

It wasn’t a question he really needed to ask. He already figured he knew the answer to it. But he did wonder what Dani would say.

She raised a hand to rake it through her shortened hair. For a moment she didn’t answer. Then she stood and walked over to the water pitcher on the counter. After filling a glass, she turned. Her pale, pinched features worried him, but she simply took a sip of the water and said, “Yes.”

Adam nodded.

David raised a brow and looked at Summer, who blew out a breath.

“All right, then. Who?” Adam asked.

“I have no idea.” Dani came back to the table and took her chair. “I can’t believe this. I thought . . . when I heard Kurt was dead, I—” She cut off her words with a shudder. “I didn’t want him to die, I just wanted to be free of him, but when I was told that he’d been killed, I know it was wrong, but the first emotion
I felt was—” She bit off the words and her pleading gaze angered Adam.

Not anger with her, of course, but with the whole situation that selfish, arrogant—

He stopped his thoughts and took a deep breath. “Relief, right?”

Agony in her eyes, she nodded.

“You don’t have to explain anything, Dani.” Adam reached over to squeeze her fingers. “He was a monster. And while you might not have wanted him dead, you had every right to want to be free of him.”

“But he is dead and I’m still being held prisoner by him.”

“Then we’ll have to come up with a way to figure out who Kurt would have hired to carry out his wishes,” Summer said. She shot a concerned glance at Dani.

Dani looked back down at the table, then lifted her gaze to meet the eyes of each of them. She said, “He didn’t have many friends. At least not true friends. He had people who were afraid of him and would do things for him because of that. But someone who would kill for him?” She shook her head. “I have no idea. I truly believe Kurt was mentally ill. He wouldn’t admit it, of course, and I couldn’t encourage him to get help without getting a fist in the face. So I stopped trying. Instead, I plotted and planned and scraped together funds that would enable me to leave him. And then he died and Stuart started in with his craziness.” She pulled in a deep breath. “And now my dead husband is still trying to control me from the grave.” She stood and paced from one end of the kitchen to the other. “But why wait six months?”

“Good question,” Blake said.

“So we have more questions than answers right now,” David said. “The letter explains a lot, like the fact that Dani’s truly in danger. We’ll keep her under wraps while we investigate who would be willing to carry out a hit for Kurt.”

“Someone who owes Kurt a favor and would want to follow through with paying him back even if Kurt were dead,” Summer murmured.

Blake said, “I’ll check into that.” He stood and pulled out his phone. “As soon as I’m done with that, I’ll check the perimeter again.”

“Thanks,” Adam said. He looked at Dani. “What about Stuart? Would he be willing to do that for Kurt?”

Dani snorted. “No. They got along all right on the surface for professional reasons, but Kurt hated Stuart and the feeling was mutual. Everything Kurt did, Stuart wanted to do better. It was like there was this constant competition between the two. Kurt became a cop, Stuart became a cop. Kurt joined the FBI and then Stuart joined the next year. Whenever Kurt received a promotion, Stuart busted his tail to get one too. It was exhausting watching the two of them sometimes.”

Adam studied her. “And does Stuart want Kurt’s wife like Kurt indicated in the letter?”

She stilled and stared at him. “Yes. He does.”

Adam nodded. “It’s fairly obvious that Stuart’s been stalking you. He even chased you until you wrecked your car. Not normal behavior by any stretch of the imagination.” He steepled his fingers. “I wanted to meet this guy myself, to get a read on him, so I went and found him tonight and he warned me away from you. Said you and Simon were his.”

Dani paled even further. He wouldn’t have thought it possible. She sank back into the chair. “You saw him? He said that?”

“He did.”

She covered her face with her hands and let out a shuddering breath. “Yes.” She closed her eyes, then opened them. The anguish there cracked the hard walls around his heart. “He wanted—wants—me. I’d have to be blind not to see it. But I ignored it.
After Kurt died, Stuart’s stalking intensified. That’s when I turned to Ron.”

“It definitely could have been Stuart who broke into your house last night.”

She swallowed. “Why do you say that?”

“I can’t say for sure, of course. I confronted him about it. You said he showed up during all of the chaos.”

“Yes.”

“He could have run off, ditched his clothes, and circled back very easily.”

“He could have.”

“And I don’t necessarily believe him just because he said it wasn’t him. Stalkers are some of the best liars out there.”

She nodded.

Adam leaned forward. “Whoever got in your house knew your alarm code and the combination to the safe. Does Stuart know those?”

“Yes, I’m sure he does.”

“I thought so. So really, Dani, what does your gut say about it being Stuart?”

“I can’t say with a hundred percent certainty one way or the other. I wondered if it was him, but his voice—” She shook her head. “I just don’t know.”

“From what you’ve said, Kurt and Stuart are a lot alike in personality,” Adam said. “Stuart wants people to think well of him, right?”

“Yes. He and Kurt were very much alike in that regard.” She pursed her lips. “But I think Kurt had more people fooled. I think Kurt was able to keep up the façade better than Stuart. Stuart doesn’t have as much control as Kurt.”

“Control?”

“Over his emotions. He’s more easily angered.”

“I don’t know, Dani. If he’s been obsessed with you for a long time, he’s shown remarkable restraint.”

“That’s because Kurt was alive.”

Adam drew in a deep breath. “And Stuart was afraid of Kurt.”

“Very much so. He wouldn’t admit it, of course, and he put up a pretty good front of bravado, but yes, he was.”

“Okay then. As for someone breaking in your house. It could be he didn’t want to get his hands dirty and hired someone to snatch you.”

She pressed both palms to her eyes. “If he just wanted to take me, why open the safe, why kill Janessa?”