Return to the Black Hills (17 page)

“I’m not a Garrity,” she argued.

“Shiloh has been riding in that vehicle every day for a week, right? If Remy had missed the bus and stopped for gas…who knows what would have happened? The point is, just because you’re his target doesn’t mean you have to be his victim.”

Her shoulders went back and her spine stiffened. “I’m nobody’s victim.”

That’s my girl.
“Then help me figure out a way to find him. Neither of us is the kind of person who sits around waiting for something to happen. Let’s draw him in—at the time and place of our choosing, and then let the police do their job.”

She looked interested but didn’t jump on the idea. “I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Shiloh. It would be safer for you both if I went away.”

Safe being a relative thing. He wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing there was a nutcase out there trying to hurt Jessie. “The kids don’t have school on Friday. Remy can take Shiloh to Kat’s. Sentinel Pass is as safe as it gets.”

“And what will we do?”

He knew what he’d like to do. With her. In his king-size bed.

He cleared his throat and forced his brain back to the very serious business at hand. “We’ll lay a trap.”

Jessie pointed ahead to a grouping of cars on a pull-off that probably provided a highway department storage place for salt and gravel in the winter. A tow truck and a sheriff’s patrol car were on the scene, lights flashing.

Jessie hurried to the group of people standing to one side. She barely even limped, Cade noticed. Force of will and adrenaline, he guessed.

Cade was glad to see his old buddy Hank.

Hank motioned with his chin to talk to Cade privately while Jessie and Remy embraced and rehashed what had happened.

“It took a while to get this Zane character’s records from the military,” Hank said, his tone filled with disgust. “Turns out he wasn’t Special Forces. He washed out of Rangers in his early twenties and bounced around a couple of brigs until his enlistment was up. Disappeared after that. Half a dozen arrests, mostly for assault. Bar fights gone bad. The person who got the crap kicked out of him usually dropped the charges or failed to show up at arraignment. Points to intimidation but nothing we can prove.”

Jessie joined them. “I told Remy to go to work with Jack. You were done with her, right?” she asked the deputy.

“Yes, ma’am. We’re lucky here. No harm, no proof of foul. Yet,” he added with emphasis. “I asked to have the tires sent to our lab. Looked to me like someone messed with the stems. But I’m no expert.”

Cade listened while she filled Hank in on what they’d learned at the gas station. He shook his head. “This dude is a pest. I don’t think I’m premature in calling him a stalker, Ms. Bouchard. He’s got it in for you. If you want, we’ve got a kid on staff who is part computer geek. I’ll have him take a look at the rollover video you told me about.”

Jessie nodded intently. “What do you want me to do?”

“Stay out of his way.”

Cade had been turning this problem over in his mind ever since they left the gas station. “My hired men are always begging for overtime. I’ll put on rotating shifts at the main gate and set up a patrol to cover the fence.”

Hank looked skeptical. “That’s a big ranch you got there, Cade.”

“It is, but we’re a small village. No stranger could get close without somebody noticing. Jessie and I were talking about sending Remy and Shiloh to stay with Kat for the weekend. If nothing happens by Monday morning, we’ll move to Plan B. Whatever that is,” he added ruefully.

Hank looked at Jessie. “That makes you bait, Jessie. Are you comfortable with that?”

She inhaled deeply. “I trust Cade’s instincts. He knows the land. I know Zane. As long as there’s no chance of collateral casualties, I think we’ll make a good team.”

She trusts me.
And whether she knew it or not, that meant the stakes were now a whole lot higher.

After a slight pause, his son’s message continued. “One of the women who moved into your house— Jessie—seems to have become the target of a stalker. He’s most likely the reason she injured her leg, and now he’s made another move against her. Did something to her car. Nobody was hurt, but that’s the same car Shiloh has ridden to school in for a week.”

Buck’s heart rate spiked momentarily until Cade added, “No worries. Shiloh’s fine. She was on the bus when all this went down, and I’m sending her to Kat’s this weekend. In fact, Kat just called. She said she and Jack decided to take Shiloh and Jessie’s sister, Remy, with them to Denver this weekend to pick up a load of Jack’s office stuff, instead of doing the pool party we’d planned. I wanted you to know what was going on.”

Buck appreciated that. He probably didn’t deserve his son’s generous inclusion considering the way he’d left Cade high and dry with a lame, poorly expressed excuse. But now, with some time and distance under his belt, Buck was feeling less panicky. He was almost positive he could return home without feeling the overwhelming urge to escape into a bottle of booze.

“And listen, I called our insurance agent and double-checked to make sure we’re covered against malicious mischief. Hopefully, it won’t come to that.”

Buck figured that was the end of the message and he started to close his phone when he heard Cade add, “And, Dad, just FYI, I’m pretty much head over heels where Jessie is concerned. Yes, it’s fast, and she’s made it clear she isn’t sticking around here after her rental agreement is up, but that’s how it goes sometimes, right? I’m only telling you this because I think I finally understand why you married Helen. You weren’t trying to screw up your family like Charlie claimed. You were in love. I get it now. Talk to you later.”

Buck walked straight to his tiny bathroom and leaned over the sink to splash water on his face. His son had forgiven him. Cade. His
living
son. There were ghosts that still needed to be appeased, but at least Buck knew now that he
could
go home again. When the time was right.

Remy nodded. Her weekend bag was packed and waiting by the door. Since Yota was still in the shop having its brakes redone—a timely precaution, the mechanic had assured her, not another sort of tampering— Kat was stopping by to pick up her two guests.

“The Bullies took a vote. They think we should get in Yota as soon as it’s fixed and come home.”

Jessie shook her head. “Oh, really? So, they’d rather I bring my psycho stalker to their backyard than let Cade set a trap and end this here? That’s big of them.”

Remy made a face. Then suddenly burst out laughing. “I don’t think any of them thought of that.”

“Listen,” Jessie said, holding out her arms for a hug, “I’m not crazy about this idea, either. I feel like an idiot walking around with a big fat target on my back, but Cade thinks in terms of containment. Set up on the high ground and wait for the bad guy to come to you.”

“What if he doesn’t come?”

Jessie wasn’t sure, but Cade had pulled her aside a few minutes ago and asked her to pack a bag, too. “I need you in the main house for the weekend. There’s an alarm system and a second floor.”
And two wonderfully strong arms to sleep curled in,
her mind had added.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but Cade and his crew have been busy. It’ll be okay, Rem. I’m sure of it.”

Shiloh dashed up, a pair of earbuds hanging around her neck and a barrel-shaped backpack slung over one arm. “The gate called, Remy. Kat should be here any second.” She turned to Jessie. “I wish Dad would let me stay, Jessie. I’d kick some stalker butt.”

Jessie laughed and looked at her sister. “Who does that attitude remind you of?”

“You.” Remy grinned.

She might have said more, but a large SUV pulled into the driveway and honked. Remy picked up her bag. “Be safe, Jess. And call me when you catch the bad guy.”

“Yeah,” Shiloh called, hurrying toward her aunt and uncle, who had gotten out of the car and were talking to Cade. “Me, too. And take a video if you get the chance. I wanna post it on the Net.”

A video? That reminded her, she’d never looked at the clip from her tower demonstration. Maybe she would.

She waved from the doorway but didn’t go out to join the others. Her ankle was better, but walking any distance took a toll. In his very first email to her about renting the house, Cade had mentioned an empty barn suitable for her training. She’d never even checked it out, since her accident had precluded any sort of physical training to date. But part of Cade’s plan included setting up a workout area in the barn and having Jessie walk there several times a day.

“Routine,” he’d told her. “That’s what will bring him in.”

She wasn’t sure she believed that, but she’d do her part—including packing a bag to take to Cade’s. She went to her bedroom and pulled the duffel she always used from the closet. It felt heavy and she wondered what she’d forgotten to unpack.

“My camera,” she exclaimed, pulling out the small black object.

She turned around and sat on the bed, pulling a pillow from under the covers to rest against the head-board. She checked the battery—still charged. Then she leaned back and pushed the replay button. To her surprise, the footage didn’t start with the day of the climbing tower exhibition.

“Oh, my God,” she exclaimed softly. “I forgot I recorded this.” Her face-to-face with Dar. J.T. had accused Jessie of not giving Dar a chance to defend herself, but he’d been wrong. Or lied to.

“Dar, what happened? Tell me you didn’t steal this money. My accountant says you filed a tax return that doesn’t make sense. I know we took in more money than you’re showing because I personally handed you checks worth twice this much.”

“Your accountant is an idiot,” Dar said, pacing the small confines of their Girlz on Fire office. The building had been a warehouse and still resembled one, except for the half-dozen interior walls that housed their offices, a storage room and the bathrooms. “You know me, Jessie. I’d never do such a thing.”

Jessie wanted to believe her, but the truth was right there in black-and-white. “If you’d married J.T., we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Dar alleged. “He loves you. He’s always loved you. Even when you broke his heart. And if you had married him, you would have been family. Family sticks together. Through good times and bad. And these are bad times, Jessie. You should know that.”

“He doesn’t love me, Dar. We’re friends.”

Dar turned on her. “He still would have married you if I asked him to. He’d do anything for his mother. Just like you’d do anything for yours. Just like you threw that
Kamikaze
game.”

“I didn’t.” Jessie heard the shock and mortification in her voice. This woman had been a second mother to her and yet was accusing her of cheating.

“I bet it all on you winning, Jessie. And when you lost, everything we built here together went down the drain, too. So don’t you point the finger at me, little girl. You’re the reason Girlz is done. You and you alone. You picked your worthless whore of a mother over me.”

Jessie braced herself for the sound of the door slamming. She wished now that she’d slapped Dar as hard as she could. That’s what she’d wanted to do, but she didn’t because in the back of her mind she knew her mother would have been shocked and mortified by her lack of manners.

“Manners,” she said softly, snickering. “Oh, Mama, where did good manners ever get us?”

But deep down Jessie knew. Slapping Dar probably would have landed her in jail. “Thank you, Mama,” she mumbled, fast-forwarding the tape to where the conversation had continued when Dar came back into the office.

Jessie hit Play and Dar was talking. “…borrowed a little bit from Girlz On Fire. Not a lot. Just enough to keep my head above water. I planned to pay it back after I sold my house, but you know what happened to the market. This wasn’t my fault, Jessie. I’m a victim here. Me. And you’re trying to hurt me. After all I’ve done for you. How could you?”

Jessie had been more wounded by Dar’s defection than she could put into words. All those years of friendship, mentoring and mutual sacrifice trashed in an instant.

And though it made no sense, she’d felt vindicated in a way. She was glad she tried to help her mother, even if what she did came too late and was of no real help at all. They’d probably never know if the blood tests or the worry were to blame for Jessie messing up in the competition, but she no longer felt bad about not making enough money to give Dar.

The greedy witch.

According to Remy, Jessie was still mourning. And making poor choices based on her unresolved issues.

Was that true? Jessie didn’t think so, but nothing was quite as clear at the moment as it had been before Zane decided to turn into some kind of deranged stalker.

“Jessie,” a voice called from the other room. “You ready?”

She sat up, letting her feet fall to the carpeted floor. “In here. I’m packing. What exactly does one take to a trap?”

“Workout clothes, of course.”

“Workout clothes?”

He held out his hand. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

She handed him her camera instead. “I forgot I had this. Do you want to see what Remy filmed?”

He gave her a hard look. “Do you?”

She liked that he put her state of mind ahead of what was happening—or not happening—with Zane. No evidence that he was anywhere around the area. No phone calls. No threats. Jessie might have thought she’d imagined the whole thing if not for a call from the sheriff telling her the tire stems had been injected with acid. They’d eroded through the many layers of rubber to cause both tires to burst at nearly the same time. Another accident that was no accident.

“I think we should see what it looks like. I was in no position to take in what was happening around me. Maybe she filmed something that could help us catch Zane.”

“You’re right,” he said. “Let’s sit and watch it together.”

She hit the play button, glad she’d watched her argument with Dar alone. But it bothered her that she’d forgotten filming the encounter.

“Something wrong?”

She pushed aside the question for examination later. “No. Maybe. I don’t know. Let’s deal with this first. Here we go…”

The setting was the first thing that hit her. She’d forgotten how small the tower looked from a distance—bright and garish. A child’s toy, really. And she’d wound up injured from it. Talk about humiliating. Is that what Zane was going for? She wished she knew.

“There you are,” Cade said. “Getting ready to begin.”

She recognized her hesitation when J.T. joined them. He’d been a surprise addition that made no sense. A distraction. She hit Pause and went back a few seconds. “Look. In the crowd. We were all focused on J.T., but there’s Zane.”

Cade leaned closer, squinting. “You’re right. I recognize him from his website photos.”

Remy was doing a good job of following the action, but once Jessie knew to look for Zane, he was easy to spot. Right up to the moment when she started her climb.

“He’s leaving now. There,” Cade said, pointing toward the far side of the screen.

“He didn’t wait around to see if I fell because he knew I would.”

Cade took the camera from her hands and turned off the power, then he pulled her into his arms for a hug. “That was brave. And now we can place Zane at the scene. I don’t know if that will mean anything to a jury once we catch this bastard, but we have it.”

She accepted the comfort he offered without comment. She didn’t feel brave. She felt incredibly stupid. How could she have trusted Zane blindly? What did she really know about him? Apparently, nothing. She was a fool.

Cade kissed the top of her head then got up. “Come on. Remy said you need to be exercised.”

Jessie pulled back. “I’m sorry, what? I’m not a horse, you know.”

He grinned. “Oh, did I say that wrong? Maybe she said, ‘Jessie needs to exercise.’”

Jessie rolled her eyes. “Where are we going to do this exercise?”

“Follow me, my lady. Be prepared to be impressed.”

They left her duffel by the back door, where Sugar promptly tried to climb inside it. Cade shook his head but didn’t scold her or try to shoo her away. He simply took Jessie’s hand and started toward the far side of the house, beyond their stargazing knoll.

The path had been trimmed, she noticed. And the area around the barn looked tidied. She’d admired the huge, rustic building from afar. “Dad retired this barn when he built the new, modern one. And, frankly, that was the right thing to do. This place is still used for storage, and I think Buck used to host parties in here because I found a pile of beer cans tossed in the corners. We hauled off a few old engines and some worthless tools, and now it’s all yours.”

He opened the walk-in door and turned on the lights then stepped out of the way, allowing her to enter first. She stepped inside and looked around. “Wow. It’s big.”

And surprisingly clean. It still smelled like a barn—dusty, machine parts and animal smells she couldn’t quite place. Not unpleasantly so, thankfully.

“You brought my mats in,” she exclaimed.

Stretched side by side on top of a large, slightly faded Oriental wool rug were her purple and teal yoga mats. “Mac grabbed them for me from Yota and gave them to Kat. I wanted to surprise you.”

She was touched. “Thank you. I’d been thinking it was time to start stretching out, but it’s not the same without your regular equipment, you know?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he walked to a chrome table that looked like something a butcher might use. A very modern MP3 player was plugged in. “Is that my iPod, too?”

He nodded. “Remy gave it to me. She said you have special music you like to listen to when you’re exercising.”

She kicked off her running shoes and stepped onto the space he’d created for her. “This is really amazing, Cade. I feel as if I should be teaching a class to pay my way.”

He held up one hand. “Me. I’ll be your student.”

The sexual undertones in his voice made her swallow. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but I don’t date my students.” Mainly because the people she’d taught were bitter teenage girls who started out thinking yoga was a boring waste of time…until their second or third lesson.

“Who said anything about a date?” he joked, sitting on the mat to pull off his boots.

She’d never seen anyone do yoga in jeans, but she was so happy to see her mats and music, she didn’t care if he was in a full set of armor.

She turned on the player and found the file she wanted. Peaceful but not boring, she liked to think. When she turned around, her mouth fell open. “Oh.”

Cade had removed his jeans and was wearing skintight yoga shorts, black and sleek. He’d lost his Western-style shirt, too, in favor of a clingy dark blue T-shirt. “I had no idea you were such a chameleon.”

He rubbed his hands together. “All part of my disguise,” he said, glancing around as if someone were watching him. “I figure Insane Zane is perched in a tree somewhere beyond our fence with a high-power spotting scope. He’s going to watch you trek back and forth a couple of times a day. Your limp is so much better he’s going to know his earlier attempt to hurt you failed. Which, of course, means he’ll finally snap and fall straight into our trap.”