Ms. Starr’s Most Inconvenient Change of Heart (A Raven's Run Romantic Mystery Book 1)

by Dorothy St. James

  Empty.

  Not even an old jar of Dukes mayonnaise had been left on the shelf. The cabinets were just as bare. Plates. Cups. Paper towels. Napkins. But no food in sight.

  My stomach growled.

  “If you’re looking for food, there are some protein bars in my bag in the bedroom,” Logan called out to me.

  I thanked him and padded off in the direction of the bedroom he’d used to change his clothes earlier. A large slate gray backpack was sitting on the end of the bed. I unzipped it and dug around inside its contents.

  What I found made my heart beat like a drum in my chest.

  “What are you planning, Logan?” I pulled out several plastic zip tie restraints. More of those bombs he’d called flash bangs. At the bottom of the bag, I found two handguns and several boxes of bullets.

  And a half dozen protein bars.

  My hand shook as I grabbed two bars before quickly zipping the bag closed. The little boy I knew wouldn’t own a bag like this, a bag filled with weapons and tools meant to harm others.

  Logan wasn’t a boy anymore. He’d grown into a man I didn’t know, a man ready to wage war on the world.

  What have I gotten myself into?

  As I worried about Logan—he had to be in over his head—I ripped open the protein bar’s foil package and ate it without tasting a bite. I’d opened the second foil package as I hurried back into the living room.

  Whatever the two men had been discussing came to an abrupt stop when I returned with the half-eaten chocolate chip protein bar in my hand.

  “Is something wrong?” I wondered what his boss would have thought about the mini arsenal in the other room.

  “I was just asking about my partner, Rafe.”

  “The guy from the roof who didn’t like me?”

  “That’s Rafe.”

  “What about him?” I asked.

  “A dirty cop arrested him. I’ve hacked into NYPD’s network, and there’s no record of Rafe’s arrest. Thacker, you have to tell me what’s happening with him? Tell me you’ve deployed a rescue team.”

  When Thacker didn’t answer, Logan tossed aside his computer and shot to his feet. “You don’t know what is happening to him, do you?” He swore viciously. “I was talking on the phone with him when he was taken by a corrupt policeman, the same policeman who’d threatened to kill Sam just to punish me.”

  Wait a darn minute. This was the first I’d heard that the police had threatened my life. Was that why Logan had acted so aggressively when we’d run from the police, and why he’d taken me to that madman’s apartment?

  “You should have told me about the threat,” I said as I took another nervous bite of the protein bar.

  “You had enough to worry about.”

  “But I would have understood—”

  “These kinds of missions operate on a need to know basis. Logan was doing his job—” Thacker chopped off the words as he turned and glared at me.

  “He could have saved himself some aggravation if he’d bent that silly rule,” I shot back.

  I would have said more, but Logan slashed a hand through the air. “What is going on with Rafe?” he demanded. “He’s more than my partner. He’s my friend. I need to know. Is he even alive?”

  Thacker heaved a long sigh. “Well, he was alive when the police released him. I don’t know about dirty cops or why there’d be no record of his arrest. But yes, they released him a few hours after his arrest. I’d ordered him to return to headquarters. And he’d said he’d come in after stopping by his place to change his clothes. That’s the last anyone has heard from him.”

  “And his tracker?” Logan demanded. He’d started gritting his teeth again.

  “Found it on a bench in the middle of Central Park. He must have removed it.”

  The answer seemed to hit Logan like a punch in the gut. He stumbled backward several steps before tamping down on his emotions.

  So Rafe had known about the tracker and hadn’t told Logan? Ouch. Learning that had to hurt.

  “This is why I hate secrets,” I said and took another bite of my bar.

  Logan dredged a hand through his brown hair, tugging at the ends. “I’m starting to hate them too, Sam.”

  “I’d hoped to find Rafe here, with you.” Thacker glanced around the room again. “Come clean with me, Logan. He’s not hiding anywhere in or near the cabin, is he?”

  Logan shook his head. “He’s not here. I wish he was.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. With a groan he turned his head to the ceiling. “If I know Rafe—and I do—he recognized we were in a no-win situation. Since I couldn’t charge back into the heart of the operation because I had Sam to protect, Rafe would have done it for me. He’d go after the evidence I failed to retrieve from Global Tech’s network.”

  “That was more than twenty-four hours ago. You do have a secure way to contact each other outside of Hart Security resources, don’t you?”

  Logan hesitated before admitting. “We do.”

  “Have you tried to contact him?”

  “Yes, but he’s not responded. I figured it was because he was still in police custody.”

  “But he’s not in police custody. And he’s not contacted you?”

  “No.”

  “Hell. I’d hate to lose him. He was a good agent,” Thacker said coldly.

  “Lose him?” I asked, not following the conversation, and definitely not understanding why Logan looked like he was about to throw up. “But you’ll find him. He’ll turn up.”

  Thacker shook his head. “Not if he’s already dead.”

  Chapter 16

  Is Thacker right?

  Logan sat down before his legs collapsed under him. Is Rafe dead? The two of them had survived scores of impossible situations.

  Could his best friend be dead?

  He’d have called by now if he were alive. Wouldn’t he?

  He should have let Rafe come with him. If they hadn’t split up, Rafe would still be alive.

  You don’t know he’s dead.

  He rubbed his hands over his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this tired. His thoughts slogged along as if wading in heavy mud. Bad things happened when he couldn’t think straight.

  People got hurt.

  “You keep trying to dig up evidence that Global Tech is trying to insert a global virus,” Thacker said. “Use legal means. No more cyber cowboy. And you can count on me. I’ll take good care of her.”

  Logan looked up at that last part. His mind still too muddled with grief to follow what Thacker was saying. “What? Take care of who?”

  “You’d asked me to get your wife to a secure location, remember?”

  He nodded dumbly. He wanted Sam out of his life. If she hadn’t stumbled into the middle of his op he would have snagged the evidence he’d needed to prove that the virus existed—and Rafe would still be alive.

  You don’t know he’s dead.

  “I’ll send someone to check in on you tomorrow.” Thacker took Sam by the arm and started to lead her toward the gaping hole that was a door.

  “Logan?” Sam’s voice wavered.

  “Go with him,” he said, not bothering to move from his spot on the sofa. “You’ll be safe with him.”

  He’d never see her again.

  It was a good thing.

  It was what he wanted.

  She’d walk out that door and out of his life.

  Forever.

  “But I...” Whatever Sam was going to say didn’t leave her lips. Tears pooled in her gentle brown eyes.

  Eyes he’d once thought he’d never see again.

  Why had she left him fifteen years ago?

  When she’d walked out of his life, he’d been too scared to pursue her. Too scared to hear someone tell him that her diseased heart had failed her. And yet not a day had gone by that he hadn’t regretted how abruptly their friendship had ended.

  If she walked out of his life today, he’d never know what had happened, he’d never kno
w what he’d done wrong to push her away.

  “Wait.” Logan didn’t know what he was going to do or say when he crossed the room to Sam.

  He reached out to her. Her hand met his halfway. Her slender fingers wrapped around his war-toughened hand. The silky texture of her skin only made him ache to touch more of her. He gave her hand a little squeeze, a silent promise. Unlike her, he didn’t abandon those he cared about.

  “I’ve changed my mind.” His voice sounded gruff. “She’s staying with me.”

  Foolish? Yes.

  Dangerous? Hell, yes.

  “Are you sure?” Thacker’s grip on Sam’s arm tightened.

  “No. I’ve not been sure about anything lately.” But he couldn’t let Sam go.

  Not now.

  Not like this.

  “COME ON,” LOGAN SAID and pulled me up from the Adirondack chair I’d dragged out to the end of the dock. I tripped over my own feet before catching up to him as he hurried toward the old truck.

  This happened about an hour after Thacker and Logan had engaged in a lengthy argument over why I should go into protective custody with Hart Security. In the end, Thacker had grudgingly agreed to let me stay. Then he and his private army had left. Someone from Hart Security was scheduled to check in on us in the morning, hopefully with a new copy of the divorce papers in hand.

  In the meantime, Logan had buried himself behind his laptop screen while I wandered around the house eating his protein bars. Once I’d finished them off, I’d headed to the dock.

  George still hadn’t returned my call.

  Before leaving, Thacker had given his word that he’d keep a protective eye on my mother, George, and my roommates in case anyone from Global Tech tried to use one of my loved ones as leverage to get to me. Certainly, if something had happened to George, or to anyone of my friends or family, Thacker would have contacted Logan by now.

  Still, I couldn’t stop myself from worrying about George.

  He was so fragile when it came to business matters. The slightest bit of drama could set off a monster-sized snit that would last for days.

  I didn’t have that many days left to calm him down before the wedding.

  When Logan pulled me away from my lakeside view, I’d immediately assumed the worst. Something had happened to George. That’s why he hadn’t returned my calls. My heart slammed so painfully in my chest I had trouble catching my breath.

  “Where are we going? What’s wrong? What’s going on?” I demanded as I stumbled after Logan.

  He glanced over his shoulder at me. A roguish grin brightened his expression and he suddenly looked like that mischievous teen I’d once loved—which did nothing to still my stuttering heart. “There’s no police warrant outstanding for our arrests, so there’s no reason to hide from the local authorities.”

  “So?” I wheezed, still struggling to get my breathing under control.

  “So, we’re going into town. My town. You’ll like Raven’s Run. We can grab something greasy to eat at the Fish Camp Bar and Grill, pick up groceries and supplies, visit the local hardware store to buy a new window and door to replace the broken ones, and maybe even indulge in a double scoop of homemade ice cream at the Creamery.”

  “All that?” I asked, unable to hold back a grin.

  It was like old times and we were about to embark on another one of Logan’s fun—and decidedly not dangerous—adventures.

  FOR THE ENTIRE TEN-minute drive into Raven’s Run, Logan talked. It was as if the words had been building in his chest for years and he could no longer hold them back.

  He updated Sam about what his family was doing. He talked about how his brother now lived in town and served as Raven’s Run’s Fire Chief. He explained how two of his cousins had settled in the town. One managed the locally owned department store. The other tended bar at the Fish Camp. His uncle, who owned the lake house, had once served as mayor. In fact, he’d been the longest serving mayor in the town’s history. He now lived in Florida and fished all day. No one in town could understand why the fool man needed to move all the way to Florida to fish when Lake Marion offered the best fishing in world.

  Logan didn’t have a clue where the sudden need to tell Sam about his family had originated. Nor did he know why the thought of showing Sam this town, his town, had him acting like a child on Christmas morning. He kept glancing in her direction to watch her expression as he steered the old truck into the downtown.

  Though she smiled and nodded as she listened, he couldn’t guess what she must be thinking about Raven’s Run. Or of him.

  Slow down there, dude. She’s not yours.

  The truck’s wheels crunched through the gravel parking lot of the Fish Camp, the lakeside bar and grill at the edge of town.

  “I hope you’re hungry,” he said as he held open the wooden door that led into the establishment. “They serve the best fried fish you’ll ever have the privilege to taste. And the fries? The spices will make your tongue sing for joy.”

  The place hadn’t changed since the last time he’d eaten here. It looked like a large version of his uncle’s cabin, with wood panels for walls and large windows overlooking the lake. His grandfather had built both places over forty years ago.

  Although he’d been away from Raven’s Run for years, this town and this land seemed to surge through his veins. He held Sam’s hand tightly as they entered the Fish Camp. The smell of grease perfumed the air. A jukebox thumped a low bass as it played a classic rock song that had been popular long before Logan had been born. The bar, like the rest of Raven’s Run, was like Heaven to him. And he desperately wanted Sam to see how special this town was, and to love it as much as he did.

  “This is the bar your grandfather built?” she asked. Was it his imagination or had her smile grown a little strained? “It looks—”

  “That isn’t Logan Dalton darkening the door of this fine establishment. It couldn’t be,” a man shouted from the long pine bar that overlooked the lake.

  The tall man climbed down from a bar stool. Standing, he looked even more imposing. His hair was several shades darker than Logan’s. He was dressed in a pair of battered jeans and a black t-shirt with the golden Raven’s Run Fire Department logo emblazoned on the pocket.

  Just the guy Logan had hoped to avoid...at least for a while. Cole Dalton, his older brother.

  “As I live and breathe, the prodigal son returns,” Cole said, his voice too loud even for a rowdy bar, which this wasn’t. Especially not in the afternoon when the place was nearly deserted. His brother’s long legs ate up the distance between them in the room. “Didn’t think I’d see the day you’d return to Raven’s Run.”

  Logan opened his arms to greet his brother.

  Instead of a hug, Cole pulled back and slugged Logan before he even saw it coming.

  Chapter 17

  Logan must not have known what had hit him.

  I swear it looked as if he’d been expecting a hug from the big guy who’d charged us like a bull. After hearing Logan go on and on about how Raven’s Run was the next best thing to Heaven, I’d expected the people who lived here to be as docile—and boring—as angels.

  That sucker punch knocked Logan off his feet. He landed with a thud on the grease-stained pine plank floor.

  I hadn’t forgotten how Thacker’s men had cold cocked Logan with that nasty big gun not that long ago. The last thing he needed was another blow to his head.

  I thrust myself between Logan and his attacker.

  “Now see here.” I just barely contained the urge to poke him in the chest with my finger. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t just go around hitting other people. And if you’re thinking about hitting him again, you’re going to have to go through me.”

  I ended up poking him in the chest after all, hoping to punctuate my point. I then prayed he wasn’t the kind of man who would slug a girl.

  He glared at me as if I were an annoying gnat that needed to be swatted away. “Who are you?”
<
br />   “I’m his wife.” I gestured to Logan who was still sitting on the floor. “Who are you?”

  “Wife?” The man looked at me and then at Logan and then at me again.

  “This big jerk is my brother,” Logan grumbled from the floor. He rubbed the red mark on his jaw. “You remember him? Nose stuck in a computer game?”

  “This is Cole? Man, the skinny Dalton boys sure managed to fill out.”

  “Wife?” Cole repeated. “Does mom know? You can’t disappear for six years and then return with a wife.”

  “Six years?” I said. The way Logan had talked about his family and this place you’d have thought he spent every weekend and vacation in this town.

  “Cole, you remember Sam?”

  “Sam?” Cole repeated my name like a parrot. His eyes widened as he looked at me, really looked at me this time.

  I smiled and nodded.

  Much of the color drained from his face. “N-not Samantha Starr from the Sisters of Mercy Hospital?”

  I nodded again.

  “But you died.”

  My smile grew. “Obviously, I didn’t.”

  He jammed his hands in his pockets. I remembered that. He’d used to bury his hands in his pockets whenever he was nervous. “But you-you dyed your hair.”

  “Well, I did do that,” I agreed.

  “I liked it better brown.”

  “Me too,” Logan said as he got up off the floor.

  “You two have no taste. Don’t you know blondes are more fun?”

  “Don’t know about that. Just know what I like in a woman.” Cole reached out a hand to help his brother. Unlike with Thacker, Logan accepted the help. “Sam’s really your wife?”

  “Yeah, so no hitting on her or I’ll have to return the favor and do some hitting on you.” Logan brushed off his jeans and led the way to a booth in a quiet corner. It was one of the best places in the bar, with a gorgeous view of Lake Marion.

  A few sailboats bobbed in the distance as sunlight glinted off the water.