by Jenna Night
So, yeah, bringing Ramona here, today, was the right decision. Even if he was worried that Linder or one of his accomplices was lurking nearby. Watching Ramona loosen her embrace with her dad and then reach for her mom who’d just appeared from around a corner confirmed that.
Looking at the small family as they reunited in front of him made him think of his parents and his brother and sister. Deep in his heart, he still yearned for a family of his own. It was difficult to admit that to himself because it meant accepting the idea of a family with someone other than Willa. And he didn’t want to admit to that yearning, because even a little bit of hope sparked pain in his heart. He couldn’t forget that hope had a painful side. Because there was always the possibility of disappointment and loss.
So which way did he want to go with his own life? He thought he’d settled on an answer to that question, yet here it was again.
The answer to the dilemma should be easy. He had to follow the path that made certain he never, ever again went through the pain he experienced when Willa died.
Another member of Ramona’s family stepped through a doorway leading from a small office. The resemblance between the woman and Ramona’s mom was impossible to miss. Ramona had told Harry that her Aunt Valerie would be here today to take a look at her parents’ financials and make sure everything was correctly taken care of.
“Nice to meet you,” Harry said, shaking Valerie’s hand after they were introduced.
“Thank you so much for helping my niece,” she responded, with a slight smile directed toward Ramona.
“Of course.”
“And I know my daughter, Jasmine, appreciates your help, too,” she continued.
How did Harry respond to that? After the things he said the last time he saw Jasmine, he was sure he was far from her favorite person. And frankly, he still had some doubts about her possible connection to the attack in Bridger.
“Jasmine has made some bad decisions in life,” Valerie said as if she could hear his thoughts. “She knows that as well as anybody. Sometimes it’s hard to show gratitude to someone else when you’re busy beating yourself up. But she’ll get there one day, when Darrin is locked up and everything calms down.”
“I’m glad I can help,” Harry said.
“So, are you ready for me to do an inventory and order restocks?” Ramona asked, looking at her parents.
Eric smiled slyly. “Well, you know that’s one of my least favorite tasks.”
Ramona nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Besides the perishable and nonperishable food items, you might want to check the cleaning supplies and linens,” her mom added.
Ramona laughed and shook her head. Harry felt his heart lift a little.
“Oh, and check the packaging supplies for takeout orders,” Eric said. “We get a lot more takeout orders than we used to.”
“It’s the way of the world these days, Dad,” Ramona said, sounding like an amused teenager. “If you’d let me manage the diner, one of the first things I’d do would be to hire someone to develop an app for takeout orders and then I’d dedicate a couple of parking spaces for people who are just here to pick up their food.”
“Oh, honey, you don’t want to do that,” Toni said. “I mean, the app thing might be a good idea. But managing the diner and everything that goes with that would take up all your time. There’s no way you could do that and take business courses.”
“Kiddo, we want you to have the opportunity to have a great career. One that pays well, that won’t demand you work long hours on your feet all day.” Eric nodded toward his sister-in-law. “Something like your aunt does—something that’s professional, like accounting. That’s the way to go.”
Ramona kept a pleasant expression on her face. But Harry’s bounty hunting experience had made him pretty good at reading body language. He could see the disappointment and resignation in Ramona’s eyes and the slumping of her shoulders. He thought of her question about knowing when a person was on the right path—and the things she told him about the office job she’d lost. She really didn’t want a life spent working in an office. She wanted to work here, in the diner. But clearly, there were concerns involved that couldn’t be solved by a simple family conversation.
And it wasn’t Harry’s place to get involved. He had his own life decisions to figure out. He was by Ramona’s side to keep her safe and work with her to capture Darrin Linder. Anything going on in her life beyond that wasn’t his business.
Ramona went into the office with Valerie to get started on her inventory and ordering tasks. Toni walked out to the dining area at the front of the restaurant to take care of business there. Other employees filtered in and out of the kitchen area and Harry watched them closely. Especially if they went anywhere near the office where Ramona was working. They typically acknowledged Harry with a nervous smile or a nod, but they didn’t ask him who he was or why he was there. They probably already had a pretty good idea about what was going on.
Eric insisted on making Harry a patty melt on rye bread with plenty of sharp cheddar cheese and a side of onion rings. Of course, it was delicious.
Two hours passed and Ramona finished up the reordering tasks for her parents. By the time she was ready to go, she seemed to have relaxed a little.
Her parents, on the other hand, had grown increasingly anxious. Harry could tell that they’d been putting on a brave face from the moment he and Ramona had arrived. What parent wouldn’t be absolutely gutted with fear after some thug had either attacked or ordered the attack of their daughter three times?
Everyone exchanged their goodbyes, with multiple hugs and a few tears shed by Ramona’s parents. Ramona seemed determined to appear confident and calm in front of them.
The world was a dangerous place. Ramona knew it as well as Harry did. Maybe that was why she didn’t promise that she’d be seeing them again.
TEN
“Everybody knows that one of the goons who attacked Ramona had snake tattoos on the sides of his neck,” Jasmine said irritably. “I’ve heard her mention it at least three times. If I knew someone who fit that description, don’t you think I would have already said something?”
It was the morning after the visit to the diner, and Ramona and Harry had gone to Jasmine’s condo to meet with Jasmine, Valerie and Sergeant Bergman to get updated on the current police investigation and take a look at some new suspect photos.
Ramona held back a frustrated sigh and reminded herself that Jasmine was going through a lot right now. Detoxing from drugs and alcohol. Daily sobriety meetings plus counseling sessions to help her face painful emotions that went all the way back to adolescence when her dad abandoned her and her mom. Jasmine was doing all of this while trying to keep her job. And on top of that, she had a murderous ex-boyfriend who’d already verbally and physically abused her, threatened her family and tried to kill her cousin. It was understandable she was feeling a little on edge.
Fortunately, the time Ramona had spent at her parent’s diner yesterday had centered her emotions and that in turn helped her to be patient with Jasmine right now. People on the mend from rough times were not always easy to love as they fought their way back from a hellish situation. But that didn’t mean you didn’t still try.
Jasmine and Sergeant Bergman sat side by side on the sofa, with a small laptop opened up on the coffee table in front of them. The sergeant wanted her to look at mug shots of men who might be Bald Guy or Skinny Guy.
Ramona glanced at Harry, who stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall. Valerie was seated near her daughter, her hand on Jasmine’s knee, patting it softly as if trying to calm her.
Valerie was dressed in a stylish dark blue suit, silk blouse and expensive leather pumps. She’d stopped by, announcing her intention to give Jasmine moral support while she answered the sergeant’s questions, and then take her daughter out to lunch. Afte
r that, Valerie would head back to her office.
Looking at her aunt, Ramona couldn’t help thinking of her own mom, who typically wore jeans and a T-shirt and comfortable flat shoes to work.
Somewhere, Ramona’s parents had obviously gotten the idea that Valerie’s life choices, at least in terms of her career, were the better ones. And yet her parents were happy and had a big circle of friends who loved them. That was no small thing. Did they not realize that?
“We don’t know how recently he got those tattoos,” Sergeant Bergman said calmly after giving Jasmine a minute to compose herself. “Maybe you saw him with Darrin before he got the tattoos.” He gestured toward the laptop in front of them. “Just look at the pictures. Tell me if you recognize anybody.”
Ramona impatiently waited for her turn. Sergeant Bergman wanted her and Harry to look at the photos also, but he wanted everyone to look at them separately so they wouldn’t influence one another. She watched Jasmine’s face anxiously, hoping to see a sign that she recognized at least one of the photos she was looking at.
They needed a break in this case, something to get it moving forward. There was still no sighting of Darrin, which was worrisome to Ramona for many reasons. She wanted him found and captured, of course. As all of this dragged out even longer, she worried that he’d left the area. What was there to keep him from heading back to Seattle where he could hide in the crowd for a while? Over time, with nothing new happening, Ramona’s case would become a lower priority. Newer, active crimes would demand the attention of the police department. The bounty hunters would have to write off Darrin’s bond. And at that point, Darrin could come back and achieve his goal of killing Ramona once she was no longer closely watched and protected.
So far there were no leads on a possible purchase of lakefront property by Darrin. The police hadn’t found any connection between Darrin and Paul at the sport shop in Bridger. They’d checked out all the known addresses and workplaces for Darrin that they could find and had uncovered nothing. Likewise, the information on his bail bond application had turned out to be useless now that he was on the run and staying out of contact with his known associates.
“I don’t recognize any of these men.” Jasmine turned her gaze from the computer screen to Ramona. Her face was turning red and her eyes were filling with tears. “I’m sorry.”
Ramona walked over to wrap her arms around her cousin and give her a hug. “It’ll be okay.” She hoped that was true.
As she let go of Jasmine, she couldn’t help noticing how pale her cousin looked and the dark circles under her eyes. She’d lost weight and was down to not much more than skin and bones. She could tell that Jasmine’s nerves were stretched thin. In her own way, she’d been crying out for help for years as she’d fought through depression after her dad abandoned her and her mom, but no one in the family had seen it. Or at least they hadn’t recognized it for what it was. They’d just thought of it as Jasmine going a little too far again when her life had gotten troublesome.
Now, at least, she seemed to be on the right track. But it was still a long road to a balanced life and freedom from her past addictions. The sad part was that there wasn’t much more anyone in the family could do for her other than be there for her and show their support. Ultimately, she was the one who had to complete the process.
Ramona’s gaze drifted back to Harry, who was still leaning against the wall. He’d chosen a spot near the passage into the family room where he could be in the living room with everyone and see the front door while being only a few steps from a sightline to the back door. He was keeping an eye on things even though they had a police sergeant right there. Because that’s how Harry was. Attentive. Protective. Putting his heart into the mission in front of him. Always committed to doing the right thing.
It was what she liked about him. Really liked about him. Could maybe even love about him. If she let herself.
But she would not let herself fall in love with Harry. Because right now, at this very moment, the truth was hitting her hard that Harry was kind of in the same boat as Jasmine. Not that he had the same issues or addictions, but he had the death of his wife to work through. A big issue, indeed. And Ramona couldn’t get him through it, though she really, really wanted to try. It was his situation to deal with on his own terms and with his own timing. And he’d made it pretty clear he wasn’t ready to move on and start a new relationship.
If she were a better person, she might be happy for him and the woman he’d meet in the future when it was the right time for him to fall in love and get married. But when she thought about having to walk away from Harry, her heart ached. And the vague idea that everyone would be happy at some point in the future didn’t cheer her up. Not at all.
As if he knew she was thinking about him, Harry turned to look at her. When their eyes met, she felt a sense of connection that was almost physical and her stomach did a little backflip in excitement. Apparently, it hadn’t yet gotten the memo from her brain. It was going to take a more determined effort to back away from him emotionally.
The sergeant called Harry over to sit beside him and look at the mug shots on the laptop.
Ramona decided that this was a good time to put a little physical distance between herself and Harry. “I’m going to get some coffee.” She stood up to walk to the kitchen. Jasmine and Valerie got up and walked with her.
“You said there was an issue with the fan over the stove, right?” Valerie said to Jasmine while pulling an attached stylus from the bottom of her phone and starting to jot notes on the screen.
“Yes.”
Ramona started organizing things to brew a pot of coffee while the other two talked.
Valerie had fronted the down payment for Jasmine’s condo. She was clearly aware that there was a time limit on the warranty that had been included with the condo purchase and she had mentioned more than once over the last month that she was afraid Jasmine wouldn’t follow through on arranging for the necessary repairs that kept popping up.
“You know what,” Valerie said. “I know Alex is very hard to get hold of right now. His properties are selling like crazy. Why don’t you let me take care of this? You know I’ll keep calling until I get a response.”
“I can take care of it,” Jasmine said wearily.
It wasn’t Ramona’s place to jump in with an opinion, but she really hoped Valerie would let Jasmine take care of it. Her cousin needed a sense of accomplishment.
When the coffee finished brewing, Ramona poured cups for everyone. She put her own cup, plus cups for Harry and Sergeant Bergman, on a tray and carried it back to the living room.
“This guy looks familiar,” Harry said quietly. His gaze was locked on the computer screen. “He was the one driving the SUV during the attack at the railroad underpass. He was wearing a mask then, but I saw him without it when he came to pick up the guy who had Ramona at gunpoint. He was one of the two losers at the shooting at the cabins, too.”
Bergman didn’t say anything in response. Probably sticking with his plan not to influence anyone until they’d all looked at the pictures.
Harry went through the rest of the photos. Three of them were apparently local career criminals that Harry knew by name, which meant he could tell the sergeant he hadn’t seen them in this case connected to Darrin.
Finally, it was Ramona’s turn. She took her time but was disappointed that she didn’t recognize anyone. She was starting to wonder who could possibly have looked familiar to Harry. And then she came to a picture of a man with large shaved head and chillingly vacant eyes. “This is the guy with the snake tattoos,” she said to the sergeant. Though he didn’t have the tattoos in the picture. “Is this the same guy Harry picked out?”
“You know I can’t confirm that until you’ve finished your review,” Bergman said. “Go through the rest of them.”
She kept going. No one else looked familiar, but that was ok
ay, she told herself, because at least now they had a lead. “What’s his name?” she asked.
“Eddie Jarvis. And yes, he’s the same one Harry picked out. We’ll start tracking known associates and see what comes up.”
“He’s not a local,” Harry said. “If he were a local, I’d know him.”
Ramona didn’t want to think about the kinds of people Harry might come across on a daily basis during the course of his work.
“You’re right,” the sergeant said, packing up his laptop. “He’s got a very long rap sheet and multiple agencies are looking for him. He goes where the money is. And he’ll hire out to do absolutely anything if the price is right.”
“Are you saying he’s the bigger danger now, not Darrin?” Ramona asked.
“No.” The sergeant stopped and turned just before he reached the front door. “I’m saying that while Darrin is apparently motivated by hatred toward you, this guy is motivated by money. And it appears that Darrin has a lot of money. He could be hiring even more people to come after you. Be careful.”
Bergman left and Ramona turned to Harry. “Now that we’ve helped identify this guy, maybe that will help speed things up and this nightmare will be over.”
“Right,” Harry said. He was nodding slightly in agreement, but the worried expression on his face told a whole different story.
* * *
“Considering that the databases the police are able to access haven’t turned up a property purchase by Linder, it makes sense that even as a realtor, you wouldn’t be able to, either,” Harry said into his phone.
On the other end of the call, Caleb Petrov let out a frustrated exhale. “Lots of people buy properties through corporations and other means to hide their identity. I just figured there was a chance that Darrin might have been in too much of a hurry to cover his tracks very well, or maybe he hadn’t thought ahead and made a purchase on impulse.”
Harry leaned back in the slightly squeaky office chair and sighed. “Well, I appreciate your making the effort.”