by Barb Han
Amber wiped away an unexpected tear as Rylan navigated into the parking lot of Zach’s office, and then parked in a spot close to the front door.
THE SEDAN AND the pickup truck were gone for now. That most likely meant the drivers were on a scouting mission. Experience had taught Rylan that the men would return, ready to strike next time. They’d be better prepared. That was the only explanation for why they didn’t shoot. Which led him to the conclusion that someone wanted Brooklyn.
They’d have to kill him to get to her. And based on the protective look on Amber’s face as he walked beside her into her cousin’s office, the same went for her.
Rylan had had bad days in his life. Hell, most of them could be considered bad once his mother passed away. There was something about that little girl in Amber’s arms that gave him a sense of hope. He chalked it up to the innocence children brought, the new perspective on life. Brooklyn was a good baby, which most likely meant she’d been well cared for up to this point. Her whole life was ahead of her.
A thought struck Rylan as he held the door open for Amber. What if her mother never turned up? Or, worse, what if she turned out to be the victim? What if the thing she’d gotten herself into caused her to lose her life? Other thoughts joined. What if she was sick? What if giving Brooklyn to him was a last-ditch effort to give the baby a chance at life?
All those thoughts amounted to a hill of beans when it came to thinking about anything happening to that little girl. Was there a court in the world that would take her away from him? He hoped the hell not. Because he was all-in when it came to Brooklyn from now on. It was a foreign feeling to him. He hadn’t felt like he belonged to something bigger than himself in too long.
Shoving those thoughts aside, he entered Zach’s office.
“We’re going down the hall.” Zach pushed off his desk, stood and focused on Amber. “There were no hits on the vehicles you described.”
“They’ll be back,” Rylan stated.
“We’ll be ready.” Zach’s resolve almost had Rylan believing the man could handle whatever entered his county. But Rylan didn’t have time for false hope. This was bigger than Zach and his deputies. Besides, they had a murder to investigate. “But first, follow me.”
Rylan put his hand on the small of Amber’s back and ignored the heat pulsing through his fingertips from the contact. This wasn’t the time to notice the attraction sizzling between them or think about the kiss they’d shared. Or the fact that he’d never experienced a pull this strong to any other woman.
He forced the thoughts to the back of his mind and refocused on the man who started all this. The blond.
The small room down the hallway from Zach’s office had low lighting, no doubt because of the one-way mirror. The room itself wasn’t much bigger than a walk-in closet. The space on the other side of the mirror doubled in size. There was a table and two chairs placed opposite each other. The white tile seemed sterile and like what Rylan would find in a hospital hallway. The walls were barren and gray. The only wall decoration visible to Rylan was an analog wall clock. It was circular, about a foot in diameter with large black numbers. The timepiece hung above the only door in and out of the space.
Everything about the room was meant to make someone uncomfortable. It was damn smart because Rylan was uncomfortable looking inside.
The door opened and a deputy walked in with a man in cuffs shuffling behind him. Rylan recognized the man immediately as the one from yesterday, and he felt the tension stiffen his shoulders. He rolled them back to loosen the knots, but it didn’t do any good.
“Is it him?” Amber was studying Rylan, and he figured she already knew the answer to that question.
“He’s the one.” Those three words confirmed what she clearly had already guessed.
The man wore a camouflage hunting jacket, blue jeans and boots. He was much shorter than Rylan, not six feet tall if he had to venture a guess.
Deputy Perry instructed the suspect to sit. From opposite the table his shoulders were square with Rylan, which was good. The man was close enough for Rylan to see clearly. The interview room was small, and he figured it was designed that way on purpose.
He felt Amber move beside him with the baby in her arms.
The deputy’s back was to them. “State your name.”
“Chester Hunter III, but my friends call me Chess.” Chess sat on the edge of the seat as he wiped his palms on his thighs. Rylan could only guess the man had sweaty palms. Chess displayed other signs of nervousness. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he blinked at a rapid pace. He spoke a little too fast, and his voice was a higher pitch than Rylan remembered.
Zach opened the door and popped his head in the viewing room. He looked at Rylan. “Can I get a positive ID?”
“I’m certain it was him,” Rylan responded.
“He’s not denying his involvement. The deputy asked him to wait to give a statement until I could make it in.” Zach put a hand on Rylan’s shoulder. “Let’s hope we get the answers we’re looking for.”
“Do you live in Jacobstown?” Deputy Perry continued.
“No, sir. I’m from Bremmer City.” Bremmer City was to the south of Jacobstown. Rylan had done some partying there in his youth before signing up for the military and righting his life.
“Did you bring a child to a residence in Jacobstown yesterday?” Deputy Perry jotted down a couple of notes. His posture was the opposite of Chess’s. The deputy sat comfortably in the metal and plastic chair. His feet were apart, and he leaned forward on the table in between him and Chess.
“Yes, sir.” Chess’s right leg started shaking. The man looked to be in his late twenties.
“What’s your occupation?” Perry asked.
“Mill worker,” Chess replied. “I work for my father’s construction company. He builds custom homes.”
Perry asked a few follow-up questions.
“Can you describe the child in question?” Fact-checking was a routine part of any investigation.
“She was a little girl. Small enough to fit into one of those carriers you see people with all the time. Her hair was black, curly.” He’d gone from a shaking leg to tapping the toe of his boot against the tile floor. “She was a cute kid.”
“How old was she?” The deputy’s voice was a study in calm. He was almost conspiratorial.
“I don’t have enough experience with kids to tell. All I know is she was young enough and small enough to fit into the carrier.” The words came out rushed.
“Did she have anything else with her?” Again, the deputy was confirming facts.
“Yeah. She had a diaper bag.”
“Can you tell me how you came to be in possession of the child?” Rylan’s ears perked up.
“Of course. I was pumping gas at the 401, the one by the Pig’s Ear down on farm road 26. That’s the one I always go to because gas is always cheaper than by the interstate.” He blinked up at the deputy like competing gas prices were common knowledge.
The deputy nodded.
“So, I’m pumping gas when a woman holding a baby in a carrier comes up to me. She looked scared and her eyes were saucers, like a cornered animal’s. She comes up to me and starts begging me to help her out. I’m looking all around expecting someone to charge up to us, or something—”
“Can you describe her?” Deputy Perry asked.
Rylan leaned toward the glass and listened.
“She was pretty. Her hair and eyes were brown, like coffee beans. She stood about yay high.” He held his right hand up to his chin, which would make her about five feet five inches.
Rylan drew a blank.
The deputy scribbled more notes. “Can you describe what she was wearing?”
“Yeah. She had on some kind of shirt with jeans. The shirt was short-sleeved. Oh, and flip-flops. I noticed because I thought it was weird she was
n’t wearing a coat or real shoes since it was so cold out.” His gaze was fixed but there was nothing on the walls to stare at, and it was one of those blank stares like when someone recalled facts.
To Rylan’s thinking, the guy seemed legitimate. He was definitely the man from the other day. There was no question. Rylan had wondered if Chess was involved. Based on his reactions and what he said so far, there was nothing to make Rylan believe that was true.
Deputy Perry glanced up. “Did you say flip-flops?”
“I thought that was weird, too,” Chess stated. “The kid was bundled up, though. She had a warm blanket over her and a hat on.”
Flip-flops on a frigid day. No coat. The mystery woman was in a hurry, which supported the idea that she’d been in grave danger. Could she be from the area?
Chess’s statement made Rylan think the mystery woman had found out at the last minute that someone was coming for her or the baby. The last thought struck a chord. Was the mystery woman in trouble herself and trying to off-load the baby, or was someone after Brooklyn instead?
The fact that someone was still after the little girl—his daughter—gave him the strong impression she was the target. Had they gotten to Brooklyn’s mother? Had she disappeared in time, afraid to show up while the men chasing her were in town?
There were more questions than answers in this case.
Amber looked to Rylan expectantly.
He shook his head. “I don’t know who she is.”
“Did she have any distinguishing marks? Scars? Birthmarks? Tattoos?” Deputy Perry returned his focus to the notepad as he scribbled.
“Not that I can think of.” Chess returned his focus to the spot it had been before. And then his face twisted. “You know, now that you mention it she did have a birthmark on her neck. It was low, close to her collarbone. On her left side because facing me it was on the right.”
That struck a chord. A vague memory tried to take shape in Rylan’s mind, but it was still a blur. He’d been running on no sleep for weeks during a mission in Kandahar. And then he’d gone to San Antonio for the last three months where he’d remained until getting his papers and moving to Jacobstown.
There was a time in his life when finding out he’d had a child after a weekend of partying wouldn’t have surprised him. Granted, he wouldn’t be proud of himself. But he wouldn’t be shocked, either.
Looking back, shame for the way he’d handled his stress, his life, engulfed him like an out-of-control forest fire. Now that his head was clear, he could acknowledge that he’d used alcohol to deal with the stress of losing his mother before he was out of high school. He’d worked hard and partied even harder until that last time when he was so out of it he caught the Willows’ crops on fire. He’d been so out of it that he’d almost died. It was a wake-up call. After that, he realized he needed to deal with his pent-up emotions in a healthier manner. Truth of the matter was that he’d wanted to be a better man. The desire had spread like a wildfire after Will had lied in order to protect Rylan.
Becoming sober hadn’t been easy. He’d attacked it like everything in his life. He’d gone all-in. He’d realized that he needed to open up and talk, let people in rather than hold everything inside. He’d started talking after that instead of ignoring his pain and little by little was able to let the past go.
Admitting he’d needed help went against everything inside him as a soldier who’d been trained to rely on himself and take care of everyone else around him. Until he realized it made him far more of a man to own up to his mistakes, to his weaknesses. The hardest damn thing had been taking an honest look in the mirror.
Rylan would never be free of the shame, the guilt until he made things right in Jacobstown. He had two apologies left to make. One to the Willow family and the other to Will Kent. He owed the Willows retribution. But how did he repay Will? How did he square with the man who’d stepped up and blamed his own negligence for the fire that devoured the Willows’ crops and almost their livelihood?
Mr. and Mrs. Kent had stepped in to get the Willows back on their feet. He couldn’t apologize to them or thank them for what they’d done. But he owed the Kent family. He sure as hell wasn’t repaying them by getting Amber mixed up in his life. That made two Kents who should know better than to put their trust in Rylan.
Chapter Eleven
Amber stared at the one-way mirror. Hearing details about a woman Rylan had had a fling with shouldn’t have this effect on her. So, why did it?
One kiss, no matter how electric it had been, did not a relationship make. Besides, getting involved with Rylan beyond friendship would be a mistake. He seemed to realize it as much as she did.
She bounced Brooklyn on her hip, reminding herself that she had no claim on Rylan. The two were friends and he’d come to her for help, not for a relationship. Was there chemistry between them? She’d be a fool to deny it. They’d always been able to laugh and joke around when they were younger. She’d always felt a little spark whenever Rylan was over. That spark had ignited into a full-blown attraction.
And how smart was that on her part?
Pretty damn stupid.
Rylan might have a child—and she had no doubt this little girl would be the one thing that Rylan would stick to—but that didn’t change who he was. He would always move on. Those words, that honesty shouldn’t feel like a knife wound to her chest.
Amber needed to create a little emotional distance. She took a step away from him as she examined the face of the man being questioned. Strange that he lived one town over but she had no idea who he was. It seemed like everyone knew each other in Jacobstown, but that wasn’t exactly true. People moved in and out without being known.
Zach entered the viewing room. “How’s it going in here?”
She knew what he was really asking. Was any of this ringing a bell?
“Not as well as I would like,” Rylan responded.
“The coroner is sending over pictures of the victim in the hopes of a positive ID.” Zach’s voice held the respect of a deacon during Sunday morning church service.
Amber’s heart went out to the little girl in her arms. It made sense that her mother would’ve given her to someone else if she suspected something was about to happen. Had her mother seen death coming? Was that why she’d made a bold move in making sure the child got to Rylan?
It was strange that Brooklyn’s mother could be somehow tied to the Jacobstown Hacker. Or maybe she wasn’t. Amber leaned toward Rylan and asked, “What do you think the odds of her mother being connected to the Jacobstown Hacker are?”
“I thought about that, too. Maybe she was an innocent victim of his, the perfect opportunity for him to finally strike.” Rylan folded his arms across his broad chest.
Amber hugged Brooklyn a little closer to her. She couldn’t imagine growing up without a mother. It was difficult enough to lose a mother as an adult. But as a child? Amber was even more grateful for the time she had with hers.
An argument could be made that Brooklyn’s mother wasn’t at the top of her game. She’d obviously gotten herself into some kind of trouble. She knew to stash her child away safely. Now that the paternity test had come back, it was certain that Rylan was the child’s father.
What could Brooklyn’s mother have possibly gotten herself into that could force her to hide her daughter? Coming to Jacobstown must’ve been a last-ditch effort. But showing up in flip-flops in late January, not wearing a coat?
Granted, it appeared as though she wasn’t here on her own accord. She’d wrapped up the child in blankets and a hat before handing her off to a stranger and, what? Hoped for the best? That screamed of desperation. The woman didn’t take time to put her own coat on.
The interview in the next room continued, and Amber realized she’d spaced out for a second.
“Did you ask the woman with the baby her name?” Deputy Perry continued.
“A woman thrusts her child at you and you weren’t the least bit curious about her background?” Perry lifted a brow.
“It wasn’t like that. She came up to me and begged me to take her baby. She said she needed help, but I told her to go inside the convenience store and tell the clerk. I told her to call the sheriff but—” His words came out faster this time. He’d already been rushing his speech, but he shifted in his seat and put his hands up to his face. “She said she couldn’t involve the sheriff. Or something along those lines. I’d finished pumping my gas and was putting the nozzle back in the receptor by then. My first thought was that she was on something, but as she talked I realized she was scared.”
“And what was your response?” There was no sound of judgment in the deputy’s voice. Amber was too emotional to work in law enforcement. The thought of a man refusing to help someone in need riled her up too much. She’d never be so diplomatic. But then, that’s probably one of many reasons she was a cattle rancher and didn’t wear a badge.
“My mind immediately snapped to someone abusing her. That’s when I looked for signs,” he stated.
“And did you find any?” Deputy Perry spun the pen between his fingers as he waited for a response.
“That’s when I saw the birthmark. No bruising, though. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t somewhere on her body. She rattled off an address and said she needed to get the baby there ASAP.” He paused for a beat. “She also said to make sure I wasn’t followed.”
“How did you respond to her?”
“I told her that I couldn’t help her. She needed to go to the law.” He flashed his eyes at the deputy. “I had a cousin who got shot for trying to help a friend of his who was in an argument with her boyfriend. I don’t stick my nose where it doesn’t belong.”