by Nicole Helm
Ty brought to mind the figure from Jen’s security tape. Not even a tingle of recognition. It ate at him, the faceless man manipulating Jen in her own store. It damn near burned him alive to think she’d be a target of something she had nothing to do with.
Target or not, her cooperation or not, he’d keep her safe. He just had to figure out how.
* * *
HE DIDN’T MIND cutting himself. He rather liked it. Watching the blood well up, drip down. He’d always liked blood. Dr. Michaels said he had to be careful, not to get too caught up in it.
She was right. He only had so much time. Ty would stay at the store for only so long, and it would take time to sneak into Rightful Claim. He had to craft his message quickly, then deliver it with just as much precision and speed.
The paper hadn’t worked, so he’d torn off a piece of his T-shirt and concentrated carefully as he used his bloody fingertip to spell out the message.
He admired his work. He supposed blood might tell, giving away his identity, but he wasn’t so worried about that. He liked the message of blood too much to worry about the connections.
Besides, by the time blood told, he’d have his revenge.
Chapter Four
Jen had done a lot of pretending in her life. All through high school she’d pretended she wasn’t involved with Ty Carson, then after he’d left she’d pretended she wasn’t heartbroken. She did her best to pretend Laurel’s marriage to Grady and Dylan’s marriage to Vanessa didn’t bother her. For most of her life, she’d fooled those she loved the most.
She didn’t think she’d fooled anyone tonight as she’d pretended to cheerfully spend her evening making dinner for her family at the Delaney Ranch. She’d chattered happily through dinner, then cleaned up diligently, refusing help and earning looks.
Pity looks.
Even though Ty’s whole thing was giving her the constant creeps and a feeling of being watched, she went home to her apartment above the store after tidying up at Delaney Ranch. She’d rather face off with someone who might be “targeting” her than withstand her family’s pity—most especially the in-law Carson portion of her “family.”
Jen always passed the storefront on Main before pulling into the alley where stairs led up to her apartment behind the store. No matter what time of day, she always scanned the front to make sure everything was as it should be.
Her heart slammed painfully against her chest at the shadowy figure looming under the awning of the store’s front door, highlighted by the faint security lights inside. She whipped her gaze from the door to the road, jerking the wheel to miss the sidewalk she’d been about to careen onto.
Heart pounding, palms sweating, Jen kept driving, taking her normal turn onto the alley. What should she do? Who was lurking outside her store?
It could be anyone. Jim wanted a six-pack. Someone taking an evening stroll. It could be nothing. But it felt like something.
She fished her phone out of her purse, debating whether she should park or keep driving. The person had to have seen her erratic driving. Would whomever it was know who she was? Would the individual walk back here? Threaten her?
“Oh, damn you, Ty Carson.” She pushed the car into Park, watching the alley in case anyone appeared. She started to dial Ty, then cursed herself for it. A smart woman didn’t call the idiotic, paranoid man who was causing her panic in the first place. A smart woman called the cops.
And lucky for her, her sister was the cops.
Except Laurel was a detective. And pregnant. Don’t you want to protect what’s yours? She cursed Ty all over again, staring at her phone with indecision. Laurel or Ty? Bent County Sheriff’s Department or handle this herself?
She looked back up at the alley entrance. There was no sign of anyone. Surely someone nefarious would have run away upon being spotted. She wouldn’t be foolish when everyone already pitied her. No.
Quickly and decisively, she got out of her car and hurried to the back door of the store. She watched the alley, fumbling with her keys as she worked to get the door open. Once inside she quickly shut it and locked it behind her, taking a deep breath and trying to steady her shaky limbs.
“You’re being ridiculous,” she muttered into the empty room. Still, her heartbeat didn’t calm and her nerves continued to fray as she moved from the back of the store to the front. At first she didn’t see anything, then a shadow moved and she barely held back the impulse to scream.
It was the man who’d fainted in her store.
Despite all the assurances she’d given Ty that the stranger was no one and completely nonthreatening, this felt very threatening.
She backed away from the door, pulling her phone out of her purse. Quickly, she dialed the dispatch number for the sheriff’s department. When a woman answered, she explained as calmly and concisely as she could that someone was outside her store, and she didn’t consider him dangerous but she did have some concerns.
“I’ll have a deputy out your way as soon as possible, ma’am.”
“Thank you.” Jen hit End and then steeled herself to turn around. He was still there, which had her breath coming in quick puffs. He wasn’t pounding on the door or the storefront glass. He was simply standing there, same as he had been.
Except, she realized, he was holding something against the window of the door. Unsteady, Jen inched toward the door, realizing it was a piece of paper. He was holding something like a sign against the glass.
In careful print, it read: I only wanted to thank you for the other day.
Though the soft security lights from inside the store lit up the boardwalk enough to illuminate him, he had his cowboy hat pulled low. He smiled sheepishly and it sent a tickle of panic through her that his mouth was the only part of him she could make out.
“I called the police,” she shouted, wondering if the sound would carry through the glass.
His sheepish smile didn’t fade, but he did nod. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and began to write on the paper again. When he flipped it around, she had to squint and step a little closer to read it.
Didn’t mean to frighten you. I’ll be on my way. See you soon, Jen.
Jen.
He’d written her name, clear as day. Why did he know her name?
He could have overheard it. He could have asked around. Neither made her feel comforted.
She noticed the flash of red and blue lights. She craned her head to see the cruiser’s progress with some relief easing away the panic.
But when she looked back at the door the man was gone, and dread pooled inside her stomach.
None of it was threatening, and yet she felt threatened. Chilled to the bone. She hugged herself as she waited for the deputy to get out of his cruiser and walk up to the door.
She forced herself to smile at him when she opened the door to him. Thanks to her sister’s position with the sheriff’s department, she knew most of the deputies. Thomas better than most. “Thomas, thanks for coming, but I feel a little silly. He went away without any fuss.”
“It’s no problem, Jen. Better safe than sorry, and you know your sister would have my butt if I didn’t check it out. Now, why don’t you tell me everything that happened.”
She sighed, knowing it would all get back to Laurel, and she’d have to answer a thousand questions. Knowing Laurel would tell Grady, who’d undoubtedly mention it to Ty. She’d have to tell Ty herself in that case.
She faced that with about as much dread as she had the stranger at her door.
* * *
TY YAWNED, FEELING unaccountably tired for an early Sunday night. Rightful Claim closed down at midnight rather than two, and he should have felt revved.
Instead, the lack of sleep over the past few days was getting to him. Was he getting old? He shook his head, pushing his apartment door open.
Something fluttered at his feet and he kn
ew immediately it would be another note. He bent down to pick it up, but the odd shape and color of the letters stopped him midcrouch. Icy cold settled in his gut and spread through his limbs.
It was blood. Even as he warned himself it could be fake, he knew. It was blood. A message written in blood.
It wasn’t hard to access the part of his brain he’d spent a decade honing in the army and the army rangers. It clicked into place like a machine switched on.
He stood to his full height, taking a careful step backward. The less he disturbed the scene, the better chance he had of nipping this all in the bud before anyone got hurt.
Jen. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and dialed her number. He refused to put her as a contact in his phone, but he knew the number nevertheless. All it had taken was Laurel insisting her wedding party had each other’s phone numbers to have it lodged in his brain like a tumor.
It rang, ending on her voice mail message. She was probably asleep, but it didn’t assuage his fear. He left a terse message. “Call me. ASAP.”
He clicked End and pushed away that jangle of worry. Once he took care of this, he’d make sure she was fast asleep. He’d make sure, wherever she was and whatever she was doing, she was safe and sound.
Safe.
Ty looked at his phone and couldn’t believe what he was about to do. He was a Carson and Carsons handled their own stuff, but with Jen involved for whatever reason, he couldn’t take that chance.
Because Jen was involved, he knew that. Even without reading this new message. He knew the man trying to frighten him would use Jen to do it.
So, he called the Bent County Sheriff’s Department. He explained the situation and was assured someone would be over shortly.
Then he called Jen again, cursing her refusal to answer. She’s asleep and has her phone on silent.
“Screw it,” he muttered, moving out of his apartment and back down the stairs. If he walked around to the front of the saloon, he’d be able to see her store. He knew he should wait for the cops, but if her security lights were on, if he jogged over and checked to make sure her car was in the back lot...
Of course, she might have spent the night at the Delaney Ranch. Jen didn’t keep a regular schedule, which was going to be a problem if he was going to keep her safe. Not that he could force her to change anything. She’d only get more erratic if he warned her to stay in one place.
Hardheaded woman.
He stepped outside and his heart all but stopped. The flashing lights of a police cruiser were across the road and down the street, right in front of Delaney General.
Without thinking it through, he was ready to run down the street, bust in and save her from whatever was wrong.
But his name broke through the haze.
“Carson?”
Ty whirled to face the cop walking toward him. Younger guy. Ty didn’t like cops, period, but if he had to deal with one he would have preferred Hart. Ty was pretty sure this was the one who’d nearly bungled Addie’s kidnapping last year.
“What?” Ty barked. “What’s going on over there?”
“Nothing serious. Just a suspicious figure. But you put in a call, too. Something about a note?”
Ty looked at the car down by Delaney General, and then at the too-young deputy trying to be tough.
Ty felt his age for a moment, not in years, but in the decade he’d spent in the military. He remembered what it was like to be young and eager. Foolishly sure of his role in helping people. No doubt this moron had the same conviction, and someday it would be beaten out of him.
Ty tried to keep his voice from being a harsh demand. “So, everyone’s okay down there?”
“Looks like it was innocent and harmless. Spooked Ms. Delaney some, but no real threat. We’ve canvassed the area for a while now, with no evidence of anyone. We were just finishing up when we got your call on the radio. Now, why don’t you show me the note.”
“Who’s with her?”
“Hart.”
Ty nodded. That was good. That was fine. Let the police take care of Jen. Suspicious figure. Ty looked around Main Street, mostly pitch-black except for the occasional glow from nearby businesses’ security lights.
Someone was out there. A suspicious figure.
“Carson?”
“Right. Upstairs. You got stuff to collect it or whatever? I’m pretty sure it’s written in blood.”
The deputy’s eyebrows rose, but he nodded. “I’ve got everything I need to handle it.” He patted his utility belt and then followed Ty around the bar and into the back entrance.
Ty led him to the letter, and the deputy crouched and pulled on rubber gloves as he examined it. “Is this the first letter you’ve received like this?”
“It’s the first one in blood, but it isn’t the first one.”
The deputy spared him a look. One that said and you’re just now calling the police? It was only his worry over Jen and her suspicious figure that kept him from kicking the cop out and telling him he’d handle it faster and better.
The deputy picked it up and slid it into what looked like a ziplock bag.
“What’s it say?” Ty demanded.
The deputy stood and raised his eyebrows. “You didn’t read it?”
“I didn’t want to touch it. Blood or fingerprints... You’ll be able to get something off it?”
“Should be. Blood could be animal, but there might be something here. Though it’ll take some time to send that off for analysis.”
“But you will?”
“I’ll be recommending it,” the deputy returned with a nod. “This is a serious threat.” He held up the bag and read through it. “I’d warn you to watch your back, but it won’t be your back I’m after.”
Jen. He didn’t know why this person was fixating on Jen, but he was sure of it. “We need to know who that is.”
“You don’t have any clues?”
“None. Someone from my army days, maybe? But I’m in the dark. If we can get DNA off that—”
“What about the other letters? Where are they?”
Struggling between his need to do this on his own and his understanding he needed the cops in on this if Jen was going to stay safe, Ty stalked over to the kitchen drawer he’d shoved the other letters in. He grabbed them and held them out to the deputy.
The deputy took them, then nodded toward the door as footfalls sounded on the stairs. “That’ll be Hart. We’ll want to consider the connection angle on this. A note to you, a threatening figure at Ms. Delaney’s store. Same time frame.”
It was indeed Hart, but Ty frowned at Jen walking into the room behind him.
“What’s going on?” Jen demanded. “Was he here, too?”
Hart turned to Jen, placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Gentle enough that Ty’s eyes narrowed.
“Jen,” Hart said quietly. “Maybe you should calm—”
“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down, Thomas.” Jen shrugged off his hand and glared at him, then Ty. “Ty seems to think this man is connected—the one sending him threatening notes, and the stranger at my store. And you told me he got another one. Well, it’s not okay, and I’m somehow involved. I want to know why.”
“We don’t know it’s the same person,” the deputy with the letters said to Hart and Jen. “We only know it’s suspicious timing. Do you have an idea of when the letter was dropped off?”
Ty sighed. “I’ve been bartending since four. Didn’t come up till after midnight. I don’t know how someone would have broken in without me noticing anything, but it could have happened anytime.”
Hart jotted something down on a notepad while the other deputy read through the notes Ty had handed him.
“Excuse us a moment,” Hart said, nodding to the other deputy into the hallway. They stood there, conferring in low tones.
Ty s
tudied Jen. She looked calm and collected, pretty as a picture considering it was the middle of the night and she’d called the police over a suspicious figure.
“You and Hart got a thing?” Ty asked, harsher than he’d intended, and if he’d been thinking at all he wouldn’t have asked. But the way Hart had touched her raked along his skin like nails on a chalkboard. He didn’t like it.
She blinked, looked up at him as though he’d lost his mind. “A thing?”
Ty probably had lost his mind, but he wasn’t going to let her see that. So he shrugged lazily. “You’re the only one I’ve ever heard call him Thomas. I was starting to think his first name was Hart.”
“Oh. Well.”
“So, you have a thing.” He didn’t ask it. He stated it. Because of course they did. Delaneys loved their law and order.
Any embarrassment or discomfort she’d had on her face morphed into full-on bristle. “It’s none of your business, is it?”
Ty shrugged, forcing the move to be negligent even though his shoulders felt like iron. “It is if he’s got a vested interest in keeping you safe. Make it easier for me to trust him anyhow.”
“You don’t need to worry about me, Tyler.”
He tried not to scowl, since she was clearly trying to irritate him, but his name was one of the few things that irritated him no matter how hard he tried to let it go. “If something I did brought you danger, I’ll worry about you as much as I want.”
She softened at that some. “Ty—”
He didn’t want her softening. “You need to stay with your family until this is sorted. The cops might look into it, but they’re useless. With the exception of maybe your boyfriend there. This is escalating, and you need to be protected.”