Adam leapt forward and tackled the man. Both hit the tile floor with harsh grunts. A fist connected with Adam’s jaw. His head snapped back against the floor. The masked attacker jumped up and raced through the open front door.
Dani bolted to Simon, who sat on the floor, hands gripping Adam’s gun. She placed her hand over his and took the weapon from him. He flung himself into her arms. The gun was snatched from her hands and she turned to see Adam’s back as he charged after the escaping intruder.
She moved toward the kitchen, Simon attached to her side like a leech.
Dani snatched the phone handset from the base and dialed 911.
“Are you okay?” Her pulse spiked as she spun to see Adam standing in the doorway of her kitchen. The 911 operator said something, but Dani missed it. Sweat stood out on his face. He dragged a sleeve across his forehead and said, “He got away.”
Dani nodded.
Adam moved closer. “What was he after?”
“I don’t know.” She lifted the phone to her ear and told the dispatcher what had happened. “He’s gone now, but there’s a woman who’s been hurt. Send an ambulance.”
“Where’s Janessa?” Adam demanded.
“Upstairs. I think he shot her,” she whispered.
Adam raced for the stairs.
Simon wilted into the nearest chair at the kitchen table.
Within seconds, Adam was back, his white face and tense jaw said it wasn’t good. “She’s dead.”
Tears flooded Dani’s eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“I am too. I have to call Summer and David. They’ll contact her family.”
“We should have left here. We never should have come back. I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I never dreamed—”
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t. It’s not your fault.”
“But—”
“Janessa knew the risks.” He paused. “And we underestimated the danger level.” His jaw hardened. “We won’t make that mistake twice.”
A knock sounded and he turned to answer it. Dani spoke into the phone. “They’re here.” She hung up and went to meet the officers. Simon followed, staying close enough to see her.
Two uniformed officers stepped into her foyer, and when Adam took the lead, Dani let him, grateful to him and yet, at the same time, irritated. She was going to have to learn to handle things by herself now. No more letting a man tell her what to do or push her around.
Then she told herself to stop. This was serious and Adam knew what he was doing. She had enough sense to know he wasn’t being a macho jerk. He’d just saved her life and he was concerned.
Dani swiped the tears still dripping, squared her shoulders, and firmed her jaw. She refused to let her life with Kurt color her perspective of men or cause her to doubt her judgment. Her gut told her Adam was a good man. Nothing like the one she’d been married to. In the end, Kurt had been more of a warden than a husband.
With a heavy heart, she watched the EMTs head up the stairs. Oh Janessa, I’m so sorry.
She looked at the officer nearest her and said, “He was wearing gloves and a mask.”
The officers exchanged a glance. “No sense in checking for prints then.”
“No,” she murmured. “Probably not.”
“Did he speak?”
“Yes, but I didn’t recognize his voice.” She paused. “I don’t think.”
“What do you mean?” Adam asked. He’d come up behind them, silent, watchful.
“He may have sounded a bit like the guy who tried to kill me at Jenny’s house.”
“May have?”
“I don’t know. I was scared and I just … I don’t know.”
“It’s all right, just think about it,” Adam said. “I know one thing. He’s skilled at self-defense. He met me move for move.” Adam rubbed the back of his head. “In fact, he might know a few moves I don’t.”
An officer tapped Adam on the arm and he followed him into the kitchen. Dani let out a breath and signed to Simon to follow him.
“Dani?”
She froze, then turned to see Stuart standing in the open front door. “What are you doing here?”
He entered the foyer. “I had about five agents call me and ask me if I knew what was going on here at your house.” He flipped the cover on his badge closed and stuck it in his pocket. No doubt he’d used it to gain access to the scene. Anger stirred. He held his hands out. “I came to help. To be here for you.” He reached to take her into his arms.
Dani suppressed her nausea and dodged him. She stared at him, wishing she had the words to tell him to get out of her life and stay out.
But she couldn’t. Fear of what he might do held her quiet. Dani squared her shoulders. “Stuart, go home. This doesn’t concern you and I don’t need you here.”
His brows drew together in a thunderous frown. “Dani, Kurt would want me to do whatever I could to help. Let me take you up to the lake house. It’s quiet, peaceful, and no one knows about it. You can stay there and be safe.”
Dani shook her head. Did he really think she would go with him after the incident on the road? He may not have meant for the accident to happen, but he sure was the one who caused it. She didn’t trust him any farther than she could throw him.
“You can help by leaving, Stuart.” She softened her tone. “Please. There’s nothing you can do here. Go home. We’ll … talk … another time.”
She saw the protest forming on his lips and simply stared at him, willing him to leave before Simon came out of the kitchen and saw him. If he refused to leave, she’d have to make a scene and get one of the officers or Adam to help send him on his way. She didn’t want to do that at all.
Stuart’s jaw tightened. He blew out a breath through his nose, flaring his nostrils. “Fine,” he finally said. “But I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you.”
Dani didn’t bother to tell him not to, she simply ushered him from the foyer onto the front porch. “Bye, Stuart.”
She shut the door.
“Ma’am?”
Dani turned, pushing aside the weariness and grief that threatened to turn her into a puddle on the floor. One of the officers—she couldn’t remember his name and her eyes wouldn’t focus on his badge—stood just outside her kitchen tapping his notebook with his pen. “Yes?”
“If you don’t have anything to add, I think we’re done down here.”
Once the officers were satisfied she had nothing else to say, they moved upstairs where other law enforcement personnel had secured the scene.
They were still waiting on the crime scene unit and the ME.
Adam returned to the foyer, causing her to put aside her suspicion that Stuart had been her intruder. “While we’re waiting for the medical examiner and the homicide detectives, I’m going to call David and Summer.”
“Sure.”
Adam looked at her. “You realize they may never catch him.”
“I know.”
“Ma’am?” She turned to see one of the officers at the top of the stairs looking down on her. “Your safe is open. Did you open it?”
“No. I mean it was empty to begin with, but I didn’t have it open earlier.” She stared at Adam. “He wanted the stuff from the safe,” she whispered.
“What stuff?”
“The stuff I cleaned out the day I was going to run from Kurt. The day he died.”
“What was in the safe?”
“I’m not sure. Papers and—” she shrugged. “Stuff. And money.”
“It’s been six months since Kurt’s death. You haven’t gone through the contents?”
She shook her head and pressed her fingertips against her lips to keep them from quivering. “I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. I took the money and the will from the bag and put everything else in my end table drawer, intending to put it back in the safe, I just … never did. I really haven’t thought of it until now.”
“How much money are we talking about?”
“Several thousand.”<
br />
He lifted a brow and made a note of it.
For the next two hours, law enforcement came and went. The crime scene unit arrived and Janessa’s body was finally removed. Dani answered question after question until everyone seemed satisfied with the answers.
Her house was now empty with the exception of Adam and her son.
Adam said, “Pack what you need, including the items from the safe. We’re getting out of here.”
Dani looked at Simon.
He nodded and with fingers splayed like the number five, he tapped his thumb against his chest. Then placed his palm against his chest and moved it in a circular motion.
“What did that mean?” Adam asked.
“They’re the signs for ‘fine’ and ‘please.’”
Adam copied the movement and said, “Fine. Please. Got it.”
Her heart warmed. Kurt hadn’t learned the first sign. Not willingly. He’d picked up a few over the years, but—
Dani cut off the thought and gave a small smile. “Right.”
“What do you think about disappearing?” Adam asked.
She tilted her head and shot a glance at Simon. “As in changing our identities?”
“Yes.”
“I’m very good at being invisible,” she whispered.
Adam flinched, and a look of compassion skittered across his features before he replied. “All right. Then let me get you new IDs, new names, and a new place to live. You’ll go straight there from here and start on your new life. While you’re working on that, we’ll be working on who broke into your house tonight.”
She blinked. “You mean like the Witness Protection Program?”
“Yes. Exactly like that, just not with that title.”
“Oh me. I … don’t know … I mean, Simon—”
“I know it seems a bit much, but it’s very obvious that someone is after you. There’s no way we can properly do our job until we know what we’re up against. Keeping you safe in your home is not an option now. What if the man who shot at you didn’t make a mistake? What if you were actually the target? After all, you did see a murder. While you say no one knows you saw it except a man who’s dead, how do you know he didn’t tell someone? What if Stuart is going to new lengths to get to you?”
Dani chewed on her lip. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?”
“I hate to say it, but yes, looks like you’ve got big trouble. Are you ready to disappear yet?”
Dani hesitated, battling their options. One person had already lost her life over whatever reason someone was after her.
Simon said, “Yes, she is. We are.”
Dani blinked to find Simon watching them, his gaze jumping from her to Adam. His hearing aid whistled. She tapped her ear to let him know. He didn’t even roll his eyes this time, simply pressed his mold tighter and the whistling stopped. The brief thought that she really needed to make an appointment with the audiologist fluttered through her mind.
She took a deep breath. “Fine.” She was weary. Beyond exhausted. And grieving for a woman she’d only known a few hours. The audiologist would have to wait. She looked at Adam. “Yes. We’re ready to disappear.”
Simon’s relieved sigh made her heart clench. “Can we get something to eat on the way to disappearing? I’m starving.”
He sounded bone weary and sad. Dani wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. Then she signed, “Go pack. We’ll get some food.”
He nodded and trudged upstairs.
Adam looked at her. “Cheeseburger or chicken?”
13
She’d sent him home. Disbelief filled Stuart. Restraining himself from giving in to the urge to smash something, Stuart walked into his house and went straight to his office.
He opened his laptop and clicked on the software that would allow him to watch Dani’s every move. It had taken him awhile, but he’d managed to install cameras in almost every room. Except the bathroom. He would allow her to have that one room for privacy.
For now.
However, everything else was fair game. He watched her while she slept, while she fixed dinner, while she paced in front of the window that overlooked her backyard, while she helped Simon with his homework.
Over the last six months, Stuart had even found himself picking up some sign language without even realizing it. Not that he planned on needing it. He was still debating what to do about his nephew. Send him to boarding school or arrange for a convenient accident? The thought of raising Kurt’s son didn’t exactly appeal to him. Once he and Dani had their own children, she’d forget about Simon. Or at least not fawn over him as much. He rubbed his chin as he thought about it.
Finally, he brushed the decision aside. It wasn’t one he had to make right away.
He clicked from room to room and frowned when he couldn’t find her. Where was she?
The master bedroom was empty. He panned the guest room and paused. He recognized the Tyvek suits. Crime scene cleanup. A woman had died tonight. In Dani’s house.
That had been unexpected.
In fact, the whole thing at Dani’s house had been a surprise. Breaking in to scare her hadn’t been part of the plan, but the more Stuart thought about it, the more he liked it. Or he would have liked it had it worked. He’d have to talk to Joe about it tomorrow. Frustration had him curling his hands into fists.
Someone had broken into her house and attacked her, had even killed a woman, and still Dani hadn’t called him. Of course she would have called 911 first, but then she should have called him.
Who were all these people that she suddenly had at her beck and call? The man who’d rescued her on the side of the road? Where had Dani found him?
More obstacles. More unexpected annoyances.
His jaw tightened. He shouldn’t have gone to her, but he’d waited as long as he could before giving in to the need to see her. He’d really expected her to call and ask him to help her out. The fact that she hadn’t burned a hole in his gut. The fact that she’d shooed him away like a bothersome child sent tremors of vexation racing through him. “You’re mine, Dani. The sooner you learn that, the better off you’ll be.”
One thing did worry him. Slightly. Had Joe left any way to trace the intruder back to Stuart?
His cell phone rang and he snatched it. “Hello?”
“Hey.” The person Stuart had hired to watch Dani when he couldn’t.
“Did you see what happened tonight?”
“No. I got here after most of the excitement died down.”
Stuart blew out a breath. “Great.”
“Well, your sister-in-law took off.”
“Took off? What do you mean took off?”
“She and the kid left with some guy.”
“What guy?” Jealousy simmered. Was it the same person who’d taken her from him just yesterday? He knew he’d acted impulsively and scared Dani to death. He hadn’t meant to, really he hadn’t. It’s just that he’d already waited so long and she’d been giving him the brush-off, distancing herself from him. It had scared him. And made him mad. Like tonight.
A flash of uneasiness shot through him. He didn’t know who the man had been, but he’d handled Stuart like a pro. Who had Dani hooked up with?
“I’ve got his picture but I’m not sure who he is. I’m following them now.”
“Send me the picture. I want to know what he looks like.”
Within seconds, his phone chirped to let him know the photo had arrived. “Where are they going?”
“I don’t know. I’ll let you know when we get there.”
Early Monday morning, hours before the sun would put in an appearance, Adam led Dani and Simon into the house.
David greeted them with a smile. “We’ve been busy while you’ve been traveling.”
Simon signed something to Dani and Adam caught the word “we.” He looked at Dani with a raised brow. She said, “He wants to know where we are.”
Adam looked at Simon. “Near the beach.”
Simon sai
d, “I thought so. I can smell it.” His words sounded slurred.
Dani said, “When he’s tired, his speech gets lazy.”
David said, “Why don’t I show him his room and Adam can acquaint you with the house?”
“All right.” Dani signed David’s suggestion to Simon, who shrugged and nodded. His full backpack had to be a heavy burden and he was probably ready to shuck it.
David held out a hand toward Simon, who flinched and took up a defensive stance, fists raised like a boxer. Dani moved fast, catching his hands. When she had his attention, she signed something, her fingers flying, expression earnest.
Adam felt his anger rise up hot and boiling once again. If Kurt hadn’t already been dead, Adam might be tempted to take care of it himself. Or at least put a serious hurting on the man.
David caught his eye and he could see the same emotion mirrored on his friend’s face.
Simon relaxed and looked at David. “Sorry, I’ll follow you.”
David nodded, but Adam noticed he held his hands to his side and walked four steps in front of the boy. “What did you tell him?” he asked Dani.
Weariness mixed with grief played across her features. “Just that you guys were here to help us and that you weren’t anything like his father. Neither one of you would raise a hand to him in anything except friendship and an offer to help.”
“Did he believe you?”
“No. He said he’d believe it when he saw it.”
Adam nodded. “His trust meter is shot.”
“Yes,” she whispered and he watched her blink back tears.
Adam wanted to hold her, to comfort her. But he wasn’t sure how she would take his gesture, so he resisted. “It’s okay. He’ll be fine, you’ll see. It’ll just take time.”
“Time. Yes. Time is something we both will have now.”
He lifted a hand and ran it over her new haircut. He saw her swallow, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she kept her eyes on his and a warmth settled itself around his heart. She was willing to trust him. “You look good. Different, but good.”
“I feel very self-conscious. It’s definitely not a style I would have chosen.”
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