by Terri Reed
“No, ma’am,” Hunter said. “We’re just asking some questions.”
Carly’s gaze went to Ariel. “Right. You’re just afraid that I’ll take away from your business so you’re making trouble for me.”
Ariel climbed the steps to stand beside Hunter. “Carly, that’s not it at all. We just want to know who might have left the ball cap behind on my property.”
Her lips twisted. “I don’t know.”
“Were you giving the hats out the night of the banquet?” Ariel asked.
“Yes,” Carly said. “That’s not a crime.”
Hunter exchanged a glance with Ariel. Could her ex-boyfriend have picked one up? “No, it’s not a crime. Do you own a gun?”
Carly’s eyebrows dipped low. “A rifle. I’m a woman alone out here. There’s plenty of predators to warrant the caution.”
Hunter couldn’t argue with that. He’d have to run a license check to see if she had any legal handguns registered to her. If she had illegal ones...“You’ve been helpful.”
Carly straightened, looking pleased. “I have? How so?”
“Thank you for your time,” Hunter said, putting his hand around Ariel’s elbow and leading her away.
As they joined Poppy, he said, “Jason Barba could’ve gotten one of Carly’s hats at the banquet. We need to track him down. And find out exactly why he could be targeting Ariel.”
FOURTEEN
Later that evening, Ariel scrubbed dishes to keep her hands busy while her mind raced with the idea that her ex-boyfriend could be the person behind the attacks on her. Why would Jason want to hurt her after all this time? And why try to steal Dash when he had never liked the animals?
Hunter’s phone rang and she listened to the one-sided conversation, anything to take her mind off Jason.
“You got him?” he said. “That’s good. Put him in the interrogation room.”
Ariel’s heart stuttered and her gaze swung to Hunter. Got him? As in Jason?
“I’ll—” Hunter hesitated and glanced toward her. “We’ll be there shortly.”
She threw down the dish towel and hurried to his side. “What’s happening?”
“Brayden found Jason Barba. I want to know what he was doing at the banquet hall last night and if he is the one trying to kill you.” Hunter’s grim tone sent a shiver down her spine. “We need to go.”
Nerves jangling, she swallowed back the emotions clogging her throat. Was this nightmare finally about to end? All the ramifications crowded her mind. Her life could resume. Hunter would leave. But so many questions still bounced around unanswered.
If Jason was the one who was after her, then who was after Lance and Jared? And where was Violet?
* * *
Hunter drove them to headquarters. He hoped and prayed to put an end to the threat against Ariel’s life tonight. She’d endured so much over the past week, he wanted to let her get back to her normal life. One that didn’t include him.
Distress cramped his chest. A reaction he wouldn’t have dreamed he’d have considering how much he didn’t believe in romance or relationships. But the time spent with Ariel was showing him that maybe some relationships were worth taking a risk on. Was he willing to take the risk?
He wasn’t sure.
Once inside, Maya and Poppy rushed forward to greet Ariel. He handed her off to the two females and left Juneau with them, knowing his teammates would take good care of Ariel while he was in the interrogation room with Jason Barba.
Brayden met him outside the door. “Barba’s not very patient. He’s been banging on the doors and on the table. This man has a temper.”
Hunter bared his teeth. “Let him show me that temper.” Was it anger that had prompted this man to try to hurt Ariel?
Walking into the interrogation room with Brayden on his heels, Hunter caught his first glimpse of Jason Barba. The sandy-blond-haired man glared back at Hunter, his gray eyes hard. He wore a plaid flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Hunter stood towering over the sitting man. Jason started to rise but he held up a hand. “Stay seated,” he barked.
Brayden took a stance in the corner, crossing his arms and his ankles. He was there only to observe. Or intervene if Hunter lost his own temper.
He turned the metal chair backward so he could straddle it, folding his arms over the top of the back. “Where were you this morning?” he began.
“Sleeping,” Jason answered. “I worked until two a.m.”
“Can anyone corroborate your whereabouts?”
“What’s going on?” Jason gestured with his chin toward Brayden. “He wouldn’t tell me.”
Hunter wasn’t inclined to enlighten the suspect yet. “Where were you Tuesday evening?”
“Working,” Jason said.
“Working where?”
“What does it matter?” The irate man folded his arms across his wide chest. “I’m not saying anything more until you tell me why I’m here.”
“It matters because your answer will determine whether or not you’ll be sitting in a jail cell for the rest of your life,” Hunter ground out.
Jason’s face drained of color. “I work for a catering company.”
“The same catering company that serviced the regional sled dog award ceremony?” he pressed.
“Yes. So?”
“Sabotaging the backdrop to try to crush your ex-girlfriend is a crime,” Hunter bit out.
Jason held up his hands and shook his head. “I knew it. I knew you were going to try to pin that on me. No way, man.”
“You were angry when she broke up with you,” Hunter stated.
Lip curling, the other man said, “I don’t know what story she told you, but I broke up with her. She was way more into her dogs than me. It didn’t matter what we were doing, if the dogs needed her she dropped me like a hot potato. I didn’t want that kind of relationship. I need somebody who’s going to be there for me.”
“Did you get rough with her? Want to hurt her?”
Jason frowned. “No way, man. Ariel would have turned loose those dogs of hers on me if I’d touched her. They’re very protective of her. They wouldn’t let anybody get too close to her.”
Funny. Her dogs had let Hunter and Juneau get close to her. Hunter liked the dogs even more now. They were clearly good judges of character. “I want to know everything you did the night of the banquet from the moment you arrived at the banquet hall. In fact, I want to know everything you did that day as they were building the backdrop. Were you there?”
“I was not there building a backdrop. I don’t belong in that world. Ariel made that very clear. I didn’t even realize what the job for that night was till I got there.” Jason fidgeted in his chair. “I couldn’t watch her up there accepting her award.”
“Where did you go?”
“Out back to have a smoke,” he said.
Hunter narrowed his eyes at him. “That’s a weak alibi.”
“Hey, I wasn’t alone,” he stated. “You can ask my girlfriend, Sandy.”
Girlfriend. Hmm. Interesting. Ariel had mentioned she thought the person who’d tried to strangle her was a woman. Could Jason’s girlfriend be the one behind the attacks on Ariel? “You and Sandy were at the event together. Was she with you all day?”
“For most of it.”
“You said you were sleeping this morning.” Hunter drummed his fingers on the back to the chair he straddled. “Was Sandy with you?”
“I met her for breakfast before she went to work,” Jason said. “What happened this morning?”
Hunter stood. “You better hope nobody saw you backstage because if they did, you’re going down.”
Sweat dripped down the side of Jason’s face. “When can I leave?”
“Not until we talk to Sandy. Write down her full name, phone number and place of employment.”
Brayden stepped forward with paper and pen.
Jason jotted down the information and slid the paper across the table to Hunter.
Grabbing the paper, Hunter and Brayden walked out.
“Do you believe him?” Brayden asked.
“Not sure.” Was this Sandy person jealous of Ariel? Did she want to eliminate the competition?
Yet that didn’t make sense. Ariel and Jason hadn’t dated in several years. There was more going on here, and he couldn’t see all the moving pieces. Frustration beat a steady rhythm in his head. His gaze went to where Ariel, looking lovely in a long wool skirt and amber-colored sweater, stood talking to Maya, Poppy and Helena. Juneau sat at Ariel’s feet. Hunter guessed the other K-9s were in their handlers’ offices, which would be where he’d have taken Juneau upon arriving at headquarters if not for Ariel’s presence. He turned to Brayden. “Would you be willing to track down Sandy Olsen?”
“I’m on it,” his teammate said. “Looks like your lady has made some new friends.”
Hunter’s face heated. “She’s not my lady.”
Brayden winked. “Whatever you say.” He strode away.
Shaking his head, Hunter joined the women. “Excuse me, I need to talk to Ariel.” He drew her to the side while Maya, Poppy and Helena dispersed, going in different directions. “Tell me again who broke up with who?”
“Huh?” Ariel scrunched up her face for a moment. Then her expression cleared. “Oh, you mean with Jason?”
“Yes, with Jason.”
“I broke up with him. I told you he was becoming possessive and he didn’t like me spending time with the dogs. But he knew when we started dating that the animals are a big part of my life. He wanted me to choose between him or the dogs. Who does that?”
Hunter would never ask Ariel to choose between him and her pack. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Why had his mind even gone there? He was never going to get that far in this relationship with Ariel. He scrubbed a hand over his unshaven jaw. “We should head back to your place.”
“What’s with Jason? Is he the one?”
“We’re still gathering information,” he told her. “Until we have a definitive answer, we have to operate with the assumption that the perpetrator is still out there and you’re not safe.”
Ariel bit her bottom lip, and fear clouded her light brown eyes, emphasizing the gold flecks reflecting the station’s fluorescent lights. “As long as you and Juneau are with me, I’ll be okay.”
Her confidence settled around his heart like a hug. And he prayed he wouldn’t let her down.
* * *
“Do you mind if we stop for the mail?” Ariel asked Hunter as he turned into her drive. It had been days since she’d thought about the mail, and the bills that were no doubt stacking up. Her dwindling bank account needed a booster, exactly what the race the day after tomorrow would bring if she placed well and received the prize money.
He brought the vehicle to a stop, allowing her to climb out. The box was stuffed full.
Once they were inside the house, she sifted through the mail, and paused to stare at a plain white envelope addressed to her with no return address. Odd...
She opened the letter, pulled out a piece of paper and recognized Violet’s flowing handwriting. Her breath hitched. Violet was alive! “Hunter! This is from Violet.”
Hunter had changed out of his uniform, opting for worn jeans and a Henley-style T-shirt that made her very aware of the width of his shoulders. He closed the distance between them in a few long strides. “What does it say?”
Ariel swallowed against the trepidation robbing her of her voice.
Please don’t let this be a confession.
Her stomach churned and she chastised herself for even going there. Her friend was not guilty of the crimes she was being accused of.
Taking a breath, she read aloud. “‘Dear Ariel, I know what people are saying about me. Please believe me, I did not do what the media is telling the world. I didn’t kill our tour guide. It was Lance. You have to believe me. I ran, because they were going to kill me, too. Whatever they’ve told you, it’s all lies. You’re my best friend. You know me. When it’s safe I will return. Love, Violet.’”
Sweet relief lifted the heavy burden off Ariel’s shoulders. “See! I told you.” Her hands shook as she waved the piece of paper at Hunter. “Violet is innocent. It’s Lance and Jared who are lying.”
Hunter ran a hand through his dark, thick hair. “She could be just saying that to throw suspicion on them. We won’t know the truth until we find her.”
Ariel folded the paper and put it back into the envelope. “I don’t care what you say. I will not believe that my friend is guilty of these crimes.” She blinked back hot tears. “Tomorrow would have been her wedding day.”
“Awww, Ariel.” Hunter came closer, his nearness sending little shimmers of awareness over her skin.
The temptation to take comfort from him was almost more than she could bear. She stepped into his embrace. Wrapping his arms around her, he rubbed small circles on her back. She laid her cheek against his chest, the steady thump of his heart steadied her. She never wanted this moment to end. Never wanted to leave the safety of his arms. Here, all the fear and stress of the world evaporated.
“I need to bag that letter and envelope as evidence.”
His gentle voice was like a hammer to her heart. Her lip curled. She couldn’t keep the resentment out of her tone as she pushed away from him and held the letter out to him. “Of course you do. Here.”
He held up his hands. “Hold on a second.” He snagged a plastic bag from her kitchen drawer. “Slip it in here.”
Blowing out a frustrated breath, she carefully slid the envelope containing Violet’s letter into the plastic bag. He zipped it closed.
If only she could zip up her growing affection and attraction for this man as easily.
* * *
The next morning, Hunter worried about Ariel. Her mood was subdued, and she appeared to be on the verge of tears at any moment as she went about her chores of feeding the dogs, exercising them and cleaning out their kennels. Then she’d gone inside and started baking. The house smelled delicious and his mouth watered as he snagged a couple of oatmeal raisin cookies.
Ariel hardly glanced at him. He wished he could take her pain away. It hurt to see her hurting. But there was nothing he could do.
He set up his laptop at the dining table and was very aware of Ariel puttering around the kitchen. He put in his earbuds as Lorenza gave the team an update for the last week.
The search for Violet was going nowhere. She’d effectively found a place to hide and continued to elude the authorities. Speculation was her wealthy mother was helping her to hide while at the same time demanding law enforcement do everything they could to find her. But so far there was nothing to prove that theory.
Lance and Jared were also in the wind. The location of their “safe house” remained unknown. There had been no communication from the two men.
Meanwhile, Brayden was having trouble tracking down Sandy, Jason’s current girlfriend. And the ballistic test done by Tala Ekho came back, showing the weapon used to murder Cal Brooks was not the same gun as the one used to shoot at Ariel. The disparity didn’t prove or disprove whether the shooter who’d killed Cal or fired at Ariel here at the property were the same person.
Hunter was surprised when Lorenza gave the floor over to her assistant, Katie Kapowski.
Katie stepped into view of the camera as Hunter’s earbuds died. With a grimace, he took them out and lowered the volume on the laptop.
The young woman’s red-rimmed eyes tore at Hunter. Something was wrong. Her voice trembled as she said, “Team, I need your help. The Family K Reindeer Sanctuary Ranch, which rescues reindeer, has been robbed.”
From the kitchen, Ariel let out a little gasp.
“How can we help?” Helena Maddox asked.
“My aunt is desperate,” Katie replied. “A pen of reindeer was set loose. Two are missing. If she loses those reindeer it will devastate the ranch. It’s barely functioning as it is. My aunt Addie has pared down to just two ranch hands.”
Ariel moved from the kitchen to stand across the table from Hunter, out of view of the computer’s camera. She waved to get his attention. He muted his laptop. “Yes?”
“I know Addie Kapowski. You and Juneau could find her reindeer. You found me.”
Though Hunter appreciated her confidence in his and Juneau’s abilities, he shook his head. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Take me with you. I’ll be safe with Addie while you two search for the reindeer.”
“Not happening.”
He unmuted the laptop and heard Lorenza saying, “Hunter, was there something you wanted to share with us? Can you hear me?”
Hunter gritted his teeth. “Sorry, Colonel. I’m at Ariel Potter’s house and she—”
Ariel rounded the table and crouched down so that she could be seen in the camera. “Hello, Colonel Gallo. I was saying to Hunter that he and Juneau could find the reindeer. That’s what they do, right? Search for missing people, or animals? I could go with him to see Addie. She probably needs a friend right now. We know each other from church.”
Hunter held his breath, waiting to see what Lorenza would say. Several people nodded.
Lorenza nodded, as well. “That’s actually a really good idea. I’m going to send you, Hunter. Take Ariel with you. I will also send Poppy because she and Stormy are used to wilderness searches.”
Ariel patted Hunter on the shoulder and moved away.
“We’re on it, Colonel.” He shut his computer down and then stood with his arms folded, waiting for Ariel to return from her bedroom.
When she reappeared, she had on a pair of weatherproof pants and a sweater, wore a beanie on her head, and was carrying a puffy down jacket and gloves. “I’m ready whenever you are.”