Harlequin Intrigue May 2021--Box Set 2 of 2

by Carol Ericson

  “Are you leaving?”

  “I...” He blew out a breath, and though he’d stopped her progress back inside, he kept his distance. A very careful distance. “I thought it would be best.”

  “Why?” And why was she asking why? He should go. Disappear. Then she could go back to feeling settled.

  But where would he go? How alone would he be? It made her heart pinch to think of him just going off with nowhere to go and no one to go home to.

  He is not your responsibility.

  “I thought you’d be more comfortable if I left.”

  She would be. It would be good, and yet... The thought of him leaving didn’t settle her at all. “And quite a bit poorer.”

  “I’ll pay for the full week.”

  How did he make her feel guilty? She had every right not to want a strange man to forge some bond with her child. To make her heart flutter and remind her of all the things she couldn’t trust ever again.

  But she felt a sinking sensation in her stomach and she couldn’t... She couldn’t just let him disappear into the night. “I think you misunderstand me. It’s not that I don’t... I have to worry. I’m a single woman in an isolated bed-and-breakfast. I have to worry. I have to be careful, but I was upset... It’s hard. Watching Henry... He should have that kind of thing. A man to look up to, to answer his questions.”

  “He has you.”

  “Yes. I try to make it enough, but... When you’re a mother, you want to give your child everything. I couldn’t give him a decent father. I couldn’t—”

  “It’s not your fault your husband was killed.”

  “Todd was no father before he was killed,” Lianna said, the words as heavy as her heart. “I should have known... I should have gotten out. I should have done so many things. And it’s not me dealing with the consequences—it’s my child. I promised myself that wouldn’t happen. Henry wouldn’t pay for my mistakes with Todd. I failed there, and I can only hope to God he never knows what his father really was.”

  “What was he?”

  “A very bad man.” She shook her head. This wasn’t Reece’s problem. “I’d hate for you to sneak out on my account. I can’t promise open doors or a lack of suspicion, but if I think you need to leave, I’ll tell you.”

  Something crossed his face. Pain or guilt or something she was making up entirely. And he didn’t agree with her or disagree. He didn’t go inside. He only looked at her, something heartbreaking in his gaze.

  “Lianna, do you know what a bug looks like?”

  * * *

  WHEN LIANNA ONLY looked at him in confusion, he knew she didn’t have a clue.

  “What kind of bug?” she asked, eyebrows drawn together, frown wrinkling her brow. “We have lots of them. I...”

  Reece stood on her porch in the quiet, peaceful evening and knew he was about to ruin everything for her. He hated himself for it, but there were no other choices. Not now. “A listening device. Would you know how to identify a listening device?”

  She stiffened. Immediately. Any confusion in her gaze turned cold. He could tell from the way her eyes widened and darted toward the house—as if his mentioning them would make them suddenly visible to her—that she didn’t know about them. And his mentioning any kind of listening device made her immediately afraid. Of him.

  Good. It was time she understood who she was dealing with. No more guilt. Just the cold, hard truth.

  She edged away from him, but then seemed to realize her son was inside the building he was blocking her from. Her hands curled into fists, as if she was ready to fight him tooth and nail.

  He’d win. Easily. But he didn’t want to fight her.

  He moved to the side, so that if she wanted to dart for the door, she could. But he spoke as he did it. “There is a listening device fastened to the smoke or carbon monoxide detector in each of the rooms in your house. I haven’t checked your room, but I can only assume you have one, as well.”

  “What are you even talking about?” she said, her voice strangled.

  “I saw the one in my room first. Then I searched the rest of the inn. Someone wants to know what you know, Lianna.”

  “How do I know you didn’t put them there?” she demanded.

  “I guess you don’t. But I haven’t been in your room. I’m sure your camera could prove that.”

  She inched closer and closer to the door. “What are you...? Who are you?”

  He blew out a breath. How to answer that? If he was smart, he’d lie. A man who’d done what he’d done for as long as he’d done it knew better than to be honest.

  “You know what? Don’t bother answering, since it will clearly be a lie. Go. And don’t ever come back. If this is about Todd... I don’t know anything about him. I never did. I just want you to leave me alone. All of you.”

  “What do you mean all?”

  “All the men who bothered me in San Francisco, and then again in Denver. I told the FBI and whoever else everything I knew. If they thought I was going to change my mind because...because...”

  The FBI. That was something North Star could check into. Reece didn’t get the impression they were the ones asking North Star for help, but Todd Kade could have had ties to the FBI or an FBI case under his real name.

  “You were going. Please don’t let me stop you,” she said, now standing in the door. He could see she had a death grip on the knob. She’d slam the door in his face, try to fight him off with everything she had.

  He’d made a mess of things. And there was no one to blame that on but himself. He’d gone soft, or lost an edge somewhere along the way. He’d failed...everything.

  So, yes, he should go. Drive back to North Star. Give his report on everything he knew. If they needed more from Lianna, they could send Sabrina. Leave him out of it.

  And what? Prove to Lianna she can’t trust anyone even with her husband dead?

  Lianna couldn’t be his problem, but Shay wasn’t going to keep him around if he failed this very simple mission. There was no reason for her to, and North Star was everything.

  Reece scrubbed a hand over his face. “We only wanted to help.”

  “We?” she all but screeched. “Who is we?”

  Before he could explain that he couldn’t explain, she held up a hand.

  “No. I don’t want to hear another lie. Just...go.” And with that, she stepped fully inside and closed the door. The lock clicked into place, and no doubt she’d set the alarms, as well.

  Reece stood there in the dark. He knew she was watching, waiting to make sure he left. Then she’d likely go check on Henry. She wouldn’t sleep tonight. She’d be too worried.

  He blew out a breath. She’d been crying over everything she couldn’t give Henry because he’d had a father who didn’t care. But Lianna didn’t seem to understand that having a mother who cared like she did would give any kid the chance at a really good life.

  Unless whoever put those listening devices comes for them.

  Reece had to get to the bottom of it. He couldn’t just leave her to the wolves. He’d messed it all up, but he could hardly leave that mess and not clean it up. Not when she and Henry could be in potential danger.

  Sabrina wasn’t the answer. He hadn’t been able to lie to Lianna and Henry any longer. His failing, sure, but that didn’t mean the whole mission had to be a failure.

  He glanced at his watch. Late, but not too late, hopefully. As he walked toward his car, bags still strapped to his back, he slid his phone out of his pocket.

  “Hello,” a woman’s voice grumbled into the receiver.

  “Elsie? I need your computer expertise.”

  “Reece, do you know what time it is?” Elsie Rogers said over a yawn. She was a newer member of North Star, but her computer skills were unparalleled. She also didn’t go into the field, which meant Reece could tell a few half-truths
to keep her from reporting everything to Shay.

  “Sorry, this can’t wait. I need you to hack into the computer and security systems here, and I figure that will take a while.”

  “That bed-and-breakfast where you’re staying? They’re not even on a server. I’ll have it cracked in fifteen minutes.”

  “Great. I’ll call you back in fifteen.” He hung up before she could protest or ask for more information. He threw his bags into his car and turned on the ignition. He could see the shadow of Lianna in the attic window—she’d likely gone up there to make sure he hadn’t left anything sinister behind.

  Nothing sinister. Just a note for her, and one for Henry.

  She stood there in the window, clearly watching and waiting to make sure he left. He wasn’t going anywhere.

  But Lianna didn’t need to know that.

  CHAPTER SIX

  So Reece Conrad was a liar in a long line of liars. Lianna shouldn’t be surprised and she really shouldn’t be hurt. He was a stranger. If the man she’d been married to for six years could lie to her, day after day, year after year, why wouldn’t some stranger posing as a guest at her inn be able to?

  She frowned. Sheriff Reynolds had said Reece’s background was clear, and that it existed. Surely he hadn’t given her his real name. Was he as deceitful as Todd? Going around taking on other identities. Or had he stolen someone’s identity? Or...

  It didn’t matter. It did not matter. He was a liar—no matter how he did it.

  She looked at the letters he’d left on the desk in his room. She wouldn’t read them. She certainly wouldn’t give one to Henry. They’d known each other a few days. It was hardly worth...letters.

  Once he’d pulled away in his car, she’d left his room, armful of bedding and those letters in hand. She dumped the bedding in the laundry room, checked the locks three times, checked on Henry even though the sound that came through the baby monitor hooked to her belt was still nothing more than the soft snuffling of his snores.

  She stood in the doorway of his dark room, watching the lump of blankets that was her son. Her safe, sleeping son. Reece had been here in his room. Lianna had let that happen, and Reece had talked to Henry and answered his questions and looked as though...

  Well, if he was a smarter bad guy he would have used Henry to get information out of her. So he was either very stupid or...

  He is the bad guy. He is. Don’t you dare be this foolish over a man ever again.

  She turned away from Henry and forced herself to go to her bedroom. The locks were locked. The security measures were in place. And it turned out she should definitely listen to her gut, because it had told her Reece was bad news.

  Well, no. Her gut had told her the opposite. Her brain had told her Reece was bad news. So from here on out, she’d listen to her brain and her paranoia, because clearly they were right.

  Except Reece left of his own accord. Some bad guy.

  So maybe he wasn’t all bad. Maybe, unlike Todd, he had some kind of conscience. He still wasn’t who he’d said he was. He was still a liar who knew about listening devices and had been sneaking around her inn, either finding them or placing them.

  Lianna flipped on the light in her room. There’d be no sleeping tonight. Should she even bother trying?

  She glanced up at the smoke detector above her doorway. It was the same innocuous device she had in every room. The little green light was on as it always was, showing that the batteries were still good. She had a note in her ledgers of when to change the batteries so guests were never woken up by that annoying beeping reminder.

  Still, she stared at it. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Anything attached. Certainly nothing Reece would have been able to see just by looking.

  She marched over to her desk, dropped the letters she would definitely throw away and pulled her chair over to place it under the smoke detector. Maybe he was lying about the listening devices, too. Maybe this was some kind of mind game.

  She found herself thinking Reece would never do that, but she had to remember she didn’t really know him. That wasn’t even his real name. Who even knew what he was.

  He probably worked for the same people Todd had. Or was with the FBI. Maybe some elite military group. Maybe all three. God knew Todd liked to spread his “talents” around.

  Whatever it was, it had nothing to do with her. She only wished the ghost of Todd Kade would stop haunting her.

  She got up on the chair. She inspected the smoke detector. She didn’t really see anything. Well, a little piece of plastic that looked like a stray piece of tape, maybe? Of course, she wouldn’t have put any tape on her smoke detector.

  She reached up and touched it, then pulled the edge. There was something. She pulled it harder. Slowly a thin piece of adhesive came off, revealing a small circle that looked almost like a coin with holes in it.

  She didn’t fully understand how something so small and flimsy could be a listening device, but this was something she definitely hadn’t put there, and it most certainly didn’t belong on a smoke detector. Whatever it was, someone had been in her house and put something foreign on her smoke detector.

  Reece could have put it there. Yes, she had cameras, and she always zipped through the videos when they had guests just to make sure nothing was amiss. She hadn’t seen Reece.

  But he could probably hack computers. He could probably...

  She curled her fingers around the device. He’d told her the truth. In this, he’d told her the truth. Which could be a trick, but had Todd ever told her even a tiny bit of the truth? Even to mess with her?

  She wouldn’t go chase him down, of course. But maybe she should take his warning at face value. Maybe she should call Sheriff Reynolds tomorrow and have him take a look at the listening devices.

  She looked at the one in her palm. She thought about saying something inflammatory. Like “Screw you and leave me alone.” It would be satisfying.

  And stupid.

  She got down from the chair and placed the listening device on her desk. Was someone actively listening? Or were they just recording her? What would they be after?

  No one could possibly know what she knew about Todd. Not Henry, not the FBI, not her parents or grandparents or the stray acquaintance. No one knew what she’d seen in that file.

  She thought about the way the FBI agent had brought her into his office in San Francisco. How nervous she’d been. They’d said, “Sorry for your loss,” and she hadn’t known what to say.

  Todd being dead had been a relief, which had made her feel terrible at the time. No one should be relieved that their own husband and child’s father was dead. But she had been.

  Then...it had gotten so complicated she didn’t even feel guilty about her relief anymore. Questions from the FBI, and a couple of other men in suits who’d claimed to be Todd’s associates. The move to Denver, where they’d all followed her. With constant questions.

  None of them had threatened her. If anything, they treated her like Todd had treated her. Like a stupid liability.

  And if she was honest with herself, as it had gone on and on, she’d played up that role. Convincing them of her stupidity and ignorance. So much so that she’d been able to see Todd’s real name in that file, and the name of two of the groups the FBI thought he was working with.

  She’d never uttered Todd’s real name, never so much as even googled the group names. She’d packed up Henry, moved home to Echo and convinced herself she could keep Henry safe by resolutely not knowing what she knew.

  Lianna sank onto her bed. Who was listening to her? The FBI? One of the other groups? Did it matter when she’d never given them any reason to believe she knew what she knew?

  She blew out a breath and had to reconcile the fact that in comparison to everyone who had come before, Reece had never asked her anything. Not one question about what she knew
or who Todd was. Oh, she’d offered up a few things, but nothing people wouldn’t be able to find out.

  Especially people who know how to recognize a listening device as small as that at a glance.

  Maybe she’d been too hasty. Maybe Reece could have helped her.

  She shook her head. That was stupid. No one could help her. Just like always, she had to help herself.

  And she would. She’d do whatever she could to keep her and her son safe. Destroy those letters, forget Reece Conrad had ever existed, and...and...

  She would figure it out. She had to.

  * * *

  REECE HAD BEEN conditioned from birth to survive on little sleep. His parents hadn’t kept normal hours, and had never allowed him a full night, from what he could remember. There hadn’t been a foster home he’d been able to relax in enough to fully sleep. Then he’d put those habits and skills to good use in the military and his work with North Star.

  Including right now. He’d camped the past three nights in the woods a good two miles from the Bluebird. He kept watch, harassed Elsie about what she could find through Lianna’s computer files, and he did not mention to Shay or anyone else that he’d had a little blip of conscience and was no longer precisely at the Bluebird.

  He slept in short patches of time in order to keep his mind sharp and his response times quick, but mostly it was like being on patrol in Afghanistan again. Watching. Waiting. Without fully knowing what for.

  He dialed Elsie, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate the early-morning call. Still, he couldn’t help himself.

  “I told you I’d call if I found anything,” she said by way of greeting. She sounded grumpy and aggrieved. He didn’t blame her one bit, but that didn’t mean he was going to back off.

  “I just wanted to check in.”

  “Whoever put in those listening devices did it a long time ago, and my guess is they knew enough about computers to bypass the inn’s remedial security measures.” She paused and audibly yawned. “I don’t think we’re going to catch the guys on tape. I’ve been through it until my eyes are dead, and no one aside from the woman and the boy go into her or his room.”