“Her faith is strong, and she believes in forgiveness. I wouldn’t be surprised if she isn’t fretting right now about who she has angered enough to do this to her. Knowing her, she’ll be praying for that person, whereas I would like to get hold of him and...” Colt let his words fade into silence, curling and uncurling his fists.
They didn’t need to know he struggled with forgiving someone who had wronged him. He still couldn’t forgive his father for all but abandoning him and going his merry way, living it up as if he didn’t have a son and responsibilities. Winnie forgave his dad a long time ago, but after his mother had died, Colt had needed his only parent, and he hadn’t been there for him.
“Well,” Harold said, slapping his hand on the arm of the couch and pushing up, “I’d better be going. We all have a lot to do tomorrow.”
“I’ll walk you to the door and lock up after you leave,” Ellie said, trailing after him.
Quiet settled around Colt like a blanket of snow over the landscape. Resting his head on the back cushion, he relished the silence, realizing this was what he needed after months on a small ship with cramped quarters. As thoughts of his job weaved through his mind, he knew he had to make a decision. Stay until Winnie was safe or leave and let others protect his grandmother. There wasn’t really a decision, not where Winnie was concerned.
A movement out of the corner of his eye seized his attention. Ellie paused in the entrance, leaning her shoulder against the doorjamb. “Have you warmed up yet?”
“Finally I’ve thawed out. I may be used to living here in the winter, but remind me never to go outside in winter without shoes.”
“You seemed lost in thought. I want to assure you I will do everything to protect Winnie. In the short time I’ve gotten to know her, I see what a special lady she is.” She crossed the room and took her seat again across from him.
“We probably should follow Harold’s example and get some rest, but I’m so wired right now with all that’s happened.”
“I know what you mean. Your adrenaline shoots up and it takes a while to come down. But when it does, you’ll fall into bed.”
“I imagine with your job you’ve had quite a lot of experience with that. I can’t say I have.”
“One of the fringe benefits of being a bodyguard.”
He laughed. “Never looked at it like that. How long have you been a bodyguard?”
“Three years. I started after I left the army.”
“What did you do in the military?”
“For the last few years of my service I was in army intelligence.”
“So that’s where you learned your skills.”
“Yes, it comes naturally to me now. Sometimes I only had myself to rely on when I was working alone in an isolated situation.”
“Which I’m sure is classified top secret.”
Her brown eyes lit with a gleam. “You know the cliché. If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
“I’m curious but not that curious. What made you go from army intelligence to being a bodyguard?” She intrigued him. It wasn’t every day he met a woman who protected people for a living.
She shrugged. “It was my time to re-up, and I thought I would try something different. I had a friend who put me in touch with my employer. When I met Kyra, I knew this was what I wanted to do. I like protecting people who need it. I like the challenge in security.”
“Why not police work?”
“I like to go different places. Kinda like you. I have a feeling you’ve seen a lot of the world through your work.”
“Yes, and I’ve enjoyed it, but I’ve been on a ship a large part of that time.”
“Tired of life on a boat?”
Am I? He hadn’t stopped long enough to think about it. “The past few years have been hectic but fulfilling. I’ve learned a lot about sea life aboard the Kaleidoscope. But if Winnie had her way, she’d want me to use my knowledge for Glamour Sensations. She tells me I’ve inherited her nose.”
Ellie studied that part of his face and frowned. “I think you look more like your grandfather.” She gestured toward the portrait over the mantel.
“But I have her supersensitive smelling ability,” he said with a chuckle. “Every time I come home, I get the spiel about taking over the family business. But if she goes public, it won’t be a family business anymore.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I don’t know. It’s good for the company, but it means we’ll be in the big leagues and I don’t know how Winnie will really like that. This is Harold’s plan, and I understand why he is pushing to go public. The Endless Youth line will take us in a different direction. The expansion of the company will be good for this area.”
Ellie tilted her head and smiled. “Do you realize you keep saying ‘us’ as though you are part of the company?”
“You’d make a good detective. Did you get your interview skills in the army?”
“I owe the army a lot, but I think I’ve always been nosy. It got me into trouble from time to time when I was growing up.”
Colt yawned, the earlier adrenaline rush completely gone. “I guess that’s my cue to get some sleep. Jet lag has definitely set in.”
Ellie rose. “You’ve had two very hectic nights since you got here. This wasn’t probably what you were expecting.”
As he covered the distance to the foyer, he stifled another yawn before she thought it was her company. Because that was the furthest from the truth. If he wasn’t so exhausted from months of nonstop work and traveling over a day to get home, he could spend hours trying to get to know Ellie St. James. And he had a feeling he wouldn’t even begin to understand the woman.
He started up the stairs and she continued walking toward the dining room and kitchen area. “You’re not coming upstairs?”
She peered back over her shoulder. “Not until I’ve checked the house again and made sure we’re locked up as tight as we can be.”
He rotated toward her. “Do you need company?”
Her chuckle peppered the air. “I’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s second nature. Always know the terrain around you. In this case, this house. If I have to move around it in the dark, I need to know the layout.”
“I never thought about that. I’m glad Winnie has you. See you bright and early tomorrow.”
“Good night.”
The smile that curved her lips zapped him. He mounted the stairs with that picture etched into his mind. He had grown up in this house. Could he move around it if the power went off and not run into every piece of furniture? Her skill set was very different from his. He could leave and be assured Winnie was in good hands.
That conclusion didn’t set well with him. It niggled him as he got into bed, and it stayed with him all night.
* * *
After securing the house, Ellie ascended to the second floor. Walking toward her bedroom, she paused outside Winnie’s room and pressed her ear against the door. Silence greeted her. She continued to hers two doors down. She couldn’t shake the feeling they were vulnerable even with the deputy outside.
She immediately crossed the window that overlooked the front of the property. She studied the parked patrol car, glimpsing the man sitting in the front seat. She didn’t leave her welfare or a client’s to others. She hadn’t vetted the deputy. She didn’t even know him.
That thought clinched her decision. She went to her bed and gathered up a blanket and pillow then headed for the hallway. Outside Winnie’s room, she spread her armload out on the floor then settled down for the night, fitting her gun close to her. This accommodation was four-star compared to some she’d had in the army.
She was a light sleeper, and anyone who wanted Winnie would have to go over her to get her client. She fell asleep with that knowledge.
Only to have someone jostle her shoulder hours later.
She gripped her gun. Her eyes inched open to find Colt stooping over her.
He leaned toward her ear and whispered, “I don’t want to disturb Winnie, but Rod is gone. He’s not in the car and hasn’t been for a while now.”
FIVE
Ellie was already on her feet, slipping on her shoes as she moved toward the stairs. “Stay here. It might be nothing but stretching his legs.”
As she crept down the steps, avoiding the ones that creaked, only the light from the hallway illuminating her path, her eyes began to adjust to the darkness swallowing her at the bottom of the staircase. She saw the red glow on the security keypad across from her.
Before going outside to search for the deputy, she crept through the rooms on the first floor, using
the moonlight streaming through the upper part of the windows that weren’t draped. When she reached the kitchen, she had to switch on a light to inspect the area and check the back door.
When she returned to the foyer, she flipped on the light and punched the alarm off then went to the bottom of the steps. “Colt.”
He appeared at the railing overlooking the foyer.
“I’m going outside and resetting the alarm. Don’t leave there.”
“You shouldn’t go by yourself.”
“I need you to stay there. Don’t follow me. Understand?”
He nodded, but his jaw clamped in a hard line.
Ellie set the alarm, hurried toward the front door and slipped outside. She examined the patrol car, still empty. Rod’s hat sat on the passenger’s seat. That was the only evidence the man had been in the vehicle.
For the second time that night she made her way toward the west side of the property. Had the mountain lion returned and somehow got inside the fence? Earlier they had patched it the best they could. Now she noticed the rope they had tied across the opening had been cut and the fence had been parted again. Alert, she inspected the blackness beyond the property. Her eyes were fully adjusted to the dark, but a good pair of night-vision goggles would have been preferable. She swung around slowly, searching every tree and bush.
Something big lay on the ground near a group of firs. She snuck toward it. The closer she came the more sure she was that it was a body. From the size, probably a man. The body lay still, curled on his side, his face away from her. Was it the deputy? Was he dead?
Removing her small flashlight from her pocket, she increased her pace as well as her alertness in case this was a trap. Someone had cut those ropes.
The person on the ground groaned and rolled over. He tried to sit up and collapsed back. Another moan escaped him as Ellie reached his side.
“Rod? Are you okay?”
“Someone...hit me over the head.” He lifted his hand to his hair and yelped when he touched his scalp. Blood covered his fingers.
“Why were you out here?”
“I heard something. I came to see what it was and found one of the dogs lying under the thick brush.” He pointed beneath some large holly bushes. “The next thing I knew, I was hit and going down.” He struggled to sit up.
Ellie helped him. “Take it easy. I’m phoning this in.”
After she placed a call to the sheriff’s office, Rod asked, “Is the dog gone?”
Using her small flashlight, Ellie inspected the bushes. “There’s no dog here.”
“There was a while ago. Its whimpering is what drew me.”
“Whoever hit you must have taken the dog. The ropes on the fence were cut and the hole opened up again.”
“They came back for the third dog?”
“I guess. Why do you say ‘they’?”
“I don’t know. It could have been one person or several. The dog weighed sixty or seventy pounds, so one person could have carried it, I guess.”
“Or dragged it.” She thought of the boot prints, about a size nine in a men’s shoe, which meant probably a man of medium height or a large woman. “Can you walk back to the house?”
“Yes. I just need to take it slow.”
Putting her arm around him, she assisted him to his feet. “Okay?”
“Yeah, except for a walloping headache.”
She checked her watch. “Backup should be here soon.”
“I didn’t see that dog last night, but it was hidden by the holly bushes. I’ve got to admit I didn’t think a dog was still here. I should have searched more thoroughly.” He touched his forehead. “I’ve learned my lesson.”
“It’s only an hour or so to sunrise. We can search the whole grounds more thoroughly then.”
“Why did whoever took the dogs come back for one of them? That was risky.”
“Can’t answer that.” Although she had an idea. Last night Winnie had been extremely upset about the missing dogs. They had been special to her husband. So the person behind taking the animals might have had two reasons: to hurt the security around Winnie and to hurt her personally. “It does mean someone was watching the house for the right moment to come back.”
“Except that I got to the dog before they could.”
“It’s looking that way.”
The deputy gripped the railing as he mounted the steps to the front deck. “Does the sheriff know?”
“Probably.”
Before she could unlock the door, Colt opened it. He took one look at Rod and stepped aside to let them inside. “What happened?”
Winnie hurried across the foyer, taking hold of the young man. “Come into the kitchen. Let me clean this gash.”
“Ma’am, I’ll be okay.”
“Not until you see a doctor, and it still needs to be cleaned up. I have a first-aid kit in the kitchen.” Winnie tugged the man forward.
Colt stood in Ellie’s way. “What happened?”
She shut and locked the door, then faced him. “He heard a sound coming from the west side of the property and went to check it out. When he found one of your dogs on the ground under some bushes, he was hit over the head.”
“One of our dogs wasn’t taken?”
“It has been now, or at least I think it has. The dog was gone when I got there. The ropes were cut and the fence opened back up.”
“Maybe there’s another dog on the grounds?”
“In a couple of hours when it’s daylight, we can search more thoroughly and see.”
“We’d probably better go rescue Rod. My grandmother can get carried away with a cut or gash. Once she wrapped my calf for a small wound on the back. A bandage would have worked fine.”
Ellie had taken a few steps when the doorbell rang. “I’ll take care of this. It’s probably the sheriff.”
After looking through the peephole and seeing Sheriff Quinn, she opened the door. “The deputy should be all right, but he needs to be checked out at the hospital. He was hit over the head. Winnie is tending to him in the kitchen.”
As they walked toward the room, Ellie explained where the deputy had been found and about the dog under the bushes.
Winnie glanced up when they entered. Frowning, she finished cleaning up the deputy’s head wound. “Someone has stolen my dogs. Come on my property. Threatened me. And now hurt your deputy. I hardly see you, and in less than six hours you’ve been at my house twice. Neither a social call.”
“I have one deputy outside right now and another on his way. Should be here any minute.” He turned to Rod. “He can take you to the hospital. Get that head injury examined by the doc.”
“Fine by me, but I want to work on this case. When this person came after me, he made it personal.” Rod slowly stood and smiled at Winnie. “Thank you, ma’am, for seeing to me.”
“Dear, I’m so sorry. You take care of yourself, and you’re welcome back here anytime.”
Before the sheriff followed his deputy from the room, he said, “If it’s okay with you, Mrs. Winfield, I’d like to stay until sunrise and then thoroughly search the grounds.”
“Of course. I’ll get some coffee on and fix something for breakfast. I have a feeling we’ll all need our energy for the day to come.” Winnie washed her hands at the sink, then began making some coffee.
“I’ll be back as soon as I see to Rod and post my other deputy. We need to discuss who would do this to you, Mrs. Winfield.”
After the sheriff left, Winnie finished with the coffee. With her back to them, she grasped the counter on both sides of her and lowered her head.
“Winnie, are you okay?” Colt asked, coming to his grandmother’s side and laying his hand on her shoulder.
The woman straightened from the counter, turned and inhaled a deep breath. “I will be once we find this person. If we get a ransom demand for the dogs, I’ll pay it. I want them back. But what if...” Her bottom lip quivered, and she bit down on it.
“We’ll do everything we can to get your pets back. I know how much they mean to you.”
“I remember all the walks your granddad and I took with our dogs. It was our special time together. I think it was what helped me bounce back from my heart attack.”
Colt embraced Winnie. “I’m not going back to the ship until this whole situation is resolved. Your safety means everything to me.”
Winnie’s eyes glistened. “That means so much to me. You’re my only family now.”
Behind her Ellie heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. She turned around, her hand on her gun in case it wasn’t the sheriff returning. But when he came into the room, she dropped her arm to her side.
“Just in time for some coffee, Sheriff.” Winnie stepped away from Colt and busied herself taking four mugs from the cabinet. “If I remember correctly you take yours black.”
“Yes, I sure do.”
Winnie poured the brew into the mugs then passed them out. “I’ve been trying to think of anyone who would do this to me. I can’t at the moment.”
“Let’s all sit and talk this out. Sometimes that helps.”
Christmas Stalking Page 6