Night Talk

by Rebecca Daniels

  Only it wasn't going to be just like before. Now he knew her, had watched her work and had seen the warmth and compassion in her eyes. He would never forget that—and he suspected that when he was sitting alone in the tower listening to her over the airwaves, he would probably wish that he could.

  Catching sight of Ruby on the porch of the bait shop, he gave her a wave. There was no sign of life as he pulled the truck to a stop in front of the tavern, but that didn't worry him much. Mac didn't get many customers this time of year anyway.

  But when he walked into the small tavern/restaurant/general store, there wasn't a soul around.

  "Mac?" he shouted, walking toward the back room and peeking inside. "Anybody home?"

  When he got no response, he turned and walked back out into the store. He spotted a couple of empty glasses on the bar—one beer, one soda—and there was a buzzing sound coming from a fly trapped inside the front window. Other than that, the place was empty.

  He walked outside, a sick feeling of dread washing up from the back of his memory. He remembered with horrifying clarity how he'd felt the instant he realized the safe house where they'd stashed Ricky had been compromised.

  In something very close to panic, he ran down the tavern steps and out to the road. He never should have left her alone, not even with Mac.

  At six foot four inches, Mac Mackenzie was a force to be reckoned with. He more or less kept the peace around Vega Flats by his size alone, and when that didn't work, the double-barreled shotgun he kept behind the bar usually did. By the man's manner and demeanor, Jake suspected Mac might have had some training in law enforcement, even though he never would have asked. Vega Flats wasn't the kind of place you got nosy. People respected each other's space and their privacy. While he hadn't said anything to Mac about the stalker or the reason Kristin was with him, Jake had asked him to keep an eye on her while he was gone and he'd felt confident she would be safe. Only now he wasn't so sure.

  Glancing up and down the deserted road, he felt his stomach tighten into a hard knot.

  "Kristin?" he shouted. He ran down the road, not really sure where he was going. "Kristin, where are you? Kristin!"

  "What's all the shouting about?" Mac stepped around from the side of the tavern, the sleeves of his red flannel shirt rolled up to the elbows. "What's all the commotion?"

  "Kristin," Jake called out, turning and heading toward Mac Mackenzie on a full run. "Have you seen her?"

  "Hell, man, of course I seen her. You dropped her off here yourself not even an hour ago."

  "What happened to her?" Jake demanded, skidding to a stop. "Where is she?"

  "Nothing's happened to her as far as I know." Mac's weatherworn features made him look older than his thirty-seven years, but his brown eyes were clear, sharp and didn't miss a thing. "What's going on? You need some help with something?"

  "Mac," Jake said, hearing the panic and desperation in his own voice, "I need to find Kristin."

  Apparently Mac did too. "Sure, sure, okay," he said quickly, pointing to the rear of the tavern. "She's down in the garden. Right there, see her?"

  Jake's gaze searched in the direction Mac pointed. Kristin's blond head in a sea of lush green was not hard to spot, and the relief that flooded his system was almost overwhelming.

  "Thank God," he whispered, his shoulders sagging.

  "You know, buddy, I think you just might need to come inside and sit down for a little while," Mac said, his brown gaze squinting as he regarded Jake closely. "I swear you look as white as a ghost."

  Jake pulled in a ragged breath and shook his head. "No, I'm…I'm fine."

  "I don't think so," Mac disagreed. "You look like you could use a good stiff drink."

  "I'm okay," Jake insisted, even though he felt anything but okay. He stood there for a moment, watching her as she talked to another woman in the small plot behind Mac's tavern.

  He felt foolish at having overreacted so violently. As a cop he had learned to control his emotions, to hold them in check and keep his head in a crisis. But when he couldn't find her just now…

  He closed his eyes and swiped an arm across his sweaty forehead. The thought that he might have put her in danger, that he hadn't been there when she'd needed him had done something to him. He should have been thinking about notifying the authorities, about plotting out search grids and rounding up volunteers, but he hadn't done any of that. Frankly, he'd barely been able to think at all. He'd simply lost it completely.

  A raw, gnawing feeling clawed at the pit of his stomach. Maybe he'd been out of the game too long—lost his edge, his instincts. Maybe he couldn't be of help to anyone any longer.

  Suddenly he caught sight of something moving behind a scrub of ratty-looking bushes and all his senses sprang to full alert. "Wait, is that someone with her?"

  "Carolyn," Mac said in a quiet voice as a petite woman stepped into view. "Carolyn Hammer."

  Jake turned to him. "Who is that? Do I know her?"

  "Probably not. She's Ruby's niece. Been staying with her for about a month or so, helping out with the stables and the shop." Mac turned and took a few steps in the direction of the two women. "Asked me if I'd mind her doing a little work in the garden." He rubbed a hand along his beard. "I don't mind saying, that woman has some kind of green thumb. That old weed patch has never looked so good."

  Just then Kristin looked up and caught sight of him and smiled. Jake had to struggle to tamp down the deer-in-the-headlights reaction he had, forcing himself to lift a hand for a casual wave instead.

  "She seems to have hit it off pretty good with Kristin," Mac said as he watched the two women start towards them. He turned then and looked at Jake. "She mentioned she's a counselor of some kind?"

  "Yeah. In L.A."

  "Old friend?"

  Jake shook his head. "We met at a wedding a week or so ago."

  "That's right, your buddy. The cop, right?"

  "Yeah, Ted."

  Mac nodded. "Visiting up at Eagle's Eye for a while?"

  "A little while."

  Mac nodded. "Interesting."

  Even if he had been curious and wanted to know more, which Jake wasn't entirely sure that he was, he knew Mac wouldn't prod any further and he was relieved. He wasn't sure how he should explain Kristin's presence at the tower. Instinct told him the fewer people who knew who she was and why she was with him, the better. The likelihood of someone poking around Vega Flats asking questions was slim, but he didn't like taking chances of any kind with her safety.

  "Back so soon?" Kristin asked she as headed around the tavern toward him. She stopped when she reached him. "You're done with your patrol?"

  Jake hadn't fully recovered from the panic, and being so close to her made him feel off balance and awkward. It didn't help either that he had to resist the urge to catch her up in his arms and hold her tight.

  "There's never much going on up there this time of year."

  The wind had kicked up, blowing a long strand of hair across her face. She reached up and pulled the hair back, the golden strands pressing against her lips as she did.

  "Well, I think I've met everyone in town. We just got back from Ruby's. Carolyn was just showing me the garden out back," she said, gesturing with a thumb over her shoulder. She turned to Mac. "Looks like you'll have some nice artichokes ready in a few weeks."

  Mac's gaze slid from Kristin to the woman standing beside her. "I'll look forward to that." He took a few steps forward. "Carolyn, you haven't met Jake Hayes, he's the ranger up at Eagle's Eye. Jake, this is Carolyn Hammer."

  "Jake, hello," Carolyn said, extending a hand to him. "Nice to meet you."

  "Nice to meet you too, Carolyn," Jake said, taking her hand with a small bow. She was an attractive woman, with a nice smile and warm, brown eyes beneath a mass of curly, golden hair, and he was particularly grateful for the distraction she presented. He could safely concentrate on her and avoid Kristin for the moment. He needed to buy himself a little time to pull himself together and
avoid that penetrating gaze of hers. He suspected she saw far too much when she looked at him, and there was too much to see at the moment. "Visiting Ruby, I hear."

  "You hear right."

  "Plan on staying long?"

  She shrugged a shoulder. "I'm not sure yet. Just going to take a little time and get reacquainted with the place. My folks used to bring my sister and I up here when we were kids, and Aunt Ruby would put us to work brushing down the horses, cleaning out stalls and digging for night crawlers." She laughed and shook her head. "I think I forgot how beautiful it was up here."

  Jake nodded, looking around at the tree-lined canyon. "It is that."

  "Kristin mentioned she was staying with you on the mountain. Sounds like a beautiful spot you've got up there."

  Jake couldn't help wondering what else Kristin had mentioned to her about him. "It is. You should come up for a tour sometime during your visit."

  "That sounds nice, but I don't know if I'm that adventurous," Carolyn confessed, giving Kristin a wink. "Kristin just happened to mention something about the road. I grew up on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley. I guess you'd call me a flatlander. Not a lot of twists in the roads around my part of the country."

  "You get used to it after a few miles," Jake dismissed.

  "Of course, a good seat belt and a few prayers don't hurt either," Kristin added.

  "Well, you'd need them with Aunt Ruby's old truck, that's for sure," Carolyn pointed out with a smile.

  "You know, I'd bet we could talk Mac into bringing you up," Jake suggested. "Then you could keep your eyes closed the whole way."

  Carolyn laughed. "Well, that's an idea. It's something to think about, thanks."

  Kristin had taken a step closer and, strangely enough, he felt a sense of panic again. In desperation, he turned to Carolyn. "Mac tells me you're quite a gardener."

  "Just a hobby," she said with a wave of her hand. "But I enjoy it. I guess once a farm girl always a farm girl."

  Just then an old pickup appeared from around the bend, coming from the direction of the Big Chumash, and rattled to a stop in front of Mac's tavern. Mac glanced at his watch as he watched two men dressed in camouflage fatigues and fishing vests climb down from the truck and head inside.

  "Looks like the noon rush has arrived," he said dryly as he started for the door. As he walked, he turned back, waving the others to follow. "I just took some ribs off the grill. Anyone interested in lunch?"

  Jake looked at Kristin, then at Carolyn. "Ladies? What do you think? Ribs all around?"

  "Well, I don't know about everyone else," Kristin said, "but I'm starving."

  "Normally I'm not much into lunch," Carolyn confessed. "But I've been smelling those ribs smoking on the barbecue all morning. I'm thinking I'm ready to eat about half a cow."

  "Well, dibs on the other half," Jake said, extending an arm to each of them. "Shall we?"

  * * *

  Dibs on the other half. Kristin made a face and slid down farther in the truck's seat. Oh brother!

  She folded her arms across her chest and stared out the window. She let him think she was resting, but the truth was she was just happy not to have to talk.

  You should come up for a tour sometime. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly, seeing his face as he stood there right in front of her and flirted with Carolyn. Was that his pick-up line—like, come up and see my etchings?

  Hitting a pothole, the truck jerked wildly, causing her head to bang against the side of the window.

  "Ouch!" She sat up, rubbing her forehead.

  "Sorry, you okay?"

  "Sure you don't want to go back and try that again. I think there might be one or two potholes you missed."

  He laughed, and she let him think she was joking. Little did he know.

  The drive back up the mountain wasn't nearly as exciting as the drive down this morning, but then her disposition may have had something to do with it. She was cranky and irritable and…

  No! She refused to go any farther with that thought. She had hoped the outing to Vega Flats would give her some perspective, put her back on track as far as seeing things the way they really were. But what a bust it had been.

  You could keep your eyes closed the whole way. She turned and looked at him as he watched the road. Whoever had called jealousy a monster must have known what they were talking about. Somehow, someway, it had broken loose inside of her and was running amok.

  She couldn't explain it. Something had happened to her when she'd watched him talking to Carolyn. Something totally out of left field. It wasn't that he had been friendly to Carolyn that bothered her. It was the way he hadn't been to her that had made her furious.

  Her hands balled into fists. Jealous girlfriend—they were two words that had no business being used in relationship to her. She was hardly his girlfriend and she had absolutely no business feeling jealous. It was ridiculous. Her reaction was completely inappropriate. She was acting as if she'd caught him being unfaithful or something.

  "It shouldn't be much longer now," he said, carefully steering around another pothole. "You'll have plenty of time to rest up before we need to get ready for the broadcast."

  "Good," she mumbled, turning and looking out the window again.

  "Ribs not settling good?"

  "No, I feel fine," she lied.

  Actually, there wasn't anything "fine" in the way she felt. The lunch had been delicious and there had been every reason in the world that she should have enjoyed herself. Carolyn's Aunt Ruby had ended up joining them and the conversation had been friendly and light. But she had sat there feeling miserable.

  She felt awkward and stupid. If she hadn't been there, he probably would have invited Carolyn to go back to the tower with him. He could have given her a "tour," offered her one of his spaghetti dinners, and who knows where things would have gone from there?

  Another bump sent her jostling in her seat again, but she didn't care any longer. What a fool she was, making believe he had an interest in her. It just wasn't true, and if she had needed a reminder, she'd gotten a good one this afternoon. Jake Hayes wasn't interested in her, he was stuck with her. Enough said!

  Chapter 9

  "That's wonderful news." Kristin bobbed around the room, searching for the spot where the reception to her cell phone was the best. She'd come to have mixed feelings about Nancy's phone calls in the three weeks she'd been at Eagle's Eye. While she was anxious for Nancy's updates, she also found them frustrating. She missed her clients, missed taking care of them and wanted to be there in case they needed her. "I can't tell you how relieved I am."

  "I thought you'd be pleased," Nancy said. "For a while there, I didn't think she would trust me enough, but I have to say, I think we've had a real breakthrough."

  "I've been thinking about Patty so much," Kristin admitted, picturing her young client in her mind. "I had really felt we might be close before I left, which was why I was so worried about going. I was afraid it would have just played into all her abandonment issues."

  "I think it did for the first couple of weeks but after that, she was very angry with you—and me, too, for that matter—but we're working through it," Nancy assured her. "There's once thing I wanted to mention. The service sent me one of your calls yesterday. Do you remember Marie Anders?"

  Kristin moved quickly around the table, chasing the cell signal. "Marie Anders, yes, of course. I worked with her last year. She stopped coming to therapy just when I thought we were making some headway. Has something happened to her?"

  "She made a halfhearted suicide attempt the other night," Nancy said after a moment. "She was at the county hospital and called looking for you."

  Kristin felt a wave of nausea wash over her, picturing the curly-haired teen in her mind. She had been referred to Kristin from a teen suicide hot line she had called for help. The troubled young woman had been raised in an abusive home, only to become involved in an equally abusive relationship with a man she had met on the Internet. "Is she all rig
ht?"

  "Like I said, it was a halfhearted attempt—a few pills and she threw them right up. She wanted to see you. I explained you weren't available."

  "Damn," Kristin groaned, sighing heavily. "How'd she take it? Is she okay?"

  "I think she's fine," Nancy assured her. "She's signed herself into the counseling center for a few days and they're watching her. She's fine for now. I can go by and see her if you want me to."

  "Oh Nancy, would you? I'd feel much better if you would," Kristin said, feeling frustration like a tight band around her chest. "God, this is driving me crazy. I have to get back to work. I'm going crazy cooped up in this place knowing I should be down there. I should be helping her."

  "I know, but hopefully it won't be for much longer. It's only been a couple weeks. Have you heard anything about the investigation?"

  "Three," she corrected. "It's been three weeks! And no, I haven't heard much of anything. Frankly I'm not sure the police are any closer to catching this guy than they were when I left."

  "What are they telling you?"

  "Oh, Ted keeps saying they're following leads, but I'm beginning to think he's just telling me that to shut me up. I have to say, I'm tempted to just pack up my things and head down this mountain by myself."

  "Mountain?"

  It was only then Kristin realized what she had said and sighed heavily. "I suppose I shouldn't have said that."

  "No, probably not."

  Kristin snorted inelegantly. "Although, I think even if I did tell you, I doubt if you could find it—I doubt if anyone could find it. I've been on top of this mountain for almost a month and you could count on one hand the number of people I've seen."

  "Sounds pretty remote."

  "Remote doesn't begin to describe it."

  Almost on cue, a blast of static all but drowned out her voice.

  "Nancy? You still there?"

  "I'm here, but I can barely hear you."

  Kristin's mind raced. "I hate this, having to worry about whether I can get a signal or not. What if something happens to Marie? I want you to be able to get in touch with me right away."