by Moxie North
“Mrs. Nishi, did you know where your daughter was?” Tanner needed to know if Brooklyn had taken a vacation or was on the run.
“No, the girl just up and vanished. The police here wouldn’t do anything until she’d been gone for seventy-two hours. They finally let us file a missing person’s report yesterday. Not that it is going to do any good. They say adults can leave without telling their parents where they are going. Shit, I know that, doesn’t mean that I don’t know when something is wrong. My baby would never go days without calling me. Those bastards are sitting on their asses eating donuts and not looking for my baby girl!” The woman said this with a screech.
“Ma’am, your daughter didn’t mention anything about the shooting at her work, did she?” Tanner kept up with the questioning as he drove.
“No, she didn’t, and my girl tells me everything. I heard about it on the news. I told them they probably kidnapped her, but they said the security cameras didn’t show Brooklyn there,” she explained.
That was puzzling. How did she link to the shootings? Or did she at all? Maybe having something so violent happen just scared her enough into running.
“Mrs. Nishi, do you think your daughter just wanted a break? Or had a vacation planned that she hadn’t mentioned?”
“Honey, you can call me Maybelle, I’m nobody's ma’am,” the woman said slyly. “My daughter doesn’t take vacations, Sheriff. Hell, I made her take up knitting because she’d get so stressed out at work. My daughter loves her job. She wouldn’t abandon it. Do you think she is in some kind of trouble?”
Tanner wasn’t about to lie to her. “I honestly don’t know, Maybelle. Everyone seems surprised by her disappearance and her decision to drive two states away without telling her family. Well, that seems suspicious to me. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Brooklyn yet. Do you think you can keep this quiet? Let me do some investigating before you visit? If she’s running from someone, we don’t want to tip them off to her location. We may all be overreacting, and this was just a case of her needing a break. But I’d feel a lot more comfortable knowing that was the situation and not that she needs help.”
“Well now, aren’t you a friendly public servant? You wouldn’t happen to be married now, would ya, Sheriff Rochon?” Maybelle asked.
Clearing his throat, “No ma’am, not married.”
“Well, you cute? You sound cute,” she continued.
“Uh…” Shit, Tanner was out of his element on this.
“Oh, I’m just teasing you, sugar. You go find out if my girl is okay. You call me the minute you know. She’s healthy, you tell her to haul her ass back here before I blister it. She’s sick, you call me and let me know. Brooklyn’s in trouble, we’ll stay put, but I want regular updates. I can Google with the best of them. I can figure out where she is and where you are if I have to,” she warned.
“I’ll keep in touch, Maybelle. I promise,” he said. He really didn’t want her to track him down.
“You do that. And while you’re checking on my baby, you just text me over a picture of you. You know, just in case I need to, you know…identify you,” she said.
Tanner wasn’t sure if she meant that in a good way or a not so good way.
“I’ll be in touch,” Tanner said and pushed the button to hang up before the conversation got any more uncomfortable.
Tanner ran over in his mind what he knew so far. It wasn’t much, but his bear was telling him that he needed to be on point for this. Crazy parents and a pretty woman couldn’t distract him. Much.
Chapter 5
Pulling into the hospital parking lot, Tanner parked up front in one of the spaces marked for police vehicles.
As he got out, he waved at a few people leaving. Swinging by the reception desk, he smiled and greeted the receptionist, another Rochon cousin, and then headed directly to the ER.
A few nurses nodded as they saw him enter. He was looking for Eddie. Another Rochon, who was the first doctor in the family. Even when he was offered positions all over the country, he came home to work. He said that Apex needed him as much as any big city.
“Eddie, how’s the patient?” he asked when he spotted him in the hallway.
“I’m assuming you mean the only one currently here that doesn’t have a name?” Eddie flashed a smile that had most women's panties dropping at the sight. Eddie was tall like all the Rochon men, but he’d lucked out with some recessive gene that gave him golden blond hair. He was all lean muscle and had aristocratic features that got him his fair share of teasing from his more burly bearded kin.
“She’s not awake?” Tanner asked, concerned. He had hoped she’d be awake by now and giving all her information to the hospital staff. Her still being out also meant that he couldn’t question her.
“No, I’m not too concerned. I think her body is just protecting itself. We did a CAT scan, and although there is a hematoma under her skull, it’s not getting any bigger. We’ll keep an eye on it and can hopefully avoid having to drill a hole in her head.” Eddie said this with almost a gleeful look in his eye.
He wasn’t wishing the worst for the woman. Tanner knew that Eddie usually spent his time dealing with cuts, breaks, and often crushing injuries that came from the logging accidents. Being smashed by a tree was not something most people lived through. Outside of normal illnesses and the occasional car accident or hiking injury, Eddie rarely got to practice his excellent surgical skills. For a small town, they were state of the art when it came to medical equipment and funding. Granted it was the Rochon name that was stamped on every surface of the hospital.
“A hole in her head?” Tanner couldn’t help but frown at his cousin.
“To relieve the pressure,” Eddie explained. “I think now that we have slowly raised her body temperature, she should wake up any time. She’s pretty, huh?”
“Keep your eyes to yourself,” Tanner said with a growl. He wasn’t sure why he said that, but he felt compelled to.
“What, just cause you found her, you get to keep her? I don’t think that’s how it works, cuz.” Eddie laughed.
“No, I’m just trying to figure her out. Her name is Brooklyn Nishi. She lives in California. I’ve talked to her work and her parents. Nobody knew she was out here, and they had a suspicious incident at her work. I’m not totally sure she isn’t in some kind of trouble.”
“Uh-huh, sure. I’ll believe that. Couldn’t be that Ms. Nishi is curvy, drop dead gorgeous, and smells tasty, could it?” Eddie said, giving his cousin raised eyebrows that he wiggled.
“Stop sniffing her,” Tanner rumbled.
“Oh, yeah. I see how it is. Fine, you called dibs. I can respect that.”
“I’m going to go check on her. You have a problem with that?” Tanner was feeling defensive all of a sudden. He didn’t like it. He was the calm, cool one; the master at defusing tense situations. Now he was agitated, his skin crawling knowing she was in the other room. He wanted to see her breathing for some reason.
“She’s been moved to room 103. Good luck,” Eddie said with a wink.
Damn him. He would probably tell his mom who would then call Tanner’s mom. Nothing momma bears liked more than matchmaking for their kids. He had work to do, not momma gossip to manage.
Walking down the long hallway to room 103, Tanner paused to listen. No sound was coming from the room. He knocked lightly, and there was no reply. Pushing open the door, he walked straight into a privacy curtain someone had pulled closed. Tanner quietly pulled it open and stepped into the area with the bed. He closed the curtain behind him to give her privacy. She wouldn’t know if people were staring at her, but he knew for sure that he didn’t want anyone watching her without permission.
She was lying on the bed, her color much better than the worrisome gray color that she’d been when they found her. There was a large inflatable blanket over her that was hooked to a machine pumping warm air through it. She still had an IV in her arm, and there was oxygen in her nose. Other than those tubes, she just l
ooked like she was sleeping.
Someone had dried her hair, and it flared out on the pillow like a curly cloud. Tanner wanted to touch it but curled his hand into a fist to keep his desires in check.
Standing at the foot of the bed, he wrapped his hands around the handles at the end and stared. He didn’t know what he was looking for. He just knew that he and his bear were both pretty damn content just watching her breathe in and out.
Every breath was reassuring to him. It calmed his animal. Gave him a sense that everything was going to be okay, just because she was still there.
Tanner didn’t know what his next steps were. Without her input on her own disappearance, he had nowhere else to research without raising suspicions. But did he just stay there and wait for her to wake up? That would be seen as a little too involved for a sheriff. His bear wanted to pull up a chair and hold onto her hand until he finally saw she was going to be okay. Again, not something a sheriff should do.
Taking one last look at her, he turned and walked back into the hallway, making sure to secure the curtain for her privacy.
He gave Eddie a chin lift and walked back outside to call Brooklyn’s mom.
“Maybelle, she’s still unconscious,” Tanner said when her mom picked up on the first ring. “They have her body temperature back up, and she’s resting comfortably. They say she does have a bruise on her brain where she hit her head. But they are sure she just needs some rest to wake up. I’d like it if you could entrust her to me until I can make sure she was just on a vacation up here, not running from a potential contract on her life. These men are not amateurs, Mrs. Nishi. The kinds of people that would even put a price on a person’s head don’t do it for show. If they intend to kill your daughter, I won’t let that happen,” Tanner finished.
“All of my momma instincts are telling me I need to be by my baby’s side. But I’m going to trust my baby girl to you, Sheriff Rochon. You keep her safe and make sure she wakes up. I don’t care how you do it; that’s not my problem. But I’m telling you, I want my girl on the phone telling me she’s okay by tomorrow, you hear me?” Maybelle said, in a tone that brooked no argument.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll do my best,” Tanner promised. They weren’t just words, either. He meant it.
“All right, I’ll go tell her daddy. Man is in a tizzy, and by that I mean he’s been doing crosswords since you called last. Never good when he does crosswords,” Maybelle mumbled.
“I’ll call,” Tanner promised.
Pulling off his hat, he ran his hand through his messy hair again. He needed food and time to figure out what the hell his next step would be.
Aunt Jennie’s diner sounded like just the place to refuel and ponder Brooklyn Nishi.
Chapter 6
“More coffee, sugar?”
Tanner’s Aunt Jennie stood next to him with a pot in hand. He was pretty sure she’d already asked him if he wanted more, but he’d been lost in thought.
After his trip to the hospital, he couldn’t get Brooklyn Nishi off his mind. He was more than just curious. His bear was insistent that he get to know her. That she was someone they needed to be around. His bear wasn’t usually pushy without a good reason.
“Sorry, Aunt Jennie. Yes, please.” Tanner rubbed his hand over his face. The rough stubble on his face reminded him he needed a shave. If he didn’t, he’d be looking like his burly cousin Cash in no time.
“You got that look, like when someone made off with those twenty-foot logs from Mr. Bunker's place,” Jennie said with a grin.
“Yeah, should have known those little shits just log rolled them into the river,” he sighed. His much younger cousins had stolen thousands of pounds of timber from Mr. Bunker by lining up on the logs and rolling them with their feet into the river to float them like canoes. Mr. Bunker was pissed, the boys were soaked, and reparations had to be made. Namely, the boys cutting and stacking enough firewood to last Mr. Bunker until he died.
“Scamps,” Jennie said fondly.
Tanner nodded at his aunt and looked around the diner. It was in a brick building on Main Street that had a hardware store on one side and a thrift store on the other. His great aunt Dorothy had opened it originally many decades ago. Back then it catered to the loggers who came into town to spend their wages. Now it was one of the few places to get a home cooked meal that you didn’t make yourself.
The interior was lined with linoleum topped tables, mismatched chairs, and black and white pictures of men from years ago standing next to trees that were so big as to be unbelievable. Back then they cut most of those trees down by hand and used horse and mule teams to pull the logs down the mountain. The young pups today didn’t know how easy they had it.
“This have to do with the pretty lady down at the hospital?” Jennie asked.
“Eddie call you?” Jennie was Eddie’s mom, and he was as big a gossip as she was.
“Of course, he calls his momma at least twice a day. Said that you were real concerned about that poor lady. In fact, he said you were very concerned,” she said giving him the same eyebrow wiggle her son had given him earlier.
“Damn busybodies in this town,” Tanner mumbled into his coffee cup.
“Oh, come on, you old fuddy duddy. How often do we get something as exciting as a new person in town who goes and gets herself thunked on the head and half drowned? Hell, I bet it’s in the paper by tomorrow,” Jennie said.
“Shit, I need to call them,” Tanner said, adding it to his to-do list. Jennie was right; this was just the kind of newsworthy item that the local rag would love to print up.
“Spoilsport,” Jennie snarked.
“Aunt Jennie, can’t this town just worry about the salmon runs, or whether there is a new owl that needs saving from the big bad loggers?”
“Don’t give them any ideas. So I’m guessing this does have to do with our newest visitor. Poor thing. I told Eddison to call me when she wakes up, so I can bring her some real food. That hospital crap is awful,” she said, clearly turning her nose up at their lack of culinary finesse.
“How about a piece of pie for your frazzled working sheriff?” Tanner said, not wanting to discuss Brooklyn with her anymore.
When his aunt stepped away, Tanner reached into the purse he’d discreetly sat next to himself in the corner booth. He’d meant to leave it at the hospital, but whether he didn’t want anyone stealing from her, or he just wanted an excuse to return it to her, he still had it.
Pulling out the wallet, he stared at the picture on Brooklyn’s license. For a DMV picture, it wasn’t bad. She was smiling in the photo; her eyes bright and shining. They were listed as brown, but Tanner didn’t think that description did her justice.
Her cheeks were rosy and her lips glossy, like she’d touched up her makeup right before the photo. He wondered if that said anything about who she was. Was she high maintenance? Or low? Or worse, was she high maintenance that thought she was low maintenance? Tanner had learned exactly what that was from one of his favorite movies from the eighties, When Harry Met Sally.
He’d dated a bit. Some shifters, but usually he kept to humans. He’d run across a few high maintenance women in his life.
He always kept it pretty casual, knowing that until he found his one true mate, he’d just be stringing anyone else along. At forty-two, he still looked in his early thirties. He hoped to work long past the normal human retirement age. Luckily in their town, the humans just thought the Rochons had great genetics. Nobody really questioned their longevity.
Every shifter wanted their mate. There was no denying the utter contentment that each shifter had once they’d found their One. You couldn’t help but envy them, want what they had. Long for it.
Tanner was no exception. He wanted someone to come home to. Someone to have children with. Someone who was happy to see him when he walked through the door at night. He didn’t care who she was, human or shifter. He just knew that she’d be everything he’d ever need. The fates would make sure of that.
/> Maybe the pretty woman in the picture just reminded him that he was still looking. Maybe she was a mystery to keep him occupied for a while. The simple fact was that Tanner was intrigued. He knew it, just like his bear did. Something about Brooklyn Nishi made both of them sit up and take notice.
The slice of pie he’d requested was slid in front of him. Marionberry, his favorite. He nodded to Jennie and dug in, his mind on Brooklyn.
Chapter 7
After finishing up at the diner, Tanner stepped out to the sidewalk and decided it would be easier to talk to Kate at the newspaper in person. He walked the four blocks down the street and entered through a door that had a little bell attached that tinkled.
“Coming! Just a sec!” came the feminine voice from the back. Around the corner came Kate Langley. She was in her late thirties, bookish, and passionate about her little paper. She was short and curvy. She liked long sleeve shirts over stretchy pants in crazy patterns. She almost always had a huge scarf wrapped around her neck and her hair up in a messy knot that flopped when she walked. Tanner also knew she was part of the local tribe, and her Native American blood showed in stunning cheekbones and olive skin that belied the dark wet climate she grew up in.
If he wasn’t sure his mate was out there, and that Kate wouldn’t be planning their wedding after their first date, he’d ask her out. But no matter how adorable, she wasn’t his one.
“Sheriff! What can I do for you?” she asked smiling when she saw him. Tanner always thought she had a little crush on him. He knew she wasn’t meant for him, so he made sure to always be kind but courteously aloof to her. No reason to burst her bubble.
“Hi Kate, I was hoping to find you here,” Tanner said, taking off his cap.
“Oh you know me, the news waits for no one!” she said excitedly. Then blushed as she realized that was a dorky thing to say. Kate liked Sheriff Rochon, probably a little too much.