“Kim?” he called, his voice not very far off.
Meg’s heart slammed into her ribs. She inhaled sharply.
The underbrush rustled, pine needles crunched, twigs cracked. He’d left the road. He must have seen her.
She might be able to outrun him. She’d had a few minutes to rest, while he’d just arrived. Ha! Who was she kidding? He had a lot more stamina than she did. He was a former Marine. Anything she could do, he could probably do ten times better.
She peered around the tree, trying to see where he was.
He loomed in front of her, coming to a halt when he spied her on the ground. Meg jerked to her feet, brushing the dirt from her shorts.
“Are you hurt?” he asked. “Or were you just hiding from me?”
She took a step deeper into the forest, away from him. Heat crept into her cheeks. “Hiding.”
He flinched, looking wounded by her confession. Guilt trickled in. She didn’t want to hurt him. She just…couldn’t give him what she sensed he wanted. She couldn’t be what he needed. He wouldn’t understand. She wasn’t like most people. Intimacy scared her. Fear of rejection kept her from letting anyone get too close. She’d been rejected far too many times, seen the revulsion on people’s faces far too often when they realized what she was. When they realized her Tourette’s Syndrome wasn’t going to just go away.
Zach’s not like the others.
Did she really believe that? She wanted to. She wanted desperately to believe he’d been telling the truth when he’d said he wasn’t offended by her condition. But what if he hadn’t been honest with her? What if he’d only said that in an attempt to get what he wanted from her?
An unexpected sadness consumed her, an emptiness at the thought of having to push him away. She wanted him to be genuine, wanted him to truly care about her. But what if he wasn’t genuine? What if she had a bad tic one day and it freaked him out? She wouldn’t be able to bear his rejection. Just the thought of him turning away from her in disgust twisted her insides. She couldn’t let him any closer. She refused to let herself care about him.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She turned and sprinted into the trees. For a moment, she feared he would give chase, but she didn’t hear him running after her. Relieved that he’d let her go, she slowed her stride, then paused and listened. Not seeing him anywhere, she angled back toward the road. She didn’t want to get lost in the trees.
She glanced back again to see if he’d followed, then gave a startled cry when she slammed into something big and hard. Strong arms flew out to steady her and she gazed wide-eyed up at Zach, who’d somehow beat her through the forest and stealthily intercepted her just before she reached the road. She shouldn’t be surprised, she mused, as she glared up at him. The man was just too much.
Cradling her injured arm, which she’d accidentally banged into his stomach, she hissed in a breath. “Watch where you’re going!”
Zach crossed his arms over his chest and raised a brow. “You’re the one who ran into me.”
“I thought you were behind me.” She drew in several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
She felt a tic coming on and desperately fought it back. No. Not now! Control it...
“I went over to your house to see if you wanted to go for a run, but Curtis said I’d just missed you. So I decided to see if I could find you. I thought maybe you wanted to run together again.”
“Obviously I don’t.” She breathed in deeply, then out, forcing the tic back before it took control. “Or I would have you asked you to join me.” There. She let out a sigh of relief. She was in control.
She tried to step around him, but he blocked her path.
“Not so fast.” As he stared down at her, heat crept up her neck and flooded into her face.
“What?” She glared up at him. “Do I have a booger hanging out of my nose?”
He barked out a surprised laugh. Meg hesitated, then felt her lips twitching in response. Damn, the man was good looking when he smiled. He had an infectious laugh that made her want to join in.
“You missed a good fish fry,” he said softly.
Meg’s heart skipped a beat. She shrugged, trying to act like she didn’t care. “You needed to spend time with Kristen.”
He acknowledged that with a quick nod of his head. “True, but it would have been nice to have you there with us. We both wanted you to be there.”
Meg lowered her gaze. “I was busy.”
He didn’t comment on that. Finally, after a long moment of silence, he said, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Curtis hinted that you could be in danger. It’s not like I was stalking you or anything.”
Curtis better not have told Zach anything about Larry. He knew better than that. Meg cleared her throat. She would have to have a talk with Curtis about being discrete. “As you can see, I’m fine.”
“Are you?” He leaned closer. “You don’t look fine.”
Her heart skidded to a halt. “What do you mean? W-what do I look like?”
“Like a woman running scared. I can help you if you’ll just tell me what you’re so afraid of.”
She turned her head away. The only thing she was scared of at that precise moment was him. The tic slammed into her before she could stop it. “You, you, you.” She yanked at her ponytail, once, twice.
Heat crept into her cheeks when she realized she’d lost the battle and let the tic win. She cringed, expecting him to move away in revulsion, though she wasn’t sure why. He’d never looked disgusted by her tics before. Maybe a part of her wanted him to. Then it would be easier to keep him at a distance.
Instead, her admission seemed to take him aback. He stared at her for a long moment. “I knew it,” he whispered.
Meg backed away from him, fear clenching her gut. Her heart went wild, galloping crazily in her chest. “Can I go now? I want to finish my run.”
Zach stalked toward her. She sucked in a breath, held up her uninjured arm. “Stop. Don’t you dare come any closer.”
“Look at me like you did last night,” he whispered, his gaze intense on hers.
She stumbled back another step, her face on fire. “No.”
He bent down, angling his head so it was mere inches from hers. “Look at me like you did last night,” he repeated, “so I can prove to you that you’ll never want to run from me again. I won’t hurt you. That’s a promise.”
Meg gulped. Oh how she wanted...
“No. I can’t,” she squeaked. Her heart pounded so hard she was certain it was about to explode from her chest.
He paused, crossing his arms over his chest again. Leaning back, he eyed her closely. “What the hell did your husband do to you?”
Meg squeezed her eyes shut. She was not having this conversation with Zach. She couldn’t. He wouldn’t understand.
“It’s not about Evan.”
It’s about you.
She darted around him and headed for the road. She had to get away from him. He was pushing too hard, making her uncomfortable. She heard him sigh loudly behind her, but this time he didn’t follow.
When she arrived home twenty minutes later, she glanced back in time to see Zach veer off the road toward his house. He’d followed far enough behind her to see that she’d made it back okay, but not so close as to disturb her. Meg sank down onto the front lawn, breathing heavily. Her eyes filled with tears. Her chest constricted.
What was she going to do about Zach? He was determined, and pushy, and she knew he wouldn’t give up until he’d gotten the truth from her. She had to find a way to get rid of him. Though she didn’t like deceiving people, deceit was what had kept her alive this long. She hadn’t come this far to give up now. She’d been focused on revenge for so long she hadn’t let anything else cloud her vision. Zach was a distraction she didn’t need. He was taking up too much of her thoughts.
But he was a nice man. A good man. The thought of hurting him made her chest squeeze so
tightly she could barely breathe. She was starting to care about him way more than she wanted to.
She didn’t want to hurt him. But what choice did she have?
If Meg didn’t get him to back off, he would ruin everything.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
When Zach walked into the sheriff’s department Monday morning, his secretary told him Deputy Bailey was waiting for him in his office. Well, that was some good news. At least the man was alive. Maybe now Zach would get some real answers about how Kim had escaped. He’d sensed she hadn’t been telling him the entire truth about how she’d gotten away and how she’d made it back home. Though she wasn’t a suspect anymore, he was interested in what Bailey had to say. Curious to hear the man’s excuse for taking her out of the jail. Maybe now he’d find out what had really happened.
Ted Bailey rose from the chair he’d been fiddling in when Zach stepped into his office. Zach motioned the man back into the chair.
“Have a seat.” He came around his desk, pulled back his own chair, and settled into it. Eyeing Bailey, he said, “I assume you’ve come to explain why you removed a prisoner from the jail without anyone’s knowledge, then abandoned a county vehicle at Wal-Mart.”
Bailey nodded, his eyes flickering nervously. “Yes, sir, I did. I apologize for what happened. I was a fool and admit it.”
Zach quirked a brow.
Bailey cleared his throat. “She—the prisoner—said she would pay me ten grand if I let her go. She said her husband was rich and she wouldn’t have any problem accessing money. At first I told her no, she was crazy, but she said she was scared and that she hadn’t committed a crime and she didn’t understand why you had brought her in. Then she started crying and I felt so bad for her. I hate it when girls cry, I just...” He shrugged. “I felt sorry for her. And I could really use ten grand. So I decided to let her go. She told me to go to Wal-Mart and said her husband would come with the money. Only when we got to Wal-Mart, a guy jumped out from behind another car and grabbed my Taser off my belt.” His face turned beat red. “That was my fault, I know. I shouldn’t have let him get close enough to take my Taser. He shot me with it, grabbed the woman, and ran. When I came to, I was lying in the trees near the edge of the parking lot.” He cleared his throat, his gaze pleading as he looked across the desk at Zach. “I apologize, sir. I had a moment of weakness. I don’t deny I should be reprimanded, but I would like to come back to work if you’ll let me.”
Zach considered the young man for a long moment. He wasn’t quite sure what to believe. He could easily imagine Kim begging the guy to free her and to promise to pay him. But the part about meeting her husband at Wal-Mart…Kim’s husband was missing, supposedly dead. So why would she tell Bailey her husband would meet them at Wal-Mart with the money? Had Kim played Ted Bailey for a fool?
“So how did she get a hold of the husband to meet you at Wal-Mart?”
Deputy Bailey’s face turned even redder. “I-uh, let her use my cellphone.”
Zach considered that for a moment. That could have happened. But if it had, then Kim had lied to him. That meant she knew her husband was alive and she probably knew where he was. What kind of game was Kim playing?
“We didn’t find the car at Wal-Mart until afternoon,” Zach pointed out. “Was it there all day and no one noticed it? And where were you when we discovered the car? Why did you abandon it?”
Deputy Bailey cleared his throat. “I-uh, they stole the car and left me there. I had to hitch a ride. It took a while.”
Zach wasn’t sure if he bought that, but he was willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. “So they must have brought the car back to Wal-Mart later and dropped it off after you left.”
Bailey shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“What did the guy who stole your Taser look like?”
Bailey reddened. “I-uh, I didn’t get a good look at his face. He was tall. And he was wearing a hoodie.”
Zach nodded slowly. Curtis was tall, but Evan Ambrose was only of average height. Interesting. Could Curtis have been Kim’s partner in crime?
“Let me conduct an investigation into this matter. I’ll have to discuss the situation with the county commissioners and get back to you in a few days to let you know our decision. In the meantime, you’ll be placed on administrative leave, without pay. What you did was not only improper, but against county policy. You could be facing some jail time, or at the very least, some community service hours.”
Ted Bailey paled. He gave a nervous nod and rose from the chair. “Yes, sir.”
When the man reached the door to Zach’s office, Zach said, “I hope you’re telling me the truth.”
Bailey jerked his head in another nod. “I am, sir. I’m sorry.”
After Ted Bailey left, Zach stared out the doorway into the empty hallway. He wasn’t sure who to believe at this point. He would have to question Kim about it later, see if she changed her story. He wasn’t sure if Bailey was telling the whole truth. But unfortunately, he wasn’t sure if Kim had been telling the whole truth either.
* * *
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Meg whispered. She rifled through the empty pocket of her purse where she’d stashed a hundred grand in cash the day she’d fled Spokane. She hadn’t wanted to leave a trail of electronic transactions for Larry or anyone else to follow, so she’d withdrawn enough from the bank to purchase the cabin and a little extra to get by until she took care of Larry. There’d been a little over ten grand left after she purchased the cabin.
The cash was gone.
Someone had cleaned her out.
Though it pained her, she had no doubt who had stolen it.
“Dammit!” she hissed. Why would he do this?
“Curtis!” she screamed, marching down the hallway toward the guest bedroom where he had been staying. She knocked loudly.
No answer.
She knocked again.
Still, no answer.
Meg turned the knob and shoved the door open. The bed was empty, the sheets a tangled mess. Curtis was nowhere to be seen.
“Damn him,” she muttered. “I let him stay here for free and this is how he repays me? He steals all my money?”
Meg groaned. They’d had an argument last night when she’d confronted him about his drug use. Curtis had gotten angry and said he needed the drugs to cope. She’d countered that she suffered the same condition he did and she didn’t need drugs to cope. He’d then gotten all teary eyed and said she was stronger than him and always had been. Meg had sighed, trying not to feel pity for him, and had gone to bed.
Apparently their argument had upset Curtis to the point that he’d taken all her money and left. Damn him. She couldn’t go back into Spokane to Evan’s bank to draw out more cash and risk being seen by Larry or his goons. Besides, she refused to touch any more of Evan’s money, at least until after his body was found. She had no intention of giving the cops deeper suspicion than they already had.
She didn’t dare use her bank card as it would leave an electronic trail for Larry to follow. Damn Curtis. What should she do? She doubted he could have gone too far on foot. He may have hitched a ride into Sandpoint, though more than likely he’d walked.
He left her no choice but to go down to the sheriff’s department and file a police report. She didn’t want to do that, but Curtis had stolen from her. If she filed a police report, the cops would start looking for him. Hopefully they’d find him before he spent all her money.
And before he got hurt.
Meg was pretty sure Larry was looking for Curtis too, now that he’d helped her escape. If Larry caught Curtis, Meg knew he wouldn’t be merciful. But if she filed a police report, she had no idea who might apprehend Curtis.
What if she went to Zach and asked him to secretly find Curtis and bring him in? Then she could be sure Curtis wasn’t harmed. Would Zach help her? Could she make a deal with him that if he found Curtis and brought him in unharmed, then she’d tell him her real name?
She cringed at the thought of telling Zach anything. But she could always back out of the deal once Zach found Curtis and returned her money to her.
He’d be pissed. But it wouldn’t be the first time she’d lied to him. If it helped to keep Curtis safe, and she got her money back, it would be worth it.
If Zach refused, then she would have no choice but to go to Spokane and draw out more money. But she would only do that as a last resort.
Grabbing the keys to her Jeep, Meg snatched up her purse and headed into town.
A half hour later she found a parking spot right out front of the sheriff’s office. Then she sat in the Jeep in indecision for several minutes, unsure if she could really do this.
Reminding herself that Curtis had stolen from her and that he needed to be caught as quickly as possible, Meg shoved open the car door. She headed for the entrance.
It was for Curtis’s own good, she told herself as she yanked open the outer door to the building. He had to learn that he couldn’t get away with stealing.
She just hoped she could pull this off.
The deputy behind the counter told her to take a seat and that the sheriff would be right with her.
Zach appeared moments later, looking imposing in his black uniform, his expression unreadable. Meg bolted to her feet, her heart pounding.
“Everything okay?”
She shook her head. “I…need to talk to you.”
His gaze probed hers. “Come on back.” He turned and headed down a short hallway, entering the room at the end. “Have a seat.” He motioned toward the two worn chairs sitting in front of a large oak desk.
Meg sank into the closest chair as he closed the door and came around to sit behind the desk. She glanced around. The office was simple and neat. The furniture old, but clean. His degrees hung on the wall behind his desk, along with various other certificates he’d received from his career in law enforcement. A stack of files sat on the edge of his desk and an open file was spread out across the center of his desk, papers sitting in front of him. She must have interrupted him from something. She would have to make this quick.
Deceived (Unlikely Heroes Book 3) Page 15