“No. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there. He could have been out of camera range.”
Beck snared Faith’s gaze. “Does this mean you’re leaving?”
She didn’t jump to defend herself. Her mouth tightened, she kissed the top of Aubrey’s head and looked at Sgt. Caldwell. “They want me to be bait.”
Beck repeated that, certain he’d misunderstood. “Bait?”
“An enticement,” the Ranger clarified. “We believe there’s only one person who can get Darin Matthews to surrender peacefully, and that’s his sister.”
True. But Beck could see the Texas-size holes in this so-called plan. “She’s got a kid. Being bait isn’t safe for either of them.”
Sgt. Caldwell nodded. “We’re going to minimize the risks.”
“How?” Beck demanded.
“By making her brother think he can get to her. No matter where she goes, she’ll be in danger. Her baby, too. My lieutenant thinks it’s best if we make a stand. Here. Where we know Darin is.”
Beck cursed under his breath, but he bit off the rest of the profanity when he realized Aubrey was smiling at him. “So what’s the plan to keep her and that little girl safe?”
“The lieutenant wants to set up a trap to lure Darin back. We’ll alert all the businesses in town and the surrounding area to be on the lookout for Matthews. Meanwhile, we’ll put security measures in place for Ms. Matthews’s house while she’s at the hotel tonight.”
“Her house?” Beck questioned. He didn’t like anything about this plan. “You honestly expect her to stay there after what happened tonight? Someone threw rocks through her window.”
Another nod. “She won’t actually be staying at the house. She’ll just make an appearance of sorts, but we’ll tell everyone in town that’s where she’ll be staying.”
Beck felt a little relief. “So Faith and her daughter will be going to a safe house?”
The sergeant glanced back at Faith, and it was she who continued. “Not exactly. I can’t live in a safe house for the rest of my life, and Darin won’t be able to find me if I’m hidden away. So the Rangers want to set up a secure place for Aubrey and the nanny. I’ll be there, too, while making appearances at my house to coax out Darin. Obviously, we can’t have Aubrey in harm’s way, but my brother would know something was up if Aubrey’s in one location and I’m in another. So we have to make it look as if she’s with me even though she’ll be far from danger.” She paused, moistened her lips. “I’m hoping it won’t take long for my brother to show, especially since he’s already in the area.”
So she agreed with this plan. But for someone in agreement, she certainly didn’t seem pleased about it.
“If it weren’t for Aubrey, I would have never gone along with this,” she stated.
Confused, Beck shook his head. “Excuse me?”
“She means the protective custody issue,” Sgt. Caldwell explained.
Beck sure didn’t like the sound of this. “What about it? She doesn’t want to be in the Rangers’ protective custody?”
“No.” Faith hesitated after her terse answer. “I don’t want Aubrey to be in yours.”
“Mine?” Beck felt as if someone had slugged him.
“Yours,” Caldwell verified. “The Rangers will continue to provide you assistance on the case, but with a possible suspect in your jurisdiction, this is now your investigation, Sheriff Tanner.”
“What are you saying exactly?”
The Ranger looked him straight in the eyes. “I’m saying we’ll need your help. We can’t risk it being leaked that Ms. Matthews really isn’t staying at her place. And we can’t keep her real whereabouts concealed if she’s in the hotel for any length of time. There are too many employees there who could let it slip.”
Beck’s hands went on his hips. “So where do you propose her daughter and she go?”
“First, to the hotel to give us time to set up some security. Then, when everything’s in place, they can go to your house. Her daughter will be in your protective custody.” The Ranger didn’t even hesitate.
It took Beck a moment to get his jaw unclenched so he could speak. “Let me get this straight. I’ll become a bodyguard and babysitter in my own home?”
Sgt. Caldwell gave a crisp nod. “Protecting the child will be your primary task.” The Ranger glanced at Faith again. Frowned. Then turned back to Beck. “Ms. Matthews has refused to be in your protective custody.”
Her left eyebrow lifted a fraction when Beck’s attention landed on her. “Yet you’d trust me with your daughter?” Beck asked.
“This wasn’t her idea,” Sgt. Caldwell interjected, though Faith had already opened her mouth to answer. “I had to convince her that this was the fastest and most efficient way to keep the child safe. And as for her not being in your protective custody, well, you can call it what you want, but it won’t change what you have to do.”
Beck stared at the Ranger. “And what exactly do I have to do?”
Sgt. Caldwell stared back. “Once we have this plan in place, Faith and her daughter’s safety will be your responsibility.”
CHAPTER FOUR
This was not the homecoming Faith had planned.
From the window of the third-floor “VIP suite” of the Bluebonnet Hotel, she stared down at the town’s equivalent of morning rush hour. Cars trickled along the two-lane Main Street flanked with refurbished antique streetlights. The sidewalks were busy but not exactly bustling as people walked past the rows of quaint shops and businesses. Many of the townsfolk stopped to say “Good morning.”
There were lots of smiles.
She wanted to be part of what was going on below. She wanted to dive right into her new life. But instead she was stuck inside the hotel, waiting for “orders” from Beck and the Texas Rangers, while one of Beck’s deputies guarded the door to make sure no one got in.
The three-room suite was a nice enough place with its soothing Southwest decor. Her and Aubrey’s room was small but tastefully decorated with cool aqua walls and muted coral bedding. Marita’s room was similar, just slightly smaller, and the shared sitting room had a functional, golden-pine desk and a Saltillo tile floor.
It reminded Faith of a gilded cage.
Of course, anything less than getting on with her new life would feel that way.
She forced herself to finish the now cold coffee that room service had delivered an hour earlier. She already had a pounding headache, and without the caffeine, it would only get worse. She had to be able to think clearly today.
What she really needed was a new plan.
Or a serious modification of the present one.
Aubrey was now in Beck’s protective custody and he was responsible for her safety. Right. What was wrong with this picture?
She went back to the desk, sank down onto the chair and glanced at the notes she’d made earlier. It was her list of possible courses of action. Unfortunately, the list was short.
Option one: she could immediately leave LaMesa Springs, and go into hiding. But that would be no life for Aubrey. Besides, she had to work. She couldn’t live off her savings for more than six months at most.
Faith crossed off option one.
Option two: she could arrange for a private bodyguard. Again, that would eat into her savings, but it was a short-term solution that she would definitely consider. Plus, she knew someone in the business, and while things hadn’t worked out personally between them, she hoped he could give her a good deal.
And then there was option three, and it would have to be paired with option two: try to speed up her brother’s and Nolan’s captures. The only problem was that other than making herself an even more obvious target, she wasn’t sure how to do that. Maybe she could make an appeal on the local TV or radio stations? Or maybe she could just step foot inside her house a few times.
She already felt like a target anyway.
Frustrated, she set her coffee cup aside and grabbed a pen, hoping to add to the meager list. She sat, pen poised but u
nmoving over the paper, and she waited for inspiration to strike. It didn’t.
The bedroom door opened, and Marita came out. Behind her toddled Aubrey, dressed in a pink eyelet lace dress, white leggings and black baby saddle oxfords. Just the sight of her instantly lightened Faith’s mood.
“’i,” Aubrey greeted her. It was her latest attempt at “hi” and she added a wave to it.
“Hi, yourself.” Faith scooped her up in her arms and kissed her on the cheek.
“She ate every bite of her oatmeal,” Marita reported. “And getting to bed so late doesn’t seem to have bothered her.” Marita patted her hand over a big yawn. “Wish I could say the same for my old bones.”
“Yes. I’m sorry about that.”
“Not your fault.” Marita went to the window and looked out. “You warned me that some folks in this town wouldn’t open their arms to you.” She paused. “Guess Sheriff Tanner is one of those folks.”
It wasn’t a question, but Faith knew the woman wanted and deserved answers. After all, Marita had essentially been part of her family since Faith had hired her fifteen months ago as Aubrey’s nanny. Faith had gotten Marita through an employment agency, but their short history together didn’t diminish her feelings and respect for Marita.
“I left town ten years ago because of a scandal,” Faith said, hoping she could get this out without emotion straining her voice. “Beck saw me coming out of a motel with his brother, Pete. His married brother. Word quickly got around, and his brother’s wife attempted suicide because she was so distraught. Beck blames me for that.”
Marita turned from the window, folded her arms over her chest and stared at Faith. “You were with the sheriff’s married brother?”
Aubrey started to fuss when she spotted the stuffed armadillo on the settee, and Faith eased her to the floor so she could go after it.
“I was with him at the hotel.” But Faith shook her head. She wasn’t explaining this to Beck, who would challenge her every word. Marita would believe her. “But I didn’t have sex with him. It didn’t help that I couldn’t tell the whole truth.” She lowered her voice so that Aubrey wouldn’t hear, even though she was much too young to understand. “It also didn’t help that there were used condoms in the motel room. And when Beck found us, Pete was groping at me.”
Marita made a sound of displeasure. “Beck was an idiot not to see what was really going on. You’re not the sort to go after a married man.” She glanced at the papers on the desk and frowned again. “Is that what I think it is?” Marita pointed to the document header, Last Will and Testament.
“I wrote it this morning.” She noted the shocked look on Marita’s face. “No, I’m not planning to die anytime soon. I just need to let someone know that he won’t inherit anything in the event of my demise.”
Faith didn’t have time to explain that further because her cell phone rang. Since she was expecting several important calls, she answered it right away.
“Zack Henley,” the caller identified himself. “I’m the driver who took you from the airport to LaMesa Springs last night. You left a message with my boss saying to call you, that it was important.”
“It is. I need to know if you told anyone that you’d taken me to my house.”
“Told anyone?” he repeated. He sounded not only surprised but cautious.
Faith rephrased it. “Is it possible that someone in LaMesa Springs learned that you had driven me to my house?”
He stayed quiet a moment. “I might have mentioned it to the guy at the convenience store.”
That grabbed her attention. “Which guy and which convenience store?”
“Doolittle’s, I think is the name of it.”
The same store where her brother had been sighted. “And who did you tell about me?”
“I didn’t tell, exactly. I mean, I didn’t go in the place to blab about you, but the guy asked me what a cab driver was doing in LaMesa Springs, and I told him I’d dropped someone off on County Line Road. He asked who, and I told him. I knew your name because you paid with your credit card, and you didn’t say anything about keeping it a secret.”
No. She hadn’t, but she also hadn’t expected to be threatened with those tossed rocks. Or with the possibility that her brother had been the one to do the threatening. “Describe the person you spoke to.”
“What’s this all about?” he asked.
“Just describe him please.” Faith used her courtroom voice, hoping it would save time.
“I don’t remember how he looked, but he was the clerk behind the counter. A young kid. Maybe nineteen or twenty. Oh, yeah, and he had a snake tattoo on his neck.”
She released the breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding and jotted down the description. That wasn’t a description of her brother. But it didn’t mean this clerk hadn’t said something to anyone else. Or her brother could have even been there, listening.
“Thank you,” she told the cab driver.
Faith hung up and grabbed the Yellow Pages so she could find the number of the convenience store. She had to talk to that clerk. But before she could even locate the number, there was a knock at the door. Faith reached for her pepper spray, only to remind herself that there was a deputy outside and that a killer probably wouldn’t knock first.
“It’s me, Beck,” the visitor called out.
Faith groaned, unlocked the door and opened it. It was Beck all right. Wearing jeans, a blue button-up and a walnut-colored, leather rodeo jacket. The jacket wasn’t a fashion statement, though on him it could have been. It was as well-worn as his jeans and cowboy boots.
“My deputy needed a break,” Beck explained. He didn’t move closer until Aubrey came walking his way.
“’i,” Aubrey said, grinning from ear to ear. It was adorable. But in Faith’s opinion that cuteness was aimed at the wrong person.
Beck, however, obviously wasn’t able to resist that grin either because he smiled and stepped around Faith to come inside the suite.
“Is she ever in a bad mood?” he asked, keeping his focus on Aubrey.
“Wait ’til nap time,” Marita volunteered. Unlike Aubrey’s cheerfulness, Marita’s voice had an unfriendly edge to it.
When Aubrey began to babble and show Beck the armadillo, he knelt down so that he’d be at her eye level. “That’s a great-looking toy you got there.”
“Dee-o,” Aubrey explained, giving him her best attempt to say “armadillo.” She put the toy right in Beck’s face and didn’t pull it back until he’d kissed it.
Aubrey giggled and threw her arms around Beck’s neck as if she’d known him her entire life. The hug was brief, mere seconds, before she pulled back and pointed to the silver badge he had clipped to his belt.
“See?” Aubrey said. “Wanta see.”
And much to Faith’s surprise, Beck unclipped it and handed it to her so she could “see.”
Frustrated with the friendly exchange, Faith shut the door with more force than necessary. Beck seemed to become aware of the awkward situation, and he stood.
“We need to talk,” he told her, suddenly sounding very sherifflike.
That was obviously Marita’s cue to give them some privacy, so she came across the room and picked up Aubrey. However, she stopped and looked at Beck. “Maybe this time you’ll be willing to see the truth,” she snarled. She took the badge from Aubrey and handed it back to him.
“What does that mean?” Beck asked, volleying confused glances between Faith and Marita.
“Nothing,” Faith said at the same time that Marita said, “She wasn’t with your brother that night. Faith’s not like that.”
And with that declaration which would be hard to explain, Marita started walking. Aubrey waved and said, “Bye-bye,” before the two disappeared into the bedroom.
“Don’t ask,” Faith warned him.
“Why not?”
“Because you won’t believe me.”
He lifted his shoulder. “What’s not to believe? Didn’t you
tell me the truth ten years ago?”
“I told you I hadn’t slept with your brother. That’s the truth.”
“He said otherwise.”
She huffed and wondered why she was still trying to explain this all this time later. “Pete was drunk, and he lied, maybe because he was too drunk to know the truth. Or maybe because he didn’t want you to know what’d really happened. I didn’t seduce him, and I didn’t take him to that motel. The only thing I tried to do was get him out of there.”
Faith stopped when she noted his stony expression. “You know what? Enough of this. I don’t owe you anything.” To give herself a moment to calm down, she went to the desk and glanced at the notes she’d taken earlier. “I need to question a clerk at Doolittle’s convenience store. The cabbie who drove me home told this clerk that I was in town. I want to find out who else knew so I can figure out who threw those rocks.”
Beck just stared at her.
Unnerved and still riled, Faith continued, “You said we had something to discuss, and I don’t think you meant personal stuff.”
“Why would Pete lie about being with you?” He walked closer, stopping just a few inches away.
Why didn’t he just drop this? “Ask him. For now, stick to business, Sheriff.”
“The personal stuff between us keeps interfering with the business.”
He caught her arm when she started to move away. Faith looked down at his grip, but he didn’t let go of her. He kept those gunmetal-blue eyes nailed to her, and though she hadn’t thought it possible, he got even closer. So close that she could smell coffee and sugar on his breath.
Faith hiked up her chin and met his gaze. “Be careful,” she warned. She meant her voice to sound sharp and stern. It didn’t quite work out that way.
Because something changed.
With his hand on her, with him so close, old feelings began to tug at her. She’d once been hotly attracted to him. A lifetime ago. But those years suddenly seemed to melt away.
She was still attracted to him. And this time, she didn’t think it was one-sided.
She was toast.
“The Rangers installed some security equipment at your house,” Beck said. His voice wasn’t strained. Nor angry. He sounded confused, and the subject didn’t fit the slow simmer in the air.
Branded by the Sheriff Page 4