“Can you describe the pickup?” She held her cell between them so Zach could hear.
“No, I didn’t get close enough. I heard it coming from the left side of the house. I went around the corner and started into the yard. The lighting over there isn’t good. I saw a tire and was lifting my flashlight to get a better look at the vehicle when I was struck.”
“Did you get that? Okay. Thanks.” Chloe slipped her phone back in her pocket. “Zach said that’s where the old Ford F-150 is kept. Aaron drives it when he’s home.”
“So Aaron hit me?”
“Maybe. What did you find with the footprints?”
“Only one set under the window, which leads me to think it was Aaron. Probably alone, but maybe with a friend.”
“I’ll go up and get Mary and Paul. We’ll need a description and license number if the Ford F-150 is gone. Then you’re going to the hospital.”
“No. I’m okay. I promise I’ll tell you if the signs of a concussion worsen. I’m not dizzy anymore, and I can take something for my headache. See if they have something for one. Aaron may have decided to leave, but he’s still in danger. He’s a kid. He doesn’t realize the danger he’s in. The kidnapping of a child is a parent’s worst nightmare.”
“Don’t say anything to Mary or Paul. They are already beside themselves.” Chloe ascended the stairs and disappeared down the hall.
T.J. clutched the railing and pulled himself to his feet. There was a guest bathroom off the foyer. He went in and did the best he could to wash the blood off the side of his head behind his left ear. Grimacing, he patted the area with a wet cloth.
When he reappeared in the foyer, Paul, Mary and Vickie stood at the bottom of the steps.
Vickie saw his injury and scurried toward the kitchen, muttering about a bandage and some pain relief in the first-aid kit.
“The sheriff is almost here. Aaron has a 2006 Ford F-150. This is the license number.” Paul handed T.J. a slip of paper. “The pickup can’t go over fifty miles an hour without problems. It’s really only good for around here or in town.”
“Where do you think he went?” T.J. dug into his pocket for his set of keys.
“Not Brett’s. I talked with the kid’s parents. I would guess back to school, but then I really don’t know my son as well as I should. I didn’t think he would be stupid enough to leave.” Frustration and concern weaved through Paul’s words.
Chloe snatched the keys from T.J. “He hasn’t been gone that long. I’m leaving and heading back toward Houston. I can make up some time in your car and possibly catch up with him.” She held out her hand. “The license number, please.”
“I’m going with you.”
“You can’t. Someone has to stay back here with our clients, and if you have a problem, you need to be near medical help.” Chloe took the paper from T.J. and then turned to Paul. “If you need to, ask the sheriff for assistance keeping you all safe.”
“He’ll give it to me. Bring my son home, then we’ll have a heart-to-heart about his leaving.” Paul set his mouth in a deep frown, but his eyes were full of concern—two intense emotions fighting for dominance.
Chloe walked toward the front door.
“Wait,” T.J. called out and made his way to her.
“Call me every twenty minutes and let me know what’s going on.”
She grinned. “I’m not going to take offense to that, but I’m a big girl and have been a bodyguard for years.”
“That won’t stop me from worrying.”
Her smile grew. “I know. I’d worry about you, too.” Then she was out the door.
“There you are,” Vickie said behind him. “C’mon and sit down so I can tend to your injury. I’ve patched up the ranch hands and have become quite good at doing it.”
T.J. released his frustration in a long, drawn-out exhalation.
* * *
With her cell phone hooked up to T.J.’s car, Chloe could call safely and still go sixty-five. The sheriff had arrived as she left the ranch and was having his two deputies work with the cowhands to search the area.
Checking in with T.J. for the first time, Chloe scanned the cars as she approached and passed them. “What if Aaron is somewhere at the ranch having a good laugh right about now?”
“He won’t be laughing when I get through with him.”
“You okay?”
“I’ve had better days. Paul has a friend who’s a doctor. He’s paying us a call and will take a look. If I didn’t agree, Paul was going to have the sheriff drive me to the hospital.”
“A doctor making a house call? I guess it pays to know people. Did the sheriff put a BOLO out on Aaron and the Ford F-150?”
“Yes, and he and his deputies are canvassing the area, especially around the main house.”
“Good. Take it easy. Bye.”
As she started to hang up, she heard T.J. say, “Don’t forget to call in twenty minutes.”
Chloe punched the off button and increased her speed by five miles per hour. She didn’t like being away from her client, but then she guessed Aaron was their client, too—whether he liked it or not.
Ten minutes later, she saw the black Ford F-150 with the correct license plate number. She came right up behind him and flashed her lights. The truck picked up speed. She easily kept up with it, and after five miles, she passed Aaron to force him to stop. Slamming on her brakes, she turned the wheel and blocked the two-lane highway. Aaron came to a halt a couple of feet from T.J.’s Jeep.
She got out of the car, and when the teen opened his door, she shouted, “Park on the side of the road. You’re coming back with me.”
“I can drive back.” Frustration and something she couldn’t quite put her finger on filled his voice. Fear? If he had been afraid, then why did he run away?
“No. Move it now.” She poured all her anger into her words, determined the kid understood she wouldn’t put up with his antics. Part of her prepared to chase after him in the opposite direction, if need be.
But to her surprise, the teenager did as he was told and stormed to T.J.’s Jeep, glaring over the roof at her. “I can make my own decisions. I’ll be seventeen in a few months. I need to go back to Houston.”
“Then start acting like the mature adult that you claim you are and get in my car. Your life is more important than attending school at the moment. Your parents have it worked out with Bethany Academy. Your friends will understand. If not, they aren’t your friends.”
He wrenched open the door and climbed in. Chloe peered up at the nearly full moon. Lord, I need Your help to get through to this child the danger he could be in.
As she restarted the car, she slanted a look at Aaron. “What did you think your parents would do when they discovered you were gone? Let you stay at school in danger? They love you.”
“They have a great way of showing it,” Aaron mumbled and averted his head to stare out the side window.
“Before you go into your pouting routine, use the phone and call your parents to let them know you’re coming back to the ranch with me.”
“You do it. I don’t feel like talking to them. I want to be in Houston.”
One. Two. Three. Giving up counting to ten, Chloe chewed on her bottom lip to keep her retort inside. At the moment, Aaron wasn’t listening to anything she said.
Chloe called the ranch. “Mary, I’ve got your son with me. We’re heading back to the ranch. We left the truck at the side of the road. Someone should go and pick it up tomorrow.”
“Thank You, Lord. I’m so glad you found him. Tell him I love him and don’t want anything to happen to him.”
“I will. How’s T.J. doing?” She wished she were there in person to make sure he was okay.
“The doc says he should be all right, but if anything changes, he’ll need
to go to the hospital for tests.”
“See you all in about half an hour.” When she hung up, she looked toward Aaron.
With his shoulders hunched, he’d almost turned his whole body away.
“Did you hit T.J. over the head so you could get away?”
“No,” he mumbled, hunkering over even more, his arms folded over his chest.
Chloe suspected if he could crawl under the seat, he would have. “You’re the only one who had a reason to.”
He swiveled toward her. “I’m not lying! I didn’t!” His shouts bombarded her. The fury flowed off him.
She gritted her teeth and concentrated on getting them back to the ranch. Aaron wasn’t out of danger. There was thirty miles between here and the ranch.
* * *
After a search of the area around the house, T.J. and Paul went to talk to Sheriff Landon and Zach in the living room. When they entered, T.J. found the sheriff, a deputy and Shane Clapton, who had been with Zach earlier.
“Where’s Zach?” T.J. asked, not sure of Shane’s position at the ranch other than ranch hand.
“I fill in for the foreman when Zach’s busy somewhere else. One of the horses is giving birth and there’s a problem.” The man, who was about thirty-five years old with a receding hairline, glanced at Paul. “Zach can handle it, Mr. Zimmerman. He told me to tell you not to worry.”
“I’m sure he can. Did you find anything to explain who attacked T.J.?”
Shane glanced at the sheriff, who answered, “No signs. There are a lot of footprints around in the dirt near where you were found, but a lot of them were Zach’s and Shane’s. The tennis-shoe print under the window matched the one where the car was, which I’m gonna assume is your son’s.”
“Were the tennis-shoe prints found around where T.J. went down?”
“No, but there’s a lot of grass in the area and the footprints wouldn’t show up well there.” The sheriff put his cowboy hat back on. “I understand you’re hiring some guards for outside and bringing in dogs? I’ll be back tomorrow to have a word with your son, Paul. In the meantime, I’m leaving a deputy out on the verandah.”
“Yes, Sheriff Landon. Thanks for coming.” T.J. escorted the trio to the door, then locked it behind them and pivoted toward his client, who was hanging back by the living room.
“If my son did this to you, I’ll...” Paul’s face fell, his coloring pale, his eyes haunted.
“Let’s not speculate. Let’s hear what he has to say.”
“But he was trying to get away. Who else would have done it?”
“I don’t know. But we need to assume the person in Dallas did it. I’d rather think the worst-case scenario.”
Paul laughed, no humor in the sound. “I think my son doing it is the worst-case scenario.”
T.J. didn’t say anything else. He’d rather deal with the teenager than an assailant moving freely around the ranch. If there was someone out there, T.J.’s appearance outside might have prevented Aaron from being kidnapped, which only reinforced the fact the dogs and guards were vital.
* * *
Ten minutes from the ranch, Aaron finally broke the silence in the car. “I didn’t hit Mr. Davenport.”
“You’ll get a chance to tell him and your dad. But if you’re right, then that probably means the stalker after your parents has been at the ranch and could be hiding somewhere there now.”
“Why? They aren’t doing their book tour anymore.”
“The person’s purpose may be more than stopping the tour. Maybe he hates what your parents stand for or has some grudge against them.”
“Then wouldn’t they know that?”
“Not necessarily. Some people simmer until rage finally explodes in them.”
Chloe crested a hill and saw the four-way stop sign at the bottom. She began to slow down, putting her foot on the brake. It went all the way to the floor and nothing happened. T.J.’s car picked up speed, careening down the incline.
NINE
“What are you doing? Slow down,” Aaron shouted at Chloe.
Chloe gripped the steering wheel, pumping the pedal. “I can’t. The brakes have gone out.”
“What? Do something!”
She didn’t see any headlights approaching the four-way stop, but she lay on her horn as she flew through the intersection. A stretch of level road with a shoulder gave her an idea. She drove off the highway and along the graveled edge as she pulled the emergency brake up.
The car came to a stop half off the pavement. Chloe leaned against the steering wheel, her hands still clasping it so hard, pain streaked up her arm.
Aaron collapsed forward, sucking in short, shallow breaths. “We could have died. What if a car had been coming?”
“There wasn’t one, and we’re all right. That’s what is important.” Her hands shaking, she placed another call to the ranch.
When T.J. answered, he asked immediately without saying hello, “Where are you? I’ll feel better when you get back here.”
“I’m about six miles away on the highway going east about five hundred yards from the four-way stop sign. I didn’t have a wreck, but I need someone to come pick up Aaron and me. The brakes gave out on your car.”
“You had no warning?”
“No. It was sudden.”
“Both sets of brakes failed?”
“Yep, back and front.”
“I’ll get someone to pick you up. I think I can catch the sheriff. I want a mechanic to check what caused them to fail at the same time.”
With T.J.’s injury and the brakes going out in his car, it was obvious the assailant would go through the bodyguards to get to the couple.
* * *
T.J. came into the house through the front door and walked into the living room, where Mary, Paul and Chloe sat, discussing the addition of two dogs and several extra guards the day before. “The mechanic just delivered my car. Someone tampered with the physical linkage from the pedal to the brake master cylinder. I’m moving my Jeep into your three-car garage where we can protect it with your two vehicles. I don’t want them sitting outside unattended. We don’t need a repeat of last night.” T.J. glanced around. “I thought Aaron was going to join you all.”
“No, he’s been holed up in his room on the phone a lot.” Chloe shoved to her feet and began prowling the room. “Once we started talking about suspects, he was out of here. And I just came back from checking on him. It won’t be as easy for him to try running away with the guards and dogs in the yard. That’s why he took off two nights ago.”
Mary stared out the window. “What a gray morning. The weather isn’t helping my mood.” She angled toward Paul next to her on the couch. “I’m not looking forward to going to Harrison’s memorial service. What if something happens there?”
“It’s outside in the park that he helped fund for the town. He was a good friend and he specifically asked for me to speak at his memorial service. I can’t say no. His family is expecting me.”
“After what happened in Dallas, I would think they would want us as far from the memorial service as possible.”
Paul swallowed hard. “He was my best friend, and he passed away on his trip to Europe, his last hurrah before the cancer took him. I need to say goodbye to him.”
“The sheriff and deputies will be there, as well as me and T.J. It’s hard to hide something in an open field.” Chloe leaned into the back of the lounge chair, grasping the top of the cushion.
“I’m just not myself lately. I’m tired, mentally and physically.” Mary twisted her hands together in her lap.
Paul cupped them. “You should stay here with Chloe and the guards we hired. I’ll feel better if you rest. We both don’t need to be a target.”
Mary blanched. “Don’t say that.”
“I’ve got an even better idea. You haven’t had a chance to work in your greenhouse since we went on the speaking tour. I know there are things you need to do in there. Show Chloe some of the orchids you’re growing.”
“I can’t do that. What will people—”
“We’ve never done things because of what people will think,” Paul interrupted his wife. “Harrison wasn’t your friend, but mine, and under the circumstances they’ll understand.”
Mary collapsed back against the couch. “I’ve been fretting about that since you reminded me of the memorial service yesterday. So much around here has changed. It’s hard to take it all in.”
Paul kissed her cheek. “Now you don’t have to worry. You were supposed to work in the greenhouse yesterday, but then the day slipped by before you knew it.”
Watching the married couple only reinforced T.J.’s desire to experience a relationship like what Paul and Mary had. That respect and understanding of each other was what he wanted, the same as what he’d seen when his parents were together.
His gaze skipped to Chloe observing the couple, too. Why hadn’t it worked for them? Too young? They hadn’t wanted to make that kind of commitment? Or was it fear? He’d known about Chloe’s father being in the navy and always gone and the effect it had had on her mother. The type of job he and Chloe had chosen often caused them to be away from their home for weeks, possibly months, at a time. She wasn’t exposed to two parents openly sharing their respect and love for each other like he had been, and yet he had hesitated, too, nine years ago. He should have come back to Dallas when Chloe’s mother was better and persuaded Chloe to follow him to Washington. But then, that had been the first time he’d encountered a man he respected a lot and guarded dallying with a woman who wasn’t his wife. Although not unusual for a person to have an affair, he hadn’t thought the man he was assigned to was like that. His trust had been shaken and he’d never totally gotten it back.
“T.J.”
He finally heard his name being called and dragged his focus away from what could have been. “Yes,” he said to Chloe.
“When are you and Paul leaving?”
Bodyguard Reunion Page 11