Not Quite Broken: A Callaghan Family & Friends Romance

by Abbie Zanders

  “Let’s head back and share the info. Now that we have a location, we can narrow our efforts.” Jack put a hand on Brian’s shoulder. “We will find her.”

  Yeah, they would. The question was, what kind of shape would she be in when they did?

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “If you do anything to hurt or scare him, I’ll kill you,” Joe warned.

  “He’s a child,” Tori said, her posture stiffening. “I would never hurt a child.”

  “You might, if you thought it would save yourself.”

  “No, not even then.”

  He didn’t believe her, that much was obvious. Repeating herself wouldn’t change that. She was just going to have to convince him through actions instead, at least until she could get help.

  He let her see the gleaming blade of his knife as he leaned out the doorway and called, “Danny, come in here and let Tori take a look at you.”

  The little boy walked in slowly. Judging by the way he shuffled his feet and kept his head down, he didn’t want to.

  “Don’t be afraid, Danny,” Tori told him gently. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “I know.”

  At Joe’s request, Tori examined Danny. Her heart ached for the pain he must have gone through, and even more for what he must have endured afterward. Kids—and—adults could be unbelievably cruel and insensitive.

  The damage to the flesh had been extensive and some of his muscles had been affected as well. Overall, though, she believed he could see some improvement with physical therapy. She told them as much.

  “Really?” Danny asked hopefully.

  “Really,” she answered.

  “Danny, go on upstairs,” Joe commanded. “I need to talk to Tori for a few minutes.”

  Danny gave her an impulsive hug, which she returned, then left the room.

  “Did you mean it?” Joe asked.

  “Yes. Massage, acupressure, and regular exercise should improve his strength and flexibility,” she said carefully, “but it won’t be easy, especially at first. What he really needs is a doctor who specializes in—”

  “Doctors,” Joe sneered. “He’s seen dozens of them. I’m not putting him through that again.”

  “I’m not qualified to offer medical advice or a course of treatment.”

  “You’ll do just fine, and you will start today.”

  “If... if I do this, if I help Danny, will you let me go?”

  He stared at her, the silence heavy in the moment, then shook his head. “No. You know I can’t do that.”

  “Yes, you can! Danny needs—”

  “I know what my boy needs. He needs a mother, and he wants you.”

  Tori’s head was spinning. Even though her mind had already considered that as a possible motive for Joe’s actions, hearing it confirmed was something else. “What about Danny’s real mother?” she asked, unable to stop herself.

  Joe laughed, the sound without mirth. “Who do you think tried to kill him?”

  “What?” Tori sank down on the bed, trying to process his words.

  “You heard me.” Joe stalked over to her and lifted the hem of his shirt, exposing burn scars similar to Danny’s. “She was sick. Delusional. She wanted to die and she decided to take us with her. Didn’t quite work out that way, though.”

  “What happened?” she whispered.

  Joe’s upper lip curled. “We survived. And she got exactly what she deserved.”

  He walked away, pausing when he reached the doorway. “Tonight we’ll make it official.”

  Tori didn’t have a chance to ask what exactly he meant by that before he was gone. She went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face and when she returned to her room, his meaning became clear.

  There was a wedding dress draped on the bed.

  She gasped and brought her hands to her mouth as more pieces of Joe’s plan fell into place. He not only wanted a mother for Danny, he wanted a wife, too.

  Her stomach roiled. She put her hand over her mouth, ran back into the bathroom, and vomited.

  She closed her eyes, nearly laughing at the absolute absurdity of the situation. When she had dreamed of someday being a wife and mother, she’d never quite pictured it happening this way.

  She sat back and rested her head against the wall, the momentary bubble of hysterical laughter turning quickly to tears as the true weight of the situation fell heavily on her shoulders. She’d been abducted by a madman and held prisoner. Now she was expected to become his wife and a mother to his child. Then what? They would live happily ever after?

  She felt his presence, glancing up to find him watching her. His expression was unreadable.

  “I have a life,” she murmured, more to herself than him as she wiped away her tears.

  “We’ve already established that you don’t. Danny and I will give your life purpose.”

  “And if it’s not what I want?”

  His jaw tightened. “Then you’ll die, too.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Brian’s body hummed with the need to do something. He could feel time slipping away with each tick of the clock, though the soldier in him knew that having a plan and good preparation were keys to a successful mission.

  He and Jack returned to the Pub and shared what they had found. Several brothers were already there when they arrived; the others came shortly after Ian put the call out.

  Ian sent Kane the exact coordinates of the site. Kane had returned to the mountains with his wife and daughter, but Ian assured Brian that Kane was just as effective from there if not more so.

  Jake dusted the hazard triangle for prints, pleased when he was able to pull a full thumb and a couple of partials. He scanned them into the computer and compared them to prints Nicki had taken from Tori’s apartment. They were an exact match. “Definitely Tori’s,” he said.

  “So Tori had car trouble. She got off to the side of the road, scraping some rocks in the process, and took the time to set out hazards. That suggests two things: one, the car wasn’t drivable, and two, she wasn’t injured, at least not seriously,” reasoned Shane.

  “She couldn’t call for help because she was in a dead zone,” added Michael. “Did she stay with the vehicle or start walking?”

  Brian answered that. “Stayed with the vehicle, I’d guess. She’s too smart to go wandering around the mountains in the middle of the night.”

  “Agreed. So she waits in the vehicle, presumably until either help or daylight arrives. Which was it?”

  They volleyed questions and answers back and forth in rapid fire, working through possible scenarios, looking to Brian for confirmation on certain points. In their minds, Tori was his croie.

  Brian agreed. How he felt when he was with Tori was a powerful indicator, even if he’d had trouble accepting that at first. However, it was how he felt at that moment, knowing Tori was in danger, that really drove the point home for him. The possibility that he might not see her again made everything else pale in importance, including his own fucked-up issues.

  “I’d say it’s fifty-fifty either way,” Jack offered. “Not a lot of traffic on that road.”

  “It’s a shitty route, no question. What the hell were those app jackoffs thinking?”

  “Nothing, because they don’t think,” answered Ian. “The directions are computer generated based on user preferences, like shortest distance or the scenic route versus the quickest.”

  Sean reached over Ian’s shoulder, repositioning the image and zooming in on one of the images uploaded from Brian’s phone. “The length and width of those nearby depressions are consistent with a tow truck.”

  “We’ve checked every garage in the vicinity and came up empty.”

  “You mean no one admitted to picking up Tori. If you were the sick fuck taking women, would you raise your hand?”

  Michael spoke up. “But that would be a hell of a coincidence, wouldn’t it? Saying the serial killer just happened to be driving by when Tori had car trouble?”

/>   “Unless he staged something to do damage.”

  Shane shook his head. “It’s too random. This guy is careful in selecting his victims. He would have no way of knowing who he’d get.”

  “He could be a fisherman. Like casting a line, he trolls the back roads looking for potential victims. If he gets a hit and it’s not what he’s looking for, he throws it back.”

  “I don’t know. Seems pretty farfetched to me.”

  “What difference does it make?” Brian asked, his frustration growing. “Whether it’s a plan or a fluke, it’s the best lead we have and worth looking into. Can we find out how many possible tow operators are in the area? They have to be registered with CDLs, right?”

  “Not necessarily,” Sean answered. “Many of the legit ones do have commercial licenses, but it’s not required. All you need is a valid driver’s license and a truck, and since we’re dealing with a psycho, we can’t assume he’s got a legal license.”

  “He’s too careful not to. I’m telling you, this guy crosses all his Ts and dots all his Is. He’s not going to take a chance of being busted for not having a valid license, especially if he’s doing legit tow jobs.”

  “It could also explain why none of the victims’ vehicles have been recovered,” Michael added. “If this guy has a garage, it would provide the perfect hiding place. No one thinks twice about a bunch of cars sitting around a shop, especially up in the mountains.”

  “And he’d have the tools to chop them down, or at least render them unrecognizable.”

  Ian’s hands flew across the keyboard. “Okay, plugging in all the last known locations of the victims, we’ve got what looks like a solid twenty-five-mile radius spanning three counties. That gives us about a dozen possible registered towing operations.”

  “Let’s start with the ones closest to Tori’s location and work outward from there.”

  Ian tapped a few more keys, prioritizing the list to the top three. Sean took one look and shook his head. “Forget number three. I know Ken Schumach. No way he’s our guy.”

  “What about the other two?”

  “I’ve swapped parts with Tommy Kerriher a few times, but I don’t know him that well. The other place, though—JD Auto, never heard of that one.”

  “I’ll run checks on all of them,” Ian said firmly, “but I think an up close and personal visit is in order. Who wants to go?”

  “I’m going,” Brian said immediately, as did everyone else in the room. While he was grateful for the support, he wasn’t about to hang back and let someone else go. The Callaghans were damn good at what they did, and he trusted them implicitly, but he had to do this. He was the one who had fucked up. It was his croie’s life on the line.

  Nicki stood up. “None of you can do it, for the same reason you’re not sending that list to the police just yet. If one of these is our guy, you’ll spook him. Like Ian says, he’s smart. If big, hulking dudes show up asking questions, he’s going to get suspicious. He preys on women, so send a woman.”

  “No,” said Sean firmly.

  Nicki smiled and stroked his face. “You’re so sexy when you go all alpha male. But I’m just as deadly as everyone else in this room. More so, because with me, no one sees it coming.”

  Sean growled. “You’re not going in alone.”

  Nicki tapped a long red nail against her tooth. “It would be better to have another set of eyes. Someone who could ask questions while I do some snooping around. Can’t be one of you, though.”

  “I’ll go,” Taryn piped up from the corner where she was putting down a tray of sandwiches.

  “Fuck no,” Jake said immediately.

  “It’s not up to you,” Taryn rebutted, giving him a dark look.

  “The hell it isn’t.”

  “Taryn is perfect,” Nicki agreed. “She knows crazy and she can take care of herself.”

  “No.”

  “Excellent,” Taryn said as if Jake hadn’t spoken. “When do we leave?”

  “The sooner the better.”

  Jake stepped in front of her. “Taryn, no. It’s too dangerous.”

  Taryn looked at her husband, her expression as serious as Brian had ever seen it. “For the past ten years, I have watched every one of you walk out the door to do something dangerous while I stayed behind, and I’ve been okay with that, because that’s what you do. But this time, this guy... If I can help another woman from going through what I...” Taryn shook her head, her unusual violet eyes filled with emotion, then squared her shoulders. “I am going to do this.”

  She and Jake faced off against each other while everyone else remained silent. Something passed between them, a knowledge of events to which Brian wasn’t privy. Jake’s features softened slightly. He didn’t look happy, but he nodded. “All right, baby. But you’ve got to let Ian fit you out and you will have backup nearby in case shit goes sideways.”

  “Deal.”

  Preparations were made. Nicki and Taryn were equipped with earpieces and miniscule hidden microphones and cameras so Ian (and thus everyone at the Pub) could see and hear everything they did. Brian wasn’t privy to the details, but it was obvious Nicki had some experience dealing with psychos from the way she coached Taryn, red flags to look out for, things not to say. Brian did know that Nicki was the only woman who went with the Callaghans when they ‘disappeared’ for a few days.

  After some debate, it was decided that Brian and Sean would provide backup. They would remain close to the women in a separate vehicle, ready to move in on a moment’s notice or to provide extra recon if one of the places proved promising. Ian and Jake would remain at the Pub, monitoring the situation. Shane, Kieran, and Michael would be on standby.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Taryn and Nicki went to Kerriher’s first, primarily because it was in a small village on the way and only a few miles from where Tori had had car trouble. Just before they reached the garage, they pulled over and Nicki fiddled with something under the hood to make it look as if the car was having problems.

  Taryn went in to talk to the proprietor while Nicki asked to use the restroom. Brian and Sean pulled up to one of the two functioning gas pumps a few minutes after. They were able to hear everything with the help of the high-tech toys.

  “Keep staring at my ass like that Mr. Callaghan and see where it gets you,” Nicki murmured softly. Beside him, Sean’s lips quirked. Anyone who saw them would have thought they were just two guys casting glances at some pretty women while they gassed up.

  A guy came out right away and popped the hood. He had Taryn start the car, then walked around the left side and listened while she revved the engine. He signaled for her to turn off the car, reached in, did something, then closed the hood and gave Taryn a thumbs-up.

  Taryn tried to stall to give Nicki more time. She thanked him profusely, put on a damn good dumb-blonde routine (Brian knew she was anything but) and offered to pay for his time, but he just smiled and said it wasn’t a big deal.

  “Jake is popping a blood vessel right now.” Sean chuckled, watching as Taryn kept the guy’s attention, knowing that Jake could hear everything they could. By the time Nicki returned, the poor guy was smitten.

  “I don’t think they’re our guys,” Nicki said through her hidden microphone after sliding into the car with Taryn.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “No extraneous vehicles on the property for one thing. Their equipment here is strictly engine repair, not body work or chopping. My guess is they subcontract that kind of stuff out. The most compelling argument comes from my run-in with the brother, though. He saw me walking by and chatted me up. Invited me and Taryn to come watch their band play this weekend. Apparently, they play every Friday and Saturday night at some of the local bars. He let me know they have standing rooms at most of them, too, for private after-gig parties.” She grinned, then grew serious again. “If that’s true, they have alibis.”

  Sean growled even as Ian said, “Easy enough to validate,” into their e
arpieces.

  The next stop was JD Auto, though it was difficult to find without a working GPS. Taryn nearly drove by the turn-off and probably would have if she hadn’t been going so slowly. A small sign, barely visible among the unchecked weeds, let them know they were in the right place.

  “Not too keen on promoting his business, is he?” Taryn commented as they turned onto a gravel drive and stopped so Nicki could do her thing.

  “Some places are content with a loyal local following,” Nicki said. “Especially if it’s a small, one-man operation. Hang back, guys. Too many red flags if you follow us in on this one.”

  Unlike the last place, JD Auto’s location was too remote to have Sean and Brian pull in behind the women without arousing suspicion. Sean wasn’t happy about letting them out of his sight. He drove past the turn-off and cursed, searching for a place big enough to pull the SUV over. The moment he found one, they were out and moving on foot up a hill. Trees provided enough cover for them to observe from a distance, but the area around the garage itself was open, making it impossible to get closer without being seen.

  “I don’t like this,” Sean said almost immediately, echoing Brian’s first impressions. The place had a run-down, backwoods vibe. Weeds grew unchecked around the building, forcing their way up through cracked pavement. The little bit of paint remaining on the old wooden doors was chipped and cracked; the large window of the attached office area was covered with so much dirt it was more opaque than transparent, making it difficult to see inside from their position. It did appear as if it was a work in progress, though. Sections of the roof looked as if they had been patched and re-shingled, and the door to the office was new. The shiny, clean-looking tow truck parked in front of the single-bay garage looked glaringly out of place.

  It looked exactly the way it should have for an old place bought for cheap and in the midst of DIY renovations on a shoestring budget, yet the place felt wrong.

  “Door’s locked,” Nicki said quietly as she knocked on the office door and attempted to turn the knob. “But someone’s in the bay, watching us.”