Danger on the Mountain (14 page)

He had a lot of thinking to do.

But first, he wanted to get over to the hospital and talk to the man he’d shot. Because while it was good news that all three robbers were now in custody, Reese couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something important. Something he needed to put together before someone else got hurt. Or killed.

FOURTEEN

M
aggie looked up to see Reese and Eli walking toward the nurses’ station. When Reese’s eyes landed on her, he couldn’t hide his surprise. She shrugged at the unasked question on his face. “I wanted to be here. I want to hear what he has to say.”

He looked over her shoulder.

“Jason brought me, but don’t be mad at him. I told him I was coming with or without him.”

“Maggie—”

“Reese, don’t try to talk me out of it. If you’ll leave the door open a crack, I can just listen in.” She swallowed hard. “That bullet in the bank came real close to my head. The bullets he fired tore up my house and could have killed my daughter. Or you. Or Shannon. He bombed your house partly because of me. I think I have a right to hear him talk.”

The men exchanged a look and Reese said, “It’s fine with me. If I were in her shoes, I’d be doing the same thing.”

Reese blew out a sigh and said to her, “All right. By the door. But you don’t say a word, okay?”

She nodded. “Thank you.” Maggie followed the men to the prisoner’s room. Reese reached up to squeeze her arm and then the two officers entered the room, leaving the door slightly ajar so she could listen in.

“How you feeling, Patterson?”

The man uttered a crude phrase, and Maggie flinched. He was never going to talk. Despair hit her. She wanted to be safe. She wanted to be free to take Belle for a walk down the street without wondering if someone would try to kill her. She wanted—

Reese was speaking again. “You know this would all go easier for you if you’d just tell us the story. Who’s the boss you were talking about?”

Maggie inched her head to the right so she could see into the room. She could make out Patterson’s feet at the foot of the bed. She could see Reese clearly as he faced the door. Eli had his back to her, but she could see his head and the right part of his body. And if she looked a little to the left, she could see the whole room in the mirror on the far wall. Doug Patterson looked rough. His cheeks were still flushed and he looked like a very sick man.

“No boss. It must have been the fever talking. I don’t have a boss.” He leaned his head back against the bed and closed his eyes. His throat worked.

Silence as she saw Reese lift his eyes to Eli. There must have been some kind of silent cop communication because Reese dropped his head and nodded. “Right. No boss.”

“So...” Eli took a deep breath “...guess we’ll just send you up to Marion Correctional Institute.”

“Whatever.”

“And let it be known that the three of you were trying to kill a baby,” Reese stated, his voice low. Lethal.

“What?” Doug’s eyes popped open and he stared at the men at the foot of his bed. “No way. Wasn’t trying to kill a baby. Are you crazy?” The man protested long and loud. Reese simply stood there. Then shrugged.

“So you say. I don’t know that. Do you know that for sure, Eli?”

Eli shook his head. “Nope. Those bullets came awfully close to that baby.”

Maggie heard Eli’s phone ring over Patterson’s protests. Eli pulled it out of his pocket with his right hand and spoke into his phone. “Brody here.” He listened as Reese and the prisoner fell quiet. Then Eli let out a short laugh. “Really? They did? Sang like canaries, huh? Thanks for the update.”

He hung up and looked at Reese. “We don’t need this guy. Station says the two down there are seeing which one can talk the fastest.”

“Right,” Patterson sneered. “Like I’m going to fall for that.”

Eli simply lifted a brow. “So the three of you never met at your father’s ranch to work out the deal?”

Uncertainty flared. “No.”

“Right. And Compton also said you’re the ringleader who was going to deposit ten grand in his account so he could party it up in Mexico.”

Full-blown panic crossed his face. “How do you know all that?”

Eli snickered. “Looks like you’re going to come up with the short end of the draw.” He motioned to Reese. “Let’s go.”

The men started toward the door and Maggie pulled back.

“No!” Patterson hollered. “Wait! I want a deal. I...I’m not taking the fall for this!”

A slow smile crossed Reese’s lips. And he and Eli exchanged smug grins before they wiped them off and turned back to the man in the bed.

Reese shook his head. “I don’t know. What do you think you can offer that these guys can’t?”

“I was the main contact. I was contacted first and never said anything to those guys about the fact that the robbery was a cover-up.”

Maggie saw Reese go still. “A cover-up for what?”

The right foot under the sheet shifted, a restless move that said the prisoner didn’t want to say another word. “What kind of deal are you offering?”

Eli shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Depends on who offers us the best information.”

The man groaned. Then finally said, “We were supposed to grab the woman with the baby.”

Maggie’s lungs deflated. The hallway darkened for a brief moment before she inhaled enough air to keep herself conscious.

She forced herself not to run screaming down the hall and kept her eyes trained on Reese, whose relaxed posture had disappeared. Tension radiated from him as his hands curled into fists at his side. “Why?”

The low word sent shivers down her spine. She could see the steel in his eyes from where she stood.

“I don’t know why. We were just told to watch her then grab her and the kid. While we were watching, we noticed she went to the bank once a week. So we came up with the plan. The money from the bank was a bonus. But we had to make it look like a hostage situation.”

“Then what?”

“Then we were to take her to an address.”

“Where?” Eli demanded.

“An abandoned warehouse on the edge of town.” He gave them the address. Maggie heard him say, “Now, you’re going to give me a deal right? What kind of deal? I told you everything I know.”

“You still haven’t given us a name,” Reese said. “Who’s your boss?”

“I don’t know, I never got a name. Just a contact number with a note in my mailbox saying if I wanted to make a lot of money to call it.”

Eli snorted. “And of course you couldn’t turn that down, could you?”

Silence echoed through the room for a moment and Maggie began to shake. She couldn’t comprehend what she was hearing. Someone had paid to have her and Belle kidnapped. Under the guise of a fake bank robbery?

And if it hadn’t been for Reese being in the right place at the right time, that someone would have succeeded.

She shook off the thought as one question took up residence at the forefront of her mind.

Who?

FIFTEEN

R
eese paced the office and jammed his hands into his coat pockets. The police station heater was broken, and it was cold. He blew out, watching his breath form small clouds in front of his face. He shook his head and shivered.

Sitting at his desk netted him nothing and he thought about heading over to Maggie’s and giving Cal a break. At least Maggie’s house would be warm. Or maybe he’d go sit in his cruiser.

But he was waiting for a phone call.

He stood and walked into Eli’s office. The man had a wool scarf wrapped around his neck, and he had his warm Sherpa coat buttoned up. A small space heater at his feet ran full blast. Eli looked up and Reese asked, “How’d you know about Patterson’s dad’s ranch?”

“His father finally called me back and said he hadn’t seen his son since the night he and his buddies were over there. I took a shot in the dark.”

“Good shot. Same with the money in the bank?”

Eli held up a report. “I got this from Spartanburg P.D. Alice scanned and emailed it to my phone right before we got to the hospital. They found an account number in Compton’s apartment along with a brochure about Mexico. Another shot.”

Reese smiled. “You’re pretty good at that.”

Eli shrugged. “It worked. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Reese changed the subject. “What do you know about Maggie’s husband?”

Eli’s eyes clouded as he leaned back in his chair to give Reese his full attention. “He wasn’t a very nice man, and he was killed about seven months ago. Hit and run.” The flat response said he knew more than he was letting on.

“I’m not asking you to betray a confidence. In fact, Maggie’s told me most of it, I think. And I’ve been thinking about what she’s told me.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“All right.” He hunched his shoulders and leaned forward. “Her husband was killed. The killer was never caught. We know that the bank robbery was a cover as an attempt to kidnap her and Belle. What if we need to do a little more digging into her husband’s death?”

Eli was silent for a few moments and Reese held his tongue as he let the man think. Finally, his boss said, “You think it’s all connected?”

“I don’t know.” Reese grimaced. “Might be a long shot.”

“But it might not be a bad idea. I can’t think of anything else that would have someone after her. What was he involved in? Did she tell you that?”

“No. I did a background check on him and it’s pretty spotless. A couple of parking tickets, but nothing major. I don’t know. I mean, it’s just a thought. Probably a crazy one, but one I don’t want to overlook and regret later.”

Eli gave a slow nod. “Why don’t you take that and run with it?”

Reese offered a small smile. “I’m waiting for a phone call now.”

No sooner had the words left his lips than the phone on his desk rang. He bolted from Eli’s office and snatched it to his ear. “Kirkpatrick here.”

“Hey, Reese. I think I’ve got what you’re looking for.” Colt Harris, a friend of his from Maggie’s hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina.

“What did you find out?”

“A lot. How much time do you have?”

Reese shivered and said, “Call me back on my cell.” He rattled off the number, hung up and hollered to Eli. “I’m going to find someplace warm.”

Eli’s laugh drifted to him. “Don’t blame you a bit.”

As Reese exited the police station, his cell phone rang. He answered, “Go ahead. Fill me in.”

“All right, first of all, it looks like your lady’s in-laws have filed a custody suit.”

Reese stopped dead in his tracks, ignoring the swirling white snow that had started to come down. “What? You’re kidding!” Just what Maggie needed.

“Yep. While I was checking out your guy, Kent Bennett, I came across his folks and decided to see what they had to say about his death.”

“And?”

“At first, I thought they were a cold couple. Showed no real emotion when I started questioning them. Then I mentioned Maggie and the baby and the woman starts weeping, saying she can’t believe their son is gone and they’re going to do everything they can to get their granddaughter.”

Reese closed his eyes then clicked the remote to unlock his truck. He climbed in and slammed the door. Jamming the key into the ignition, he shivered. The engine caught and he reached over to turn the heat on full blast. As the cold air turned warm, he concentrated on the information Colt was sharing.

“It’s been seven months. When did they start the process on all of this?”

“A couple of months ago, but no one seemed to be able to track Maggie down. She didn’t have a credit card in her name until about a month ago. She uses cash for everything and she put all the utilities in her maiden name.”

“She was hiding?” He hadn’t gotten that impression.

“Looks like it.”

“I’ll ask her about that. What else?”

“Still working on the hit-and-run with Bennett.”

“I told you about the witness that heard him arguing with someone that night. Did you track the witness down to question him again?”

“I did. Found him in the soup kitchen.” Reese heard a page flip in Colt’s notebook. “He described Bennett as angry, stomping up and down and flapping his hands like a ‘chicken gone crazy’ while the other person sat in the car and listened, then started screaming back at him.”

“What about who Bennett was arguing with? Did you get a description?”

“Not a good one. I looked for any cameras that might have gotten everything on tape, but there weren’t any on that block. But our witness says the person was smaller than Bennett, that he was wearing all black with a heavy overcoat and a black hat. The witness never got a look at the guy’s face.”

“Huh, of course. It’s couldn’t be that easy,” Reese grunted. “I wonder whose idea it was to meet there then. Isolated, off the main road...could be more than a crime of opportunity. Maybe it was planned?”

“I know, I thought about that. But we won’t know that answer until we catch this person Bennett met with. So anyway, the parents hired a P.I. to find Maggie and when she got her cell phone last month and that credit card, he found her. She should be getting a letter about the custody thing sometime this week.”

“He was watching her credit.”

“Yep.”

“Why wait this long to contact her?” Reese rubbed a hand down the side of his cheek and turned the heater down a notch.

“They’ve been trying to build a case against her, I think. From what I can tell, they’re saying she’s an unfit mother.”

Reese sat up in the seat. “On what grounds?”

“Based on an incident that happened in a store about two weeks after Belle was born.”

“What happened?”

“Maggie apparently went shopping and left her baby unattended in an aisle. The sister-in-law happened to be in the store and watched the baby until Maggie came back to get her.”

“I don’t believe it,” he stated flatly.

“Ask her about it. See what she says. I mean these people seemed nice enough once they warmed up to me and I think they really do want the baby. If the mother’s not fit, I think they’d give Belle a good home.”

Reese didn’t speak for a moment as his mind raced with all the new information. “Well, she’s fit. More than fit. I’m not really worried that they would win. But I hate for Maggie to have to go through the whole drama of them suing for custody.” He paused and tapped the steering wheel. “Okay, keep me updated. See what you can find out about that green car. And check out where his family was the night he was killed.”

“Will do.”

Reese frowned as he hung up. He had to warn Maggie that her in-laws had filed for custody before she got the lawyer’s letter.

* * *

Maggie walked into the den and dropped the mail onto the coffee table. Cal had played delivery man for her so she didn’t have to walk to the mailbox. Frankly, she could use a little fresh air, but it wasn’t worth risking if someone was still after her. And Reese seemed to think someone was.

Shannon had taken Belle grocery shopping for their Thanksgiving dinner. Shannon said Maggie needed some time for herself and besides, Maggie really should stay put and not put anyone in danger by leaving the house and having someone try to kill her again.

“Thanks bunches, Shannon,” Maggie muttered as she paced from one end of the den to the other. But she couldn’t deny the truth in the woman’s words, so she’d relented.

As a result, Maggie had finished her classes, had one Individualized Education Plan meeting on a student and written another IEP for the meeting that would be held first thing Monday morning. Working with special education high school students was a challenge that fulfilled her in a way she’d never dreamed possible.

But it involved a lot of paperwork. While she’d worked on that, she’d managed to push thoughts of being a target out of her mind.

Now, as she paced, she thought. Was Reese right? Did Kent’s death have something to do with everything that was happening now? The bank robbery was a setup. She and Belle were supposed to be kidnapped.

And then what?

Why?

They were supposed to deliver them to an address. What had Reese found out about that location? Who could be behind such a horrible thing?

She let out a groan, dropped to her knees and let her chin fall to her chest. “Father, I don’t know what to do now. I pray You’re working behind the scenes here because I’m lost and floundering and I’m so tired. Please help us.”

A tear slid down her cheek, but her heart felt lighter. As if some of the burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

The presence of God. Her troubles and worries weren’t magically gone, but she had help. She didn’t have to do this alone. Maggie drew in a deep breath. “Thank You,” she whispered.

God never promised that life would be easy for those who chose to trust Him, but He did promise to walk through the hard times with them.

And she was certainly going through a hard time.

The doorbell rang and she rose to walk into the foyer. Peeking through the window, she smiled.

Another thing she had to give God the credit for.

He’d sent Reese into her life just when she needed him.

She opened the door with a smile. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

The serious look on his face sent her smile into a nosedive. “What is it?” Snow drifted down in a gentle veil of white outside as he stepped inside and shrugged out his coat. “Oh, goodness, I didn’t realize it was snowing so much. I’m going to call Shannon and ask her to get on back here before the roads get bad.”

He nodded. “Good idea. Then we need to talk.”

“All right.”

She led him into the den then picked up the phone to dial Shannon. Reese settled himself on the couch while Maggie listened to the phone ring. When it went to voice mail, she frowned, but said, “Shannon, it’s snowing pretty hard out there. Why don’t you go ahead and bring Belle on home. I’m a little worried about your getting stuck on the road. Call me as soon as you get this.” She hung up and looked at Reese. “Hopefully, she’ll call me back soon. Or see the snow and realize she needs to get home.” Maggie took a deep breath to settle her nerves. Belle and Shannon would be fine. But she sent up a silent prayer for their safety. “Okay, so what has you looking like you have bad news?”

“I had a conversation with a buddy of mine who lives in Spartanburg.”

“Okay.”

“After all the crazy stuff going on around here, I asked him to look into a few things.”

“Kent’s hit-and-run?”

“Right.”

Maggie rubbed her suddenly sweaty palms on her jean-clad thighs. “And?”

He blew out a breath. “There’s no easy way to say this.”

“You’re scaring me, Reese.”

“Your in-laws plan to sue you for custody of Belle by proving that you’re an unfit mother. The letter’s on the way—if you haven’t already gotten it.”

The bottom dropped out of her stomach. Stunned, she simply looked at him. Then she shot to her feet and grabbed the mail from the coffee table. One by one, she went through the envelopes, tossing them aside. Until she came across one that said Billings and Jordan, Attorneys at Law.

Maggie ripped the envelope open, read through the information that Reese had just delivered. She tossed the paper onto the table and shook her head. “How can they do this?” She paced to the mantel then back. “They can’t take her away from me. I won’t let them.”

Reese stood and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Calm down a second. I said they were suing. I didn’t say they’d win.”

She paused and looked up at him. Tears hovered on the edges of her lashes, but she refused to let them fall. “I’ll fight them,” she whispered. “Every step of the way, no matter what I have to do or how much it costs. I have money, Reese, a lot of money that my grandfather left me. They will
not
have her.”

He blinked at her statement about the money, but addressed her last comment. “I don’t think they have any grounds. They’d have to prove that you’re an unfit mother. An investigation would be carried out and once they realized there’s no evidence, they wouldn’t have a case.”

At his reassuring and confident words, Maggie felt herself start to relax a fraction. “But they could still cause us a lot of grief.”

“Unfortunately, yes. They could.”

“They’ve never seen her, Reese. Not even once. They didn’t come to the hospital, they never called, they don’t know who she is or—”

He placed a finger over her lips. “I know. I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.” He gave a tug on her shoulders and she slipped into his arms to rest her head on his chest. She felt him place a kiss on the top of her head. Maggie closed her eyes and allowed peace to wash over her for just a moment. So this was what it felt like to be loved, to be cared for by a man who didn’t feel the need to control and hurt.

But she’d thought Kent was this way in the beginning, too. She tensed and moved away. Reese let her go without protest, but the question in his eyes hurt.

He cleared his throat. “I’m fall—” He stopped and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I care about you a lot, Maggie. More than a lot. I want us to see if we have a chance at a relationship. I want to see if we maybe have a future together.”