Killer's Prey (16 page)

He rose and patted Nora’s shoulder. “Jake’s a good cop, Nora. A fine one. I was sorry to lose him even though I could understand why. Stay close.”

Which was exactly what she was doing, she thought as Gage limped out. Staying close.

* * *

An hour later, Jake left on patrol, after teaching Nora how to use the satellite phone—which he referred to as “the brick.” It was certainly bigger and heavier than any modern cell phone, but easy enough to use with some direction.

He’d also given her a stack of paperwork to file after a brief explanation of the filing system. He’d taken her at her word about keeping busy, and she was grateful.

There were times when thinking could be your worst enemy, and this was one of them. Not that she could entirely avoid it. Filing didn’t require her full concentration.

She still couldn’t believe her father had come after her like that. Had he really thought he could drag her home? Or had he merely been trying to impress some of his flock? Probably the latter, she decided. He must have known that short of physical force he couldn’t take her anywhere, and must have realized after their first confrontation that Jake would intervene. Unless he had thought Jake wouldn’t be there.

Unless he had thought she would give in to her old training and the pressure of six people. Something in her spine had stiffened in her years away from home, though. She wasn’t nearly as easy to push around now.

She did feel surrounded. That creep was probably steadily making his way here, and now she had her father to contend with. Neither of them was likely to give up, because neither of them would tolerate defiance.

The thought caught her, freezing her. Had she misinterpreted Langdon, seeing him through the lens of her father? What if he were a different sort of beast altogether?

It was certainly important to know. Very important to have the measure of her enemies when so much hung in the balance. If she had misunderstood what motivated that creep because he’d reminded her in some twisted way of her father, that wasn’t going to help at all.

For the first time she wished she could remember more about the attack. She’d been grateful for how much had been erased by trauma, but now it might prove to be her undoing. She sat down slowly and began to dredge the wisps of horrifying memory.

She wasn’t sure this was wise. Not sure at all. The brain had its ways of protecting people, and trauma alone, the kind of physical trauma she had endured including blows to the head, could affect the brain’s ability to create memories. Some of it would probably never, ever come back.

But if she could get at some of the remaining pieces... Well, they might be useful. Then again, they might tip her over another cliff of terror.

She sat there for a long time, wondering if she might be making a big mistake. A very big mistake.

* * *

Jake took his four hours on patrol in stride. There wasn’t much to do, but he was used to that. Most of the time it had been quiet when he was working as a deputy, too. The scenery just changed more on the longer roads than it did in town. As he drove past the pharmacy for the third time, he saw Gage’s vehicle parked out in front. Probably dealing with Loftis, and in a public venue. Unless Loftis was smart enough to take him into a back office.

Jake would have liked to be the one doing the dealing but he recognized the wisdom of Gage taking over. On the trespassing issue, Gage had jurisdiction. In town, though, Jake had it, and he was making sure his handful of officers knew what the threat was.

They were already on the lookout for Langdon, but now they had to make sure Loftis didn’t accost Nora. The funny part was—and it struck Jake as funny—his guys looked delighted to have a big mission. Well, of course. They probably got awfully bored handing out parking tickets, pulling over a few drunks and making sure the kids got home from school safely.

It kind of amused him that they were so glad to have something new to deal with, but the cause of the amusement didn’t make him smile at all. He almost felt as if Nora was dangling out there like bait on a hook between Langdon and her father.

It was important that she be able to have some kind of normal life. Absolutely essential to her recovery, he would think, but here she was dealing with all this crap. Too much.

He almost thought it was unfair, but he’d given up on that concept a long time ago. Life wasn’t fair. Period. If there was any fairness, he had to make it himself, for himself and for others. People made things fair. Overall, the universe didn’t give a damn. Random things happened to everyone, sometimes seeming to defy the odds, but they happened.

Fact: bad things happened to good people all the time. He didn’t blame God for it; that was just the terms of life. You took the cards you were dealt and made your best play with them.

But sure as hell, Nora had been dealt enough rotten cards. It was her turn for something good.

Big philosophical questions, ones he didn’t ponder often because mostly life had been decent to him. Beth had been the major tragedy of his life, and her leaving hadn’t turned out to be so tragic after all. Once he’d gotten past the sting of being rejected, he’d been relieved. No more fighting. Nor more complaining. No more demands that he change this or that about himself or the way he lived.

He’d been one of the lucky ones. Someday he’d get his share of bad times—it seemed everyone did—but he felt damn lucky overall.

Right now, if he could have, he’d have willingly shared a lot of his luck with Nora. Just a break, he found himself thinking. Just give the woman a break.

He hoped to hell he could help provide it.

* * *

“Well, that was boring as hell,” Jake remarked as he returned to the office. Nora was stuffing some papers in a filing cabinet, trying to look as if she had been busier than she had been. Opening the can of worms about her attack had left her feeling drained, even though she hadn’t come up with much more than she already recalled.

“What’s wrong?” he asked almost immediately.

“Nothing really. Memories.”

“I guess the filing wasn’t enough to keep your mind busy. Not that it would have been much busier if you’d been with me.”

She managed a smile. “I was doing it on purpose. Trying to get a better handle on that creep.”

He frowned. “Want to talk?”

“Not now.” Definitely not now, she thought. She’d tried to worm her way down the rabbit hole and right now she just wanted to shovel the dirt back in. Forgetting had begun to seem wiser by the moment.

Before he could reply, Gage rapped on the door frame. “I had that discussion with Fred Loftis.”

Nora froze, then turned, feeling her hands tremble a bit. Quickly she put the papers back on Jake’s desk. “How angry did he get?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” Gage said with a crooked smile. “That’s one man who doesn’t like being told he has limits.”

“No kidding,” Nora murmured. She leaned against the filing cabinet to steady herself, wondering just how much worse things had become.

“Anyway,” Gage said, “I told him he’d already been warned twice about trespass at Jake’s place. I gave him an official notice in writing. If he shows up out there again, he or any of his church followers, they’re subject to arrest. But we went a little past that.”

“Oh?” Jake said.

“Oh, yeah. I informed him that legally Nora is an adult. That if he bothers her verbally or physically he’ll be subject to possible arrest for assault or battery. That if he attempts to coerce her against her will into coming with him, he could be subject to charges for kidnapping or illegal imprisonment.”

“Oh, my,” Nora breathed. “He must have been furious.”

“He got a little red in the face. Then I told him your attacker jumped bail in Minneapolis, might be looking for you, and Loftis had damn well better make sure his nose stays clean and that he keeps his mouth shut about you. Wouldn’t want it to look like he was an accessory.”

Nora sucked a deep breath of air. All of a sudden she couldn’t breathe. “Dangerous,” she gasped finally. “He’s a dangerous man to make mad.”

“Maybe for you,” Gage said. “The man’s a paper tiger. He didn’t like the sound of that at all, and when I left he was swearing that he’d make sure that guy never found you, if he had anything to say about it at least. I advised him the best way to do that was to keep his mouth shut about your whereabouts and make sure anyone else who knows doesn’t say anything. He seemed pretty eager to do that. He also agreed to keep an eye out for strangers.”

Astonishment rippled through Nora. “When did he get so protective?”

“When his own butt looked like it might be on the line,” Gage said. He shrugged. “We’ll see. He knows I’m going to be watching, and so is Jake. Hell, all the cops around here are going to be watching.”

Then he limped back to his office. The silence seemed deep, freighted with things Nora couldn’t identify. She was frightened of her father, but maybe this once, to protect himself, he’d do the right thing. Maybe?

“Amazing,” Jake said, “how a person can change their viewpoint when they feel at risk. Gage did a good job.”

“I hope so.”

He looked at her sharply. “Let’s get you home. You look whipped. Want to get lunch at the diner or wait?”

She chose to wait. Jake’s ranch had begun to feel like a haven. Eventually she’d lose that and have to move on, and she was aware that her feelings were likely to cause her pain, but right now she didn’t care. She needed that feeling of security.

And while Gage might feel he’d put her father in the corner for now, she wasn’t at all sure herself. Loftis didn’t like to be thwarted.

She knew what that meant.

Chapter 10

L
angdon had long since left his expensive car in an out-of-the-way ditch and had changed through two cars. Now he was driving an ancient pickup that wouldn’t look out of place, and he’d also switched out the plates. Nobody was going to pick him out easily along the roads.

He took a dirt track across the state line from North Dakota into Wyoming and headed toward Conard County.

And nearly every damn minute he thought about the lessons he was going to teach Nora Loftis. Long, slow, painful lessons. More than he had given her last time, because that obviously hadn’t worked.

He was going to enjoy every damn minute of it, too. He got hard just thinking about it. He hated her for the powerlessness she’d made him feel when he was arrested, as much as he hated her for surviving, defying him by living.

Endangering him when if she’d just died where he’d left her they still wouldn’t have found her remains. Of that he was sure.

So not only had she defied him, but she’d also threatened him. He was going to take his satisfaction, then move swiftly on. Even after Nora, he was beginning to realize the pressure would return, the need to take another woman and teach her would come back.

He wondered how he’d kept this in check for so long, this need. But he was going to control it now only until he got Nora. Then he was going to satisfy it all he wanted.

The power was growing in him, making him feel really good. He’d escaped, and they hadn’t been able to find him in all this time. He could evade pursuers forever. He was invisible.

He turned that idea around in his mind and realized it was true. He had become invisible. And the next person he would allow to see him was Nora Loftis.

She was going to be one sorry woman.

* * *

A winter wind had swept in by the time they reached the ranch, bringing leaden clouds with it. Rosa had made a big pot of thick, rich potato soup and served them heaping bowls of it while Al assured Jake that he’d taken care of everything in case it stormed.

“I didn’t hear about snow in the forecast,” Jake remarked.

“No,” Al agreed. “But to me it looks like it.”

Jake nodded in agreement. He waved Al to join him at the table for lunch, and soon the four of them were gathered around eating together. To Nora it felt cozy and comforting. Ordinarily Rosa and Al ate at the bunkhouse, but had hesitated only briefly at the invitation this time.

Had something changed? Maybe this morning when Al had backed up Jake with a shotgun? Maybe they were feeling a little more like family and a little less like employees after that. Pure speculation on her part and no way to ask.

“So what was with that father of Nora’s?” Rosa asked. “Is he loco? This is not the past century.”

“Or even two centuries ago,” Jake said. “He acts like it is, though.”

“He’s always been like that,” Nora volunteered. “His word is law.”

“Not around here,” Jake said. “I hope he got the message this morning.”

Nora wondered. Her father had never been one to back down when he believed he was right, which was most of the time. But maybe Gage had successfully scared him.

Not that he was the biggest of her concerns. No, that sense of being caught in a web that was trembling at the spider’s approach still nagged at her, keeping her on edge. And nothing she had managed to think about today had eased her fear at all. That man was going to come for her. She knew it all the way to her bones. Despite all the protection Jake offered, despite the self-defense he was teaching her, she was still terrified. He was strong. She remembered that. Strong and savage. Facing him down wasn’t likely to succeed for long.

She ate her soup because she needed to build her strength. She complimented Rosa on it even though she could barely taste it. Fear crept along her nerves like skittering cockroaches. The more time passed since that man had escaped, the more her terror grew because it meant he must be coming closer.

Even if Conard County had been protected by an army, one man could slip through if he was careful and determined. This was one man.

“Have you ever fired a shotgun?” Jake asked suddenly.

Nora looked up. “I’ve never fired a gun at all.”

“Maybe we need to remedy that.”

“I don’t like guns.”

“I’m not crazy about them myself, believe it or not. But when you live on a ranch, you need them. Plus, I’m a cop. I don’t keep an arsenal, but a shotgun is essential out here, and you need to know how to use one. Are you game?”

“Why do you need a gun? Trespassers?”

He shook his head. “No, but I have to protect my livestock, and sometimes, if an animal gets badly hurt, I have to put it out of its misery.”

“Oh.” She shook her head a little. “That must be awful, putting an animal down.”

“It’s not my favorite part of life, I can tell you. But having to wait on the vet would mean a lot more suffering for the animal. So...” He shrugged. “You do what you have to. Thank God it’s rare.”

When she thought of the horses she had come to love, or even the dogs that had the run of the place and seemed to mostly do their own thing among the other animals, she was glad to know it was rare.

“Your dogs aren’t pets,” she remarked, trying to get her mind away from the darkness that loomed.

“No, they’re not. Good for protecting the herd, good watchdogs, but they’re working dogs. It’s a different kind of relationship.”

“They seem happy.”

“They are. They’re not hemmed in.”

At that, a smile broke through her cloud. “Not stuck inside by the fire.”

“Nope.” He returned the smile. “I’m not opposed to having one as a pet, but I think it would be jealous of the freedom the others have.”

“It’s possible,” she agreed. She’d never had a pet, so she could only imagine. “Someday I’d like to have a dog as a pet. I didn’t feel it would be right when I was working, though, because it would be alone all day. That seemed cruel.”

“Well, adopt one of mine,” Jake suggested. “They may like pretty much running free, but there isn’t one of them that wouldn’t be happy to be petted or put his head on a warm lap for some scratches.”

“I’ll think about it.” Somehow she couldn’t imagine making a long-term plan right now, or getting emotionally involved with anything. Or anyone, she reminded herself, although she seemed to be developing an attachment to Jake. Rosa and Al, too, but especially Jake. If she survived this, she suspected that was eventually going to hurt, but despite the walls she had been putting up all her life against emotional pain, there seemed to be a few remaining chinks, and Jake had definitely slipped through one.

“Back to the gun,” he said. “It wouldn’t take long to learn to handle a shotgun.”

She put her spoon down. Her heart beat nervously as she considered the question. The way she had been seized last time... “No,” she finally said. “No gun.”

“Why not?”

“I won’t have a chance to use it if he comes for me again. And I’m not sure I could anyway.”

“Not even in self-defense?” He seemed a little incredulous.

She shook her head. “I’m not saying for sure I couldn’t. Most people probably would, and I can understand it. The thing is, there’s a price for that, even when you do it to save your own life. I’d have to live with it. I already have enough to live with.”

He looked flummoxed, but there were some things she knew about herself, and she knew she was capable of carrying huge burdens of guilt even when she had had no other choice. Imagine knowing she had killed someone. She wasn’t sure she could learn to live with that, whatever the circumstances.

“Okay,” he said slowly. “You’re probably right. And if you’re not sure you can use it, all you might do is arm him.”

Rosa nodded vigorous agreement.

“But,” Jake said almost gently, “if you’re walking around with a shotgun, he’d probably not bother you.”

At that, with a spontaneous burst of humor that surprised her given how gloomy her thoughts had been running, she replied, “Then he’d just wait for a moment when I don’t have it. Walking down a street, sitting in the library. Can you imagine Emma’s face if I walked into the library armed?”

At that even Jake cracked a smile, and a quiet chuckle escaped him. “You win, Miss Nora. Okay, no gun. But more self-defense lessons.”

Nora nodded her agreement, surprised to realize she felt a bit better. She had settled something within herself, even though she wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Nonetheless, her terror eased and a sense of peace edged in, just a bit.

She guessed deciding her limits made a huge difference. And she had just made them.

* * *

Jake spent the remainder of the afternoon outdoors. Apparently he agreed with Al that they had some bad weather on the way. Rosa turned on the radio, and soon there was talk of snow moving in over the mountains. There wouldn’t be a heavy accumulation but the winds would cause whiteout conditions.

“Not good,” Rosa remarked when Nora came into the kitchen for coffee. “They need to finish soon.”

Nora looked out the window and saw what she meant. It wasn’t bad yet, but already snow was beginning to blow.

“Of course, it will keep that man who hurt you from coming closer,” Rosa said reassuringly. “You can relax.”

Nora flushed. “Is it that obvious?”

“You’re tense. Why wouldn’t you be? I heard what happened, I heard that man escaped. I understand why you are afraid. You don’t think he’ll just keep running?”

Nora shook her head. “No. He won’t.”

Rosa sighed and surprised her with a hug. “We all take care of you, okay? But for now, no worries.”

“Yes.” For now no worries. Trying to move in a whiteout was a recipe for serious trouble. Even that creep had to figure that out. And it wasn’t like he wasn’t familiar with winter weather.

She returned to the living room with her coffee, aware that the day was darkening into early night, and tried to read.

But Rosa’s well-intentioned remark had brought it all flooding back. The brief escape she’d been enjoying since she had made her decision about the gun now deserted her, leaving her on the knife-edge of anxiety again.

She heard Jake come in through the mudroom and speak to Rosa. Moments later, he poked his head in and told Nora he was going to shower and be right back.

“Rosa is insisting on serving us dinner on trays in here. I don’t know why, maybe she thinks it’s festive.” He winked then headed for the stairs.

She listened to his feet hit the steps as he ran upstairs, then came the unmistakable sound of the shower being turned on.

He was back in the house. His mere presence seemed to drive the night back. God, she had it bad, and it worried her that she was becoming so dependent on him. She’d moved away to become independent, and now here she was again with few choices, no place of her own. A backward step on a huge order.

Yet what choice did she really have? He was right—living alone in town would put her at risk. It wouldn’t be long before everyone knew right where she was, and the most innocent slip of the tongue could bring that creep right to her door.

Damn, she wished this was over for good, one way or another. That man had wrecked her entire life, and was still wrecking it. Caught in a spiderweb indeed. Nor did there seem to be any way to cut herself loose, short of spending her life on the road always one step ahead of him until he managed to get himself caught.

Maybe that’s what she should do. But once again she faced the limitations of her finances and wondered how long she could manage it. Skipping from town to town trying to find temporary jobs as a waitress or clerk until the fear overwhelmed her and she had to move on again?

That was no kind of life. None at all.

Inwardly she stiffened a bit. No, she wasn’t going to run any farther than she already had. Come what may, she was going to settle this here. Either they caught the guy or she’d face him again, but at least it would be over.

And sometimes she didn’t even care if she died in the process.

She wouldn’t let those thoughts take over, though. She knew better than to give in to depression. It would weaken her, make it harder to act. She needed to be able to act when the time came.

Jake returned, clad in fresh jeans and a black sweater, in stocking feet. He set up the TV tables, and soon Rosa appeared bearing steaming plates of freshly cooked chicken with yellow rice and sides of creamy broccoli. The aromas made Nora’s mouth water, a good sign considering how she had reacted to lunch.

“I go home now,” she said. “Call if you need me.”

“Have a good night,” Jake said. “You may need to thaw Al out.”

Laughing, Rosa departed.

“It’s getting bad out there,” he remarked as they began eating.

“Rosa had the radio on. She remarked that it would give me at least a day when I didn’t have to worry.”

Jake looked up from his plate. “Why do I think that was the wrong thing to say?”

“It wasn’t, exactly. It’s just that I had managed to forget for a few hours.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No need. She’s right. Nobody’s going to be moving in this. So I can go back to pretending.”

“Can you?”

Damn him, sometimes he saw right through her. “I never really do,” she admitted. “I won’t until he’s safely in prison.”

“I can promise you he won’t get bail again.”

She nodded, and tried to pay attention to dinner. It was delicious, and it would be a shame to eat it as if it were sawdust. “Don’t you wish I could think about anything else? Talk about anything else?”

“It’s pretty hard right now, but I understand it. I’m not thinking about much else, either. And since we’re on the subject, why did you look so pale when I came back to the office earlier?”

She started to shake her head, then decided to just spit it out. Maybe he could clarify her thoughts. “I started to wonder if I was evaluating that creep through the lens of my father. You know how much my father hates defiance. I got to wondering if I’d mixed up his motivation with...Langdon. God, I hate to say his name!”

“Then don’t. ‘Creep’ will do just fine. So you were wondering if you’d misjudged the creep, he might not come for you at all.”