Sealed With a Kiss (23 page)

“Wake up, Bella.” Rachel nudged her arm
again. She looked at the worried frown on Tess’ face. “I’ll lift
her out of the cupboard. Can you hold her while I call for the
police and an ambulance?”

Tess took her own jacket off and sat on the
floor. “Of course I can. We could use my jacket as a blanket, too.”
She held her arms out. “I’m ready.”

Rachel leaned down and carefully maneuvered
Bella until her head and shoulders were out of the cupboard. “Here
we go,” she said softly. Within minutes, Bella was sitting in Tess’
arms with two jackets wrapped around her cold body.

Rachel pulled her cell phone out of her
pocket and called 9-1-1. Bella’s brown eyes opened slowly. As soon
as she saw Rachel, she smiled, then closed her eyes and fell back
asleep.

With the police and an ambulance on the way,
Rachel had one other person to call. Her hands were shaking so much
that she could hardly hold the phone to her ear.

John answered his cell phone on the first
ring. “John? It’s Rachel. We’ve found Bella. She’s in Tess’ old
apartment above the café.”

His gruff reply was instant. He was on his
way.

Within minutes of her first call, Rachel
heard sirens on the street below. She walked into the living room
just as the first police officer came inside.

The small apartment quickly became full of
police officers, paramedics, and John’s security guards. After
making sure Bella wasn’t in any immediate danger, two paramedics
gently lifted her onto a stretcher. They replaced Rachel and Tess’
jackets with a foil survival blanket and made sure she was
comfortable.

Rachel heard a noise on the back stairs and
walked into the living room. John burst through the door, looking
frantically around the room for his daughter. She pointed toward
Tess’ spare bedroom. “She’s in there.”

John looked as though he’d aged ten years
since she’d last seen him. Deep creases lined either side of his
mouth and his eyes were full of worry. He rushed into the bedroom
and she heard the relief in his voice when he talked to Bella.

She walked past the police officers and
guards, and stood in the doorway, watching John. The scene in front
of her was heartbreaking. He held Bella’s hand as the paramedics
finished strapping her into a stretcher. His eyes never left her
face, never wavered as tears fell down Bella’s cheeks.

“I’m sorry, dad. I shouldn’t have run away.
Please don’t be mad at Rachel and Tank. They told me to be careful
and I wasn’t.”

John leaned down and kissed the top of
Bella’s head. “As long as you’re okay, that’s all that
matters.”

“Have you got Miss. Snuggles?” she
whispered.

John reached into his jacket pocket and
pulled out an old soft toy. It looked as though the stuffing had
been squeezed out of it years ago. “Here she is.”

Bella’s chin wobbled as she cuddled her small
blue cat.

One of the paramedics glanced at John. “Would
you like to travel in the ambulance with us? We’re taking Bella to
the hospital as a precautionary measure.”

John nodded and followed the paramedics out
of the bedroom.

Rachel moved out of their way, stepping
straight into the path of a police officer. He waited until Bella
and John were at the back door before talking to her.

“I’ll take your statements at the police
station. Are you and Mrs. Allen ready to come with me?”

John stopped in the doorway. He looked at the
police officer standing beside Rachel, then down at her. “Will you
be okay?”

Rachel couldn’t look John in the eye. She’d
let him down, and she’d let Bella down. She doubted she’d ever be
okay again. “Can I visit Bella after Tess and I have spoken to the
police?”

“Of course you can. I’ll text you if we leave
the hospital before you get there. Tanner will stay with you.”

“I don’t need Tanner. I can look after
myself.”

“It wasn’t a question. Tanner stays.”

The paramedics wheeled Bella onto the
landing. Two police officers helped lift her stretcher down the
stairs. John looked at her once more before disappearing from
sight.

Rachel took a tissue out of her pocket and
blew her nose.

Tess walked across the room and wrapped her
arm around Rachel’s shoulders. “Are you really going to be
okay?”

She shook her head and glanced at Tanner. He
was leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed,
staring straight at her. “Bella could have died, John hates me, and
Tank will never trust me again. My life is a mess.”

“It could have been a lot worse.”

“I don’t see how.”

Tess held both of Rachel’s hands in hers. “We
don’t know why Bella hid in my apartment, but we do know that she’s
alive. No one got hurt.”

“I don’t think John would agree with
you.”

The police officer stepped forward. “Ma’am,
we need to go.”

Rachel pushed a lock of hair behind her ear
and wiped her eyes. “Okay. I just need to get my…”

“Jacket?” Tanner had moved silently across
the room. He held her jacket toward her.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he said with a grim
smile. “We don’t know why Bella ran from the café. Until we do,
you’re not going anywhere without me.”

Rachel followed Tess and the police officer
out of the apartment. Tanner followed her down the stairs. He was
so close that he could have been mistaken for her shadow. “Where’s
Tank?”

“He’s working on some information we
received.”

Rachel got halfway across the parking lot
before a horrible thought crossed her mind. “He hasn’t been fired,
has he? It wasn’t Tank’s fault that Bella left the car. It was
mine. I should have locked the car door and kept her beside
me.”

“With all due respect, you’re not employed as
a security guard. It’s not your responsibility to look after
Bella.”

Tess opened the rear door of the police car.
“Come on, Rachel. The sooner we give our statements to the police,
the sooner we can get to the hospital. Tank will be all right.”

Rachel wasn’t so sure about that. Just like
she wasn’t sure she’d still have a job in the morning.

They drove down Main Street, passing vehicles
with red noses attached to their front grills and reindeer ears
attached to their windows. The boutique stores and restaurants were
still open, happy to indulge the last minute shoppers. It all
seemed so normal, so much part of what Rachel knew Christmas in
Bozeman always was.

Except this year was different.

She leaned her head against the cool glass of
the police car’s window. Thanks to Tess’ quick thinking, Bella was
safe. But if they hadn’t found her when they did, today could have
ended in tragedy.

***

John heard Rachel walking along the corridor
outside the hospital’s family room before he saw her. The heels of
her boots clicked against the vinyl floor with the same speed that
she lived her life. Fast.

Up until today, he’d enjoyed the challenge of
not knowing what she’d say or do from one minute to the next. Today
had been different. Today, her impulsiveness could have killed
Bella. His daughter meant the world to him and he wouldn’t tolerate
anything that could cost Bella her life.

Rachel slowed down when she entered the
family room. He wondered if she had any idea what she’d done by
convincing Tank to visit a different store.

“You wanted to see me?” Her hands twisted her
knitted hat in her hands. She looked nervous, worried, and so
unsure about what was happening that it made him forget what he
wanted to say.

“John? Is Bella okay?” A panicked look
replaced the worry.

“Bella’s fine. She’ll probably be going home
in the next couple of hours.”

Rachel sat down in the chair beside him. “I’m
glad.”

“So am I.”

“I’m sorry, John. I never thought it would
turn out like this.”

He almost missed the softly spoken words, the
apology he hadn’t expected to hear. “Did you think that I asked
Tank to go with you because he didn’t have anything better to
do?”

She shook her head.

“I received multiple death threats. Oracom
threatened my family. I wasn’t happy about you going into town in
the first place, but Tank assured me that Walmart was safe. He had
undercover guards in the store and an additional getaway car in the
parking lot. When he was told that Walmart was too dangerous, you
drove to another store that had no guards, no cameras, and no
security clearance. Crafty Crafts was not an option.”

“I realize that now. I shouldn’t have
pressured Tank into taking us to Kelly’s store. It won’t happen
again.”

John swallowed deeply. “You’re right. It
won’t happen again because you won’t be working with Bella anymore.
I trusted you with my daughter’s life and you let me down.”

Rachel’s mouth dropped open. “But it was one
mistake. Tess and I found her and she’s going to be okay.”

John gripped the armrest of the chair he was
sitting on. “Do you have any idea why Bella ran to Tess’ old
apartment?”

“No. Tess and I have just arrived. Tanner
won’t tell us anything.”

“A man followed her down the street. The
craft store was closed, so she went into the café. She thought she
could hide in there. She took her jacket off and tried to look as
though she belonged to another family.”

John had to stop talking. The terror that
Bella must have felt was eating away at him. Part of that terror
was of his own making. He’d never imagined that starting his own
company would put his daughter’s life in danger.

He took a deep breath. “Bella heard Tess talk
about her apartment when she went with you to look at the
bridesmaids’ dresses a few weeks ago. When she went into the café
today, she couldn’t see Tess to tell her about the man. Instead of
telling someone else, she ran into the alley and up the back stairs
to Tess’ apartment. She identified the man from images on the
security camera in the café. The police, the FBI, and the CIA are
looking for him now.”

“Is it possible that he wasn’t following
her?”

John knew that everyone was keeping an open
mind about what had happened until they knew more about the man.
“It’s possible.”

“Why didn’t she call out when the police
searched the apartment?”

“Bella doesn’t remember hearing them. Her
doctor thinks that she may have fallen asleep. Because she was so
cold, she would have been unresponsive to any noise or movement
going on around her.”

Rachel didn’t move from the seat beside him.
He’d expected her to leave, to say goodbye to Bella, then get on
with her own life. But she didn’t do any of those things.

She turned to him and put her hand on the arm
of his sweater. “I know how upset you must be, but telling me to
leave now isn’t going to help Bella. I could stay another week,
wait until she’s feeling better. I don’t want you to pay me. I
could stay in my own apartment and drive to your home each
day.”

John didn’t have to think hard about his
response. Rachel had already become more than Bella’s teacher. He
couldn’t risk her getting any closer. “Bella will be okay without
you. Tanner will take you home after you’ve seen her. He’ll check
that your apartment is safe, and continue as your bodyguard during
the day. When the death threats have been resolved, he’ll no longer
be needed. If you want him to stay with you tonight, he’ll be happy
to do that.”

Rachel took her hand off his arm and dropped
her chin to her chest. “I don’t need Tanner tonight. I’m going to
stay with Tess and Logan until this is over. Logan installed a
state-of-the-art security system when he moved into his home, so
I’ll be safe.”

“That’s good.”

She glanced quickly at him. “What else are
you worried about?”

John leaned back in his chair. He didn’t know
where to start. “Apart from a Technical Development Team that are
now on high-alert and under twenty-four-hour surveillance, and the
Department of Defense breathing down my neck, I still don’t know
why Bella left Tank’s SUV. She knows she has to be careful. It’s
out of character for her to run away.”

“It was important to her.”

“Scrapbooking supplies aren’t important.”

Rachel sighed. “Have you asked Bella why she
needed them?”

“Of course I asked her. She said it was a
surprise.”

“It was for your Christmas present. She
wanted to finish it tomorrow so that she could give it to you on
Christmas morning. Don’t be too hard on her, John. She’s only
eight-years-old. We all make mistakes.”

“Mistakes don’t usually cost you your life.”
The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. His wife
had made a mistake the night she’d gone out with some friends and
taken Bella with her. She’d drunk nearly a full bottle of wine, got
behind the wheel of their car, and driven four miles before hitting
a tree and killing herself.

Rachel picked up a bag that she’d left on the
seat beside her. “I saw Mrs. Daniels at the nurses’ station. She
thought Bella might need some dry clothes, so she dropped these
off. She said she’d see you both when you arrive home.”

For the first time since Bella had gone
missing, he really looked at Rachel. Her normally pale skin was
whiter than usual. Her big blue eyes swam in her face, filled with
regret and so much worry that he felt as though he was looking at a
reflection of his own face.

“I’m sorry, Rachel. This isn’t how I imagined
saying goodbye to you.”

Rachel wiped her hands on the knees of her
jeans and stood up. “I enjoyed spending time with Bella. I’ll say
goodbye to her on my way out. Good luck with finding the man who
followed her.”

Rachel left the room. He looked at the bag of
clothes and tried to think of something positive that had happened
today. But all he could see was the disappointment on Rachel’s face
when he’d told her that she wouldn’t be teaching Bella anymore.