house.” Cate started toward the hall.
“I suppose I should see it,” he replied. “But I’m sold. I’ll take it.”
Cate whirled around, surprised and a bit shocked. She’d never sold any house this easily, especially without having shown every nook and cranny. “Just like that?”
“Look, Cate. There’s just me. I’m a fire jumper. They fly me wherever I’m needed. I’m here because my mom is sick and she’s too much for my siblings to handle. Other than some family dinners, which this kitchen can handle like a dream, I’m pretty much a homebody. When I’m off duty, I cook for relaxation. My father was a carpenter, plumber, handyman, you name it. I learned a lot about houses from him. We used to remodel houses on the side to make ends meet. There’s nothing I can’t do here myself...within reason, of course. But I didn’t want to live through a kitchen remodel.”
Cate smiled. “Then I suggest we breeze through the rest of the house, see the garage and check the plumbing. We should talk about what kind of offer you want to make.”
“That’s your area of expertise. I’ll take any direction you suggest.”
“You could pay their asking price but make it a stipulation that they pay for some of the yard cleanup, including removal of the dead shrubs.”
“That sounds fair,” he said.
“Good,” she replied with a satisfied smile. “I’ll go to the office, call the owners and then write up the papers. Can I reach you on your cell?”
“Yes, and if I don’t answer, try the fire station number I gave you. I’m working there in between forest fire assignments. Just to help out. My brother is a firefighter, as well. He talked me into it.”
“Sounds like a great family, Rand. I’d like to meet them all some time. So, can I bring the papers there for you to sign?”
“Absolutely,” Rand said, and quickly walked through the master bedroom, which was larger than he’d expected. The other rooms were smaller than he’d hoped. Still, he was happy.
As Rand rumbled down the street in his truck, Cate couldn’t help thinking that it suited him perfectly.
Cate called Sarah. “Hi. I finished much earlier than I’d thought. I have to run by the office, but I shouldn’t be more than an hour.”
Sarah explained she and Miss Milse were making dinner for the kids, and there was no rush. Danny and Timmy were playing with Beau, and Annie was practicing the piano.
Cate pulled away from the curb and drove to the first stop sign. She glanced in her rearview mirror, saw only a black Mercury sedan behind her, then checked right and left before proceeding across the intersection. She stopped at the red light at Indian Lake Avenue, turned on the stereo and punched in a new classical station she’d found.
Cruising toward the real-estate office on Indian Lake Avenue, Cate looked in the rearview mirror, checking the traffic.
She nearly froze. Was that the same black Mercury she’d seen on Park Street?
“No.” She refused to believe that anyone could be following her. This was a coincidence. Lots of people would travel to town taking the same route she was.
But after the visit from Trent Davis and his warnings about home invaders and watching for anything that was out of the ordinary, she had to admit to being slightly spooked.
Each time she came to a red light, even though the Mercury was directly behind her, it stayed back far enough that she couldn’t see the driver. That, in itself, seemed strange. And she didn’t like it.
Because of Cate’s work as a real-estate agent, showing houses, sitting in vacant houses on weekends, she’d taught herself to be aware of her surroundings. Maybe her ultrasensitivity or flat-out paranoia was due to the fact that she’d been living in disguise for over six years. Whatever it was, she knew when things didn’t feel right.
Like now.
There was only one way to find out if she was imagining things or if she should call the cops. She hit her turn signal and slipped to the right lane. Then she made a right turn onto Cove Beach Lane, which circled the entire lake.
The Mercury followed.
Cate’s blood pounded in her temples, heating her veins despite the fact her fingers were cold. She gripped the steering wheel. There was only one person who’d ever speared her with so much fear that she turned off all human emotion.
Brad.
That was impossible, wasn’t it? How could Brad be here? When she’d changed her name, it had needed to be published in the Indiana newspaper, but she still felt fairly safe since Brad had never looked at a newspaper that she remembered and he lived in Illinois. Still, she wondered how he could have found her. These days, there were ways. There were internet sites notorious for finding lost family and friends. Cate had been ridiculous in her distrust of providing any online information. She never paid her bills online. In fact, she hand-delivered her utilities checks. She paid cash at the grocery store, and she always paid the mortgage in person. Once she secured her first mortgage, she cancelled her credit card. Cate kept her money in a floor safe in her house. If she ever had to run again, even in the middle of the night, she was prepared.
There was the matter of her face being on not one, but three roadside real-estate billboards at the primary entrances to town. These billboards were a major part of her agency’s advertising campaign. Cate had tried to ditch the photography session, but her boss had been insistent. Cate had no choice but to agree to the photo.
This same photo of her was plastered on the company website, free neighborhood newspapers, the Indian Lake Argus newspaper and on flyers on a corkboard at the Indian Lake Grocery.
For years she’d told herself that the chances of Brad driving through Indian Lake were one in a billion.
He would never find her.
But what if he had stumbled upon her little town?
What if he had seen the billboard? Being supercritical now, she realized that, except for the hair and eye color, she really hadn’t changed much in the past seven years. Brad had always been sharp—it was one of the things she’d been attracted to. She liked smart people.
Her nerves jangled. Logically, there was no reason for her to think for one millisecond that the Mercury following her was driven by Brad.
But her intuition had never betrayed her. Never.
Cate tilted her head to the rearview mirror and looked hard and long at the man driving the Mercury. Though terrified at what she might see, she eased off the gas and let him approach.
He had dark hair, but that was all she could see.
If it was Brad, he had to want something.
But what?
She didn’t have any real money, just a few thousand in her safe. If Brad had found her, and knew anything at all, he most certainly knew about Danny.
Cate felt her stomach twist. She ground her jaw, already feeling massively protective toward her son. Late at night when dread drew mental
