my meeting with my father went badly. He won’t acknowledge me. I’m coming to see—” A pause of several seconds then, “I’ll call you back. I guess I was going too fast. A cop is behind me and wants me to pull over.”
She punched the next message, hoping it was Bryan to explain further, to help her to make some kind of sense of all that was happening. “Annie, you can’t run forever. I’ll find you, just as I found Bryan.”
Listening to the second message from a gruff-voiced man, the same one she’d heard as Bryan was being beaten, only strengthened the terror that was a constant companion. There was no going back to Crystal Creek.
THREE
The next day at the library computer, Annie stared at the screen, rereading the words of the small article from the Daytona paper: “The body of 28-year-old Bryan Daniels of Daytona was found in a Dumpster behind the McKinney Apartment Complex. The victim was badly beaten and died from a gunshot wound to the stomach. His apartment was later discovered to be ransacked.”
He’s dead. His place robbed. Tears blurred the words on the screen. Her relationship with Bryan had ended six years ago, but he’d tried to do the right thing concerning Jayden, even if he’d totally messed up his life. How was she going to tell Jayden about Bryan? She had to find a way but make sure her daughter didn’t say anything about Bryan to anyone. Maybe when she moved on after the holidays.
Beaten and shot. The facts in the article taunted her. Oh, Bryan, what have you done? What have you gotten Jayden and me into?
A noise behind her prompted her to click off the computer before Sara or Jayden found her looking at it. She watched a lady at the counter cross to a cart and place a stack of books on it. Annie scanned the library’s large room with rows and rows of shelves and found Jayden sitting cross-legged on the carpet flipping through a book with Sara behind her in a chair peering over her daughter’s shoulder.
Shifting back around, she stared at the blank screen. She’d figured after the message last night that Bryan was dead. Reading the news in black and white hammered home that she couldn’t go back to Crystal Creek, only fifty miles from Daytona, until she knew what was going on. Had Bryan’s visit with his father had anything to do with him being killed? She couldn’t go to the cops with what little she knew—not yet, not until she knew whom she could trust. Her life and Jayden’s might depend on her silence. She couldn’t risk it, especially after Bryan’s last message about being pulled over by a cop. That had only been an hour before he called her at her apartment. What had happened in that hour?
What was her next step? Find out more about Bryan’s father, Nick Salvador. It had all started with Bryan’s visit with him. Who was he? What kind of power did he wield? Where did his money come from? How wealthy was he? Was he capable of killing his own son?
Her head pounded with all the unanswered questions that seemed to demand responses immediately. She rubbed her temples, unable to alleviate the tension.
First, she needed to know if whoever had picked up Bryan’s cell and talked to her had found where she lived in Crystal Creek. She dug into her purse and pulled out her cell to call her apartment manager, Trey Johnson.
When he came on the phone, she said, “Trey, this is Annie. I—”
“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to find you. I don’t have your new cell number.”
“What?” Annie gripped the cell tighter, again peering around her to make sure no one was nearby. “Why are you looking for me?”
“Your apartment was broken into a few days ago. It was destroyed.”
The man found our place in Crystal Creek not long after we’d left!
Her nerveless fingers released her cell, and it dropped to the tile floor making a loud sound in the quiet of the library. Several patrons, including Sara and Jayden, looked at Annie. A flush heated her cheeks as she retrieved her cell and said, “Sorry, I dropped my phone.” The rapid thumping of her heartbeat made her voice sound breathless.
“Where are you?”
Light-headed, Annie tried to drag enough air into her lungs, but the room swirled before her. She closed her eyes for a few seconds.
“Annie, are you there?”
“Yes. Do you think anything was taken?” As a friend and manager of the apartment complex, Trey had been in her place several times.
“That’s hard to tell, since it was trashed so badly. Even the stuffing in the couch was torn out. Most of what is left isn’t salvageable. The police have been here. They aren’t saying much, but I haven’t heard of any other robberies like yours in town lately.”
And Trey would have known. Little crime happened in Crystal Creek—until now.
“When are you coming home? Where are you? I thought you might be dead or something when no one could find you, but your boss told the police you left town for a while. They’ve been looking for you.”
The police, looking for her? The thought escalated her fear and panic even more. “Jayden and I,” she began in a voice that quavered, “are okay.” If you don’t count having someone hunting us. “I can’t tell you anything else. I’ll get back to you later. Thanks, Trey.” She clicked off the cell before she told him something that could give her location away. What if the person who had killed Bryan had gotten to Trey?
Don’t trust anyone. That included her friends and the police in Crystal Creek.
She turned off the cell, realizing if she was on it long enough they could trace her through the GPS in it. Half the time she didn’t have it on because she left it off at work and often forgot to switch it back on. Now all she wanted to do was throw it away, as though the assailant had come through the connection to touch her with evil. She shuddered.
“Mommy, I’ve got my books. I’m ready to go. Sara wants to take us by the police station to meet Harriet and her blue cat.”
“Her cat is at the station?” Annie stuffed the cell into her purse and rose, smiling as Sara made her way to her at a slower gait than Jayden.
“Yeah, isn’t that cool? Sara said she’s the station mouser.”
Fifteen minutes later they entered the police station. The instant Annie saw Caleb, her heartbeat increased as though she’d been given a shot of adrenaline. His gaze latched onto hers and didn’t release it.
He disengaged himself from a conversation with an older woman at the back of the station and sauntered toward them, coming around the counter, his eyes sparkling with pleasure. “What brings y’all by here?”
“Jayden said something about wanting to see Harriet’s cat, and I told her Samson stays at the station when she’s here.” Using her cane, Sara moved toward her friend. “Jayden, Samson’s usually in his basket near Harriet’s desk.”
Her daughter trailed behind Sara. The second Jayden saw the cat she stooped next to the large wicker basket and touched the blue-gray animal. Its loud purrs resonated through the room. Jayden grinned and stroked her hand along his back over and over.
“I hope you don’t mind us visiting like this. Are you busy?” Annie swiveled toward Caleb.
“I
