Hunted, page 11
She didn’t know if he quite realized it yet, but she was his, no ifs, ands, or buts. She had been for years, and now that they were finally coming together, she wasn’t about to let him back away out of some misguided sense of propriety or because of some twisted idea he held of himself.
Chapter 20
By the time Beth sat down to return the calls she’d missed that morning, she had mostly pulled together her lost composure, both from opening the horrifying package and from having spent two hours rolling around in her bed with Ethan.
She’d left him sound asleep, circles of fatigue under his eyes, a short time ago. He’d told her that he’d worked until almost seven that morning and had only gotten home about ten minutes before her call. She’d tried to rouse up a bit of guilt at having called him back out, but considering how things had turned out, she was struggling to find an ounce of that emotion. At least not guilt over bringing him to her.
Beth simply didn’t jump into bed with people, and she’d practically cannonballed into the sack with Ethan. There’d been little thinking about what they were doing or what the potential fallout would be. For someone who took sex seriously and approached intimacy with an abundance of caution, what she’d done this morning was completely out of character. That said… she wouldn’t have changed a thing.
After they’d stripped each other naked and things had turned seriously intimate, all the competitiveness and daring that had marked the first part of their encounter faded, leaving an intensity that had devastated her. All she’d been able to do was hold on to Ethan and feel. It was the kind of lovemaking she’d thought only existed in fiction.
True, she didn’t have much to compare it to—only one guy she’d gotten somewhat serious about in college—but still. She couldn’t imagine it could get better, and she wasn’t sure she’d survive it if it did.
Shaking off that train of thought, as she didn’t want to go too deep into the rabbit hole, she pulled up her call log to see who all had phoned. When she saw Gordon’s name, she grimaced.
“You’re feeling guilty because you’ve been friendly, and that’s stupid.” She didn’t know how things would turn out with Ethan, but regardless, how she handled Gordon going forward would have to change. She wasn’t about to be one of those women caught between two men or even having the appearance of such. “It’s a good thing you left those flowers at work.”
She started her callbacks with Marshall. “I’m sorry I’m so late getting back to you. I got another package this morning.” She described the contents, though she left out the particulars of the letter itself.
“I’m sorry, Beth. Do the police have any idea who’s doing this?”
“No, still not a clue. There’s nothing for them to trace—no fingerprints, hair, nothing.” She rubbed the back of her neck and moved her shoulders. “I guess it’s a good thing I’m not working today because this has me turned sideways.” So had Ethan, but that was something else she wasn’t about to mention.
“Do you need to take some time off?” Marshall asked.
“I don’t think so. I’ll be back on my feet tomorrow, hopefully. If not, I expect you to give me a good, firm shove, okay?”
He laughed. “Of course. This place can run for a day or two without an Olman or Hudson on the premises, but any longer than that and the whole operation falls apart. Talk to you soon. If you need anything, just call.”
“I will. Thanks, boss.” Smiling at his dry humor, she ended the call and phoned Gordon.
He answered on the first ring. “Hello, Ms. Hudson. Looks like you’ve won this round of phone tag.”
She heard the warmth in his voice, and she winced. “So you said to call if I had questions. Well, I have some, as well as some information I’d like to run by you, get your opinion on.”
“Okay. Is this something you want to handle over the phone, or would you like to meet in person to discuss it? I know a nice little place about halfway between Leroy and Louisville, quiet but busy.” He named a popular area restaurant. “Would that be suitable?”
“If we could do lunch, that’s perfect. How’s your schedule tomorrow?” She heard what sounded like a squeaky office chair moving, followed by the sound of fingers tapping a keyboard.
“I can do anytime tomorrow after noon. Does that work for you?” he asked.
“It does. Say twelve thirty, then?”
“It’s a date. I can hardly wait to see what you have for me. Any chance I can get a sneak peek?”
Beth couldn’t help smiling. “Possibly. If I had your e-mail address, I could send you some data… but wait, I don’t have that, Mr. Mysterious. Oh, before I forget, thank you for the flowers. They were lovely.”
“Glad you liked them. I didn’t think I was going to get them past your receptionist.”
She was amused to hear that Vanessa had given him a hard enough time that it had perturbed him a little. “She’s very protective. Now, that e-mail address?”
With a laugh, he relented. “I guess I can let you have that much.” He rattled off a rather generic username at a much-used free e-mail program.
“Somehow, I’m not surprised by your continued anonymity. My brother says hi, by the way. He’s almost as close-mouthed as you though, so I don’t know more than I did, really.” Growing serious, she continued. “I’ll send that info out right away. I think it’s the key to what’s been going on here in Olman County, and I’m sure there’s a pattern I’m not seeing yet. Maybe you can come up with something.”
Confirming the time and place for the next day’s lunch, she hung up and quickly typed out the e-mail, attaching part of the document she had put together to keep her notes straight. As she clicked Send, she sighed, hoping she was doing the right thing. She was only sending him the information on the altars, not the disappearances, as she wasn’t quite ready to go public with that theory yet.
After a moment’s debate, she decided to call Charlie. He ran a security consulting business out of his home and provided corporations and law enforcement agencies with detailed personal histories and background searches. If anyone could come up with information on Gordon, he could. She’d tried—she wasn’t a novice in the “seeking information” department, after all—but if the man was active on social media, she’d not been able to find him. Doing an extensive search for his name hadn’t netted her any results either.
Her gut was telling her she could trust the mysterious stranger, especially since Chase seemed to trust him, but after this morning’s little surprise, she didn’t want to take chances. Charlie and Lauren were back from their honeymoon, and with any luck, he’d have a minute to see what he could find. She hit the call button and got up to pace to the window as it rang.
“Clark Consulting,” Lauren answered.
Beth smiled. “Hey, you. Where’s your husband?”
She laughed. “Chasing the cat. I took the morning off to help him with some things. What’s up?”
“I need a background check done on someone I’m having trouble tracing. Why’s Charlie chasing the cat?”
“Rumble had to go to the vet yesterday, and he’s on antibiotics. Apparently they don’t taste all that great. So far Charlie’s ended up ingesting more than the cat.”
Beth heard the amusement in Lauren’s voice, and she snickered as she imagined the battle. “I hope you’re getting pictures of this.”
“Oh, no. That would land me on the couch, and I’m not willing to take that chance. Here he is. I’ll hand you over to him. Call me when you have two seconds, and we’ll catch up.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Hey, Lois Lane,” Charlie said a moment later, a little out of breath. “What’s going on?”
“This and that. I have a source I’m trying to dig up some information on. It isn’t that I don’t trust the guy, but he’s playing Mr. Mysterious, and that just makes me more determined to figure out what he’s hiding. Despite my best efforts, I can’t find a thing on him. I’m supposed to meet him tomorrow for lunch. Would you have time to do a quick background for me? I’ll pay you.”
“No, you won’t. I’m happy to help. What do you have on him?”
Beth sighed. “We’ll see about that, buddy.” She told him what little she knew. “When I asked Chase about him, he was all tight-lipped too.”
Charlie laughed. “That didn’t drive you the least bit crazy, did it?”
“Not at all.”
“Well, I should be able to come up with at least a little information. I’ll get on this in a few minutes and hopefully have something for you by this afternoon. Want me to call you back or e-mail you?”
“Either works. Thank you for this. I’ll owe you one. I mean it.”
Hopefully Charlie would be able to get her what she needed. Considering that Chase trusted Gordon, she felt safe enough to go ahead with their scheduled meeting regardless of whether or not Charlie was able to find anything. Plus, it wasn’t like they were meeting in the middle of nowhere. The restaurant was a busy hotspot in a populated area.
That said, it never hurt to be cautious, and if she didn’t find out anything before she left tomorrow to meet with Gordon, she’d go armed to the teeth.
She snorted. “Yeah, you’d be smart to do that anyhow. Guess we’ll find out what we find out and when we find it, right?”
Shoving aside the thoughts of that particular mystery, she pulled out notes on another story she’d been working on and grabbed a legal pad, ready to do the outline for the article.
Flickers of memories of the pictures still spread out on her dining room table snapped through her mind, and she gripped her pen tightly. “That’s something else you can’t do a damned thing about right now. Focus on what you can control. Everything else… it’ll work itself out.”
But she wasn’t sure that things would work out this time, no matter what she did or how much she wanted them to.
Chapter 21
Ethan was alone when he woke up. Rolling over, he groaned when he saw that it was almost three o’clock. Sure, he’d had the day off as he’d worked into the wee hours of the morning closing out a case, but he’d not intended to spend the entire day in bed.
He’d sure as hell not intended to spend the entire day in Beth Hudson’s bed. Stretching out on his back, he rubbed his face and yawned as he thought about the morning.
Never in a million years would he have believed someone if they’d told him that making love to her would be such a powerful, emotional experience that it had threatened to rip his heart right out of his chest. He’d known taking her to bed wouldn’t be casual, but the depth and breadth of what he felt… he’d in no way been prepared for that. Being with her had felt like coming home after a lifetime of exile.
Years ago, he’d gotten engaged to a woman he’d thought he loved, someone he’d thought had loved him in return. When she’d found out that James Moore was actually his stepfather and that Ethan’s biological father was a first-generation Mexican American who’d committed suicide when Ethan was three, she’d left skid marks getting away from him she’d fled so fast.
Before she’d put a permanent distance between them, she’d lashed out at him with anger-filled revelations and reality checks that he still had trouble thinking about without feeling self-disgust. She’d damaged the way he thought about himself, making him second-guess everything personal and everyone he thought he’d known.
Ethan was a good cop. Indeed, he knew he was a damn good cop. He’d busted his ass to get to where he was now. Ever since then-detective Wyatt Dixon had knocked some sense into his rebellious teenage self, all Ethan had wanted was to be able to help people the way Wyatt did, literally to protect and serve. From that point on, he’d looked up to Wyatt as an idealized savior of sorts, a father figure and very human hero.
While Ethan and his stepfather had finally managed to forge a tight relationship as adults, Wyatt had understood from the get-go the personal conflict that a younger Ethan battled on a daily basis. The two men had bonded over that understanding, and once Ethan had seen the world from Wyatt’s perspective, his path was clear.
Now that he had achieved what he thought he wanted, however, he was finding it an empty victory. Yes, he was making a difference in the community, but he went home to an empty house. The sad truth was his personal life left a lot to be desired. As he watched the people around him pair off and start families, he realized that before long, he was going to be the only one left alone. He didn’t know what to do about that.
Sure, he dated, but always casually, never with serious intentions. He’d not even had a sexual relationship in well over a year, as that had left him feeling emptier than ever.
Plus, there was Beth. For close to two years, he’d been distracted by her, fascinated by the mischievous, bright lady who’d seemingly come out of nowhere. He’d known her for years, and for those years, he’d not given her a second thought in anything approaching a romantic fashion. But summer before last, they’d been at a stupid barbecue of all things, and he’d heard her laugh from across the yard. He’d not realized who she was at first, as he hadn’t been able to see her face, but he had been fascinated by the happiness in her laughter.
When he put two and two together, he’d been appalled. Not only was she his best friend’s sister, she was practically a princess in their little town. Royalty, whereas he was a peasant. He had no business being interested in Beth Hudson, and he knew it.
But now all that was out the window. Lying in her bed, staring at the afternoon sunlight dancing across her ceiling as he listened to her moving around the apartment, he closed his eyes. “You’ve really fucked up this time, you know. You can’t take this back.”
The scariest part, not counting his own insecurities, was that he didn’t particularly want to take the day back. Ethan had long ago given up on finding the kind of emotional connection he’d stumbled upon today with Beth. Now that he’d found it, even if he didn’t know what to do with it, he was reluctant to let it go without a fight.
Chapter 22
Beth was in the kitchen when she heard Ethan stirring. Immediately, her stomach clenched, and her pulse jumped. “What in the world am I going to say to him?” she murmured as she started him a cup of coffee. “This is so nerve-wracking it’s ridiculous.”
By the time he appeared in the doorway, clad only in jeans, she had the coffee ready.
When she held up the mug, he nodded. “Hold that thought.”
As the bathroom door closed behind him, she let out the breath she’d been holding and set the mug on the island, gripping it hard. Panic was setting in. Ethan was in her bathroom. Ethan, who’d spent the day sleeping in her bed. Ethan, who’d spent the morning with his body all over hers. Ethan… who’d been so lovely to her then turned sour and grumpy so many times in recent months.
If he came out of the bathroom and was the irritable, unkind guy she’d seen too much of lately, she feared it would break something inside her that she’d never regain. She was already steeling herself for that, and the thought made her want to cry.
When the door clicked open, she jumped. Trying to act as though she wasn’t about to come out of her skin, she bit her lip and traced the edge of the countertop. There wasn’t enough convincing in the world to make her look up, to meet his gaze as he came through the doorway into the kitchen.
He didn’t speak, just quietly walked around to where she stood and placed his hand beside hers on the counter. After a few seconds, he took her hand and used it to turn her, then he boxed her in against the island, resting his hands on the counter’s edge on either side of her hips.
Beth still couldn’t look at him, though she did bring her hands up to his chest, unable to resist touching him. The contrast between her paleness and his nicely tanned skin was striking, and she wondered fleetingly whether he’d noticed the fascinating contrast.
He brought a hand up to draw a soft line across her cheek, then caught a wisp of hair and tucked it behind her ear. “Why the blush, blondie?” His fingers traced the wide collar of her shirt where it met the strap of the tank top she wore underneath. “Regrets?”
“No!” She cleared her throat, glancing at him. He wasn’t scowling, but he looked guarded. Calling herself ten kinds of chicken, she lifted her chin and met his eyes. “No regrets here.”
His expression softened even as his hand stilled. “Really?”
Beth scowled. “Do you want me to make something up?”
He laughed. “No.”
Not moving away from her, he reached for the coffee. The whole time, he smiled, seemingly unaware that he’d destroyed her with that apparent happiness.
He tilted his head at her, puzzled. “What?”
“You’re smiling.”
It wasn’t that she’d never seen him smile, but it was such a rare occurrence that each instance felt like a precious gift.
He shook his head. “Nah. You’re imagining things.” But the smile lingered, and after he’d taken a few sips of coffee, he set the mug down and kissed her. After too short a time, he stopped, pressing his forehead to hers. “Not to ruin a good day, but I have some evidence to process, and I need to head to work.”
Beth traced his collarbones, reveling in the freedom to touch him. “I’d rather you stayed here. We can create a little bubble and pretend the world doesn’t exist.”
“Maybe someday but not today.” He kissed her again, briefly this time, then moved back. “I’ll get dressed and take care of those pictures. You didn’t disturb them?”
She shook her head and followed him into the bedroom, watching as he put on his shirt. “I tried to ignore them, forget they existed.”
He sat down to pull on his socks. “How’d that work out for you?”
