Missing in Montana, page 13
“You’re right, I don’t understand. There is someone out there who wants you dead.”
She nodded. “And I might have kept running like I did when I left my car beside the lake and climbed on the back of your motorcycle. But you changed that. I don’t want to run anymore.”
“You don’t have to run. You can stay here. I will—”
Blythe leaned into him and brushed a kiss across his lips silencing him. “I need a ride to town. I hate being late my first day of work. Is that offer to lend me a pickup still open?”
He didn’t know what to say. It was clear that she’d made up her mind and there was no changing it. He swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to fight back his fear as the two sheriffs came out onto the porch. All he could do was reach into the pocket of his jeans and hand her his truck key.
“I’ll get one of my brothers to come pick me up,” he said his voice tight.
“You sort it out?” Buford asked as Blythe headed for his pickup.
“Find out who is after her,” Logan said between gritted teeth. “Find them before they find her.” Meanwhile he was going to do everything in his power to keep her safe.
The problem was that the woman was as stubborn as a damned mule. But he was glad that Blythe seemed her former strong, determined self again. Not that he wasn’t worried about what she would do next.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Betsy came out of the shower to find Loretta and Karen sitting on the ends of the bed, glued to the television screen. Her heart kicked up a beat. “What’s happened now?” she asked with a sinking feeling.
Loretta grabbed the remote to turn up the volume. A publicity shot of JJ flashed on the screen, then a news commentator was saying that an inside source had confirmed that the body found in the rented sports car convertible was not pop rocker JJ.
“Authorities are asking anyone with information regarding JJ to call the sheriff’s department.” A number flashed on the screen.
“I don’t understand,” Betsy said. She knew now why she never watched the news. It depressed her.
“JJ,” Loretta said. “She’s not dead. She wasn’t driving the car that crashed.”
“Then who was?” Betsy asked.
Loretta shrugged.
“Then where is JJ?” Betsy asked.
Karen looked over at Loretta. “That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?”
Loretta was already heading for the door. “I need a drink. Call me if you hear anything. I already asked Jett about JJ. He swears he doesn’t know where she is. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the two of them cooked this up. When I find JJ, she is going to pony up some money for this wasted trip. I swear, that bitch is going down.”
As she went out the door, Karen sighed.
“Does she really believe that Jett and JJ cooked up letting some poor young girl die in JJ’s car?” Betsy asked. “Is that really what she thinks?”
“Loretta has always had her own way of thinking,” Karen said distractedly. “Just as she sees this as JJ owing her.”
“What do you think about all this?”
Karen seemed surprised that Betsy would ask her. But Karen had always seemed the most sensible one in the band and Betsy said as much.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I have no idea. The police will sort it out. In the meantime, I wish I knew where JJ was.”
“You miss her, don’t you?”
Karen smiled. “Hard to believe after what she did to all of us, huh.”
“She was just offered an opportunity and took it,” Betsy said. “I don’t blame her. But you were just as good as she was, if not better. I’ve never understood why Martin chose her and not you.”
“I guess he saw something in JJ that I lacked.”
“Do you still play and sing?”
“I don’t really have the time,” Karen said, but Betsy knew it was more than that.
“It hurt us all when the band broke up. Don’t you think we could have found another lead singer? I mean, we didn’t have to break up the band when JJ left.”
Karen smiled as she turned back to her. “We’ll never know.”
“Loretta says that JJ’s leaving was like having the heart ripped out of us because we felt betrayed,” Betsy persisted. “Is that how you felt?”
When the door opened and Loretta came in with Jett, Betsy noticed that Karen seemed glad for the interruption. Clearly, she hadn’t wanted to talk about JJ anymore. Or how she felt about the girl she considered her sister walking out on her.
“It’s all over Twitter,” Jett announced. “JJ was seen east of here.”
* * *
BLYTHE HAD SOME TIME TO think on the way into town. She needed an apartment so she could walk to work. She couldn’t keep driving around town in a Chisholm Cattle Company pickup. But she knew that wasn’t the real reason she couldn’t stay with Logan any longer.
She couldn’t put him in any more danger than she already had.
What she’d told Logan had been heartfelt. He had changed everything. She would have kept running, but he made her want to end this so she could get on with her life—and she hoped Logan would be in it.
But until she found out who was after her, she had to put some distance between them. Whoever had put the note on Martin Sanderson’s body could have killed her that morning at the Grizzly Club. She figured the only reason they hadn’t was that they wanted her running scared still.
She wouldn’t let them use Logan Chisholm to do it.
As she drove into the small western town of Whitehorse, she spotted the local newspaper office. The idea had been brewing all the way into town, but as she pushed open the door to the Milk River Courier, she was aware that what she was about to do could be the signing of her death warrant.
“Can I help you?” The young woman who rose from behind the desk had a southern accent and a nice smile.
“Are you a reporter?” Blythe asked.
“Andi Jackson, at your service,” she said, motioning to the chair across from her desk.
Blythe saw that the small newspaper office was deserted as she took a seat. “You’re a weekly paper? Is it possible to get a story in this week’s paper?”
“It would be pushing my deadline, but if it’s a story that has to run, I can probably get it in tomorrow’s paper,” Andi said.
“It is. My name is Jennifer Blythe James, better known as JJ, and until recently everyone thought I was dead.”
Andi picked up her notebook and pen and began to write as Blythe told her JJ’s story, starting with the small trailer in the middle of the desert, then a band called Tough as Nails and ending with her waitressing at the local café in town.
“This is one heck of a story,” Andi said when Blythe had finished. “I’m curious how it’s going to end.”
Blythe laughed. “So am I.” After Andi took her photo, she bought a paper so that she could look for an apartment after work, then she headed for the Whitehorse Café. The last thing she wanted was to be late for work her first day.
* * *
“YOU AREN’T GOING TO HAVE to babysit me much longer,” Emma said when Logan came through the back door into the kitchen. “Your father has hired someone to keep an eye on me so you can all get back to ranching. The woman is supposed to be here by the weekend.”
She glanced at him as he dropped into a chair at the table. “Logan?”
He blinked and looked over at her as if seeing her for the first time that morning. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.”
“I can see that.” She’d never seen him this distracted and would bet it had something to do with the young woman he’d brought to supper last night.
Having just taken a batch of cranberry muffins from the oven, she put one on a plate for each of them and poured them both a mug of coffee before joining him at the table.
“Okay, let’s hear it,” she said as she sliced one muffin in half and lathered it with butter.
“It’s Blythe,” he said with a curse.
She laughed. “Big surprise.” Emma took a bite of the muffin. It was warm and wonderful, the rich butter dripping off onto the plate as she took another bite. She really had to quit baking—worse, eating what she baked. “So you’ve fallen for her.”
“No, that is…” He started to swear again but checked himself. “I’ve never met anyone like her.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Someone is trying to kill her.”
Emma leaned back in surprise. “It must be something in the water around here,” she said, and then turned serious. “Why would anyone want to hurt that beautiful young woman?”
“It’s a long story,” Logan said with a sigh.
Emma listened, seeing how much this woman had come to mean to him. Chisholm men were born protectors. What they didn’t realize sometimes was that they were also attracted to strong women who liked to believe they could protect themselves. Hoyt was still learning that.
“It doesn’t sound like there is much you can do if she’s set on doing things her way,” Emma said. “But you certainly don’t have to hang around here babysitting me today. I’ll be just fine.”
Logan shook his head, grinning across the table at her. “Blythe reminds me a lot of you.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” she asked with a laugh.
“Stubborn and a woman hard to get a rope on,” he joked.
“You Chisholm men. When are you going to learn that you have to let a woman run free if you ever hope to hold on to her?”
“It’s a hard lesson,” Logan said. “I’m not sure I can do that.”
“But then again, you’ve never been in love before. Love changes everything. Have you told her how you feel?”
“About her determination to stick her neck out and get herself killed?”
“No, Logan, how you feel about her.”
“It’s too soon.”
“Or is it because you’re afraid you’ll scare her off?” she asked, eyeing him.
He chuckled. “You see through me like a windowpane. You have any more of those muffins? Also, I need to borrow your computer. I have to find out everything I can about who’s after Blythe. So far, they don’t know where she is. But once they find out…”
* * *
AFTER HER INTERVIEW WITH THE newspaper, Blythe hurried to the café to get to work. Within minutes after putting on her apron, she was waiting tables and joking with locals as she refilled coffee cups and slid huge platefuls of food in front of them.
It was like riding a bike, she thought.
As she worked, she tried not to glance out the front window at the street or the small city park across from the café. The newspaper article wouldn’t come out until tomorrow. Reporter Andi Jackson had told her the Associated Press would pick up the story and it would quickly make every newspaper in the state.
“You realize your story is going to go viral after that,” Andi had said. “With communications like they are, everyone in the world will know that JJ is waitressing in Whitehorse, Montana.”
That was the plan, Blythe thought.
Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about the repercussions that were to come when Logan found out—not to mention the fact that the story was bound to bring a killer to town.
Right before quitting time, she saw Logan pull up out front. Just the sight of him as he stepped from one of the Chisholm ranch pickups made her heart take off at a gallop. She ached for a future with him. They were just getting to know each other. If she let herself, she could imagine the two of them growing old together in that farmhouse of his, raising kids who Logan would teach to ride horses before they learned to walk, just as he had done.
She could see them all around that long table at the home ranch. She’d never had siblings, let alone lived close to any cousins. She’d always wished for a large family like Logan’s and guessed it wouldn’t be long before Hoyt and Emma had more grandchildren running around than they could count.
“Hi,” she said as she stepped outside, so glad to see him it hurt.
Logan looked into her eyes and she saw the pain in all that blue as he dragged her to him and kissed her. As he drew back, he said, “How was your first day of work?” She could tell it was hard for him to even ask.
“My feet are killing me,” she said with a laugh. “How was your day?”
He gave her a look that said he couldn’t take any more chitchat. “We need to talk.”
Blythe nodded and they walked across the street to the park and took a bench.
“You know how much I want to protect you,” he began. “But I can’t if you’re working here in town.”
“I see what your stepmother has been going through waiting for a possible murderer to come after her,” she said. “Look what it is doing to your family. I don’t want that. If someone wants to kill me badly enough, they will find a way no matter what.”
“No, I won’t—”
“Worse, if I was with you at the time, then they might kill you, as well.” She shook her head. “That isn’t happening. That’s why I’m getting an apartment here in town, that’s why I can’t see you—”
“No,” he said shooting to his feet and pulling her up with him. He grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “This is hard enough. If I can’t see you… No.”
“It’s only temporary,” she said touched. “I’m sorry. You had no idea what you were getting into when you met me.”
“Oh, I had some idea.” He let go of her but she could see this was killing him. “What now?”
“Now I find an apartment.” She hesitated, knowing what Logan’s reaction was going to be when she told him about the newspaper article coming out in tomorrow’s paper. “Then when the article comes out tomorrow about JJ being alive and well and waitressing in Whitehorse—”
Logan swore, ripped his Stetson from his head and raked one large hand through his thick blond hair. “You know what bothers me?” He bit off each word, anger cording his neck. “You are filled with so much guilt over leaving behind your former band members that you think you deserve this.”
She shook her head. “You’re wrong. I do regret what I did, but I’m not ready to die. I want to live, really live, for the first time in a long time,” she said with passion. “You know why that is? Because of you. I can’t wait for the next time I get to make love with you. That’s why I’m doing this. I want it over and I don’t want you in the cross fire.”
He dragged her to him and dropped his mouth to hers for a punishing kiss. “You aren’t going to have to wait long for the next time we make love,” he said when he pulled back. “Let’s find you an apartment. That article doesn’t come out until tomorrow, right?”
* * *
SHERIFF BUFORD OLSON HADN’T wanted to like JJ any more than he had Jett Atkins. But the young woman he’d met on her way to her waitress job had impressed him. He couldn’t help but like her—and fear for her.
He’d seen the look in her eye. She was planning to use herself as bait. Not that he could blame her for wanting to flush out the killer. He wanted that as badly as she did.
“You’ll keep an eye on her,” he’d said to Sheriff McCall Crawford.
McCall had nodded. “You think it’s one of her former band members?”
“Likely, given what we know. They had motive and opportunity. I’ll see what I can find out as far as means and get back to you. The music business sounds more dangerous than law enforcement.”
“The nice thing about Whitehorse is that the town is small enough that anyone new stands out like a sore thumb. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
Buford had a lot of time to think on his way back to Flathead. The moment he reached his office, he had a call waiting for him from Jett Akins.
“Is it true?” Jett asked. “Is JJ alive and living in Whitehorse?”
The sheriff shook his head at how fast news traveled. “Where did you get that information?”
“It’s all over the internet.”
Of course it was. “Under the circumstances, I’m not at liberty to say.”
“The circumstances? You don’t think I want her dead, do you?”
“It has crossed my mind,” Buford said.
“It’s these women JJ should be worried about. I just went down to the room where they were staying,” Jett said. “They’ve cleared out.”
“Only the Sanderson case is closed, but I can’t keep all of you in town any longer.”
“That’s it?” Jett demanded. “If you knew these women the way I do—”
“I heard that you dated all of them at one time or another. I guess I’m just surprised you aren’t the one they want dead,” Buford said.
“I’ll be leaving town now, Sheriff.” Jett slammed down the phone in his ear.
Buford hoped that was true. With the news out on the internet, Blythe was already bait—but she might not realize it.
He put in a call to the cell phone number she’d given him. It went straight to voice mail. When he called Logan Chisholm’s cell, he answered on the first ring.
* * *
THE MOMENT EMMA SAW THE sheriff drive up, she knew it was bad news. She stood in the doorway, holding the screen open, afraid to step out on the porch.
Sheriff McCall Crawford climbed out of her patrol SUV. She stopped when she saw Emma watching her, slowing as if dreading what she’d come to tell her.
“Emma,” the sheriff said as she mounted the stairs. Not Mrs. Chisholm at least.
“I just made iced tea,” Emma said and turned back into the house for the kitchen. She heard McCall behind her. “As I recall, you like my gingersnaps,” she said over her shoulder. She wanted to avoid whatever bad news the sheriff had brought as long as possible, since she had a feeling she already knew.
She set about putting a plate of cookies on the table and pouring the tea as the sheriff took a seat at the kitchen table.
“It’s about Aggie, isn’t it?” Emma said as she put the tea and cookies on the table and dropped into a chair across from McCall. Zane, she noticed, was out by the barn. He was her babysitter today. She told herself the news might turn out to have a silver lining. Maybe it would put an end to this house-arrest life she’d been living.
