Stolen, page 10
“My stalker?”
“Probably since the footprints Nick was following were from the man who left the vase. At least that’s what he thinks.”
“Then at least Candy’s safe.”
“We don’t know what’s going on. Everyone needs to stay in the house. The alarm system is on, and I’ve checked all the doors and windows. If anyone tries to come inside or leave the house, we’ll know. I’ve told Louise. She’s with Anna in the kitchen right now. They’re working on dinner.”
Bernie headed into the hallway. Sarah approached the window that faced toward the rear of the property. What was going on? It seemed every day something occurred concerning Candy’s safety as well as her own. Already Sarah felt like a she-bear trying to protect her cub.
She started to leave and glanced down at the couch against the wall. She picked up the blanket on the cushion, folded it, then placed it on the pillow. Since she and Aunt Louise were in Nick’s bedroom, this was where he slept while they were here.
He had told her once that his ranch was his sanctuary, a place he went to unwind and decompress. His job took its toll on him. He’d seen more than his share of evil and tragedy. When he’d invited her and her family to stay here, he’d given up a lot and had never indicated he wanted it any other way.
She touched her lips, and for a few seconds, she remembered his kiss yesterday—and cherished it. She’d wanted it to continue. She hadn’t realized how much she missed that connection with a man, especially someone like Nick, a godly man with integrity and compassion. Charlie would have liked him.
She shook her head. She had so much to deal with right now. Why in the world was she fantasizing about a man who had remained single all his life? One who had a dangerous job?
She swept around and hurried from the room. What in the world was she thinking? That she and Nick could have a relationship? No, she had two little girls she had to put first. They depended on her.
Sarah peeked into the bedroom where Candy still slept, clutching her Teddy bear against her chest as though it were her life preserver while Trixie was stretched out against Candy’s back. She was flanked by the two things that gave her comfort in the middle of the chaos of her life right now.
When Sarah entered the kitchen, she smelled the scent of dinner, her aunt’s spaghetti. Her sauce, from an Italian relative, was delicious. The scent of onions, tomatoes, peppers, and various spices overrode all other smells in the house. “My mouth is already watering. How long will it be until dinner?”
Aunt Louise glanced at the wall clock. “In an hour.”
Anna groaned. “I’m hungry now.”
Sarah put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Tell you what. Why don’t you get a piece of fruit to tide you over until we eat?”
“How about ice cream instead? It won’t ruin my dinner.”
“You can have ice cream after you eat your meal.”
Anna wrenched herself away from her and stomped her foot. “If Candy wanted ice cream, she would get it.”
Before Sarah could say anything, her daughter raced from the room, nearly running into Bernie coming through the doorway. He stepped quickly out of the way.
She found Anna in the den where she’d thrown herself on a couch, her face turned away from Sarah. She sat on the edge of the leather sofa. “This isn’t about you having ice cream. What’s going on, Anna? I know it’s been crazy lately, but everything will settle down.” At least Sarah prayed it would.
Anna didn’t say anything.
“What Candy’s going through is very hard on anyone, especially a child. She needs your friendship and support as well as mine. I know I’ve been spending more time with her lately, but she just lost her mother and needs help. She needs someone to listen to her and show her she isn’t alone. You’ve been doing a good job doing exactly that. I hope you’ll continue. Do you think you can?”
After a long moment, Anna rolled over, looking up at Sarah. “I will. What’s going on?”
Sarah brushed her daughter’s hair away from her cheek. “I don’t know for sure. But we’re safe here until we find out. I thought you were enjoying staying here.”
“I am, but I’m scared. I wanted to go to the barn to see the kittens and to the corral to see the horses. I’d like to ride one again, but Aunt Louise said I had to stay in the house.”
“You and Candy will get to go back to the barn at some point.” Sarah clasped Anna’s hand. “I want you to know that I’ll be adopting Candy. She’ll be part of our family. Her mother asked me to be her daughter’s guardian if anything happened to her. I agreed, especially because you two were such good friends and because I feel we should help others whenever we can.”
“Candy’s going to be my sister?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’ve always wanted one.”
“Don’t say anything to her yet. I’ll let you know when you can. Okay?”
Anna nodded. “I’m still hungry. Can I have a little ice cream?”
“Not until after dinner. Then you can eat all you want. Don’t forget the apple is still—”
“No! No!” Candy screamed.
* * *
Nick tossed the leafy branches away from the abandoned car and peered into its interior. Empty. The nauseating scent that drifted to him churned his stomach. The stench screamed that a dead animal or person was nearby. After he slipped on the gloves he’d used earlier, he opened the driver’s door to pop the trunk then rounded the rear to lift it.
Nick stared at Jack Coleman crammed into the car’s trunk. He’d been killed by a gunshot to the heart. Nick wouldn’t know how long Mary’s ex-husband had been dead until the medical examiner arrived. The odor coming from the body indicated it could have been around twenty-four hours ago or longer. The medical examiner would be able to narrow the time, taking into consideration the temperature. Without moving the body, he inspected the area around the body and found nothing.
He withdrew his cell phone from his pocket and took several photos of the dead body. Then he placed a call to headquarters to report the death of Jack Coleman and requested a team to deal with the crime scene. He didn’t want to be gone from the house for too long. He made another call to his grandpa to make sure everything was okay.
“I found Jack Coleman dead in a trunk of a Ford Fiesta. I asked headquarters for a canine team to follow the scent of the driver when he dumped the car and left.”
“You want to know if the killer came to your ranch?”
“Yes,” Nick said as he thought about having Bella try to follow the scent too. She was being trained and was doing well, but he wanted another canine to support what happened. Too many people he cared about were at stake. As soon as a police officer arrived, he would turn the crime scene over to him and hightail it back to his house. “I know the scent will vanish when the driver gets into another vehicle, but where is that? I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
“I’ll let Sarah know Coleman’s dead.”
“See you soon.”
Nick disconnected the call and moved to the car’s interior to see what evidence he could find. He didn’t have evidence bags, but he’d point out to the police what he wanted bagged up and processed. As he combed through the vehicle, he couldn’t stop thinking about the case and the questions filling his mind, but one dominated his thoughts.
Who killed Jack Coleman, and why?
* * *
“Don’t!”
The sound of the scream propelled Sarah to her feet. “Anna, go into the kitchen and tell Bernie I need him.”
Sarah hurried down the hall to the girls’ bedroom and came to a halt just inside. Candy held a wiggling Trixie. “Is something wrong?”
“She tried to jump down to the floor.” Candy hugged the puppy close to her chest. “She could have hurt herself.”
Sarah didn’t respond for a few seconds because her heartbeat had skyrocketed. The tension around her was palpable. “Maybe she needs to go to the bathroom.”
The little girl’s eyes widened. “I need to take her outside.”
Nick’s granddad appeared next to Sarah and slipped his handgun into his pocket. “Everything’s fine here?”
Sarah nodded. “Candy, Bernie will take Trixie outside.”
She scooted to the edge of the bed and stood with her puppy in her hands. “I want to.”
Sarah drew in a deep breath. “Not right now. Maybe later we’ll go to the barn. Wait until Nick comes back.”
“Where did he go?” Candy asked.
“Into the woods checking out something. Why don’t you go into the kitchen and help Aunt Louise with dinner? Anna is in there.”
“Okay.” Candy passed Trixie to Bernie then headed for the kitchen.
“Walk with me outside,” Bernie said as he turned and started down the hallway.
By his demeanor, she could see something was wrong. What was it? “We shouldn’t be gone long.”
“I agree.” Bernie turned off the alarm, stepped outside onto the front porch, and descended to the ground. After putting Trixie on the grass, he pivoted toward her. “Nick called me a few minutes ago. He found an abandoned car with Jack Coleman dead in the trunk.”
“Mary’s ex-husband was behind this house in the woods?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Don’t know.”
“Why was he here? To kidnap Candy? What’s going on? Who killed him and why?”
Chapter Twelve
Nick and Bella approached the rear of his house. When he reached his patio, the back door opened, and Sarah slipped outside.
“Where was he?” she asked and closed the distance between them.
As Bella sat next to Nick, he pointed in the direction slightly to the right. “There’s a paved road that goes to the lake behind my property, but beyond that about a fourth of a mile away there’s a dirt road that the couple who run the campground put in for people who come to their place. An old black Ford Fiesta was left about thirty yards away from the road on the other side. It was covered with branches. Coleman was in the trunk, shot in the heart. A forensics team is processing the car and the area right now. Probably whoever drove the car and left it there had someone on the dirt road waiting to take the driver away.”
Sarah paled. “Why leave it there?”
“A message possibly. It’s common knowledge the police are searching for Jack Coleman as a person of interest in Mary’s murder.”
“What if there was more than one person who broke into Mary’s house? Killing her and trashing those two bedrooms would take some time. One could have murdered her while another was searching for whatever they were looking for. But then what was the guy searching for in the bedrooms? Candy or something else?
“Good questions. I’ve been thinking it was Candy because I thought the killer was Coleman. He disappeared a few days before Mary was murdered and turned up here. That would give him time to case the location of where Mary lived and follow her movements.”
“Could her ex-husband have brought a partner? Being in prison, he could have met an unsavory guy who would help him get revenge since Mary called the police on him.” Sarah raked her hand through her hair and hooked the strands behind her ears.
“I’ve been going back and forth about whether there was one person or two. The fingerprints didn’t show anyone except Mary and Candy had been there.”
“Mary had people over to her house, including Anna and me, but she kept her house spotless, so I can see why no other fingerprints showed up.”
“There were a few different children’s prints in Candy’s room, but I didn’t want to waste my time pursuing them.” Nick looked toward the rear double doors and spied Anna and Candy pressed against the glass, both longingly staring at them. “We have two munchkins watching us.”
“Yeah, I told them we would go to the barn when you came back.”
“We’ll talk more later. I don’t want to disappoint them. Today was tough for Candy. Let’s take her mind off the memorial service and make her smile.”
“Maybe taking her mind off all that has happened for the rest of the day might refresh us enough so that we can figure out what happened.”
Nick grasped Sarah’s hand and threaded his fingers through hers. “Good suggestion.” He covered the distance to the door.
The girls didn’t move. Anna lifted her chin and looked at her mom. “We’re ready to go to the barn.”
Sarah smiled. “Sounds good. I’ll tell Aunt Louise and Bernie.” Candy quickly stepped away to let her come inside.
After Sarah disappeared from view, Nick signaled for the girls to come outside. Both of them made a beeline to Bella and petted her. His dog licked Candy’s face, and she giggled. Bella loved people, but she especially was drawn to ones who were hurting. She knew what Candy needed. She’d done the same to him when he’d been hurting and struggling from his near death.
“Are you two up for riding? We’re going to get both of them ready to ride. Who’s riding Tilly?”
Anna raised her arm.
“Then, Candy, you can ride Sadie.”
Candy pumped her arm into the air. Grins from ear to ear appeared on their faces.
Anna glanced over her shoulder at the door then started toward it. “What’s taking Mom so long?”
“She’ll be here in a minute. She still had on her dress and heels. She probably wanted to change before going to the barn.”
Anna drifted back to Nick and Candy. A few seconds later, Sarah appeared at the door.
“It’s about time, Mom.” Anna took her hand and tugged her forward.
Nick chuckled. “I think two girls want to go riding.”
“You think!” Some of the tension that had been in Sarah’s face was gone.
Anna and Candy ran ahead of them with Bella staying at their side.
“I asked Aunt Louise to hold dinner so the girls can have a couple of hours with the animals.”
The two mares trotted around the corral nearest the barn. Tilly came to the fence first. Anna stuck her arm through the slats to pet her. When Candy arrived, she climbed halfway up the fence and called out to Sadie. The blond five-year-old mare immediately headed for Candy.
The child twisted toward Sarah. “She knows me!” Sadie nudged Candy, and she laughed.
The sound from her was beautiful for Nick to hear. He knew how much animals could help people overcome pain and sorrow. In Cimarron City, there were other children who needed a place to go and interact with animals. For the past few months, as more abandoned pets were left at his gate or were given to him, he’d been thinking about doing something with the animals he had at the ranch. Seeing Candy’s reaction to Sadie and Trixie cemented that mission for him. Now, he just had to figure out what and how to do it.
“What are you thinking?” Sarah asked, pulling his attention to her.
He turned to her and smiled. “I don’t know at this time. Maybe when the case is over, I’ll have time to look at what I could do with my abandoned animals to help others.”
“I know of an organization in town you might team up with. Pals works with children who are disadvantaged. It isn’t just economically but emotionally disadvantaged kids who don’t have a mother, father, or a sibling. Emma works with the group.”
“I’ll get in touch with her.”
“Can we ride?” Candy asked as she climbed down from the fence.
“Yes. I’ll go and bring out the saddles. Both of you can learn how to put one on.”
The girls beamed.
“We’ll help you.” Anna started for the barn.
Nick headed after Candy and Anna. Having the two girls here at his ranch helped clarify what he’d been thinking about for the past year. It gave a spring to his steps. When Sarah came up to his side and walked with him, the urge to clasp her hand and pull her close to his side filled him. He cared about her and that thought concerned him. He’d dated and even became serious when he first was a police officer. But his job had always gotten in the way. Finally, he’d decided to devote himself to one or the other. His job won out because he loved aiding people, especially in times like the past bombing spree or what was going on with Sarah and Candy. He needed to back away emotionally.
* * *
Later that night after dinner, Sarah sat in the den with everyone for a game of charades. Anna and Bernie were on her team.
“We won!” Candy pumped her arm in the air.
The grins on Nick’s and Aunt Louise’s faces matched the little girl’s.
“We need to do another game.” Bernie yawned. “Maybe just as soon as I take a nap.”
Aunt Louise chuckled. “Not gonna happen tonight. Tomorrow is a school day.”
Bernie rose and called Bella to him. “First let’s take your dogs outside.”
Both of the children scooped up their pets and headed for the rear door.
Aunt Louise picked up the tray with a few leftover chocolate chip cookies, placed the empty glasses on it, and headed into the kitchen.
Although Bernie was with the girls, Sarah crossed the room to the double back doors to watch them as the darkness crept over the terrain. The security lights illuminated a good part of the yard. But she couldn’t forget what had been discovered a short distance from this house.
Nick approached her. “They’re okay. Bella will let us know if someone’s out there. She’s a great watchdog. Besides, Bernie is so invested in the girls. He won’t let anything happen to them.”
“Your grandpa is wonderful. Have you seen the looks exchanged between him and my aunt?”
Nick chuckled. “You’d have to be blind not to see that.”
Sarah rotated toward him, looking up into his face. He was easy on the eyes, but what drew her was the man’s integrity and compassion for others. Charlie had been a wonderful husband, and she missed him. She wanted what she’d had, but that meant she would have to take a risk, hoping she could find love that wouldn’t be yanked away, especially after only a few years.
