“It’s isolated,” I said. “Good place for a private meeting—or an ambush.”
Lana straightened up, crossing her arms. “You’re not seriously considering going.”
“I’m not ruling it out,” I admitted. “If Jake’s ranch is really at risk—”
“From what? Some vague threat in an anonymous note?” She shook her head. “This could be Margret trying to get you alone.”
“Or it could be someone warning us about Margret,” I countered. “Look, I’m not rushing into anything. We have until tomorrow to figure this out.”
Lana’s expression softened slightly. “We?”
“Of course, we.” I met her gaze steadily. “You didn’t think I was going to leave you out of this, did you?”
A small smile played at the corners of her mouth. “The note did say to come alone.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve never been great at following instructions.” I tapped the map thoughtfully. “Besides, with this leg, I might need backup.”
Lana sat beside me on the couch, both of us staring at the map and the cryptic note. Outside, the sun climbed higher in the sky, casting long shadows across the snow. Somewhere in the distance, a car engine rumbled to life.
“Someone’s watching us,” Lana said quietly. “I can feel it.”
I nodded, the familiar weight of responsibility settling on my shoulders. “Then we’d better figure out who—and what they want—before noon tomorrow.”
Scout padded over and rested his head on Lana’s knee, as if sensing our unease. She scratched behind his ears absently, her eyes never leaving the note.
“What could possibly be hidden on Jake’s property that would make someone threaten his ranch?” she wondered.
I folded the note carefully and slipped it back into the envelope. “I don’t know. But I think you need to take a walk to that barn—and this time, I’m coming with you.”
Chapter 3
Lana
“Absolutely not,” I said, gesturing to his bandaged leg. “You can barely make it across the living room without wincing. Three miles to the mill is out of the question, let alone trekking through the snow to Jake’s barn right now.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened, that familiar stubborn set I was beginning to recognize. “I’m not letting you go alone again.”
“And I’m not watching you tear open your stitches because you’re being pigheaded.” I stood up, pacing the small living room. Scout’s eyes followed my movement, his head tilting in canine curiosity. “Besides, we don’t even know what we’re looking for.”
“Something valuable enough that people are willing to threaten for it,” Caleb muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Could be anything—money, documents, drugs...”
I stopped pacing. “Jake doesn’t seem like the type to be involved in anything illegal.”
“Everyone has secrets,” Caleb said quietly. “Even my brother.”
The way he said it made me wonder about his own secrets. In the short time we’d known each other, we’d been through morethan most people experience in years, yet I realized how little I actually knew about him beyond his protective instincts and his irritating habit of putting himself in danger.
“Fine,” I conceded. “But we’re doing this smart. I’ll go to the barn first, look around, and see if anything seems out of place. You can...” I glanced around the room, spotting Ella’s laptop on the desk in the corner. “You can research. Find out everything you can about this property, about Jake, about the mill ruins. And Margret Holloway.”
“Research from the couch. How exciting,” he deadpanned, but reached for his phone. “I’ll make some calls too. I still have contacts who can run background checks discreetly.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Contacts? From what, exactly?”
Caleb paused, his fingers hovering over his phone screen. “From before. My previous life.”
“Which was?”
“Complicated,” he answered, then sighed when he saw my expression. “Security consulting. The private sector, mostly, and some government contracts. That’s all I can say right now.”
