Imminent Danger

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“You didn’t ruin anything,” he replied. “I’d already finished my omelet when you got upset. So, you want to talk? You don’t have to,” he added hurriedly. “It’s not imperative that you tell me anything. I understand if you don’t trust me.”

“Trust you?” She smiled ruefully. “If I can’t trust you, then I’m utterly lost. I’d like you to know what happened. I think maybe I need to talk about it.”

“Why don’t we go into the living room?” he suggested. In there he could gain enough distance from her that he wouldn’t be able to smell her sweet fragrance. Physical distance would provide emotional distance, and at the moment that’s exactly what he needed.

In the living room, she sat on the sofa and Jesse sank into the chair facing her. He watched the emotions that played across her face as she rubbed her forehead and prepared to share with him the events that had destroyed life as she knew it.

“It wasn’t unusual for me to spend the evening with my sister, Alicia, and her husband, John.” She placed her hands in her lap, her fingers laced together. Her knuckles were slightly whitened by the tension that held her unnaturally stiff. “This particular night was like a hundred others, except that instead of driving my car to their place, I took a cab.”

“Why?” he asked with a cop’s curiosity.

“I was tired and Alicia had told me earlier in the day that she’d bought the makings of strawberry daiquiris and I didn’t want to have to worry about driving home after having a couple of drinks.”

She frowned and her knuckles appeared to whiten even more as she continued. “If only I’d driven my car. If only my car had been parked out front….” Her voice trailed off.

“Don’t go there,” Jesse said softly, knowing well how easily self-recriminations could destroy a person.

She nodded, then continued. “I had been in the house just a few minutes when we heard a car pull up out front. John looked out the window and told me to get in the closet.” Her frown deepened. “Any other time I would have balked at the suggestion, but something in his tone of voice made me obey without question. John and Alicia were police officers, and John often worked undercover, so I thought perhaps he was worried about whoever was there seeing me.”

She pulled her hands apart and stood, as if finding it impossible to sit still while she told the full story. Jesse leaned forward and pulled the coffee table away from the sofa, giving her room to pace without danger of bumping her knees.

“Two men came in the front door, and the minute I saw them, I almost stepped out of the closet. The two men were police officers.” She raised a hand to push a strand of hair off her face, and Jesse noticed her hand trembled.

She paced the space in front of the sofa, the tight jeans displaying her slender legs. “But before I could open the closet door and step out, the two men shot John and Alicia.” Her voice rose slightly and she stopped walking and drew a deep breath, as if to marshal her emotions.

Jesse realized he was holding his breath. Two cops, murdered by two other cops. No wonder Bob Sanford and Kent Keller had immediately whisked her away. It was an ugly scenario.

“Apparently I passed out in the closet. When I came to, I was blind and in a hospital room. That’s when I met Bob Sanford, who explained to me that John and Alicia had been working for Internal Affairs and investigating a group of dirty cops.”

“And apparently the dirty cops learned of IA’s investigation and John and Alicia’s part in it,” Jesse said.

She nodded. “And now John and Alicia are dead, and the good guys are hoping my sight will return so I can identify the two men who killed them.”

“Can you identify them?”

She sank down to the sofa once again. “Oh, yes. Their faces are burned into my mind. Unfortunately, at the moment I’m a blind witness.”

“And what happens if you never regain your sight?” He could tell the question pained her as she winced.

She straightened her back. “I refuse to consider that possibility.”

He heard the strength of conviction in her voice, but he also heard an underlying fear.

He decided to leave that particular topic alone. “You mentioned a group of dirty cops… Did anyone tell you how many were in the group?”

“Bob Sanford told me there are eight. The Renegade Eight is what they call themselves. Unfortunately, nobody seems to know exactly who the eight are.” She forced a smile in his direction. “It seems I have a small posse probably seeking my whereabouts and praying for my death.”

“Don’t worry, little lady, the sheriff of Mustang knows how to handle a posse of desperadoes.” Jesse did his best John Wayne imitation, and was rewarded by her laughter.

“Performing that kind of a bad imitation would definitely make desperadoes run for the hills,” she said. “We’re a long way from Chicago—that’s where I’m from. Surely nobody could track me all the way here.”

Jesse frowned. He wasn’t so sure. He knew as well as anyone that cops could be quite resourceful when it came to seeking out information they wanted. Knowing there may be as many as eight dirty cops seeking her, definitely was a sobering thought.

If three people knew where she was, that was two too many. He wouldn’t feel comfortable until he got word that the eight cops had been arrested and put behind bars.

“Do you want to know my real name?” she asked.

“No,” Jesse hurriedly replied. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to tell me. I might accidentally call you by that name in front of other people. It’s best that you remain Cecilia Webster to me.”

“Okay,” she agreed, although he thought he detected disappointment in the single word.

“What did you do before all this?” he asked, attempting to get her mind off bad guys, killer cops and false identities.

She smiled, and he saw the tension slowly leaving her. “I’m an interior decorator.”

He groaned. “I think I’m glad you can’t see this place. It would probably give you nightmares.”

“It can’t be that bad,” she protested. “What’s your color scheme?”

“Color scheme?”

She leaned forward, her features lit with an animation he hadn’t seen before, an animation that transformed her from pretty to something far more powerful. “You know, what’s the dominant color of the room?”

Jesse shrugged and looked around. “I’ve got a brown-and-orange sofa, beige carpeting, a rose-colored chair. I’m not sure there is a dominant color.”

“Orange sofa and rose-colored chair?” She looked slightly ill. “You’ve just managed to do what nothing and nobody has done in the past month.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“You almost made me grateful I’m blind.” The animation still shone on her features, and a stir of desire winged through Jesse, both appalling and irritating him. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” she continued. “As soon as I get my sight back and everything is settled, I’ll come back here to Mustang and redecorate your house.”

“It’s a deal,” Jesse agreed easily, although he knew it was a false promise on her part. This was a place to hide, a state of limbo for her.

When her sight returned and her life was no longer threatened, she would go back to Chicago and never look back. He knew that he and Mustang, Montana, would simply represent part of a very bad dream she would never again want to revisit.

Chapter 4

Sheriff Jesse Wilder had lied to her, Allison thought as she sat on the sofa and listened to the sounds of him clearing the table and cleaning up the breakfast dishes.

He’d told her he wasn’t particularly good-looking, but her fingertips had told her something altogether different.

Even now, her fingers still held the memory of his skin and features. His face was slender, with high cheekbones and a straight nose. He had long lashes and she could easily see in her mind his blue eyes framed by the dark fringes.

His mouth was soft, achingly soft, and if she dwelled on it, it would be far too easy to imagine those lips pressed against hers.

She stirred restlessly and smiled as she heard him whistling “Camelot” as he worked. She could imagine his dark hair falling carelessly over his forehead as he rinsed the dishes. She knew from touching that his hair was thick and silky and she had a feeling he needed a haircut.

When she put all the single images together, what she got was a mental image of a handsome man.

A confirmed bachelor, she reminded herself. Not that she was interested. She had a life, a full life waiting for her return to Chicago. That was her Camelot.

“Want another cup of coffee?” Jesse called from the kitchen.

“No, thanks. I’m fine,” she replied. She heard him enter the room and smiled in his general direction.

“I thought maybe we’d eat lunch down at the café this afternoon,” he said. She heard the squeak of a cushion and knew he’d sat in the chair opposite the sofa.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” The thought of going out, of being vulnerable, sent a flutter of anxiety to the pit of her stomach.

“Keller told me to keep my routine as normal as possible and to tell everyone you’re my girlfriend. Every person in town will begin to wonder about you if I keep you isolated here. That wouldn’t be normal.” He sighed audibly. “Besides, trust me that we’ll know if a stranger shows up anywhere in the vicinity. A fly doesn’t land on the back of a dog, that somebody in this town doesn’t comment about it five minutes later.”

She laughed, her anxiety ebbing somewhat. She had to trust his judgment, had to believe that he not only knew his hometown and the people in it, but also knew the business of protection. “Okay, lunch out sounds good.” She jumped as a heavy knock fell on the front door.

Jesse got up and walked to the window. “Relax, it’s my deputy,” he said to her, then opened the door. “Hi, Vic, what’s up?”

“Jesse, I think we’ve got another one.” The deputy’s voice boomed loud and deep.

“Dammit!” Jesse exclaimed. “Who?”

“Maggie Watson. I don’t know, Jesse. She’s in bad shape. She’s locked herself in her house and won’t let anyone in.”

“Has she been hurt physically?” Allison heard the concern in Jesse’s voice.

“Nobody knows. Amanda Creighton came down to the office and said something was wrong with Maggie, that she and Maggie were supposed to meet this morning at the café for coffee. When Maggie didn’t show up, Amanda went to her house.” The deputy paused, apparently to draw breath. “Maggie wouldn’t let her in the house, but she says she is a victim of Casanova. I don’t know what’s going on, but it sounds like she’s freaked out totally.”

“Okay, you go on back to the office and I’ll check things out at Maggie’s place,” Jesse said briskly. “You might try to find Shelly. Maybe Maggie will feel more comfortable talking to a woman deputy.”

“Shelly left early this morning to visit her parents. By this time she’s miles and miles away from here.”

Allison listened with interest as the two men finished their discussion and Vic left the house. She tilted her head questioningly, aware that Jesse hadn’t moved from the door. “I’ll be fine, Jesse. Go where you’re needed.”

“I’m not comfortable leaving you here alone.” He hesitated a moment, then continued. “Why don’t you ride along with me? I can’t promise you how long we’ll be gone and I’ll ask that you remain in the car, but I’d feel more comfortable if you don’t stay here alone.”

“Okay,” she agreed, and stood. It didn’t much matter to her whether she sat in his car or sat on his sofa.

Moments later she was safely ensconced in the passenger seat of Jesse’s car. “Who’s Maggie?” she asked.

“Maggie is a twenty-eight-year-old who works the evening shift as a waitress at the Round-Up.”

“And the Round-Up is?”

“A bar at the outskirts of town, decorated like an old-fashioned saloon.”