Page 32 of Two Hearts' Accidental Heroes

Should she be afraid to explore inside the cabin, she wondered? She’d better play it safe and stay inside the kitchen until the deliveries were made.

Wes had even left the phone numbers for her to call.

Picking up the cell phone, she called in her grocery order first, before ordering supplies, which would be left at the front door in a couple of days.

Chapter Sixteen

“It’s the last thing I expected,” Jake said to Rick, referring to the arrest of Wade Armstrong, who’d kidnapped Ashley Mitchum, and his implication of Wes Montgomery. “But I’m glad that Ashley is alright.”

“I hear you. It’s nice to see my brother Brian happy again, too. Now I’m going to have to sit on this job for a while, I guess. Now that he knows he’s being watched, he’s not going to do anything to get himself in trouble. Who knows if I’ll ever find Shanna,” Rick said glumly.

“Yes. I’m worried about that too. We found nothing suspicious at the house or at the marina. But that’s what we expected.” Jake sighed. “Well, the longer you’re around the guy, the more likely you are to gain his trust. I can’t believe he had a son we didn’t even know about. I’m certain he’s cut him off, so if Wade was his confidant, he’s going to want someone to replace him. Wes seems like a pretty solitary guy.”

“I’ll do what I can. I think you’re right. He does seem open to needing someone to talk to. I’ve been catching him keeping an eye on me, and he seems to be approving. It didn’t hurt that I was able to sell a few snowmobiles to the men you sent in there to buy them,” Rick said dryly.

Jake laughed suddenly. “I knew you had good instincts, but I didn’t think you’d figure it out so quickly.”

“So, there was something else that you wanted to tell me about?” Rick asked.

“There’s a handwritten notebook that was discovered at Michelle and Brian Barton’s place, which I haven’t mentioned before. That’s how I managed to recommend you for AFOSI. There’s an Air Force Colonel who’s listed in the book, who appears to be connected somehow to the trafficking. We think that the book was probably what those men were looking for that night they shot out the window of the real estate office and threatened your mom and Aaron Mitchum.”

“Now that sounds like good news,” Rick replied, relieved. “What else is in the book?”

“Names of a bunch of men and even a few women who we believe invested knowingly in reestablishing the trafficking in Crystal Rock. We were sure to broadcast that we had the notebook.”

“So, do you think our parents are out of danger, then?”

“Most likely,” Jake replied. “The only problem is that we believe there might be two more books out there. To eliminate potential trouble, we laid claim to having all three. We’ll continue to provide security to everyone involved and see how it goes.”

“Good. That’s a relief.”

“I’ll let you go,” Jake said. “Check in with me again tomorrow.”

“I will,” Rick said, disconnecting his cell phone and switching it off. He had a couple hiding places here in the house, and it was a good thing he did, because he knew instinctively that someone had been in the house here in Rice Lake a few days after he’d moved in. There were some loose floorboards outside of the fireplace in the corner, and Rick reached for his laptop and laid it, along with his phone, inside the large compartment beneath the floorboards, resting the wooden flooring back in place.

Rick got ready to go into work. Wes had him come in at ten so he could work until seven with an hour lunch. Surprisingly, the pay was pretty good too. He was off on Mondays so he could work Saturdays, since that was one of the busiest days of the week.

He’d been working there for over a week now, and had developed a grudging respect for Wes, who had a hands-on approach to his business. It was hard to believe that he was the type of guy who would have someone killed just so he wouldn’t have to pay him.

There were a lot of things about the guy that puzzled Rick. At the weirdest times, Rick could see the sadness in his eyes. He also didn’t seem one-hundred percent healthy.

Jake had someone else keeping an eye on Wes when Rick wasn’t at work. Rick had been ordered to play his role as a normal employee, coming and going like everyone else who was working there.

But one thing had struck him as odd. There were no women working at the marina.

Chapter Seventeen

Shanna was lonesome. Those trips with Wes to town had meant more to her than she’d realized. Christmas came and went, and it was a long cold winter. Wes left her alone to live her life, calling her once a week. He urged her to stay at the larger cabin if she had any trouble with the furnace or power at hers.

Once the snow had fallen, he’d told her she could use the snowmobile in the garage of the larger cabin. He was certain she could figure it out if there was any kind of emergency, although she wasn’t sure about that herself, despite having taken off occasionally in Mom’s car as a teenager without her even being aware. He kept a large supply of gas in the garage.

Someone was coming and restocking everything in the larger cabin, she realized one day, when she arrived and found more cash and another credit card in the envelope in the kitchen. There were even extra groceries in the fridge for her, she noticed.

But it still didn’t make up for the loneliness she felt. Occasionally, she spied on her sister, who’d moved into the family cabin on Crystal Rock Lake. She was excited to see that Anya was fixing things up.

One day, she realized that Anya wasn’t living there alone anymore. She and Eric O’Neill had apparently made up and were dating again. That’s what kept Shanna going through those long lonely days and nights.

But one day in February, Wes called, giving her some news.

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