Page 61 of Rescued By the Mountain Man

“They know, Warrick.” Her voice was strangled. “They found me.”

They? I thought it was one man.

I wanted to disagree with her, but the words splashed in neon red spoke for themselves. We went to the car, and while Zoe leaned against a wall, I plucked the driver's door open, mindful of the busted glass shards, and looked inside. Had they left a message for her inside, too?

I didn’t see anything, even after rifling through the glove compartment and looking under the seats. I didn’t see more menacing words. Exiting the vehicle, I went to Laura. Resting a hand on her arm, I said, “There is something we need to tell you about how Zara came here. C’mon, let's get into your office and talk.”

Laura’s face fell inch by inch as we told her—well, I told her—about Zara’s stalker. She kept shooting aghast looks at Zoe and looked as horrified as Zoe must have felt by the end. At some point, Laura made tea for us.

“I’m sorry,” Laura said while setting the cups down. “I always take hard news with a cup of tea. Zara, dear, would you mind telling me how long this stalker has been harassing you?”

“I don’t know,” she kept her head down. “I never even knew I had one until the man broke into my apartment and tried to kill me.”

That didn’t sound right.

I hadn’t had any stalkers myself, but back in my heyday, I’d had some super obsessive fans. “Back in the day, I’d had dozens of buckle bunnies send me letters, photos, and even their underwear. I’m surprised you never got anything like that.”

“I—” she sighed, then finally looked up. “—it took me by surprise too.”

“Are the police in your old town looking into it?” Laura asked.

“As far as I was told before I came up here, they are,” she replied. “But I can’t figure out how they followed me here. That car is not registered to me, the plates are not mine, I left without notice, and the only person who knew I was coming up here is my handler and the guys who sent me here.”

Laura and I shared a look, and I didn’t know if she was thinking the same thing I was. “Is there someone here that has any connection with the man you’re running from? How—how could that happen? No one knows you here from Adam.”

“That is strange to me, too,” Laura murmured. “We’re all an extended family here. Who would throw someone under the bus like that?”

“Maybe we don’t know everyone like we think we do,” I replied, while keeping an eye on Zoe.

“But who?” Laura sounded aggrieved. “I hate to think someone here is a traitor.”

Shifting the empty cup to the side, I sighed, “I think we need to go home, Laura. Thank you for letting us know about the car; I’ll deal with it in the morning.”

Laura checked her watch. “In forty-three minutes?”

“Whatever I need to do, I need to do it,” I said. “And do you have a tarp to cover the car with? The police might need to see it.”

“Before we go, I’d like to see it, too,” Zoe replied. “I need to take a couple of pictures and send them to the police in New York.”

That made sense, so we did so. She snapped the pics and a video before we headed back to the ranch, just as dawn was breaking over the treetops. Zoe looked completely defeated, and I didn’t want to push her. When we got to the ranch, I asked her, “Do you want to go back to my room or stay in yours?”

Lifting her head from the frosted window, she replied, “I’d prefer to stay in mine. I need to think a few things over.”

Before she popped the inner handle, I tugged her into a one-armed hug and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be out all day. And don’t worry, I’ll check on Santos too. Get some rest.”

We parted ways in the corridors, and as she went to sleep, I went to shower, dress, and make the blackest coffee I’ve ever had in my life. Marie came in after me—something that was incredibly rare—and greeted me. “Off to the hospital?”

“Yes,” I didn’t need to tell the length and breadth of the situation I had found myself in. I needed to see Tom Callahan, the town sheriff, and take it from there.

Chapter Twenty

Warrick

Walking into the sheriff’s office, I spotted Tom right away. In this one-horse town, the most Tom and his two deputies did was coax Mrs. Applewhite’s fifteen cats from trees and stymie Rory and his teen friends from coaxing gullible adults to buy beer for them.

I knew he would never expect something like this.

“Sheriff,” I called to get his attention. “I need your help. Don’t say anything until I finish, okay?”

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