Page 24 of Shrouded Past

Her shoulders sagged in relief. “Thank goodness.” She searched his face and saw the concern he couldn’t hide. “But you aren’t sure.”

He wouldn’t lie to her. “Not completely. Once JT speaks with him, I’ll feel better.”

???

“Okay. Thanks, JT.”

Piper heard enough of the conversation to realize it hadn’t eased Bryce’s mind any.

“It wasn’t the neighbor?”

“That’s just it—the neighbor’s on vacation. He rents the place out on Airbnb. The person staying at the house now has rented the house multiple times through the years. JT’s going to call him to make sure those tracks belonged to him.”

“That’s odd.” Piper wasn’t sure she believed in a coincidence this big.

“Hey . . .” Bryce put the phone down and came over to clasp her arms. “We don’t know it’s Skeleton Man. The neighbor obviously rents his place out during the summer months. And he knows the person renting it. What are the chances his friend would be the kidnapper?”

When he put it that way, it made sense. She sighed softly. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be paranoid.”

Bryce smiled. “You have every right to be paranoid after what you’ve gone through.”

She looked up into his handsome face, all the danger around them disappearing. “I don’t ever remember feeling this safe before. Not in the three years I can remember, anyway.”

Bryce’s smile slowly died away. He lifted his hand to cup her face. “Just know that I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe, Piper.”

She touched his hand. “Thank you. I don’t know if I’ve told you that yet.” With everything that had happened, she barely had time to catch her breath.

“You’re welcome.” He dropped his hand and stepped back. “Want some coffee?”

“That would be lovely.” Coffee was a treat when she was with Protector. He seemed to live a simple life. The food was nothing extravagant. Though he left the house periodically, it was not enough for her to believe he went to a job somewhere. He’d mentioned once about checking the generator as if he lived off grid.

Piper cleared away their dishes and retrieved two mugs.

“Why did you move to Maine?” she asked because she needed something to take her mind off what was happening.

His shoulders visibly tensed. Something bad had happened, she could see it in the set of his jaw.

“I’m sorry. It’s really none of my business.”

He slowly turned. “No, it’s okay.” Bryce swallowed several times. “Two years ago, my wife was murdered.”

Nothing prepared her for that statement. “Oh, Bryce. I’m so sorry.”

A wintery smile lifted the corners of his full mouth. “It was because of me.”

She stood still trying to understand what he meant. The man she knew only briefly wasn’t capable of harming anyone. Protector’s warning played through her head. They were looking for her.

“I didn’t pull the trigger,” he said in answer to her unspoken question. “But it was because of me she died.”

Piper held her breath while Bella rubbed against her legs. She didn’t dare move to pick up the cat and break the spell because she wanted to know what was responsible for the pain carved on his face now.

“I told you I was in law enforcement, right?”

She nodded when he waited for her answer.

“I was sheriff of Big Horn County, Wyoming, for several years.” He stared into space as if no longer aware of her. “The county was being inundated by drugs, heroin, meth . . .” He shook his head. “It was destroying lives. I knew I had to do something about it.” Bryce told her about using a snitch to get information into the drug smuggler’s organization. “Tess was to meet up with the man in charge at an abandoned building, but something went wrong.” His voice held a catch. “The leader of the drug operation had taken Jenna, my wife. He brought her to the building. Held her hostage.”

“Oh, no . . .” Piper couldn’t imagine the fear he’d experienced.

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