Page 88 of Trail to Trouble
“He is. Hold on a sec.”
Mandi spun around and took a few steps toward the doorway behind the reception area.
“Jack, the Samuelsons are here, and they have Hannah Rice with them. They’d like to see you.”
“I’ll be right there,” the chief’s familiar voice echoed out of the room.
A woman, Hannah recognized as Chief Ricco’s wife, Clare, stepped out of the chief’s office. A toddler was perched on her hip, and she held the hand of another young child who looked to be five years old or so. Cute kids. The little girl had the same shade of bright red hair as her momma, and the boy had dark hair like the chief’s. They looked like the perfect little family.
Hannah recalled how nice Clare was to her and how the woman was able to calm her in light of all that had happened that day.
Clare caught her gaze and smiled warmly. “It’s good to see you, Hannah.”
“You, too, Clare.”
“Well, I’ll get out of here so you can talk to Jack,” she said, stepping toward the exit.
The chief waved them into his office and motioned for them to sit at the rectangular table.
She glanced around the room. It was decorated exactly the way she suspected an office would be for a small town police chief in the Northwoods. A twelve-point buck mount hung on the wall with a stringer of perch on one side and a fan of turkey tail feathers on the other side.
Chief Ricco listened attentively as she and Hunter explained the chain of events that occurred leading to them sitting before him. The neutral expression Chief Ricco wore made it hard to know what he thought until she got to the part of how she texted Bianca, assuming it was Sebastián, and set him up to come after her up here. It was then that his eyes darkened and his facial muscles tightened. Still, he sat quietly until she and Hunter finished speaking.
“Well, if you are correct, and Sebastián understands the message, you’ve put us in quite the position,” the chief said.
Though the man spoke in a normal tone, she felt scolded, and when Hunter’s gaze hit the tabletop, she knew he felt the same.
Recalling his wife and two small children who’d just left the building made her feel guilty that she’d just endangered the chief and how this could impact his beautiful family. Her head hung.
“Hannah,” the chief said, drawing her attention back to him.
“I understand the spot you’re in. Unfortunately, circumstances like yours sometimes leave little recourse to ensure the victim’s safety. I wish you’d come to me before setting this all in motion, but what’s done is done. Now we just need to figure out our best course of action is from here.”
Chief was clearly not happy about what they’d done, but he’d quickly switched gears to damage control.
“So, we’re working with the assumption that Sebastián is really who you are texting with, and you’ve hinted that you are up here.”
“Yes.”
“There’s a big assumption about where you are located here, though, right?”
“I guess.”
“From what you’ve told me, back then and now, there’s still no actual proof it was Sebastián who’d shot Alyssa and chased you and Hunter.”
“It was him!” she said, cutting off the chief’s words.
“You may be right, but what I meant was, was it really him or a hired hand?”
She dropped her gaze to the surface of the table again, but for just a moment before returning it to the chief.
“If I had to guess, a hired hand. Remember, he had an alibi during that timeframe. It wouldn’t surprise me if he and his family paid for an alibi or threatened them, but he was behind it for sure. I just know it.”
“I ask, because Sebastián may not know the exact location you referred to. If he is truly on his way here, I want to keep him away from the general public. I’d like to steer him toward a specific place, and maybe we can pick him up en route. Find out if Bianca is safe. It won’t take but a few minutes for me to get his and Bianca’s registered car information so we can be on the lookout, but still, there are a lot of roads in and out of here.”
“If you stop him before he does anything, he’ll just be set loose to...”
“I can’t willingly let him try to kill you,” the chief said firmly.
