40. Romeo Chapter 2- Riley
CHAPTER 40
ROMEO CHAPTER 2- RILEY
“O h, Romeo, Romeo, where are you, Romeo?” I grin as I jump around the trunk of a large tree. “There you a—” But my service dog is not there. “Hmm. Getting better at hide-and-seek, are we?” I ask, tone amused.
How else am I supposed to spend a Tuesday morning than playing hide-and-seek with my best pal?
A low bark signals that I’m not even close, so I turn and run through the trees. After jumping over a fallen branch, I leap down the embankment toward a low spot in the creek.
Romeo barks happily, his fluffy tail wagging back and forth in absolute delight. “Hah! You shouldn’t have given yourself away!”
He lunges forward, and I let myself fall back to give him the victory. Both paws planted on my chest, he stares down at me happily, his long tongue hanging out of his mouth.
“You’re the best boy, Romeo. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” The German shepherd has been with me for the last five years. Each of my four brothers have their dogs, as well. While our dogs are from two separate litters, they do share the same dad, who gave them all the same long fur and sharp ears.
The shrill sound of my ringtone cuts through the silence, and Romeo steps back and sits, going into what I like to call “alert mode.” After checking the screen and seeing my oldest brother Bradyn’s name on it, I answer. “What can I do for you, big brother?”
“Are you at home?”
“Nah. Romeo and I are out for some partner bonding time.” I rub his head as I get to my feet. “We’re headed back though.”
“Great. Swing by here afterward, please. I have an assignment for you. The client is en route. Should be here in forty-five minutes.”
A spark of joy surges through me. I love the job. Everything about it. Hunting bad guys, returning good people to their homes—helping deliver monsters to justice. “On our way.” After shoving the phone into my pocket, I look down at Romeo. “You ready to do some running, boy?”
He barks in response.
I grin. “Race you home!”
I sprint over a small hill and down through more trees as I race Romeo back to the house I had built on my family’s ranch. Our dad gifted each of his six kids an acre for our own home, though we share everything in between.
It’s been our home for generations and will remain our home for generations to come. The only one of my siblings who hasn’t built a home here yet is my sister, Lani. She’s the youngest of us and runs a medical clinic in town, so she still lives in her apartment on the other side of our small town of Pine Creek.
With Romeo on my heels, I crest the small ridge that overlooks my home. Nestled in a small valley and surrounded by still-growing fruit trees I planted a few seasons ago, my two-story farmhouse is a beacon.
The wraparound porch is something I’d dreamed of having all those years I’d been deployed, a place to wind down with a glass of sweet tea or a steaming cup of coffee in the morning.
It’s home.
My home.
I smile as Romeo continues down the ridge, not stopping until he reaches the bright red front door. “Fine, bud!” I call out as I climb the porch steps. “You win.”
He barks in response and spins in a circle before taking a seat and waiting for me to unlock the door. It’s something I know I don’t technically have to do, but I do it anyway because years of working missing persons cases have made me hyper-aware to just how easily someone can breach your private space if precautions aren’t taken.
Sometimes even if they are.
Romeo immediately heads for his water bowl, while I retrieve a bottle of water from the fridge, then make my way down the hall and into my bedroom. The place is sparsely decorated, but it’s mine. And I’ve come to realize that I really don’t need that much stuff.
A bed. Blankets. A dresser. And my books.
As I always do, I take a minute to grin up at the bookshelves covering two walls in my bedroom. Floor-to-ceiling, the titles housed there range from thrilling spy novels to nonfiction, history, and everything in between.
I’ve even been known to read my fair share of Christian romance, though my brothers will never let me live it down. These aren’t even all of them. I have an entire wall of books out in my living room, and ten plastic tubs still waiting to be shelved in my office.
Books are my happy place. My escape from the world when things get too heavy.
After stripping out of the T-shirt I’d been wearing, I head for the bathroom and crank on the shower. Water sprays out of the nozzle, turning hot in seconds thanks to the tankless water heater I installed when I built the place.
Best. Decision. Ever.
I take a moment to look in the mirror and study the bullet holes marring my chest. Angry red scars that serve as a roadmap to the hell I’ve survived. For some, scars are a painful reminder. For me, they’re fuel to the fire in my soul. I walked away from every single attempt made on my life. And as a former Special Forces Operative responsible for taking on monsters masquerading as men, in missions no one will ever hear of, there have been quite a few.
The silver cross around my neck is the very reason why I walked away, and I’ll never let myself forget it. God was in the fire with me, right beside me as the flames got so hot I could barely stand it.
And He brought me through. Which is exactly why I will keep fighting for the innocent until He calls me home. It’s more than a job. It’s a calling.
One I will answer until there’s no more breath in my lungs.
* * *
The Hunt Brothers Search & Rescue office is inside a renovated barn on our property. Up until a few months ago, we were using Bradyn’s home office, but now that he and his wife Kennedy are in the process of trying to start a family, the decision was made to do something more permanent.
Since Dylan and Tucker are out repairing fences, Bradyn, Elliot, and his wife Nova, are all sitting at the table with our newest client, Odie Landers. I remain standing against the wall, arms folded, Romeo at my feet. This gives me a vantage point when studying Odie’s body language.
He’s relatively collected for a man who just lost his grandfather and quite possibly his sister too, but that could also mean that he’s used to a stressful environment. Given the family’s celebrity status, I’m betting on the latter.
“What’s the status on the authorities looking for your sister?” Nova questions. As a former detective herself, she’s always making notes and surveying every case with the scrutiny of an officer seeking clues.
“Things have been kept under the table,” he replies. “They’re looking for her, but only locally. And given the media storm it would bring raining down upon my family, they’re keeping the story as close to their chest as they can.”
“You don’t believe she’s hiding near your grandfather’s estate?” Bradyn questions.
“No. If she had, we would have already found her.” He takes a deep breath. “Do you have a sister, Mr. Hunt?” he asks Bradyn.
“I do,” he replies.
“Then you must know what I’m feeling right now. Or at least part of it. I know Jules is troubled, she always has been, but to kill? I can’t imagine what would have driven her to that. I just want answers. I want to know she’s safe.”
“You believe she killed your grandfather and took off with $14 million in jewels?” I ask.
He turns toward me. “They’re gone, and so is she,” he says. “Her blood was found at the crime scene, but her body wasn’t recovered.”
“Still, there must be something else that drove you to believe she’s the murderer. Even with all of that considered, there are at least half a dozen other explanations.” Bradyn crosses his arms. “As I said, I have a sister too. And my first thought would’ve been that she was abducted by the killer. Not that she was the killer.”
Odie’s gaze momentarily drops to the folder sitting in front of him—something he brought in but has yet to open. His reaction is one I’ve seen before. There’s something in there he wants to keep hidden. Something that will likely answer a lot of questions but bring bad light to either his family or his sister.
Question is: will he be honest with us?
“Look, I don’t want this to be public knowledge. Our grandfather was incredibly famous, one of the greatest actors of his time. I don’t want to stain the legacy he left behind.”
“Nothing you say to us will be shared outside of our team and anyone necessary to this case,” Bradyn assures him. “But if you don’t give us everything, we can’t help you.”
He takes a deep breath. “Jules has been in and out of trouble for most of her life. She’s an alcoholic who’s spent more time in rehab than not.”
“Being an alcoholic is a far cry from being a killer,” I say.
“Maybe. But Jules has problems. And if she were innocent, why would she run?”
“She was scared. Abducted. Unsure who to trust. I can think of quite a few reasons,” I retort.
“You said that your mother married her father?” Nova questions before Odie can respond to me.
He nods. “After our parents died, our grandfather took us in.”
“Grandfather on your side or hers?” I ask.
“Hers. He’s her—our—dad’s dad.” Odie closes his eyes. “Was our dad’s dad. I must remember that. It’s still just so fresh.” He takes a deep breath, then opens his eyes. “We were young when our parents got married. Jules was only seven and I was ten. But losing her mother took a toll on her, and she never recovered. Then when our parents died—” He fidgets with the file in his hands. “My grandfather had a lot of money, but he’d always considered us his greatest possessions. And now he’s gone and so is she.” A tear slips down from his eye, and he wipes it away. “You asked why I jumped to my conclusion.” He slides the folder to Bradyn, so I push off the wall and lean over Bradyn’s shoulder as he opens it.
Images of bloody handprints on the side of brick. Blood smeared on the dented roof of a car.
“It’s her blood,” Odie says. “No one could have abducted her, then climbed down the side of a two-story house. And they wouldn’t have needed to, as she and my grandfather were the only ones home and the security alert was never even triggered. No one was coming.”
“She could have been grabbed from the grounds,” Bradyn offers.
“It’s possible, but unlikely. Jules knew those grounds better than anyone. No one would’ve been able to find her unless she wanted to be found. Even injured. She was an expert hide-and-seek player when she was little.”
My thoughts drift back to the hide-and-seek game I was just playing with Romeo. A strange coincidence for sure.
“You have a lot of faith in your sister’s hiding abilities under duress.” Bradyn closes the file. His tone is flat, emotionless. Out of all of us, he’s the best at reading people. Which makes me wonder just what he’s seeing when he looks at Odie Landers.
“As I said, Jules is troubled. She ran away when she was sixteen and didn’t come home again until she was eighteen. No number of private investigators we hired could find her.”
“That’s a long time to not know where your sister is.”
He nods, clearly distressed at having to relive the past. “That’s not all, either.” He reaches into his pocket and withdraws a bracelet with embedded diamonds the size of blueberries. “It was our grandmother’s. Someone pawned it at a gold shop in Oregon. Security footage shows that it was Jules.” He sticks it back into his pocket. “She’s a good person, Mr. Hunt. She’s just— Losing both of her parents traumatized her, and it’s not something she got over. If she isn’t responsible, then she’s out there scared and hurt. And if she is the one who killed him—” He trails off, emotions playing out over his face. “Then she’s in trouble and needs help. Either way, I just want her home in time to lay our grandfather to rest.”
Bradyn glances back at me. Since we work on a rotation, I’m up next. Meaning this is my case to accept—or decline. I look down at the photograph Odie provided us with of his sister.
It’s a family photo, with him and her on either side of an elderly gentleman sitting on a bench. Odie is smiling widely, his hand on the man’s shoulder, while Jules looks a bit less enthusiastic. She’s gorgeous, there’s no doubt about that. And she’s smiling, her red lips curved just slightly. Her blonde hair is cut to just above her shoulders and styled in waves so it curves around her face. But there’s darkness in her green gaze. Pain shielded beneath armor. It’s something I recognize easily enough. The question is, what put it there? Was it truly losing her parents? Or something else?
Perhaps something during those two years she was missing from home?
“I’ll take the case,” I say.
Odie looks about ready to hug me. I’m grateful he doesn’t. While physical contact doesn’t typically bug me, when it comes from complete strangers, I’d rather pass.
“You’ll keep it confidential?” His gaze darts from me to Bradyn, then back to me. “As I said before, our family is very well-known. The last thing we need is a scandal with Jules’s name attached to it. Especially when we don’t know the truth just yet.”
“I assure you, Mr. Landers,” I start, popping a piece of gum into my mouth. “The only thing I’m better at than keeping secrets is tracking those who don’t want to be found. I’ll track your sister, and I’ll do it without anyone knowing why.”
“Thank you so much.” He gathers his file and stands, then leaves the office without so much as a backward glance. As soon as the door is closed and we’re alone, I turn to Bradyn.
“What’s your radar saying, big brother?”
“That he knows more than he’s telling us.” Bradyn crosses his arms. “Just watch your back, Riley. And if something seems off, trust your gut.”
“I always do.”