Chapter Five #2
She peeked over at Tanner just in time to see the smile completely fade from his face. “No. My dad’s dead.”
She threw her gaze down to her pie again. “Oh. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Mentioning his dad had completely broken the mood. Tanner stiffened in his chair. “What kind of trouble are you in, Bree?”
“What makes you think I’m in any trouble at all?”
“You’ve got trouble all but tattooed on your forehead. It was one thing when you were just passing through. But now you’ve stuck around, so whatever trouble you’re in becomes my problem, too. I don’t want to see the Andrewses get hurt.”
“I’m not going to hurt them. I’m not going to hurt anyone.” She just needed to stay under the radar.
He ran his fingers through that thick dark hair. “The babies’ dad... Did he hurt you, maybe? I can help if that’s the case.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s nothing like that.”
“Are you in trouble with the law? On the run? You may not believe me, but I can help with that, too. Almost always, things go more leniently with a judge when a person turns herself in of her own accord.”
She let out a sigh. “I’m not wanted by the law, either. I just...needed some changes in my life. Then before I knew it, I was broke, but the babies still needed all their baby stuff.”
That was as close to the truth as she could come without bringing down the type of danger even the police weren’t equipped to deal with.
Tanner studied her with those deep brown eyes that missed nothing. She forced herself to meet his gaze, to remain calm.
To not act guilty.
“So, if you told me your last name, and I run it right now in our system, there’s not going to be some husband who has reported a kidnapping of his children by his wife? There’s not going to be an APB out for your arrest somewhere?”
She stood and walked over to the diaper bag and got out her driver’s license. She walked back to him and handed over the license. “Bree Daniels.”
She’d surprised him. He’d thought she was just going to tell him a name. A lie.
But he recovered quickly. “You won’t mind if I call this in and have them run it real quickly at the office?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Not at all.”
He stood and pulled out his phone, an old flip version like the one she had. That reassured her. The Organization couldn’t steal the info from that phone. Although if they figured out she was here, there weren’t many places to hide in a town this size.
Tanner turned away from her to talk to someone in his office, reading her name and driver’s license number.
Bree Daniels would look real in any system. She had a Social Security number, work history, even had a library card if someone searched that far.
Bree had built the identity herself after her mother died. Had thought she would use this identity for a much longer time. Had hoped to be Bree Daniels forever.
That might not be possible soon.
He hung up and sat back down at the table with her. “They’ll call me back in a few minutes. Shouldn’t take long.”
She stood and began clearing the dishes off the table.
“So you’re from Missouri. Were the babies born in Kansas City?”
Damn it. She hadn’t thought about Beth and Christian. Would he try to track down more information about them from hospitals? How many twins could possibly have been born there in the last few months?
She rinsed the plate off in the sink. “No, I was actually out of town when they were born.”
When she turned, she found him studying her. “Were they premature?”
The more information she gave, the more easily she could get caught in a lie. “Not by much, a little early, I guess. Not unusual with twins.”
He was still studying her too closely. “You look like you’re in amazing shape.”
She turned to wipe down the counter.
Keep calm.
He didn’t know anything. He was fishing.
After she finished wiping, she turned and gave him the biggest smile she could muster. “Well, Mrs. Andrews’s lemon pie certainly is not helping.”
He was going to push the issue, she could tell. But his phone buzzed in his hand. He kept his eyes pinned on her as he lifted it to his ear.
He listened to the report without saying much of anything. At the end, he thanked whoever was on the line and hung up. He stood.
“It seems I owe you an apology. Bree Daniels has no APBs out for her arrest, and no one has reported you either as a missing person or as someone of interest in any cases.”
“Glad to hear it.”
He wanted to say more. She could tell he wanted to say so much more, but one of the babies started to fuss from over in the playpen where they slept.
Tanner nodded. “You’ve had a full day of work, and I’m sure those kiddos don’t sleep very long. I’ll get out of your hair.”
She was surprised at the disappointment that washed over her. She wanted him gone, right? She didn’t long for a normal conversation with him, because that wasn’t very smart.
Smart is how you stay alive.
“Thank you for bringing dinner,” she whispered.
He nodded then walked to the door and opened it, looking back at her. “Bree?”
“Yes?”
Those brown eyes pinned her. “I’ll see you around. Soon.”
It was both a threat and a promise.