Chapter Twenty
Mrs. Ragan’s house was a couple of miles outside town, so Tanner drove, Scott riding with him, since the younger man looked so crestfallen at being left behind.
As soon as Tanner walked into the room where Steele had been staying, he let out a string of curses that would’ve made a seasoned sailor proud.
Steele had played him.
The walls were covered in photos of Bree and the babies. Dozens of them. He’d definitely been watching her—stalking her—since the day he arrived.
There were pictures of her at work, her walking home, her with Tanner, her taking a break at the back of the Sunrise. Worse, there were just as many pictures of the babies as there were of Bree.
“Nobody touch anything,” Tanner said as he donned a pair of gloves and walked inside. “Ronnie, get the crime lab over here ASAP.”
Ronnie was already calling it in when Tanner found a handwritten note listing Bree and the kids’ schedule and habits.
Bree had been right to be wary of the creepy, thin man. This was nothing less than obsession.
And Tanner had had the man in custody and chose to let him go. He’d clung to a more complicated scenario—that Steele had known or been a part of some sort of hidden nefarious organization—rather than the simple one that was undoubtedly true: Steele was fixated on Bree and the kids.
And now wished he could kick his own ass.
Had everything Steele said this morning been a lie? And why had he called Tanner last night when Bree had been in trouble? Before Bree had really been in trouble?
“County forensics team is on their way, Tanner.” Ronnie came back in the room. “I spoke to Mrs. Ragan—she said Steele is paid up through the end of the month and she’s never had a problem with him. She heard him squeal out of here early this morning.”
“Did she notice which direction he was going?”
“Away from town. North up Highway 70.”
So the same direction Gavin was driving Bree’s car. Was Steele the one who had put the tracker on it? Had the whole break-in at her house been a setup to get her to run scared?
“Wow.” Scott whistled through his teeth. “This is some pretty advanced-level stalker stuff. Are we sure he isn’t Bree’s baby daddy?”
“No, he wasn’t. She would’ve mentioned that immediately. Wouldn’t have been so creeped out by him.” Tanner couldn’t tear his eyes away from all the pictures of Bree. Pictures of her with people. Without them. Some with the babies.
But no matter what the scene or the situation, she always had that stiff, pinched look on her face. In not one single picture was she smiling, even the ones with the babies.
She always looked scared.
He’d gotten so used to that look on her face that he didn’t even notice it anymore.
Bree lived in terror.
He walked over to study one, obviously shot from a small camera at a low angle. Bree was standing with Mr. and Mrs. A, the babies and Judy. A couple of other people, features not seen in the shot, were loitering around, too. A crowd.
Despite all the people around her, Bree looked completely alone. A misfit among laughing, content people. Like she didn’t know how to feel what they were feeling and didn’t even want to try in case she failed.
Damn it. Tanner wanted to teach this woman how to smile. Wanted to provide her a safe place where she could learn to find the smile he knew was inside her.
Ronnie cleared his throat. “This guy is a psycho. Maybe we shouldn’t have sent Bree off on her own if he’s now following her.”
“Wasn’t she afraid she was going to end up in his basement? I thought she was being melodramatic when she said it yesterday, but now...” Scott held his hand out toward the pictures. “Maybe not. Are you sure we have no way of getting in touch with her? No phone number?”
Tanner shook his head. He wanted to tell Ronnie and Scott what was going on but couldn’t. “Her phone was last seen in multiple pieces in her apartment. And she didn’t give any forwarding address. So, as far as we’re concerned, she’s gone.”
Ronnie and Scott were both staring at him like he’d just kicked a puppy into oncoming traffic. He couldn’t blame them; just the thought of Bree being out there alone with someone this crazy after her made him sick.
“Look,” he continued, “the best thing we can do for Bree is get an APB out for Steele and make sure all our contacts in other counties know he could be dangerous. Bree wanted out of this town. She’s an adult, hasn’t broken the law and we couldn’t keep her here against her will.
Maybe she was going to family or something. ”
“What do we know about Steele?” Scott asked. “Any record?”
Tanner shook his head. “Completely clean. After seeing this, I’m thinking probably a fake ID. Hopefully, the crime lab can get some prints and we can run them.”
Scott looked around at the pictures again. “I just hope law enforcement finds him before he finds Bree. Because this is a man obsessed. And obsession is dangerous.”
IT WAS NEARLY four in the morning before Tanner made it back out to the ranch.
Processing Steele’s apartment had taken hours, and Tanner had stayed to make sure the crime lab didn’t miss anything. He didn’t normally micromanage the department like this, but when it came to Steele, he couldn’t afford any more slipups.
When the head lab technician told Tanner that they didn’t get a single fingerprint from the entire place, he was angry but not surprised. Steele had wiped the place down before he left.
Back at the office, Scott had assisted in digging further into Bill Steele’s identity. It hadn’t taken long to discover the ID was fake.
Again, angry but not surprised.
When they’d gotten a call of a possible sighting of Steele in Jackson County, again in the direction Gavin had taken Bree’s car, Tanner had driven there himself.
If they caught Steele, he wanted to be the first to question him, before any other county decided they had dibs if his real identity came back as someone more dangerous.
But it had been a false alarm, costing Tanner three hours of his time. Time he couldn’t afford when there was both a psycho and some sinister technology organization out to harm the woman he couldn’t get off his mind.
He shouldn’t have come at all, should’ve just stayed at his place in town. But despite trusting his brother implicitly, he needed to see with his own eyes that Bree was okay.
He rubbed the back of his neck as he got to the door, then held his hand up in a wave to Noah. He didn’t bother looking around. He didn’t know where his brother was, but Tanner had no doubt he was close.
Tanner let himself in the house, closing the door behind him, and just listened. Quiet.
But not the utter stillness that normally permeated his house when he arrived. There were signs of life everywhere. A bib resting on the kitchen table. One of the car seat carriers sitting on his couch. Bree’s sweater hanging off the back of a chair.
He’d always purposely lived a solitary life.
He’d known since he was ten he wanted to go into law enforcement, then had seen what it had done to his mother when his father died in the line of duty.
And even before that, the long, odd hours—sometimes being called away in the middle of the night—and the general stress of this job had often placed a heavier burden on his parents’ marriage.
So Tanner had always kept his relationships casual and simple, never planning to drag a woman into this life with him.
But nothing about Bree was casual.
And very definitely not simple.
He took off his holster and out of habit—niece and nephews—set it in the small gun safe next to the door. He kicked off his shoes and planned to grab a blanket out of the linen closet and immediately lie down on the couch.
He found himself walking into his bedroom instead.
Found himself stopping and staring at Bree lying curled in his king-size bed.
Found his breath stolen at the way moonlight shined through the window, casting an otherworldly glow on her long brown hair and delicate features.
At least in sleep she didn’t have the same pinched and uncomfortable expression she’d had in all the photos he’d studied of her today. Like she would never know what it meant to fit in with other people.
Like she would always be alone.
He wanted to go to her and pull her up against him, tell her she didn’t have to look like that anymore.
He took a step closer before he could stop himself then breathed out a curse as her eyes fluttered open, afraid he’d frightened her.
“Tanner?”
“Yeah, it’s just me. Go back to sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“Are you okay?” She reached out toward him, her voice soft, husky.
Sexy.
He took a rapid step backward.
Immediately a shuttered look fell over her features, slamming away the welcoming look that had resided there a moment before. “I’m sorry. Do you want your bed? I can get up.”
He recognized her tight expression right away. God knew he’d seen it enough times in the pictures today. Uncertainty. Discomfort.
Isolation.
And he’d been the one to put that look in her eyes this time.
She withdrew the arm she’d reached out to him.
No, damn it. He wasn’t going to let her withdraw from him.
He crossed until he was standing right next to her. “Actually, I would like my bed.”
“Oh.” She sat up. “Okay. Just let me—”
“No. I want it with you in it.” Before either one of them overthought it, he reached down, took her slight weight in his arms and slid her over. Then got into the bed next to her.
He turned over onto his side then looped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against him.
For the first time since he’d gotten that message from Steele that Bree was in trouble, Tanner relaxed. She was in his house, his bed, his care.
He kissed her hair. “Go back to sleep. I just want to be with you. Even if it’s just for tonight.”
She didn’t say anything but a few moments later began to relax against him.
And everything about it felt right.