Chapter 2
2
L ights and sirens blazing, the drive toward the cabin flew by in a matter of minutes.
“I’ll cut off the noise long before an intruder is alerted,” Travis had promised before doing just that for the last few minutes of the route.
“I’m still trying to figure out how this could’ve happened,” Archer said, still beating himself up over not noticing a hand in his pocket. How on earth had a pickpocket stolen his keys while he was awake and alert?
“The vestibule was crowded.” Travis’s excuse might be valid, but it was still frustrating as all get out. Being careless could cost lives on a ranch, especially when heavy equipment was involved. He’d been trained better than that. Hell, it was in his DNA to be cautious and pay attention to his surroundings. The sheriff continued, “I can’t count the number of times I was elbowed or bumped into today. This could have happened to any one of us.”
But it hadn’t. It had happened to Archer—and it had happened after receiving an anonymous text about Owen. “Did you notice any unfamiliar faces?” Archer might have grown up in Saddle Junction, but he’d gotten the hell out of Dodge hours after his last day of high school. He’d gone back to the ranch long enough to pack up a backpack full of belongings, empty what little savings he’d had, and hit the road in search of work. Considering his family’s high-profile name, it hadn’t taken long to find a job on another horse operation.
“There were too many hats to see everyone’s faces clearly,” Travis reported. As sheriff, he noticed things most people wouldn’t. “Plus, with Grayson, I’m focused more on keeping an eye on him when we’re together, and I’m off-duty in a social situation.”
Of course, he was. A three-year-old had boundless energy. Travis was turning out to be a great father to Archer’s nephew. The man loved Chloe’s son as his own, and Grayson couldn’t have asked for a better parent. Chloe had mentioned Travis couldn’t have kids, so they planned to grow their family another way when the time was right. For now, a three-year-old and a new marriage were enough on their plate to keep them busy—and happy—based on the silly smile they both wore when talking about their relationship.
Archer was happy for his sister. She’d found the real deal. He knew because there was a girl, once, who had looked at him the way Chloe looked at Travis. That was a long time ago and not worth rehashing the past over. Except, Black Hat stirred up those memories. The second he’d spotted her, it was like a lightning bolt had struck the center of his chest.
Annalee returning to Saddle Junction after all these years, especially after how she and her mother had been treated, made no sense. What did she have to return to? Had she heard about Beaumont’s death and decided to pay her respects? He dismissed the idea almost as fast as it came to mind. Calling his father a jerk for the way he’d treated Annalee would be too kind. His father had warned her not to come around. He’d threatened to get her and her no-good mother kicked out of town if she didn’t get off his property and leave his kid alone. Beaumont hadn’t cared about Archer. The man had been concerned about what it would look like to others if Archer was seen out and about with what he’d called “catch and release” folks. His father had said spending a night with women like Annalee and her mother was understandable, but a real relationship was idiotic—as though some folks were inherently better than others solely based on numbers in their bank account. Moral code went out the window. Things like character and decency had fallen somewhere on the bottom of Beaumont’s list of virtues.
Pulling up to the cabin forced Archer’s thoughts to the present. He wasn’t sure what he expected to find when they arrived. An open front door? A busted window?
Everything on the home front looked the same as when he’d left a little while ago. Not much else had changed either. There was still no text from Owen, and Hudson was still dark, too. Hope fizzled that this was some kind of twisted prank.
A couple of big raindrops dripped from rolling gray clouds. Splats on the windshield said the storm had arrived.
“Wait here,” Travis instructed.
“No can do, Sheriff. Sorry.” No way did Archer intend to stand outside or sit in this vehicle while his place was being invaded, let alone leave the sheriff to handle the situation alone. Archer had a right and responsibility to defend himself and this land.
“Then stay close to me.”
Archer nodded before following Travis to the door. He had a shotgun inside the house, which did no good while he stood on the porch.
Weapon drawn, Travis signaled for Archer to try the door. It was locked.
Dammit.
They’d have to figure out another route inside because Archer didn’t store a spare key on site.
Travis moved to the back of the house. Again, the door was locked. He stood there looking thoroughly confused.
“How often does a criminal lock the door after ransacking a house?” Archer asked, keeping his voice low.
“Not often.” Travis holstered his weapon and reported their findings via text. “Do you have a spare key tucked behind a plant somewhere?” he muttered.
“Do I look like the kind of person who has houseplants on the patio?”
Travis looked up and glanced around, conceding the point with a frown. “Do you leave any windows unlocked by chance?”
“Hell, I used to leave the doors unlocked until recently.”
“We all did,” Travis agreed. The rash of crimes was disturbing, to say the least. As acting sheriff, Travis would be the most concerned with keeping the town’s residents safe. Having spent his entire life in Saddle Junction, he cared on a personal level. One of the best benefits of small-town life was supposed to be the lack of criminals. It was common for folks to leave their cars running while they ran into the post office to drop off mail. Or, at the very least, leave the key inside after they cut the engine off to save on gas. Windows down on nice days, no one thought twice about whether their possessions were safe. Folks looked out for each other. For some, it was out of neighborly concern. For others, it was to keep up with the latest gossip. Either way, the town had been lulled into a sense of safety until recently.
“I can jimmy open one of the windows.” It was the best offer Archer could think of on the spot. “But if someone was inside, would they lock the door behind them?”
“It’s possible.” Travis shrugged. “My experience says it would be unusual. Most criminals would want to keep a quick exit option. Stopping long enough to unlock a door could be the couple of seconds law enforcement or a homeowner needed to get the upper hand.”
“Do you have a tire iron?” Archer asked as the sounds of gravel crunching underneath tires preceded a dust cloud bigger than a tornado. They had company. Noisy company. If someone was inside, they had to know a cavalry had arrived. If Archer's intuition could be counted on, one or more of his siblings had caught wind of what was going on and had decided to see if they could help. “Never mind.” One of them would most likely have the master key.
The first vehicle broke through the cloud. Sure enough, Chloe sat in the driver’s seat. Her lead foot had caused her to beat both Kade and Conrad.
She pulled up next to Travis’s vehicle and exited her sedan in two shakes.
“Where’s Grayson?” Travis asked after a quick greeting.
“With Maryanne.” Chloe turned her attention to Travis. Her gaze bounced from the cabin and back. “What caused the two of you to take off like you did?”
“Pickpocket,” Archer said before Travis could. “Do you have the spare key to the cabin and my truck?”
“Me?” she asked, wide-eyed. Her jaw nearly hit the ground. Questions danced in her eyes. Her gaze darted to the house again. This time, understanding lit her eyes. “No. But I bet Kade does.” She jogged toward their brother’s truck as it parked next to hers.
A quick conversation happened between the two.
Kade nodded and then grabbed a keyring before joining Archer and Travis. Their sister was a firecracker who could hold her own, thanks to growing up with five brothers. So, Archer wasn’t surprised she was right behind Travis and ready to go inside after Kade unlocked the door. Travis knew better than to try to stop her.
Guilt for moving as far away from the family’s horse ranch as he could at the ripe age of eighteen stabbed him. Chloe was the youngest, and they’d left her to fend for herself. No matter how tough she was, he would always carry responsibility for leaving her to fend for herself with Beaumont.
As a swarm of people descended on the cabin, Archer couldn’t help but wonder what anyone would have to gain from a break-in. He didn’t keep money in the house. Hell, there were barely enough groceries to get through a couple of days. The place wasn’t much, just a couple of bedrooms with enough furniture to keep him comfortable. There was no expensive artwork on the walls. Nothing worth picking his pocket for. He’d explained all this to Travis after climbing in the sheriff’s service vehicle.
No one was in the house, and not one piece of furniture was out of place.
“What’s really going on?” Chloe asked after they’d covered every inch and cleared every nook and cranny. The panic in her voice didn’t come as a surprise after everything she’d been through.
He caught everyone up in a few quick sentences. “I’m guessing no one has heard from Owen or Hudson today.”
Heads shook.
“Don’t stay here tonight,” Chloe said.
“Why not?”
“The person who stole your keys might come back later when you’re asleep,” she reasoned. “We don’t know what they wanted with the place and until we hear from our brothers, we need to keep our guards up.”
“There’s nothing of value here.”
“Except you,” she argued.
Travis joined them in the open-concept living room, dining room, and kitchen. “Your sister makes a good point. The bastard could wait until nightfall or until they know you’ll be gone.”
The person must know Archer would realize his keys were missing at some point this afternoon. Would they assume he would be prepared? Chloe’s line of thinking wasn’t unreasonable, even if he wanted to argue against it. If the bastard showed, and that was a big if, Archer could handle himself. He was on alert now and had the benefit of being a light sleeper. If the cabin so much as made a settling noise in the night, he’d wake up ready.
Another thought struck.
Maybe the person who’d stolen his keys didn’t care about getting to his cabin. Maybe they wanted to ensure he couldn’t follow them.
Had it been Black Hat?
Annalee tightened her grip on the key fob in her hand. Archer would know soon enough that she’d pilfered his pocket. That was the thing about crowded gatherings; they made her job a little too easy.
Becca had taught Annalee the tricks of the trade at the tender age of eleven, explaining that Annalee would get a slap on the wrist if caught, whereas her mother would go to jail. Tell an eleven-year-old that all she had to do was grab someone’s keys or wallet to save her mother, and she would do it without thinking twice. The ethics of training your kid to be a thief before she was old enough to get her first pimple had not made Becca Copeland Mother of the Year material.
She ran her thumb along the fob, surprised at the warmth and comfort holding it in her hand provided. In an odd way, she felt a connection to Archer by having his possession in her hand. But she couldn’t afford nostalgia—nostalgia had gotten her into this mess.
Shaking it off, she stared out the front window of the vehicle she’d stashed off the roadway while she waited for night to fall. Traveling under the cover of darkness gave her a sense of safety. This time of year, the sun should disappear in another couple of hours, and she could shake the dust of this town off her boots. Annalee retrieved a protein bar and an apple from the bag of supplies sitting in the passenger seat and ate a late lunch.
She tilted the seat back and closed her eyes after she finished, balling up the protein bar wrapper before tossing it into the cupholder. Her head hurt, and she was tired. Sleep had come in half-hour spurts in the four days since she’d disappeared with the evidence. The backpack sat on the floorboard of the backseat. Despite growing up in various parts of Texas, she’d never learned to use a gun. Having one in the car left her unsettled. Her gypsy-like upbringing had led her to climb trees and learn which berries were poisonous versus which ones were safe to eat. She’d lived in houses with no electricity or indoor plumbing, as well as suburban homes with two stories, two parents, and two-point-five kids. She being the point-five. She’d been ripped from those homes at what felt like the whim of her caseworker and returned to her mother. Not that Annalee hadn’t begged to stay with her mother. The devil you knew was far better than the one you didn’t.
But a couple of those foster homes had shown her what a real home could look like with warmth, love, and kindness. The kind she could see herself having with someone like Archer. The others…
Annalee involuntarily shivered every time she thought about the abusers, the sickos, and the fakes who’d been cleared by social services to bring foster children into their homes.
Now, though, she was back in Saddle Junction. The one place her thoughts always returned to when she thought about home. The one place she’d found real love. The one place she would think about again and again over the years because of the one person she’d left behind.
Could she leave town a second time before figuring out if Owen had been abducted and was being held against his will? As much as she needed to disappear for her own safety’s sake, the answer was no. Annalee would never forgive herself if anything happened to Archer’s twin because of her. Archer and Owen’s bond ran too deep. Thinking back to the first time Archer had asked her out, she’d thought he was pulling a fast one. He was from a wealthy family. Girls had lined up to get his attention, even though he’d never seemed to realize it. She’d convinced herself he had to have noticed and was just playing it cool. A player. But he’d persisted, and she’d eventually caved, agreeing to a date. The two had been inseparable after.
Part of her hadn’t been able to accept this beautiful person could have fallen so hard for her. Getting to know him, she’d seen firsthand the abuse he and his siblings had suffered at the hands of the wealthiest man in town. Beaumont had been one of those looks-good-on-paper people. He’d built a successful horseracing operation. His reputation had said he gave money to help others. In reality, he’d given money for political favors. It turned out that everything the man had done had been calculated. And the way he’d treated his children had been unforgivable. It was a wonder any of them turned out decent. Yet, they’d been good people as teenagers, and she assumed they’d grown into fine adults—adults most parents would be proud to call family.
Somehow, she figured Beaumont had only seen faults. It hadn’t surprised her to learn that every one of his kids had taken off the minute they’d been old enough. Chloe had taken off before she’d reached legal age, which spoke volumes about the way Beaumont had treated his only daughter.
If anything happened to Owen because of her, she’d never be able to forgive herself.
As those thoughts looped through her mind, she closed her eyes and gave in to exhaustion.