Chapter Twelve
Franny felt like she was in a movie. Mr. Simmons and his partner, a man he’d introduced as Cam Delaney, were doing all sorts of things to her apartment that felt more suited for a spy.
They’d already done most of it by the time Royal walked her up to her apartment, and Mr. Simmons gave her the rundown while Mr. Delaney finished up.
“As you know, there was already a security system in place, but we beefed it up. Now, do you know what the first step to any security system being successful is?” Mr. Simmons asked her.
She blinked at him—not sure if it was ignorance or exhaustion that made her mind completely blank.
“Turning it on,” he finished—some censure in his tone, but it wasn’t unkind.
“I do! Before I go to bed.” When he raised an eyebrow, she wrinkled her nose. “I just hadn’t gone to bed yet last night.”
“Now you turn it on at all times, even if you’re inside and awake.
We’ve made the doorbell camera more sensitive, and we’re going to connect it not just to your phone but to Deputy Campbell’s as well.
On top of that, we’ve added another camera—this one hidden—that encompasses the entire doorway and stairway.
All video will be available to Deputy Campbell and the sheriff—in real time, and as video later on.
Should they decide they want to add anyone else who can access that, that’ll be up to them, but they’ll have to disclose that information to you. ”
Right. Cameras. Security. All for her safety.
“You’ve got a camera set up in this living area,” Mr. Simmons continued, pointing to a little square on the top of her bookshelf that she barely noticed.
“It will pick up sound. Obviously for privacy we’ve left any equipment out of the bedroom and bathroom, but we’ve added cameras on the outside of the building at each window point, and more sensitivity to the window alarms. I went ahead and bolted the bathroom window shut, as that seemed the best security option there.
All alarms will be connected to the deputy’s phone, so that he can respond as needed.
Deputy, I’ll need your phone to program that real quick. ”
“Sure,” Royal said, fishing the phone out of his pocket and handing it over to Mr. Simmons.
Cameras. In her house. It was for her safety, but the idea of Royal and the sheriff being able to watch her, like, cook dinner was not exactly one she relished.
Still, she had to admit it would give her a certain level of reassurance no one was trying to get in her door—and if they were, someone would stop them before it happened.
“It’s a lot, and it’s going to feel awkward. I don’t think anyone expects this to be easy or feel normal,” Mr. Simmons said, frowning at Royal’s phone as his fingers moved across the screen.
“If it might help catch whoever has Albennie or took her, then I don’t care how it feels,” Franny replied, happy she sounded surer of that than she was.
Mr. Simmons smiled warmly as he handed Royal his phone back. “Good. Now there is one more thing. This one is optional. Up to you and Deputy Campbell here.” He pulled out two cases. They looked like earbud cases.
“These are a bit like a walkie-talkie, in layman’s terms. Let’s say Ms. Perkins heads down to the bakery while Deputy Campbell is driving out to the Temperance Ranch for a disturbance call.
You both have one of these in your ears, and you can talk to each other—and only each other—without anyone having to know that’s what you’re doing.
They’re small. They’re wired to only each other.
How and when you’d want to use them are up to you, but it’d give you a direct line to each other if you need that. ”
He handed them out and Royal and Franny had no choice but to each take one.
“I’m going to go do one last sight check on the outside cameras. Call if you need anything, including tech support. Franny? You set that system once Deputy Campbell leaves.”
Franny nodded, looking at the little case in her hands. It was like being a spy, except all of her privacy was being invaded. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—complain about that. She knew what she was doing it for.
She looked over at Royal sheepishly. “I guess we’re about to be ear buddies.” Ear buddies. Oh my God, Franny Perkins, what is wrong with you?
Royal smiled—which was really very kind of him considering how ridiculous she sounded. “I’m glad it’s an option. I want you wearing them anytime you leave the apartment. Just text me your schedule.”
Franny nodded. “Right. Sure.” Maybe she’d just never leave the apartment again.
“I’ve got to get going. I’m going to be late for my shift.”
She trailed after him to the door. “But you didn’t sleep.”
“I got a few hours before you called me. It’s okay. Part of the job.”
“Royal…” She didn’t know what to say. Thank you seemed so lame. I’m terrified was definitely not his problem.
Royal gestured down to where Mr. Simmons stood with Mr. Delaney, discussing something underneath her back window. “Did you know he’s married to Daisy Delaney?” Royal asked.
Franny blinked at the odd segue, but then she nodded. “My friend Vi? Her husband is friends with Mr. Simmons, so she met her.”
“So did I. She was in my apartment. Foisted a baby off on Simmons while he was getting me set up.” Royal shook his head. “Hell of a thing.”
“I desperately want to ask her a million questions for a million book ideas, but that feels pretty… I don’t know. Crass.” And it was nice, to end this strange interlude on something that wasn’t threats and fear.
She supposed that’s why he’d brought it up.
“Crass,” he repeated. Then shook his head. “I’ve got to go. You should get some sleep. I’ll come back tonight after my shift, and we’ll talk about how…all this works.”
She nodded. “Yeah. That sounds good.”
“You’re worried about something, you call me. You need to leave after you’ve gotten some rest, text me. We’ll try these out.” He held up the earbud case.
“Got it.”
“And remember to—”
“Set the security. I know, I know.” She tried to smile at him. “I appreciate…all of this.”
“You appreciate having your life upended by witnessing a crime?”
She laughed in spite of herself. “No. Not even a little. But I do appreciate what everyone is trying to do to bring Albennie home and keep me safe in the midst of it.”
ROYAL JOGGED DOWN the stairs, hoping he’d be able to catch Simmons before he left. There were things he wanted to discuss without Franny hearing.
Not that she didn’t deserve to know everything, but he needed to make sure his suspicions were on the right track, and he wanted to get a better sense of Zach Simmons.
That story back in the sheriff’s office, about women who came here to hide from pasts, it made sense. Hell, he knew firsthand just how complicated pasts could be. Simmons’s information explained the predominance of women, the businesses leased to only women. It explained a lot.
And if it was true, Royal couldn’t help but respect it. It was a hell of an idea. He could have used it for a few of the girls stuck in the Sons’ life.
But it also led them to where they were now, which was putting Franny in danger all because she’d seen something. Because he’d leased her an apartment to add “normal” people to the town.
It wasn’t right.
Simmons was at the back of the building now. His partner was nowhere to be seen. Which was good. Royal wanted to keep as many things on the down-low as possible.
“Simmons, I need to talk to you.”
“Sure. Have at.”
“This break-in, this threat. Is it my imagination, or is the timing suspicious?”
“Suspicious how?” Simmons asked, poking at something on his phone then looking up at the roof of the building. Presumably checking different security checkpoints.
“Somebody shows up at Franny’s door after the car she IDed is found in Idaho. The Feds, allegedly, pull out of Wyoming to focus on Idaho.”
“Likely the kidnapper ditched the car in Idaho, then doubled back here to make his threat.”
“Likely, yeah. But only if that meant they’d dropped Albennie Ward off with someone.” He didn’t come out and say if she was still alive. Royal figured her being dead was just as possible, but he also knew that sometimes kidnapping people for information or ransom was a more complicated endeavor.
He assumed whatever past Albennie Ward had leaned more to that than quick, easy murder. Otherwise someone would have taken her out here.
“What’s your point, Deputy?”
“My point is, this only makes sense if the guy who kidnapped Albennie was for hire. He drops off the kidnapping victim, ditches the car, but he knows he’s got a loose end.
The woman who saw him. I’m worried even when we get him, he’ll have no connection to the real brain behind this, and we’ll be exactly where we are right now, except Franny will be safer. ”
Simmons was quiet for a long humming moment. “I don’t love that theory, deputy, I’ve got to say.”
“Then what’s yours?”
“Runs similar to yours at first. Yeah, I’d wager a bet he’s a kidnapper for hire.
He drops Albennie off with whoever actually wanted her.
There’s no on-paper connection.” Simmons shrugged like that was obvious.
“But when we catch him? There’s no honor amongst thieves, Campbell.
None that I’ve seen. He’ll talk, and it’ll lead us to whoever really has Albennie. ”
“If you have the right kind of ringleader, loyalty is a hell of a drug. It’s not honor amongst thieves, it’s…
belief.” He thought of the way his father had worshipped Ace Wyatt, leader of the Sons.
Like the man was God himself. His dad would have done anything for Ace.
Kept any secret, weathered any punishment, because he’d believed that someday, somewhere, there’d be something in it for him.
“You know what else is a hell of a drug?” Simmons asked. “Threat of the death penalty.”
“For kidnapping?”
Simmons sighed, shoving his phone into his pocket. “That’s where things are…tricky.” He started walking to his car, so Royal fell into step next to him.
“The Feds know who did this, don’t they?”
“Know? No. Have some ideas? Yeah, that’s my take, but as many friends as I have, as many strings as I can pull, I’m not FBI any longer.
I don’t have access to everything they know.
I can only wager some guesses based on how things have gone, based on what little information I was given when Albennie came here. ”
“So, when are they going to come back?”
“They’re not.”
“What?”
“They don’t know about the break-in. If I can help it, they won’t.”
“Why the hell not?” Royal demanded. He wasn’t too thrilled with the Feds keeping things from local police, but he happened to feel like right now the more law enforcement agencies were working on this, the better.
“Because I’m starting to worry that Albennie’s location was leaked somewhere on their side of things. It shouldn’t have been possible for anyone from her past to find her. So unless she gave herself away, which I just can’t fathom, it’s there. Somewhere in there.”
“Then why’d you involve them in the first place?”
Simmons just spared him a look.
“It’s complicated. Right,” Royal muttered. But it made him remember the strange woman he’d assumed was a Fed. “Did you know all the agents who were here after the kidnapping?”
“Not all of them personally.”
“But you know. Who should be here. Who shouldn’t.”
Simmons narrowed his eyes. “Sure. Or I could find out. Why?”
“What about a brunette, brown eyes, mid-thirties. Five-six, a buck twenty, maybe more. She had some muscle on her. A tiny trio of moles on her chin, and I think a birthmark, faint, on the back of her neck.”
“That doesn’t describe anyone I can think of off the top of my head, but I can poke into it deeper.”
“I’ve got footage of her on my body cam.”
“If you send me that or a still of the woman, I’ll look into it. But you’d have to trust me to do that.”
Royal wondered why he did. What had changed. He supposed everything this man had said in the sheriff’s office this morning. And how he’d handled Franny’s security now. “All that stuff up there, you claim only the sheriff and I have access to it.”
“I don’t just claim. It’s true. Professional guarantee. Not saying I don’t have the skills to hack into anything if I had a mind to, but CD Corp is on the up and up. You could hire an unbiased third party to make sure of it, but it’d take time and I sure as hell hope this is done soon.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Look, Deputy, I get the suspicion. Respect it even. Law enforcement requires a certain level of it. I know that from experience. But my entire goal is to bring Albennie Ward back home without anyone getting hurt.”
Royal’s gaze tracked up to Franny’s apartment. “Yeah, mine too. I’ll send you that picture.”