Chapter 7 #2
Nothing made sense to the point Bailey knew she couldn’t trust her emotions. Not until her memory returned.
Trevor stared up at the ceiling as Chase reamed him out. “You know I hate being the last to know this stuff, Trev. And what were you thinking dragging Kendra into danger?”
“I didn’t think she’d be in danger.” Trevor tried to remain calm in the face of his oldest brother’s anger. “I figured she’d drop off her SUV with me and ride home with Joel.”
“And how did that work out?” Chase’s tone rose. “Some guy showed up at the café and took shots at you! It’s a miracle nobody was hurt!”
“I know, I was there. Trust me, I wasn’t expecting the shooter to show up at the café.
” He swallowed a sigh. “Besides, it’s not like Kendra is helpless in difficult situations.
She’s done her share of SAR missions. You and Maya tended to keep me and Kendra out of the loop, but we’re more than capable of handling stress and danger. ”
“We only did that because you’re the youngest.” Chase sounded slightly calmer now. “I know you’re both capable of defending yourselves. I made sure you can hit what you’re aiming at. I just don’t like knowing you’re in danger.”
“I love you too, bro,” Trevor teased. “Don’t worry about us.
We’re fine. We’ve reported these incidents to the police and have gotten Griff involved too.
We’re currently off the grid and plan to stay that way until this guy is found.
It’s bad enough that he’s targeted Bailey, but she’s seven months pregnant.
I can’t risk anything happening to her baby either. ”
“Yeah, that makes things more complicated,” Chase agreed. “What else do you need from us?”
“Nothing at the moment.” He scanned the cabin, then glanced over as Bailey entered the room. “We’re safe. But you could ask Kendra to find another rental property in case we need to go on the move. Maybe something outside of Cody.”
“I can do that,” Chase agreed. “Do you want one of us to head out to provide backup?”
“Not now. I’ll let you know if things change.” The last thing he wanted was to have a couple of Sullivan SUVs heading for the cabin. He smiled at Bailey reassuringly. “Like I said, we’re safe here.”
“I hope so.” Chase sounded annoyed. “Next time, fill me in right from the beginning. I could have driven out to support you.”
“Kendra is fine. So am I. I’ll be in touch if needed.
Goodbye, Chase.” He lowered the phone and ended the call.
He tried to cut his older brother some slack, knowing Chase felt responsible for keeping the family together after losing their parents.
But he’d also taught them to be independent and to perform SAR missions.
Not letting Kendra help only undermined her ability. Granted, Trevor had done his fair share of trying to protect the youngest sibling too.
“Sounds like you and Chase are close.” Bailey returned to her seat at the table. “Am I close with my brother, Miles?”
“Yes, you are.” He reached over to touch her hand. “Miles would be here if he wasn’t in Alaska working under a contract. I promised him I’d look after you. If things change, he’ll drop everything to get here.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “That’s nice.”
Feeling restless, he stood and crossed to the supplies he’d dumped in the corner of the room. Pulling out the brand-new laptop case, he carried it back to the table. “Let’s get this up and running so we can search for pictures that might spark your memory.”
“I’m willing to try.” Her smile faded. “It’s hard to imagine this will work when I don’t even recognize my own face.”
“Hey, you’re doing fine.” He set the laptop down and plugged it in. He knew from Kendra that the cabin had internet access, something he’d normally avoid. Since they were using a brand-new laptop, he doubted it could be used to track their location.
Crossing over to the router, he made a note of the password. Less than a minute later, they were online.
Bailey pulled her chair closer to his, leaning forward to see the screen. He tried not to notice that her dark-brown hair smelled like flowers.
He cleared his throat. “Okay, let’s start with social media.” He tapped the mousepad to search the internet.
“Do you have a profile page?” Bailey asked.
“No, but the ranch has a website.” At her questioning glance, he shrugged. “We’re pretty well known. I don’t see that it’s necessary to have a big social media presence.”
She frowned. “Don’t you need donations to keep the ranch going?”
“We get plenty of dog food donations.” He didn’t want to get into the financial aspect of the ranch. “Let’s try your name first.”
Trevor typed Bailey Adams into the search engine.
Several people showed up, but none with Bailey’s face in the profile.
He narrowed the search to Cody and got no results.
He hesitated, then tried Bailey Miller. He knew she’d changed her name back to Adams after her husband’s death, but she may not have bothered to update her social media pages.
Still no match. He frowned. “Apparently, you’re not on social media either.”
“I don’t know what to say, other than it’s possible I like my privacy.” She gestured to the screen. “I don’t see the point of putting personal information out in the world for everyone to see. I mean, I must talk to my friends in person, right?”
“Right.” He leaned forward and tapped in her brother’s name. A moment later, he found Miles Adams’s page. He turned the screen toward her. “Here’s your brother.”
“He has a full beard in this photo,” Bailey said. “In the picture you took from my house, he only had a mustache.”
“That photo was a few years ago,” Trevor admitted.
“This one here is more recent.” He leaned forward to see better.
“Looks like he updated this a few weeks ago while he’s been in Alaska.
” He clicked through the other images. As he didn’t have an account, and Bailey didn’t either, their access was limited.
“Wait, is that my brother standing with a woman?” Bailey stared at the picture. “Do you think they’re dating?”
“I’m not sure.” Based on the way Miles had his arm around the pretty woman, he’d say yes, but he didn’t want to speculate. “When I spoke to Miles yesterday, he didn’t mention meeting anyone. She could just be a friend.”
“Like we are?” Bailey asked.
He hoped his ears weren’t turning red again. The memory of her chaste kiss was still too fresh in his mind. His feelings for her were not as friendly as they should be. But that was his problem, not hers. Striving for a casual tone, he nodded. “Yep, just like that.”
“Okay.” Her gaze lingered on his for a moment, then turned back to the screen. “How long as Miles been in Alaska?”
“Six months.” He frowned. “I remember asking him if you were okay with his leaving, and he assured me you were doing fine. He was hoping to be home at Christmas when his contract is up.”
“He’ll be here when the baby is born, then, which is all that matters.
” Bailey scrolled through another handful of pictures.
She landed on another one featuring her and Miles together.
There was no sign of her baby bump, so he assumed it was taken earlier in the year.
She lightly touched her brother’s image.
“We both look happy here. Do you think this was before or after Clark’s death? ”
“I’m not sure.” He moved the cursor to see better. “This was taken in April. You must not have been showing very much because you don’t look pregnant here.” He glanced at her. “You do look happy. I guess that’s a good thing.”
“Yeah.” Her furrowed brow belied her words.
He suddenly realized her concern was that she wasn’t mired in grief over losing Clark. And now that he saw the picture, that made him rethink things too. Was it possible things weren’t as great between them as he’d assumed?
Or was that just wishful thinking on his part?
That he could even hope for something like that made him feel ashamed.
He was raised better than that and wouldn’t wish an unhappy marriage on anyone.
Trevor shook off the disturbing thought and jumped up from the table, eager to put distance between them.
“I’m hungry. How about we have sandwiches for lunch? ”
“That sounds good.” Bailey didn’t glance over at him, her gaze still focused on the computer. After a long moment, she pushed the computer aside. “I still can’t believe I don’t recognize my own brother.”
“Hey, your memory will return in time.” He forced himself to sound positive. “You like chicken, right? I bought sliced chicken breast from the deli.”
“I do.” She grimaced. “Interesting how I know things I like but can’t remember making meals.” She leaned forward and snagged a box from the table. “I’ll take my prenatal vitamin now since I missed taking it at breakfast.”
He kept himself busy pulling food from the fridge. He set their sandwich fixings on a plate—sliced chicken, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Healthy enough, he hoped, for a pregnant woman.
Setting the platter on the table, he grabbed two glasses and the quart of milk he’d purchased. He remembered Bailey had always liked drinking milk with meals.
“Thanks.” She took the glass and used the milk to wash down the vitamin. “Everything looks delicious.”
It wasn’t the fried chicken their housekeeper Anna made every weekend, but it would suffice.
He cleared his throat and bowed his head.
“Dear Lord Jesus, we thank You for this food we are about to eat. We ask You to continue keeping us safe in Your care. Grant us the strength and wisdom we need to find this man who seeks us harm. And most of all, Lord, we ask You to restore Bailey’s memory. Amen.”
“Amen,” she echoed. “That was nice, Trevor. Thanks.”
“Anytime.” He couldn’t understand why he was so aware of her. He quickly made a sandwich and took a big bite. It was barely noon, and the rest of the day seemed to yawn wide and empty before them.
He had no idea how they’d get through the day. He was already feeling antsy.
“We need to see if Clark has a social media page.” She pulled the computer closer.
“I hadn’t bothered since he’s gone.” He eyed her warily. “I’m sure you or someone would have deleted it by now.”
“Maybe. But I feel like we should still check.” She ate with one hand, poking at the keyboard with the other. “Since I’m not on the site, I may not have thought about deleting his profile.”
He leaned forward as she did the search. Then she stopped and turned toward him, her gaze stricken. “I forgot that I don’t remember what Clark looks like.”
“I’ll find him for you.” He took over control of the laptop. He doubted they’d find anything, but she was right in that it couldn’t hurt to look. None of the Clark Adamses on the screen looked like the guy he remembered.
“Maybe one of Clark’s friends?” Bailey sighed. “Not that I know who they were.”
“There was one guy I met at his funeral.” Trevor tried to summon his name. “Max Nelson.” He typed that name into the search engine.
The top match was the guy he remembered. Encouraged, he clicked on the image, surprised that Max didn’t have any privacy settings in place. From there, he found a picture of Max and Clark fly-fishing. Clark held up a trout, grinning widely.
“Here. See what you think.” He didn’t offer anything more specific.
Bailey stared at the screen. Then the color drained from her cheeks, and she jumped up from her seat and bolted down the hall toward the bathroom.
“Bailey?” He jumped up to follow, stopping short when he heard her retching.
What in the world was going on? Had she recognized her husband? If so, why on earth would that make her sick to her stomach?