Chapter 8
EIGHT
While it was sweet that he cared about her welfare, she would feel terrible if he were wounded because of her.
Or worse, killed.
“Come, Bear.” She headed to the ranch house with the food. Bear, who loved to eat, quickened his pace and sniffed at the container as they went inside.
Cutie greeted them as if they’d been gone for hours, rather than minutes. Then again, the puppy had likely been frightened of the gunfire.
“You need to stop chasing this guy.” Autumn set the food on the counter and set about filling Bear’s bowls as Jordan fed Cutie, then picked up making dinner where he’d left off. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Ditto.” Jordan turned back to the stove. “If you think I’m going to sit back while this guy tries to kill you, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“Jordan, I’m a cop and this is my job, not yours.” She set Bear’s bowls down and gave him permission to eat. K-9s were trained not to take food from anyone but their handler for safety reasons.
And safety was exactly what she was concerned with when it came to Jordan.
“I have a shotgun.” Jordan arched a brow as the dogs devoured their dinners. “Pretty sure I can hold up my end of the deal.”
“That’s not the point.” She swallowed a biting comeback. “You asked me to stay here with you, but I’ll head straight to a hotel if you don’t cooperate. I can’t have you getting between me and an armed suspect.”
Anger flashed in his blue eyes, but then he sighed and nodded. “I would feel better if you stayed here at the ranch. So I will do my best to stay back and let you take the lead if this guy shows up again.”
She was secretly surprised at his willingness to compromise. Her previous boyfriend, Steve Jones, had been intimidated by her job. He had tolerated Bear but got easily annoyed when the dog drooled.
It wasn’t a difficult decision to choose her job and Bear over Steve.
“Thanks,” she finally said. “How long do you think it will take to put up those trail cameras?”
“Not long.” Jordan gestured to the chicken cooking on the stove. “If you wouldn’t mind watching this, I’ll get started.”
“Okay.” She crossed to the stove, even though she needed to log into the database to search for perps with dagger tattoos.
Yet, having those cameras installed to alert them of trouble was important, too.
She didn’t think the intruder would come back to the ranch so soon after being run off, but it would be better to have everything in place in case he did return.
As she flipped the chicken breasts, though, she thought about the perp’s actions. Whoever this guy was, he was escalating to the point of taking foolish risks.
He was either obsessed with her, or he was so filled with rage he wasn’t thinking clearly. She turned when Jordan brought the cameras into the room.
“They’re motion activated,” he explained. “And wirelessly connected to the computer. The problem out here is that there is plenty of wildlife to set them off. Deer, owls and coyotes will no doubt trigger the alarms.”
She grimaced. “I guess I can understand why you didn’t want to put them up.”
He shrugged. “I wish now that I had. I’ll feel better having an additional layer of protection. Even with the false alerts, they’re better than nothing.”
She tended to agree. By the time their meal was ready, Jordan had one camera mounted outside the front door and was working on the others. She carried their plates to the table. Bear and Cutie slid beneath, no doubt hoping for crumbs to fall.
“I’d like to say grace.” She instinctively reached for his hand.
To her surprise, he nodded and bowed his head, his warm fingers interlacing with hers.
The heat radiating from his hand was so distracting, it took her a minute to gather her thoughts.
“Dear Lord Jesus, we ask You to keep us safe in Your care. Please grant us the strength and wisdom we need to obtain justice for Jenny’s murder, to find her daughter and the man who intends to do us harm. Amen.”
“Amen.” Jordan held her hand for a long minute before releasing it. “Leaning on prayer like this is helping me have faith that Jenny’s daughter will be found and that I’ll have the chance to raise her.”
“God is always there for us,” she said. “But we need to thank Him for all of our blessings, too.”
He nodded and dug into his meal. They ate in silence for a few minutes. Bear shifted beneath the table, resting his large head on her feet.
“My dad told me he found Jesus before he died,” Jordan said.
“I admit, I was skeptical. He had had an extramarital affair that produced Jenny. I didn’t blame her, but I was angry with my dad for the way he treated my mom.
Not that she was happy here, which didn’t help.
But still, he should never have cheated on her. ”
“That’s understandable,” she said. “And I know it wasn’t easy to welcome Jenny into your family.”
He grimaced. Cutie pawed at his leg, so he picked the puppy up and cradled her in his lap.
“She was a cute kid. But yeah, she was also the reason my parents split up. Not her fault my father had an affair with her mother. My parents fought all the time, which probably contributed to the affair. My mom moved out but then passed away before their divorce was finalized.” He chewed for a moment.
“I told my dad I forgave him before he died two years ago. I’m glad now that I said the words even though at the time I wasn’t being entirely honest.”
Her heart ached for him. Bear heaved a sigh from beneath the table, as if grateful Cutie wasn’t there bothering him. “We’re all sinners, Jordan. Some sins might be worse than others, but none of us are innocent.”
“You’re right.” The corner of his mouth tipped up in a reluctant smile.
“I can honestly say this is the first time I’ve told anyone about what happened.
Being out here on the ranch can be isolating.
I knew people were talking about what happened behind my back, but nobody was brave enough to say anything to my face. ”
“I’m sure it wasn’t easy.” She suspected Jordan carried his father’s sins as his own. “Your father’s failures aren’t yours to own.”
“This is a small town. You know how gossips can be. Getting your mistress pregnant while being married was a big deal. Lots of people assumed I was just like him.” He shook his head wryly. “Especially women.”
She winced and leaned down to stroke Bear’s soft fur. “That’s not fair.”
“Nobody ever promised life would be fair.” Then he waved a hand. “It’s fine. I’m not looking for sympathy. Just stating the facts.”
She nodded. “You’re right about life not being fair.
I lost my mom way too young as well. My dad died when I was a baby, so it was just the two of us for years.
I miss her every day.” She smiled. Personally, she thought he was an amazing guy and that any woman would be foolish not to see that, but she managed to refrain from blurting her thoughts out loud.
“We have that in common,” she said instead.
This wasn’t a date. They were working together to find a killer and answers to what happened to Jenny’s baby and the other two.
“The last woman I was seeing didn’t like the isolation of the ranch.” He cast her a quick look. “I can somewhat understand that.”
“I think it’s amazing here.” She tilted her head to the side. “I can relate to that, too. My former boyfriend didn’t like my job, either.”
“His loss.” Jordan sounded sincere, and she was touched by his words.
“Thanks.” She needed to refocus. “Speaking of work, I need to get back to it.” She quickly finished her dinner.
Jordan set Cutie back on the floor then continued mounting his father’s trail cameras. Soon, the four devices were installed on each of the four sides of the house.
Battling a wave of fatigue—her lack of sleep catching up with her—she entered the tattoo information into the database. When she hit the search command, dozens of hits popped up on the screen. She groaned, realizing the task of identifying her bad guy wouldn’t be as easy as she’d hoped.
“Jordan, can you sketch the dagger for me?” She rubbed her eyes, not wanting to admit the words on the screen were getting blurry.
He nodded and went to grab paper and pencil. He stared down at the blank page for a moment, then began the sketch. “I’m no artist,” he confessed. “But I remember the handle had curves. The blade was pointed up the arm. I didn’t see it all, so there could be more detail.”
“This is great, thanks.” She was impressed at how much he was able to remember. Then a wide yawn caught her off guard.
“We should get some sleep,” he murmured.
She wanted to keep working but knew the trail cameras would likely wake them during the night. Bear crawled out from beneath the table and made his way to the door. He was so good about letting her know when he needed to go out. “Guess that’s our cue.”
Jordan chuckled. “Look, Cutie has joined him. I’m impressed she hasn’t had any accidents recently. Maybe she’s getting the hang of this.”
“It’s not her fault—puppies have small bladders,” she reminded him.
“I know.” He shrugged into his jacket. “But Bear has been a good influence on her.”
She nodded, sensing that was true. She pulled her coat on and followed him outside.
“Get busy,” she told Bear. Not that he needed the command—he was already sniffing around for the perfect spot to do his thing.
“Get busy, Cutie,” Jordan echoed.
Autumn tipped her head back to gaze at the stars. They were brighter here at the ranch, away from the lights of the city.
It was difficult to imagine Jenny choosing to sleep on Sasha’s sofa rather than moving in with her brother. Raising a baby on the ranch would be much better than being in a cramped apartment.
He’d mentioned his ex-girlfriend had said the same thing. Autumn truly didn’t understand it. Then again, she preferred the peace and quiet. She got more than enough action on the job.