When she went to send Rob her evening email, she found he’d surprised her with pictures of Doogie and him on the shop dock. She smiled, missing them all the more, wanting her life back.
This isn’t how my life should go, away from home and hiding from some faceless psycho.
She cried herself to sleep.
The next morning, Laura forced herself to go riding. The horses loved her for it, but her mind didn’t make the journey with her. She was once again too focused obsessing over the missing journals.
Despite Bill and Rob both telling her to try to relax about it, it was all she could think about.
Nightmares once again plagued her dream, the shadow bursting through the front door. She couldn’t help but think it had to be key to solving the mystery.
On Sunday, Bill announced he had a surprise for her.
They drove out to the airfield where a friend of Bill’s gave aerial tours of Yellowstone. It was breathtaking and took her mind off her problems. Later, they went on a drive and he showed her a lake not far from the house where bald eagles nested. She watched them hunt, swooping down and plucking fish out of the water with surgical precision. By the end of the day she felt tired but happy.
Rob got the short version on the phone. Later, she curled up with her laptop and sent him an email detailing her day’s adventures. She hit send and shut the computer down, ready for bed. Rob would answer by morning. Sleep eluded her, and a half hour later she decided to go back and read over some of her old articles again in hopes that maybe it would trigger something.
Anything.
Two hours later, it hadn’t. Dejected, she set the computer on the nightstand and tried to sleep.
Nothing looked clearer the next morning, either. Bill noticed her foul mood at breakfast.
“What’s up?”
She told him.
“You’ll figure it out eventually, sis. They have to be somewhere. You didn’t just stop or lose them.”
“Well, where the hell are they?”
“You’ll find them,” he insisted.
There was only one week left in her agreed Montana tenure when the note arrived in her email one morning. After opening Gmail she scanned the inbox and felt her stomach tighten.
MedicineMan.
Det. Thomas was at his desk and put her on hold while he got in touch with Hutchins. The tech logged in and accessed the newest threat.
Thomas returned to the phone. “What does it say?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t read it yet. I’m almost afraid to.”
“Go ahead. I’ve got Hutchins working on it on his end.”
Hesitating, she finally forced herself to click on the message.
Her voice trembled as she read it to Thomas.
“Where have you been? I’m really missing you. Can’t wait for you to come home. I have big plans.”
“This guy is obviously stalking everywhere he knows you usually are.”
“Have you been keeping an eye on Rob?”
“This guy’s after you, not him.”
“He would probably go through Rob to get to me.”
“I won’t lie and tell you no. He’s proven how vicious he is.”
“Did you ever find anything out about the boat?”
“The skiff was stolen from a snowbird couple’s house on the other end of the key. The guy must have used gloves, because there were no fingerprints that didn’t belong there.”
“When can I come home?”
“I can’t legally keep you from returning. Unfortunately, I don’t have the manpower to guard you indefinitely.”
“I realize that. I’m not asking for an armed guard. I need to live my life, what I can of it. I can’t spend the rest of my life hiding in Montana. I have a business, a home, and family. I want my life back.” Her hand reached up to her throat. In her pocket, as Rob had ordered, she kept her leather play collar.
“I want my friends back. They’re my adopted family. This guy took my past. I’m not letting him take my future, too.”
Rob called an hour later. Thomas had updated him and Rob was adamant. “Honey, you can’t come home.”
“Either you come out here and get me next week, or I’ll fly home and rent a car in Tampa. I’m not staying here.”
“Stop.” Dom tone.
She would have nothing to do with it. She walked into the bedroom and closed the door behind her and dropped her voice. “Sir, I don’t care if you give me two hundred with a goddamned cane. I’m sick of hiding and not being able to live my life!”
“It’s not safe.”
“What happens when he finally figures out where I am and he comes looking for me here? The police are a good fifteen minutes away at the very least. If the weather’s good and they’re not off on another call. At least at home I can bet on someone responding in a few minutes. And I can carry a gun there.”
“And you could be dead by then, so what difference would it make?”
“At least I would be home. Goddammit, you’re not hiding me up here forever.” She did something she didn’t think she’d ever done since accepting his collar. “Sir, I’m sorry, but if you’re not up here in seven days, I’m flying out of Bozeman and coming home. Do you understand me?”
She hoped she hadn’t pushed too far. He was quiet for a moment. “I’ll talk to the captain about getting off. I’ll come get you. You’re not coming home alone, understand? I waited for you. The least you can do is wait for me. All right?”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes, Sir. Just hurry, please?”
Rob called her the next day. “I’ll leave on Thursday. I figure if I drive straight through, it’ll probably take me four days.”
Thursday was only four days away, meaning he should be there by the following Monday. Hopefully.
“Yes.”
Cabin fever of a sort had set in. She missed her life, her business, her home, her dog, and her fiancé. She wanted it back, what she had of it. A risk she was willing to take.
While she was gone, Rob had installed motion-detection floodlights outside the house and rented a Bush Hog to clear out the tall grass and underbrush just beyond the fence to increase visibility. And in a move Laura called overkill, he had an electric fence installed.
“I considered burying a few land mines, but I thought Det. Thomas might not like that idea.”
She laughed, missing his sense of humor more than ever.
Laura spent the next day riding and journaling. She would miss Bill and the serenity she found in Montana but she was ready to go home and face whatever happened. In her forced exile, her fear had turned into anger.
There was no way MedicineMan would ruin her life. She wouldn’t let it happen.
Rob left on time, calling her every day with his progress. On Monday, right on schedule, he pulled into Bill’s driveway and Laura nearly tackled him before he climbed out of the Explorer.
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, crying with relief and joy. “I’m so glad to see you, Sir!”
He picked her up and held her, Laura breathing in his scent and absorbing every single moment.
When Doogie nosed the back of Rob’s neck, he turned. “Someone else missed you, too.”
Doogie’s entire body wagged with joy as she hugged him. He’d grown in her absence, at least ten pounds heavier than when she last saw him.
When Bill’s dogs realized the visitor had brought a new playmate, they came over and said hi. She let the Lab jump out and go play.
“Will they be okay?” Rob asked.
“Oh, yeah. All I’ll have to do is ring the dinner bell and he’ll come running with them.”