If he’d been followed, they weren’t close. Still. He was a cautious man. He slipped into the bathroom and locked the door. Alone at last. He dialed Kyle’s cell phone and got an immediate answer.
“Did it work, boss?” Kyle asked.
“Beautifully.” Holder was perfectly happy with the geek. He was never going anywhere without one again. “She caused some nice chaos. And they take it very seriously now. I’m in. I’m supposed to come back tomorrow. We can make plans on when to take the girl then. The security’s good, but not perfect. I doubt Lodge will have time to upgrade before we can nab her.”
“I have confirmation that Jagger, Klein, and Shaver are en route. They’ll get here and obtain a nice quiet place to have our little talk with the target.” Kyle hesitated for a moment. “She’s bad, right?”
Holder felt his eyes roll. His geek needed to toughen up. “She’s really fucking bad for us. Do you want to go to jail?”
Kyle huffed. “Of course not. Look, this list of stuff you had me buy just creeps me out a little. Are you planning on torturing her?”
“I might have to rethink that. She might actually like it.” Freaks. “Listen, you won’t be there. You just do your job. Now, did you get the intel I sent you?”
After he’d broken into the office, he’d spent a little time making sure he knew all about the security system. It was good, but there were always ways around it. He’d found several. The building itself was large, but once he’d gotten past the few residential floors, the office space had been very quiet since it was the weekend. It would be the perfect time to take her, and now that he knew she would run, he had a deeply plausible reason for her disappearance.
He would be there, standing right next to Leo, when Shelley McNamara disappeared.
And he knew who to pin it on.
“I need you to pull up everything you can on Ben Dawson and, Kyle, you better be careful. His brother is a paranoid freak with computer skills to rival your own. He claims he’s taken them off the grid.”
“No one is good enough to really be off the grid, sir. And I doubt he’s as good as me. I’ll dig up the dirt.”
And then Holder would have everything he needed for a successful op. He would have his target and a patsy to blame the whole thing on.
Chapter Fifteen
Leo stared out of the window. The sun was starting to go down. It had been a ridiculously long day, and it wasn’t over yet. He felt old and tired. Seeing those photos of Ada had brought back guilt and horror. Realizing Ben had been in love with her had opened up a whole new door of regret.
And then Shelley had proven that nothing had changed.
She’d run again. And his first thought had been to run himself. He’d thought about letting Wolf deal with her.
“You still with me, Doc?”
He shook his head and looked back at Logan. “I’m sorry. I drifted away a little.”
The deputy’s shoulders moved up and down in a negligent shrug. “It’s not a problem. Look, I really don’t think I need this. I’m not saying anything bad about therapy, but I actually feel fine. I feel better than I have in over a year. When Trev’s sister ran earlier and you had me guarding the exit, I wasn’t even thinking about killing anyone. I was absolutely just going to incapacitate the bad guys, and I wasn’t even going to enjoy it. I think I’m good.”
Leo sighed and turned back to the young man. They had spent the last hour talking about his youth. He’d had a rough start in life, but he’d been a baby. Logan understood on a logical level that his father had been abusive and his mother had run away. He’d read the police reports on how his mother’s friend had been forced to kill his father when the man had tried to kill Logan’s mother and take him away. It was a horror story, but Logan had been nine months old at the time. When he talked about his childhood, Logan’s face lit up. Leo had listened to Logan’s numerous happy childhood stories about growing up in Bliss with his moms and his friends.
Leo had found himself slightly jealous. He’d grown up one town away, but it had been different. His mother was odd, and she hadn’t been accepted as easily as Logan’s moms had been. Until Cassidy Meyer had met a man named Mel who lived in Bliss, she’d been alone and raising two boys.
And yet his own childhood had been good. Despite the fact that he’d wanted to see the world, he remembered being loved. He remembered good times with his brother, running through the forests, feeling free.
When had he lost that? And how did he get it back?
“I just needed to get out of Bliss,” Logan said with a long sigh.
Leo turned to him, staring at the young man, his attention finally pulled from his reverie. “You said you loved Bliss. And yet you believe you would be happy not going back?”
Logan sat back. “Well, I guess it’s time for me to leave home. Not everyone stays in their hometown.”
No. Not everyone stayed in their hometown. And sometimes they could check out even when they stayed in one place. Leo had checked out the year before. He’d drawn in on himself after Shelley had turned him down.
He really was a pussy. One rejection from the woman he loved and he’d walked away.
Because he’d been walking away for a very long time. Because deep down, he was worried he would leave the woman he loved alone like his mother had been. Like he and Wolf had been. Because he’d never gotten over his guilt concerning Ada’s death. Because he’d married a woman he hadn’t loved and failed her in so many ways.
Fuck. Goddamn it to hell. He was twelve kinds of screwed up.
And yet he knew what to say to Logan. “You’re telling me you’re willing to give up your home rather than working through the problem?”
Was he willing to give up Shelley, his chance at a family, because it was more comfortable to not face his own issues? And Wolf. If he turned away from the gift his brother was trying to give him, he doubted he would ever really get close to Wolf again. Wolf wouldn’t turn his back, but he would close off that piece of himself that had deep down longed for this kind of family. Leo had no illusions. Wolf would take Shelley, and he would do his best to make her happy. Wolf would give her his all. His brother was tenacious. Wolf might worry about his place in the world, but Leo thought he might have already found it. Wolf would be Shelley’s husband, her loving Master, her best friend.
And he was willing to make a place for Leo if only Leo was brave enough to take it.
Logan’s face had gone grave. “I can visit. Just not for a while.”
“Logan, you have a job, friends, family back in Bliss.”
“I can make new friends.” He shook off his gloom and pasted a sunny smile on his face. “Now that I think about it, it’s a good thing. I have a friend in New York who I can go see.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Distancing himself wouldn’t make the problem go away.
Logan stood, pacing a bit. “Doc, I appreciate everything you’re trying to do for me, but I’m fine. I feel better, like a weight has been lifted. I’ll stay for a week or so if that’s okay, but then I’ll make arrangements to get out of your hair. You can help someone who really needs it.”
Leo kept his mouth closed. He was starting to see through the deputy. Perhaps because the deputy had shown him so much of himself.
Logan Green was scared. Angry, perhaps. He was stuck in a corner, but he’d decided he could pretend that corner was the world.
Leo could tell him just where that would end. It would end in loneliness and broken promises. He’d promised so much to himself and his family and allowed fear and pain to lead him to a place where no one could touch him. If he continued down this path, Logan could smile and joke and laugh. He could even feel for his friends. He could give to the people around him. And he would have nothing for himself.