CHAPTER NINETEEN
YOU MIGHT STILL be in danger. Please call me when you get a chance.
Jeff frowned at his phone. Then his heart thumped against his chest. Something must have happened. “I need to step out for a minute,” he told his dad. “Can you keep an eye on him?”
Evan was currently dozing. He’d been coming in and out of sleep all morning.
“Of course,” Dad said. “I’m not goinganywhere.”
“Thanks.” It meant everything to Jeff that his father was here for them. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
On the main floor, he stepped out the side door of the hospital, breathing deeply. As soon as possible, he’d get his son outside, out of the stale, chemical environment. He knew well the healing power of fresh air and sunshine.
The day was cloudy, the cool wind cutting throughhis long-sleeved shirt. It was past time for a shower and a change of clothes. He should grab some from the camper while he was out here. Standing under a small grove of pine trees, Jeff dialed Tara’s number and steeled himself to hear her voice again.
“Hi, hang on,” she said, the sound of a car engine in the background. Her blinker ticked several times, followed shortly by silence. “Okay. Ididn’t want to drive while having this conversation.”
“What’s going on?” Jeff asked, an amalgam of emotions—joy, irritation, frustration, and more he couldn’t even name—snaking through his system, along with the visions of her he’d been trying to suppress since he pushed her away last night.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but someone tried to break in to Mick and Jenna’s apartment last night, andI think it might be related to the previous attacks.”
“Are you kidding?” he asked, more in surprise than disbelief.
“Unfortunately, no.” She quickly relayed the incident.
Unsurprisingly, she’d handled it admirably. Not everyone could keep their head in that kind of situation. “But you couldn’t see his face?”
“No, but he wasn’t big like either of the guys who came after us before. I dismissedit as an attempted burglary after the police said there’d been a string of them in the area. Especially since Greg is in jail and I’m not part of his police case.”
“So, what changed your mind?” Shit. Was he putting Evan in danger by being here? “Do you think someone’s worried about these goons leading the police to him if they’re caught?”
“That could be it, but I have another theory. Rememberwhen I fell on the ice on Monday?” She explained about the woman she’d seen and what had happened at the house, and suddenly her fear made perfect sense. She was not only a witness, but she might have the woman’s fingerprints. “Now I’m thinking maybe Greg was never the threat.”
“Fuck.” It could be a stretch, but added together with the break-in attempt, he had to agree. Either their attackersdidn’t want any witnesses, or the danger was coming from somewhere that hadn’t been on their radar until now. Possibly both.
Jeff ran a hand through his hair and paced, his shoes crunching on the bed of pine needles. He knew what he had to do, but his heart slid to his toes at the idea. Blowing out a harsh breath, he said, “If you come here, I can—”
“No. I’m going home. I’ll talk to Kurt whenI get there, let him know what’s going on, but I’m done hiding. I’m going to hand over what I have to Detective Niegard and see what happens.”
A vise clamped around his chest. Was she trying to end up dead? “Tara, these people are trying tokillyou.” And maybe him too. “And you’re just going to put yourself out there as bait?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Lots of them. Hundreds.”
Shesighed. “Are they all just variations of me staying in hiding until the police can figure things out?”
Shit. He stared at the big, white hospital building, feeling jumpy. And pissed. If he was in danger too, he couldn’t stay here and put Evan or his father in the crosshairs. But he’d spent four months searching for his son. He finally had him back, and he couldn’t leave right when Evan neededhim most. Right when the kid was most vulnerable and didn’t fully trust Jeff not to abandon him.
Fu-uck. He kicked the ground, launching a spray of pine needles, and barely resisted the urge to punch the tree.
Evan had to come first. In any contest between his son and any woman—even Tara—Evan would always win. But there had to be a way to protect Tara even if he couldn’t do it himself. Whocould he call? Kurt was the only Steele operative who wasn’t out of the country right now, and he wasn’t exactly close at hand.
A startled exclamation came through the phone line, followed by the insistent beeping of a car door left open with the keys in the ignition, and several muffled thuds.
“Tara?”
Nothing but the beeping, then a loud slam. Jeff’s stomach turned hollow, his pulse skyrocketing.
