Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [76]
He wasn’t surprised she knew about his job—Maggie Bannister was a thorough woman. She probably knew his boss’s name, the names of the last three women he’d slept with, how much he weighed and what his favorite brand of beer was. “I’ve worked for them for a long time and I’m a valued asset. They want to keep me happy and I wanted to come home. To meet my new sister-in-law, of course,” he added.
“Did you know she had a young daughter?”
“No.”
“Were you worried about something?”
He stared at her, stone-faced. He had to be very careful what he said. If he tipped his hand everything could blow up and there’d be no way to stop the nightmare that had been haunting him for so many years.
“What would I have to be worried about, Maggie?” he said, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Are you worried about something?”
“I’ve had one senseless murder and another corpse show up in my town, and the FBI is calling them serial killings. What do you think?”
“What do you want from me?”
“The truth,” she said, her voice flat.
He was almost tempted. He needed to stop David, by any means possible. The best of all possible outcomes would be to get him locked away, where he couldn’t hurt anyone.
But that wasn’t going to happen until they found more proof. David was smart and cunning. He’d have to screw up big-time to let that happen.
The good news was that he had started making mistakes. But people were still dying, and Caleb couldn’t let that happen. He’d turned a blind eye to the unthinkable for too long.
His mother had wanted him to look out for David. She’d known David was damaged goods, and Stephen Henry did, too. The difference was that her husband was happy to throw his older son to the wolves, just to protect David.
Caleb couldn’t let that happen any longer, not with the stakes so high. If Maggie couldn’t find proof in the next couple of days then Caleb would have no choice but to do the unthinkable.
Stop David himself. By any means possible.
He looked across the desk at the sheriff. Underestimating Maggie Bannister was a mistake a lot of people made, but he wasn’t a lot of people. In the end, he had to put a stop to David.
He leaned forward. “I’ll tell you one thing, Maggie. You should keep Sophie at your house until this is over. Don’t let her go home, don’t let her go out without you and your daughter. I don’t care what kind of excuse you have to make, just don’t let her go home.”
She didn’t blink. “And that’s all you’re going to say? I’ll listen, you know.”
He leaned back. “That’s pretty much it.”
She looked at him for a long time, her eyes searching his face. “What about Rachel?” she asked suddenly. “Don’t you think she’s going to put up a fuss if I keep Sophie?”
“I think you’re smart enough to figure out a way to convince her.”
“But you don’t think I’m smart enough to have a pretty good guess what’s really going on?”
For the first time in his life someone in the claustrophobic little town of Silver Falls looked ready to believe him. “You tell me,” he said.
She shook her head. “When you decide to be honest with me I might return the favor. In the meantime I’ll look after Sophie. You keep an eye on Rachel. I don’t want to lose anyone else.”
It was as close to a declaration of trust as he could have hoped for. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”
And Maggie had nodded, satisfied.
Of course she hadn’t expected him to sabotage Rachel’s brakes and then haul her out into the wilderness by force. Chances were a law enforcement officer like the sheriff wouldn’t approve, but then, he’d never been one to do what was expected of him.
He shifted the Toyota into low as the road grew muddier. Rachel had her arms across her chest, her face averted, and she was radiating anger. Maybe he should be glad that she was such a fighter—it had probably kept her alive so far and would continue to do so. But for now it was annoying the hell out of him.
She was the one to break the charged silence. “I don’t suppose you let your brother know you carted me off like