Page 40 of Mystery at Rescue Ridge

“And are you still headed there?”Evie piped in from the backseat where she’d insisted on sitting.

Travis glanced in the rearview.“Figured I’d swing you two by the house first.”

Evie was already shaking her head before he finished his sentence.“We’re going with you.”

“This might be a dead end.”

“I don’t care,” she insisted.“We’re going.”

Travis seemed to know better than to argue.He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.Then he said, “Only if you promise to do everything I say for all of our safety’s sake.”

“I won’t put anyone in unnecessary danger.”Owen caught her gaze shifting to him through the rearview.“And we both know Owen will be careful.”

Travis didn’t turn his head.“I’m sorry to put you in this position, Owen.”

“You aren’t.Circumstances are.And I’d rather go through this with you than anyone else.”

“Have you been in touch with your sister?”

“Chloe?No.My family still believes I’m on a fishing trip, and I don’t want that to change.”Owen didn’t need them panicking.Or, worse yet, helping.He had no intention of putting his family in the line of fire again.Speaking of safety.He turned toward Evie.“What do you think about calling Ms.Bart to see if she’ll take the kids to her place for the rest of tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Evie hedged.“Their lives have been turned upside down as it is.Wouldn’t it be better for them to sleep in their own beds?”

Owen didn’t believe so.“Not if we stir up the pot.”

“Owen is right,” Travis agreed.“They’ll be safer at Ms.Bart’s home.”

“If you’re sure…” Evie bit down on her bottom lip, a gesture she always made when she was contemplating an issue.

“I am,” Travis stated with the kind of certainty that should ease any doubt in Evie’s mind.

“Okay then.”

Evie made the call.Based on hearing one side of the conversation, Ms.Bart was one step ahead.She’d already packed overnight bags for the kids and prepared them for a sleepover.Evie frowned after ending the call.He understood why.She wanted to give the kids stability.The farmhouse was the only place they’d ever known, and she didn’t want them taken away from the familiarity of their toys, their beds, and all the other comforts of being home.Too bad that place hadn’t meant the same for her.Owen understood all too well how the place you were brought up could be a personal prison.It always came down to the people and not the building.Anytime he’d been with Evie, whether at her house or his, he’d felt like he’d come home.

The out-of-the-blue realization struck like a physical blow.

“Deputy Carter is taking one of the addresses,” Travis said as Owen tuned back into the conversation going on inside the SUV.The sheriff glanced at Owen.“I’m having your Jeep towed back to the Ashworth home.Figured it was the best way to keep this situation quiet.”

It occurred to Owen that he was asking Travis to keep secrets from his wife.“I’ll bring everyone up to speed as soon as it’s safe to.I promise.”His family would roll up their sleeves to help.They’d jump in front of a moving vehicle for any one of the siblings, except maybe Beau.To be fair, they had very little history with their half-brother.It wasn’t because they were bad people.Owen hadn’t been first to give Beau the benefit of the doubt even though growing up on the outskirts of the Sturgess family had taught him how isolating that could feel.

“Chloe knows there are aspects of my job that I’m not at liberty to discuss with her,” Travis said.“It’s part of the deal when you marry someone in law enforcement.”

The admission made Owen feel a little less like a jerk.Plus, no one in the Sturgess family was being targeted this time.Their names were completely out of the investigation.Owen wanted to keep it that way.The family had been through enough already.This case was about Simone, and now Evie had been dragged into it.

Speaking of whom, it dawned on him why Hiker might be showing up now.

“Simone stopped chatting online,” he said to Evie and Travis.“That’s the reason for the timing of this bastard showing up.”

“Which means he cares about her,” Travis said.

“Does that mean he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her?”Evie asked.Owen realized she was asking if Hiker/Stalker might not want to hurt her.

“We’ll know when we find him,” Travis said.“If we can at least get a look inside where he lives, we’ll be able to tell more about his intentions.”He tapped the steering wheel with his thumb three times.“But Owen makes a good point about the unsub, the unknown subject, showing up now with the timing of Simone suddenly dropping out of their chats.He possibly feels abandoned by her and wants an explanation.”

Icy fingers gripped Owen’s spine.An ordinary person who was concerned about someone else might find a way to check on them.This bastard was stalking Simone, like a predator stalks prey.A conversation with someone in town would make him aware of a death, which would explain why she’d stopped responding to his messages, but he seemed more the type to hide in the shadows.He might not want to risk anyone being able to identify him.

What did he intend to do when he got her alone?

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