Page 23 of Caleb's Cause
“Which was?”
“Narcotics, drugs, that sort of thing.” He scrubbed his face and sighed heavily. “If you heard my side of the conversation, then you know I asked about the men after Katherine. It turns out both Babcock and Mason are on the watch list, but not high up on it.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means that they’re not the top ten, which are the bad of the bad, but these two are on the FBI’s radar, and they’re scrambling to connect dots. In my humble opinion, I feel that once Director Grayson reads what I did, which backs up Katherine’s story, then they will go after Babcock and Mason. I just don’t know what to tell the guys yet. I also don’t know who I can direct the FBI to talk to out there.”
“Talk to Katherine. I heard her story in the house, what if you ask her if your former colleagues can contact the person that helped her escape. Definitely not her mother, but what of hermother’s boss? I don’t know if the person that helped her and took her trial as pro bono are one and the same.”
“Good idea, but I’ll run it by Katherine first.”
“Good, but you’re not going to do anything until you get something to eat.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” He laughed along with her, and after putting everything away, they left his office to head home to their house for lunch. At the last minute, Duane had grabbed the bag Katherine had with her off his desk, and said after lunch he would swing by Broken and give it back to her.
CHAPTER 9
Caleb sat backand listened to the men and women making plans for Katherine, and when he looked over at her, he saw that she was either in shock, overwhelmed, or exhausted. He didn’t know which.
“Excuse me,” he said, and had to repeat himself several times before someone finally looked over at him. He held his hand up in surrender and shook his head. “I don’t know shit about what you’re discussing, but I have a few concerns.”
“What’s that?” Ryan asked him, and the way his face scrunched up, Caleb swallowed hard, not wanting to be on his bad side.
“First, you’re talking like Katherine isn’t even here. Second, she’s exhausted, just look at her. Third, I will be happy to keep an eye on her over at Broken Two, however, none of the cabins are furnished with furniture. Hell, I’m sleeping on an air mattress I happened to have in my car from a camping trip a few years ago. For now, I’m not saying it would be forever, but for now, I’m putting my two cents in with the fact that I will look out for Katherine, but not at Broken Two.” He turned to look at Erin, and couldn’t read her expression. “I’m not being disrespectful, but you mentioned that you didn’t want her off the ranch in caseshe was being followed. I agree, but if she can’t leave to get her own furniture, or even pick out a bed, then what is she to do?”
“What do you suggest?” Erin asked with a frown, and slumped back in her chair.
“That both she and I move into the spare cabin, one of the big ones, on Broken. We would be closer to the men and women that already live there, and it would give us time to get supplies brought in. I’m not talking food stuff. I’m talking beds, dressers, and a couch. Stuff like that. I also need to remind you that deep in my soul, I feel Katherine would be safer at Broken, because I’ll be going in and out with my stuff.” He saw the confused looks on the others’ faces and shook his head sadly.
“I have an appointment with Dr. Rob, I need to look for a truck, I have to get my own furniture, not only in the cabin, but also the office. I also need to think about hiring a receptionist.” He turned to Katherine for the first time and shrugged. “I’m not pushing you off onto anyone. Please, don’t think that. I’m also not going to shrug my promise to keep an eye on you. But, I feel that until I can get established, then I will be better able to keep an eye on you.” He looked at the others and saw understanding on their faces.
“We’ll both be closer, I’m not saying it has to happen today, or tomorrow, but eventually I’m sure Katherine will end up working at Broken or even New Double. I agree that she needs to be hidden for the time being, but that doesn’t mean she has to do it in an empty cabin, does it?” He braced himself for any backlash and it shocked him when they all started to nod.
“Kid,” Ryan said quietly as he settled in the chair next to Pru and looked across the table at him. “I can see you thought your suggestion would have been met with disdain, or outright nastiness. We are not like that. We are not Karen. You have some very valid points. We are not mad at you.” He nodded, then looked at Clark, and Erin. “I’m going to go out on a limb here,and say that we are all at fault for the points Caleb said. Why? Because we’re so busy with the builds that once the cabin is up, and we get the final inspection, and it passes, we move onto the next. I know after hearing Caleb’s reasoning, I’ve been guilty of that.” He shook his head sadly.
“I don’t mean to repeat myself, but we get it built, inspected, then I’m guilty for this next part. Once it passes inspection, I close the door and walk away. I don’t think anyone goes back and really walks through the cabin, or the offices or bunktels for that matter to see what they need.”
“Fuck me,” Erin said on a heavy sigh. She shook her head and looked at Caleb. “Thank you. Thank you for pointing out that the cabins aren’t completely done yet. The only thing I’m mad about is that you’re sleeping on an air mattress.”
“Yeah, I wanted to wait until I had a truck to purchase one, and I know this might be bad on my part, but I didn’t want a delivery truck to come to the cabins. To the offices and the bunktels, sure, but not the cabins.”
“I agree with that,” Clark said with a nod. “I can see why you would think that, and thank you for not wanting complete strangers there.” He turned to his sister with a worried expression. “I don’t want to step on your toes, and don’t think I’m mad at you, but maybe you have too many irons in the fire.”
“I know, but what about if I ask Laurie to take over the cabins? She’s constantly begging me for something to do to earn her keep.”
“I don’t have a problem with that, and I’m not being an ass here, but it’s not like we’re asking her to decorate them, we just need them stocked.”
“Correct.” Erin looked at Julie and nodded when Julie said she’d call her after they broke up.
“Katherine?” Erin asked quietly. “How are you holding up?”
“Honestly?”
“Please, we all want an honest answer.”
“Okay, now that I’ve told my story, and eaten. I feel safe for the first time in months, but I’m kind of fading here. I only heard about every tenth word of what you discussed, and if you asked me to tell you what that was, I can’t.”
“Okay, Caleb is going to take you over to a cabin where you can shower, change your clothes, and climb into a bed. Rest assured that you are one hundred percent safe. Are you okay to be alone for a few hours?”
