Page 106 of Surly Sheriff
“Raegan,” he groaned and pulled her into his arms. He set aside his own pain, the lingering animosity at her desertion years ago, and concentrated on the woman in his arms.
That she was trembling gutted him.
Just gutted him.
“Know you’re tired, baby, but I need to hear the rest,” he said, smoothing a hand over her arm. “Tonight.”
“What about Kismet?”
Dammit. He’d forgotten about the dog.
He’d fed Kismet earlier, but by now the hound would be desperate to go outside. “Give me a moment.” He pulled his cellphone from his breast pocket and called his tenant.
“Toby,” he grunted when a groggy voice answered, ignoring the twinge of guilt for waking his deputy. He’d figure out a way to make amends later. “Need you to settle Kismet for the night. Got delayed on my end.”
“’Kay, Sheriff,” the young man replied.
Beau heard the rustle of sheets and a female voice in the background. Maybe the young man hadn’t been sleeping after all. “Thanks. Owe you.”
He tossed his cellphone onto the coffee table and turned his attention back to Raegan. Placing his arm around her shoulders, he led her to the couch and helped her settle down. “How’d your mom die, Rae?” he asked softly.
“I wasn’t supposed to be with her that day. But she had promised to take me sailing. Just me and Mama. Our special time. When she changed her mind at the last minute, I was so angry with her, and snuck into the garage and hid in the back of her car. We drove for a long time with lots of turns and I got sick. That’s how she discovered me. Mama never yelled at me, but that day she did. I cried, and she cried, and she said something about it being too far to take me back. She gave me a roll of candy from her purse after I promised to listen to her.” Rae’s voice lowered to a whisper. “We drove some more and when we finally stopped, she forced me into the footwell of the passenger side and ordered me to stay in the car.”
“And you didn’t obey her.”
Rae gave a scoffing laugh. “I lasted about two heartbeats before I peeked out the window.”
She shifted upright, her spine rigid, hands linked and resting on her lap, she recounted the last minutes of her mother’s life in clear and concise words, ending with, “I’d’ve died that day, too, if my cousin hadn’t spirited me out of that building and taken me home.
“But when we arrived at the compound, he warned me. ‘I am sorry about your mama, but you mustneverspeak about it. Forgeteverything,’ he said. ‘You know Father will do the same to you and your sisters if he finds out.’
“I never told, Beau,” she whispered fiercely, running her palms over her knees. “Never. And when our nanny came and told us that Mama had died in a car accident, I cried with my sisters, and over the years it became my truth. Until the day I saw Kismet’s cage.”
Beau closed his hands over hers, stilling her nervous movement. “The crate triggered you,” he murmured.
“Yes. At first, I didn’t understand my aversion to the crate, but as the months progressed and more and more of Mama’s death surfaced, I started connecting the dots. You see, all those years ago, when the FBI built their case against Vasily and the Liminov organization, there were two things they could not link to the man and therefore never included in the original case — human trafficking and murder. And the address on the piece of paper Mama had before walking to her death came to me during one of the dreams. I looked it up and discovered the building was still standing. One of the few never seized during the takedown.
“When I left here, the first thing I did was go to New York and contact Simon and inform him about my dream and the building. They got a search warrant and ended up with a treasure trove of forensic evidence — from old documents in a forgotten cabinet, to human remains in the basement, to Mama’s blood where she died. With my testimony, the FBI built a slam dunk case.
“But Vasily still had sympathizers within the FBI. He vanished, and our safe house was compromised. By then, I knew I was pregnant, and as I no longer trusted the FBI with my safety, I disappeared, ending up in Hermosa Beach.”
She shrugged. “I contacted Simon when they nabbed Vasily five months ago. He wanted me to come in immediately, guaranteeing my safety, promising they had found the leaks. I refused and said I’d meet with him three days before the trial started. Take it or leave it. He took it.
“I never told him of my pregnancy, and I was not trustinganyonewith our son’s safety except myself.” She looked at him. “And now you.”
The extent of what she had been through staggered Beau, and it would take him a while to process all she had revealed tonight. But until he did, there was something he could promise her. “I will protect Jack with my life.”
25
Time warp
The bedroom was awash with light when Rae opened her eyes to find a pair of brown canine ones staring at her. She blinked. Those eyes were not set in a bulky black and tan head. “Kismet?” Crunching upright, she extended her arm to pat the dog.
“Arf, arf.” The hound’s body trembled, his tail whipping from side to side so fast that his entire back waggled as he covered her hand and wrist in wet kisses.
“How did you get here?” Rae asked, pushing aside the bedding and swinging her legs to the floor. She bent forward and hugged the dog. The licking moved to her neck, her cheek. But she didn’t care. This was Kismet. “Missed you so much, boy,” she muttered, burying her face in the silky fur.
“Woof!” The deep bark of another canine filled the room, and Xena plodded across the carpet. She moved her body between Rae and Kismet, effectively pushing the older dog away. Kismet sat back on his haunches with a wounded look on his face and whimpered.
