Page 27 of Once Removed (Blackhawk Security)

“I did at first.” She swiped her hand over her face and looked away. “But I’ve never seen him. And then I thought, ‘what if it is my father? He left me alone in that house without food. Why would I want to be around him?’”

This poor child. Abandoned by her father, the person she should have been able to trust most in the world. Fending for herself, eating apples to survive.

And what about friends or teachers from school? It was September, so she hadn’t been going to school when she walked here from Helena. “Shouldn’t you have started school already?”

“I guess.”

“But you didn’t,” Lainey murmured.

Phoebe shrugged one shoulder. “I couldn’t walk eight miles both ways every day,” she said, staring at the white toes of her shoes. “I called myself in. Said I was my mom. I figured not everyone at the school would know my mom had died.” She scowled. “School’s lame anyway.”

“Don’t you miss your friends?” Lainey asked.

Same shoulder shrug without meeting their gazes.

Brody raised his eyebrows, and Lainey had no trouble reading his expression. Phoebe was a smart kid. Smart enough to figure out how to keep people from looking for her. Smart enough to survive in this deserted place for a long time.

There was no way they were leaving her to cope on her own. “Phoebe, I live in Helena, but I’m not staying there right now.” Lainey took a deep breath. If she wanted Phoebe to trust her, she had to be straight with the girl. “I’m staying with Brody, at his ranch. My husband was killed when that mess hall burned down, and I had a prowler trying to get into my house. So Brody offered to let me stay with him until they figured out who killed my husband and who was prowling around my house.”

She hesitated, but finally took Phoebe’s hand. Nodded at Brody.

He picked up the story. “I have three extra bedrooms in my house. Lainey’s staying in one of them, but that leaves two empty bedrooms. You’re welcome to stay with us, if you like.”

Phoebe scowled at him. “How do I know you’re not some kind of pervert? How do I know I’d be safe at your place?”

“That’s a good question, and I’m glad you thought to ask that,” Brody said, nodding as he shifted and leaned closer to her. “You’re a smart kid. You wouldn’t be staying with me by yourself. Or with just me and Lainey. Besides the two of us, I have a housekeeper who fixes our meals and keeps the house clean. She’s married to my foreman. They have their own house at the ranch. There are also three other men who work for me who live in another house, but we all eat together in the evening.”

“Violet is a wonderful cook,” Lainey said. “And very kind.” She glanced at Brody, who nodded as if he’d read her mind. Maybe he had. He’d been doing it for a long time.

Lainey had no idea why Phoebe was scared, but she had no doubt the girl was frightened. “Everyone on the ranch will protect you,” she said, biting her lip at the flicker of fear in Phoebe’s eyes. “You’d be safe there. And never alone, since there’s always someone around.”

“Violet?” Phoebe frowned. “Red hair? Great baker?”

“Sounds like Vi,” Brody said lightly. “You know her?”

Some of the apprehension in Phoebe’s eyes faded. “She used to work at a bakery in town. I worked there, too. I did the dishes. Cleaned.”

“That’s our Vi,” Brody said. “She’s married to Brett, and I convinced her to come work for me instead of commuting into Helena every day. I got lucky and she said yes.”

Phoebe’s shoulders relaxed, as if the presence of someone she knew in Brody’s home reassured her. She looked at Lainey. Brody. Took a deep breath. “I’ll… I’ll try it out, I guess. See how it goes. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to stay, right?”

“Of course not,” Brody said. His eyes darkened. “But we can’t let you come back here. It’s not safe. And we couldn’t let you go home, if your father’s not around. That’s not safe, either. If you have a friend you’d like to stay with, we’ll help you arrange that. Otherwise, it’s either my ranch, or the child services people. They’d take care of you.”

“There’s no one I want to stay with. And I don’t need to be taken care of,” Phoebe said, clenching her fists. “I took care of myself just fine for months.”

“And you were very lucky,” Lainey said quietly. She reached for Phoebe’s hand, pleased when the girl didn’t yank away from her. “You managed by yourself really well, but is that how you want to live? Alone? Scared? Never sure where you’ll get your next meal?”

Phoebe hunched her shoulders. Stared at the ground, drawing circles with the toe of her green Chucks. Finally she muttered, “I guess not.”

“We’ll take it a day at a time,” Lainey promised. “No pressure. And taking you back to Brody’s ranch instead of calling the sheriff? We’re probably breaking all kinds of rules,” Lainey said. Teens loved breaking rules. Pushing boundaries. “But we want to help you. Will you let us?”

Phoebe straightened her shoulders. Nodded. “You can’t keep me prisoner at your ranch, though,” she said, sticking out her jaw. “I need to go to school.”

“Yes. You do,” Lainey said. “I drive into Helena every day, to go to work. I can take you to school in the morning and bring you home in the afternoon. Unless you’d rather ride the bus. We can arrange that, if you’d prefer it.”

Phoebe shook her head. “No, I’ll ride with you.”

“Okay, then.” Lainey stood up and offered Phoebe her hand. After hesitating for a moment, Phoebe took her hand and pulled herself to her feet. “Let’s go to Brody’s place and see what Vi’s making for dinner tonight,” Lainey said lightly.

* * *

The man stood in the shadows at the edge of the window and watched Jones, the Dearborn woman and the kid leave the compound. The kid got into the car with the woman and they followed Jones’ truck opposite the direction of town. They had to be going to Jones’ ranch.

He watched until the cars disappeared around a bend in the road, then stepped away from the window. Headed to the small kitchen on the third floor, where he opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. Popped the top and took a long drink.

So that was where the Dearborn woman had gone. Shacking up with Jones.

Hadn’t taken her long.

Gulping the rest of the beer, he tossed the empty can onto the floor. He’d pay a visit to the Flying J. Soon.

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