Kitabı oku: «Branded by the Sheriff», sayfa 3

Chapter Four

This was not the homecoming Faith had planned.

From the window of the third-floor “VIP suite” of the Bluebonnet Hotel, she stared down at the town’s equivalent of morning rush hour. Cars trickled along the two-lane Main Street flanked with refurbished antique streetlights. The sidewalks were busy but not exactly bustling as people walked past the rows of quaint shops and businesses. Many of the townsfolk stopped to say “Good morning.”

There were lots of smiles.

She wanted to be part of what was going on below. She wanted to dive right into her new life. But instead she was stuck inside the hotel, waiting for “orders” from Beck and the Texas Rangers, while one of Beck’s deputies guarded the door to make sure no one got in.

The three-room suite was a nice enough place with its soothing Southwest decor. Her and Aubrey’s room was small but tastefully decorated with cool aqua walls and muted coral bedding. Marita’s room was similar, just slightly smaller, and the shared sitting room had a functional, golden-pine desk and a Saltillo tile floor.

It reminded Faith of a gilded cage.

Of course, anything less than getting on with her new life would feel that way.

She forced herself to finish the now cold coffee that room service had delivered an hour earlier. She already had a pounding headache, and without the caffeine, it would only get worse. She had to be able to think clearly today.

What she really needed was a new plan.

Or a serious modification of the present one.

Aubrey was now in Beck’s protective custody and he was responsible for her safety. Right. What was wrong with this picture?

She went back to the desk, sank down onto the chair and glanced at the notes she’d made earlier. It was her list of possible courses of action. Unfortunately, the list was short.

Option one: she could immediately leave LaMesa Springs, and go into hiding. But that would be no life for Aubrey. Besides, she had to work. She couldn’t live off her savings for more than six months at most.

Faith crossed off option one.

Option two: she could arrange for a private bodyguard. Again, that would eat into her savings, but it was a short-term solution that she would definitely consider. Plus, she knew someone in the business, and while things hadn’t worked out personally between them, she hoped he could give her a good deal.

And then there was option three, and it would have to be paired with option two: try to speed up her brother’s and Nolan’s captures. The only problem was that other than making herself an even more obvious target, she wasn’t sure how to do that. Maybe she could make an appeal on the local TV or radio stations? Or maybe she could just step foot inside her house a few times.

She already felt like a target anyway.

Frustrated, she set her coffee cup aside and grabbed a pen, hoping to add to the meager list. She sat, pen poised but unmoving over the paper, and she waited for inspiration to strike. It didn’t.

The bedroom door opened, and Marita came out. Behind her toddled Aubrey, dressed in a pink eyelet lace dress, white leggings and black baby saddle oxfords. Just the sight of her instantly lightened Faith’s mood.

“’i,” Aubrey greeted her. It was her latest attempt at “hi” and she added a wave to it.

“Hi, yourself.” Faith scooped her up in her arms and kissed her on the cheek.

“She ate every bite of her oatmeal,” Marita reported. “And getting to bed so late doesn’t seem to have bothered her.” Marita patted her hand over a big yawn. “Wish I could say the same for my old bones.”

“Yes. I’m sorry about that.”

“Not your fault.” Marita went to the window and looked out. “You warned me that some folks in this town wouldn’t open their arms to you.” She paused. “Guess Sheriff Tanner is one of those folks.”

It wasn’t a question, but Faith knew the woman wanted and deserved answers. After all, Marita had essentially been part of her family since Faith had hired her fifteen months ago as Aubrey’s nanny. Faith had gotten Marita through an employment agency, but their short history together didn’t diminish her feelings and respect for Marita.

“I left town ten years ago because of a scandal,” Faith said, hoping she could get this out without emotion straining her voice. “Beck saw me coming out of a motel with his brother, Pete. His married brother. Word quickly got around, and his brother’s wife attempted suicide because she was so distraught. Beck blames me for that.”

Marita turned from the window, folded her arms over her chest and stared at Faith. “You were with the sheriff’s married brother?”

Aubrey started to fuss when she spotted the stuffed armadillo on the settee, and Faith eased her to the floor so she could go after it.

“I was with him at the hotel.” But Faith shook her head. She wasn’t explaining this to Beck, who would challenge her every word. Marita would believe her. “But I didn’t have sex with him. It didn’t help that I couldn’t tell the whole truth.” She lowered her voice so that Aubrey wouldn’t hear, even though she was much too young to understand. “It also didn’t help that there were used condoms in the motel room. And when Beck found us, Pete was groping at me.”

Marita made a sound of displeasure. “Beck was an idiot not to see what was really going on. You’re not the sort to go after a married man.” She glanced at the papers on the desk and frowned again. “Is that what I think it is?” Marita pointed to the document header, Last Will and Testament.

“I wrote it this morning.” She noted the shocked look on Marita’s face. “No, I’m not planning to die anytime soon. I just need to let someone know that he won’t inherit anything in the event of my demise.”

Faith didn’t have time to explain that further because her cell phone rang. Since she was expecting several important calls, she answered it right away.

“Zack Henley,” the caller identified himself. “I’m the driver who took you from the airport to LaMesa Springs last night. You left a message with my boss saying to call you, that it was important.”

“It is. I need to know if you told anyone that you’d taken me to my house.”

“Told anyone?” he repeated. He sounded not only surprised but cautious.

Faith rephrased it. “Is it possible that someone in LaMesa Springs learned that you had driven me to my house?”

He stayed quiet a moment. “I might have mentioned it to the guy at the convenience store.”

That grabbed her attention. “Which guy and which convenience store?”

“Doolittle’s, I think is the name of it.”

The same store where her brother had been sighted. “And who did you tell about me?”

“I didn’t tell, exactly. I mean, I didn’t go in the place to blab about you, but the guy asked me what a cab driver was doing in LaMesa Springs, and I told him I’d dropped someone off on County Line Road. He asked who, and I told him. I knew your name because you paid with your credit card, and you didn’t say anything about keeping it a secret.”

No. She hadn’t, but she also hadn’t expected to be threatened with those tossed rocks. Or with the possibility that her brother had been the one to do the threatening. “Describe the person you spoke to.”

“What’s this all about?” he asked.

“Just describe him please.” Faith used her courtroom voice, hoping it would save time.

“I don’t remember how he looked, but he was the clerk behind the counter. A young kid. Maybe nineteen or twenty. Oh, yeah, and he had a snake tattoo on his neck.”

She released the breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding and jotted down the description. That wasn’t a description of her brother. But it didn’t mean this clerk hadn’t said something to anyone else. Or her brother could have even been there, listening.

“Thank you,” she told the cab driver.

Faith hung up and grabbed the Yellow Pages so she could find the number of the convenience store. She had to talk to that clerk. But before she could even locate the number, there was a knock at the door. Faith reached for her pepper spray, only to remind herself that there was a deputy outside and that a killer probably wouldn’t knock first.

“It’s me, Beck,” the visitor called out.

Faith groaned, unlocked the door and opened it. It was Beck all right. Wearing jeans, a blue button-up and a walnut-colored, leather rodeo jacket. The jacket wasn’t a fashion statement, though on him it could have been. It was as well-worn as his jeans and cowboy boots.

“My deputy needed a break,” Beck explained. He didn’t move closer until Aubrey came walking his way.

“’i,” Aubrey said, grinning from ear to ear. It was adorable. But in Faith’s opinion that cuteness was aimed at the wrong person.

Beck, however, obviously wasn’t able to resist that grin either because he smiled and stepped around Faith to come inside the suite.

“Is she ever in a bad mood?” he asked, keeping his focus on Aubrey.

“Wait ’til nap time,” Marita volunteered. Unlike Aubrey’s cheerfulness, Marita’s voice had an unfriendly edge to it.

When Aubrey began to babble and show Beck the armadillo, he knelt down so that he’d be at her eye level. “That’s a great-looking toy you got there.”

“Dee-o,” Aubrey explained, giving him her best attempt to say “armadillo.” She put the toy right in Beck’s face and didn’t pull it back until he’d kissed it.

Aubrey giggled and threw her arms around Beck’s neck as if she’d known him her entire life. The hug was brief, mere seconds, before she pulled back and pointed to the silver badge he had clipped to his belt.

“See?” Aubrey said. “Wanta see.”

And much to Faith’s surprise, Beck unclipped it and handed it to her so she could “see.”

Frustrated with the friendly exchange, Faith shut the door with more force than necessary. Beck seemed to become aware of the awkward situation, and he stood.

“We need to talk,” he told her, suddenly sounding very sherifflike.

That was obviously Marita’s cue to give them some privacy, so she came across the room and picked up Aubrey. However, she stopped and looked at Beck. “Maybe this time you’ll be willing to see the truth,” she snarled. She took the badge from Aubrey and handed it back to him.

“What does that mean?” Beck asked, volleying confused glances between Faith and Marita.

“Nothing,” Faith said at the same time that Marita said, “She wasn’t with your brother that night. Faith’s not like that.”

And with that declaration which would be hard to explain, Marita started walking. Aubrey waved and said, “Bye-bye,” before the two disappeared into the bedroom.

“Don’t ask,” Faith warned him.

“Why not?”

“Because you won’t believe me.”

He lifted his shoulder. “What’s not to believe? Didn’t you tell me the truth ten years ago?”

“I told you I hadn’t slept with your brother. That’s the truth.”

“He said otherwise.”

She huffed and wondered why she was still trying to explain this all this time later. “Pete was drunk, and he lied, maybe because he was too drunk to know the truth. Or maybe because he didn’t want you to know what’d really happened. I didn’t seduce him, and I didn’t take him to that motel. The only thing I tried to do was get him out of there.”

Faith stopped when she noted his stony expression. “You know what? Enough of this. I don’t owe you anything.” To give herself a moment to calm down, she went to the desk and glanced at the notes she’d taken earlier. “I need to question a clerk at Doolittle’s convenience store. The cabbie who drove me home told this clerk that I was in town. I want to find out who else knew so I can figure out who threw those rocks.”

Beck just stared at her.

Unnerved and still riled, Faith continued, “You said we had something to discuss, and I don’t think you meant personal stuff.”

“Why would Pete lie about being with you?” He walked closer, stopping just a few inches away.

Why didn’t he just drop this? “Ask him. For now, stick to business, Sheriff.”

“The personal stuff between us keeps interfering with the business.”

He caught her arm when she started to move away. Faith looked down at his grip, but he didn’t let go of her. He kept those gunmetal-blue eyes nailed to her, and though she hadn’t thought it possible, he got even closer. So close that she could smell coffee and sugar on his breath.

Faith hiked up her chin and met his gaze. “Be careful,” she warned. She meant her voice to sound sharp and stern. It didn’t quite work out that way.

Because something changed.

With his hand on her, with him so close, old feelings began to tug at her. She’d once been hotly attracted to him. A lifetime ago. But those years suddenly seemed to melt away.

She was still attracted to him. And this time, she didn’t think it was one-sided.

She was toast.

“The Rangers installed some security equipment at your house,” Beck said. His voice wasn’t strained. Nor angry. He sounded confused, and the subject didn’t fit the slow simmer in the air.

“Good,” she managed to answer. She tried to step away, but he held on. And she didn’t fight him.

She was obviously losing her mind.

“The Rangers dressed like security technicians so anyone looking wouldn’t realize the authorities had staked out the place.” He paused. His jaw muscles stirred. “There. That’s what I came to say. Now, let’s finish this.” He shook his head. Cursed. Shook his head again. And finally, he let go of her and took a step back. “This can’t happen between us.”

“You’re right. It can’t.”

Neither of them looked relieved.

And neither of them looked as if they believed it.

That tug inside her pulled harder. So hard that she moved away and returned to the window. She needed a few deep breaths before she could continue. “I want a different plan than the one the Rangers came up with.”

He paused. Nodded. Nodded again. “I’m listening.”

It took her a moment to realize that was all he was going to say. “Well, I don’t have a different plan,” she admitted. “I just want one.”

“Welcome to the club. I sat up most of the night trying to make a list of options.”

She huffed and glanced at her list. “Since Sgt. Caldwell made it clear that the Rangers don’t have the manpower to provide protection for Aubrey, Marita and me, I was thinking of hiring a private bodyguard from Harland Securities in San Antonio. A friend owns the company.”

“Ross Harland,” Beck provided. “I’ve heard of him. He’s your friend?”

“We used to date.” Though she had no idea why she’d just told him that, especially since things hadn’t ended that well between Ross and her. Ross might not even want to talk to her, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying. “I plan to call him this morning and ask if he can help.”

“You mean so that Aubrey and you won’t be in my protective custody?”

Suddenly, that made her feel a little petty, but she pushed the uncomfortable feeling aside. Who cared if he was insulted that she would look elsewhere for protection? “You said yourself the personal stuff keeps getting in the way.”

His jaw muscles went to war. “I swore I’d protect Aubrey, and I will. I’ll protect you and Marita, too. There’s not enough personal stuff in the world to ever stop me from doing my job.”

She believed him. More than she wanted to.

Their eyes met again, and something circled around them. A weird intimacy. Something forged with all the emotion of the bad blood. And this bizarre attraction that had reared its hot, ugly head.

Faith forced herself to look away. To move. She shook off the Beck Tanner hypnotic effect and reached for the phone to call Ross Harland. She pressed in the number to his office, hoping she remembered it correctly, and the call went straight to voice mail. It was still before normal duty hours.

“Ross, this is Faith,” she said. “Please call me. I’m in LaMesa Springs, and my cell-phone service is spotty so if you can’t get through, you can reach me at the Bluebonnet Hotel.”

She read off the number of the hotel phone and her room number and clicked the end call button just as the door to the suite burst open. The movement felt violent. And suddenly so did the air around them.

The woman who rushed into the room was Nicole Tanner.

Beck’s sister-in-law. Pete’s wife.

Faith hadn’t seen the woman since the night of the motel incident, but Nicole hadn’t changed much. Sleek and polished in her high-end, boot-length, black duster, London blue pants and matching top. Her shoulder-length honey-blond hair was perfect. Not a strand out of place. She looked like the ideal trophy wife.

Except for her eyes and face.

The tears had cut their way through her makeup, leaving mascara-tinged streaks on her porcelain cheeks.

“Nicole, what are you doing here?” Beck demanded.

“Taking care of a problem I should have taken care of years ago.”

And with that, Nicole took her hand from her coat pocket and aimed a slick, silver handgun right at Faith.

Chapter Five

Hell.

That was Beck’s first thought, right after the shock registered that his sister-in-law had obviously gone off the deep end. Now he had to diffuse this situation before it turned deadly.

Beck stepped in front of Faith. He didn’t draw his weapon, though that was certainly standard procedure. Still, he couldn’t do that to Nicole.

Not yet anyway.

He lifted his hands, palms out, in a backup gesture. “Nicole, put down that gun.”

Nicole shook her head and swiped away her tears with her left hand. “I can’t. I have to make her leave.”

Beck could hear Faith’s raw breath and knew she was afraid, but that didn’t stop her from leaving the meager cover he’d provided her. She stepped out beside him.

“Get back,” he warned her. “Nicole’s not going to shoot me,” he added. But he couldn’t say the same about what she might do to Faith. He didn’t want his sister-in-law to do anything stupid, and he didn’t want bullets flying with Aubrey just in the next room.

He didn’t want Faith hurt, either.

“I’m not leaving,” Faith said, though her voice trembled slightly.

Man, it took courage to say that to an armed woman. Ill-timed courage.

“Let me handle this,” he insisted. He then fastened his attention to Nicole. “You have to put the past behind you. Faith won’t cause you any more trouble.”

Nicole’s hysteria increased. “She already has caused more trouble. Pete’s been up all night talking about her. You know how he is when he gets upset. He shuts me out, and he drinks too much.”

Beck did know. Like Nicole, Pete had a low tolerance for certain kinds of stress, and Faith’s return would have set him off.

“Put down the gun, Nicole,” Beck tried again. “And I’ll talk to Pete.”

“It won’t do any good. I have to make Faith leave before it destroys my marriage.”

“Your marriage?” Faith spat out. She obviously didn’t intend to let him handle this in his own way. “You have a gun pointed at me, and my daughter is just one room away. You’re endangering her as well as Beck, and yet your top priority is saving your marriage?”

Nicole blinked. She probably hadn’t expected this. Faith hadn’t stood up for herself ten years ago. “My marriage is in trouble because of you.”

“No,” Faith countered. “Your marriage is in trouble because of your cheating husband. Now, put down that gun, or I’ll take it away from you myself.”

Since this was quickly getting out of hand, Beck moved in front of Faith again. The new position wouldn’t last long. Faith was already trying to maneuver herself to his side, but Beck didn’t let that happen. It was a risk. He didn’t want to push Nicole into doing something even more stupid.

“Give me the gun,” he insisted. Beck didn’t bolt toward her. He kept his footsteps even and unhurried. No sudden moves.

But Beck was just about a yard away when there was movement in the hall, just outside the suite. Nicole automatically glanced over her shoulder, and that split-second distraction was all Beck needed. He lunged at Nicole, snagged her by the wrist and latched on to the gun. The momentum sent them flying, and they landed against the two men who’d just arrived.

His brother, Pete, and his father, Roy.

“What the hell’s going on here?” Pete shouted.

“I’m disarming your wife,” Beck snarled. He took control of the gun and stepped back just in case anyone else decided to try to make a move toward Faith.

Pete shot Nicole a glance. Not of disapproval, either. The corner of his mouth actually lifted as if he were pleased that Nicole was in the process of committing a felony.

“I tried to get her to leave,” Nicole volunteered.

“Well, this probably wasn’t the way to go about it,” her father-in-law interjected.

Good. Father was being reasonable about this. Beck needed another voice of support since Faith’s and his didn’t seem to be enough.

He checked Nicole’s gun and discovered that it wasn’t loaded. Beck showed Faith the empty chamber, causing her to groan again.

“I wanted to scare her into leaving,” Nicole explained. “I didn’t want to actually hurt her.”

Well, that was something at least, but it didn’t make this situation less volatile.

With emotion zinging through the air, his father and Pete stood side by side, and Pete glared at Faith. Roy only shook his head and mumbled something under his breath. The men were the same height, same weight, and with the exception of some threads of gray in Roy’s hair, they looked enough alike to be brothers. That probably had something to do with the fact that Roy had only been eighteen years old when Pete was born.

Beck glanced back at Faith. He could tell she wasn’t about to back down despite being outnumbered.

“Before this gets any worse, I want everyone to know that I’m not Beck right now. I’m Sheriff Tanner, and this is not going to get violent.”

“Then she’s leaving.” That from Pete, and it was a threat aimed at Faith. Their father caught onto Pete’s arm and stopped him from moving any closer.

“No. I’m not,” Faith threatened right back. “Maybe it is time for an air clearing. For the truth. I’d planned to do it anyway, just not this soon.”

That got everyone’s attention, and the room fell silent.

Faith pointed to Pete. “I didn’t sleep with you ten years ago. Or any other time.”

There it was. The finale to the conversation that Faith and he were having shortly before Nicole arrived.

Beck pushed aside his own surprise and checked out the responses of the others. Nicole went still, the muscles in her arms going slack. The reactions of his father and brother, however, went in different directions. Pete’s face flushed with anger, and it seemed as if Father had been expecting her to say just that. He didn’t look surprised at all.

“You were drunk,” Faith reminded Pete. “All the years I’ve told myself that maybe you actually didn’t lie about what happened, that you simply couldn’t remember what you’d done, but now I’m not so sure.”

“I didn’t lie.” Pete’s voice was low and tight. Dangerous.

Faith walked closer. “Well, it wasn’t me in that motel room with you. It was my sister, Sherry.”

“Sherry,” Beck mumbled. Since Sherry had been the town’s wild child, he didn’t have any trouble believing that, but apparently two members of his family did: Pete and Nicole. His father was still just standing there as if all of this was old news.

And maybe it was to him.

Had his father known the truth this whole time?

Nicole shook her head. “If that’s true, why didn’t you say so sooner? No one put a gag on you when you were outside the motel.”

All attention turned back to Faith.

She pulled in a long breath. “I didn’t say anything because Sherry’s boyfriend, Nolan, would have killed her if he’d found out she cheated on him with your husband or with any other man, for that matter.”

That made sense, and it also made Beck wonder why he hadn’t thought of it sooner. But he knew why—he’d believed his brother.

“So why were you even there that night?” Nicole questioned Faith again. Judging from her expression, she wasn’t buying any of Faith’s account.

Faith took another breath. “When you came to the motel and started pounding on the door, Sherry called me. She was terrified word would get out that she’d been with Pete. I came over, hid on the side of the building and waited for you to leave. Then I took Sherry out of there. I was trying to get your husband out, too, when you and Beck showed up and accused me of seducing Pete.”

“That’s not the way I remember things,” Pete insisted.

“Then your memory is wrong,” Faith insisted right back.

Pete rammed his finger against his chest. “Why would I lie about which Matthews sister I’d slept with when I was drunk?”

“Only you can answer that, Pete.” Faith volleyed glares at each one of them. “I want you all out of here. Now. If not, I intend to call the Texas Rangers and have you arrested.”

He understood Faith’s desire to be rid of his kin, but that riled Beck. Of course, he was already riled about this entire situation, so that was only frosting on the cake. “I don’t need the Rangers to handle this,” he assured Faith. “Do you want to file charges against Nicole?”

That earned him a fierce look from Pete, a raised eyebrow from his father and a surprised gasp from Nicole. Why, Beck didn’t know. Nicole couldn’t have possibly thought brandishing a gun, even an unloaded one, wouldn’t warrant at least a consideration of arrest.

“I won’t file charges at the moment,” Faith said, pointing at Nicole. “But let’s get something straight. I won’t have you anywhere near my daughter or me with a weapon again. Understand?”

“But you ruined my life. You. It wasn’t Sherry in that motel room. If it’d been your sister, my husband would have said so.”

“Get them out of here,” Faith mumbled, and she turned and walked into the adjoining room.

She didn’t slam the door. She closed it gently. But Beck figured if she’d been wrongly accused and run out of town, that had to be eating away at her. Now add this latest incident with Nicole, and, oh, yeah, Faith was no doubt stewing.

“Go home, Nicole,” Pete told his wife.

When Nicole didn’t move, Roy caught onto his daughter-in-law’s arm and led her toward the door. “I’m sorry about this, Beck. We’ll talk later.”

Beck nodded his thanks to his father and turned back to unfinished business. “Did you sleep with Faith or not?”

Pete glanced away. “What does it matter?”

Beck cursed under his breath. “That’s not an answer to my question.”

“Because it’s not a question you should be asking. I’m your brother, for heaven’s sake.”

“Being my brother doesn’t mean I’ll gloss over your indiscretions. Especially if that indiscretion has put the blame on the wrong woman for all these years.”

Pete looked him straight in the eye. “I was with Faith that night, not Sherry.”

For the first time, Beck was seriously doubting that his brother had told the truth. But if he was lying, why? What could be worse than letting everyone, especially Nicole, believe he’d had sex with Faith? Unless fear of Nolan did play some part of this. The problem was his brother wasn’t usually the sort to fear anyone.

“So what happens now?” Pete asked. “Faith just stays in town like nothing ever happened?”

Beck didn’t want to mention that Faith, Aubrey and the nanny would soon be going to his house. And that they were in his protective custody. Besides, he didn’t want anyone to know that his place was now essentially a safe house for the three. He wanted to get Faith, Aubrey and Marita in there without anyone else noticing. Or knowing about it. That would mean hiding them in the backseat of his car, parking in his garage and getting them inside only after the garage door was closed.

Of course, there was the other part to the plan. The part he could tell Pete since he needed the gossip mill working for the bait plan to succeed.

“Faith plans to stay at her mother’s old house,” Beck informed him, and he watched carefully for his brother’s reaction. There wasn’t much of one, just a slight shift in his posture. “I tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted on staying there.”

“Then she’s an idiot,” Pete declared. “Her brother’s a killer, and he’s out on the loose. Anything could happen to her at that house.”

And it wasn’t a surprise that Pete didn’t seem torn up about that. He probably wanted Darin to go after Faith.

Beck nodded and tried to appear detached from the situation. He realized, much to his disgust, that he wasn’t detached. He didn’t like this plan, and he didn’t like that he’d just used his brother to set it into motion.

“You need to leave,” Beck said, unable and unwilling to keep the anger from his voice. “See to your wife and make sure she doesn’t come anywhere near Faith again.”

Beck practically shoved his brother out the door, and he locked it. He made a mental note to keep it locked in case Nicole or Pete returned for round two. He needed to do some damage control from round one first.

Because once Faith gave it some thought, she just might file those charges against Nicole.

And if so, he’d have to arrest his own sister-in-law. Beck didn’t want to speculate what kind of powder keg that would create between Pete, Nicole and Faith.

The phone on the desk rang. Figuring that Faith was still too shaken to answer it, Beck snatched it up. “Sheriff Tanner,” he answered.

He was greeted with several seconds of silence, and for a moment Beck thought this might be another threat, similar to the rocks.

“Ross Harland,” the caller finally said. “I’m returning Faith’s call.”

Beck glanced at the closed bedroom door. “She’s, er, indisposed at the moment.”