Snowed In. Cassie Miles

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      Chapter Five

      With a yank of the steering wheel, Blake pulled Farley’s van off to the side of the road and parked. He took the cell phone from Sarah and hit Redial. The kidnapper’s phone rang unanswered, a tinny echo in the night.

      “What went wrong?” Sarah asked.

      “He must have gotten wind of what really happened to Farley and his men.” Not a big surprise. The men hadn’t been operating under a cloak of secrecy. Someone might have contacted the kidnapper from the hospital. The kidnapper might be working with another person. Blake had known that arresting the kidnapper was a long shot. His hope had been that if they quickly executed their plan, they’d catch the guy off guard.

      “He knew your name.”

      He shrugged. “It wouldn’t be hard for him to identify me. He knows what’s going on with the general, and I’m Jeremy’s best man. Plus, I have reservations at your B and B.”

      “Oh, my God. That’s terrible.” She sounded truly alarmed. “If he got your name from my records, it means somebody who works for me was in contact with him.”

      “Not necessarily.”

      Her dark eyes flicked from side to side as she searched his face for an answer. “Give me another explanation.”

      “Are your records computerized?”

      “Of course.”

      “He could have hacked the system.”

      “Even worse.” She threw her hands in the air. “I keep everything on the computer. He could know every detail about the wedding. The timing, the suppliers, the arrival times for the guests...”

      “There’s another possibility.” He needed to divert her attention before she worked herself into a wild frenzy. “He could have monitored our cell phone calls. Kovak could have said my name.”

      She dismissed that theory with a shake of her head. Though tied down by the black bra wrapped around her forehead, her hair bounced. “Damn it, Blake. You should have told me about the danger. I wouldn’t have put all that info on the computer, where some psycho could hack into it. What did he mean when he said that creepy stuff about killing her slowly?”

      “Trying to shock us.”

      “It worked.”

      Her nose wrinkled as though she smelled rotten eggs, and he was momentarily distracted by her expression. Even at two in the morning, after all they’d been through, she was bursting with energy. He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be all right. But he wasn’t going to lie. They had plenty to worry about.

      Deliberately looking away from her, he said, “I need to talk to Kovak.”

      He made the connection on his hands-free phone. After quickly filling the deputy in on what had happened, Blake launched a new plan for investigating. To Kovak, he said, “Since we’re close to the Laughing Dog, we might as well start there. Meet us in the parking lot outside the saloon.”

      His hand rested on the gear shift knob. Sarah reached toward him. “Wait,” she said. “There’s something I need from you.”

      “I’m listening.”

      “From now on, I want to know everything. You’ve got to keep me in the loop. Will you do that?”

      He wasn’t accustomed to sharing intelligence with civilians, but he understood where she was coming from. The B and B was her responsibility, and she needed to take care of the place and the people who stayed there. “You have my word.”

      “Good.” She gave a tight nod. “Keep going on this road. We’re close to the Laughing Dog. I don’t know what you hope to find there. It’s been closed for hours, and it’s Tuesday night so there wasn’t live entertainment.”

      “Entertainment, huh?” He slipped the van into gear. “Is the Laughing Dog the place where you thought I should hire a stripper?”

      “Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m talking about live music—country western bands or folk singers.” She reached across the console to give him a shove. “Still, I guess it’s a good sign that you’re still thinking of strippers.”

      “How so?”

      “If СКАЧАТЬ