Risk Everything. Janie Crouch

might have made a perfect opportunity for Jared to snatch Marilyn and the kids. Probably wouldn’t have taken into account how much the people of Risk Peak would be surrounding them.”

      “Definitely true,” Tanner said. “Although the fire may have nothing to do with Ellis.”

      “I’m not willing to take that chance,” Noah said quietly. “Or take the chance that he’s just going to leave Marilyn alone. She’s been through enough.”

      They both felt that way. It was the very reason he’d had Ronnie call his brother to begin with. “I’ll meet you at the old New Journeys building.”

      Even though there hadn’t been much damage to the living quarters of the new building by the fire, they’d still moved everyone back into the old building while the initial cleaning was going on. Tanner wasn’t thrilled about the change. It definitely didn’t have the security upgrades the new building had.

      When he arrived at New Journeys’ current home, he immediately asked to talk to Marilyn. He hated to see the shadows cross the quiet woman’s face when she saw him. She knew this was going to be bad news.

      Bree was there and gave him a tight smile. “I’ll just hang out in the office so you two can talk. Give you guys some privacy.”

      Tanner nodded, but Marilyn shook her head, holding her hand out to Bree. “No, stay. This is going to affect all of us. The kids are doing schoolwork, so this is a good time. Let’s go into the kitchen.”

      Bree reached over and grabbed Tanner’s hand as Marilyn put on a pot of coffee with jerky movements.

      “Do you want to bring Cassandra in too?” Tanner asked.

      Bree shook her head. “She’s not here. She’s having a throwdown with the insurance company, trying to get us back in the other building by next week. But evidently she’s having some difficulties because of what’s in the fire report.”

      Tanner nodded. “The fire inspector thinks the blaze was deliberate.” He turned back to Marilyn, who was trying to pour the coffee she’d made with shaky hands. Damn it, he didn’t want to have this conversation. He tried to start but couldn’t force the words out.

      “Just tell me,” Marilyn said softly, when she handed him his mug. “It’s Jared, right? He made bail?”

      Bree muttered a curse that would’ve made Cassandra proud.

      Tanner nodded.

      “Yes. Three days ago.”

      Nope, this new string of curses from Bree would’ve made Cassandra proud.

      Marilyn blanched. “Three days ago? I thought they were going to tell me immediately if he made bail.”

      It was so hard to watch Marilyn’s sense of safety and security be torn away with his words. The skin across her cheekbones was drawn and pale. Her shoulders hunched in as if to protect herself from a blow.

      “I know. They should have told you right away. It was some sort of communication breakdown, but it was wrong and I’m very sorry.”

      Marilyn was clutching her coffee like a drowning victim would a lifeline.

      “But there is a little bit of good news,” Tanner continued. “Jared is on an ankle tracker. I’ve got the Denver County bonding office sending me the log for everywhere Jared has been since the moment he got out. I’ve also got one of my men looking into seeing if we can get direct access to the live data, so we know where he is at all times.”

      “I thought you said Jared wouldn’t get out on bail given what he did,” Bree said softly.

      He grimaced. “Yeah, I’ll be honest, I was shocked to hear it. Evidently he got himself one of the most expensive and well-connected lawyers in the state.”

      “Jared has a lot of powerful friends. His fraternity brothers,” Marilyn whispered.

      “Is Oscar Stobbart one of those?” Tanner asked.

      If possible, Marilyn’s face got even whiter. “Yes.”

      There was a wealth of agony in that single word. Tanner didn’t press, but he could imagine that there was probably a lot more to Marilyn’s abuse than she had let anyone know about.

      A soft tap at the kitchen door had them all turning in that direction. It was Noah.

      “I asked Noah to come by just for added security until we have a true grip on what’s going on. Is that okay?” Tanner said. The last thing either he or Noah wanted was to make Marilyn more uncomfortable.

      Marilyn was staring at Noah through the glass panes of the kitchen door. She nodded. “No, I’ll feel better if he’s here.”

      Noah never took his eyes from Marilyn as he walked in the door. He didn’t move near her, but his focus and awareness of her were almost tangible.

      “You can do this,” he said softly.

      Marilyn didn’t look like she believed him, but she just shrugged and said, “Doesn’t look like I have any choice.” She rubbed a hand across her eyes. “I should probably leave. Take the kids and get farther away.”

      “No,” Noah said. “He’s not going to get to you.”

      His brother’s volume might be soft and his tone even, but there was no way to mistake the certainty behind the words. For the first time since Tanner arrived, Marilyn relaxed just the slightest bit. She probably didn’t even know about Noah’s background in Special Forces. But when Noah gave his word that he was going to protect her, he had the skills to back up that promise.

      Noah Dempsey may be a rancher by trade, but that didn’t change the fact that he was also a warrior in every possible way.

      “If Jared got out on bail three days ago, could he have been the one who set the fire?” Marilyn asked.

      Tanner glanced over at Noah, then at Marilyn. “We don’t know for sure, but if Jared was involved, it would answer a lot of questions.”

      “Like what?” Bree asked.

      Noah leaned back against the counter. The women didn’t recognize the stance for what it was, but Tanner did. Noah was placing himself between Marilyn and any danger that might come through that door.

      Tanner took a sip of his coffee. “It looks like the fire was set deliberately, but whoever did it wasn’t trying to burn the building down completely or even hurt anyone.”

      “It was set to shake things up,” Noah said. “Get everyone out of their routine.”

      “They certainly managed that,” Bree muttered.

      “He could’ve been out there,” Marilyn whispered. “Waiting to get me or the kids alone. That’s exactly something Jared would do.”

      “And none of us suspected there was any danger.” Bree shook her head. “I almost left the kids with a paramedic. He wouldn’t have known to look out for Jared.”

      Tanner rubbed the back of his neck. “We can’t automatically assume it was Jared. He’s got that ankle monitor, and it sends a notification if he goes out of his set range. My colleague in Denver assures me it isn’t hackable.”

      Bree actually laughed out loud, rolling her eyes. “Okay. We’ll just let them go on believing that. Everything is hackable.”

      He reached over and grabbed his little computer genius’s hand. “Everything is hackable by you. The chances that Jared has someone with your skill in his personal list of friends—no matter how many fraternity brothers he has—is slim.”

      Bree nodded. “Agreed. All I’m saying is that a false sense of security that something can’t be hacked might lead to laziness on law enforcement’s part.”

      Tanner couldn’t disagree with that. Not when the department already didn’t have a stellar