Protecting Her Daughter. Lynette Eason

the necklace in the dirt bothered him. It hadn’t been there long. There was no rust or embedded dirt. And the blood was still fresh.

      If it had been just one thing, he might not have been overly concerned, but the open barn door, the necklace, the trail of blood that had only just begun to dry, her car parked in the covered area but no sign of Zoe or Sophia...the boot print.

      She was here. Somewhere. The blood suggested close by and in trouble. He moved up onto the wraparound porch and saw more drops of red at the base of the door. He tried to see in the window, but the gauzy curtain blocked his view. Aaron walked around the perimeter of the house and saw nothing else amiss.

      He knocked on the door. A scuffling sound came from inside but no one answered. He knocked again. “Zoe? You in there? You okay?”

      * * *

      Zoe stared up at the man who pointed the weapon at the end of her nose. Her head throbbed, but at least the blood had begun to dry. Fear pounded through her and she couldn’t stop shaking. Sophia clung to her and buried her face in Zoe’s neck. “Get rid of him,” her captor growled. “Now. Or I’ll have to shoot him.”

      “We don’t need any more trouble, Pete,” the other one muttered from his position by the window. He held the gun loosely in his left hand. Comfortably. As though he used it on a regular basis.

      “Like I don’t know that,” Pete said. The angry scowl twisted his face into something from a horror movie. Zoe wanted to close her eyes and shut them all out, but she couldn’t. She kept her arms around Sophia’s slight frame. Her daughter was so little, so vulnerable.

      “Now, I said.” He jabbed the gun at her, and Zoe flinched. She glanced at the door and back at the man who’d intervened and saved her only to hold her and Sophia captive. She rose on shaky legs, stumbled then caught herself. Sophia rose with her, refusing to let go. Zoe’s head swam and bile climbed into her throat. She breathed deep and the dizziness settled.

      The man called Pete grabbed Sophia by the arm and jerked her away from Zoe. Sophia cried out. Pete slapped a hand across her mouth. “Make another sound and I’ll shoot your mother, you understand?”

      Zoe stood frozen, wanting to smash the man’s face in, but knew one wrong move could cause him to hurt her daughter. “It’s okay, honey, just sit still for a minute, all right?” she said.

      Sophia’s gaze clung to hers, but she gave a small nod. Pete relaxed his grip a fraction, and Sophia didn’t move even as silent tears tracked a path down her ashen cheeks.

      “Hey, Zoe? You okay? It’s Aaron Starke. I came to check on Lily and wanted to say hi.” The pounding on the front door resumed, and she walked over to it.

      The man near the window lifted his weapon, an unneeded reminder that he was watching. Zoe closed her eyes and drew in a desperately needed calming breath, praying for strength—and some way to convey the fact that she needed help without putting the person at the door in harm’s way.

      With one last glance at Sophia, she pulled on every ounce of inner strength, ignored the throbbing in her head and opened the door. Aaron stood on the front porch. His large frame filled the doorway, blocking the icy wind and the sunlight. He had to be half a foot taller than her own five foot eight. She forced a trembling smile to her lips. “Hi.”

      He offered a frown in response. “I came by to check on that pregnant heifer and saw some blood on the ground and a necklace. This yours?” He held it out to her as his gaze landed on her right temple.

      “Um. Yes. Thanks.” She took it and stuffed it in her front pocket.

      He leaned in to take a closer look. “What happened? That looks like a pretty bad gash.”

      She raised a shaky hand to lightly touch the wound. “Oh, that.” A laugh slipped out, but it sounded nervous to her ears. Scared. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and her eyes darted away from his only to return a fraction of a second later. “I was...ah...clumsy, tripped over the water hose in the barn and hit the side of the stall. I was just getting ready to clean the wound when you knocked.”

      “Why don’t I give you a hand? I’m pretty good at that kind of thing. Granted, most of my patients are of the four-legged variety, but the concept is the same.” He moved as though to enter and panic filled her.

      She shifted and blocked his entrance. “Really, I’m fine. I can do it.”

      He paused, his eyes probing the area behind her. She knew he couldn’t see anything but the stairs that led up to the second floor. “Well. Okay. If you’re sure.” He backed up, his boots clunking on the wooden porch.

      No! she wanted to scream. She widened her eyes and cut them to the side window. Don’t leave!

      But he simply tapped his hat in a gentlemanly gesture and turned to go. Then spun back. Her breath caught. Had he figured out she needed help? Did he know someone stood behind her with a gun? “Oh, by the way,” he said, “I was in the pharmacy a little bit ago getting a prescription for my mother and Mrs. Lucille gave me Sophia’s medication. I left it on the desk in the office in the barn.”

      “Oh, th-thank you. We were getting low.”

      “I’ll just go get it for you.”

      “No, no, that’s okay, I can get it. I’m going to have to go out there and...ah...fill the water buckets anyway.”

      He tilted his head and gave a slow nod. “All right then. Holler if you need anything.”

      She nodded but couldn’t force any more words out of her tight, tear-filled throat. This time when he turned around, he didn’t look back. She shut the door with a soft snick and turned to find the two men staring at her.

      Pete let go of Sophia and she rushed at Zoe, wrapping her arms around her waist and holding tight. Zoe met Pete’s gaze since he seemed to be the one in charge. “Now what?” she whispered. “What do you want?”

      His eyes dropped to Sophia. “Her.”

TWO

      That niggling feeling wouldn’t leave him alone. Aaron sat in his truck outside the house, but didn’t crank it. Instead he dialed Lance Goode’s personal cell number. Lance was a deputy with the Wrangler’s Corner sheriff’s department and a good friend of the Starke family. Aaron’s brother, Clay, the sheriff, was out of town until later that evening so the safety of Wrangler’s Corner fell on Lance’s shoulders. The deputy answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

      “How far are you from the Updike farm?”

      “Not too far. Why?”

      “Something weird’s going on here.”

      “Aren’t the Updikes out of town?”

      “Yeah.” The curtain on the window by the door fluttered. He cranked his truck and debated whether or not to drive off. “But Zoe Collier and her daughter, Sophia, are staying here while the Updikes are on their cruise. I just knocked on the door and she answered, but she had a gash on her head that she said she got from falling against the side of the barn.”

      “You have reason to doubt her?”

      “No, not really, but she just looked...scared. And she said something about having to go out there and fill up the water buckets. I was just in the barn, Lance. The buckets are full of fresh water and the hose is neatly wrapped and hanging on the reel.”

      Lance made a noise low in his throat. “That does sound kind of odd. If she hit her head, she might have a concussion or something. Be a little confused.”

      “Maybe. She didn’t seem confused, just scared.”

      “All right. I’m on my way. It’s probably nothing but I’ll come check it out.”

      “Thanks. I guess I’ll head on back