Deadly Fall. Elle James

      “So tell me what happened.” Gabe pulled a notepad and pen out of his front pocket.

      While the doctor and Emma cleaned and stitched the wound, Andrew recounted what had happened.

      “And you didn’t see a face?” Deputy McGregor asked.

      Andrew shook his head. “It happened so fast. I stepped around the tree, and the next thing I knew, I was clinging to a tree root, thankful for that tree and the root, or I wouldn’t be here to tell you the story.”

      The deputy’s brows drew together. “I’m sorry it happened to you. I’ll follow you home and have a look around the area. Maybe there will be some footprints.”

      “It’s not safe in the fog. Besides, the cliff edge is primarily rock and moss. That tree on the edge is the only one there. How it found enough soil to grow as big as it is still astounds me.”

      “Any idea who might want to hurt you?” McGregor asked.

      “No. And it’s got me concerned. I found a loose board on the outside step yesterday. At first I didn’t think anything of it. I just got out a hammer and fixed it. But when I did, I noticed the board wasn’t old or weatherworn. It looked like someone loosened it. I brushed it off as an overactive imagination. But after being shoved off a cliff, I’m rethinking it.”

      “I knew your grandfather.” Emma used a wad of sterile gauze to sop up the excess blood from around the wound as the doctor sewed another stitch. “Though the ME ruled his death as accidental, I thought it pretty strange the old man who’d walked two or three miles a day, and had a healthy heart the last time I could get him in for a checkup, should fall over dead on one of his walks. The ME said his heart was fine. He’d died from the fall. Hit his head on a rock.”

      Andrew leaned forward. “Are you saying someone murdered him?”

      Emma raised both of her hands, wad of bloody cotton and all. “I’m not saying anything. Just the facts.”

      “Look, all I know is I came to Cape Churn because I thought it would be a safer, quieter place to raise Leigha. I didn’t want her to grow up in the concrete jungle where I grew up. She deserves a place where she can run and play.” Not a park with a nanny and polluted air.

      Andrew knew he was far from the father Leigha deserved, but he wanted her to have a normal childhood, where she could play outdoors, have a pet and be happy.

      “Cape Churn can be all of that,” Emma said. “I’ve lived here all my life and love all the cape has to offer. The community is supportive and the summer activities are what most kids dream of. I’d love to teach Leigha how to scuba dive, when she’s a little older.”

      Andrew’s heart warmed at the offer. “I want all of that for her, too.”

      “I feel a ‘but’ coming,” Deputy McGregor said.

      “But, after what happened today, I’m rethinking my decision to bring her here. After I nearly fell to my death, Leigha told me she and the dog were playing with her friend. A man. When I asked her about him, she said he’s been visiting her every day.”

      Emma, the deputy and the doctor all frowned.

      “Have you had a talk with Leigha about stranger danger?” the doctor asked.

      “I have.” Andrew snorted. “She said he’s not a stranger. He’s her friend.”

      The doctor completed the last stitch and held the strand out straight.

      Emma used a pair of scissors to snip it close to the knot.

      The doctor set his tools on the tray. “I’ll leave you in Emma’s capable hands. I have other patients I need to attend.” He peeled off his gloves and gave Andrew a stern glance. “Try not to fall off any more cliffs.”

      After the doctor left, Emma cleaned the area around the wound. “Have you considered hiring protection?”

      Andrew frowned. “I’ve never hired a bodyguard. Where would I start?”

      Emma shrugged. “I don’t know.”

      “What about the people Creed, Nicole and Nova work with?” Deputy McGregor asked. “Could they help?”

      “Normally they work bigger issues,” Emma said. “You know, save-the-world kind of problems.” She glanced across Andrew’s head at the deputy. “But maybe they have someone who could help while Mr. Stratford goes through the interviewing and hiring process.” She turned her attention back to Andrew. “Do you want me to ask?”

      “Do you trust them?” Andrew asked.

      Emma nodded. “With my life.”

      “How about with the life of your child?” He captured Emma’s gaze and held it.

      She nodded. “Absolutely.”

      “Then yes. If I could get someone on a temporary basis that is trustworthy, it will give me time to look for a full-time bodyguard.”

      Deputy McGregor closed his notepad and slid it into his pocket. “Tell you what... We’re having dinner at McGregor Manor tomorrow night. Why don’t you and Leigha come? You can discuss it with some of the members of the SOS team then.”

      Andrew frowned. “SOS?”

      “Stealth Operations Specialists,” Emma clarified. “They’re like the FBI and CIA, only better. Somehow they’ve opened a branch here in Cape Churn. You should come. You can meet all of them, and maybe by tomorrow night they’ll have an answer for you. Or they might have a suggestion of who to hire for the job of bodyguard to you and Leigha.” Emma wrapped a bandage around his hand. “Keep that out of water for a couple of days. In a week you can come in and I’ll remove the stitches. Otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

      Emma gave him the routine discharge instructions and a prescription for antibiotics and sent him out to the lobby, where Leigha and Mrs. Purdy waited.

      Leigha ran to him and hugged him around the legs. “I was so scared.”

      “I’m fine.” He patted the child’s head and lifted her up on his uninjured arm. “Since we’re in town, why don’t we get some ice cream at the Seaside Café?”

      Leigha clapped her hands together. “Yes, please.”

      The smile on Leigha’s face made warmth spread across Andrew’s chest. He never ceased to be amazed at how much one little human being could make him feel more important than an entire office building of employees.

      He vowed to keep this little girl safe, no matter the cost. If it meant hiring a bodyguard, he’d do it. But it had to be someone special. Someone he could trust completely. There weren’t many people he knew who fit that bill. How was he going to trust a stranger to fill that role?

       Chapter 2

      Dixie Reeves pulled into the parking lot of McGregor Manor. The lovely old home perched on the edge of a cliff outside the small community of Cape Churn, Oregon. In just under twenty-four hours she’d gone from being unemployed to having a job, to getting her first assignment.

      What she was supposed to do as a bodyguard to a rich man was beyond her. As a squad leader in the Army, she’d been responsible for her soldiers, the first all-female squad of Airborne Rangers.

      She’d done her best as a leader among her peers until one of their special operations had gone bad. They’d been caught in the middle of a firefight. Dix, manning a .60-caliber submachine gun, had remained behind, laying down cover fire for her squad, allowing them to escape. When she’d run out of bullets, she hadn’t had time to put her handgun to her head before she was captured.

      Dix shook off the memory of the week she’d spent in hell in an enemy camp where she’d been humiliated, tortured