Wrong Number (23 page)

The chilly mountain air hung between them, and for a moment everything was quiet. Then Wyatt cleared his throat.

“And what if I won’t take no for an answer? What if I’m willing to risk my life just to know you?”

It was the last thing Aubree had expected to hear. She stumbled backwards and slumped into the cushions surrounding the dinette table. Wyatt stopped the door before it swung shut and stepped into the trailer.

He sat across from her at the table and spoke in a low voice. “For the past two days, I’ve been thinking, trying to figure you out, and hoping
for a chance to talk to you.” He leaned forward and clasped his hands behind his neck. “I decided it didn’t matter what happened to you or what you did or didn’t do—I want to know you. Please tell me anything, everything—whatever you can.”

She stared at him for a few seconds and then glanced back at the sleeping lump Scarlett made on the bed. “I was going to leave today, but the trailer has a flat tire.”

Wyatt grinned. “Whoever said flat tires were a bad thing?” Then his face grew serious. “Please don’t leave. At least give me a chance to help you.”

She took a deep breath, pausing before she told Wyatt the craziest story anyone could think up—except that it was true. It was the first time she’d unloaded every detail, even those she’d kept from her mother. Wyatt sat still and listened.

After nearly an hour of talking, Aubree stopped and got up for a glass of water. She offered one to Wyatt and then sat again. “So I’ve stayed away from everyone and tried to play the role set up for me, but I can’t get away from the memories.

“Whenever I get feeling down, I start thinking about Devin again. Even though part of me still feels betrayed and angry with him, I wish I could be with him—that maybe if we spent time together I’d feel better somehow.” Aubree turned and looked out the window.

Wyatt kept quiet, staring at her and listening intently. She spread her hands out on the chipped Formica tabletop. “But I can’t. I can’t be with him anymore. Even though I’d love to feel his arms around me, to lay my head against his shoulder, and to just breathe there and feel safe, I’m not safe. Nothing is safe anymore.”

Wyatt winced and blew out his breath. “I didn’t know. I don’t know what to say. I feel like a fool.”

“No, please don’t feel that way. The past few weeks have been great. I can almost forget sometimes that I’m hiding—running for my life out here. But I can’t live like this forever. I’ve got to figure something out.”

“Let me help you.” Wyatt reached for her hand.

Aubree hesitated and then clasped his strong, warm hand. The fire glowed red and cast a dim light on the interior of the trailer. She looked at Wyatt and at their hands clasped together. His eyes were focused on hers. The trees outside scraped against the side of the trailer as a gust of
wind blew through the campground. The rushing of the creek was like a soft padding against the night noises, and Aubree wished the soothing noise could fill her mind and overpower the millions of disjointed thoughts running through her head.

Wyatt pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it. The kiss left a shimmery spot of wetness against her fingers, and Aubree breathed deeply. She could smell the campfire and Wyatt’s scent of clean aftershave mixed with pine, willows, and freshly chopped wood. He smelled good, like all the places he’d been that day, and as Aubree stared at him, she wanted to believe that he was good—that he was someone she could trust—and so she continued, “What hurts the most and keeps me up at night—what tears my heart right out—is to think that if something happened to me, if I died, then this sweet baby wouldn’t even remember me.” She pointed at Scarlett.

“She’s my whole life, and I’ve given everything for her, but she wouldn’t even remember me if I was gone.” Aubree squeezed her eyes shut. “I’ve got to be here for her. This world is so scary. She needs me, but I don’t know what will happen.”

Wyatt put his other hand on top of hers. “I’m so sorry you’ve had to carry this by yourself. But you’ve done a good job. Scarlett is a happy, beautiful baby.”

Aubree glanced at Scarlett and whispered. “I look at her chubby cheeks and blue eyes, and it makes me want to cry because I think of how she smiles at me and how she laughs when I kiss her.” Her voice grew husky with more tears, but she continued talking anyway. “I think of how Scarlett loves me so much and how I love her more than I thought I could love anything, but how long would it take her to forget me?”

“Nothing’s going to happen to you, Aubree. You’ll be there for her when she goes to kindergarten and when she graduates from high school. You’ll be there.”

Aubree stood up. “But you don’t know that!” Her voice was a strangled cry. “Maybe I’ll outrun them until she goes to kindergarten and then something will happen to me. How much do you remember from when you were five years old?” She wiped her eyes and clenched her teeth. “I don’t want her to forget how much I love her. And the only way she’s going to remember is if I’m here every day of her life to tell her, to take care of her, and to show her.”

Wyatt slid from behind the table to stand next to her. “You’re gonna make it,” he whispered softly. “We’ll outsmart these guys. We’ll find out who they are and what they’re up to.” He pulled her into a fierce hug. “It’s gonna be okay.”

This time, Aubree let him hold her. She let her tears fall onto his shirt and breathed in the woodsy scent of this park ranger who had found her and broken down all of her defenses.

He held her close and kissed the top of her head. “You need someone you can trust, and I’m right here for you.”

Scarlett stirred and Aubree went to tuck the blankets around her. Wyatt watched and whispered, “Can we go outside and talk? I have about a million questions for you.”

Aubree smiled through her tears, and when he reached for her hand, she took it and let him lead her outside. Later that evening, after Wyatt had wished her good night, Aubree sat beside the dying embers of the fire. The stars twinkled through the canopy of pine trees overhead, and Aubree inhaled deeply, trying to clear her mind.

She pushed back the fear that she had made a mistake in confiding in Wyatt. She had to trust him. She’d just unloaded her soul to him, and he was willing to help her. Thinking of Devin, she shook her head. Was it a betrayal to him that she had feelings for Wyatt? Could she let someone else into her heart? Aubree ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. She didn’t want to think about a relationship right now. She needed to figure out how she and Scarlett could stay alive.

After talking with Wyatt, she felt even more strongly than before that there was a way for her to get out of this mess. Evidently, the people who had killed Devin believed there was a lot to the conversation she’d heard on the cell phone. And now, almost a year later, they were still after her because she had something tucked away in the recesses of her mind that could stop them—hurt them even. Her skin tingled, and her breath hung in mists around her. She looked up again at the midnight sky and whispered, “Help me find a way. Help me to know how I can keep Scarlett safe.”

T
WENTY-ONE

T
HE NEXT MORNING
, A
UBREE
woke feeling different. She cuddled next to Scarlett and thought about the light feeling in her heart. Even though she knew someone was still out there somewhere, hunting her down, she felt safer because Wyatt knew her story. And he said he would help her. Maybe together they could find a way to end the chase.

After a quick breakfast of cereal with powdered milk, Aubree pulled out a notebook and started jotting things down. She made a plan to find the nearest Internet access and do a bit of research. She had always relied on Jason to ask all the questions about her case and trusted the FBI to research and find the answers, but now she was on her own.

She re-read all of the notes she’d taken and analyzed a few of the sentences. Several versions of the conversation were scrawled throughout a tattered notebook. Her mind buzzed with new energy. Unloading everything to Wyatt had awakened some of the details of her case, and it was as if she were looking at things for the first time. She read through her makeshift transcripts.

“
Tidmore did the job, and the body is hidden in the manhole on 32nd Street like we talked about.
” Her memory wasn’t clear on the next part of the conversation. She knew he had said something about when they found the body, they’d be in the green. And then she was certain he’d said, “
The intruder will clear the way.
”—and then the words that uncovered the identity of his victim:
“Hey, don’t I at least get a congrats? What’s up with you? I even kept his uniform for you.”

Massaging her forehead, Aubree hoped something in the words might spark a fragment of memory in her brain or somehow connect the information the murderer thought she had. Apparently, she’d heard enough in that phone call for someone to want her dead. Why couldn’t she piece together what it was? Was it just the voice or something more?

Scarlett screeched at her and waved her hands, and Aubree noticed it was already past eleven o’clock. “Oops, I guess we’re late for our walk this morning, aren’t we?” She smiled at Scarlett and stretched. The baby reached her arms up too. They had both slept late, and Aubree wondered if they would miss Wyatt this morning because they were off their usual schedule. Then she laughed at herself. They were staying in a remote camping area in Idaho, hiding out, and she still had a schedule.

Aubree pushed the stroller about halfway around the campground before she heard the familiar
clomp, clomp
of Wyatt’s boots behind her. She turned around and shaded her eyes with her hand. “Long time, no see.”

He chuckled. “I was wondering if I had missed your morning stroll. I’m sorry I’ve missed it the past couple days.” He bent over and ruffled the curls on Scarlett’s head. “Someone kept me up way past my bedtime last night.” He grinned and raised his eyebrows at Aubree. “So I decided we would all probably need a pick-me-up for lunch, so I picked up lunch.” He smiled at his play on words and lifted a brown paper sack with grease spots. Aubree caught the unmistakable whiff of French fries, and her mouth watered.

“Hometown Drive-In makes the best burgers and fries around here—oh shucks. I forgot that I have a fresh raspberry shake in the cooler in my truck.” He tilted his head towards the parking area where he left his pickup.

“Well, I definitely wouldn’t mind going to help you get it.”

“Good. Let’s keep walking then, shall we, Miss Scarlett?”

Aubree watched him interacting with her baby and felt her heart tugging with those familiar strings of regret for Devin, but she shook her head and ordered herself to look to the future. She reached for Wyatt’s hand, and his smile widened until the skin around his eyes crinkled. Then he interlaced his fingers with hers.

“Wyatt, don’t park rangers usually stay busier than you?”

His cheeks flushed, and he grinned. “Well, actually, I’ve been putting in some odd hours lately so I have more time during the day.”

“What kind of odd hours?”

“Starting my rounds at 4 a.m.” He stretched his arms above his head. “So I’m usually finished with most of my duties before lunchtime, and then I can always go back out later too.”

“But why?”

“So I could spend more time with you and Scarlett.”

Now it was Aubree’s turn to blush. Wyatt was always open and honest. She felt like he didn’t keep any secrets from her. Secrets—of course that topic brought a twinge of pain to her heart.

“Are you okay? Maybe I shouldn’t have told you.” He looked worried.

“No, that’s just it. I’m so glad you did tell me, and it means a lot that you would do that for us—that you would worry so much about us.”

“I worry about you, but that’s not the only reason I’ve rearranged my schedule. I need to see you every day. The day’s not right if I don’t see you and Scarlett.”

He stopped walking and pulled her in close to him. Her awareness of his closeness made her neck flush with heat, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

“I want to keep seeing you and Scarlett. I really care about you both. These past few weeks have been—” he swallowed and held her tighter. “They’ve been what I’ve looked for my whole life.”

Aubree looked up at him and smiled. He grinned back and leaned closer to her. “I want to help you find your freedom again, so I can enjoy it with you.”

She didn’t want to cry in front of him, but she felt moisture on her cheeks again and blinked her eyes to clear them of tears. She didn’t understand why Wyatt would want her, a widowed woman with a baby. But right now, she wasn’t going to analyze it. She could enjoy the warmth of his arms around her. Later she would decide what to do. “Thank you,” she murmured.

“My pleasure.” Wyatt chuckled and pulled his head back. He stared at her for a second, and Aubree felt her pulse beating in her neck. He smiled, and she noticed a few freckles on his cheeks. The muscles in his arms felt solid as he pulled her closer. She leaned into him, and he brought his face closer to hers, all the time looking into her eyes.