21

“You knew about this?” Matt said to Mitch.

The town’s only police presence was clearly annoyed that Mitch had known about the refuge and hadn’t shared the information. Mitch didn’t seem bothered by the cop’s threatening tone. He lazed back in his steel-framed chair at Deke’s glass-topped kitchen table and sipped his coffee. No one seemed to care that the coffee would keep them up for the rest of the night. Although Jodie knew most of them wouldn’t get any sleep anyway.

“Yeah, I knew.” Mitch sounded unrepentant.

Matt seemed to be grinding his teeth. He looked at Lake. “Did you know?”

Lake shook his head. He was leaning against Deke’s granite-topped kitchen island. “I was digging. I’d found some threads and was ready to tug them, then this happened.” He gave Jodie and Deke what looked like a look of admiration. “Not sure I would have found what I was looking for, though. This network is buried deep.”

They’d just finished telling Matt, Grunt and Lake about the refuge, the network and the backgrounds of their staff. It wasn’t something Jodie was comfortable doing, but Deke had taken her aside as soon as she’d walked into his house and told her they had to come clean. The break-in and the damage weren’t caused by some random thugs out to amuse themselves. The person, or people, who’d done it knew what they were doing. To protect the women, they needed help. Which meant they had to trust Benson Security and the local cop. Jodie didn’t like that one bit. She’d been somewhat reassured when she’d insisted that everything they shared remain completely off the record and Matt had reluctantly agreed. The local cop might know the truth, but at least Jodie was assured there wouldn’t be a paper trail.

“You should have told us.” Matt’s anger was clear, but restrained. “Something like this, the town needs to know. We need to be able to pull together and protect you.”

“Did you hear the part about how one of the women was running from her cop husband?” Jodie’s own anger was building, and Matt was beginning to look like a good outlet for it.

“Fiona isn’t here anymore,” Matt said. “That’s no excuse.”

“I don’t need an excuse,” Jodie snapped. “These guys find people. We couldn’t take the chance of leaving a trail. This network is the last resort for these women. Before they become part of it, they have already been found by their partners, sometimes several times, and none of it was good. We couldn’t take the risk of information on their whereabouts leaking out.”

Matt clearly didn’t like what she said, but didn’t argue. He couldn’t argue with fact.

“What you’re saying,” Lake said, “is that this break-in could be related to any one of the women here?”

Jodie’s gaze flicked over to Brenda, who was sitting on the sofa at her brother’s side.

“There’s been some trouble in London,” Jodie said. “The Hampstead Heath drop-in centre was broken into.” She said to Brenda, “One of the volunteers was beaten and is in hospital.”

Brenda jumped to her feet. “I need to pack.” She started running for the door, and got three steps before Deke wrapped an arm around her waist and put her back in her seat.

“No,” he said.

Brenda instantly jumped back up. “I have to go. I have to run. Nobody is safe with me here. Nobody.”

“Damn it, Brenda.” Deke scooped her up again, and this time he sat back down with Brenda in his lap and his arms tight around her.

“I need to leave,” Brenda practically wailed. “You’re all in danger. You need to let me leave. You don’t know what Clive is capable of. You don’t know how dangerous he is. He has connections, powerful people who help him get away with everything he does.”

Deke held her tight, one arm wrapped around her waist, his bicep bulging with the effort. His other hand gently cupped her face. Looking into Brenda’s eyes, Deke said, “No running. This is it. You stay here where I can protect you. This is your last stand.” His voice was soft, but vibrated with determination.

“Last stand?” Brenda’s voice, on the other hand, was hysterical. “Like Custard? That did not go well for him. I need to run.”

Grunt barked out a laugh. “Custer. Not Custard.” The whole of his mammoth body shook with silent laughter.

Brenda frowned at him. “To hell with American history. This is more like William Wallace, anyway. He made a last stand too, and it did not end well. Mel Gibson died. Gruesomely.”

Jodie shook her head at the sight of the men in the room trying not to laugh. Idiots.

“You’re done running. Look around you,” Deke said. “You’ve got an army at your back this time. You’re safe here.”

Brenda looked around. “I count six people. That is not an army.” She pushed at him again, struggling to get free.

“My men will step in,” Lake said.

Jodie’s head jerked back at his words. “We can’t afford that.”

Lake’s eyes were flat. “I didn’t say we’d charge you anything.”

“We can’t let you—” Jodie started.

“Yes,” Deke interrupted. “We can. We will.” He looked at Lake. “Thanks.”

Lake gave him a manly chin lift. “Are we sure this guy is after Brenda?”

Brenda’s shoulders slumped as her eyes turned glassy. “I spent months being sheltered by the Hampstead Heath centre while I recovered enough to run. None of the other women who are here had anything to do with that particular refuge.”

“Still, it’s a bit of a jump to go from an attack in London to vandalism in the Highlands,” Matt said. “We can’t jump to conclusions. One might have nothing to do with the other.”

“When you’re running,” Brenda said, “you learn to trust your instincts, and if they say jump, you jump.”

“Were you a masseuse while you were with this guy?” Matt asked, which was totally out of left field, yet the strangeness of it seemed to comfort Brenda.

“I did my training while we were married.”

Matt glanced over at Lake. “Maybe it’s as simple as the guy checking spas, then once he finds one he thinks might be harbouring her, he comes in and does a search. Or in this case, a trashing.”

“That’s still a lot of ground to cover,” Lake said. “There are a lot of spas in the UK.”

“Which leaves us with the fact that there’s no connection between the break-in at Hampstead Heath and the damage here,” Matt said wearily.

“What about new faces in town? Can’t you check out guys we haven’t seen around here before?” Jodie said. Invertary was small. Everybody knew each other and strangers stood out.

“There’s a fishing tournament going on. The town is full of guys I don’t know,” Matt said. “I will bring in Rab and his mates again and hold them as long as I can. They had an alibi for the break-in the other night, but it was a flimsy one. With any luck, this is just them at it again and this time I’ll be able to lock them up for a good, long time.” Matt ran a hand through his thick black hair, making it stand on end. “I don’t think this was Rab, though. This kind of act is usually personal, Jodie. The damage they did to your home shows a rage against you. This feels like a personal attack.”

Jodie glanced at Mitch. An action that stunned her even as she was doing it, but the small smile Mitch gave her fortified her.

“I don’t have any personal enemies,” she told Matt.

“What about your ex-husband?”

Jodie burst out laughing.

“Sorry,” she said. “There’s no way Serge would have done this. He might look tough on the football field, but he’s nothing like that off it. Plus, he doesn’t like getting dirty when he isn’t playing. He’d never make a mess like that.”

“Was the divorce acrimonious?” Matt asked.

“No,” Jodie said. “He told me he needed a real woman and I left. There was no fighting. In fact, he seemed remorseful and was generous in the divorce settlement.” She waved a hand to indicate the property. “It was his money that paid for all this.”

Matt was like a dog with a bone. “Then maybe he resents what you’re doing with the money.”

“Oh yeah, he’s totally eaten up by his resentment as he lounges around in the Bahamas with his new pregnant wife—a former Victoria’s Secret model.” She hoped she didn’t sound bitter, because she really wasn’t. She was happy for him, plus she’d never wanted kids anyway. Yet another thing they hadn’t had in common.

“I’ll look into him anyway,” Matt said.

“It’s your time you’re wasting,” Jodie said. “But this isn’t my ex. It’s someone else. The only trouble we’ve had locally is from the men protesting and the graffiti artists. And the only trouble the organisation has had is at the Hampstead Heath drop-in centre. The attack on my flat may seem like it’s directed at me, but whoever did it may have thought one of the other women lived there.”

“Because we did.” Brenda jerked upright on Deke’s lap. “The other women and I stayed with Jodie until last week.” Her eyes were wide. “It has to be Clive. He’s found me.”

Matt looked like he could use a vat of coffee to get him through their conversation. “The woman who was attacked—what kind of information would she know? What would she have been able to tell her attacker?”

Jodie cast a glance at Brenda, who looked ready to bolt. “The woman who was attacked is Susan Prentice.”

“I have to leave.” Brenda sounded borderline hysterical. “Susan was my support person. This isn’t a coincidence. This is Clive.”

“Bren,” Deke said as he cupped her jaw again. “Is Clive bigger than me? Is he combat trained?”

She looked confused. “No.”

“That’s what I thought. He’s a bully. He attacks you because you’re smaller and he’s sick in the head. No matter how much rage this guy has, or how twisted his thinking, he won’t get through me to get to you. That’s a promise, Bren. He won’t get through me to get to you.”

There was silence as everyone watched hope blossom in Brenda’s face. Suddenly, she burst into tears, and Deke tucked her face into the crook of his neck and held her tight. He rubbed her back soothingly as he whispered into her ear. Brenda’s sobs could be heard, muffled against his chest. It was hard to watch.

Jodie turned away to give the couple privacy. Her eyes hit Mitch and the intensity in his gaze robbed her of breath. She knew, in that moment, that Mitch Harris would stand in front of her if she needed it. Jodie felt as though the ground beneath her feet shifted. Her whole life, it’d been just her and Deke. And when Deke was in the Army, it’d been her, alone. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, so much so that people assumed she never needed anyone or anything. To have Mitch see past that, to have him sit there, supporting her yet not taking over from her, and see in his eyes that he would stand in front of her—it was a gift beyond compare.

“Who’s Susan Prentice?” Matt said, breaking her connection with Mitch.

Jodie turned her attention back to Matt. “She’s been there for years. She runs the centre.”

“She was the one who helped me the most,” Brenda said in a choked-up voice, “after Clive.”

“Susan is a strong woman, sweetie,” Jodie said. “She’ll make it through this.”

Jodie hoped she was right. The older woman had been an inspiration to her during her time teaching at the centre. But there was only so much a body could handle and the fact she was still unconscious wasn’t a good sign.

“We need details on this Clive guy,” Matt said.

Jodie opened her mouth to protest the police running a search that would set off all sorts of flags.

“Give me the info,” Lake said. “I’ll do the digging under the radar.”

Jodie nodded, relieved.

“I’m going to need background on all the women, to cover bases,” Lake continued. “I’ll station a man at the manse, twenty-four-seven, until we know what’s happening.”

“I’m here,” Deke said. “You don’t need to station another guy.”

“The restaurant opens soon. You have your hands full. Another pair of eyes will help.”

Deke inclined his head in acceptance as he continued to soothe Brenda.

“If it was someone looking for Brenda, why didn’t he attack the manse?” Mitch said, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Probably didn’t know it was there,” Deke said. “There’s no clear driveway to it, no mailboxes or numbers and you can’t see it from the road or the spa. Unless you know it’s there, you wouldn’t look for it. That’s why we turned it into accommodation for the women, and like Bren said, most of them have been staying with Jodie until we got the manse ready for them.”

“It would have been better if someone had attacked the manse instead of Jodie’s place,” Lake said. “The manse basement is set up as a panic room. They would have been fine.” He looked at Jodie. “Your flat is too exposed. There are no clear escape routes if you need them. And you live alone. We need to go over your security before you move back in.”

“I haven’t decided if I’m going to move back in yet or not,” Jodie said.

There was silence. It was tense. Jodie looked at her feet. She didn’t want to see the judgment in anyone’s eyes. She didn’t want them thinking she was a weak, defenceless woman because she was creeped out that her home had been invaded.

“Now that you’re homeless,” Mitch drawled into the heavy silence, “this would be a good time for you to consider moving in with me.”

Jodie’s eyes snapped up to his and relaxed when she saw the mischief in them. He was defusing the tension in the room. He was rescuing her. Crazy man.

“You live in a hotel room,” she pointed out.

“I can move. We’ll go house hunting. Is there a real estate agent in town?”

“Nope,” Matt said. “It’s the internet or Fort William.”

“I’ll get Caroline on it,” Mitch said. “She’ll find us a house.”

“Caroline McInnes?” Jodie said. “You’re going to get your best friend’s pregnant wife to house hunt for you because you’re too lazy to do it yourself?”

Mitch shrugged like there was nothing wrong with his plan. “She enjoys doing this stuff.”

“You expect me to move into a house Caroline picked?” Jodie didn’t know why she even asked the question; she didn’t intend to move in with him anyway. He was pushing this relationship forward at the speed of light. No doubt to ensure she didn’t have enough time to think things through properly. Sneaky man. “I mean, do you really expect any woman to live in a house you couldn’t be bothered picking yourself?”

“Face it, baby. You want to pick out our first home yourself.” Mitch affected a laidback attitude. “That’s fine with me. Let me know when you have one for us.”

Jodie gaped at him as Deke chuckled. Brenda sat up to look around the room as she wiped her eyes.

“Is it wrong that I really want custard right now?”

“I’ll make you custard,” Deke told her with a grin as Matt laughed.

“I’m not moving in with you,” Jodie told Mitch.

“Where else are you going to go?” the cocky man asked, and he had a point.

“I’ll get a room at the hotel.”

“Booked out. Fishing tournament. Remember?”

“I’ll stay here with Deke.”

“No you won’t,” Deke called as he pulled ingredients out of his pantry. The chef was going to make fresh custard from scratch, not the packet kind Jodie added boiling water to. “Brenda is going to move in here until this business is over. I need to keep an eye on her.”

“You do?” Brenda said. “I am?”

“Yes.”

Brenda looked around, a little bewildered, but didn’t object. Probably because having Deke between her and her ex-husband sounded like a really good idea.

“That’s settled, then,” Jodie said. “I’ll move into Brenda’s old room at the manse.”

Mitch scowled at her. “You can’t stay there forever.”

“Watch me,” Jodie said.