knew the exact room, Rae. You need to stay somewhere safe while we work on finding answers.”
“We?”
“Yes. We.”
“You haven’t even heard the details yet. Once you hear them, you might decide to take off.”
“Do you really think I’m going to leave you when you’re looking for your missing sister-in-law?”
She sucked in a breath. His words seemed to bolster her. It stung that she had doubted he would stick it out.
“I looked for you because I had hoped you would help. But your initial reaction gave me reason to doubt.” A tenuous grin lifted one corner of her lips. “But I’m glad to hear that you’re in this with me. As for asking more of you, I think I’m safe now. He got my laptop. There’s nothing else I have that anyone could want.”
“You, Rae. They could want you. Even if you check in at another place in town, then they could get to you.”
She stared at him and chewed on her lip. He hadn’t meant to scare her more. Okay, yeah, he’d meant to scare some sense into her.
“The safest place for you right now is with me. Will you stay at the Emerald M? It’s been a long day and looks to be an even longer night. We’ll get some dinner, and you can tell me everything. We’ll put our heads together and then, Rae, we’ll find her.” Liam almost cringed at his own words. He was sounding more like Heath. He hardly recognized himself.
She angled her head, her silent question clear. Who are you?
CHAPTER TWELVE
Wednesday, 7:45 p.m.
Rae had the eerie sensation that her life had been hijacked as Liam steered them along the two-lane highway that wound through Bridger-Teton National Forest. Reporting the stolen laptop and looking at video footage had taken entirely too long. Now they were headed to Emerald M Guest Ranch in Liam’s truck. She hadn’t wanted to make that drive at night, even following him.
Rae had agreed to go with Liam, and until she knew more about what was going on, she didn’t want to stay anywhere else. Especially after learning that someone could easily come and go in any hotel room if they got their hands on a master key. Even if Greg had found her another room at the lodge, she wouldn’t have slept a wink. The break-in had left her feeling violated.
Would the masked man be able to access her information? If so, and he took the time to read Rae’s writings and the articles her father had written, he would know more about Rae than even her family knew.
Nausea stirred in the pit of her stomach.
She focused ahead, the driving snow in the headlights all she could see as she remembered the scenery from her early morning venture out to the ranch along this same treacherous road.
If she hadn’t spent the time tracking Liam down, would she be closer to finding Zoey?
“Okay, Rae,” the patient man next to her finally said. “I’ve been waiting for you to open up for miles. I know you mean well. You’re not some nosy reporter looking for a story. What happened in the past aside, if I’m going to help you, beyond being an obviously needed bodyguard, you have to talk.”
“Thank you for that, Liam.”
She wasn’t sure he was being completely honest, especially after his initial reaction to seeing her earlier. But his tone gave away the pain in his words. He still believed she’d used him, but did he fully understand she was motivated by the need to help others? Compelled to tell their stories no matter the cost?
Her last run-in with him had erupted in disaster that left him injured. She’d hurt him physically, and she would expect emotionally as well. Psychologically? Maybe. But he appeared to have picked up the pieces and moved on. Except what was he doing here in Jackson Hole instead of working an undercover case in a drug-laden location?
Regardless, now was that moment they would talk. The moment she’d been waiting for all day, and still she dreaded it. She blew out another breath and hesitated.
“You came to me today, Rae. I’m here because I don’t want to see you hurt or dead. Now, tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s complicated.”
“If you remember, I do complicated well.”
She snuck a glance his direction and found him grinning. His grin had always gotten to her.
“Look, I’m already in this. You owe it to me to tell me what’s going on. Why are you here in Jackson Hole trying to find