Assumed Identity - By Julie Miller Page 0,43

pin into the other side of the door handle simply hadn’t realized she was in here, and that, considering recent events, this wasn’t some poorly timed joke.

“Hello?”

The same insulated walls that kept her from hearing anything outside the fridge room were probably muffling her shouts, as well. Maybe the guys were walking the female employees to their cars and no one was out there. It was impossible to hear through the thick door unless they were standing in the adjoining hallway.

A fearful suspicion simmered inside her. But she tamped down the panic and tried to think this through. Had she stayed in here longer than she thought? She reached for her cell phone, but that was in the diaper bag in her office. She found the tiny canister of pepper spray in the pocket of her jeans. She’d started carrying it again after that awful night. But she was locked in, not under attack. At least it was a walk-in refrigerator, not a freezer. Things could get mighty uncomfortable, but she wouldn’t die in here. And this door wasn’t the only way out.

“Ugh. Robin.” She chided the foreboding that had momentarily silenced logic and ran over to check the delivery entrance where they loaded and unloaded large orders through the double doors. She rattled the handle on one, tried them both. But nothing budged. Normally, this was padlocked from the outside unless they were using it. “Leon?” Maybe he was back there with the van. She flattened her palm against the cold steel and pounded. “Leon!”

Everything was locked up tight. Just the way she wanted it. Two sets of locked doors to keep anyone from sneaking into the shop from the back alley.

Two sets of locked doors that trapped her in between.

The panic bubbled over and Robin ran back to the hallway door and pounded again. “Hey! Mark? Anyone? I’m locked in!”

Robin was trapped. But that wasn’t what scared her.

She couldn’t get to Emma, who was sleeping peacefully in Robin’s office. Unguarded. Alone.

This was no accident. And it was certainly no joke.

I’m taking your daughter.

Forget cool, calm and collected. Robin pounded on the door and shouted. “Help! Let me out!”

* * *

JAKE LEANED AGAINST the top railing of the fence surrounding the Fairy Tale Bridal parking lot and watched the lights in Robin’s shop go out one by one. Careful not to let the glare from the street lamp reflect off the face of his watch and alert anyone to his presence, he checked the time. 9:00 p.m. sharp. Good. He appreciated punctuality when it came to security.

Robin Carter had been consistent for four nights in a row now. He’d seen her lock the front door, check the windows, turn out the lights and walk to the parking lot with the rest of her staff before loading that bulky baby carrier into the backseat and driving off to whatever all-American suburban home they lived in.

Despite his best intentions to forget the leggy brunette and her blue-eyed baby, despite every lick of sense that said he shouldn’t care about her troubles or get involved any further in their lives, Jake had planned his dinner break from the bar just before nine. And for the past four nights, he’d made the brisk walk around the corner to this hiding place away from the bridal shop’s security cameras, and watched to make sure the Carter girls got safely out of this neighborhood where too many innocent women had gotten hurt.

He justified his sneaky voyeurism as a matter of mental survival. He refused to care about Robin and Emma on any personal level, but a man had to live with his conscience. Jake had enough violence and unanswered questions haunting his dreams. He didn’t need his waking moments to be plagued with doubts and guilt, too. He could watch from a distance without interacting with them, and appease his conscience by making sure they were safe without risking developing any personal connection to them.

Knowing his black shirt and dark jeans helped him blend in with the ivy vines trailing over the fence, he rolled his neck and allowed himself to stretch out some of the kinks of fatigue that came from standing in one position for so long. At least this was an easier gig than that night he’d spent out in the rain waiting for Robin to reappear. Not that he minded the elements. He’d needed to see her that night to make sure she was okay—that his own self-preservation instincts hadn’t left