He was right about one thing: Kaitlin did need her. No way was she leaving the child alone with a potential murderer. Yet she knew she was risking her life by staying. Granted, he’d tried to protect her back at the house when the bullets had started flying, but what did she really know about this man? Nothing except what she learned through the media.
And none of that had been good.
Trusting men wasn’t exactly easy for her, either.
“Did you see anything out on the street?” he asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“You mean before the gunshots?” She thought back to those moments when she’d faced Caleb O’Malley across the threshold. Ironically, there hadn’t been the usual black car she’d noticed over the past few days. “There was a red pickup parked on the street.”
“That’s my truck. Did you see anything else? Another vehicle? A person? Anything?”
“No.” She’d been far more preoccupied with trying to find a way to ease the transition for Kaitlin. Noelle had planned to invite him in, hoping he’d spend some time getting to know his daughter again before leaving with her. Especially after the way Kaitlin had clung to her, sobbing.
As much as she feared the dark-haired stranger, she wasn’t leaving Kaitlin alone with him any time soon. Kaitlin was the sole reason she’d come along in the first place. The poor child had already been through so much, losing her mother and then her father. Kaitlin had suffered night terrors the first weeks she’d been with Noelle, but the child hadn’t had a nightmare for almost five months.
Noelle would be shocked if today’s events didn’t bring them back. She’d be surprised if her own nightmares of the past didn’t return, too.
There was another long silence and she realized they were already well outside the city limits. Grimly she knew they could go for several hundred miles without stopping on the gas tank she’d filled yesterday.
“I’d let you both go if I could,” he said in a low voice. “But I’m afraid it’s too late. You and Kaitlin are in danger now, too.”
“In danger from whom?” she asked helplessly.
“I wish I knew,” he said, his tone weary. “Probably from the same person who killed Heather.”
She knew Heather had been his wife and Kaitlin’s mother. And if he thought she was going to believe that line of baloney, he was as crazy as the media had portrayed him to be.
During an interview on TV, one of his SWAT teammates had mentioned Caleb’s hair-trigger temper. She could imagine how difficult it must have been for him to discover his wife was cheating on him.
Not that his wife had deserved to die for her sins, leaving Kaitlin without a mother, or a father once Caleb had been arrested. As Kaitlin’s preschool teacher and an approved foster parent, she’d fought for and won temporary custody of the little girl. At first she thought it would only be a few weeks until other family had been notified but no one had been found. Over the past year she’d grown to love Kaitlin. And being forced to turn the child over to Caleb had nearly broken her heart.
“I guess you don’t believe in the theory of innocent until proven guilty,” he said, breaking into her thoughts.
“I never said you were guilty,” she said hastily. No sense in baiting the tiger. She needed to keep on his good side in order to convince him to let her and Kaitlin go. So far, she wasn’t entirely sure she believed in his theory that she and Kaitlin were in danger.
“So you believe I’m innocent?” he asked after several long moments.
She licked her dry lips and tried to smile. “The judge let you go, which is good enough for me.”
He let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort, but didn’t say anything more. She stared out the window as the miles zipped past. Glancing over at Kaitlin, she noted the girl’s eyelids were starting to droop. Long car rides tended to make the little girl sleepy and no doubt she’d worn herself out with her crying jag.
Twenty minutes later, Noelle realized Kaitlin’s father had left the freeway and turned onto a country highway.
She couldn’t quell a hint of panic when she didn’t recognize the area. They were in a rural part of Wisconsin. Where was he taking them? What did he intend to do?
She’d gone along with him to protect Kaitlin, not to mention to get away from the rolling tear gas and flying bullets. But now, she was second-guessing her decision.
She and Kaitlin would likely be safer on their own. She trusted the police would protect them. Why wouldn’t they?
Somehow, she needed to find a way to escape.
* * *
Caleb dragged a hand over his face as the SUV ate up the miles, and tried to think rationally. He didn’t know who’d fired those shots at him, but if he hadn’t picked up Kaitlin’s stuffed giraffe, he’d be dead.
Leaving Kaitlin an orphan.
Somehow, he felt stupid for not realizing that whoever had killed his wife would still be out there somewhere, waiting for him. But the attempt on his life didn’t make much sense. Why not try to plant more evidence to get him back behind bars? What would they gain from killing him?
“Where’s Giffy?” he heard Kaitlin ask. The little girl had napped for a while but was obviously awake now.
“Right here, sweetheart.” In the rearview mirror, he saw Kaitlin hug the stuffed giraffe close.
“Ah, Mr. O’Malley?” Noelle’s voice was soft, almost hesitant. He hated seeing the shadow of fear in her eyes, but he didn’t know how to reassure her he was innocent of the crime he’d been accused of. He could talk all he wanted, but without proof that he was being framed, there wasn’t much he could do.
“Caleb,” he corrected curtly. “Call me Caleb.”
“Uh, sure. Caleb. It’s past five-thirty and Kaitlin usually eats dinner about this time,” she said with a hint of nervousness.
He flushed, squelching a flash of guilt. He should have realized that his daughter would need to eat soon. After fourteen long months in jail he’d forgotten how to be a father. “Sounds like a plan. What would you like?”
“Kaitlin, what do you want for dinner?” Noelle asked.
The little girl pulled her thumb out of her mouth. “Chicken bites.”
In the rearview mirror he caught the fleeting grimace that passed over Noelle’s face, but she readily agreed with Kaitlin’s decision. “That would be great.”
“Looks like there’s a fast-food restaurant five miles ahead,” he said, gesturing to a road sign. “We’ll get something there.”
“Thank you.”
He swallowed a frustrated sigh. Noelle acted as if he was some sort of ogre keeping her and Kaitlin prisoner. Yet what could he have done differently? If he had left Kaitlin behind and something had happened to his daughter, he’d never have forgiven himself. No question he’d give up his life for Kaitlin.
And he couldn’t bring himself to trust the police, either. Not when he fully believed that someone from his SWAT team had set him up for his wife’s murder.
Feeling grim, he imagined that the cops were right now swarming Noelle’s house, gathering evidence. What would they think when they found the slugs from a high-powered rifle and a canister of tear gas in her house? Would that prove his innocence? Or would they turn the whole thing around to somehow make him the bad guy?
He couldn’t help believing the latter. It wouldn’t be long before the killer was hot on their tail. He needed to figure out a good place to hide until he could find someone to trust.
Not