Page 21 of Operation: Return

Erica couldn’t imagine trying to do both. “Any direction you can offer would be a help.” She was worried with her track record of keeping a job, this wouldn’t last long. “Edwyn said to start with this stack since Victoria needs the order right away. After that, I don’t have a clue.”

Teddy glanced over all the papers, then his gaze seemed to latch onto the phone and the little blinking red light that had scared her since she entered the room.

“Not the phone . . .” she said quickly.

He laughed. “Yeah, sorry. That’s probably the thing that needs to be handled the most. We have some contacts in the larger police agencies in the state. If they make any rescues and people don’t have a safe place to go, they call us. Honestly, Edwyn probably didn’t make it a priority because he doesn’t really want to deal with intakes while Connor is gone. I think it would be a good idea to respond though. I can write down what to say when you call them back.”

She could read off a cue card, that was easy enough. She’d looked through the desk quickly right after Edwyn had left that morning but hadn’t found any information on Cole like she’d hoped. Teddy was willing to help her, but was he willing to talk?

“What do you know about Cole?” She didn’t focus on his face, instead keeping her hands busy, hoping that by continuing to do her job her curiosity wasn’t nearly as obvious to him as she felt.

He chuckled. “The man has a chip on his shoulder. He gave up everything to be part of the marines, including his home and family. They trained him to keep secrets and be stealthy. Then, they did the exact opposite with him. I’m not in the know as to his exact story and he doesn’t share it with anyone. I only know that he was betrayed then came home to find himself homeless. I know, because I’m the one who found him.”

That story matched up with what she knew. Taylor’s parents died very shortly after they’d found out Taylor had died. “How did he end up here?”

“He was sitting in a café looking like the world had gut-punched him. His duffel laid at his feet, so I knew he had nowhere to go. He had that look about him that said he’d seen too much of the world. My son had come home with a similar look. I wanted to create a home and place for these men to work. A place they could heal privately. Cole was one of the last men to join. After he came, they decided to turn this from a ranch that healed men with no place in this world, to a ranch that helped victims with no place in this world.”

Erica was curious and wished she could go back in time to see what had made all of this fall into place. “Was there a catalyst? Someone they knew who’d been hurt?” She finished her stack and started writing the list down on one sheet to make ordering easier.

“Not that I know of, but Connor was the one who started it, not me.” Teddy’s phone pinged and he tugged it from his flannel shirt pocket and glanced at the screen. “I’m needed for a minute. Sam’s watching cameras today and he needs a break. I’ll be back in a little while.” He stood and gave her a smile. “You’re going to do great. Just relax and ask any questions if you have them.” He stood and closed the door as he left.

She stared at the order in front of her for a moment, then gathered her courage and just made the call. After ten minutes, it was done and fairly easy. Since there was no reason to keep all the scraps of paper with the food requests on them, she dumped them in the trash and felt better for the clean corner on the desk already.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.

The little red light mocked her. On that phone might be all sorts of messages she didn’t want to deal with. Just because the first hour of her job had been easy, didn’t mean the rest would be.

Lacy had left a note for Teddy with the steps to retrieve the messages and she found she liked Lacy all the more for doing that. If there was a guide, that meant there couldn’t be anything totally private on that phone that could get her in trouble for hearing it.

The first three messages were hang-ups. Erica deleted them and sighed before she hit the play button again. A raspy breath came over the line, then a second.

Erica paused the playback and glanced at the door. Should she keep listening? Was this just some prank? She wasn’t completely sure in any true sense what the victims at Wayside had been though, but there was a good chance that some, if not all, had been touched by sexual deviance. What if the heavy breathing was related to that?

Her hand quivered slightly as she grabbed the pen beside the tablet of paper she’d dug out of Teddy’s desk to take notes. This was silly. Her mind wandered back to the blue car that had followed Cole. She’d seen it pull through the covered entrance at the hotel. Cole wouldn’t have gone to her house if the men in that car had done anything that could be pinpointed as aggressive beforehand.

Everything the men in the car had done was just enough that Cole had questioned if their motives were innocent. And he’d deemed the situation safe before he’d gone to her door and to Trace’s. This could be the same. This call could be annoying, but innocent. Or . . . She couldn’t decide to name what else it could be.

She hit play and the voice changed from breathing to a laugh that sounded purely evil. “Are you back in the office yet? Are you listening? Good. Here is what will happen to you if you don’t give Scarlet back. You will die. One by one. I’ll pick you off like cans on a fence.” The laughter started and raised in pitch, then accelerated until the line clicked and Erica slammed down the receiver into the cradle.

Her breathing was way too fast and she tried to take deep breaths before she passed out. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the fact that she was fine. There was no one else in the room. She wasn’t being watched.

Nothing she did would calm her down. This wasexactlythe kind of thing she wasn’t supposed to know about and didn’t want to. This was the kind of thing that would get her fired. Maybe even killed.

How was she going to get out of here? Obviously, these people were watching. They had gotten the main number to a ranch that wasn’t on the internet and no one knew about. Somehow. And what had they asked first?Are you back in the office yet?They had to know Lacy was gone.

“Is everything all right?” Teddy asked as he came back in the room.

Only then did she realize he’d opened the door. She sat there with her mouth hanging open, unable to answer right away. Should she tell him? Would it do any good? There was no tracing information. It wasn’t like they’d left a phone number. She shook her head.

“No. Nothing. Just someone angry they had the wrong number.” She pushed away from the desk. “I think I need a break from the phones for a minute.”

Teddy smiled and gave a knowing chuckle. “Why don’t you go out and have a look at Pete. I’m sure he’s riding today with Trace. That boy is so good for Trace. We’re blessed to have you here. I hope you know that.”

At the moment, she felt about as far from blessed as possible.

ChapterNine

Clean slate. Protection. Respect. Cole centered himself by repeating the rules as he went through the motions of getting his horse ready for the day while he let Pete ride in the corral. At least Trace wouldn’t have to worry about creed number three, no foul language. Then again, any words would be a blessing.