Easy Prey (Love-Inspired Suspense) Read online

  The first day they’d met Elise, she had been a spindly twelve-year-old on the lakeshore. Her older brother, Fix, was supposed to have been watching her. She’d wandered a mile around the lake’s beach, looking for turtles, before she met up with Jonah, Martin and their father, who had been fishing.

  The minute he saw that gap-toothed smile on the girl with the stringy blond hair and she started talking about the symptoms of shell disease in western pond turtles, Jonah had been thoroughly charmed. His dad, too. The old man had suffered a soft spot for little Elise Tanner that was a mile wide and twice as high. But Martin was the one who’d married her.

  Now Elise was a stranger, Jonah had a nephew he’d never met and her brother was number one on his list of fugitives to hunt down and drag back in to custody. Never mind figuring out who had hurt her, lifted her keys and stolen files from the zoo office.

  Nathan was in the hall. “Hey.”

  “How’s your mom?”

  “They’re taking X-rays.”

  Jonah nodded, unsure what else to do—or say. They weren’t at the point he could squeeze the kid’s shoulder. Nathan was a stranger, despite the resemblance.

  Nathan bit his lip. “Were you in Operation Desert Strike just like my dad?” He must have seen the surprise on Jonah’s face, because he said, “I looked it up online. I know all about Iraq back then.”

  Jonah said, “I wasn’t in the same part of the country as Martin.” He pushed out a breath, unwilling to think about the gravestone and the empty pool house. Both of them, gone. “I thought your mom left because she didn’t want to know me anymore, or be reminded of your dad.”

  After Elise had gone, there hadn’t been much else that made sense. What faith he’d had in a God of love and goodness had died with Martin’s death and Elise’s leaving.

  Why hadn’t he tried harder to find her? Maybe he shouldn’t have given her up so easily. Their lives hadn’t been perfect, but maybe their friendship had been worth fighting for. The fact that he’d loved her was irrelevant now—she’d made her choice.

  Now she was back, and his father would’ve said God brought them here for a reason, which only made him ache for his dad all over again. Jonah didn’t want to know about a God who orchestrated life like that. He was the one in charge of his own path.

  The old man had passed away before Jonah joined the marines. He’d never gotten to see Jonah become a marshal. Never had to live through Martin’s death. Never met his grandson.

  Despite everything Jonah could wish to have been different, they were both there now.

  He pushed aside the awkwardness and set a hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here now.”

  For whatever reason, Jonah would accept the gift he’d been given for exactly that—a gift. It was what his dad would’ve wanted.

  Nathan’s cheeks filled and he pushed out a breath in the same way Jonah had done. “This is super weird.”

  A smile stretched Jonah’s mouth. “It won’t be for long, I hope.” He let his hand drop. “Did you talk with the police?”

  Nathan nodded. “They took my statement. But I was across the zoo and I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t even know that someone hurt my mom. I just saw the fire, and when I came running those marshals handcuffed me. But it’s all good.”

  Of course it was. Jonah studied the kid, trying to figure out if looking jazzed was his normal state, or a consequence of the night they’d had.

  Jonah said, “I’m glad you’re good.”

  Still, he had a feeling things were going to get worse before he figured out what was going on.

  *

  Elise sat up on the hospital bed, the bandages tight around her torso. She wasn’t hurt too badly, just bruised ribs. Not cracked. But the doctor had told her to take it easy and give her ribs the time they needed to heal.

  Elise pressed a hand to her forehead. Nothing that’d happened tonight made any sense. A bomb, and a man stealing papers? Taking her keys? Her brother on the run from the US Marshals?

  It was like a sick animal with multiple symptoms that didn’t correspond to any one thing. She’d sat up many nights worrying over her furry friends. The worst times were when she had to suffer the helplessness of not being able to fix what was wrong with them.

  The door cracked open. Assuming it was Nathan, Elise looked up and smiled. Jonah stopped, still gripping the door handle. His eyes widened and he gave her a tentative smile in return.

  Elise rolled her eyes. “What do you want now?”

  It was like junior high all over again. Waiting outside for him to give her and Martin a ride home, watching all the cool girls make moony eyes over him. The next day had always been the worst, when she had to deal with their questions and snide comments.

  Martin had been in her class, and they’d laughed together over all the attention Jonah got. Martin started to catch the eye of the female population at school after Jonah had graduated, and then things got worse. Still, he’d always said he only had eyes for her.

  “I want you to catch me up on everything that happened before the bomb.”

  Elise frowned at his serious face. “I was attacked. The police have already been in here, asking me a million questions about it. They want me to go to the police station tomorrow and look at mug shots.”

  Now her brain hurt from answering questions, and she was more tired than the time in Idaho when the snow leopard that was in labor had gone into distress. “I have no more answers. I don’t know who took the files and attacked me, and I don’t know where Fix is.”

  When she looked at him, she saw Jonah’s face had softened. He set a hand on her shoulder. “Take it easy.”

  Seriously? “Where’s Nathan?”

  “I’m right here.”

  Elise looked at the door. She hadn’t even noticed him standing there. She held out her hand and Nathan strode over to sit beside her on the bed. Apparently it took her getting seriously hurt before the teenager would willingly show her affection in public. Go figure.

  She gave him her most stern face. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, Mom.”

  She looked at Jonah. His gray eyes were black despite the fluorescent lights, glaring at her with frustration and anger. “You had a baby and you didn’t think to tell me?”

  If she’d been standing, she’d have slammed her hands on her hips. “Like you’d even have cared. You left for the marines and never looked back. Not once. Don’t lie to me, Jonah. After Martin died you didn’t even want to know.”

  Nathan sighed. “Are you two really going to argue?”

  Elise looked back at Jonah in time to see his jaw flex. He said, “Where’s your brother, Elise?”

  Eighteen years and that was all he had to say to her? “I haven’t seen Fix since before I left town.” Right after she’d buried her husband, when the best friend she’d needed hadn’t even come home. Emotion stuck like a hair ball in her throat.

  She said, “You wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t disliked Fix from the moment you met him. My brother never did anything but try and impress you and Martin, and you turned your back on all of us. Well, guess what? Apparently you were right about Fix. Congratulations.” Elise poured all of her emotion into that last word.

  “This has nothing to do with me. Fix made his own choices.”

  “You’re right about that. You only think you have that much power over people. But guess what? We weren’t all put on this planet to sit around and wait for you to tell us what we can and can’t do. We made our own lives just fine without you.”

  Elise closed her mouth. The simple fact he was standing in front of her now made her brain twirl like a spinning top, merging losing Martin with Jonah’s…desertion. That had sure been what it felt like. Why did he have to come to the hospital? She’d learned not to need him in her life.

  Jonah was looking down at her with a dark expression. He’d never worn that face before, not directed at her. Jonah had always had a serious side that mea
nt he never failed to do what was right. It had been hard to coax a smile, or even laughter, out of him—something that hadn’t happened too often, even in all the years they’d known each other.

  Martin had been much more lighthearted. The partyer, always chasing a laugh. Their relationship had been nothing but fun, until Elise lost both of them.

  This Jonah was entirely new. The disappointment on his face had formerly been reserved for his mother’s disapproval of Elise’s friendship with the Rivers boys. Elise had never before been the recipient of it from him. He had better not look that way at Nathan.

  Jonah studied her. “You’ve changed.”

  She clenched her jaw, not willing to dignify that with a response. Elise wasn’t a perky twentysomething anymore. She dressed like what she was—the single forty-year-old mother of a teenager, who also happened to have a hard-earned doctorate in zoology. Her best friend was always talking about makeovers, but who had time for that?

  Jonah, however, looked as though he never missed a workout. His T-shirt was tight on his biceps, and the rest of him just looked…incredibly strong. As though life had forced him to weather the years, always leaning in to the wind, trying to control the direction of it with sheer willpower. Had Martin’s death done that?

  It was plain to see nothing about her impressed him at all. And why would it? It wasn’t like she’d spent seventeen years trying to catch a new man. She’d been way too busy with work and Nathan.

  She said, “I’m not the only one who’s changed.”

  “Regardless, I’m going to make sure you and Nathan are safe until we find the guy who hurt you tonight.”

  “What about Fix?”

  “If you say you haven’t seen your brother, I believe you. But if you hear from him, I need to know. I am going to catch him. I know he’s family, but he’s hurt people since you’ve been gone, Elise.” Jonah paused. “Why haven’t you talked to him?”

  Elise looked aside. She’d known she was going to have to explain it sometime. It might as well be now.

  “With you and Martin gone it was like Fix lost all the restraint he’d had. Before I left, things were…bad. Cops coming around, asking if I knew where he was.” She bit her lip and looked at Jonah. “When I was told Martin died, I called Fix. He never picked up. I left.”

  “I’m sorry.” Jonah’s voice was quiet.

  “Can I at least talk to him after you bring him in? I’d like to say something to my brother before I lose the chance.”

  Jonah stayed silent for a moment. Then he said, “You have my word.”

  After his pronouncement, Elise didn’t figure there was much else worth arguing about. At least not when it was so late, and they’d had such a long day. Tomorrow they would figure out where to go from here. Tomorrow she would look at mug shots and help the police find the bomber. Right now she was so exhausted she just wanted to crawl into bed, pull the blanket over her head and forget she’d ever thought coming back here was a good idea.

  But for the one lingering thing she still needed to do—the one thing that would give her the closure to move on with her life—maybe she never would have come back. She’d have found another way to pay for Nathan’s college, or help him do it.

  But for the fact that one of these days she needed to finally go visit Martin’s grave.

  In the backseat of Jonah’s truck, Elise could barely make out the whispered conversation going on between him and Nathan, who sat up front. Did she want to know what they were talking about?

  Elise tried to rouse herself enough to lean forward and listen, but her eyelids were drooping fast. The doctor had given her some good pain medication, the kind that knocked her out.

  Jonah hit the brakes, and she flung her hand out to brace against the back of Nathan’s seat. “Please tell me that’s not your room.”

  The door to Elise’s motel room was wide-open. Even from feet away, inside the car, she could see that her stuff had been deposited everywhere around the room.

  Someone had broken in.

  FOUR

  “You can’t stay here.”

  Why did Jonah feel the need to state the obvious? Elise turned to glare at him. “Where do you expect us to go?”

  There was no way she was about to take Nathan to her mom’s trailer, the one she’d grown up in. She’d have to find another cheap motel, preferably on the opposite side of town.

  Once again they were surrounded by police officers, only this time she’d had to write them an embarrassing list of everything that had been stolen from her ransacked room. A list that included her laptop.

  Thankfully Nathan’s room, which was next door, hadn’t been touched. It was a small comfort that he wasn’t being targeted.

  “Why don’t you come to my house?” Jonah looked startled, as though he hadn’t expected to say that.

  “There’s no way I’m setting one foot in that mansion.” Not when it held only memories of Martin, and his father. “No way.” And she wasn’t being relegated to the pool house again, either. Even if it did mean she wouldn’t have to face his mother.

  Nathan’s eyebrow rose under the fall of hair on his forehead. Why was he surprised? She’d told him all about Martin growing up rich, and she’d tried to be nice when she told him about Martin’s mother.

  “Not my mom’s house.” Jonah’s face morphed into a look she wasn’t familiar with. “My house.”

  Elise opened her mouth, and her son put his hand over it. Nathan turned to face Jonah. “We would really appreciate staying with you. Thank you.”

  She glared at her son, the traitor, while Jonah struggled to keep in a smile. Elise said, “Fine. If I’m going to be railroaded anyway, what’s the point in arguing?” She should have known Nathan would side with his uncle.

  She shouldn’t even be around Jonah—that wasn’t what she was here for. And it wasn’t going to do her any good to dredge up long-buried feelings. Now they were going to stay at his house? If she wasn’t hurt and tired, she would probably argue more.

  Elise folded her arms in a huff, which lost its impact since she had to be gentle with her ribs. “I’m going to need a toothbrush.”

  Jonah’s mouth curled into a smile. “Is it wrong that I think you’re cute when you’re mad?”

  “I’m not mad, I’m exhausted.”

  Nathan shook his head, mouthing something to Jonah that made him laugh. Elise turned and climbed into the backseat of the car. She tried to stay awake as they drove. There was plenty to occupy her mind, but the interior was warm and the seat cushion gave enough that she slid down. It wasn’t long before she gave up the fight.

  *

  Elise woke in a bed. The room was small, only the bed and a dresser. On the dresser was a vase of flowers that were too perky to be real, as though someone had tried to make the room appear homey but that was all the effort they’d put into it. Like for a guest room. She rubbed sleep from her eyes and glanced around, but her attention wasn’t on the bare walls, or the denim-colored curtains.

  Was she really in Jonah’s house?

  Then again she’d survived an attack, a bomb and a breakin, the day before. Why should she be surprised at the fact that she was in Jonah’s home now?

  She lifted her arms and caught herself before she stretched. The pain medication she’d taken the night before had waned. She’d have to take more soon. As if on cue, her stomach rumbled. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was past ten? No wonder she was hungry.

  Elise found a change of clothes on the end of the bed—shorts and a NAVY T-shirt that were clearly Jonah’s, since she had no stuff of her own. How long would it be before the police released the belongings that hadn’t been stolen back to her?

  The coffeepot in the kitchen was half-full and still hot, so she rummaged in Jonah’s cabinets and found a mug. He still took half-and-half in his java, so she added some of that for a treat, along with her usual splash of milk and enough sugar that she’d have some extra energy.

  Where were the
y?

  Elise looked out the window, but all she saw was grass and a barn. Jonah, who’d grown up in a mansion on the rich side of town, now had a weathered ranch that strangely fit his personality perfectly—even if it did seem a little forlorn.

  Nails clicked on the tile floor, and a tan dog with a black saddle and folded-over ears above a German shepherd’s face wandered in, headed for a food bowl.

  Jonah had always loved German Shepherds, but this one was mixed with a Collie, which softened the dog’s features in a way that was immensely cute.

  She smiled at him. “Hello.”

  The dog eyed her but started eating. Probably worried she would try and take his food. Elise crouched and let the animal get to know her scent. She ran her fingers through his scruff. He was well fed, but lean. They probably ran together.

  Years ago she, Jonah and Martin had run together. The idea Jonah now ran with someone who wasn’t her—even if it was a dog—weighed on her so suddenly she sat down on the cold tile. Logically he’d have run with other people over the years. After all, it had been close to two decades. Why did it bother her so much now?

  Martin was gone, and Jonah was the one still here. He probably hurt over his brother’s death as much as she did. Would she ever reach the point when she stopped remembering exactly what she’d lost? Martin. Jonah. Their father. The mess she’d made of all of it was immense. Overwhelmed by the tide of grief and guilt, Elise turned her attention again to the dog.

  “Let me guess…Hound?”

  The dog’s ears pricked up. He closed the gap between them and nuzzled her until her hand cramped from stroking him. Elise lifted the tag on his collar. Sam. She chuckled. Jonah had always given his pets normal names like Steve or Wilson.

  This was what she needed, some animal therapy. No matter how much she helped an animal, it always seemed to heal something in her at the same time. Animals were a solace she found nowhere else, especially when the grief of losing the Rivers brothers swallowed her. The peace and comfort she got from being around animals—and through sharing that with her son—was a gift from God.