Page 37 of Mountain Rescue

“No thanks necessary. Go ahead and call the detective. Put him on speaker.”

“Rachel, thanks for calling back,” Detective Diaz said. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

“Well, that wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I was hoping you were calling to tell me that you’d caught Robert.”

“Not yet, but we will find him. Your apartment was broken into.”

“No way! When did that happen? Did they take anything? Do you think it was Robert or one of his men? Were there fingerprints?”

Her shock sounded real, and Dallas gave her a thumbs-up.

“It happened last night, and we need you to come tell us if anything is missing.”

“Sorry, but I can’t do that right now. Did they trash my apartment?”

“Yes, it’s a mess. Rachel, we need you to come here, and I’m not asking. I’m telling you what you have to do.”

Dallas shook his head. Unless they had a warrant for her arrest, she was under no obligation to do anything they asked.

“I can’t, not right now. I need to know if my laptop is missing. I left it on my coffee table.”

“I don’t remember seeing it, but I wasn’t specifically looking for it. If you’ll come to the station, I’ll take you to your apartment. At the moment, it’s a crime scene and you can’t enter by yourself.”

She squeezed her eyes shut at hearing her laptop was probably gone, and Dallas couldn’t help it. He had to touch her. He put his hand on her knee, hoping his touch reminded her that she was safe. He’d make sure of it.

She opened her eyes and gave him a grateful smile. “You’re not hearing me, Detective. I can’t come there. It’s important for me to know about my laptop. Could you or maybe an officer go see if it’s there?”

“Where are you? You can trust me, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Someplace safe. I told you why I’m not trusting the police so much right now. I don’t believe you’re on Robert’s payroll, but if you know where I am, others who don’t have my best interest could find out. Can you please find out about my computer?”

“Why is that so important?”

“Because it has my family and friends’ names and addresses in it. Robert will use them to get to me.”

“Okay, I’ll go myself. You’re calling on a different phone. Why is that?”

“Just trying to stay safe.”

“Good answer,” Dallas mouthed, getting another smile.

“Rachel, I’m going to be real honest with you here. We’ve been trying to trace this call, and we’re being blocked. You either have some interesting talents, or you have help.”

She chuckled. “Funny, the FBI said the same thing. Let’s just say...” She glanced at him.

Dallas muted the phone. “Tell him you have friends in high places.” That would put the detective on notice that she was being protected. Let him wonder just who those friends were that could keep the police and FBI from tracing her phone. He glanced at Jack. “That okay?”

Jack shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

He unmuted the phone.

“Well, Detective, let’s just say I have friends in high places.” She grinned, giving him the impression that she liked saying that.

He sure liked seeing a smile on her face. If they were alone, he’d kiss her, his agreement not to be damned.

Chapter Eleven

For a moment, Rachel thought Dallas was going to kiss her, right there in front of Jack and Noah. She would have let him. Oh, yeah, she would’ve.What happened to no more kissing, Rach?Why had she even thrown that rule out there? She must have had a reason, but she sure couldn’t remember it, not when he looked at her like he wanted to devour her.