Page 28 of Snowbound Threat

Pops gave him a steady look. “So you take all the risk and protect everyone else in the balance. Just like your parents.”

Great. They were back to that.

Fine. He wanted to talk about them?

Caleb lifted his chin. “Who are they that they had to leave just to save our lives?”

He would rather have had them in his life. He wanted to be the little boy he was on the inside. The one asking why he couldn’t have gone with his parents instead of being left behind.

But then the life he lived right now wasn’t one he would have taken a child along for.

“Your parents are people who do important work, just like you.”

Caleb said, “That’s not an answer. It doesn’t tell me anything.”

It’d been years since they left. Whatever danger there had been back then couldn’t possibly be the case now, right? Maybe it was just easier to stay away when they’d been out of contact for so long.

But again, the little boy inside wanted his mom and dad back.

“I’m leaving. As soon as this case is finished I’ll be back, because I’m not like them.” Caleb slung the duffel over his shoulder and headed down the hall.

Gus wandered out of the living room and stopped for Caleb to say bye to him. He dropped the duffel bag by the door and bent to give the dog a rubdown. He kept his mouth shut, ignoring the stinging in his eyes. It was just a dog for crying out loud.

But everyone knew that wasn’t the whole truth. Even if he was just focusing his emotions on the animal right now and it was about so much more than just leaving Gus behind.

Caleb cleared his throat.

“There are people here who could help you. Folks you know you can trust.”

“Like Tessa?” Caleb straightened. “She’ll get herself killed and I’ll have to live with that on my conscience.”

Once had been one time too many, and he had no desire to repeat that scenario ever again. He was not bringing his life into this town anymore.

Nathan Kessler’s men had found him here and come after Tessa’s father. As much as he would like to know what that was about he was going to take the chance and turn the fight back on the man he’d spent years trying to bring down.

“Did you stop and pray about it?” Pops asked.

“That was a low blow.” Using that to make him feel guilty that he was leaving without talking it through? “I’ve been praying for weeks about how to do this, and I finally got a lead. It might not have come the way I expected it to but I’m not going to just sit here and wait for him to come to me.”

The most he could figure was that his parents had sent Tessa’s father information to pass to Caleb. He and the preacher hadn’t had occasion to meet yet. Maybe her dad hadn’t even known that Caleb was home right now. Now that he did, it didn’tmatter. Caleb had the contents of the white envelope and all the intel he could gain from those three men.

Men willing to kill to get what they wanted. To bury the secret that Caleb was the one on the right side of the law.

“I’m not going to let them take my life away. They already got far too much.”

“So you’ll walk away and sacrifice your future.”

“What future?” Caleb lifted his hands, then let them fall back to his sides. “My arm is a whole lot better than it was when I got here a couple of weeks ago. If I don’t finish this case and clear my name, taking down Kessler in the process, I don’t have a future. All I have is a life in hiding being blamed for things I didn’t do. Labeled a traitor when I am not one.”

“The people who know you know the truth that you could never be what they’re saying you are.”

“You want that to be enough, but I need my integrity. I need my reputation.”

Pops nodded. “I understand.” He looked at Caleb with a pensive expression, then said, “You should go now. Tessa will be here soon.” He paused. “Unless you want to say goodbye to her before you go.”

Caleb stared at his grandpa. “Why is she coming here?”

“Because they won’t let her stay overnight at the hospital and she doesn’t want to go home alone to house that was broken into by these people.”