Christmas Bodyguard (3 page)

“Was she okay?”

“She didn't say anything, but I could tell she was tired.”

“Thanks.” He gave Lily a smile and began to turn away.

“Did something happen to Mrs. Bradley? Mr. C, what's going on?”

That was a good question—another one he didn't have an answer for. “Mrs. Bradley is fine. But I've decided that
Abbey shouldn't have come back to school so soon after the accident.”

He didn't give Lily a chance to ask any more questions. He dove through the mass of teens and approached Abbey's fourth-hour teacher. Taking a card out of his pocket, he scribbled down his cell number. “I'm going to keep looking for my daughter. If she shows up, please let me and the office know.”

“Of course, Mr. Caulder. I hope everything is all right.” The teacher's own apprehension seeped into her voice.

“So do I,” he said, then turned toward the assistant principal. “Did anyone check with the school nurse? Maybe she wasn't feeling well. This was her first day back since the wreck.”

“I'm sure the nurse heard the announcement and was alerted when the teachers were, but I'll call right now and check with her.” The woman stepped away and took out her cell phone.

“If she isn't at the nurse's office, where else might she go?” The calmness that coated Elizabeth's voice spoke of a person who dealt in intense situations and kept her composure throughout.

He could use some of that calmness right now. He thought of all the times he should have spent with his daughter—not working to drive away the memories of Catherine's death. “Abbey is involved in cheerleading, basketball and drama.”

“Why don't we check those places next?” Elizabeth asked as the assistant principal returned.

“Abbey isn't at the nurse's office.”

Slade's gaze coupled with Elizabeth's. “Then let's go to the gym.”

It took them ten minutes to scour the gym and locker rooms. No sign of Abbey. Slade left the gym complex,
trying to hold on to hope that Abbey was all right, that somehow she hadn't heard the announcement. He clutched his cell as though having it in his hand would make it ring with news that his daughter was safe.

“Let's check the drama wing and then go back to Abbey's next class,” Slade said to the assistant principal.

The woman escorted them down the long hall that led to the drama classroom and the area behind the stage. Most of the students were inside their classrooms by now, with only a few stragglers. Teachers were encouraging them to go to class immediately. Concern marked the faces of the people he passed.

Elizabeth fell into step beside him. Why didn't he get a bodyguard right after the wreck? Why did he think it was a hunter? If Abbey was kidnapped it would be his fault. How could he live with that? “If Abbey isn't here, I'm going to have the police bring in more officers. Nothing can happen to her.”

“When we find her, I'll do my best to protect her.” Although Elizabeth's words were spoken with a hard edge, her expression softened as she looked up at him.

A tough exterior meshed with a kind heart. He saw it in her eyes as he held the door to the drama room open for Elizabeth. She exuded confidence by the way she carried herself. To look at her a person would never think she was a bodyguard, and yet since he'd been around her, he'd gotten the distinct impression she could take care of herself in many tough situations.

Students were seated in the large drama classroom. The assistant principal walked over to the teacher to speak with her while Slade let his gaze travel around the room, fastening on each teenager there. Slade held his breath and finally released it in a rush when he saw the teacher frown and shake her head.

“She's not here,” he murmured to Elizabeth, who scanned the area, checking out every nook and cranny. She shook her head at his words.

“We should still look everywhere. Backstage is a huge place—or at least, it was when I was in school.”

“Backstage? Why would Abbey be there?”

“Does Abbey have a boyfriend?”

Slade went cold. “What are you implying?”

“She's a teenage girl. I have to think of all possibilities.”

“No, she doesn't have a boyfriend that I know about.” But what if she'd kept one secret? It wouldn't have been difficult to hide. The past few months he'd lived at the office, finalizing the unveiling of a new product. He should have been home discovering what was going on in his daughter's life.

“One of my jobs is to ask tough questions. Ones you might not want to hear.”

The assistant principal approached. “She's not here. Let's go back to her fourth-hour class before we head to the office.”

His gaze connected to Elizabeth's, Slade said, “First let's go backstage and make sure she isn't there.”

“But she—”

The glare he sent the older woman halted her words. “Humor me.”

“Fine.” The assistant principal led the way through a long corridor that ran behind the stage and opened a door.

“What's back here?” Elizabeth asked as the woman switched on additional lights.

“There's a room where costumes are stored. Props and pieces of furniture are housed over there.” The assistant principal flipped her hand to the right.

Some of the furniture overflowed the storage room and was stacked along the wall. “I'll look in there,” Slade said.

“And I'll check the costume room.” Elizabeth started toward the left.

“Dad, what are you doing here?”

Slade froze for a few seconds before he pivoted toward the voice. He closed the space between them in three long strides and clasped Abbey's arms. Pulling her into his embrace, he hugged her tightly to him. She was okay.

“Dad, I can't breathe.” Wiggling out of his arms, she backed away a few paces and tilted up her face to peer at him.

“Abbey, where have you been?”

Confusion marked her expression, but something more, too. Her brown eyes held a lackluster look. A pallid weariness highlighted her features. “I was tired. I thought a nap at lunch would help. I set my alarm on my watch to wake me before my next class.”

“Why didn't you just come home? I'd have picked you up if you weren't feeling well.”

“I didn't want to go home. I don't want to miss the last play practice before Thanksgiving weekend.” She dropped her head. “And I wanted to see my friends. Go to the game tonight.”

“We'll talk when we get home.”

“Home? But I want to stay.”

“That's not an option, Abbey. I came to school to get you. There are some things I must talk to you about.” A conversation he didn't want to have at all and especially not in front of the assistant principal.

Abbey glanced at Elizabeth and frowned. “What's going on?”

“This isn't the place to discuss it.”

“Is Gram all right?” His daughter's voice rose, fear pushing the confusion and exhaustion away.

“She's fine. Let's go to the office and check you out.”

“I'll let everyone know Abbey has been found.” The assistant principal withdrew her cell again and placed a call as they headed to the main office.

“Who is she?” Abbey asked, tossing her head toward Elizabeth.

“Abbey, this is Elizabeth Walker, a friend of Kyra Morgan.”

Abbey's features pinched into a deeper frown as though that didn't explain anything. “Kyra? I haven't seen her in a while. Why—”

“Hon, I'll explain everything later. Let's go home.”

Abbey came to a halt just outside the main office and faced him. “What's going on? Why are the police here?” She pointed at the two officers visible through the large plate-glass window, talking with the principal.

The ringing of his cell gave him an excuse not to answer. Instead, he faced the empty hallway they had just come down and answered the call from the ranch, glad for the interruption. “Slade here.”

His housekeeper's frantic voice came over the connection loud and clear. “Mr. Caulder, there's been a break-in.”

“W
hat?” Slade hunched his shoulders and lowered his voice, keeping his back to his daughter. “A break-in?”

“I got home a few minutes ago from town and the front door was wide open. The alarm wasn't on. Mrs. Bradley is gone. Do you think anything happened to her?”

“Mary's at church. I called her there an hour ago. Is anything taken?”

“I don't know. I decided I'd better stay out on the porch until the sheriff comes. I phoned him and gave him the gate code.” Hilda had dropped the level of her voice a few notches, but the frantic ring still sounded in her words.

“I'll be right home. Mary should be there before me. Don't go into the house.” He snapped the phone closed and turned toward his daughter and Elizabeth.

“Is something wrong?” Abbey asked, her eyes narrowing.

“We need to get going. Do you have the books you need?”

“Dad—”

“We'll talk in the car on the way to the ranch. I promise.”

“Fine. I've got everything I need.” Abbey clutched the straps on her backpack and stalked toward the exit.

Elizabeth moved close, her scent of vanilla swirling about him. “What happened?”

“The house was open when Hilda, my housekeeper, came home from running errands.”

“I understand your mother-in-law lives with you. Was she home?” Elizabeth started after his daughter.

“No. You've been doing your homework.”

“I asked Kyra. I like to know everything I can going into a situation.” She paused near his car and watched Abbey climb into the front passenger seat. “I'll follow you to the ranch.”

He cracked a grin. “Are you sure you don't want to come with us?”

Although her expression was somber, a gleam lit her green eyes. “I'll be right behind you. You should be all right.”

“It's obvious you don't know much about my daughter. I wouldn't be surprised if you hear her clear into your car when I tell her she has a bodyguard and why.”

“Have fun.”

The smile that graced her lips transformed her whole face. He watched her walk to her Trans Am and slip behind the steering wheel. When she waved at him, he suddenly realized he was staring at her. He quickly twisted toward his car door and wrenched it open.

The second he climbed into his Lexus, Abbey angled toward him. The corners of her mouth dipped in a frown. “What's going on?”

He switched on the engine and pulled away from the curb. Although the ranch was only half an hour away, it would be a
long
trip. “It began with the wreck.”

She sat up straight, her eyes wide. “Am I in trouble? Am I getting a ticket?”

He shook his head. “I wish that were it.”

“Dad, you're scaring me.”

Good. She needed to be scared, so she'd follow the safety measures he was putting in place. But his daughter thought she was invincible, taking risks when she shouldn't.

“Hon, there's no easy way to tell you this. Our car crash wasn't an accident. Someone shot the tire out, and that's why there was a blowout.”

Abbey collapsed back against the seat. “What's that mean?”

“Someone has targeted—” he inhaled a stabilizing breath “—you.”

“Me!” She flattened herself against the passenger door, totally facing him. “Why? What have I done?”

“I don't think you've done anything. I think they're angry with me and using you to get to me.”

“Why? What have you done?”

A layer of sweat coated his palms, and one hand slipped down the steering wheel. He gripped it tighter. “I don't think I've done anything wrong, either.” He wasn't even sure he was the real target, but he wasn't going to let his daughter think someone was angry enough with her to want to harm her. Not unless he was sure. Logically, he was the one the person was after.

“I don't understand.”

“I'm a wealthy man. It may be someone after money. It may be more than that. I don't know.”
I don't understand, either.
He was rich, and yet all his money hadn't been able to save Catherine five years ago. What if he lost someone he loved again? The feeling of having no control swamped him.

“A ransom? Someone wants to kidnap me?”

“That's a possibility.”

“So that's why you freaked out at school.”

“Yeah. Someone called with a threat against you. Then
when no one could locate you…” His voice faded into the silence as he relived the fear he'd experienced when he couldn't find Abbey. The beating of his heart accelerated and sweat popped out on his forehead as though he were back in that school hallway at his daughter's classroom with no Abbey in it.

She glanced behind the car. “Why is that lady following us home?”

Another fortifying breath. “That lady is your bodyguard.”

She bolted up. “What? A bodyguard?”

“Yes.”

“She's gonna follow me around?”

“She will be with you at all times.”

“When I go to school? The mall? To my friends'?”

“Yes.” His throat dry, he swallowed hard and continued in a firm voice. “To school, but there won't be any mall trips. Your activities will be curtailed.”

Abbey shook her head. “I'm grounded? I haven't done anything wrong.”

At a stoplight he pinned her with a look that he hoped conveyed the seriousness of the situation. “This isn't about right and wrong. This is about your safety. You will do what Elizabeth Walker says. She'll be there to protect you.”

“Protect me? I'm taller than she is. How's she gonna do that?”

“She works for Kyra, and Kyra highly recommends her. That's good enough for me.” It had to be. He was putting his daughter's life into Elizabeth's hands, and he hadn't trusted another person that way since Catherine.

“I'm not gonna have any privacy?”

“At home, to a certain degree. Whenever you're out, no.”

“I don't have a say in this?”

“No,” he bit out between gritted teeth, slanting a look at his daughter.

Her mouth was set in a stubborn line. She swung her full attention out the window and crossed her arms over her chest.

The rest of the fifteen-minute drive was done in silence. A silence Slade relished because any conversation he and Abbey had would end up in an argument.

When he arrived at the estate, he pushed his opener and waited for the gates to slowly swing open. As a boy, he'd wanted to be a cowboy, ride his horse and camp outside. That was why he'd bought the property. Yet this period of house arrest until the stalker was found would be the most waking hours he'd spent on the ranch in years.

Instead, he worked. If he worked hard enough, he didn't remember what he was missing or what he couldn't change—most of the time. But every once in a while he thought about his wife. Losing her had been devastating. How much more would he have to lose?

“Dad, the gate's open.”

Blinking, he straightened and focused on the task at hand—drive the car to his house and meet with the sheriff. Try to make some kind of sense of all that was happening to him and his daughter. Try to figure out who was behind this. Because when he found the person responsible, that guy would regret ever coming after his family.

As he passed through the gates and navigated the road to his house, he peered at the red Trans Am behind his vehicle. He wasn't alone. He had help. Would it be enough?

Through the trees, the sight of his two-story white house with six columns across the front came into view—along with the sheriff's car and a black SUV. Standing on the large porch that ran the length of the front of the antebellum home were Hilda, Mary, the sheriff and an older gentleman
who must be Joshua Walker. When Slade pulled up in the circular drive and parked behind the sheriff's vehicle, he slid his hands from the wheel and rubbed them on his pants. He couldn't deny the fear that blanketed him at the moment, but he wouldn't let others see it.

Abbey flounced out of the Lexus, and the slam of his passenger door prodded him to move. As he climbed from his car, Elizabeth parked her Trans Am behind his vehicle.

“You've got a nice little reception.” She nodded toward the porch as Abbey charged toward her grandmother, said something to her, then stomped to the black wicker settee a few yards away from the cluster of people in front of the open door. She plopped her book bag down by her feet.

“Yeah. You know, up until recently my life has been dull.”

“I think that's about to change.”

“Let's find out what happened here first. This might not be tied to the threats.” He hoped this was the case, although he doubted it. “I'm afraid I waited too long to upgrade the security system.”

Sheriff McCain ambled toward him and shook Slade's hand. “I just got here. I haven't had time to check the house out. I have a deputy checking the exterior, talking to your men. Hilda said she came home and found the front door wide open. Leaves had blown into the foyer. She walked inside and called out for Mary. When she didn't respond, Hilda got out of the house and placed a call to me.”

“So you don't know if anything was taken?”

“She didn't see anything but didn't go very far in. Mary filled me in about the photo you found this morning at your office.”

“I also received a threatening call against Abbey later
at the office on my private line. I informed Captain Ted Dickerson of the Dallas police.”

“I'll call him and let him know I have an interest in the case. We can coordinate our investigations.”

“As you no doubt know,” Slade said, gesturing toward Joshua then Elizabeth, “I've hired help. Ms. Walker will be Abbey's bodyguard while Mr. Walker will be guarding me. He's going to do a security assessment of my house today. Whatever it takes, I'll make this place a fortress.”

“Good. You can never be too careful. I'm going inside and look around. You can come in when I think there isn't any danger.”

“Okay.” When he and the sheriff joined Hilda, Mary, Elizabeth and Joshua, Slade said to the group, “Sheriff McCain is going inside to make sure it's all right for us to go in.” As the law enforcement officer moved toward the entrance, his hand on his holster, Slade glanced around.

“Where's Jake?” Slade's foreman had been with him from the beginning, and he'd come to depend on him where the ranch was concerned. Jake would need to be kept informed because he knew this place better than most.

“I didn't get hold of him. No one answered at the barn, and I thought I shouldn't leave since the sheriff was on his way.”

Slade nodded. “He said something about working on the fence in the north pasture. I'll let him know later what's going on if the deputy doesn't talk to him. I haven't had a chance to apprise him of the threats. As soon as we get the all clear, Joshua, I want you to start your assessment. It's obvious I could use more security.” As his first security measure, he needed to make sure Jake had his cell on him at all times.

“Will do.”

Slade peered at Abbey, who sat on the settee with her
legs clasped to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. A pallor to her face, she looked shell-shocked. He made his way to his daughter and eased down beside her. “Okay?”

“Sure. What girl doesn't want a maniac after her and a twenty-four-hour bodyguard?”

He settled his hand on her shoulder. “I'm sorry, honey.”

She shrugged away and turned toward him. Tears misted her eyes. “I've done nothing wrong, and yet I'm the one who's gonna feel like a prisoner. I just don't understand all this.”

His heart twisted at the anguish in Abbey's voice, her expression. One tear slipped down her cheek. He brushed it away with the pad of his thumb. Abbey fell into his arms and hugged him.

He flashed back to the last few minutes before Catherine passed away. Tears had leaked from her closed eyes to course down her face—the same face as his daughter's. A stab of pain sliced through his defenses. His gaze linked with Elizabeth's, full of concern, and for a few seconds the hurt melted away.

The sheriff poked his head out the doorway. “All clear. It looks like everything is in its proper place, but Slade and Mary, you'll need to have a look around. At least for now, check the obvious things a thief would steal.”

If the person after him and his daughter had been in his house, Slade felt exposed just sitting on the porch. He scanned the terrain, noting the horses grazing in the open field to the left, but a stand of trees directly in front would be a good place to hide. He'd prefer everyone inside. “Can we all come in?”

Sheriff McCain nodded and stood back from the entrance. “I need to check with my deputy and see if
he found anything outside or if any of your men saw anyone.”

Slade moved first into the house with Joshua on his heels. Abbey, Mary and Hilda followed with Elizabeth taking up the rear. Leaves littered the marble floor. A breeze from the door lifted several and swirled them around to land finally in the living room. He scanned the walls, making sure his couple of pieces of art were still hanging. The Manet over the mantel and the Degas between the two floor-to-ceiling windows were untouched. That fact relaxed the tense set of his shoulders and eased the roiling in his stomach. He'd bought the masterpieces for Catherine that last year she was so sick to cheer her up. She'd loved the impressionist period of art.

Maybe somehow the door wasn't latched properly and the wind had blown it open.
Yeah, right, and maybe no one shot out your tire.

As he tramped through his house with Joshua, checking the safe and other places he had valuables, he couldn't shake the sensation his life would never be the same. He'd learned in business to be wary. Now that feeling would overflow into his personal life.

Back in the foyer, Slade paused near the front door as the sheriff came back into the house. Any adrenaline that had surged through him had subsided, leaving him tired and in need of some caffeine. “I don't see anything missing,” he said. “I'll check some more, but if nothing is missing, maybe no one was in here.”