Safeguarding the Surrogate
highlight_author
Delores Fossen
highlight_reads
19.9K
highlight_chapters
17
Chapter One
Kara Holland stood in the darkness and waited for the killer.
With her heartbeat throbbing in her ears and her back pressed to the barn wall, she tried to listen for any sound to alert her that he was coming. Nothing. Not yet. But she’d done everything she could to lure him out and make him come after her.
And she was ready.
She had the Glock gripped in her hand, and thanks to the hours of firearms training, she knew how to use it. If that failed, if he somehow got the jump on her, she’d fall back on the hand-to-hand moves she’d also learned. Of course, those things didn’t guarantee that she would stop him, but she had to try. She was tired of living with this smothering weight of fear.
Finally, she heard something. The sound of a car engine. Then a door closing. He had finally come for her.
The next thing she heard were the footsteps, slow and cautious. They were coming straight toward her barn.
She’d purposely turned off all but the single light in the tack room, and Kara had left the door cracked just enough for a thin beam to pierce the darkness. She stayed in the shadows by a stack of hay bales, but when the killer came in the barn, she’d be able to see him.
Kara could certainly hear him.
Along with the footsteps, the hinges creaked on the barn door, and she pinpointed every bit of her focus while she lifted the Glock. And she took aim.
“Kara?” the man called out.
She groaned, mixing it with some muttered profanity, because she instantly recognized that voice. Not a killer. But Deputy Daniel Logan.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped once she could manage to speak.
“Checking on you,” Daniel snapped right back.
When he stepped into that beam of light from the tack room, she had no trouble seeing the riled expression on his face. Or the rest of him for that matter. He was wearing his usual jeans and work shirt on his tall rangy body. His Mercy Ridge deputy’s badge was clipped to his belt.
“I’m fine,” Kara assured him. Of course, that wasn’t true, and he could clearly see that. After all, she was waiting in her dark barn while holding a gun. “You can go.”
“No, I won’t.” Daniel sounded “all cop” with that one-word response. And he didn’t budge, either. In fact, he came closer, meeting her eye to eye.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Kara insisted.
“I wanted to have a look around and see for myself if the rumors were true. They are,” he added in a snarl. “What the hell are you thinking?”
“You know what I’m thinking,” she fired back.
That only caused him to release a long hard breath. No doubt one of frustration. Well, she was frustrated, too. And scared. Especially scared. Something that she’d hoped to end tonight.
“Two surrogates are dead,” Kara reminded him. Not that a reminder was necessary. Daniel knew because she’d already told him. She’d taken the news articles to him right away when she had learned about the dead women. “Both used the Willingham Fertility Clinic in San Antonio.”
Just as Kara had done. Again, no reminder was necessary for Daniel since the reason she had used the clinic and become a surrogate was to carry a baby for Daniel and his wife, Maryanne. Maryanne had also been Kara’s sister.
As it always did, just remembering Maryanne made her feel as if someone had clamped a vise around her heart. It was almost certainly even worse for Daniel. It’d been nearly two years since Maryanne had lost her battle with breast cancer, but sometimes it felt as fresh as if it’d just happened.
When the grief came in these thick waves, Kara just reminded herself that she’d kept her promise to her sister. Kara had gone to the fertility clinic and used in vitro to get pregnant with Daniel and Maryanne’s baby. The pregnancy and delivery had gone like clockwork, and Kara had given birth to a healthy baby girl, Sadie. But Maryanne had died four months before Sadie was born. Maryanne never got to hold the precious baby she’d so desperately wanted.
Now, the murders had happened. Murders that added another layer of emotion to the grief. And that emotion was fear.
“First of all, there’s no proof that the murders are connected to the Willingham Fertility Clinic,” Daniel explained. He was definitely repeating himself since he’d tried to convince her of this before. “One of the women was likely killed by an abusive ex-boyfriend. The other is still listed as missing.”
“There were signs of a struggle in the second woman’s house,” Kara quickly pointed out.
He nodded. “Even if she was attacked, that doesn’t mean there’s a link to the clinic.” Daniel certainly sounded convinced of that, but...
“Yet you’re here to check on me,” she said. “You must think there’s a credible threat or you wouldn’t have come.”
This time he scrubbed his hand over his face after he nodded again. “I’m a cop.” He paused, his jaw muscles at war. “I’m your friend. And I’m worried about you. You said you thought someone was following you and watching you when you were shopping in San Antonio.”
“Someone was.” Kara was sure of that, but it hadn’t been more than a gut feeling. “And I think someone got into my truck when I was there. The doors were unlocked, and I’m sure I locked them. I could also tell someone had riffled through the glove compartment.”
Daniel only sighed because they both knew that could have been a would-be thief. It wasn’t that hard to break into a vehicle. “If you truly believe someone wants to kill you, then why the hell would you offer yourself up like this and try to draw him out?”
“Because I’m tired of being scared,” she blurted out. Much to her disgust, her voice trembled. She hated that. “I’ve always been the strong one. No choice about that.”
He nodded. “Because you had to take care of your sister after...well, after.”
Daniel obviously hadn’t wanted to blurt out what followed that “after,” but he was talking about her parents being murdered. That’d happened when Kara had barely been eighteen, but she’d done a decent enough job raising Maryanne, who’d been three years younger. Heck, she had even continued to run the family ranch and had made it even more profitable than when her folks had been in charge.
The fear made her feel weak.
It made her feel like a coward.
“The second anniversary of Maryanne’s death is coming up,” Daniel said several moments later, “and I think it’s just stirring up bad memories for you. It’s certainly stirring up some for me,” he added in a mumble.
Kara had no doubts about that. None. Daniel had loved her sister, and even though he hadn’t approved of Maryanne opting for egg harvesting at a time when she should have been concentrating on her health and recovery, their marriage had held strong. Daniel had been as devastated by Maryanne’s death as Kara had.
Daniel glanced around as if trying to figure out what to do, and his gaze came back to hers. “So, what was your plan? To let word get around that you’d be working in your barn, alone, for the next couple of nights. Then wait, hoping that a killer will come in here after you?”
Yes, that had been the plan, and Daniel had made it seem like a stupid one. It hadn’t felt stupid, though, when she’d come up with it. However, it had felt desperate. Which it had been. This fear, and the threat, had to end.
“I’ve been having nightmares,” she admitted. “Bad ones. And I couldn’t get my mind off Brenda McGill and Marissa Rucker. Brenda’s the surrogate who was found dead, and Marissa’s the one who’s missing.”
Daniel made a sound to indicate that he understood that. “Then you started to dwell on the similarities between you and the women.”
Again, the answer to that was yes, and there had indeed been similarities. Even Daniel couldn’t deny that. Brenda and Marissa had both become surrogates to family members who’d had trouble carrying children. Both of them were brunettes—just like Kara. Both women had also lived in or near small towns. So did she. Kara lived on her horse ranch that was a good five miles from the town of Mercy Ridge where Daniel’s own ranch was located.
“I know you don’t believe this applies to my situation,” she went on, “but there are fanatics out there. People who don’t believe that surrogacy should be legal. The clinic admitted to me that they get threatening letters all the time. In one of them, the person said he was responsible for Brenda’s death and that there’d be other murders.”
None of that was an exaggeration, but as Kara heard her own words, she knew why Daniel was looking at her with what could only be sympathy in his otherwise cool gray eyes. Which, of course, only made her feel worse than she already did. Daniel shouldn’t be here. His concern for her shouldn’t have pulled him away from what he needed to be doing.
“You’ve obviously put in your usual shift at the sheriff’s office, and you should be home with your daughter,” Kara said. “How’s Sadie?” she added, not only hoping to remind him that he should be on his way but also because she genuinely wanted to know.
The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile, but then he winced a little. “She repeated a bad word that she heard me say when I dropped my phone.”
Sadie definitely was in the “little pitcher, big ears stage,” and she was constantly babbling. She was also the spitting image of Daniel with her dark brown hair and smoky gray eyes. Just remembering the image of that precious little face caused Kara to relax some.
Daniel checked his watch. “Why don’t you follow me home, and you can see Sadie for yourself? She should still be awake. And if you want, you can even stay the night in the guest room.”
It was a nice offer, one that might not please Daniel’s nanny, Noreen Ware, who was a stickler for keeping Sadie’s routine. Still, Kara thought a glimpse of the baby might soothe the rest of her frayed nerves.
“Thank you,” she muttered. “But just seeing Sadie should be enough. I won’t stay long, and then I can come back here.”
Daniel lifted an eyebrow. “Here as in the barn?”
“No. I’ll stay in my house.” With the doors locked and the security system armed. Kara tipped her head to the Glock she was holding by the side of her leg. “I’ll put this in the house first.”
Daniel walked out of the barn with her. “If you stay the night at my place, you could see Sadie in the morning and have breakfast with us.”
He was obviously still concerned about her state of mind, and while spending time with Sadie and him was tempting, Kara pulled back a little. Something she always did when it came to Daniel. After all, he was an attractive man. Incredibly hot. Something she had been aware of since she’d been old enough to notice the opposite sex. But after Daniel had started dating Maryanne in high school, Kara had made sure to keep any tugs from the attraction in check. That was much harder to do when she was under the same roof with him.
“Thanks, but I’ll just say good-night to Sadie and then come home,” Kara answered, though she would still have to deal with the worry and fear that a killer had her in his sights. That’s why she glanced around the backyard as they walked from the barn to her house.
Daniel looked around, too. The kind of glances a cop made. It eased some of the tightness in her chest to know that he hadn’t outright dismissed her concerns, but there was still a good fifty feet between the house and the barn. That was plenty of space for a killer to come after her.
He made it up the back porch steps ahead of her, and when he reached for the doorknob, she realized he was going in with her. “You should lock your door,” he commented when he opened it.
Kara froze. “I did.” She took the keys from her jeans pocket to show him. “In fact, I’ve been making a point of locking up since I heard about the surrogates. I also use my security system when I’m sleeping.” She hadn’t turned it on, though, for her “stakeout” in the barn.
Daniel’s forehead bunched up, but he certainly didn’t freeze. He hooked his left arm around Kara, positioning her behind him, and in the same motion, he drew his gun. That sent her heartbeat into overdrive.
“You’re sure you locked it?” he whispered.
“Positive.”
He gave a quick nod. “Stay close and keep watch behind us.”
That nearly robbed her of her breath, but Kara managed a nod, too. She was right behind Daniel when he stepped into her kitchen. As he’d done in the yard, his gaze fired all around, but he didn’t go far. Only enough to get her inside, and then he eased the door shut behind them. That would prevent them from being ambushed. Well, hopefully it would.
But the killer could be anywhere in the house.
They waited there for what seemed to be an eternity, and Daniel lifted his head, obviously listening. Kara did the same, but the only thing she could hear was her too fast breaths. She tightened her grip on the Glock, hoping that would steady her suddenly raw nerves.
Her house was old and didn’t have a modern open floorplan. That meant they couldn’t see any of the other rooms from their position so that was probably why Daniel took several quiet steps to the side and peered into the kitchen.
“I don’t see anyone,” he whispered.
That didn’t put her at ease because there were three bedrooms, a living and dining room, her office and two bathrooms. Plenty of places for someone to lie in wait for an attack.
Maybe the killer had gotten in and was now waiting to go after her. If so, he might not come out if he knew Daniel was there. Kara didn’t want the guy to be able to stay in hiding. She wanted him out in the open so this showdown could take place. Then and only then would the danger finally be over.
Daniel motioned for her to follow him as he stepped into the kitchen. No one was there, and when she peered into the living room, she could see that the front door was shut, the chain lock still in place. Nothing in the room had been disturbed. It was just as she’d left it over an hour ago when she’d gone out to the barn. It was the same for the dining room when they went in there to look around.
Since the house only had one floor, Daniel headed to the hall next, and Kara was able to take in everything in a sweeping glance. All the bedroom doors and the one to her office and the hall bathroom were open. Just as they normally were. That meant Daniel and she would have to go into each room to make sure no one was there.
Daniel didn’t waste any time doing just that. He went into the first guest room, his gaze shifting from one side of the room to the other. When they went inside, he checked the closet as Kara looked under the bed.
No one.
They repeated the process on the next bedroom and got the same results. However, the moment Daniel went through her office door, Kara knew something was wrong. The curtain was fluttering in the night breeze. And she soon saw why. The window was open.
Daniel didn’t ask if she’d left it that way. Probably because like her, he saw the bits of glass on the floor. Someone had broken the window, slipped a hand through and unlocked it to get inside.
“Keep watch,” Daniel reminded her, and he took out his phone to text for backup. Kara hadn’t thought anything could rev up her heartbeat even more, but that did it.
While he waited for a response to his text, he glanced in every corner. The intruder wasn’t here, and that left just one more place in the house. Her bedroom suite. Lots of places to hide in there, too.
His phone dinged, and Daniel checked the screen. “Barrett’s on the way,” Daniel told her in a whisper. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.”
Barrett was not only Daniel’s brother, he was also the town sheriff, and his ranch was only a couple of miles from Kara’s place.
As she’d done in the other rooms, she looked around to see if anything was missing. And there was. Her laptop was gone, and the bottom drawer of her desk was open. The small metal box she kept there was also open, and the money that would have normally been inside was missing.
“A burglar,” Daniel added, his voice still barely audible. “Someone who knew you wouldn’t be in the house. He could have come in through the window and gone out through the back door.”
Daniel was right. Why else would the back door be unlocked? Plus, she had put out word that she’d be in the barn tonight. And that made Kara want to kick herself. She’d practically invited someone to break in.
With Kara right behind him, Daniel went out of the office, back into the hall and headed for her bedroom. Her first thought was her jewelry box that would be sitting right on the dresser. She didn’t have a lot, but there were several rings and a necklace that had once belonged to her mother and grandmother. That made Kara want to rush inside the room when Daniel walked through the door.
But instead she froze in her tracks.
The lamp on the nightstand was on, the milky light practically spotlighting her bed. In the center of it was a woman with long brown hair. A stranger.
And her dead eyes stared up at the ceiling.
