When Lightning Strikes. Aimee Thurlo
one of the good guys,” he said, not answering directly. As he looked over at her, he saw she was shivering.
“It’s freezing,” she said, teeth chattering.
“It’s great September weather, but still too cold to be outside, even at noon, when you’re wet. Can we go inside? I suppose this is your cabin,” he said, deliberately playing dumb. He knew she didn’t have a cabin out here, but right now he had other priorities. Bringing her back suffering from hypothermia was not a good idea.
“I’m using it for now,” she said, not answering him directly. Hannah headed toward a set of flagstone steps leading up from the pond to the cabin.
He noted Hannah’s reluctance to come right out with a lie. The fact struck him as odd. She’d found it okay to steal, but balked at telling a lie? Well, he’d been warned she wasn’t in her right mind.
“I hope you have some warm clothes in there,” he said.
“There’s an old flannel shirt hanging in the closet,” she answered. “I’ll put that on.”
Daniel followed her through the sturdy wooden door that faced the pond, and Wolf padded in behind them as Daniel held it open.
Hannah reached for some towels on a shelf and handed him one. As she patted her long hair dry, Daniel studied her appreciatively.
Hannah Jones was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, crazy or not. And those eyes! They were evocative and sensual, the kind that could steal a man’s soul. Quickly, he reminded himself that they were also, apparently, the eyes of a woman with a damaged mind. There was no way of telling what would happen if he inadvertently pushed the wrong buttons.
Hannah started to go into the next room to change clothes, but he knew he couldn’t risk letting her out of his sight. He motioned to Wolf to follow and guard.
Daniel heard her startled cry as Wolf joined her. “Don’t worry. He’s a pussycat. Really.”
She came back out in seconds wearing an old flannel shirt. It fit snugly around her breasts, reminding him of things he had no business dwelling on.
“Let’s get going.”
“Where?” she asked, immediately on her guard.
“You are Hannah Jones.”
“How did you know?” Her eyes widened with fear and she stepped back.
“Wait. You already know I’m not your enemy. Remember, I pulled you from the water? If I’d wanted to harm you, I could have let you drown.”
She stared at him for a long moment, then finally nodded. “Okay, that makes sense. But how did you find me, and who are you?”
“I go by the name of Lightning,” he said. “Your uncle sent me to find you and bring you back so you can get some medical help. I’m also supposed to bring back the money you took from the church.”
“The money I…what?”
“You took around two thousand dollars from the church, then hit your uncle in the back of the head,” he said quietly. “But he’s okay now, and nobody’s pressing charges. The police aren’t involved in this at all. Your uncle and the people on the church committee just want to help you. They’ve even kept your disappearance a secret.”
Hannah shook her head. “None of what you’ve said makes sense. I couldn’t have harmed my uncle. He’s the only family I’ve got left. I love him. And I’m not a thief,” she added flatly.
“Then tell me. What’s your version of what happened at the church, and how did you end up here?”
She hesitated, then exhaled softly. “Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened at the church. I remember walking in there, then the next thing I recall was waking up in a strange car with a man nearby who was planning to kill me. I got away from him as fast as I could,” Hannah said, explaining her escape.
Daniel gave her a long, speculative glance. Her story might have been part of her delusion, or simply an attempt to get him to let her go. “Do you have any idea how you ended up in that man’s car, or what happened to your own vehicle? It’s missing.”
Her eyes welled up with tears, but she didn’t let them spill. Instead she met his gaze with a level one of her own. “I don’t remember, and I don’t understand why I can’t. It’s not for lack of trying, believe me.”
Daniel gazed at the face that was beginning to mesmerize him. There was a slight bump on her forehead, mostly covered by her bangs, which were starting to dry now, but it scarcely looked significant enough to have created a memory loss. “What exactly do you remember?”
“I was at the church waiting to see my uncle. I remember going into his office. Then, after that, nothing—that is until I woke up in the car of the man I told you about, handcuffed to a bracket by the seat. I heard him talking to someone else on the phone who, apparently, was telling him to kill me.”
“Where are the cuffs? Did you find a key?”
“No. I found some of those little hexagonal L-shaped tools in a drawer. One was small enough to fit into the lock, and I fiddled with it until the lock opened.” She walked to the kitchen and held the handcuffs up for him to see. “Here.”
He took them and put them in his back pocket. They were definitely not police issue and flimsy enough that her story could be true. But that still didn’t prove a word she’d said. She could have had her own pair of handcuffs, depending on what kind of games she liked to play, or maybe she’d had a security guard boyfriend at one time.
“You don’t believe me,” she said, disappointment evident in her tone.
“Truthfully, I’m just not sure. But it looks like you believe it.”
She shook her head. “That’s a non-answer. You think I’m a few French fries short of a Happy Meal?”
“I have no idea,” he answered. “But you sure look and sound okay to me,” he said, in what had to be the understatement of the year.
Hannah laughed, but it was a sad laugh, inspired by despair—not mirth. He started to say more, but Wolf’s whine alerted him.
The dog stood on his hind legs, and stared out the window, sniffing the air as he rested his front paws on the sill.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Company’s coming, and I don’t think it’s the sweepstakes prize patrol.”
The off-the-cuff remark reminded him of one of his objectives, and Daniel made a quick visual search of the nearly empty cabin. There was no money to be found there in any readily accessible place. For now, they had to leave. Silentman could send someone to search more thoroughly later.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said, taking her hand, and letting the dog lead the way as they slipped out the back door.
Wolf stopped suddenly, then, hackles raised and body low to the ground, crept forward. Daniel knew the move. Someone was close and the dog didn’t see whoever it was as a friend. More than likely, Wolf had scented alcohol, gun powder, or some other substance he’d been trained to recognize as trouble.
“Hurry,” he urged Hannah.
Suddenly two men wearing ski masks and carrying baseball bats stepped out from behind a sandstone boulder. “Hit the trail, Geronimo,” the tall, blue-eyed Anglo said, using a worn-out racist label. Their short-sleeved shirts revealed white, but suntanned skin. “We have unfinished business with the lady but none with you. Come with us, Hannah.”
Hannah looked startled, and stepped back, away from the men.
Wolf was nowhere to be seen, but Daniel knew the dog would be nearby. He’d probably circled around to wait for Daniel’s signal to attack.
“You’re