Identical Threat Page 5

  It was a good look for Caleb but not one Desmond particularly cared for at the moment.

  “A bonus to opening Second Wind here in Overlook was to give the residents something positive to associate with our names,” he said. “Not just another insane story about some crazy person seeking vengeance or someone with a penchant for senseless violence.”

  Caleb sighed. He pulled a chair out and fell into it. Desmond dropped into the one opposite. They both took a second to glance at the chair at the head of the table. Sometimes when it was just the two of them together, the urge to look for Madi turned into them physically doing it even when they knew exactly where she was. Their mother called the phenomenon just another piece of their triplet connection.

  “As senseless as what happened was, it didn’t happen to any of us Nashes,” Caleb started. “And just because Ms. Stone was coming from your party doesn’t mean it was your fault that she was attacked. Hell, Des, there’s no telling what would have happened had you not been there to help. Yeah, the press might bring up all the madness we’ve been through in the last few years and yeah, maybe even recap—well, that, but all they’re going to say about you is that you helped make an unfortunate situation a lot better. You might get a little more popular over the next week or two but construction on Second Wind will continue, you’ll go back to work and eventually it’ll just be another story recirculating in the gossip mill. Okay?”

  Desmond nodded. He knew his brother was right. The gala had been open to the public. There had been no screening of the guests and no way for them to know that Brett had intended to do what he had. Or, apparently, who Brett even was. Once Desmond was able to see the man in the light, he confirmed to Declan that he’d never seen the man. In fact, none of the Nashes had recognized him or the name.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of who he is and why this Brett attacked Riley when we talk to him later today,” Caleb added on, sensing his brother’s concern. “Men like him like talking. All we have to do is wait and listen.”

  “It’s times like these I wouldn’t mind being in law enforcement,” Desmond admitted. He smirked, actively trying to loosen the tension in his shoulders. “Can’t you and Declan bend the rules and let me in on an interrogation?”

  Caleb chuckled.

  “I’d like to be a fly on the wall for that request. Maybe if we weren’t fraternal we could just switch.”

  Desmond had a feeling his brother had been waiting to loop back to the fact that Riley and Jenna were twins since he’d found out at the hospital. There was a slight childlike wonder in his eyes. None of the Nash triplets had ever met a set of identical twins. Under different circumstances it would have been more intriguing to Desmond, he was sure.

  “It was like seeing someone staring into a mirror,” he had to admit. “Madi would have flipped. Hell, it had me speechless for a second. I still can’t believe they tried to pull that crap.”

  Like someone had flipped a switch, the mood changed in the little dining room. Caleb slid into his detective’s face, as Desmond had called it through the years. He was on a case. He was looking for clues. He was coming to conclusions.

  He was staring at Desmond.

  “Two hours,” Caleb finally said. Desmond felt his brow rise in question.

  “Two hours?”

  “That’s how long Riley’s lie lasted. Only two hours. Remember that the next time you see her. Maybe remind that serious face of yours to calm down.” Caleb pushed the chair back and stood. He had spent a good amount of his career hiding the exhaustion that sometimes went with a long day or night but now Desmond saw the drag of it pulling down his shoulders. If he didn’t live on the ranch too, no more than five minutes down the road, Desmond would have told him to stay. As it stood, Desmond pulled himself up and walked his brother to the door. Caleb slowed down to make up for his limp.

  “I’m fine,” Desmond said before Caleb could ask about his leg. “Nothing some pain meds and a few hours of sleep won’t fix.”

  “Good. Just don’t let Ma see you doing that pained face tomorrow. We had to move heaven and earth to keep her from leaving the ranch tonight. Madi said she thought she was going to have to get Julian to tackle her at one point to keep her from rushing to the hospital.”

  “For a woman who preaches doing everything in her power to be stress-free, she sure soaks it up when it’s out there.”

  “Well, when you have kids as awesome as us, can you blame her for being worried?”

  Desmond snorted.

  “Calling yourself awesome doesn’t make it so,” he said.

  “Agree to disagree, Des. Agree. To. Disagree.”

  Caleb clapped him on the shoulder and then bounded down the porch steps toward his truck. The main house stood a hundred or so yards away, lights off. The Nash children had grown up in that house and now their mother lived there alone.

  Long before Desmond had agreed to bring Second Wind to Overlook—or even had Second Wind as a thought in his head—he’d built his house close to the main one on purpose. He didn’t want to live in his childhood home but he also didn’t want to leave his mother by herself. Even though he’d barely spent time in Overlook, he felt comforted by the fact that all she had to do was look out her window and see the house there. Now that he was living there full-time, Desmond saw how it could be tricky being so close to his mother. While he had made peace with the fact that he’d have his limp for the remainder of his life, he had a sneaking suspicion his mother still had a hard time seeing it from time to time.

  Desmond took a deep breath. The chill that had spread across Overlook filled his lungs. He hoped in the next few hours it would stay. He was no stranger to sweat-inducing heat and humidity—you wouldn’t hear him complaining about it—but he had to admit he enjoyed cooler weather. In fact, before the gala had started, he’d found himself staring at the mountains in the distance and hoping for snow.

  Now the gala felt like days ago, not hours.

  Desmond moved back into the house and straight for the shower. He tried to clear his head as hot water beat against his back and aching leg.

  Yet, his thoughts wandered to tangles of dark red hair.

  Two hours.

  That’s how long the lie had lasted.

  Desmond knew his frustration was an overreaction, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now.

  He got out of the shower, dried off, slipped on a pair of boxers and fell into bed.

  It wasn’t until he was dozing off that the reason for him being on Winding Road in the first place when he saw Riley and Brett made noise in his thoughts.

  After Caleb had also tried to push off telling him what the graffiti on Second Wind’s construction site had said, Desmond had sneaked away to see it for himself.

  It had ruined his night with one look. If it hadn’t been for the excitement that followed, Desmond had no doubt he would have focused on that for the remainder of the party.

  Now the overtly stylized sentence he’d seen spray painted floated behind dozing eyes.

  “Can’t even win a simple game of hide-and-seek.”

  Chapter Six

  Two weeks went by and the media didn’t let a day pass without some mention of what had happened after the Second Wind gala.

  Brett had been identified as Brett Calder, a man no one seemed to know personally in town. A newspaper article stated that he had a history of domestic violence and ties to an up-and-coming criminal group out of the city of Kilwin. As far as the attack on Riley Stone, it was one of opportunity. There was no rhyme or reason past that, according to his own admission of guilt. He had seen her leave, alone, and followed.

  Desmond Nash, famed local businessman, had been in the right place at the right time. Another story in the form of a social media post for an online publication questioned why Desmond was out on the road during his party in the first place and w
ondered at his motives, as well as his involvement. A poorly Photoshopped picture was posted in the comments and showed a younger Desmond in a group picture with a younger Brett. The writer called it a conspiracy. That comment was eventually deleted, along with the account that had posted it.

  A few other county newspapers and TV stations picked up the story but not for the sheer audacity of Brett Calder’s attack. Instead it was blatantly obvious that everyone’s interest revolved around Desmond’s involvement. Some stories didn’t just stop with him. They reported on and recapped earlier news stories about the attacks on Caleb and his wife two years ago and Madeline’s wrongly accused involvement in a homicide the year before. Two stories even included the infamous Nash triplet abduction, the greatest unsolved mystery in Overlook’s history.

  Riley had known that Desmond and his family had lived through trauma; he was very open about that and his intentions of helping others like him through Second Wind, but she didn’t know the gritty details that went along with it. She had felt a flare of shame as she’d read a social media post that listed bullet points of facts.

  The eight-year-old triplets had sneaked out to a local park.

  They’d been playing a game of hide-and-seek when a man with a gun had grabbed Madeline Nash.

  Trying to help her, Caleb Nash had been shot in the shoulder and Desmond Nash had had his leg broken by their attacker.

  Using the unconscious Madeline as incentive to do as he said, the man took all three to an undisclosed cabin in the woods where the children were kept in the basement for three days.

  They finally managed to escape by pretending that Desmond had stopped breathing and overpowering their abductor by working together when he came to check on the boy.

  From there they ran through the woods until they found help. By the time authorities made it back to the cabin, their abductor was gone.

  To this day no one had any information on the man or why he had done what he did, despite the triplets’ father and then detective, Michael Nash, working the case hard until the day he died of a heart attack years later.

  The story pulled at Riley’s heartstrings, but it also made her angry. The family had already been through way more than most. People were just dredging up the old stories for shock value and clicks. A thought that was admonished by an opinion editorial in the local newspaper, the Overlook Explorer.

  The op-ed was written by the current news editor, Delores Dearborn. In it she reminded the community that the Nash family did a lot for the town. She highlighted the sheriff’s career as well as Caleb’s time as a deputy and detective, pointed out that Dorothy Nash, their mother, had been an upstanding and valued resident of Overlook longer than most had been alive, reminded them of Madeline Nash’s continued involvement in the community and wrapped the piece up with the bold statement that the Nash family had helped shape the town of Overlook just as much as the founding families if not more.

  “Without the Nash family and their beloved ranch, who would we even be as a town? Not the Overlook I’ve come to know and love, that’s for sure.”

  Delores had ended the article with a call to action. Give the Nash family the respect and privacy they deserve. Look to the future, instead, with the same excitement and vigor they’ve been using to dredge up the past.

  It had been a wonderful and inspiring read. One that had resonated with Jenna also after they’d finally bought a copy. She put the newspaper down on the jungle gym’s platform between them and blew out a long breath.

  “I guess what they say is true,” she said. “‘Be kind because everyone is fighting their own battle.’”

  It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Overlook. Sun shining, sixty degrees and they were visiting a kid-friendly park just off Main Street that Riley was excited to explore with her nephew. She had her hair pulled back in a low ponytail, was wearing a purposefully oversize T-shirt and had donned her sister’s spandex running pants since half of Riley’s clothes were still in boxes in the garage.

  Jenna, on the other hand, was wearing a no-nonsense business outfit, complete with a slick black portfolio in one hand. She kept glancing in the direction of Main Street and Claire’s Café.

  “Just go,” Riley finally said. “Claire took this meeting already knowing about the switch. She was a single mom for years. She said she understood why we did it.”

  Jenna looked unsure.

  “What if she just wants to ask me about what happened to you? Or just wants to get mad at me in person for attempting to lie to everyone?”

  Hartley let out a trill of laughter as he slapped one of the colorful spinners in the wall of the jungle gym set. Riley couldn’t help but smile.

  “Listen, I have my phone. If she does anything crazy or mean just send an SOS text and me and the munchkin will come running. Okay? Now go.”

  Jenna nodded, resolute, and reached up to kiss her son on the cheek.

  “Don’t let him go down the slide by himself,” she said as she hurried to the sidewalk. “We don’t want a repeat of him jumping off like last time!”

  Riley waved her twin off and refocused on the tiny daredevil in question. Hartley was, thankfully, the spitting image of Jenna and not his father. A mop of red curls topped a matching pale complexion and smattering of freckles. The only differing trait was a set of bright green eyes. They followed Riley as she climbed up to the platform and settled down next to him. Together they hit the spinners and built-in music chimes.

  Several minutes, and rides down the attached slide, went by without a text from Jenna. Riley hoped she could pull off her freelance career in Overlook, starting with Claire. As for her own career goals? Riley was still thinking about that. After her divorce many of her life plans had come to a screeching halt. She hadn’t been able to rewrite them all yet.

  “Hi!”

  Hartley’s high-pitched greeting flipped Riley’s attention from setting herself up at the top of the slide again to someone standing a few feet from the stairs.

  “Hi there.”

  The voice was deep, and for the briefest of moments, Riley hoped it belonged to Desmond Nash. Since he’d helped her, she’d had a hard time getting him out of her thoughts. It wasn’t every day a cowboy businessman ran into the darkness to save you.

  Yet, as her eyes traced the man’s face, Riley didn’t recognize him at all.

  Stocky, on the shorter side and wearing business casual, his blue eyes swept over her and Hartley as he smiled.

  Riley’s instincts shot her hand out and looped her finger in the back of Hartley’s shorts. She felt the strain as the always-curious toddler tried to toddle in the direction of the new person.

  “Hi,” Riley said from her spot sitting at the top of the jungle gym. Her legs were already on the slide but Hartley was still in roaming mode. The playground set they were on was meant for small children. It was only a three-or four-foot drop. It put her at the perfect height to have an even eye line with the man. It also made her instantly nervous with how close he was.

  Riley knew not every smiling man was a Brett Calder, but that didn’t stop the deep mistrust that had rooted within her.

  It didn’t help that the most precious human she knew was between them.

  “I, uh, heard about what happened to your sister,” he continued, taking a small step forward. “I was at the Second Wind party and we talked for a bit. It’s crazy what happened to her, right?”

  Red flags shot up all around Riley. He thought he was talking to Jenna. He was also lying.

  She didn’t remember talking to him at all.

  “It was,” she hedged, pulling Hartley closer. The park was a block from Main Street but there were several pedestrians walking across the sidewalk from the communal parking lot to the main strip. Plus, a few other parkgoers lounging around the benches and fountain in the center. Surely the man wouldn’t do anything out in the open.


  Calm down, Riley. This is a small town. He could be just a friendly townie. Maybe you did talk to him. You talked to so many people before you left!

  The man was unaware of Riley’s inner monologue. He pressed on.

  “I actually work for the local newspaper and heard that maybe the more interesting story is you.”

  Riley couldn’t help the eyebrow raise that followed that.

  “You want to interview me?”

  He shrugged.

  “Why not? I heard you’re a freelance designer—that’s interesting. I heard you used to be part of a pretty successful company based in Kilwin—that’s also interesting. I also heard you used to be married to the CFO before you left so fast one night you can probably still see the dust in the air.”

  The man grinned.

  He was talking about Jenna.

  Riley felt sick.

  She didn’t try to look inconspicuous as she moved backward and got to her feet. She pulled Hartley up with her.

  “You’ve heard a lot,” she said, voice swinging low into an angry thrum. Hartley started to squirm against her hip. Riley didn’t let him down. “What did you say your name was?”

  “I didn’t.”

  He was still grinning.

  Riley felt the weight of her cell phone in her back pocket. She was about to pull it out and call for help, potential misunderstandings be damned.

  Maybe he saw she was on the verge of doing just that. He held up his hands in defense.

  “Listen, I don’t want any trouble. I just want to help get your side of the story out there, Ms. Stone. You know, what happened to your sister... And what happened between you and Ryan Alcaster.”

  If Riley could have spit fire, the man and the name he said with such nonchalance would have gone up in flames.

  “Listen here,” she started, instead. “You—”

  “Geordi?” Another deep voice joined the area around them. This time it was someone other than Riley who whipped their head around at being addressed, and also, this time Riley recognized the newcomer.