Close To Danger (Westen #4)(70)

Wha-la. One problem solved.

She set the clean pot back in the machine.

Now to tackle her next problem. Where the hell is Chloe?

Sitting at her desk, she pulled out her cell phone, double checking that she had the ringer on and not on vibrate—a habit she’d developed while teaching so her phone wouldn’t interrupt class.

Nope. Ringer was on.

Why hadn’t Chloe called? It wasn’t like her sister, either one of them, not to call her when the weather was bad and let her know they were okay. It wasn’t so much that she required them to check in with her. They were grown women. Grown women with important jobs and lives of their own.

So, why was she so worried?

Because for nearly twenty years she’d talked to both Chloe and Dylan daily. At first it had been in the day-to-day existence in the home they shared. Stories of things that happened at school, things they were learning, people they met. The loves of their lives—interests, hobbies, books, clothes, friends, boys. The funny things they saw or read. The sad ones, too. After they graduated and went off to college, they’d still talked on the phone or saw each other almost daily. As much as she knew her sisters, they knew her, too. Whenever something bad happened in the world or the weather got bad, they’d check in, just so she wouldn’t worry.

“Staring at it isn’t going to make it ring,” Gage said from his desk.

She looked over to see him starting his work day studying reports Jason left for him. His routine. First thing when he got to the office he checked to see if anyone was in the jail cells, then he went over the nightshift report to see if anything required his immediate attention.

“I don’t see a point in trying Chloe’s number again,” she said. “It was still going to voicemail when I tried it back at the house.”

“Call Dylan,” he suggested.

Bobby heaved a sigh and glanced at the clock. Seven-o-five. “I hate to call her so early on her day off. She said she was heading home from the hospital last night and straight to bed after pulling an extra twenty-four hours on call because of the blizzard. Poor thing needs her rest.”

Gage turned his head and nailed her with those evergreen eyes, one brow arched. “And you need to not be worrying. Talking to Dylan will at least reassure you one of your chicks is okay.”

“You’re right,” she said with a shake of her head at his sudden smile. He so liked being told he was right. Arrogant much? And yet, it was one of the things she loved about the big lug.

As she picked up the phone, it rang. She looked at the caller ID picture. “Morning, Dylan,” she said, casting a see-I-was-right-too look at him. “You’re up early on your day off. Don’t tell me they called you in for another shift already?”

“No. I’m off for two days. I called about something else.”

The hesitation in her youngest sister’s voice, hit Bobby right in the center of her chest. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her gaze locking with Gage’s suddenly serious one.

“Is Gage there with you?”

Ok. Now she was really worried.

“Yes, he’s here.” She pushed a button. “You’re on speaker phone. What’s wrong? Is it Chloe?”

“She’s safe and hasn’t been able to call because her phone is…out of commission.”

Bobby tilted her head a little in confussion. “What do you mean it’s out of commission? And how did you talk to her then?”

There was another pause on Dylan’s end. “She used Wes’s phone. He disabled hers.”

“Wes? As in our Wes Strong?”

Gage came around to lean on the edge of her desk, a scowl forming on his face. “That sonofabitch has been down there in Cincinnati with Chloe since the blizzard hit and never bothered to call us? And why the hell did he disable her phone?”

“Uhm, they’re not here in Cinci,” Dylan said, and Bobby could almost see the funny scrunched up face she’d always made when she wasn’t quite telling her the truth.

“Dylan Renee Thomas, exactly where is your sister and our deputy?” Bobby asked in her mom voice—the one that said you’re seconds away from real trouble so you’d better start talking.

“They’re at Wes’s cabin up there in Westen. But they’re safe.”

Gage’s hand slapped down on the desk. “Gonna kill him.”

Bobby shot him an exasperated look. Something else was bothering her. “Dylan, why do you keep saying they’re safe?”

“Last night after I got off duty, I went over to Chloe’s place to check on her. I knew you were worried, and by that time, I was, too. Her condo was trashed. Someone had spray painted ugly things on her walls. Things were broken. Stuff strewn all over the place. Her clothes, her…things.”

“Oh, my God!” Bobby said, pulling her hand up to her face.

“You went there alone?” Gage asked, his arm coming around Bobby.

“No. Bulldog was with me.”

Bobby drew her brows down in confusion or maybe it was the shock. “You took a bulldog with you? Where did you get a bulldog?”

“Wes sent me, ma’am,” a deep voice said from the other side of the phone. “Steven Janowski. Special services and surgical tech. Chief, er…Wes, was afraid that whoever was stalking Chloe might come after Dylan, so I’m her bodyguard for now.”