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caught up to her.
    “Harboring a criminal is illegal.” Debbi’s voice wavered unsteadily. “We could go to prison because of her.”
    “She didn’t kill her husband,” Eric explained.
    “I didn’t,” Vanessa echoed.
    Eric continued, moving slowly closer to his sister. “He wasn’t even her husband—legally, maybe, but not in the traditional sense of the word. He kidnapped her. She’s the victim of a human-trafficking ring. We have to help her.”
    Debbi gripped the gun with both hands. “The police can help her.”
    “No,” Vanessa pleaded with the same note of panic Eric had heard in her voice when he’d mentioned the police before. “The guys who killed Jeff are professionals. While I’m trying to convince the police to believe me, these guys will cover their tracks so thick the police will never find them. But they’ll find me and get their revenge.”
    “Debbi, please.” Eric piggybacked on Vanessa’s words. “Vanessa has keys to her kidnapper’s office. We can go tonight and get evidence to put these guys away for good. But we have to go now, before they catch up to her.”
    Debbi narrowed her eyes warily but lowered the gun a few inches. “Once you get the evidence, we can call the police?”
    Eric looked to Vanessa for the answer.
    “Yes. Once we have evidence against these guys, we’ll call the police. We can go and be back in a matter of hours if we leave now.”
    “Please, Debbi?” Eric reasoned with his sister, praying she’d understand, or at least give them a chance to prove Vanessa’s innocence. His sister was scared, that was all. Normally, she was a very kind person.
    Debbi shifted her weight, planting the gun against the floor like a walking stick, leaning against it as she eyed them conspiratorially. “Fine.” She blew out a breath that said she might still regret caving. “What’s our plan?”
    Together, they quickly assembled everything they’d need. Eric wasn’t surprised, given Vanessa’s story, to hear she didn’t have a cell phone. Eight years before, she’d been too poor to afford a phone of her own.
    “I’ll stand guard outside while you go in the building,” Eric decided. “But I’ll need some way to contact you if someone’s coming.”
    Debbi pulled her phone from her purse. “She can take mine. Nobody ever calls or texts me in the middle of the night.”
    “But what if
we
need to reach you? The cabin’s never had a landline. We don’t have any other phones.”
    “You’re going to stand watch while she goes inside, right?” Debbi clarified. “You’re going to need a phone to call her while she’s inside, or there’s no point in you standing watch. Who do you think needs it more?”
    Vanessa blew out a thoughtful breath, then spoke slowly. “I brought the girls here to keep them safe. I don’t have a phone. I didn’t figure we’d have a phone. So leaving them here with Debbi isn’t really any different than being here myself, without a phone.”
    “It might be risky going inside the office. Riskier than staying here.” Eric accepted the device from his sister and passed it to Vanessa. “I’ll text you if someone’s coming. Do you know how to answer a text on this phone?” He sent a text between the phones so she could see how it worked.
    “Got it.”
    “If this thing goes off, you’ll need to get out of sight.” His fingers brushed hers as he spoke, imparting an acute sense of awareness.
    Vanessa’s glance fluttered from his fingers to his eyes and back again. Her cheeks colored slightly as she thanked him and agreed to his plan.
    So she’d felt it, too, then. The old chemistry, the teenager-like nervousness he’d thought he’d lost the night she never came home. He’d been crazy for her for years, but equally terrified she’d find out how he felt. He’d never told her, never let on to his feelings...and regretted it ever since. He’d prayed for a second chance....
    A surge of emotion welled inside him, but he