Page 12 of Risk Everything

“Actually, I can do a little better than an address. As part of Mr. Ellis’s bail, he was placed on a GPS tracking monitor. That was probably why it wasn’t a priority for me to call Mrs. Ellis or your office. Jared Ellis is required to stay within a two-mile radius of his listed home address, which is in downtown Denver.”

An ankle monitor was good news. “So you can tell where he’s been at any particular hour? What happens if he leaves the two-mile radius?”

“Yep, there’s a log that keeps record of exactly where he is at any given time. And if Ellis leaves the radius for which the monitor is set, it automatically sets up an alarm with the Denver marshals. They’ll be at his house in minutes. Plus, it’s completely unhackable.”

“So if I wanted to know where he was two nights ago, you could get that for me.” If there was some sort of glitch in this “unhackable” system, Tanner wanted to know about it.

Parnam gave a long-suffering sigh. “How about if I just send you the entire log of Ellis’s whereabouts since the moment he was released. That will save us a number of different calls and emails, don’t you think?”

And would require a lot less work from Parnam.

“Fine. I’ll expect it in an email within the next hour.”

Tanner hung up without waiting for a response. The fact that Ellis had been released without notifying Marilyn would be addressed within the system.

But right now, until they could confirm exactly where Jared Ellis was, he needed to get security on Marilyn and her kids.

He had Ronnie start the paperwork for protective surveillance, even though Tanner knew the approval was a long shot unless a direct threat to Marilyn and the kids could be proved—which hopefully it would be as soon as they checked Ellis’s whereabouts on the night of the fire.

He was also going to request the live data from Parnam’s office. Knowing where Jared had been afterward wasn’t good enough. They needed to know his current whereabouts. Not that Tanner didn’t trust the Denver marshal’s office to do their job. But all it would take was Jared tricking the system one time and he could attack Marilyn. And as long as that was a possibility—until Jared’s trial when he went away long-term—Tanner wanted to be multiple steps ahead of the other man.

Right now that included making sure Marilyn knew her ex was out of jail.

His cell phone buzzed on his belt with a call from Noah before Tanner even made it out of the office.

“Ronnie said Jared Ellis was released on bail?” His brother didn’t even waste time with a greeting.

Neither did Tanner. “Affirmative.”

Noah’s curse was foul. “Does the sheriff’s office have money to put surveillance on Marilyn and the kids?”

“I’ve already got the process started, but I’ll be honest, unless we get proof that Ellis is a threat to her or was anywhere in the area of the fire, then I don’t have much of a legal leg to stand on.”

“I’m on my way into town. If we can’t get a uniform on her, then I’ll take up watch duty myself. It’s very suspicious that there was a fire at New Journeys at the same time Ellis got out on bail.”

Tanner began walking down the block toward the old New Journeys building. It would be quicker than driving. “Especially since it looks like someone started it deliberately.” He explained what the fire inspector had found.

Noah cursed again.

“I’ve spent all day trying to figure out why someone would’ve started a fire that wasn’t trying to hurt anyone or burn down the building,” Tanner said.

“It might have made a perfect opportunity for Jared to snatch Marilyn and the kids. Probably wouldn’t have taken into account how much the people of Risk Peak would be surrounding them.”

“Definitely true,” Tanner said. “Although the fire may have nothing to do with Ellis.”

“I’m not willing to take that chance,” Noah said quietly. “Or take the chance that he’s just going to leave Marilyn alone. She’s been through enough.”

They both felt that way. It was the very reason he’d had Ronnie call his brother to begin with. “I’ll meet you at the old New Journeys building.”

Even though there hadn’t been much damage to the living quarters of the new building by the fire, they’d still moved everyone back into the old building while the initial cleaning was going on. Tanner wasn’t thrilled about the change. It definitely didn’t have the security upgrades the new building had.

When he arrived at New Journeys’ current home, he immediately asked to talk to Marilyn. He hated to see the shadows cross the quiet woman’s face when she saw him. She knew this was going to be bad news.

Bree was there and gave him a tight smile. “I’ll just hang out in the office so you two can talk. Give you guys some privacy.”

Tanner nodded, but Marilyn shook her head, holding her hand out to Bree. “No, stay. This is going to affect all of us. The kids are doing schoolwork, so this is a good time. Let’s go into the kitchen.”

Bree reached over and grabbed Tanner’s hand as Marilyn put on a pot of coffee with jerky movements.