Читать онлайн книгу «Interrupted Lullaby» автора Dana Lynn

Interrupted Lullaby
Dana R. Lynn
SAFE BY THE LAWMAN’S SIDEMaggie Slade’s been on the run since witnessing her husband’s murder, hiding from a killer who wants evidence he believes she has. A killer who was dressed as a LaMar Pond policeman. And she’d better run fast, because it’s not just her life on the line—Maggie now has year-old twin babies. But then she’s attacked again, and rescued…by a LaMar Pond cop. Trusting Lieutenant Dan Willis is frightening. Letting him take her back to LaMar Pond to find her husband’s killer is terrifying. But to protect her babies, she’ll risk anything. Even her life. And, as she grows closer to Dan and learns to trust again…she may even risk her heart.


SAFE BY THE LAWMAN’S SIDE
Maggie Slade’s been on the run since witnessing her husband’s murder, hiding from a killer who wants evidence he believes she has. A killer who was dressed as a LaMar Pond policeman. And she’d better run fast, because it’s not just her life on the line—Maggie now has year-old twin babies. But then she’s attacked again, and rescued…by a LaMar Pond cop. Trusting Lieutenant Dan Willis is frightening. Letting him take her back to LaMar Pond to find her husband’s killer is terrifying. But to protect her babies, she’ll risk anything. Even her life. And as she grows closer to Dan and learns to trust again…she may even risk her heart.
The window shattered as a bullet hit it. Two inches from Maggie’s head.
Maggie screamed and pulled a shrieking Rory from the car.
“Run!” Dan bellowed. With a runner’s sprint, she hurtled toward the trees. Dan was on her heels, cradling baby Siobhan tightly in his arms.
A car screeched into the parking lot, bullets spewing from the open window. Dan looked back in time to see a bullet hit a gas pump.
“Faster!” he barked. Ducking his head, he forced himself to hold the baby tighter and push forward.
The pump exploded. Dan yelled as the back of his leather jacket ignited. “Take her!”
Maggie grabbed the baby and Dan dived for the ground, rolling until the flames were out. He thanked God with all his heart that his jacket had taken the worst of the fire. He had, however, twisted his knee when he dived to the ground. Forcing himself to stand, he limped next to Maggie.
He had never seen anything more beautiful than her tired face, scratched by broken glass, but otherwise uninjured. And the babies. Wailing. Fat tears dribbled down their faces. But they were alive. He hadn’t let them down. Not like before…
DANA R. LYNN grew up in Illinois. She met her husband at a wedding and told her parents she had met her future husband. Nineteen months later, they were married. Today, they live in rural Pennsylvania with their three children and enough pets to open a petting zoo. In addition to writing, she works as an educational interpreter for the deaf and is active in several ministries at her church.
Interrupted Lullaby
Dana R. Lynn

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Teach me, Lord, your way that I may walk in your truth, single-hearted and revering your name.
—Psalms 86:11
To my mom,
who taught me about unconditional love and sacrifice.
And to my Lord and Savior.
May this work bring glory to Your name.
Acknowledgments (#ulink_02b538fe-7948-51fe-828e-c990678d0f63)
I am so grateful for the many people who supported me so that this labor of love could happen. First, to my husband, Brad, and our kids. Thanks for allowing me time in my writing cave/dining room table. It meant so much! Amy and Dee, my dearest friends…you kept me sane. My critique partners and fellow Killer Voices authors, how would I have done this without bouncing ideas off you?
A special thanks to my editor Elizabeth Mazer and my agent Mary Sue Seymour. I have been blessed by your guidance and humbled by your faith in me.
Contents
Cover (#u0c29f47f-6b21-5cdf-ac98-6bdc996557e3)
Back Cover Text (#ue31b5a32-2b53-5233-9d79-6c9b6cd6bd17)
Introduction (#u587d130f-3d77-5f77-b922-6ffa36449c4b)
About the Author (#u6ece3a0b-31f9-5b0b-a3be-161d524f1360)
Title Page (#u9cabb9ff-055e-5c1f-86c0-4ab97bf2069b)
Bible Verse (#u35ec66a8-d98d-5e2e-8045-5d9364cb9404)
Dedication (#uad0dd3a1-525c-5ba0-badf-f832e4bff9d4)
Acknowledgments (#u660724ff-f799-56fb-9851-7b69bec6408c)
CHAPTER ONE (#u6229458d-19b2-5bcc-a20c-09d5f44b8ed9)
CHAPTER TWO (#ub2faa8d9-b395-5ef8-a85e-e8b3395d5ff6)
CHAPTER THREE (#u20c55155-9ce7-5112-b103-6b8cd247fcbf)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u0da7e7a4-b870-57b6-b3ad-dc4147f1b2a3)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Dear Reader (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
ONE (#ulink_a8d9d063-3f9a-539b-8e8e-2c818a83f67c)
“I know where Margaret Slade is.”
Lieutenant Dan Willis held the phone receiver away from his ear and stared at it, shocked. His colleagues Lieutenant Jace Tucker and Chief Paul Kennedy halted their lively discussion on the upcoming football game to watch him. Jace raised his eyebrows. Paul leaned forward. Dan pressed a button, putting the caller on speaker.
“Margaret Slade, you said? You’ve seen her?” Dan nodded as Jace whistled silently. Maggie Slade had vanished more than eighteen months ago in suspicious circumstances. Although he had never stopped looking for her, he had all but given up hope of ever finding her. Alive, anyway.
“Yes, Officer.” The caller’s voice quavered. In Dan’s mind, he was picturing someone’s sweet white-haired granny. “I went to the post office two days ago. Maybe three. I saw some of them missing persons flyers. I thought one of them looked real familiar. It wasn’t until this mornin’ when my neighbor was puttin’ out her trash that I realized it was her.”
“Are you sure? How long has she lived there?” Calm down, Dan reminded himself. This could be another dead end. Dan couldn’t help it, though. Hope rose up in his soul.
“She’s not the real owner. Name’s Mary Connors. Hair’s different than the photo, and she keeps to herself. She moved in almost a year ago, renting, I suppose. I would go ask her, but her car’s not in the driveway.”
“If she does return, please don’t confront her with your suspicions. And don’t let on that you’ve talked to the police.”
The caller agreed, her tone colored with reluctance. People loved to get involved in police business. Especially if they felt they could accept some of the credit. Maybe he was cynical, but he’d seen it happen before.
Dan quickly took down the address and hung up, his adrenaline flowing. Jace leaned over his shoulder to peer at the address. When Jace reached down to pick up the paper, the plain gold wedding band on his left hand flashed as the morning sunlight streaming through the window caught it.
“Huh. Never heard of the place,” he mused.
“I have,” Dan told him. “It’s right outside of Pittsburgh. Big enough to get lost in, but small enough to not feel like a city. Chief?”
Paul nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty quiet here today. You go ahead and check this out. But do it quietly. If she gets any clue we might be onto her, she might take off again.”
Unasked was the question of why was she still in hiding. Maggie had been a juror in a high-profile murder trial almost six years earlier. Some of the jurors had been murdered a year and a half ago. Maggie had disappeared. Did she know she was safe now? That the murderers had been caught? Or was she hiding for another reason altogether?
“Would you call Chief Garraway?” Dan threw over his shoulder as he headed out of the room. The LaMar Pond department he belonged to now had been collaborating with his old precinct in Pittsburgh on the case. Although Maggie was from LaMar Pond, their past three leads had taken them to Pittsburgh. The two precincts had decided that it was in the best interests of all involved if they worked together. Dan had taken the position as the liaison. He caught Paul’s nod. Good. He was outta here.
Two and a half hours later, he coasted down the quiet suburban street. His right foot hovered over the brake pedal, ready to tap it at a moment’s notice. Leaning forward in his seat, he narrowed his eyes as he scanned the house numbers: 52414...52416... There! 52418 Cherry Lane. That was it. The driveway was still empty. Turning the wheel, he parked his unmarked car on the opposite side of the road. To keep him from looking suspicious, he pulled a map out of the side pocket of the door as a prop and spread it out over the steering wheel. Then he waited.
A yawn caught him by surprise. It figured. He should have known his insomnia would catch up with him. He took a sip of coffee from his travel mug. Hopefully the caffeine would help him remain alert. In an effort to keep himself busy, he reviewed the facts of the case.
The anonymous caller had claimed she recognized Maggie Slade from the missing persons flyers in the post office. There was always the chance she was mistaken. It had happened before. The picture used in the flyers had been from her passport. It was at least three years old. Lots of changes could have happened in that time. He planned to be cautious.
The one fact that kept going around in his mind was that the caller had reported that the woman in question was known as Mary Connors. Not very original. Anyone who was really interested could find out that Maggie’s full name was Margaret Mary Slade. And that her mother had been Anna O’Connor before she married. Nope, it didn’t take a detective to figure out how she had come by the alias. Now all he had to do was sit back and wait for her to appear.
Dan sat still, his eyes vigilant. He scanned the street and then turned his narrowed gaze back on the house, checking for any sort of movement. A car turned onto the street. He kept his posture casual, even though he wanted to sit forward. No use giving himself away.
The car was at least eight years old, a dark blue four-door sedan. Nothing fancy. In fact, no one would look twice at it. It passed him. He put his cell phone to his ear and moved a finger along the map. Anyone looking at him would think he was trying to get directions.
A car backfired. Dan jumped, bumping his head on the roof.
“Idiot. It’s just a car. Not a gun,” he muttered, disgusted with himself. He hadn’t always jumped at loud noises. Just since his second tour in Afghanistan. For a brief moment, his heart sped up as he recalled a burning house. A woman’s voice shrieking through the flames. His gut churned. No. He refused to be drawn into thinking about the past. He had a job to do. He forced himself to focus his attention on the vehicle approaching.
The car slowed, stopped briefly and then continued to swerve into the driveway.
Dan ran the license plate number through the database. The vehicle was registered to a Miss Wendy Stroup. The owner of the house. A registered nurse. Her background check showed nothing shady. He scanned the picture of Miss Stroup. Small and blonde, aged twenty-eight. The car door opened. A young woman exited the vehicle. Definitely not Wendy Stroup. It was hard to tell her age, but she could have been twenty-seven. Was that Maggie? Her hair was shoulder length, medium brown. Not the black curls from her photo. Still, hair was easy to change. Her face was thinner than it was in her picture. But was it her?
A jogger made his way down the street. He passed the young woman and tossed her a single wave. She gave him a slight wave and a somewhat forced smile back.
And that was when he knew.
Her smile was the one he’d seen in the pictures of the woman he’d been trying to find for the past eighteen months.
As soon as the jogger passed, the woman hurried to the trunk of her car and lugged out a stroller. A stroller? None of his information suggested a child. She flicked her wrists. The stroller sprang open, and she locked it in place. Whoa. A double stroller. His mouth dropped open as he watched her open the back door of the vehicle. She retrieved one sleeping baby, probably close to a year old, and deposited him in the stroller. Then she repeated the action, this time lifting out a little girl. Before she could place the child in the stroller, the baby girl let out a holler. There was nothing he could do to prevent the grin tugging at his lips. That kid had powerful lungs. Even with the windows up, he could hear her. Maggie’s tense face softened. She pulled a pacifier out of a diaper bag and plopped it into the child’s mouth. Peace resumed. She snuggled the baby close for a few seconds, then dropped a light kiss on her head and placed her in the stroller.
Her movements grew jerky. Agitated. The woman was nervous. If she was in hiding, she might feel exposed out in the open like this. He would. She pushed the stroller at a jog up the driveway and around the back of the house. A minute later, the blinds in the front window twitched.
He sent off a brief text to Paul, letting him know what was happening.
Chief Garraway would be interested in the developments of this case, seeing as he was in her jurisdiction. Knowing how much she detested texting, he dialed her personal cell number. He knew if he dialed the office number, it would probably go to her voice mail.
She answered on the second ring.
“Garraway.”
“Willis here, Chief,” he identified himself. “I found her.”
He could hear Chief Garraway suck in a breath. “Is she alive?”
“Yes, ma’am. But it seems we were missing some information.”
“What information, Willis? Don’t play games. Just spit it out.”
Dan grimaced. Better just say it and weather the explosion.
“She has a couple of babies with her. Twins.”
Silence. That didn’t bode well. Then Chief Garraway’s voice exploded across the line.
“Twins! We checked all the hospitals, didn’t we? How could a juror from a high-profile case go missing for over a year, then waltz into a hospital, give birth to twins, then walk out again without us being any the wiser? Can you explain that to me, Lieutenant?”
Dan sighed. “No, Chief. I can’t explain it.”
“Are they hers?”
“I can’t say for sure, ma’am, but my gut says yeah, they’re hers. I haven’t made contact yet.”
“All right. Keep me posted.” She ended the call.
Dan leaned over slightly and slid his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. His hair fell over his eyes. He shook his head, knocking the hair back. He’d never intended to let it grow this long. It was starting to annoy him, so he’d probably cut it when this case was over. He’d probably shave his short beard, too. Right now he had a job to do. Time to meet Miss Maggie and find out why she had disappeared all those months ago.
He reached back and grabbed a leather jacket from the rear seat and put it on. Zipped, it hid the holster with his service revolver. He set off at a casual stroll. Remembering Maggie’s secretive posture, he walked around to the back door. He might have a better shot at getting her to open her door if she didn’t feel as though any passersby could see them talking.
The back door was opened a crack. That was surprising. A woman that wary, he would have assumed she’d have the door shut and bolted.
A scream inside the house jolted him from his thoughts. A woman’s scream. Followed by the distinct sound of a slap. The woman cried out in pain.
“Where is it hidden?” This was a man’s voice, speaking in a menacing snarl.
Dan broke into a run and burst into the house. Two people were locked in a furious struggle.
With a cry, the woman shoved her elbow into the man’s abdomen. He grunted and his hold loosened. She broke away. Her assailant grabbed a fistful of her brown hair and yanked.
Her hair fell off. She had been wearing a wig.
“Police!” Dan yelled, holding his service revolver in front of him. The assailant jerked around and immediately switched targets. Thrusting Maggie aside, he lunged at Dan with a bellow, a large hunting knife in one hand. Dan aimed but was unable to shoot without risking hitting Maggie. In seconds, the assailant was upon him, the wicked knife catching the light as it slashed down.
A burning sensation in his side alerted Dan that he had been stabbed. No time to worry about that now. His attacker was strong but clearly had no training. Dan, on the other hand, had specialized military training—training he hadn’t needed to use in several years. But now it kicked in as automatically as if a switch had been flipped. In short order, he had the attacker handcuffed and seated on the ground while he called in to the station to report the situation.
He was aware of Maggie running to check on the children still strapped in the stroller. Listening to the dispatcher, he twisted around to watch her. Maggie had taken a protective stance in front of the stroller, her glare hot and fierce. A grin threatened to form at her resemblance to a protective mama bear. He squelched it. Pretty sure she wouldn’t appreciate it in the current situation.
“I’m sending a black-and-white to your location, Lieutenant Willis,” the slightly nasal voice of the dispatcher informed him.
“Glad to hear it. Tell them to come around to the back door.” Dan snapped his phone shut and slipped it into his back pocket. That done, he turned to face the woman he had been searching for—Maggie Slade, aka Mary Connors. Her black curls were starting to slip from the bobby pins. Her skin was pale, but her dark blue eyes were alert. Close up he couldn’t believe he had doubted it was her.
“Maggie, I’m Lieutenant Dan Willis with the LaMar Pond Police Department. I’ve been searching for you for a long time.”
It hardly seemed possible, but her face paled further.
* * *
Maggie retreated several steps before realizing there was no place to run. No way to grab her babies and escape. She was trapped.
And confused.
The jogger, a man who had been waving at her for weeks, was sitting on the floor, handcuffed, cursing and spewing ugly threats at her. He had followed her into the house, sneaked in while she had been setting the brake on the stroller and then attacked. If it hadn’t been for the policeman standing in front of her, she was certain she would have been killed. Her eyes went to the knife lying on the floor. She shuddered.
She had been saved by a cop. A cop from LaMar Pond. It could be a trick. Cops were clever. She didn’t know which ones she could trust. Was this cop one of the good guys? Or was he connected to the man who had killed Phillip?
The cop glared at the man sitting on the floor. “You can stop that right now. I’m gonna read you your rights, and then you’re going for a ride to jail. So you can sit and think about the error of your ways.”
Maggie was shocked when her would-be killer obeyed, although his eyes continued to shoot pure venom at Maggie and her rescuer.
What was the cop’s name again? Williams?
“Detective Williams,” she began but stopped when he shook his head.
“Willis, ma’am. Lieutenant Willis.” He moved his right arm but suddenly sucked in a breath and winced. He lifted his elbow away from his body, angling his head so he could look at his side. His leather jacket gaped open. That’s when she noticed the blood seeping from a wound on his right side.
“You’re hurt! Did he stab you?” Her eyes flicked from the offending knife back to his side. The stain was spreading across his T-shirt. An ugly chuckle sounded from the attacker. Both Maggie and Lieutenant Willis ignored the man. It was difficult to see the extent of the injury because of the leather jacket he wore. “I didn’t hear you call for an ambulance.”
A fleeting expression crossed his face—annoyance, embarrassment?—before it once again smoothed out.
“I’ll take care of it, ma’am. No need for you to worry about it.”
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than he swayed. Maggie leaped forward, grabbed his left arm and hauled him over to a chair. Relying on her first-aid training, she grabbed a towel from the basket of clean laundry on the kitchen table. She used the towel to apply firm pressure to the wound.
“Hold this,” she ordered him.
“I’m fine,” he grumbled, his voice gruff. “Just tired.”
“We still need to stop the bleeding. Hold it.”
As soon as he was holding it in place, she picked up the cordless phone from the counter to call 911. A baby’s wail cut across the silence before she could dial.
“Here.” Lieutenant Willis held out his left hand, keeping his right pressed firmly against the towel. “I will call. You take care of the baby.”
Maggie narrowed her eyes at him. Could she trust him enough to turn her back on him while she tended to her babies? A second loud bellow decided for her. Her daughter had no volume control. Maggie knew from experience that the baby girl would only get louder until her needs were met. Nodding, she thrust the phone into his outstretched hand and hurried across the room to the stroller, where the babies still sat. Rory was still asleep, his head slumped against one side of the stroller. Siobhan was a different story. She continued wailing until Maggie picked her up. Then she was all smiles as one chubby hand tangled itself in Maggie’s curls and the other waved in the air while she babbled. Maggie went to the refrigerator and prepared a sippy cup of milk under the malevolent stare of the attacker.
Someone knocked on the back door. Maggie shrieked and dropped the cup, clasping her daughter protectively against her. Cold milk sloshed on her faded jeans. The child squawked in protest.
“Police,” a voice called out.
“In here,” Lieutenant Willis responded.
A pair of uniformed policemen stepped into the room. One of them glanced over at Maggie, still holding her squirming, fussing daughter, milk dripping on the floor.
“Sorry, ma’am. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
Not sure she would be able to speak, Maggie nodded and bent down to retrieve the cup. Keeping a wary eye on the visitors in her small kitchen, she poured her daughter another cup and handed it to her. Knowing Siobhan would be occupied for a few minutes, she set her daughter down on the rug behind her. Happy, the child slurped her milk while Maggie used the towel hanging on the refrigerator door to clean up the mess.
“You guys got here quick,” Lieutenant Willis noted, a wry twist to his lips. “I only called five minutes ago.”
“Yes, sir. We were on our way back from another call a mile from here.”
The lieutenant nodded once. “Very good, gentlemen. You can take this guy off my hands.” He jerked his head toward the sneering man sitting on the floor.
The officers hefted the handcuffed man to his feet and led him toward the door.
“You okay, Lieutenant? Need us to call the paramedics?”
Dan waved a dismissive hand at them. “Done. I think the bleeding’s stopped, anyway.”
“Read him his rights yet?”
“Yep. He’s all yours. Get him a nice, cozy cell.”
The man jeered at them. “You guys think you’re so tough.” He shot a snide glance at Maggie. “And you—don’t think this is the end. He knows where you live now. And even if you move...it’ll be easy to track you down with them.” He motioned with his head toward the little girl, who had abandoned her cup and was crawling away. Maggie grabbed the child, ignoring her squawk of protest. Her stomach curdled, ached, and her mouth grew dry.
The officers nudged the man toward the door. “Dude, you have the right to remain silent. I’d seriously consider doing that.”
Lieutenant Willis stood abruptly. He put a hand on the lead officer’s shoulder, halting him so he could stare down the attacker.
Maggie shivered. Wow, his gray eyes were so cold. And hard. With his longer-than-regulation-length blond hair and leather jacket, he looked carefree. But she had seen him in action. This was not a man to be messed with. Not to mention the fact that he had to be at least six feet tall. Six feet of muscle.
“Who is after her?” Even though his voice was soft, Maggie could clearly hear it across the room.
The man raised his chin defiantly. “I got my rights. I want a lawyer. And a phone call.”
Lieutenant Willis’s expression melted into a scowl. He jerked his head toward the door. “Get him outta here.”
The officers dragged the man from the house. Lieutenant Willis sat heavily, a sigh escaping as he stared at Maggie. He was gearing up to ask questions. Lots of questions. She could almost imagine his thoughts aligning themselves in his head. Her spine straightened. Just because she didn’t have a choice about talking to him didn’t mean she had to like it. But he had saved her—and her babies. She had no doubt her attacker would have hurt them, too, to try to get answers out of her. The lieutenant’s rescue had to mean something. She would cooperate. But still, she’d better keep up her guard.
The arrival of the paramedics forestalled the interrogation. The stoic lieutenant made a big show of tossing the bloody towel over his shoulder to allow the men to examine him. The bleeding had stopped. It was soon clear that he hadn’t been stabbed as much as sliced, the blade grazing his skin in a shallow cut. He wouldn’t even require stitches. Although he wasn’t badly hurt, she could see fatigue settling deep in the lines on his face.
Too soon for her comfort, the paramedics had packed up their things and departed. Now it was just her and the lieutenant. Here come the questions, she thought, resigned. But she was surprised.
“See-ob-han?” the man queried, head tilted while he peered at the blanket she had tucked around her daughter, now sleeping peacefully against her shoulder. Maggie glanced down. It was the blanket Wendy had given her right before she’d left. Maggie had been so touched when the woman had made one for each twin, their names embroidered on the front.
“It’s pronounced She-vonne,” she corrected him. “It’s Irish.”
“Ah, that’s right. Your mother is from Ireland.”
Maggie shrugged, not prepared to discuss her mother with this stranger. Even if he had saved her life.
“Are you taking it easy on the job, Willis?”
Lieutenant Willis snapped to attention as a petite officer entered the room. Her short graying mop of hair was slightly wavy and curled under at the ends. She carried herself with authority. Maggie could almost feel the energy crackling from her as she walked.
Maggie edged over to the stroller and set her sleeping daughter inside it, never taking her eyes off the new arrival.
“No, ma’am. Just starting to ask Maggie here why someone would come after her with a knife.”
“That’s a good question, Lieutenant.” The woman’s brown eyes zeroed in on Maggie. They were eyes used to smiling, surrounded by laugh lines. But right now they were stern. “I’m Chief Martha Garraway from the local precinct. I’m very interested in your answer, Ms. Slade. We’ve looked for you a long time. Used valuable resources to find you. It’s apparent someone else was looking, too. Any idea who?”
Maggie drew in a fortifying breath. She was in deep. If it had been only herself, she would have run for it. But she had to think of her children. They needed to be protected.
“I know exactly who it was. It was the man who killed my husband.”
TWO (#ulink_d3b34364-ff89-5dba-93da-55c153fb8a56)
“Your husband!” Lieutenant Willis blurted.
Maggie swiveled her head from Lieutenant Willis to Chief Garraway, her brow furrowed. Her lips pressed together as she studied the thunderstruck expressions on their faces. Well, they apparently hadn’t expected that to come out of her mouth.
“How could you not know that I was married if you have been searching for me?” Maggie planted her fists firmly on her hips, shaking her head at them. Seriously? “Wasn’t that why you wanted to find me, because I disappeared after my husband was murdered?”
Lieutenant Willis scowled, his gray eyes narrowed. But he made no answer.
“Okay, Ms. Slade... Is it Ms. Slade?” Chief Garraway’s smooth voice was the epitome of politeness. Her stiff posture and frosty gaze, however, flashed a clear warning that she wasn’t pleased. This was not a woman who enjoyed looking foolish.
Still, Maggie hesitated. She had developed a strong distrust of cops since Phillip’s murder. Her mind screamed at her to be careful. Don’t give too much away. Then she shot a glance at Lieutenant Willis. Her eyes caught on the bloody towel still draped across his shoulder and her heart clenched. He had taken that knife wound for her. Would he have put himself in harm’s way to protect her if he were on her enemy’s side? Her glance flicked back to the towel, then to his wounded side. Although the wound was hidden, she could see that he was holding himself stiffly. She recalled that he had refused to be medicated, despite being in pain. He’d told the paramedics that he needed to stay alert, to stand guard over her and her children. That decided it for her. She would trust them...to a point. She wouldn’t reveal everything. Not until she knew for sure she could trust them.
“I kept my maiden name, so yes, my last name is still Slade.” Let them think what they wanted about that.
Chief Garraway nodded. “Okay. Ms. Slade, we have gone over your history with a fine-tooth comb. There is no evidence that you were recently married. Or that you have ever been married.”
Maggie threw her hands in the air. She whirled and paced to the window. Still cautious, she remained to the side of the curtained panes and glanced beneath the blinds. When she was calm enough to speak, she pivoted and fused her gaze with the chief’s. “We married in Las Vegas, on a whim. We filed for a license and then went to a chapel. There’s no waiting in Vegas.”
“Las Vegas? You mean like Elvis? Why would you do that?” Her hackles rose at the poorly disguised scorn in Lieutenant Willis’s voice.
“Yes, Las Vegas. What’s wrong with that?” Maggie tossed her head. How dare that man judge her? “Lots of people get married there. It’s completely legal.”
She wanted to wince at the petulance she heard in her own voice. She should stop talking. She didn’t need to explain her actions to him. But for some reason his scorn really got to her.
“I don’t care about why you got married in Las Vegas,” the chief asserted, throwing a silencing glare at her lieutenant. “You could have gone to the moon for all I care. But there should have been some trace of a marriage license in your records. And I’m also concerned that you are claiming to have witnessed a murder, yet you never came forward. I need to understand why. It’s obvious you’re in danger. Were you somehow involved in whatever happened to your husband? Is that why someone is after you now, why you were in hiding?”
Was she a suspect? Maggie’s eyes widened, and her breath hitched in alarm. Never once had she dreamed that she could be facing charges. She found it ironic that after being a juror who had convicted a woman six years ago for murder, she could face jail time for a similar crime. She shuddered.
“I haven’t done anything wrong! I was running for my life!”
“Relax. We’re just trying to figure this out. You have to admit, your actions are suspicious.”
Maggie whirled to face the tall lieutenant, who was even now observing her, his eyes narrowed. His mouth was a hard line slashed across his handsome face. “I had nothing to do with his murder...” She stopped. What if it had been her fault? She had wondered that often during the past eighteen months.
“Something tells me you’re not sure of that.”
Maggie stared at him, a wave of helplessness pounding into her. Rory dropped his pacifier and startled, whimpering as he awoke.
“Maggie, why don’t you get your children settled. Then we will talk. But I warn you, I expect you to tell me everything.”
She was cornered. In her own living room. It was too bad she and God weren’t on speaking terms. She could really use someone in her corner about now.
With a stiff nod, she turned away from the officers invading her home and went to get Rory and Siobhan settled in their cribs. Fortunately, they both were exhausted and settled down to sleep without fuss. For several minutes, she stood over them, her chest tight as she fought to control her anxiety. Whatever happened, she couldn’t go to jail. What would happen to them? Foster care? Maybe they’d even be separated.
A shadow blocked out the hallway light briefly before moving aside. Startled, she looked up. Lieutenant Willis stood in the doorway. His expressionless face gave no clue as to what he was thinking.
“Are you about ready?” His cool tone hit her like a whip. She straightened her spine and moved toward him, pausing until he stepped aside to allow her to precede him. Chief Garraway was on her cell phone pacing in front of the kitchen door while she listened to the person on the other end. She held up her finger as she spotted them. Maggie walked to the love seat and dropped down. She pulled her legs up onto the seat and hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin against them.
“I want to know as soon as his lawyer arrives. We need to get this situation under control...Sounds good.” Covering the mouthpiece of the phone, she whispered to Lieutenant Willis, “The perp is waiting for his lawyer. Hopefully he will turn on whoever hired him.”
The love seat shifted slightly as Lieutenant Willis lowered himself down beside her. She shifted closer to her side as inconspicuously as she could. Considering the way he smirked at her, she wasn’t very successful. She forgot about her discomfort with his nearness as he rubbed his side, grimacing.
“Are you okay, Lieutenant?” she whispered, casting a glance at the chief, who wasn’t paying any attention to them. “I could get you some ice or a heating pad. I’m not really sure which would be better.”
He sighed. “I’m fine. I’ve had worse.”
Which of course meant he didn’t want her to fuss over him. She rolled her eyes. “Men.”
“What do you mean, men?”
“Get a knife wound, and it’s nothing. Get a cold, and the world ends.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yeah, it is. My husband was all macho, but when he got a cold, he wanted to be babied. He was a horrible patient.”
“Speaking of your husband, it’s time we talked about what happened to him.”
Maggie jumped. She didn’t feel bad as she noticed the lieutenant did, too. Obviously, he wasn’t in top form. He apparently hadn’t noticed his commanding officer approaching them, either.
She shook her head. She just needed to get through this. Drawing a deep lungful of air to steel herself, Maggie turned to face the chief. Surprisingly, though, it was the lieutenant who spoke.
“The last information we have on you is that you started working at the LaMar Pond Journal as a fact-checker three years ago. About two years ago, you made an appointment to come talk with the police. You never kept that appointment. You sent an email stating you needed to reschedule. But you never did.”
Maggie blinked. Nodded. “Yes. I remember. I had forgotten about that.”
The man beside her sat forward, his expression intent. “I didn’t. I was the cop you made the appointment with. Until someone spotted you and called the missing persons hotline, I was looking for a body.”
* * *
It was petty, but there was some satisfaction in watching the shock widen her eyes. He hadn’t been joking. He had been sure she was dead.
“Why would you assume I was dead?” He hadn’t noticed the soft lilt in her voice before, just the softest touch of an Irish accent.
“Remember that case, the trial for Melanie Swanson?” He waited for her nod before continuing. “It turned out several of the jurors had been threatened to give a guilty verdict. Melanie was framed, and the real killers wanted to cover their tracks. A few of the blackmailed jurors eventually tried to come forward to tell the truth, and they were murdered. I thought you had been, too.”
He had a hollow feeling inside as he remembered thinking he had allowed one more life to slip through his hands.
“Wait...she was innocent? That girl accused of murder? Oh, I feel awful! I thought she did it.” Her hands covered her face. Her entire posture suggested she was blaming herself for not seeing the truth. Dan could empathize; he knew only too well how it felt to have your insides torn out by guilt. By the feeling that you hadn’t done enough, hadn’t tried hard enough.
“Don’t. Feel guilty, I mean. You did your duty. If you really thought she committed the crime, then you had to vote that way.”
“If you didn’t make an appointment with the police because of the trial, then why had you made the appointment?” Chief Garraway had stationed herself directly in front of Maggie, a position that said she was in control. Normally, Dan would have remained standing, too. At the moment, though, he couldn’t seem to find the energy to rise. Between spending the past week on the late shift, hunting down Maggie and now getting stabbed, he was whupped good.
Some hair was hanging in his face, annoying him. Shaking it back out of his eyes, he focused on Maggie as she answered.
“I had thought that I was being followed. But almost as soon as I made the appointment, it stopped. I canceled the appointment. I’m sorry. I should have called you in person to tell you why, but I was embarrassed. Then I got married, and I forgot about it...until Phillip was killed.”
“Back to Phillip. Tell me about him.”
The chief’s tone made it clear this wasn’t a request.
Shrugging her shoulders, Maggie’s eyes grew distant. Dan could practically see the thoughts whirling in her head as she searched for where to begin. He could see her pain weighing her down as she remembered.
Dan watched the woman with a clinical sort of interest. She was beautiful, he acknowledged—but that wasn’t what interested him right now. What he found interesting was the tenseness in her posture. Everything about her suggested the willingness to run at a moment’s notice. He had the feeling that the only things that were keeping her in that house at that moment were the two children sleeping in the next room. Somehow he felt that they were the only things that anchored her to anything. He had seen that same sort of wariness in soldiers’ eyes in the battlefield in Afghanistan. Was it just the trauma of seeing her husband killed before her eyes? If indeed there had been a husband. He still felt the need to see some proof of that. Growing up in the foster care system had taught him that there were many people willing to play on others’ sympathy to get what they wanted.
But deep inside, he believed her, although he couldn’t say why.
Just as he was beginning to think that the silence had gone on for too long, Maggie appeared to come to some sort of decision. She nodded her head, lifted her chin and faced them with defiance beaming out of her eyes. The most incredible blue eyes he could ever remember seeing. Where on earth had that thought come from?
“His full name was Phillip Michael Nelson,” she began. Although she appeared calm, he detected a slight tremor in her voice. “We met about three years ago, right after I started working at the Journal. We got engaged a year later. We never really got around to planning a wedding or setting a date. Then one day, Phillip said he had it all figured out, and that we should rush off to Las Vegas to get married.”
“And you just went along with that?” Dan blurted out. He didn’t mean to sound so incredulous, but man, he just couldn’t picture it. How could an intelligent woman not ask the important questions? Questions such as “Hey, honey, why the hurry?” They’d already waited a year.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Maggie snapped. “I trusted him. If it meant that much to him, I was fine with it.”
Chief Garraway gave Dan a stern look that clearly told him to keep his opinions to himself. Dan grimaced. Normally he had iron control over his emotions, but right now he was tired and in pain. Not to mention something about Maggie really confused him. He wasn’t used to feeling off balance. He sighed and nodded at the chief to show her that he had gotten the message.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he sent a quick text to Jace with Phillip’s name. This process would move quicker if he had the case details. A minute later, his phone vibrated. He read the text and frowned.
“This just keeps getting stranger,” he muttered to himself.
“Lieutenant?”
He shook his head and handed Chief Garraway his phone. “I had Lieutenant Tucker check our case files. No Phillip Michael Nelson was ever reported as dead or missing in LaMar Pond.”
Chief Garraway narrowed her eyes as she read the message for herself. Her lips pressed together. “Ms. Slade,” she said finally, “do you happen to have a picture of your husband?”
Maggie sprang to her feet and dashed out of the room. The sound of a drawer opening and closing came through the thin walls. A moment later, she hurried back, holding a small photo album in her hand. She flipped through it as she approached until she found the picture she wanted. Then she handed it to the chief, who in turn glanced at the photo and handed it to Dan.
“Yeah, I remember him. We found him in Lake Erie. He had been shot. We were never able to identify him.” He hesitated. If he had been alone with the chief, he’d be fine giving her the rest of the information. He decided to hold his tongue until he could get the chief by herself.
“You found him in the lake?” Maggie whispered, her voice cracking, pain saturating each word.
She covered her face with both hands briefly, shuddering. A strange tension seized him. Not tears. Please, Lord, anything but tears. He was relieved when she brought her hands away from her face. Her lashes were damp, but no tears fell.
“I don’t understand. He was killed in our house.”
That surprised him. “In your house? We went through your house after you disappeared. There was no sign of murder.”
“Not that house. The one we were fixing up together.”
“We found no other property in your name.”
Maggie rolled her eyes and sighed. “That’s because it’s not in my name. It’s in my mother’s name. She was selling it to us. But the deal hadn’t closed yet.”
Chief Garraway nodded. “Okay. Just tell us what happened.”
Maggie took a deep breath. “I came home from work early and heard arguing. It was really loud. I walked to the doorway of the kitchen. Phillip saw me and shouted for me to run. He threw himself at the other man. The gun went off and Phillip fell. I ran out, hopped in my car and took off.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police, Ms. Slade?” Chief Garraway inquired.
“Because the man who shot him was dressed as a policeman.”
Silence.
“Let me get this straight, a cop killed your husband?” Dread curled in Dan’s stomach. It felt as though he’d eaten a lead ball for lunch. Not again, he thought wildly. As much as he didn’t want to believe her, didn’t want to believe that someone charged to serve and protect could do the opposite, he had seen that happen too often in the past. If there was even the possibility, it needed to be taken seriously.
Apparently, Maggie thought he was mocking her. She burst to her feet and crossed her arms across her chest. “I’m not lying! He was dressed like a cop! He kept demanding that Phillip hand something over. He threatened to bring him into the station. Said the chief of police had issued a warrant for his arrest.”
“You said the man demanded Nelson hand something over. Any idea what it was?” Now they were getting somewhere.
But she shook her head and sank wearily back onto the couch. “I don’t know. I had to get out of there. The man might have said he wanted to arrest Phillip, but he wasn’t holding handcuffs, he was holding his gun—and he looked like he couldn’t wait to use it. I think he planned to kill Phillip all along. And then I realized he would know who I was. I’d brought over plenty of my things—letters and paperwork with my name on them—and there were pictures of Phillip and me together on our wedding day hanging on the wall. It wouldn’t be hard for him to know who I was.”
Chief Garraway turned back to Dan. “What information was the LaMar PD able to find out about Nelson after he was found?”
Dan shook his head. “Not much, Chief. His fingerprints weren’t in any databases, so he had no criminal record.”
“Did you circulate his picture?”
“Yes, ma’am. But it must have set off some sort of red flag. Before we got any responses, the FBI stepped in and took over. We were out of the whole case.”
“The FBI?” Chief Garraway’s voice rose in surprise. “Just what was your husband involved with, Ms. Slade?”
“Chief, I can have the LaMar department go over to Maggie’s other house and see if they can find anything.” When she nodded, he got the address from Maggie and stepped outside to call Paul. A few minutes later, he hung up. More bad news. He sighed and pivoted on his heel to head back inside. Stopped.
A row of high shrubs blocked the side of the house from the street. But from his angle, Dan could clearly make out several sets of footprints in the dirt between the house and the shrubs. They had to have been recent, since it had just rained two days ago. The sizes were different, showing that they belonged to more than one person, but all of them were large footprints. Much too large to have been Maggie’s.
He burst inside, startling the women. Briskly, he explained what he had seen.
“That means that you were being watched. Probably to determine your identity. And by more than one man. Whoever that man sitting in jail is, he had a partner. Maybe the man who killed your husband. Maybe someone else. We have no way of knowing how many people are involved.”
Chief Garraway took charge. “Right. Willis, request officers to process the scene. Ms. Slade and her children will accompany us to the station. This house is not safe for them, even with us here.”
Dan remembered his conversation with Paul. As hesitant as he was to deliver more bad news, there was no sense in holding back. “I checked with the LaMar Pond PD. The address that Maggie gave me burned down eighteen months ago.”
THREE (#ulink_ba112210-b280-5415-8180-861e9f8a5fd2)
What had her husband been involved with? The question reverberated around Maggie’s brain time and time again as she rushed about getting herself and the twins ready to go. Maggie got herself and her cranky kids out the door in record time. The idea that someone had been watching her gave her the willies.
Not to mention the obvious fact that somebody had tried to kill her earlier. This house was no longer safe for her. Or her babies. She glanced over at the lieutenant just in time to see him wince and rub his side. She grimaced, feeling guilty that he had been injured while protecting her. With her hair tucked inside a hat, Maggie followed the cops out to the cars. With reluctance, she watched her babies being belted into their car seats in the chief’s car. Lieutenant Willis straightened up, sketched a cocky salute at the chief and sauntered to his own car on the street. She definitely would have preferred to ride with the lieutenant rather than his stern-faced chief. But she went where her children went, so she stepped into the car without protest and buckled up.
“I don’t suppose it would be possible to let the owner know no one is in her house?” Wendy had been a good friend. She hated to let her down.
“We can do that. Will she shorten her mission trip?” Realizing her mouth had fallen open, Maggie closed it with a click. They really had researched everything.
“Either that or she’ll have to find someone else to house-sit.”
“Good.” Chief Garraway touched her radio. “Move out, Lieutenant. We don’t have all day.”
Lieutenant Willis’s voice responded back with a pert “You got it.”
Almost as soon as they merged onto the interstate, Siobhan started to fuss. Maggie looked at the chief, expecting to see an impatient frown. Instead, she saw the other woman’s lips twitch.
She blinked, sure she had imagined it. Nope. Chief Garraway’s mouth had turned up at the corners. Amazing.
“It never fails, does it?” The chief’s voice was mild, conversational. “They can be as quiet as mice, but the moment you are trapped in a car with them, they start wailing. At least that was my experience with my own.”
Maggie had no idea how she was supposed to respond to that. It had never occurred to her that Chief Garraway might be a wife and mother. The older woman wore her authority like a cloak. It was hard to look past it.
“I’m going to see if she will calm down with a pacifier.” Maggie twisted in her seat to place a pacifier in her daughter’s mouth. As she did so, she noticed a car moving toward them. It was dodging in and out of the traffic. Unease slithered down her spine and sank into her stomach, leaving a greasy, queasy feeling.
“Chief,” she began, her voice pitched low so as not to further disturb the babies.
“I see him.” She touched the button to the radio. “Lieutenant? We have a vehicle that appears to be moving in on us.”
“I’m a little ways behind you, Chief. I will—”
They never heard what he was going to do. The car was beside them. It jackknifed, slamming into the chief’s car’s side. She yelled as the driver’s door caved in and her left arm slammed against the window. It remained limply at her side as she continued to steer with her right hand. In the backseat, the twins started screaming in terror. Desperate to see her babies and ascertain if they were hurt, Maggie started to unbuckle.
“Don’t you dare!” the chief barked.
Realizing how her being unbuckled could affect the chief’s driving, Maggie clenched her fists and remained seated. Her jaw started to ache. She had started grinding her teeth.
A siren blared as Lieutenant Willis roared up behind their attacker, a blue light flashing on the dashboard of his unmarked car.
The other vehicle sped away, zigzagging furiously through the traffic. Lieutenant Willis pursued the car, but Maggie could see the distance between the cars growing. His voice came over the radio, snapping out a description of the car, its license plate and location. Maggie could almost feel his frustration crackling through the radio.
“Lost him, Chief.” They could barely hear his voice over the howling twins.
“Understood, Lieutenant. We are pulling off. Need to have the babies checked over.”
Chief Garraway maneuvered the cruiser awkwardly off the next ramp, calling for an ambulance crew as she did so. Her face was drawn with pain, and sweat was beading on her forehead.
The car had barely stopped moving when Maggie pushed open the door and ran to the back door. After wrenching it open, she checked on the twins. Only the chief’s demand that she not remove the children from their seats or the vehicle prevented her from grabbing her babies out of the car. Worry simmered in her gut as she tried to soothe the angry twins. A couple of times she winced as Siobhan hit a piercing note.
When the ambulance crew arrived, it soon became apparent that the chief was stuck inside the vehicle. Maggie’s heart bled for Chief Garraway. The older woman was obviously in pain, wincing and muffling groans. Maggie couldn’t help but feel that this situation was somehow her fault. Stop it! You didn’t ask for any of this. Still, the knowledge that within twenty-four hours two officers had been injured trying to protect her was humbling. Maggie felt the weight of the debt she owed them. She grimaced. She didn’t like being in debt to anyone.
Two members of the crew used a set of metal cutters and set about the arduous task of extracting the chief from the damaged vehicle. The noise was horrendous. While they were doing that, another team member carefully examined Rory, Siobhan and Maggie. Lieutenant Willis pulled in as the crew was strapping Chief Garraway onto a stretcher. He leaped from his car and hurried over to his chief, an anxious expression on his face. Even injured, the woman was reluctant to hand over control.
“This is an attempted murder investigation here, Lieutenant. But we need to know what happened back in LaMar Pond that started all of this. She’s the only one who can identify the man who shot her husband. Do what you can to uncover the truth at that end. She’s the key to all of this. If our department can help you in any way, just ask.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll take care of it.”
“Your children seem to be fine, miss.” Maggie turned her attention to the young paramedic who was looking over Rory. The baby boy had stopped fussing now that he had been removed from the terrifying vehicle and had a full view of his mother. He smiled and waved his chubby arms at her. Overwhelmed with relief, Maggie’s eyes burned as tears gathered. She blinked them away, although one managed to escape down her cheek. The paramedic handed Rory to her, and she cuddled him close. When he protested and squirmed, she realized she was gripping him too close. She had almost lost them. These children were the only things that mattered in her life. She had to do everything she could to protect them.
“Mama! Mama!” Siobhan demanded her attention. Maggie bent down and made what she called the twin exchange. Rory stopped fussing as soon as he was free.
Siobhan was another story.
* * *
Dan stepped back from the ambulance as the driver closed the door, effectively cutting off his view of Chief Garraway. It was rather shocking to see the indomitable chief put out of commission. As far back as he could remember, she had never even taken a sick day. And here she was being wheeled away in an ambulance.
The sniffling noises behind him reminded him of the reason why his former chief was injured. Maggie was comforting Siobhan, bouncing the disgruntled little girl on her hip and shushing her. It wasn’t fair, but he felt an irrational surge of anger toward the woman. If it hadn’t been for her, Chief Garraway would be fine. All because she’d been too chicken to go to the police a year and a half earlier. If she was telling the truth about the corrupt cop, going to the police might have caused her to be killed herself.
Enough. He had a job to do.
“Can you get her settled down enough to move to my car?”
Maggie jerked up her head, startled.
“You’re not supposed to reuse car seats that have been in accidents,” she gasped. “They might be defective.”
He sighed impatiently and rolled his neck on his shoulders. This day had been too long already.
“Look, Maggie, right now I’m more worried about the jerk that has it out for you. Defective car seats are better than none at all. You and your kiddos are targets here. We need to move. Now.”
Maggie hesitated, then nodded. She handed Siobhan to him. Startled, he grabbed for the little girl. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He had never held a baby before. What if he dropped her? What if...? Siobhan trained huge blue eyes on his face and stared. Oh, no. What if she started screaming? But she didn’t scream. She grinned, then laughed. Her chubby hands found his beard and pulled. Hard.
Dan winced.
“Vonnie,” Maggie cooed near his ear, deftly reaching out her free hand to disentangle her daughter. “Don’t touch his beard, sweetie. Who knows when he last washed it?”
Dan swung his head around to glare and encountered her mischief-filled blue eyes.
“Huh. Your kids have your eyes.” Well, now that was a dumb thing to say.
She blushed. She sure was cute when she got flustered.
Focus, man. Focus. You don’t need to start thinking about women. They’re pure poison to you. Too many things go wrong when women and children get involved.
He turned on his heel and led the way to his waiting vehicle. As soon as the seats were set up and the kids were buckled in, he started driving. A couple exits down, he turned off and headed north.
“Where are we going, Lieutenant Willis?” Maggie asked, her voice tense and worried. He remembered that she had a distrust of police officers. “The police station isn’t this way. I drive past it every week when I go shopping.”
“I know. My priority right now is the safety of you and your children. And that means I need to find out what happened to your husband. The good thing is that I’m not actually with Garraway’s unit anymore, so I don’t need to stick around while they investigate at this end.” He glanced at her. The anxious look on her face had faded, and she looked thoughtful instead. “And I’m thinking we need to stay under the radar for a while. Which means you should probably call me Dan instead of Lieutenant.”
She gave him a pointed look. “I noticed that you never call me Ms. Slade like Chief Garraway. You always call me Maggie. As if we know each other.”
A wave of heat flooded his face. He hadn’t realized he had been doing that. “Sorry. I’ve been looking for you for a long time. In LaMar Pond, we got used to referring to you as Maggie. It stuck. I meant no offense.”
A feminine shrug answered him. “I’m not offended. I just was surprised at how casual you were.”
Dan nodded but didn’t speak. His mind was busy with a problem. He was positive that Phillip Nelson’s murder, the arson on the house and the attack on Maggie were all linked. Which meant someone was out to get her. Probably because of whatever it was that they had wanted from Phillip. That raised several urgent questions.
What had Phillip gotten himself into? Who was after Maggie? And how was he supposed to keep her low profile if she was conspicuously traveling around with twins? Not that the kids weren’t adorable. He sneaked a glance in the rearview mirror. They were facing backward. All he could make out were Rory’s feet as he kicked them in the air. A smile tugged at his mouth. He tried to keep it down. He needed to come up with a solution.
“Hold on.” He pulled to the side of the road. The driver of the car behind him swerved to miss him and blared his horn.
“Should have followed the two-second rule, buddy,” he muttered.
“Hey, watch how you drive, Dan! You have kids in the car.” Maggie glared at him.
“Yeah, sorry.” Dan pulled out his cell phone and shot off a quick message to Paul. He had an idea, but he needed the LaMar Pond chief to handle the logistics.
Paul sent a message back a minute later. Satisfied, Dan flipped on his blinker and slipped back into traffic.
“Is everything all right?”
Maggie looked tense again, her hands clenching and unclenching in her lap.
“Just solving a problem. Nothing you need to worry about.”
Unfortunately, her expression darkened. She bit her lip, hard. He winced, half expecting her to draw blood. Obviously, his words weren’t reassuring.
“Honestly, Maggie, it’s nothing. I just had a question, so I texted my chief.”
“Chief Garraway is on the way to the hospital.” Maggie furrowed her brow and tilted her head. The corners of her mouth turned down in a slight frown.
“Not Garraway. Chief Kennedy. In LaMar Pond. He’s my official boss now.”
At the words LaMar Pond, the blood drained from Maggie’s face. Her eyes grew huge in her face. She clenched her hands together so tightly that her knuckles whitened. The air almost vibrated with her fear.
“LaMar Pond? I can’t go back there! I just can’t!” A slight edge of hysteria shadowed her words.
Dan reached over and set his hand over her clenched fists. He took his eyes off the road long enough to look into her eyes. Seeing that she was in control again, he removed his hand and returned his eyes to the road.
“I know you are scared.” He kept his voice low, just a soft rumble in the strained silence. “I don’t blame you. But for your safety, and for your kids’ safety, we have to find out who is after you. And what secret is in your husband’s past.”
Sneaking a peek over, he saw that Maggie looked far from convinced. Her face was still pale, and he could detect a tremble in her hands, which she tried to hide as soon as she noticed him looking at them. Not much he could do about that. Whether she trusted him or not, he had a job to do. And to his way of thinking, the sooner this particular job was done, the better.
He saw a sign for the next gas station. It was sheer reflex to check the fuel gauge. Oh, man, they were getting pretty low. They would have to stop.
“What are we doing?” Maggie asked as he pulled off at the exit ramp.
“We have to get gas.” He pulled into the station, carefully watching out the windows for any sign of pursuit before he opened the door. The chain gas station was equipped with a food mart. Dan could see nothing but trees and hills behind them, although there were houses down the road a bit. Maggie threw open the other door, but he grabbed her arm before she could exit.
“You should stay in the car,” he said. “It’s safer.”
“I should change the twins’ diapers,” she argued. “Can’t you smell it?”
Dan took a deep whiff and wished he hadn’t. Okay, so she had a point. He let go of her arm, and she rushed out of the car and to the backseat. He listened with half an ear for squalling and was shocked when there was none. Huh. Guess the kids were going to cooperate. With an efficiency born of the urgent situation, he filled the gas tank, tapping his fist impatiently on the roof until it was done. He grabbed his receipt from the machine.
Maggie had the twins unbuckled as she hurried to finish up changing their diapers.
“If we hurry, could we go in and grab some milk and snack items?” she asked. “It’s going to be a long ride. The kids will get hungry.”
Dan kept his eyes scouring the road in front of them. He really didn’t like sitting out in the open like this. But he trusted Maggie to know what was best for her kids.
“Okay.” He squinted at Maggie. She had the serviceable backpack she used as a diaper bag slung across her back. He’d never thought of it, but it was probably hard to carry a diaper bag with a wiggling kid in each arm. By unspoken agreement they each bent down on their side to grab a kid.
Smash!
The window shattered as a bullet hit it. Two inches from Maggie’s head.
FOUR (#ulink_fcbf710c-deed-5555-8892-1bd2ecf4adf7)
Maggie screamed and pulled a shrieking Rory from the car.
“Run!” Dan bellowed. She needed no further urging. With a runner’s sprint, she hurtled toward the trees. Dan was on her heels, cradling Siobhan tightly in his arms.
A car screeched into the parking lot, bullets spewing from the open window. The ground was pelted ruthlessly, dust flying. It looked like the same car that had crashed into the chief’s.
Dan looked back in time to see a bullet hit a gas pump.
“Faster!” he barked. Ducking his head, he forced himself to hold the baby tighter and push forward.
The pump exploded. A nanosecond later, the flames set off a second pump. Dan yelled as the back of his leather jacket ignited. “Take her!”
Maggie grabbed the baby and Dan dived for the ground, rolling until the flames were out. He thanked God with all his heart that his jacket had taken the worst of the fire. He had, however, twisted his knee when he’d dived to the ground. Forcing himself to stand, he limped next to Maggie. He had never seen anything more beautiful than her tired face, scratched by broken glass but otherwise uninjured. And the babies. Wailing. Fat tears dribbled down their faces. But they were alive. He hadn’t let them down. Not like before...
Remembering the car, he looked over his shoulder. Both his car and the attacker’s were smoldering chunks of charred metal. He started toward the destruction, then halted, his cop radar on full alert. Another vehicle was approaching from the other direction, slowing down. He pulled Maggie and the twins farther out of sight.
“Trees. Get to the trees,” he gritted, taking Siobhan from her arms. Maggie looked as if she might protest, but he scowled at her. He wasn’t about to let an injury keep him from doing his duty. He would protect them, no matter the personal cost.
“Your back...”
“Is fine. My leg twisted. I’ll live. Move!”
She didn’t argue. They moved as quickly as his injured leg would allow. Once they were hidden, they slowed long enough to confirm Dan’s suspicions. The car had stopped, and two men had stepped out, carrying guns. They ignored the assailant’s car but inspected Dan’s still-burning car from a distance, bending to peer inside. Dan was too far away to hear what was said, but as the men started to look around the perimeter of the gas station, Dan urged Maggie farther back into the trees. It was only a matter of time before the men started to expand the search for Maggie and Dan.
“In the zippered front pocket of my backpack, you’ll find a baggie with pacifiers. Can you get it?” Maggie turned so Dan could reach out and open the pocket with one hand. Grabbing the baggie, he held it out to her. She grabbed the pacifiers and plopped one in each child’s mouth. Ah, silence.
Muttering a prayer of thanksgiving that they were alive, Dan prayed for their continued safety. And that Rory and Siobhan wouldn’t start crying again and give them away. Especially Siobhan, who was the loudest child he had ever heard. Unthinking, he kissed the baby’s head in silent apology for his unkind thoughts. Then he swung his gaze to Maggie, hoping she had missed the action. The eyes that met his were exhausted, but he saw the smile tugging at her lips. Oops. Busted.
He led the way farther into the woods, stopping several times to listen. The third time he stopped, he caught the distinctive sound of male voices coming from where they had been. Urgency filled him as he picked up the pace, changing directions and heading in a zigzag pattern through the woods. God had heard his prayer, he noticed in relief. Both Rory and Siobhan remained quiet.
The voices died away. The men had headed in the other direction. Dan continued to push his little group through the wooded area. Several times, he glanced at his phone. No bars. Figured. Pennsylvania’s hills were breathtaking, but they wreaked havoc with modern technology. He continued walking until he finally had a single bar. He passed Siobhan to Maggie, then motioned for her to keep back. He stepped several feet away from them, his nerves stretched tight as he drew closer to where the trees ended. Close by, the whir of traffic let him know that they were near a road. Using the GPS on his phone, he pinpointed their location.
How were the bad guys finding them? Were they following him? The idea seemed impossible, but he couldn’t see any other way that they could have pinned them down so quickly. Well, if some kind of tracker was in the car, it was gone. Quickly, he removed the battery from his phone and checked it for bugs. Nothing. He reassembled the phone.
It had to have been the car. Someone must have planted a tracker on it while he’d been inside Maggie’s house talking to her and Chief Garraway. Or it could have even happened earlier, before he left LaMar Pond. Was Phillip’s killer still there, still connected to the police department? Dan had put the call on speaker when that woman said she had found Maggie. Anyone in the station could have overheard, realized Dan would go to check out the lead and sneaked something onto his car before he left.
A quick glance over his shoulder assured him that the children and Maggie were fine. He ignored the tugging at his heart at the sight of the woebegone little family. Bitterness rose like bile in him at the thought of the family he would never have himself. What woman would want a man with his issues, his past? What kind of father could he possibly be?
Deliberately, he closed his mind to the dreams he’d had before the war had destroyed them. He sent a quick text to the police department, outlining his situation and his present location. In record time, he received an answer. Satisfied, he nodded to himself. Then he shot off a text to Paul, warning him to search for bugs or other surveillance equipment that might have gone missing.
Returning to the others, he kept his eyes peeled, constantly searching for movement in the line of trees behind them. He kept his voice low, cautious.
“Maggie, we need to keep moving. The department is sending us an unmarked car with enough provisions to get us through the next day or so if need be. Problem is, we’re going to have to walk a little ways yet to get to the drop-off spot.”
He focused his concerned gaze on her weary, dirt-smeared face. The twins were starting to get fractious. Rory had his fist in his mouth, gnawing on it. Siobhan was whimpering. Dan was worried. For a child as vocal as she usually was, did whimpering mean something was truly wrong? More than the situation at hand, that was?
A wan smile flitted across Maggie’s face. She nodded, then pulled the backpack off her back. She rifled through the contents and pulled out a small container filled with crackers. The kids fell to eating the crackers with a gusto that would have been humorous another time. She yanked out a bottle of water and gave some to one child, then the other, holding it steady even as water dribbled down their chubby chins. Still without a word, she grabbed a second bottle of water from her bag and handed it to Dan. Gratefully, he accepted it and took several thirsty swallows. She took a drink from the one the kids had used before replacing it in the bag.
“Here, let me take that.” Dan held out his hand for the backpack.
“But your back,” Maggie started to protest.
“It’s not really hurt. Mostly my jacket got burned. The fire didn’t even touch my clothes. But we don’t have time to argue. Got to keep moving.”
Her mouth thinned into a determined line, Maggie stood and pulled Siobhan into her arms. Dan hefted Rory onto his hip and led the way in the direction the dispatcher had indicated.
Every now and then, the small group rushed to hide, crouched down, as a car passed or as noises were heard. Once, they even heard voices nearby. Dan could feel Maggie tremble beside him. He was amazed at how quiet the children were. He kept up a steady litany of prayers under his breath.
“And there it is,” he announced almost an hour later. He could see two cars on the side of the road. A man and a woman stood there, apparently exchanging information. Dan recognized them both. When they turned toward him, his trained eyes could make out the shape of concealed weapons under their hoodies.
“Dan,” the man greeted him, his voice pitched low. “We have supplies in the trunk. And there are two children’s car seats installed, rear-facing, as requested. The tank is full. Do you need further assistance?”
Dan patted the officer on the shoulder. “Thanks, Craig. And you, too, Lori. We will take it from here. But I would appreciate it if you would tail us for a few miles just to be sure we are not being followed.”
* * *
More police officers.
Maggie had been running for so long, tensing every time she saw someone wearing a badge. Being in such close proximity with so many officers in one day was making her skin itch. They looked decent, though, and Dan clearly trusted them. Although she wasn’t ready to trust him implicitly, he had put himself in harm’s way several times to keep them safe. That had to say something about the man’s character. But she’d been fooled by men before. Her lips twisted as the memory of her stepfather crossed her mind. She shuddered in revulsion. And her real father was no prince, either. Charming on the outside, rotten on the inside. Even her husband had been hiding something. She hurried to stop that thought before she became overwhelmed.
Dan was talking to the officers in a low voice. He seemed at ease. Even so, these new officers were an unknown. She listened intently to their conversation as she loaded up the kids. Her neck felt stiff with tension, and her shoulders were beginning to ache. She fully expected gunmen to erupt from the woods behind them at any moment.
She didn’t allow herself to relax her guard until she and Dan were pulling away in the car. The children were holding a babbling conversation in the back, totally unaware of the tense situation. She couldn’t remember ever feeling that carefree, that trusting, even as a child. Of course, she’d had the bullies to keep her on her toes then. I’ve hidden from someone my whole life. The revelation did not please her.
“Where are we going?” She gazed out the window as she listened for his response. The trees created a fantastic landscape with their vivid leaves against the blue sky. Dramatic.
“There’s a hunting cabin I know of. It’s not mine. It belongs to my buddy Jace.”
Maggie swiveled her head to rest her gaze on his profile. Strange to notice how handsome he was at a time like this. But he was. His profile was strong. There was something so confident about the way he carried himself. She remembered how quickly he had moved at the house.
Suddenly, he tensed.
“Okay...”
“What? What is it?” Maggie straightened in her seat. “Tell me!”
“It’s probably nothing,” he stated slowly, though his tone suggested it was very definitely something. “There is a car behind us. I can’t be sure, but my gut says we are being followed.”
The muscles in her stomach tightened, cramped. She leaned forward slightly, crossing her arms over her stomach in an attempt to hold in the pain. “The other cops—they were behind us,” she gasped.
He flashed her a worried glance. “They were. They turned off several miles back. This isn’t them.”
She peered into the side mirror just as the car sped up, gaining on them.
“Hold on.” Dan’s mouth tightened into a grim line. His foot pushed down on the gas, and he gripped the steering wheel as he attempted to outmaneuver the other vehicle. Taking one hand off the wheel, he tapped a button on the console area, then replaced his hand on the wheel. Voice control is a grand thing, Maggie mused as she listened to him calling the precinct. With as few words as possible he informed the dispatcher of their current situation.
“I’ll stay on the line with you until we can intercept you,” the dispatcher droned.
Lord, help us. Maggie startled as she realized she was praying. In her experience, prayer really hadn’t worked in the past. But as Dan’s velocity increased around the curves, she found herself again praying. Now was not the time to reject even the possibility of assistance from God. Hopefully He was still willing to listen to her.
With every twist, the other car followed. Dan’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel, but other than that he appeared calm and focused. Maggie aimed another glance at her side mirror and gasped, horror leaping into her chest. A man was leaning out the side window at an impossible angle. The afternoon sunlight flashed against his sunglasses, making it difficult to make out his features clearly. She had no trouble making out the rifle in his hands.
The rifle aimed at their car.
Dan swerved suddenly, just as a shot rang out. It missed the car, but who knew if the second bullet would miss?
“We are one mile from exit 270.” He probably didn’t realize he was shouting.
“Take the next exit, Lieutenant,” the dispatcher directed.
Dan nodded. “On my way off now.”
With a quick spin of the wheel, he sent the car hurtling across the lane beside him toward the exit. It was a good thing there was no traffic to speak of. The car following them braked hard to avoid a collision. The man leaning out the window was forced to grab on to the door. She sighed in relief as he dropped the rifle on the road. It bounced and shattered as the rear wheels rolled over it.
As they roared onto the exit, two police cruisers shot into place along the berm, lights flashing. Dan steered off, but the car following them gunned the engine and shot past the exit. One of the police cars sped up the exit ramp the wrong way in pursuit.
Maggie slumped in her seat, drained and exhausted. She stayed in the car as Dan got out to confer with the officers in the remaining cruiser. She lacked the energy even to try to listen to what they were saying. She’d had it. She closed her eyes, not even opening them when the driver’s door opened. Dan had returned. She’d known him only a short time, but she already knew the scent of his cologne.
“I checked for bugs. There are no tracking devices on the car. Do you have a cell phone?”
“No.”
“Let me check out the diaper bag and the car seats.” Fifteen minutes later, she sighed in relief when he announced all clear.
“And do we have another plan?”
“Same plan, Maggie.” His voice rumbled. “We are going to continue to the cabin, but via a different route.”
Different? The route was an impossible and ridiculous one, Maggie thought hours later. Long drives were one thing, but spending the drive coupled with two children who’d had enough of being strapped into car seats was another. They had allowed themselves the luxury of stopping once for food and diaper changes.
Maggie stepped inside the cabin, Rory sleeping peacefully in her arms. In the past four hours, Dan had made so many turns, she wasn’t even positive they were still in Pennsylvania. Not a single landmark was familiar. A bone-chilling weariness settled around her. She was one step away from sliding down that rabbit hole. Between sleep deprivation and stress, she was starting to get a little wacky.
Dan entered, carrying a whiny Siobhan, as she was setting Rory down on a makeshift bed of throw blankets. Maggie wiped her mouth with her hand to cover the smile that was threatening to escape. The poor man was a bit wild around the eyes. His hair was no longer smooth. In places it actually seemed to be standing on end. But Siobhan had taken a liking to him. She whimpered whenever he tried to hand her off to her mother. If Maggie took her, the whimper morphed into a full bellow. She’d offered Dan earplugs at one point, only half joking.
“Do you think I can put her down?” Dan whispered. “I really need to check the perimeter and call my chief. Give him an update.”
Maggie stretched out her arms. “Here. Give her to me.”
He started to hand her over, then hesitated as Siobhan let out a warning whimper. Maggie took her, anyway. And the bellowing began.
Dan’s brow creased. “Are you sure—” he began.
“Go! She’ll settle down in a minute.” Maggie pointed an imperious finger toward the door.
Dan started to walk toward the door, then stopped with a chuckle. “I can’t believe this. You’re already telling me what to do.”
He disappeared out the door, leaving Maggie standing there, her mouth hanging wide-open. She stared at the door for a couple of seconds before realizing that she was getting nothing accomplished. Shaking herself out of the strange stillness that had come over her, she got her daughter settled with Rory and went to work making the tiny cabin comfortable. She turned on the heat. Hopefully, the place wouldn’t take long to warm up, since it was so small.
It was strange. As she waited for Dan to return, she felt uneasy. His presence was so big, so sturdy, that she had felt safe when he was there. Now, knowing that it was only she and the twins, she felt herself tensing as the silence stretched and grew. The wind blew against the little cabin, making creaks and cracks and groans. She felt as if someone was watching her.
A sharp rap sounded on the door. Maggie shrieked. She blushed as the door opened and Dan poked his head around it, his face breaking into a smile. His gray eyes danced.
“Now, who did you think was going to knock before trying to get in the door?” His tone was cocky but his expression was watchful.
“You just startled me, that’s all.” She chided herself for being so jumpy. Still, the memory of that man coming at her with a knife was looming large in the back of her mind.
The heat clicked on with a loud hum. Dan smiled. “I’m glad you turned the heat on. Not to complain, but it’s chilly in here.”
“I’m surprised at you. Coming from LaMar Pond, this weather is mild. The winters there are absolutely brutal. But you know that,” Maggie responded.
“Well, I’m not actually from LaMar Pond. I’m from Hershey, Pennsylvania. I moved to Pittsburgh when I got out of the army. I moved to LaMar Pond about two years ago. I was working undercover on a case. Actually, I was working to find out what was happening to the jurors from Melanie’s trial. Once the case was over, I decided to stay. It’s a nice little community. A little slower pace, but I like it.”
“Well, anyway, I know it’s going to get cold tonight. I figured why wait to warm the place up. I’ve got warm clothes for the babies, but nothing for me other than what I’m wearing.”
“It was a good thought,” Dan remarked. “But you won’t be staying here tonight.”
What? Why stop in such a remote place, why go through the trouble of searching the perimeter if this was only a break?

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