Page 2

TWO

I t didn’t take long for the rest of the officers on duty to arrive at the scene. They were near the edge of the city limits, but since the truck had been loaded at the pizzeria and followed to this remote location, West knew the case belonged to the Plains City PD.

After filling the officers in on the events of the night, including the rounds of gunfire that had pummeled Trish’s cruiser, he requested the truck and weapons be taken in for processing to find fingerprints and DNA.

“We’re on it,” Officer Jerry Skinner assured him.

“Thanks.” He glanced down at Peanut, who was sitting at his side. The K-9 was waiting patiently for her next command. Unfortunately, there was nothing more for Peanut to do here.

His phone rang, and West was surprised to see the name of his boss, Captain Douglas Ross, on the screen. He quickly answered. “Captain.”

“Fifty guns?” Ross asked. “That’s quite a haul.”

“Yeah.” It still irked him that Petey and his accomplice had gotten away. It wasn’t Trish’s fault—she was doing her job. If he was honest, he’d have done the same thing in her shoes.

It was just bad timing all around.

Or maybe good timing, in that he had been there to back her up. Two bad guys with guns had been in the truck. If she had been alone...

His gut clenched and he quickly thrust that troubled thought aside. Trisha was fine. She’d handled herself extremely well under fire.

Stubborn, which he had to admire. She hadn’t hesitated to pursue the two armed suspects.

“I need to place a call with the ATF on this,” Ross was saying. West silently groaned. He did not want the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to take over.

“I understand,” he said, masking his feelings. “I just hope they let us assist with the case.”

“Oh, we’ll be involved,” Ross assured him. “Kenyon was one of ours. That makes it personal. I’ll insist we be included in all intel moving forward.”

He knew the captain would do his best, but the ATF had federal jurisdiction. His boss may not win that battle. He quickly filled him in on the rest. “I recognized Petey Pawners, a perp I’d busted last year for illegal possession of a firearm, but never got a good look at his accomplice. They took off into the woods.” He glanced at Peanut again. “They fired at us, so we felt it prudent to give up the chase.”

“I’m glad you and McCord aren’t hurt,” Ross said. “Having the name and ID of one perp helps. I’ve issued a BOLO for Pawners. I heard McCord’s squad car is shot up pretty bad.”

“Yeah, a tow truck is on the way.” He glanced over to where Trisha was speaking with one of the officers. Strands of her red hair had come loose from the bun to frame her face. He forced himself to look away. He wasn’t interested in a relationship, no matter how pretty she was. His last girlfriend had left him, claiming he was married to his job. And maybe he was. People always left, either on purpose, like Shannon, or by dying, like Kenyon. He was better off alone. “I’ll drive McCord back to her place when we finish here.”

“Okay. I gotta go, the ATF is on the other line.” With that, Ross ended the call.

West shoved his phone into his pocket and joined the others. He and Trisha had already given their statements, and he was the detective on the case anyway, so there was no reason for them to hang around.

“Trish? Are you ready to get out of here?” He kept his tone casual, despite his odd awareness of her. He reminded himself that he’d offer to drive any officer home if their cruiser had been shot up by a pair of gun runners.

“Oh, uh, sure.” She looked surprised. “Thanks.”

“There are forty-eight weapons inside,” Officer Skinner announced.

“That’s about what I thought,” West agreed. “At this point, I’m interested in getting trace DNA or fingerprints from the interior of the truck. Petey Pawners’s info is already on file and a BOLO has been issued, but we need his accomplice.”

“Understood. We’ll preserve the truck until the crime scene techs can do their thing,” Skinner replied.

West wished there was more he could do, but these things took time. Rushing evidence collection wasn’t smart. He turned to Trish, gesturing toward his SUV. Then he bent and scooped Peanut into his arms. “Let’s go.”

She fell into step beside him. “I need to thank you for backing me up.”

“It’s fine.” He waved that off. “Part of the job.”

She nodded without saying anything more. He wondered if the near miss so soon after losing Kenyon was bothering her.

The way it was bothering him.

He did his best to shake it off. Trisha climbed into the passenger seat as he placed Peanut in her back crate. The beagle turned in a circle on her cushion, then settled down for a nap. He stroked the soft brown and white fur for a moment before stepping back to close the hatch. He loved Peanut and was proud of her ability to sniff out weapons, but he still missed his former partner, a yellow Lab named Willa.

After climbing in beside Trish, he made a U-turn to head back to Plains City. As he hit highway speeds, he sent her a questioning look. “Where do you live?”

“I have a small house near Robin Park.” She cleared her throat before adding, “Thankfully, I was able to keep it after my divorce.”

He and the rest of the department knew about her divorce. And how the idiot had left her pregnant and alone. He wasn’t privy to all the details, but any man who would walk away from his pregnant wife was a low-life scumbag in his book. “That’s nice.”

“Yeah, it is.” She relaxed against the seat cushion as if the events of the night were finally catching up to her. She offered a tired smile. “Gabriel is six months old now, and I’m blessed to have him.”

He wasn’t sure what to say to that. The kid was a product of a divorce, just like he and his brothers were. At least Gabriel was too young to know anything different.

“Must be hard juggling work and parenthood.” He winced at his lame attempt at small talk. He’d been alone for so long, focused only on his work, that he was out of practice.

“I have a lot of support from my sister, and my neighbor Laurel Newton. Do you know her? She was a police officer for the Plains City PD but has been retired for twelve years.”

“The name sounds familiar. I’ve only been with the precinct for ten years, though.”

“Yeah, she was there before my time, too. Her husband died last year, so she’s been babysitting for me.” Trisha sighed. “Second shift is not my favorite, but I’m next up for days. That will make things easier in the long run, especially when Gabriel starts school.”

He nodded again, unable to come up with a response. He’d spent time with Kenyon and his twin boys, but that was about as much kid time as he could handle. And even then, he and Kenyon would hang out to watch sports after the kids had fallen asleep.

He’d admired Kenyon for being a great single dad after losing his wife to cancer. But that didn’t mean he had any intention of following in Kenyon’s footsteps and being a father.

Trisha lapsed into silence, and he quickly navigated the streets toward Robin Park, anxious to drop her off. “What’s your address?”

She gave him the house number, and he found the neighborhood without a problem.

“It’s the white ranch house.” She pointed to the house on the right side of the road.

“Great.” He slowed and turned into her driveway. “I’ll walk you up to the door.”

“No thanks. I can handle it. Take care, West.” She pushed open her door and jumped down as if eager to get away. Then she froze, frowning.

His instincts went on red alert. “What’s wrong?”

“Gabriel is crying.” Without further explanation, she slammed the door and bolted toward the front door. He wasn’t sure what she was worried about—kids cried all the time.

Yet Trisha was a cop. Was he missing something? He killed the engine and slid out of the front seat to see what had alarmed her.

He had only taken a few steps when Trisha let out a strangled cry.

“Laurel!” Trisha stared in horror when she saw her neighbor and babysitter tied to a chair, her left eye puffy from being struck. Gabriel’s crying had her racing down the hall to the nursery, her heart hammering with fear. Upon seeing him sitting in his crib, tears of relief pricked her eyes.

“I’m here. Mommy’s here.” She scooped him into her arms, crushing him close. He stopped crying, burrowing against her. She took a moment to thank God for keeping her son safe, before turning back toward the living room. She caught the same hint of cigarette smoke lingering in the air.

Not her imagination, she thought grimly.

As she retraced her steps, her cop eyes took in the mess. Her home had been tossed. Not wrecked, but thoroughly searched.

Why? A druggie looking for something valuable to sell? Entering the living room, she was surprised to find West kneeling in front of Laurel, carefully removing the gag from her mouth. Then he used his knife to slice through the bindings around her neighbor’s wrists and ankles.

“Hurry, he’s getting away,” Laurel said, her eyes wide with urgency. “He went out the back door.”

“I’ll go.” West rose and immediately headed outside.

She was grateful West was there, since she couldn’t chase a bad guy while holding her son.

“What happened?” She shifted Gabriel to one hip as she knelt beside the older woman. Laurel had recently turned sixty-five, and while she had been a cop, the older woman had clearly been caught off guard by the attacker.

“I didn’t realize he was inside until it was too late,” Laurel said. Up close, Trisha could see her puffy left eye was already turning black and blue. “He must have had a key, because I keep the doors locked while you’re gone.”

That seemed impossible, but it also explained how she’d felt someone had been inside her house the previous night. “Then what happened?”

“He seemed surprised to see me. He struck me in the face, sending me reeling backward. Before I could react, he grabbed my wrists and yanked them behind my back.” Laurel’s gaze hardened. “I kicked and fought, but he jammed his knee into my kidney, which made me black out. When I came to, I was tied to the chair and gagged, while he was going through the house, searching for the key.”

“What key?” She wondered if Laurel was confused, suffering from a minor head injury caused by being hit in the face.

“I don’t know, he just kept asking me where the key was. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. He went into Gabriel’s room to search, and the baby started crying...” Laurel’s voice trailed off. She seemed to gather herself together to finish the story. “He must have heard your car pull into the driveway because he abruptly rushed past me and out the back door. I was so scared for Gabriel, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t call out for help...” Again, her voice trailed off.

“He’s okay. See? Gabriel is fine.” She gently set Gabriel in Laurel’s lap to reassure her. The part of the story that hit her the hardest was that she and West had arrived in time to scare the guy off.

Which meant, he hadn’t finished his search. For the key. What key? It was all so confusing.

But for now, she needed to take care of Laurel. “Stay here for a minute. I’ll get you an ice pack for your eye.”

“I wish I’d have brought my gun,” Laurel groused, holding Gabriel close. “I feel like an idiot for allowing him to get the drop on me.”

“Please don’t beat yourself up. You couldn’t know this would happen. Especially since he was able to sneak in without raising the alarm.” She pressed a bag of frozen peas against Laurel’s swollen left eye. “Hold this. I’ll take Gabriel.”

She turned as West came in through the back door. “There’s no sign of him.” West didn’t look happy about not finding the guy. “But I called for officers to come and canvass the scene. Maybe someone can identify him.”

“That’s doubtful as he was wearing a ski mask and gloves, so you won’t find any prints, either.” Laurel grimaced. “I know all victims say this, but everything happened so fast. I can’t even say for sure what color his eyes were.”

Trisha swallowed her disappointment. No facial features or prints to go by would make it nearly impossible to track down the mystery intruder. “It’s okay. How is your back? Are you still in pain?”

West arched a brow. “Her back?”

“He jammed his knee in my kidney,” Laurel said shifting with a grimace. “That pain was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’m ashamed to say I blacked out.”

“You have no reason to be ashamed, and you need to get checked out at the hospital,” Trisha told her. Kidney damage in a woman her age could be serious.

“I’m fine,” Laurel muttered, still holding the frozen peas against her eye.

“Please, Laurel. For me.” She crossed over to kneel beside the woman she loved like a surrogate mother. She and her sister, Raina, had lost their parents when they were seventeen and nineteen respectively. Laurel had been wonderfully supportive throughout her pregnancy and postdelivery. “I don’t think you should mess around with possible kidney damage.”

“Trisha is right,” West added, his brow furrowed with concern. “Being examined by the doc is the smart thing to do.”

The older woman reluctantly nodded. “Okay. But what about Gabriel? You need someone to watch him tomorrow, too, don’t you?”

“I’ll worry about that later,” Trisha assured her. Glancing around her tossed home, she grimaced. “I’ll have to get the locks changed ASAP.”

“I noticed the back door wasn’t damaged, but there are scratches around the lock.” West also scanned the room, taking in the mess. “The perp may have used a lock pick to get in.”

That made more sense than him having a house key. “I wish I understood why he was looking for a key.” She explained to West what Laurel had told her. Then lifted a hand when he opened his mouth to ask more questions. “No, I don’t have any idea who he is. Or why he’s in here looking for a key.” She scowled. “At least I know I’m not losing my mind.”

“What do you mean?” West looked perplexed.

“I woke up in the middle of the night and walked into the kitchen. I thought I smelled cigarette smoke.” She wished now she’d have taken her instincts seriously. “There was no sign anyone had been in here, no forced entry and Gabriel was still sleeping, so I shrugged it off as my overactive imagination.” Easy to do, since she and the rest of the department were still in shock over losing Kenyon.

“He was definitely a smoker,” Laurel added. “I smelled the cigarette smoke on him, too.”

“Good to know,” she murmured.

“Unfortunately, that doesn’t help narrow the pool of suspects.” West glanced at her, then added, “You and your son can’t stay here tonight. Not if this guy was able to pick the lock to gain access to the home.”

She hated to admit he was right. But just then the night shift officers arrived, along with an ambulance. She stepped back to give the EMTs room to care for Laurel. She could tell the older woman was in pain, while putting on a brave front.

Gabriel fell asleep on her shoulder, but she was reluctant to put him back in his crib. What if the intruder had hurt her baby? It was too painful to contemplate what might have transpired here if West hadn’t pulled up to her house when he had.

God had been watching over her, Gabriel and Laurel tonight. West, too, although she’d noticed he hadn’t attended church in months.

Deep down, she’d always admired West Cole. His drop-dead good looks aside, he was a nice guy and a great detective. She remembered how upset he’d been when he’d lost his yellow Lab K-9 partner, Willa, shortly before Kenyon had been killed.

She was glad he had Peanut as a partner now. They made a great team.

“Your pulse and blood pressure are really high,” the EMT said to Laurel.

“I was attacked, of course they’re high,” Laurel groused. “Just get me to the hospital. The only thing I’m concerned about is my kidney.”

The two EMTs exchanged a look and shrugged. Minutes later, they had Laurel packed on a gurney and were wheeling her through the living room to the front door.

She and West filled in the officers on what had gone down. The second adrenaline rush was fading, leaving her feeling shaky and weak. And wondering if this night would ever end.

First the shooting along the highway and now this.

“Let’s get you out of here,” West said, coming up to stand beside her.

“Yeah. I guess I’ll take Gabriel to a hotel.” Going to her sister’s home, where she had custody of Kenyon’s twin three-year-old boys wasn’t an option. Laurel’s place was out, too, as it was right next door and the intruder would likely look for her there. She glanced toward the bedrooms. “I just need a few minutes to pack a few things for us.”

“Of course.” He glanced at Gabriel, and for a moment she wondered if he would offer to hold her son, but then he stuck his hands in the front pockets of his worn denim jeans and took a step back. “No rush. Take your time.”

She held his gaze for a moment, then turned away. Seeing Gabriel’s car seat, she snagged it with one hand, set it on the table and carefully placed her sleeping son into the seat. She strapped him in, then went down the hall to the two bedrooms.

She quickly changed out of her police uniform, donning a dark blue sweater paired with comfy jeans. She pulled the pins from her hair, shaking out the long tresses, then packed an overnight bag. Moving into Gabriel’s room, she took note of the few things that were out of place. Her room hadn’t been touched, but it was clear the intruder had begun searching her son’s room.

For a key. To what? A locker? A storage unit? A mailbox? There were several possibilities to consider.

After packing a large diaper bag, she picked up the portable crib, then headed into the kitchen. She could feel West’s gaze boring into her back as she packed formula, bottles, dry cereal and baby food into a box.

“That’s all for one night?” West’s incredulous tone grated on her nerves.

“Yes. I would rather have too much food than not enough.” She wasn’t sure why she was explaining herself to him. “I’d like to find a hotel with a kitchenette.”

“You can stay with me if you’d like.”

His offer came out of left field. She spun to face him, wondering if he was joking. “No thanks. I wouldn’t want to be a burden.”

“Look, you said you need a kitchen.” He waved a hand at the box of supplies, the diaper bag and the portable crib. “I get you have a son to feed, and it looks like you have a lot of other stuff here, too. It’s probably better if you stay in my guest room. At least until we know more about this guy.”

“That could take days,” she protested. Having access to a kitchen would be nice, but truthfully, she wasn’t sure she wanted to stay with West. Things had been awkward between them since the shoot-out on the highway and during the ride home.

Maybe she’d once had a secret crush on him, but that was when she’d first started at the precinct as a rookie cop. West hadn’t seemed to know she existed. Then she’d met and married Bryan, only to end up divorced less than five months after their wedding. Which only made her feel like a fool for falling for a guy like him.

Yeah, there was no way she was traipsing down that path again. Especially since she had Gabriel to consider. Her son would not suffer from her mistakes.

“Look, it’s late. Better for you and Gabriel to stay at my place for what’s left of the night.” West had obviously caught the look of doubt playing across her features. “You’d have to check out of the local hotel by ten or eleven in the morning, which wouldn’t give you much time to take care of things.” His piercing blue eyes were surprisingly earnest. “Not to mention, you’ve had a rough night.”

His sweet empathy knocked her off balance. She hadn’t expected that from him. Suddenly she was too tired to argue. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Great.” He looked relieved. “I’ll carry that box and the portable crib. Let’s hit the road.”

She hesitated, debating whether to wake Gabriel by putting him in his winter coat. She decided against it, knowing a blanket would keep him warm enough. She looped the strap of the diaper bag over her shoulder, then used both hands to lift Gabriel’s car seat, nearly staggering under the weight.

Again, West noticed. “Set him down. Let me store this other stuff in the back seat first, then I’ll come back for him.” He used his key fob to start the SUV, then hauled the box of food and portable crib outside.

She thought of Peanut waiting in the car and was glad the April temps weren’t too cold. She knew the K-9 SUVs were well equipped to keep the dogs safe, including temperature control features, but she would feel bad if the poor thing had gotten chilled.

West returned a few minutes later. He reached for the car seat, surprise widening his eyes when he lifted it off the table. “It’s heavier than I expected.”

“Tell me about it.” She kept the diaper bag and followed him out the front door. She took a moment to lock the door behind her—why, she wasn’t sure. The perp had picked the lock and could easily do so again.

Who had done this? It didn’t make any sense, and the headache she’d been trying to ignore grew worse the more she thought about it. She turned to follow West to the SUV when she caught the same scent of cigarette smoke.

“West! Do you smell cigarettes?” She slowly moved in a circle, her gaze sweeping the area. At first she didn’t see anything.

Then a dark shadow moved along the far side of her house.

“The intruder!” she shouted. Dropping the diaper bag, she took off after him.

“Trish, stop!” West’s voice held a note of urgency. She turned to see Peanut sniffing the air, then dropping into her sitting position. “Get in the SUV, hurry!”

She hesitated, turning toward him. She hated the idea of this guy getting away, but if Peanut had picked up the scent of a gun, she couldn’t risk her son being caught in the crossfire.

She returned to the vehicle and buckled Gabriel’s car seat in the back, using her body to protect him. Seconds later, they were on the road, putting badly needed distance between her son and the house where she’d once felt safe.

But not anymore.

Her nerves were on edge. She scanned their surroundings as West drove to his place. She doubted she’d get any sleep.

Not when her precious son was in danger from an unknown threat.

One she needed to identify and eliminate as soon as possible.