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EIGHT

G et a grip! West silently chided himself for coming within a nanosecond of pulling Trisha into his arms and kissing her.

What was wrong with him? He wasn’t interested!

Okay, that was a lie. Any guy would be interested in a beautiful woman like Trish. She was funny, smart, strong, courageous and off-limits in a big way.

His role here was to protect her and Gabriel.

Not kiss her.

It was all this forced togetherness that was doing him in. He had never shared his personal space with a woman before. It would help to keep busy. Work had always been his salvation, and that was something he desperately needed now.

His gaze landed on the paperwork he’d brought in. He took a seat at the table and set the lists side by side. Thankfully, they had both been generated by computers and therefore had all the names in alphabetical order.

There were two names that overlapped. Alan Hines and Greg Zillow. He turned to let Trisha know what he’d found, but his breath caught in his throat when he saw her rocking Gabriel, whispering soothing sounds to settle the fussy baby.

Since when did he find motherhood alluring?

Since never. But there was no denying how arresting Trisha looked while caring for her son. The love reflected on her face made him wish for something he’d never had.

Something he hadn’t even known he’d longed for, until now.

As if feeling his gaze, she glanced up. “Did you find something?”

“Yeah.” He had to clear his throat, forcing himself to stay on track. “Do you recognize either of these names? Greg Zillow or Alan Hines?”

“No, they don’t ring a bell.” She frowned. “You found their names on both lists? Pizzeria employees and members of the Fitness Guru Gym?”

“Yeah. Greg Zillow is a current gym member, and former pizzeria employee. Alan Hines is the opposite, a current employee at the pizza place but no longer a member of the gym.”

“That’s interesting. Do either of them have criminal records?”

“I’m about to check.” He bent to retrieve the laptop. A minute later, he had it plugged in, booted up and connected to the hotel internet. “Zillow did time for possession of pot a year ago, but it was a small amount so it’s nothing more than a misdemeanor.” He quickly checked Alan Hines. “Hines also has a drug possession charge.”

“Small-time drugs, but not guns.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “I guess it’s not a stretch to believe one or both of them has moved up in the criminal world to gun trafficking.”

“Maybe.” He’d been hoping for something more. He jotted down the last known address for each of them. “Makes me wonder if one of these two left the Glock for the other.”

“That’s one possible scenario.” She shrugged. “Based on what we saw at the gym, I don’t think it would be difficult for a nonmember to slip into the locker room.”

“True, I didn’t get the impression that Stewie runs a tight ship,” he agreed. “He claims guns aren’t allowed, but we still found one. And I suspect Alan Hines could have slipped by without drawing attention, left the item in the locker, then sneaked out again.” He tapped the paperwork on the desk. “Although it could be that Greg Zillow, who is a current member of the gym, left the Glock for someone else. For all we know, Alan is an innocent bystander.” They had something to go on, but it wasn’t much.

“Greg Zillow is a member of the gym, which gives him easy access to the locker room, and he worked at the pizzeria, so he would know the layout of that place,” she mused. “Which means he knew very well the storage room was never locked.”

“Exactly. Knowing that puts Zillow at the top of the suspect list.” He wanted nothing more than to check Greg Zillow out for himself, but forced himself to call Gracie Fitzpatrick, instead. She and Bane would be the perfect duo to head over with another member of the team to have a little heart-to-heart with Zillow. After the attempted break in at his house, he wasn’t going to leave Trisha and Gabriel alone.

“Hey, West, is everything okay?” Gracie asked by way of greeting.

“Yes, thanks for asking. I have a potential suspect that I’d like you to interview. Greg Zillow.” He explained about the guy being a member of the gym and a former employee of the pizzeria. “He could have left the Glock in the locker room for some buyer and would know about the supply room always being left unlocked.”

“Very true,” she said, with a hint of enthusiasm in her tone. They all wanted to bring this gun trafficking enterprise down as soon as possible. “I’ll gladly talk to him.”

“I think you should take someone else from the task force along with you,” he went on. “Bane is a great protector, and will bring this perp down if needed, but anyone involved with the gun trafficking is likely armed and should be considered dangerous.”

“I’ll see if Dan Slater has someone available from the task force,” she agreed. “Maybe Deputy Zack Kelcey has time to ride along. Nice work on digging into Greg Zillow. I’ll keep you updated on what we find.”

“Great, thanks.” He ended the call, doing his best to hide his disappointment at not being able to interview their potential suspect himself.

“I’m sure I’ll be safe here with Gabriel,” Trisha said, easily reading his thoughts. “You found the connection to Zillow and deserve to be involved.”

“It’s okay. The rest of the task force has it under control.” He was trying to reassure himself as much as her.

On cue, the hotel phone rang. He reached over to answer the landline. “Hello?”

“Food delivery here for you,” the front desk clerk said.

“I’ll be right there.” He hung up and patted his pocket to make sure he had his key. Their suite was on the first floor, per his request, to make it easier to take Peanut outside. He decided to bring her with him. “Our sandwiches and chips are here. I’ll be right back. Come, Peanut.”

Peanut eagerly jumped up when he reached for her leash. At his place, he didn’t need it. But here, there were too many people milling about. Peanut was very well-behaved.

Too bad many people weren’t.

He glanced back to see that Trisha had turned her attention back to her son. He abruptly realized the main reason she’d gotten a room here was so that he wouldn’t be disturbed by Gabriel’s fussing.

Oddly, the little boy hadn’t bothered him at all. It was almost scary how quickly and easily the mother and son pair had infiltrated his life. To the point his house was going to seem empty once they were gone.

He took Peanut outside first, scanning the area as she did her business. Satisfied there was nothing unusual or suspicious, he took the dog back in and grabbed the sandwiches. His stomach rumbled with hunger as the aroma of bacon from his BLT sub wafted toward him.

Back in the suite, he’d noticed Trisha had cleared the table to make room. Gabriel was sitting on the floor again, gnawing at his teething ring. Peanut went over to the little boy, as if knowing it was a part of her job to keep an eye on him.

“I’m hungry,” Trisha said.

“Me, too, but I need to feed Peanut, first.” He made it a habit to care for his partner before himself. He rummaged in the oversize bag he’d packed with her things, pulling out her food and water dishes. After filling them up, he set them on the floor in front of the minifridge. Peanut watched him with dark eyes, her nose sniffing the air but not moving until he gave her the okay.

“Come and get it,” he said, pointing at the bowls.

Peanut jumped up and ran to eat, her tail wagging with excitement. He stroked her soft fur. “You’re a good girl, Sweet Pea.”

“I love that nickname,” Trisha said with a smile. “I can’t get over how amazing K-9s are. I didn’t really appreciate them the way I do now.”

“I have to admit, it’s a blessing to be able to work with a K-9 partner.” He returned to the table, opened the bag of chips, then reached for his sandwich.

“I’d like to say grace,” Trisha said.

He flushed and dropped the sandwich he’d almost taken a bite out of. “Of course. Sorry.”

She smiled and reached for his hand. “Dear Lord Jesus, we thank You for this wonderful food we are about to eat. Please continue to keep the task force team members and my son safe in Your loving arms. Amen.”

“And keep Trisha safe from harm, too,” he quickly added. “Amen.”

“Thanks for including me.” She released his hand and waved at the food. “Now we can dig in.”

“We had pizza last night, or I’d have suggested it again,” he admitted. “The pizzeria smelled great.”

“It’s a fan favorite with me, too. But this turkey sub works just as well.” She took a small bite. “I hope you hear something from the task force soon.”

He eyed his watch. It was quarter past six o’clock. Had the lab gotten any results back on Petey Pawners’s dead accomplice? He’d hoped for something more to go on, but at this rate they may not learn anything until the morning.

He wondered if Gracie and Zach had spoken to Greg Zillow yet. He also wanted to attend the autopsies. Maybe he could convince one of the patrol officers to stand by here at the hotel while he was gone.

They were just finishing their meal when his phone rang. Surprised to see his captain’s name on the screen, he quickly answered. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“We have an ID on the dead accomplice found in the dumpster with Petey Pawners,” Ross said, his voice sounding resigned. “Greg Zillow. I heard you cross matched his name as belonging to the gym and being a former employee of the Plains City Pizzeria.”

“I did.” He sat back, letting out a low groan. “I can’t believe Zillow is dead.”

“Yeah, Gracie Fitzpatrick and Zach Kelcey had just gotten to his place to try to talk to him when word came in. They’re going to execute a search warrant for his apartment, and Pawners’s place, too. Just thought you should know.” His boss sounded tired.

He shared the same weary sense of exhaustion.

Their most promising lead to identifying someone higher up within the gun running organization was dead.

Trisha quickly set Gabriel in his car seat to feed him dinner, listening as West spoke on the phone.

Greg Zillow was dead? She had gotten a glimpse of the two bodies that had been pulled from the dumpster and placed on the ground for the ME to examine more closely.

“Thanks, please keep me in the loop,” West said to their boss, then set his phone on the table, meeting her gaze. “I’m sure you heard that Greg Zillow is dead.”

“Not good,” she agreed. Gabriel kicked his feet when she didn’t feed him fast enough. Her boy loved to eat, anything but his vegetables. “But maybe they’ll find something useful when they execute the search warrant.”

“I hope so.” West sounded glum. “It feels like for every step forward, we take two steps back.”

“I know.” She wished there was something she could say to reassure him. Truth be told, they weren’t much further along on her case, either. “Maybe we should focus our efforts back on figuring out what key the kidnapper was looking for. It could have been coincidence that our investigation into the key led us to the gym, which enabled us to find an illegal gun. Or the cases could be connected.”

“You’re right.” He straightened in his seat. “I’ll make a list of places that we can check out tomorrow.” He glanced at her son, then added, “I can do the legwork. I’ll ask one of the patrol officers to hang out here with you while I’m gone.”

She frowned, not liking the sound of that. “I can see if Laurel is feeling better. Maybe she can come to the hotel to watch Gabriel.” When she’d called to check on Laurel earlier, her dear friend was grumpy about needing to stay when she felt just fine. The former cop had let Trisha know that the masked man had caught her off guard only because she had no reason to expect danger. Now she did and would be prepared.

He shrugged. “That’s up to you, but I don’t think it’s necessary for both of us to go.”

Maybe not, but that wasn’t the point. Her son was the one in danger. Laurel had been injured because of this guy, and she wanted him found and arrested.

“I want to go with you,” she said, knowing she was being stubborn. “Laurel let me know she wants to keep watching Gabriel. And if anyone tries to break into the room, she’ll be ready.”

He frowned but didn’t say anything more. No doubt West planned to try talking her out of going along with him in the morning.

Fat chance. She knew her ex-husband—if he was the one involved in this—better than he did.

Gabriel ate his dinner like a champ. When he was finished, she hauled him out of the seat and set him back on the floor. She’d placed the teething ring in the small freezer, and now he happily gummed it to death. He’d need a bath before bedtime, and she hoped that would soothe him enough that he’d sleep during the night.

While she’d fed Gabriel, West had cleaned up the mess from their meal, rolling up the half-finished potato chip bag and setting it aside. She had to admit, she appreciated the way he pitched in with cleanup duty.

Although he still hadn’t held Gabriel. Either because he wasn’t comfortable with babies or to keep their relationship professional. Either one was a good reason enough to forget about their near kiss.

She busied herself with making a bottle for Gabriel, then straightened the items in the diaper bag. She had enough supplies to last another day or two, but after that they’d have to stop at a local store to get diapers and formula.

“What about a storage locker key?” West asked.

She glanced over to where he was once again working on the laptop. “It’s possible, but I know Bryan never had one while we were together.”

“Still worth a look into. Unfortunately, there are several storage locker units available in at least three different locations.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I guess we could start at the one closest to where you live.”

She nodded. “I think that’s reasonable. I do wonder what we’re not thinking of, though. Besides a storage unit or safety deposit box or PO Box.”

“I made a list of other ideas, too. Storage units come in different sizes, and I think that’s the best place to start.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “If Bryan has one that he kept secret from you, I think we’ll need a search warrant to get inside.”

She grimaced. Not only was Bryan not the man she thought he was, but he’d likely kept secrets, too. It bothered her that she’d fallen for a guy like him. “Do we have enough for that?”

“I don’t know.” He frowned and added, “We’ll see what we can do. With a case involving a kidnapping attempt, we might have an easier time.”

“Whatever you think is best.” She had to smile. “You managed to get Stewie to cooperate, so maybe you can do the same with those storage unit places.”

He chuckled. “I don’t mind giving it a try, but this is a big corporation. I’m not sure they’ll be as easily swayed by a cop with a badge as Stewie.”

“Maybe not,” she conceded. Gabriel offered his teething ring to Peanut, who wagged her tail but didn’t take the rattle. Watching the two of them made her think that raising a child with a pet might be nice.

Not that her life wasn’t complicated enough. Still, it was something to consider. In the short time she and West had been together, she’d gotten attached to Peanut.

“There’s also a Greyhound bus station we can check out.” West made more notes as he spoke. “Interestingly enough, the bus station isn’t that far from the west storage unit facility. Two birds, one stone.”

“I like it.” She was excited at the idea of getting closer to finding what the masked kidnapper was looking for. Then she frowned. “Although I don’t know if the bus station keeps track of their locker assignments. This may be another situation like Stewie’s gym. The lockers are open for anyone to use.”

“I know.” He glanced at her with a half shrug. “I guess we’ll see how many lockers are in use and go from there. I still think the storage units are our best option.”

She hoped he was right about that. “I need to give Gabriel a bath. I’ll keep trying to come up with other ideas, too.”

“Sure.” West’s attention was already back on his computer.

Bath time was fun for Gabriel. He splashed and played with his floaty toys, although she only had two of them with her, unlike the dozen she’d left back at her place.

He babbled nonstop, reaching for Peanut as if he wanted the beagle to join him in the tub. Which wouldn’t have been a bad idea if the beagle had needed a bath.

Peanut didn’t but did place her paws on the edge of the tub to lick the water from Gabriel’s skin. The K-9 and Gabriel were becoming fast friends.

It made her sad to think that once the danger was over, Gabriel wouldn’t see Peanut again.

Unless—no, don’t go there, she warned. West hadn’t given any indication that he’d considered her anything but a work colleague. The awareness that shimmered between them, and their near kiss, could be just her imagination.

When the water had cooled, she plucked Gabriel from the tub, dried him off and then dressed him in a sleeper. She carried him back to the main living area, loving the scent of baby shampoo on his damp hair.

“More bad news,” West said, when she’d set her son down on the blanket.

“Now what?” The two cases were both frustrating to the extreme.

“The cops found the black Ford sedan abandoned in the parking lot of a grocery store.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “They’re processing the vehicle for fingerprints and possible DNA. Hopefully, even if the perp was wearing gloves he left some sort of hair fibers or something behind.”

Hopefully. Maybe. Possibly. Depressing the way they kept running into dead ends.

“Hey, don’t look so glum. Even meticulous criminals make mistakes. And this kidnapper isn’t exactly a professional the way I thought at first. His attempt to grab Gabriel in broad daylight is proof of that.”

“I know.” She told herself to buck up. “It’s just been a long day.”

“I hear you.” He gestured to Gabriel. “He seems happy.”

“He is. I just need him to get tired enough to fall asleep.” The sound of her phone ringing drew her attention. Seeing Laurel’s name on the screen, she quickly picked up. “Hey, Laurel, how are you feeling?”

“Fine. I left the hospital an hour ago and just got home. But Trish, you and West Cole need to get out here, right away. I think the same guy who broke in the other night is lurking outside my house. Like he thinks I have his stupid key!”

“What?” She gestured for West to come over. “Stay inside, Laurel, and call 911. West and I will be there shortly. Be safe, understand? Do not try to go outside to get this guy.”

“I won’t, but hurry.” Laurel’s voice was lower now. “I don’t want this jerk to get away!”

Trisha slipped her phone into her pocket and reached for Gabriel. “We need to leave. The intruder is at Laurel’s place.”

West looked as if he might argue but reached for the car seat and scooped Peanut up into his arms. She appreciated his willingness to drop everything to head to Laurel’s.

She just prayed they and the other Plains City police officers would get there in time to prevent this guy from hurting Laurel again.