Guarding Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 7)

by Kate Allenton

  I drove across town to meet Grant at the Watermill instead of making him pick me up at my house. I pulled up right in front and flashed my security badge to the man standing guard before swiping my card key.

  I yanked the door open and stepped inside.

  Gone was the quietness. New people milled around. Some behind computers, others carrying on like this was the new office they’d been assigned to. It looked like the secret of our makeshift workplace had been leaked.

  My ex-handler turned brother-in-law lifted his gaze and met mine as if sensing my turmoil. I nodded toward the conference room and headed in that direction.

  I patiently waited for him to cross the threshold before closing the door behind him and leaning against the wood.

  “Are there any cameras in this room?”

  Chapter Seven

  When I got through telling Grant the entire story, something happened. Something I wasn’t expecting. Or maybe I should say nothing happened. There was no look of betrayal, no worry about the FBI agents that had visited. He never even flinched an eye hearing about Justice.

  I stepped back from him. He knew. The realization hit me like a stab to the chest, going forty miles an hour. My voice rose. “You knew?”

  He remained silent, expressionless, but held my gaze.

  Damn it. I wanted to be wrong. I wanted to believe my brother-in-law trusted me.

  “Say something, damn it,” I growled.

  “You’re right, I knew. Noah needed someone he could trust to talk to, and that was me. I knew about Justice and her mom because I was on the inside and helping erase them from the program.”

  My heartbeat momentarily stopped. “You were helping them disappear? Why?”

  “You were in the program with Claudia Taylor. You two just never met,” Grant said, pulling out a chair and gesturing me into it. “Before I was your handler, Claudia was my first charge. She and I and our team helped catch a different type of criminal instead of serial killers. She was actually spectacular at it. You would have liked her.”

  “What are you talking about? What kind of crimes?”

  “She could see patterns where others couldn’t. Her thing when she connected was following the money. Her ability was fascinating, really. She could turn it off and on like the flick of a switch. Her brain was wired like a computer. She could follow the digital footprints, and I’m talking without even using a computer to do it. She was the computer. Everything was interconnected to her. Think of her as if Einstein and Sherlock ever had a baby. She would be it. The program director would bring us cases, and she’d use math or science or whatever to figure out things from the clues left behind.”

  “Like the study of probability?” I asked.

  “That and a few other scientific components I won’t bore you with.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest, still angry that he hadn’t shared this information with me before now. Angry that I was in the middle of all this crap. “What happened to her?”

  “A case had been handed down from the director. We’d just gotten it forty-eight hours prior. We hadn’t even really had time to start looking into it. We’d both read the files. We knew what the case was about, but we hadn’t started our hunts. Then the next thing I knew, her apartment was ransacked and she was dead. I believe she started investigating without me. They found her lifeless body on the shore of Crater Lake. The strange part was that someone had removed all of her blood, just like the victims in the case we were about to start investigating.”

  “If she saw the pattern, why did she go investigating by herself? Why not wait and tell you and the rest of the team?”

  Grant shrugged. “If you ever see her ghost, maybe you can ask her.”

  “Did you catch her killer?”

  “No. We didn’t even know where to begin looking. Noah has always believed her death was because she was in the program. In the end, that’s what got her killed.”

  “And you think so too.”

  “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she ended up like the other victims in the case we were going to investigate, but I don’t have any solid evidence to prove it, especially when there was a busted glass picture frame in the wreckage of her apartment. The picture had been taken. It was of Claudia holding Justice in the hospital.”

  “That’s why you think Noah hid Justice.”

  “She didn’t have any family. It made sense he’d keep an eye on his best friend’s daughter. Her mother had been killed and drained of blood, and if Justice was gifted like her mom, it was just a matter of time before they killed her too. It made sense that Noah would be worried that Justice would end up the same way.”

  “So, he hid her, but not far enough that he couldn’t watch her?”

  “He kept her somewhere safe with someone who could protect her. A friend in the CIA. He didn’t want Justice to have an association with the program. Can you blame him?”

  I ignored the question. “And you had no blood from the victims to make a connection…to chase?”

  “That’s kind of how we ended up on the case to begin with, and not one of the other people in the program. Where most participants can tap into the blood, Claudia didn’t need blood to connect the dots.”

  “So, you helped remove any trace of her identity from the program?”

  “Yes, I did. Sort of how all the guys on your team made evidence disappear for you.”

  “And how did Noah end up with Justice that night?” I asked, still unsure how all the pieces fit together.

  “Noah and Claudia were neighbors and had become best friends. They had an instant connection. He’d often help her out since she was a single mother. She’d taken Justice to his apartment and asked him to watch her for an hour while she went and ran an errand.”

  “One hour turned into the rest of his life.” Typical Noah. I couldn’t fault him for that. Hell, I couldn’t really fault him for keeping the secrets.

  “Claudia had even mentioned leaving the program because she fell in love,” Grant continued.

  “With Noah?” I asked.

  “Noah’s brother, Pete. He was in town visiting, and they clicked. It was love at first sight for both of them. Pete extended his visit and after about a month of dating, Claudia turned in her notice and was taking Justice to live in Texas.”

  My mouth parted. I hadn’t been expecting that.

  I rested my hand on my stomach. “Justice told me the bad men were after her blood because she’s special like her mom. It was passed down at birth.”

  “Justice is safe, so what’s the problem?” Grant asked.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  This time Grant did act surprised. I watched as the elation crossed his face and morphed into concern. I knew the feeling. Fear was alive and thrumming through my body.

  He glanced at my belly, then back at my face. “Wow, have you told Gigi?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet. I just told Ford.”

  “We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”

  Yeah, well, neither was I. Nothing was going to happen to my unborn child. “I know. That’s why we need to solve this case.”

  “Lucy, you can’t. Even if there is blood and you touch it, it could drive you insane, or worse, kill you.”

  The doctors had warned me as much. I was a ticking time bomb, one trigger short from imploding at any minute

  “I have to try.” I rested my hand on Grant’s arm. “Grant, I won’t risk my child having to run all his or her life because of my demons. I won’t risk you and Gigi having to hide your niece or nephew if I’m dead. I won’t put you in the same predicament. I’m going to solve this case. I don’t have a choice. Besides, you said there was no blood. What trouble can I get into?”

  Grant looked unconvinced that it was possible. I didn’t blame him. I didn’t have anything to go on.

  “Don’t you want closure?” I asked.

  His brows dipped. “Your sister is going to kill us.”

  I hugged him
tight and grinned. “Not if you don’t tell her.”

  Chapter Eight

  “What happened to the files the director gave you on the Crater Lake murders?” I asked.

  He sighed. “There should be a copy in storage. We can stop by the old facility and see if they’ll give us a copy before I take you to your doctor’s appointment.”

  “I haven’t been back there since…”

  “Since Gigi was kidnapped and you went postal on her captor.”

  I grinned. “I was going to say a couple of years. Do you think they’ll remember me?”

  Grant pulled the door open and held it. “I’m sure they do, and they’ll frisk you at the door.”

  “If they let me in at all.”

  He led me through the Watermill and out the back entrance where he liked to park. “As for not telling Gigi, that’s not going to happen, but if I were you, I’d start with telling her about the baby first to soften the blow about tracking down a killer.”

  “Point taken,” I said and followed him across the parking lot. The loose pebbles and dirt dug into the soles of my shoes. A car was just pulling in with two new people I’d never seen.

  I climbed into his SUV and glanced back once more at the people walking in. “Did Noah get another team, or did they increase his budget? There are a lot of people here that I don’t recognize.”

  “Something like that. You’ve made him look good. The amount of cases we’ve closed hasn’t gone unnoticed,” Grant said, backing out of his parking spot and heading down the path to the main street.

  The tall white concrete building where we’d worked in the secret government-controlled program was much smaller than I remembered from only a few years ago. It was strange seeing it from this point of view and not from the point of view of being an employee hunting killers. Back then, it had been imposing, like a means to an end. Now, it looked kind of creepy. There was no trace that suggested it was a government building if you didn’t count the security cameras pointed toward the locked doors. The white walls were in need of a pressure wash. The parking lot was only half-filled. There was no fence around the property, no guards standing sentinel. The place looked like any other type of building you might find plant workers coming and going without a second thought. But I knew better than that; there was much more hiding behind these doors.

  “I hope you still have your keys,” I said.

  I don’t know when Grant stopped working in this facility. I had been locked up in the psych ward when he’d made the transition to work with Noah and the FBI. His main concern back then had been Gigi, and her being in a coma. The same situation I had left her captor in when I’d hunted him down.

  A man I didn’t recognize was approaching the glass door. His eyes were assessing, a gun strapped to his side. He swiped his card key and opened the door.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. I didn’t think I’d ever see Grant walk back through these doors,” the security guard said.

  “It’s good to see you, Jerry. It’s been a long time.” Grant shook Jerry’s hand.

  “What can we do for you, Grant?”

  “I need access to some of my old files. The FBI may have a similar case, and I need to get reacquainted with some of the details.”

  “Not a problem.” Jerry held the door open a little further for us as we stepped inside.

  I’d traveled this hallway many times. The floor tiles were a bit more worn and outdated. But I wasn’t expecting anything different. Not for a building or department that was probably never officially on the books. I knew my way around this place. I knew where the observation rooms were where we hunted, and yet, everything seemed so foreign.

  “Jerry, I don’t know if you remember my sister-in-law, Dr. Lucy Bray, but she was one of our hunters.”

  Jerry led us down the hall, and he glanced in my direction. “We haven’t had the chance to meet, but I’ve heard stories about you.”

  I shared a look with Grant and grinned. “Don’t believe everything you hear, Jerry. I’m sure the rumors were tame compared to how I really am.”

  “I was told that too,” Jerry said and smiled in my direction. “So, what type of case are you looking for? Is it closed?”

  “I need something from the cold case files.”

  “New leads on a cold case is always a good day.”

  “I think he’s hoping that I’ll tap in and give him some more leads.” I winked at Jerry.

  “Fresh eyes are always good, especially when you’re chasing criminals and the scum of the earth. You don’t want them getting away.”

  Jerry walked into the storage room and flicked the light switch. The fluorescents flickered to life. The musky scent of old cardboard permeated in the room. Dust moats floated in the air. There were shelves of old boxes with files and evidence. The room was ten times the size of my house.

  “You know the drill, Grant. I’m sure it’s okay that you take a file, but you understand that I still need to follow protocol and run it by my supervisor. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t leave before I got his approval,” Jerry said.

  Grant patted Jerry on the shoulder. “I’d never do anything to get you in trouble.”

  “I know. That’s why I brought you here instead of taking you straight to my supervisor’s office. Happy hunting.”

  Storage boxes, files, and other unidentifiable stuff filled every floor-to-ceiling shelf in the entire room—the word hunting in this huge space had a whole different meaning than before. Needle in a haystack didn’t do it justice.

  I laid my hand on a ladder anchored on a pulley system at the top of the closest shelf. “We’re going to be in here for days.”

  “No, we're not.” Grant gave me a sheepish grin. “I know how they cataloged everything. Remember, I spent some time in here when I was helping Noah and Claudia.”

  “Oh, that’s right. When you were breaking the rules, I bet you didn’t care about getting Jerry in trouble then or getting supervisor approval.”

  Grant hurried through the aisles, scanning each and every box at eye level. He wiped away dust on a couple boxes revealing names and numbers. He moved like a man on a mission.

  “How do you know you haven’t passed it?” I asked.

  “These are in order by year and date,” he said. “I know what year Claudia and I were given the case.”

  Grant moved down several more rows, stopping in front of several boxes and a file cabinet. He bypassed the cabinet and rolled the ladder to where he wanted, and started to climb.

  “Why is it all the way up there?” I asked.

  He got to the top of the ladder and searched the boxes. His brows dipped, and his shoulders deflated. Grant climbed down and was rubbing the stubble on his chin when we heard the door squeak open again. Grant and I peeked around the end of the row to see a man that we both recognized. One of the few men that I would have went out of my way to avoid if it were possible.

  “Director Matthews, we were hoping to offer assistance on one of the cold cases.” Grant called out.

  “When Jerry told me that you were here, I didn’t believe him. I had to see with my own eyes.” Director Matthews held out his hand and shook Grant’s. “It’s good to see you.”

  “Director, I’m sure you remember Dr. Lucy Bray, my sister-in-law.”

  The director didn’t offer me his hand. I couldn’t blame him. I’d almost ruined everything when I’d gone rogue and off the books. I’m sure there were many nights when he held his breath on whether there was anything that I’d say in court that would implicate the facility or the program I’d been in. I hadn’t said a word.

  “Lucy, I’m surprised you’re not still locked up in the psych ward.”

  I grinned in the way that meant I knew secrets that he didn’t. “Yes, well, when the victim didn’t want to press charges, and the evidence disappeared, they had no choice but to let me go. Crazy, right?”

  “That was convenient for you.”

  The animosity coming off of this man was int
eresting considering how many cases I’d helped him close. “As convenient for me as it was for you that I kept all the information I knew about this place to myself while I was on trial. I’m sure the people of North Carolina would be interested to know what exactly goes on in this building.”

  “Yes, well, we’ll just chalk all that up to past indiscretions.” Matthews clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “So which file brings you back to this place? Did the feds run out of projects for you to solve?”

  “The Crater Lake murders,” Grant answered.

  “Wow! I haven’t heard of that case file in years.”

  “So then there won’t be a problem if I look at the case file to see if I can help?” I asked.

  “There was no blood. I’m not sure Lucy would have been able to help if she wanted to. Not that it matters now. That case was solved.”

  “Solved?” Grant’s eyes widened.

  Apparently, this was news to him.

  “We kept it out of the press due the victim’s employment.” He glanced at me. “I’m sure you understand after what we went through with Lucy getting arrested and going to court. But the murders were solved a couple years ago. So, those files were transferred to the Solved Cases room.”

  We followed the director as he led us out of the cold case room and farther into the building. He stopped outside another door, unlocked it with his keycard, then pulled it open.

  This room was bigger than the last one, with ten times more rows and bigger boxes.

  If I thought the file would be hard to find in the last room, this room was going to be worse.

  “Who was the killer?” Grant asked as perplexed as his expression.

  “Flint Greymore, if I remember correctly,” Director Matthews answered. “He was found with blood on his hands and a dead body.”

  “Wow, talk about convenient,” I whispered, earning a glare from Matthews.

  “There was nothing convenient about it. He’s crazy. He just got caught, and unlike you, he’s still doing his time in a psych ward for the mentally unstable.”

  My eye twitched. “Did you ever consider that it was your little program and drugs that turned me unstable?”