Dead Center

by Susan Sleeman

  He moved to the end of the tank. He located the three 9mm slugs, and his thoughts went to Ainslie and the terror in her eyes when he’d arrived at her house. She’d had no idea the men busting down her door were law enforcement officers. She’d probably thought it was a home invasion. Her heart had to have been racing. Her stomach clenched. Her body filled with anxiety.

  Grady slammed the slugs on the counter. He needed to do something to move forward in helping her. He got out his phone to dial Nick Thorn, the Veritas Center’s cyber expert and good friend.

  “Yo,” Nick answered.

  “I have a favor to ask.”

  “I’m listening.”

  Grady recounted the night’s events, doing his best to keep all emotion out of his tone so Nick didn’t ask awkward questions about Ainslie. Grady might’ve managed to avoid her most of the time, but it was no secret that he was attracted to her, and the others had picked up on it. Sierra even encouraged Grady to ask Ainslie out, but he’d shut down that conversation before it really got started. “Drake said the swat call came from Ainslie’s phone number, but she says she didn’t make the call.”

  “If she’s telling the truth, the call had to have been spoofed to look like it originated on her phone.”

  So Grady had been right on track with his earlier thoughts. “I believe her.”

  “Yeah, you would.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’ve got a thing for her, so of course you’d give her the benefit of the doubt.”

  “You think she’s lying?”

  “Nah,” Nick said. “Just pointing out that you could be biased here.”

  “I need you to find the location where the real call originated, and then we’ll know for sure that she’s telling the truth.”

  Nick let out a slow breath. “You do know that could take time, right? There are different methods to spoof a call, and I first have to narrow down how they made the call. And even then, they might have covered their tracks.”

  Grady’s gut clenched. “So you’re saying it’s a lost cause.”

  “Not lost, but don’t get your hopes up.”

  Grady already had his hopes up. He wanted to find this caller and get him behind bars before he tried anything else to hurt Ainslie.

  “Did she have any thoughts on who might be behind it?” Nick asked.

  “Not that she said, other than maybe she was targeted at random and it really had nothing to do with her.”

  “Sounds like you don’t think that’s right.”

  “I don’t. If this was indeed a swat call, they aren’t usually random.” Grady told Nick about Ethan, Wade, and Bittner. “She told Wade that she knew he was lying and she was going to prove it. So maybe he’s trying to scare her into leaving it alone.”

  “Yeah, could be, I suppose.” Nick yawned. “I’ll grab some caffeine and get started on it right away.”

  “Get back to me the minute you know anything.”

  “You got it.” Nick ended the call.

  Grady shoved his phone into his pocket and looked at the gun he’d just fired. The swat could have gone all kinds of wrong, and Ainslie could’ve been shot. Maybe killed. The thought left Grady struggling for breath. She clearly didn’t want his help, but he was going to give it. Every hour he could afford to be with her, he would be. No way he was going to let anyone try something else like the swat and take her life.

  Ainslie sat next to Sierra at her kitchen island and forked up a fluffy bite of scrambled eggs sitting next to toast and several pieces of cantaloupe on her plate. Next to it was a big mug of strong black coffee, the deep, nutty aroma that drifted through the condo so enticing it had pulled Ainslie out of the bedroom like a magnet. She’d expected to find Drake sipping his own coffee on the sofa, but a replacement deputy had filled in for him in the middle of the night so he could grab a few hours of sleep. He wanted to be on duty during the day so he was back again, but he chose to sit in the parking lot to keep an eye on the lot and building.

  She picked up the mug and took a sip of the piping hot coffee, trying to calm the residual anxiety from the swatting incident. She’d been off-kilter since the moment she’d come awake in Sierra’s guest room. Ainslie had a good working relationship with Sierra, but the woman was still Ainslie’s boss, so staying at her condo, though a blessing, was also unsettling.

  Sierra swallowed her bite. “What time can you go visit your brother?”

  Ainslie cupped her warm stoneware mug. “Visiting hours start at nine, and I want to be there when they open. Thank you for giving me the time to go. I’ll make up for it by working late tonight.”

  Sierra laid her silverware on the plate. “Is Grady going with you?”

  At the mention of Grady, Ainslie lifted her shoulders. “I hadn’t planned on asking him.”

  Sierra watched her. “Something’s wrong. Spill.”

  “Nothing’s wrong.”

  “Then why did your spine just stiffen?” Sierra peered at Ainslie with the same intensity she used to examine trace evidence under her scope.

  Ainslie didn’t want to admit her feelings for Grady, but she couldn’t lie, so she sipped her coffee, the wonderful flavor suddenly tasting bitter.

  “It’s Grady, right?” Sierra asked. “The thing you two have going on but are avoiding for some reason?”

  Of course Sierra wouldn’t let the topic go. She was far too tenacious for that, and Ainslie needed to say something to shut her down. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I respect that.” Sierra blinked a few times, and Ainslie thought that might be the end of the discussion, but Sierra took a breath and added, “But just know that Grady’s an amazing guy. Strong. Dependable. Compassionate. Hard-working. A real catch.”

  “And a sports lover,” Ainslie tossed out.

  Sierra’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, yeah, that, too. He lives for his football, but still…”

  “Still, I don’t want to talk about it, if you don’t mind.”

  Sierra held Ainslie’s gaze. “I’ll let that part go, but not my thoughts for your safety. Do you think after last night that it’s safe to go to the jail alone?”

  No, but… “I won’t be alone. Drake will be tailing me. With his fugitive apprehension experience, he’s more than capable.”

  “Oh, I agree,” Sierra said enthusiastically. “My brother is super good at his job, but tailing you versus being in the car with you are two different things, right?”

  Ainslie agreed with Sierra, but she didn’t want to because she didn’t want to admit that having Grady join her would be the safest course of action. At least safe for her physical well-being. Her mental well-being with Grady in the close confines of a car would be another story all together. Too bad she couldn’t just ride with Drake, but that would raise all kinds of liability issues for his department.

  Sierra picked up her mug and took a long sip. “You may not know this, but Grady’s former Delta Force. He’d be an excellent bodyguard.”

  Ainslie heard more in Sierra’s voice and raised an eyebrow. “Is that your reason for suggesting he accompany me, or are you trying to push us together again?”

  A sheepish expression crossed Sierra’s face. “Um…well…both, I guess.”

  “But he’s as good as my boss,” Ainslie protested as she still hadn’t come to grips with that no matter what Grady had said.

  “What?” Sierra’s eyes widened. “No. No way. You report only to me, and I’m the only one who has the power to fire you. Or even to assign you tasks. There’s no conflict as far as I or the other partners are concerned.”

  Others? “How do you know about the others?” Ainslie searched Sierra’s gaze, but she whisked her hands across her face as if trying to hide her thoughts.

  “Oh, no,” Ainslie said. “No. You’ve talked about us, haven’t you? The partners.”

  Sierra waved a hand. “Only in passing. Not like you were on one of our agendas, but yes, it came up in a meeting.”

&n
bsp; “A meeting? You talked about me in a meeting?” Heat rushed over Ainslie’s face. Blinding. Red. Humiliating heat. “When I meet with you all, I’m going to die of embarrassment.”

  “Hey,” Sierra said. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s not like we can control who we’re interested in. Take me and Reed. We butted heads on an investigation, and I was still attracted to him. And look at us now.”

  Yeah. Love. Wonderful let’s-get-married-forever love. So what? “That’s not going to happen with me and Grady. First, I have to focus solely on getting Ethan out of jail, and second, I hate football. Like really and truly hate it. And I’m not big on guns either. So Grady and I have nothing in common.”

  Sierra drew in a breath and smiled. “Love doesn’t need things in common. It just needs to be.”

  Ainslie sighed.

  “Listen,” Sierra said. “I won’t pressure you to talk about this more. Just don’t close yourself off from the possibility. I like to think God puts people in our lives at the exact time we need to meet them. With your strong reaction to Grady, I can’t help but think God’s behind it.”

  Ainslie groaned. “If what you say is true, then I would be going against God’s will to fight this attraction, and I sure don’t want to do that.”

  “Hey, I could be wrong.” Sierra picked up her plate. “Pray about it and keep an open mind. Starting with asking Grady to accompany you to the detention center.”

  Ainslie knew when to give in. “I’ll call him now.”

  “And I’ll prepare a couple of to-go coffees for the two of you.” She took her plate to the sink.

  Ainslie made the call to Grady. He agreed and said he’d be up in a few minutes. She pushed off her stool. “I need to grab my jacket and purse.”

  “Good.” Sierra held up a travel mug in one hand and a coffee pot in the other. “Mugs will be ready when you are.”

  Ainslie went to the bedroom, her mind filled with questions and doubts. About Ethan. About continuing to stay with Sierra. About Grady. Very definitely about Grady. And the swat. Who was behind it? A coincidence, or had Wade done it?

  Her brain threatened to explode, and she dropped onto the mattress to bow her head.

  Father, thank You for providing these amazing people in my life. Please show me if I’m supposed to accept their help. And show me Your purpose in meeting Grady, if indeed there is a special reason You brought us together. And help us to work together to clear Ethan’s name.

  A loud knock sounded on the condo door. Grady.

  Help me with him, God. Please.

  She grabbed her jacket and purse, her feet dragging as she went back to the living room while her heart rate kicked up at the thought of seeing him.

  Sierra was handing two travel mugs to Grady, who was dressed in his typical tactical pants, boots, T-shirt, and leather jacket.

  “The purple one is for Ainslie,” Sierra said. “Black and strong. Plenty of cream and sugar in yours.”

  “Thanks.” His gaze swung to Ainslie and locked on. His sapphire eyes lit with joy before he washed the look away, and a heated interest filled them.

  Her heart responded with backflips, and an awkward silence descended on them, the room seeming to fade into the background.

  Sierra cleared her throat.

  Ainslie jerked her gaze free and said the first thing that came to mind. “Never pegged you for a cream-and-sugar kind of guy.”

  “Because you think I’m sweet enough without it?” His tone was flirtatious, his eyes alight with humor.

  Not the way she’d wanted him to respond. His good mood made her want to move closer. Take his hand. Tell him what she was feeling. Instead she rolled her eyes to make light of things and looked at Sierra. “Thanks again for letting me bunk here.”

  “Hold on. Let me get you a key so you can come and go as needed.” She hurried from the room.

  Ainslie stared after her. “She’s very trusting.”

  “I don’t think unreasonably so,” Grady said. “She just knows how to read people and can tell you’re on the up and up.”

  Could that really be true? “Not how most people react when they hear about Ethan. Since he’s accused of attempted murder, they think by association I must be a criminal, too.”

  “Ah,” he said. “That’s why you gave me a disappointed look last night.”

  “I did?”

  He nodded. “When I first heard about Ethan. I questioned you when I should’ve supported you.”

  She held up a hand. “Hey, I get it. Don’t worry.”

  “I do want to support you, you know? Through all of this.” The intensity in his eyes heated up again, and he handed her the purple travel mug.

  She took a sip of the hot liquid, nearly scalding her mouth, which at the moment might be preferable to the scorching look Grady was fixing on her.

  “Here you go,” Sierra said coming back into the room and holding out a key.

  Ainslie grabbed it, and, before she could turn to leave, Sierra swept Ainslie into a quick hug and released her. “We’ll clear Ethan, don’t you worry. The best team in the country has your back, and we never fail. Never.”

  5

  Nearing lunchtime, Ainslie took a seat next to Sierra in the conference room while Grady stood at the end of the table. The meeting was impromptu, and yet all the partners had made the time in their schedules to help her. Perfect, but Ainslie wasn’t mentally prepared for the change in schedule. She’d thought she’d have gone to the detention center by now. Had started out in Grady’s truck to drive downtown. Then she got a call saying Ethan wasn’t allowed visitors until the afternoon. They gave no reason, just said it wasn’t possible. As she caught up on work in the lab, Grady gathered his team together, like he’d promised to do last night. A man of his word.

  The partners often met in this room, and she’d walked past their meetings many times, but she’d never attended one here, and she felt out of place. Even more so when Sierra’s comment about having discussed her and Grady in this very room popped into Ainslie’s brain.

  Seriously, could she concentrate, or would that—and all her other worries—keep niggling away at her mind?

  She ran her gaze around the table to try to judge the partners’ moods. A box of muffins sat open on the table, and a few of the partners had one sitting on a napkin by their mugs of steaming coffee, but they were chatting and not eating.

  Maya, their toxicology and controlled substances expert and the firm’s managing partner, sat across from Ainslie, her blueberry muffin unwrapped. She’d swept her shoulder-length blond hair over her shoulders, and her striking blue eyes were fixed on Grady.

  Emory, the center’s DNA expert, sat next to her husband, Blake, who was a former sheriff and now their investigator. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her face had grown plump with her pregnancy. Blake was a dark-haired intense guy—except when he gazed at Emory. Then, love beamed from his face.

  On his other side sat Nick, their computer expert. He had a scruffy beard and tired brown eyes this morning, and two empty muffin wrappers sat in front of him, crumbs dotting the table.

  The door opened and, wearing one of her flirty print skirts and knit tops and carrying a large mug, the team anthropologist, entered the room. Kelsey set down her mug and dropped into a chair to run a hand over curly black hair. “Sorry I’m late. Lost track of time.”

  “No worries,” Grady said. “I was about to bring everyone up to speed. We’re dealing with two investigations here, though we suspect they’re related.”

  He turned to the whiteboard and wrote Swat and Attempted Murder, then turned around and shared details for each area.

  “I’ve already tasked Nick with tracing the swat call.” Grady peered at Nick. “Any luck?”

  “Not yet.” Nick looked at Ainslie. “The caller made a computer VoIP call. I assume you know what that is.”

  “Sort of,” she said. “I know it stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, but not sure of the details.” />
  “It’s a technology that allows you to make voice calls using an internet connection instead of a phone line.”

  “Does this mean it’s less likely that we’ll find the caller?”

  Nick scrubbed a hand over his tired face. “Highly unlikely via the VoIP phone company, but if I can get a location another way, then we can look for CCTV in the area. I’m tracking that down now.”

  “You look like you might’ve worked late on this. Thank you so much.” She made sure to infuse her words with her appreciation.

  “Hey, no sweat.” He lifted a bottle of Dr. Pepper and grinned. “I had plenty of fuel.”

  She laughed with him, but Grady kept a straight face and noted the information on the board.

  He turned back to the group. “Any other thoughts on how we might find this swatter?”

  “We should look into Bittner,” Blake said. “I can do a workup of his known associates. Maybe I’ll find someone with the skills to spoof the call and pull this off.”

  “I can do a deep dive on the internet for information on the guy.” Nick balled up the muffin papers in a napkin.

  Blake gave a sharp nod. “And I’ll try to get his police file. With all of that, we should be able to piece together a good picture on the guy.”

  “Perfect.” Grady jotted the assignments on the board.

  They worked so well together. Each partner volunteering their expertise without having to be asked. Ainslie had walked by this room plenty of times when they were working an investigation and had always wondered how they handled their meetings. Now she knew and was even more impressed with their cooperation. Though she suspected they also had their times of conflict.

  Had their discussion about her and Grady been filled with conflict? Did the others agree that Grady had no power over her job and she was free to date him? She thought Sierra would have voiced any opposition last night, so in less than a day, any issue with that obstacle had been removed.