Iron Cross (COBRA Securities Book 20)

by Velvet Vaughn

  “Finnigan Bates?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Detective Daugherty.” She indicated the man behind her. “This is Detective Wallace. We need to ask you some questions.”

  “Follow me.” He rolled up his window, opened the gate and parked in front of the garage. They met the detectives behind the vehicles.

  Kayla noticed the license plate on their car. “You’re here from Ohio?”

  “Yes,” Detective Daugherty confirmed. “Youngstown.”

  “What’s this about?” Finn asked.

  “Mr. Bates, do you know Sally Sue Nolan?”

  Damn. Kayla hadn’t had the chance to break the news to him yet. Now he was going to find out from the two detectives.

  “Sally Sue? Yeah, we went to high school together.”

  “When was the last time you talked to her?” Detective Wallace asked.

  Finn shook his head. “It’s been years. Not since we left for college fourteen or so years ago.”

  “You didn’t speak with her two days ago?”

  Finn blinked. “No.”

  “Where were you last night between the hours of six and nine p.m., Mr. Bates?”

  Finn glanced between the detectives. “What’s this about? Why do I need an alibi?”

  “Ms. Nolan was murdered,” Detective Daugherty told him.

  Detective Wallace pinned him with a glare. “And you’re the prime suspect.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kayla cursed herself again for not giving Finn a heads up about Sally Sue. He was reeling from the shock, only to find out he was a suspect. After firing off a quick text to Detective Jorgensen, she stepped forward. “My name is Kayla Hepburn. I’m an agent with COBRA Securities.” She handed them her credentials. “Mr. Bates was with me all day yesterday and today, and I can guarantee he did not murder anyone.”

  Detective Wallace’s brows raised as he studied her identification before handing it back. “We’d still like to ask some questions, Mr. Bates. You said you haven’t talked to Ms. Nolan in years. Did you keep in touch through social media? Facebook, Twitter, Instapot or Tiki-Wicki?”

  “Instagram or TikTok,” Detective Daugherty corrected. Wallace shrugged.

  “No. I only use Twitter. If she followed me, I had no idea.”

  “She did. We checked,” Daugherty confirmed.

  “You didn’t keep tabs on her?” Wallace asked.

  “Again, no. I hadn’t thought of her in years. I didn’t even know she lived in Youngstown, which I’m assuming she did since you’re here questioning me.”

  “Are you saying you didn’t know she held season tickets to your games?” Daugherty questioned.

  Finn’s eyes widened. “I had no idea.”

  “She didn’t try to get in contact with you over the years?”

  “How many more ways can he say he hasn’t communicated with her since high school?” Kayla asked, her frustration evident. They were wasting time. “Why did you suspect Finn? Just because she followed him on Twitter and went to his games?”

  “Ms. Nolan told her friend that Mr. Bates called her, wanting to reconnect,” Daugherty said. “He informed her he’d be in town the next day, and they made plans to meet.”

  “Did you trace the number from the call?”

  “We did,” Daugherty confirmed. “It was from a burner phone, but we have a recording of the call Ms. Nolan made to her friend.”

  “How?” Kayla asked.

  “Ms. Nolan called her friend’s landline. She was late picking up and the answering machine kicked on. It recorded the entire conversation.” Wallace pushed a button on his phone and held it out for them to listen.

  “Hello?”

  “Mandy, it’s Sally Sue. You’ll never believe who just called me!”

  “Who?”

  “Finn Bates.”

  “No way! What did he say?”

  “That he’d been thinking of me lately and wanted to get together.”

  “That’s so awesome, Sally Sue. Did you tell him you’ve wanted to call him for years, but you were too chicken?”

  “I wasn’t chicken,” Sally Sue insisted. “We haven’t spoken in forever. Every time I picked up a paper, he was with a different stunning woman.”

  Kayla glanced at Finn to see him wince.

  “Does he know you bought season tickets to the Punishers so you could watch him play?”

  “No. I don’t want him to think I’m stalking him or something.”

  “You were high school sweethearts. I don’t think he’d consider you a stalker.”

  “Still. I tried to forget about him, but I couldn’t. He was my first love, my first kiss, my first everything. Oh, Mandy, I can’t wait to see him. He was still a boy when I knew him, but now he’s a grown man.”

  “A gorgeous grown man,” Mandy added. “I’m so excited for you.”

  “I’m excited for me, too,” Sally Sue laughed.

  “When are you getting together?”

  “Tomorrow. Oh, my gosh, I’m so nervous! I don’t have anything to wear.”

  “I’m on my way to pick you up. We’ll go shopping for the perfect outfit, racy lingerie and all.”

  Sally Sue laughed again. “I’ll see you soon.”

  Wallace disconnected and slid his phone inside his pocket.

  Kayla crossed her arms. “If you had the recording, why did you keep asking Finn if he’d talked to her over the years or knew she was a season ticket holder? You had your answers right there.”

  Wallace shrugged. “We wanted to see his reaction.”

  They all turned when a car pulled to a stop behind the detectives’ sedan. Kayla was relieved to see Anja step out and approach them. She made the introductions.

  “I can verify Ms. Hepburn’s credentials. She’s been with Mr. Bates since Sunday. Also, I can confirm he was home last night,” Anja told them. “How was Ms. Nolan killed?”

  “She was strangled,” Daugherty said.

  Anja nodded as if expecting the answer. Then she filled them in on the other murders. “If you two want to follow me back to the station, we can compare notes.”

  While they’d been answering questions, a black Escalade quietly slipped inside and parked.

  Anja started her car and turned around to head down the driveway with the Youngstown detectives following behind. Kayla headed over to greet the newcomers.

  “Finn, these are my coworkers Kaiya Quillen, and…you’re not Colt.” She raised her brows. “What happened to Colt?”

  “He twisted his knee in the gym before we left. It wasn’t bad, and he wanted to come, but the injury would’ve hampered him. Thankfully, Mark Foster was available.”

  #

  Finn was reeling from the news about Sally Sue. He hadn’t thought of her in years. Breaking up had been hard on both when they left for college. They’d professed their love for each other and made promises to get together during breaks, but they’d both been young and quickly learned that first loves don’t always last, or at least he did. They kept in touch the first few weeks apart, but life got in the way. Their communications became less and less frequent until they ceased altogether. He couldn’t even remember who stopped first.

  The thought of someone pretending to be him to get to her made him ill. It shocked him to learn she held season tickets to his games and followed him on Twitter. He was equally surprised that she’d been reluctant to contact him. It wasn’t that he wanted to get back together with her because he didn’t. They were different people now. But he’d have liked to have known how she was doing or if she was married with children. She’d always wanted to be a teacher. He wondered if she followed through.

  Kayla introduced him to her coworkers, bringing him back to the present. He shook both agent’s hands. Kaiya’s long black hair and light blue eyes were striking. Much like Kayla, she didn’t look like a kickass security specialist, but he’d seen Kayla in action. If Kaiya possessed a fraction of Kayla’s strength and competence, she was impressive. Mar
k was tall and thickly muscled and looked like he could bench press a Honda.

  “Thank you both for coming, but I’m afraid Kayla’s overreacting.” Maybe if he said it enough times, he’d even believe it. Now he wasn’t sure after learning about Sally Sue. It appeared someone was trying to set him up.

  “How does the saying go, something about the best defense being a good offense?” Kayla countered. “We aren’t taking chances.”

  He couldn’t argue with that logic. He led them inside. “Feel free to make yourselves at home. Help yourselves to anything in the kitchen. The gym and game room are downstairs.”

  “Thanks,” Mark said. “I’ll definitely use the gym.”

  “There’s a pool, sauna and hot tub, too. As far as bedrooms go, there’s a suite on this level and three more bedrooms upstairs.”

  “Mark, you take the room down here,” Kayla decided. “Kaiya, you’re upstairs. I’ll show you to your room. Finn, if you don’t mind showing Mark.”

  “No problem.”

  He led Mark to the suite off the living room. It featured a king-sized bed, large bathroom and windows overlooking the city below. It was the room his parents used when they visited.

  “This is incredible,” Mark said as he glanced around. “That’s a million-dollar view.”

  “It sold me on this place.”

  Mark dropped his duffle on the floor beside the bed. “I’d love to check out the gym.”

  “Follow me.”

  They descended the stairs, and he gave Mark the tour of his basement.

  Mark zeroed in on the row of arcade games along one wall. “Woah, you’ve got Street Race Ultimate. I love that game.”

  “Me, too. Care to make a wager?”

  “Absolutely.”

  #

  Kayla led Kaiya to a room down the hall from where she’d be staying once she moved her belongings from Finn’s suite. Man, she really needed to take care of that sooner rather than later. For Kaiya, she chose the one not used by either Shawn or Clint. It didn’t have the view, but it was nice, and the sheets were clean.

  “Go ahead and get settled. I need to take care of a few things. Then we can meet in the living room in fifteen minutes to discuss the case.”

  While Kaiya unpacked, she snuck into Finn’s bedroom and gathered her belongings. She hated to leave. She’d slept better the last two nights than she had in forever, though it had more to do with the man than the room.

  Stuffing her clothes in her bag, she checked to make sure she didn’t forget anything and then made her way back down the steps. The hallway was clear, so she dashed into her original room and deposited her bag on the dresser.

  Even if she was overreacting, as Finn thought, she was glad to have Kaiya and Mark for backup. She didn’t know Mark well. He was hired recently after a stint in the Marines. She hadn’t had the chance to work with him yet. Even though she hadn’t seen him in action, she didn’t doubt his abilities. Dante Costa would not have approved him if he wasn’t capable.

  Her phone buzzed Tyler’s ringtone. She’d been just about to call him. “Hey, Tyler. We just had a visit from the Youngstown police.”

  “Then you probably have more information than me. All I could dig up was that Sally Sue was a third-grade teacher, and get this, she’s a Punishers season ticket holder. She only lived about an hour away from Finn this whole time.”

  “Yeah, we found out about that from the detectives.” An hour was an easy drive for the killer to make.

  “Do the police have any suspects?”

  “Yeah, one. Finn.”

  “What?”

  She held the phone away from her ear and winced before telling him, “Sally Sue called her friend all excited because Finn contacted her and was coming to see her. They have an audio recording of the conversation.”

  “Someone is setting him up.”

  No kidding. “She was strangled, just like Nina and Megan.”

  Tyler cursed. “I combed through her social media accounts, but there wasn’t anything unusual. She did follow Finn on Twitter and several of his teammates.”

  She filled Tyler in on the excitement at the press conference, the near-miss in the parking lot, and their confrontation with Darcy.

  “Do you think she’s guilty?”

  Kayla shook her head, even though Tyler couldn’t see the movement through the phone. “No. She’s unquestionably troubled, but I don’t see her as the killer.”

  “I know I’ve said this before, but thank you for looking out for him.”

  “You don’t need to thank me. Also, Kaiya and Mark arrived, so I’ve got backup.”

  “Mark? What happened to Colt? I thought he was going.”

  “He injured his knee, so Mark stepped in.”

  “I’m glad you have help. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  After she disconnected, she left to meet Kaiya. The men were nowhere to be found.

  “What’s that sound?” Kaiya asked.

  She had a feeling she knew. “Follow me.”

  They found Finn and Mark in two side-by-side pods with seats, steering wheels, gear shifts and pedals in front of a giant screen. They were whooping it up and trash talking as their cars dueled on the twisting streets.

  “Centipede,” Kaiya squealed as she dashed for the game.

  Well, if everyone else was going to play. She slid onto the stool in front of Intergalactic Armageddon and hit the start button. It was time to kick some alien butt.

  #

  It was late by the time they retreated to their rooms. The arcade game party lasted a couple of hours, and they even ordered pizzas. Finn and Mark bonded over their shared love of racing and were becoming fast friends. She finally coaxed them away to go over the case details with Mark and Kaiya.

  She caught the other agents up on everything that had happened so far, and she relayed the information the Youngstown police supplied on Sally Sue Nolan. Finn had a mandatory team meeting tomorrow, so she provided Mark and Kaiya with the list of his former girlfriends for them to call and urge to take precautions and not go out by themselves.

  The bed in Kayla’s suite was just as comfortable as Finn’s, yet she was wide awake. It took every ounce of restraint she possessed to refrain from sneaking upstairs to slide under the covers with him. She wanted to feel his powerful arms around her. She’d never needed a man to take care of her, but when he held her, she felt protected and cherished.

  She gasped when the bed dipped and jerked her head to see the man of her fantasies. She hadn’t even heard him enter.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered, even as she rolled into his arms.

  “I’ve found I can’t sleep without you.”

  “But my coworkers…”

  “Will never know,” he finished as he nuzzled her neck. “I just need to hold you.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Finn hadn’t planned on seducing Kayla when he snuck into her room. It just happened. He realized he needed her more than sleep. He knew he’d never get a minute of rest if he stayed in his bed, so he tiptoed down the steps to slide in beside her. She wanted to keep their relationship a secret from her coworkers and he respected that, but the murder of his high school sweetheart had him reeling.

  Kayla provided him the comfort his soul craved. He’d been shocked to discover Sally Sue lived so close. Just over an hour away. He didn’t love her anymore, wasn’t sure if he ever did. But she’d been a sweet girl who didn’t deserve to die just because she used to date him.

  Tyler’s instincts had been spot-on from the beginning. Whoever was killing people had a connection to him. He’d searched his brain, but he couldn’t come up with anyone who would want to hurt him. Then the frightening thought of the killer coming for Kayla had him bolting from his room. She was strong and skilled, but what if the unsub—to borrow her term—used a gun as they did on Fred. She was well-trained, but she wasn’t bulletproof.

  He was afraid she’d balk when he crawled in beside her. When s
he didn’t, he relaxed for the first time all day. He couldn’t keep his hands off her. That might be a problem when her coworkers were around. They managed precious little sleep between bouts of spectacular sex. Now, as he headed to the meeting with his teammates, the lack of rest was catching up with him.

  “You son of a bitch.”

  Finn didn’t have time to react before Trevor Short blindsided him, landing a solid punch that sent him stumbling backward as pain exploded in his jaw. Before he could respond, Dmitry tackled Short to the ground and unleashed a barrage of blows he was famous for in the league. Finn worked his jaw to make sure it wasn’t broken. It’d be sore as hell, but no damage done.

  “That’s enough, Dmitry.”

  His teammate jumped to his feet with a look of pure glee in his eyes. He loved a good fight.

  Trevor remained sprawled on the floor with blood leaking from his nose and mouth. His right eye was starting to swell. Finn hauled him to his feet and pinned him against the wall, ignoring his grunt of pain. “You want to tell me what the hell that was about, Short?”

  “I don’t have to tell you shit, old man,” he spat.

  Finn smiled at his belligerence. Without looking, he felt the solid wall of his teammates behind him. They always had his back. “I’m going to ask one more time. It’d be in your best interest to answer.”

  Dmitry cracked his knuckles, itching for another shot at the brash rookie.

  “Fine. You want to know why? They stripped me of my signing bonus. That’s why. I’m talking millions. Not only that, but my agent said the front office wants to trade me.”

  “So? What’s that got to do with me?”

  Trevor bared his blood-stained teeth. “I know you’re the one behind it. You’ve had it in for me from the beginning because I’m better than you. And better looking,” he tacked on with all the cockiness of the stupid.

  “If I’ve had it in for you, it’s because you’re lazy, entitled and lack any discipline or work ethic. You’ve got talent, Short. You’re wasting it. You might’ve coasted along in college, but this is the big leagues. Your slacker attitude won’t cut it here. You play like an individual, but we’re a team.”