Tempted by a Touch (Unlikely Hero)

by Kris Rafferty

  Lucas glared at Marnie. “I was tied to a chair and beaten by a ham-fisted thug who wanted to know where the journal was.”

  “What is this journal? Has anyone read it?” Marnie said.

  “I read enough,” Lucas said. Harper couldn’t suppress her gasp of surprise. Not only did Lucas know she had the journal, but he’d read it. “Folsom kept a journal of his dealings with Whitman Enterprises—Alice’s murder, the year following—and on the last page was a list of dirty cops and government officials that colluded with him. I discovered it when it fell from Harper’s pocketbook—”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Harper felt like she’d been played. He knew she was keeping secrets, but he’d been waiting for what? Her to trust him? The gall.

  Lucas ignored her. “I was about to question her about its existence when we suffered a home invasion.”

  Harper snorted, because they both knew Lucas had plenty of time to question her, instead he rocked her world and had her moaning with pleasure.

  “The ringleader,” Lucas said, “was Marnie’s mother, Charlotte Pleasant.”

  “What?” Marnie stepped back and pressed her hand to her chest. “I know nothing about this, Dane. I promise.” She raised her hand, as if giving an oath.

  Lucas didn’t appear convinced, and truth be told, neither was Harper. “They got away with the journal, and I believe they were behind the theft of the flash drive, also,” he said.

  “Why?” Dane said.

  Lucas shrugged. “The van. Seems too much of a coincidence. We have the security feed from the bank, and we can match it with the security feed your monitors took. Let’s see if the van is the same one.”

  “If it is,” Harper said, “that means Charlotte has been behind both thefts.” Marnie blanched. “Do you know anything about this at all, Marnie? The time for secrets has passed.”

  “This,” Marnie said, “from the woman who hid the journal.”

  Dane turned to his wife. “Marnie?”

  “No, Dane. No, I don’t know anything about what my mother is up to.” Her defensiveness disappeared, and in its place was hurt. If she was telling the truth, and Harper believed her, she’d been betrayed by her mother. It must hurt all the more because she and Dane were questioning her loyalty.

  “I’m sorry,” Harper said. “I didn’t mean…”

  Marnie nodded. Shrugging it off.

  Harper needed a drink. She left them in the living room and moved to the kitchen, pulling a beer out of the refrigerator. After popping the top off, she downed half without taking a breath, wiped the moisture off her top lip, and then downed the rest. They’d followed her, and every eye was on her. No one looked happy. But the beer made her not care so much.

  Harper decided it was time Lucas’s secrets earned equal airtime. “Lucas is dirty.”

  Dane grabbed two beers from the refrigerator, opened them, and then handed one to Lucas, who pressed the cold beer against his swelling cheekbone. Dane sat at the kitchen table. “Marnie, Harper, sit,” Dane said. He sipped his beer. “Lucas is no more dirty than I am.”

  Lucas clinked bottles with Dane and then sat next to Harper. He looked mighty morose for a man cleared of all wrongdoing.

  Harper frowned. “How can you be so sure? Everyone thinks Lucas is dirty. The gunman said his name was on the list.”

  “By design,” Dane said.

  Lucas pressed the beer against his bruised jaw again and grimaced. “I read your brother into my operation a month ago, taking a chance he was one of the good guys,” Lucas said. “I’ve been working undercover as a dirty cop since I took the job at the MPD. Through the Internal Affairs department. They needed someone from outside the precinct. That was me.”

  “That’s why you’re on the list.” Relief flooded Harper. “I knew it!”

  Lucas arched a brow. “Is that why you just declared I was dirty? Or were you referring to something else?” He smirked and sipped his beer.

  Harper blushed, trying to ignore her brother’s discomfort and Marnie’s interest. “Forget I said anything,” she said. “Go on.”

  “Just as I’d managed to be included in their side jobs, Dane”—he nodded toward her brother—“broke the back of Whitman Enterprises. All activities stalled, and the bad cops blended with the good. I knew who some were, but we wanted them all.” He shrugged. “I don’t know why the FBI is watching me, though. The lieutenant says he’s in the dark, too, but I don’t believe him.”

  “Is he dirty?” The MacLains had had their fair share of run-ins with Lieutenant Zimmerman, so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise.

  “No.” Lucas exchanged glances with Dane. “His name wasn’t on the list.”

  Marnie shook her head. “I’m in shock. I hate being so out of the loop. It’s an uncomfortable place to be.” She leaned her elbows on the table. “But now Caleb’s problem with you makes sense. He thinks you’re dirty. You should have read him in, like you did Dane.”

  “Why?” Lucas blinked, confused. “He’s a criminal.”

  Harper knew this was her opening. Time to confess. Leaving it longer would make it harder. “My hand hurts.” Out of habit, she presented it to Dane. Growing up, he’d been the one to bandage her scraped knees, and had told her pulling the Band-Aid off quickly hurt less than removing it slowly. As he examined her injury, his eyes widened, and her confession was on the tip of her tongue. Time to rip the Band-Aid off.

  “Damn, Harper, is this what I think it is?” Dane said.

  Marnie leaned, studying it. “A gun hammer bite.”

  “Smith and Wesson.” Lucas put the revolver on the table, aiming it away from everyone. “Harper, did you tell anyone about the journal?”

  “No.” She shook her head, distracted. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to tell Dane…to confess.

  Dane glanced up, met her gaze. She choked. “Marnie, will you make Lucas a bag of ice for his face? The bleeding seems to have stopped, but it’s swelling. And the first-aid kit is in a kitchen drawer. I think we can butterfly bandage Harper’s hand and avoid stitches.” All the while he spoke, he studied her expression, waiting for her spill her guts.

  Lucas sat next to her, nudged her for her attention. “Harper, look at me.” She couldn’t help but obey. “If you didn’t know about the journal before you found it, or tell anyone about it after you found it, how did they know you had it?” There was suspicion in his eyes, well earned, and ironic. Moments ago she’d been the one saying Lucas had something to hide.

  She made a horrible bad guy. Secrets literally made her ill. “I have no idea. I told you. I had no idea it even existed until I found it in the bank.” She turned back to her brother. “Listen, Dane, I need to say something. Tell you something.” Joe used me to hurt you. I’m sorry. Her stomach churned. How hard would he take it? Would Marnie hate her?

  Lucas interrupted. “Where’s Elizabeth?”

  Marnie returned with the first-aid kit and a bag of ice. “Still at Millicent’s. After your call, we knew we couldn’t bring her here.”

  “Dane—” Harper rubbed the back of her head where the bruise was giving her a headache. The longer it took her to confess, the bigger her headache. “Something happened last year.”

  “Shh.” Marnie held her finger to her mouth, shushing Harper as she handed the bag of ice to Lucas and the kit to Dane. “Wait for me before anyone says anything else.” Then she disappeared into the other room.

  Silence reigned, and everyone wanted to know what Harper had to say to Dane. She twitched under their stares. Lucas seemed most interested. It was as if he suspected what she had to say was bad…or was she just being paranoid? Sweat beaded on her upper lip. Lucas sipped his beer, staring at her through lowered lids.

  Marnie came back with a device the width and length of her arm. It looked like a wand they used at the precinct’s security check, only smaller. Marnie turned it on and it made an electrical whirring noise. Then she waved it over Harper’s body. The whirring intensified when she passe
d it over the back of Harper’s head.

  “What?” Harper didn’t think that loud noise was a good sign, but she didn’t have another chance to query before Dane tugged the edges of her injury closed. “Ouch! Dane, that hurt!” He butterfly bandaged it.

  “Hold still.” Marnie prodded the bruise on the back of Harper’s head. “Dane, give me the knife.” He handed her his Swiss Army knife, but Marnie waved it away. “No, the one in the first-aid kit.”

  A scalpel? “Marnie, I don’t think this is a good idea.” She loved Marnie, she did, despite her borderline sociopathic tendencies, but that scalpel was sharp, and… Harper pulled away from her prodding fingers. Marnie scowled and pulled her back. With one slice, pain seared, and then she felt pressure from gauze. Harper blinked away tears. “Someone tell me what’s happening.”

  “Hold this.” Marnie took Harper’s hand and had her press the gauze to her wound.

  Everyone was staring at Marnie’s palm and the device resting there. It was the size of a grain of rice, and it glistened with Harper’s blood. Marnie held her finger to her lips, meeting everyone’s gaze, then she placed the device on the tabletop. Lifting a pewter saltshaker, Marnie crushed it. Harper startled at the sound.

  “What the hell?” Lucas stood so quickly, his chair crashed to the floor.

  “Harper, honey,” Marnie said. “Didn’t you feel that in your head? It’s small, yeah, but you should have felt it going in.”

  Lucas was simmering with rage. “She was unconscious at the time. At the bank. Peter Thompson had to have done it.”

  “I’ve seen the needle it takes to implant something that big.” Marnie grimaced. “Subdermal. It’s big.” Harper squeezed her eyes shut, fighting a faint. “She was bugged. Someone with money and access got ahold of our little Harper here. I’ve used them a few times, but on dogs and cats to spy…” She finally noticed everyone was staring at her and didn’t look happy. “I’m just saying, they’re easy enough to buy if you have the cash and the connection.”

  “You destroyed it.” Lucas sounded furious. A vein was pulsing at his temple, and his beat up face was now beet red. “We could have reversed the tech and found who is behind this. Maybe found the flash drive and journal.”

  Dane shook his head. “Meanwhile, they’d be tracking us and monitoring our conversations and location. Marnie’s right. Lucas, you said you read the journal. We know who is on the list.”

  “Hearsay,” Lucas said. “Won’t hold up in court. And yeah, I know you could give a shit about protocol and chain of evidence, but I care. Every single one of you seems determined to stop me from closing this case!”

  “Don’t blame this on us.” Marnie used her finger to indicate herself and Dane. “That device led them here to you, and you must have mentioned the journal or my mom wouldn’t have known you had it. Think.” Marnie studied Harper’s and Lucas’s expressions.

  “Me,” Lucas said. “I said it aloud.”

  “When?” Harper said. Not in front of her he hadn’t.

  “When you were sleeping. When I’d just found it.” Lucas shrugged. “How was I supposed to know you were wired for sound?”

  “It’s good news and bad news that my mother is involved.” Marnie couldn’t hide her unease. “Good news, we can track the evidence through her, maybe get it back.”

  “And the bad news?” Harper didn’t like the million worries that rushed to her mind. Charlotte scared her. Memories of her pressing the revolver to Lucas’s knee still had the power to turn her stomach.

  Marnie rested her hands on her belly, her tiny baby bump. “My mother is insane.”

  The front door opened and closed. Lucas and Dane shot up from their chairs, aiming their guns at the kitchen door. In walked a furious Caleb Smith, all in black as usual. “It’s time to tell them everything.” His ruined throat made his words a growl. “Or do you want me to?” Harper’s heart sank. Caleb had discovered her secret. Damn, damn, double damn.

  The jig was up.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “No, I’ll do it.” Harper leaned back in her chair, gaze lowered. “I was Joe’s informant. He’d come to me when you wouldn’t give him updates on the case, and I’d do my best to acquire the information he needed.”

  Caleb did a double take and flushed red in the face. “For fuck’s sake, Harper! I wasn’t talking about you!” Shaking with fury, he pointed to Lucas. “I was talking about Sullivan! He’s dirty and worked with Whitman!”

  Distracted, Marnie waved Caleb silent. “You’re late to the table, Caleb. Lucas was working with Internal Affairs. Dane knew all about that and explained it a few minutes ago. But you—” She focused on Harper. “What the fuck?”

  Harper’s heart sank. This was not how she’d wanted to confess her sins. “He was at the precinct every day.” Harper directed her remarks to Dane, sneaking a peek at Lucas to see how he was taking it. Lucas was staring at his beer, frowning, lost in thought.

  “Harper,” Dane said, “I don’t understand.” He kept shaking his head, confused.

  Harper’s words rushed from her mouth. “You know Joe was paying a price for being friends with us. He wanted to help. Rather, he said he was trying to help. He fooled me, too.”

  “Not so fucking fast,” Caleb said. “Why do you believe Sullivan? Cause he said so? I have damning evidence—” He threw a neon-yellow flash drive on the table.

  Harper stood so quickly it knocked her chair back. She pointed at the flash drive. “That’s it! That’s the flash drive that was in the safe-deposit box.”

  Lucas looked at Harper, at Caleb, and then at the flash drive, then he, too, stood. “I was undercover. Why do you have the flash drive?”

  Dane’s focus was unwaveringly on Harper. He stood. “You reported to Joe?”

  Too much was coming at her at once. Lucas was upset. Dane was upset… “Joe said you were trying to protect him. You said it, too. A lot. You kept him in the dark, trying to protect him. You do that, Dane. You know you do that. You do it to me, too. Well, it’s hard to stand on the sidelines and do nothing. Joe said he wanted to help, and dammit, I did, too!”

  “He killed Alice!”

  “I know!” Harper yelled back. “I messed up! I know! I’m sorry.”

  “Smith!” Lucas’s voice boomed, echoing in the kitchen. “Why do you have the fucking flash drive?”

  “Harper, you should have told us when we discovered he’d murdered Alice.” Marnie seemed more baffled than angry.

  Everyone was watching Harper, waiting for her to reveal something that would make everything okay. Everyone but Lucas. His eyes were narrowed to slits, his attention on Caleb. With the bruises and cuts swelling his face, he was a scary sight to behold…and he looked ready to pounce.

  She knew there was no explanation that could make it all better. “Joe lied to me, too. All I can do is ask forgiveness.” Dane couldn’t hide his pain, and Marnie was shaking her head. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Yeah,” Lucas said. He didn’t even look at her. “Sorry. Good. Good to hear that. Problem solved.”

  Harper couldn’t fault him for his frustration. “I was trying to help.” She couldn’t have felt worse.

  Caleb gave a frustrated snort. “You’re such an easy mark, Harper.”

  His derision cut her at her lowest. It was unkind. “Caleb, why do you have this flash drive? And where is Peter Thompson?”

  Dane closed his eyes and shook his head. “This is my fault.”

  “No, this is Harper’s fault,” Caleb said. “I bought into her good-girl image, and when she insisted Sullivan babysit her, I balked, but you were all fine with it. Well, my sources said he was dirty, and they were reliable, so I put my men on her house, watching her just in case he didn’t behave. Who knew she was dirty, too?” He scowled at Lucas. “I have questions.”

  Lucas hunched his shoulders, as if preparing to rush Caleb. “You don’t get to question me. And I’ll be damned before I’ll allow you to call Harper dirty. You’re not fit to wash
her feet. You’re a criminal, born in the gutter, who oozes out when he sees a profit to be made. Explain why you thought it was okay to Lo Jack Harper and risk killing her with chloroform to steal that flash drive!”

  Dane’s eyes widened and his teeth bared. “You allowed my sister to be under the protection of a dirty cop—”

  “Hey!” Lucas slammed his palm on the table. “I’m not dirty!”

  Dane stood, pumped and looking for a fight. “Well, he didn’t know that!”

  “I assured Harper’s safety, didn’t I? You should be thanking me.” Caleb shrugged. “I also had an ace in the hole, knew what was going on at all times. All seeing. That’s me. These two love birds didn’t even hiccup without me knowing about it.”

  “What do you mean?” Harper feared she wouldn’t like his answer.

  Caleb’s smile widened. “I was the one who sold Charlotte the monitoring device under your scalp. She was convinced Harper had the list, and I knew she’d do something stupid if I didn’t help her, so I supplied it. That way Charlotte was placated, sidelined until she was convinced you didn’t have the list, and I could log into twenty-four-seven monitoring of the Harper and the Dirty Cop Show. How was I supposed to know Harper really had the list?”

  “Well, I didn’t know, either,” Harper said. “Wait, what? Are you saying you knew Charlotte was going to drug me, tag me, and leave me for dead?”

  “Huh?” Smith frowned. “Well, I wouldn’t put it like that.”

  “Smith, you bastard.” Dane glared, rested his hand on his holster.

  “What?” All Caleb gave them was an arched brow, as if they were being difficult. “I had it under control. Charlotte’s favorite thing to do is cause Marnie trouble, so I kept Marnie out of it.” He glanced at Marnie, defensive, as if he cared how she was taking his news. “When Sullivan followed Harper to the bank, I became worried and made a few calls. Found out Peter Thompson had been tapped to steal the list, so convinced him to double cross Charlotte.”

  “And?” Lucas’s lip curled.

  “He was kidnapped in the parking lot,” Harper said.