by Dana R. Lynn
He went to the cabin door and opened it to peer outside. The two officers were standing there, apparently just waiting.
“You guys planning on coming in?” he called, allowing sarcasm to seep into his voice.
Thompson grinned and bounded up the stairs. He punched Dan in the shoulder on his way past. “Just giving the ladies time, sir.”
Olsen stood awkwardly for a moment, shifting his weight back and forth. Finally, he ducked his head, avoiding Dan’s eyes, and started forward. Dan stopped him on the porch, waited until the young man met his gaze.
“Officer Olsen, it is against my better judgment to leave you here with that woman and those kids. I don’t have a choice, though. But hear me. And understand. You mess up, you let any harm come to them, and I will do my best to see that you never work in law enforcement again. Are we clear?”
Olsen swallowed. He bobbed his head in a nervous nod. “Yes, sir.”
There was nothing else he could say. Dan pivoted and followed the younger man back into the cabin. He took a small detour to go into the bathroom and use Jace’s first-aid kit to tend to his wounds. Wrapping a bandage around his knee and tending his side took just a few minutes. Leaving the bathroom, he went over to the kids and knelt down, searching one round-cheeked face and then the other. He was actually going to miss these kiddos. Who’d’ve thought?
Rory was peaceful, as usual. Siobhan seemed to sense that something was off. Her lower lip started to tremble and her big eyes puddled. Panicked, Dan held out his hands.
“Oh, no. Don’t cry now, kid. Your mama won’t be happy with me if I make you cry.”
It was no use. She crawled over to him and pulled herself up on his leg, wobbling as she looked into his face, a tear on each cheek. Dan groaned. He gave in and picked her up. She snuggled in against his shoulder. He felt rather than saw Maggie approach. She smiled at him and her daughter, but her eyes were sad. She probably had never been away from them, he realized.
“Come on, Maggie.” He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and could feel the muscles bunch up beneath his touch. She was so tense it was a wonder she didn’t break. He was humbled by her strength. “The sooner we take care of this mess, the sooner you can reclaim your life.”
Tears gathered in her eyes. She sniffed and took first her daughter, then her son, into her arms. Dan’s throat tightened as he watched her bury her face in her babies’ hair and kiss them gently. Then she rose and embraced her mother one final time. Tears swam in her eyes, but she allowed none to escape. He rubbed his chest, trying to ease the constricted feeling.
Finally, she pulled back from Anna’s hug. Grasping her arm gently, Dan led her toward the door. He waited for her to exit the cabin, then followed her out. Thompson and Olsen exited the cabin, closing the door behind them. A wail reached through the cabin door, followed closely by a second. The twins, crying for their mother. Maggie’s spine went ramrod straight. A ragged sob escaped her throat. Dan reached out a hand to comfort her, but she jerked away from him and ran down the steps to the car.
Give her a moment to compose herself. Swiveling toward Thompson and Olsen, Dan gave the men his hardest military stare. “No mistakes, gentlemen.”
When he was certain they understood him, he pivoted on his heel and strode toward the car. He needed to find answers. Then he could return Maggie to her family. Unease pooled in his gut. He felt as though a web was slowly tightening around him. Looking at the woman sitting in the front seat, he strengthened his resolve. There was no room in his life for a woman or kids. Better get this case finished. Why did he feel it was already too late?
* * *
Every mile brought her closer to the place she feared most. LaMar Pond. A small blip on the map of rural northwestern Pennsylvania. People were friendly. The scenery was gorgeous—hills and trees and sparkling creeks, or cricks as they were called in these parts.
And someone there wanted her dead.
Would prayer help? She had prayed before, and they had escaped for the moment. Could have been coincidence. Still, if God was willing to overlook her anger and defiance... Nothing made you more willing to rethink your priorities than being shot at and almost being blown up. Her mouth twisted, and she huffed out a soft snort.
“What?”
“Huh?” Angling her head, she squinted at Dan. He had been so quiet as she mused she almost had forgotten she had company.
“You snorted. I was wondering if it was an angry snort or an amused snort.”
“I did not snort!”
Dan chuckled. “Yeah, you did. I know a snort when I hear one.”
She snorted again in disdain, then slapped a hand over her mouth as he shouted with laughter.
“You gonna tell me that wasn’t a snort?”
“Fine. I snorted.” She rolled her eyes. “I was just thinking of my current situation. It’s the kind of scenario I’d expect to see on TV, not in my life. But I guess these past eighteen months should have prepared me for it, to some extent. I think... Oh, I am so not ready for this, Dan!”
While she had been daydreaming, Dan had driven straight to the police station. Her gut roiled, and she seriously thought she might become ill. The image of a man dressed as a police officer holding a gun to Phillip’s head flashed through her mind. She was drowning, sinking amid her own memories and fears. She gripped Dan’s sleeve, trying to hold herself afloat.
“Hey, Mags. It’s okay. I promise.” Dan briefly covered her cold hand with his own, warming it. Then he pulled his away, and she shivered, cold again. Her eyes flickered to his face. What was he thinking?
“But what if he’s here?” she blurted. “What if I come face-to-face with—”
“Then we’ll know.” Dan turned off the engine and hesitated. “One thing I want you to tell me before we go inside. You said you thought he’d found you a year ago?”
Maggie sucked in her breath. The man never missed anything. She blew out a hard breath. He needed to know. “Just before the twins were born. I was living in a shelter. One day, I saw a couple of guys come in. Something about them seemed off. I hid, and I saw them passing my picture around. I didn’t wait to find out what they wanted. I took off. I remembered Wendy from college and took a chance. It was a good one. She’s the one who got me into a clinic for homeless and indigent people where I had the twins under an assumed name. Then she offered me her house while she was gone. She had been planning on finding someone anyway, so it had worked out. She even let me buy the cribs and other baby stuff under her name.”
“Huh. I’d wondered how you had the kids off the radar.” He opened the door and stepped out of the car, his movements stiff and jerky. His leg. And his side. How had she forgotten his injuries? His determination to aid her, to defend her, helped her decide. She would be strong. After all, he was right. If she wanted any sort of life, she needed to know who had killed her husband and why. She needed to put this whole thing behind her. She remembered only too well what it felt like to be a target. That was not a legacy she wanted to pass on to Rory and Siobhan. Her breath hitched in her throat at the thought of her babies, but she forced herself to keep moving.
Although she made sure she was always within arm’s reach of Dan. He was the one with the gun, she reasoned.
Far too soon, she was settled in a chair inside Chief Paul Kennedy’s office, Dan standing beside her as he reported to his chief. Maggie allowed herself to examine him. A handsome man with close-cropped dark hair and gentle brown eyes, he exuded calm and authority. But he was an unknown to her. Automatically she shifted her focus to Dan. Despite his tattered appearance, she instinctively felt safe as long as he was near. And that scared her. Her twins needed her. She couldn’t allow herself to depend too heavily on another person, especially a man.
She brought herself back to the conversation when she heard the chief addressing her.
; “Ms. Slade, I can’t tell you how relieved we are that you have been found safe and sound. I aim to keep you that way. We are a small department, so we don’t have an official sketch artist. One of the officers from a neighboring department helps us out. She’ll be available tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, we need you to look at some pictures of our officers to see if any of them are familiar to you.”
She swallowed. Her mouth was bone-dry, and her legs shook. Somehow, she managed to walk over to a table where the photos of all the officers had been placed. Setting her jaw, she scrutinized each picture.
One face looked familiar. Reaching out, she tapped the picture with her finger. “It wasn’t him, but he looks very familiar to me.”
“That’s Lieutenant Jace Tucker,” Dan replied, leaning over her shoulder. Her shoulder tingled where he brushed against it. “He testified at Melanie’s trial as the arresting officer. They’re married now.”
“She married the cop who arrested her? Amazing.”
Dan just grinned. Maggie went back to perusing the pictures. After she had gone through the officers without any success, Paul had her go through the photos in the criminal database. Nothing there, either. Her heart was leaden in her chest.
“So we’re no closer,” she mourned.
“Not true, Maggie,” Dan countered swiftly. “We now know that whoever killed your husband was not a cop.”
“And we know something else,” Chief Kennedy broke in. “I checked out the information that Ms. Slade gave you, Dan. The same day she was married, that chapel in Las Vegas was broken into. The files containing the weddings that happened that month were destroyed.”
Maggie’s heart sped up. She placed a hand over it, feeling it pound.
“That can’t be a coincidence.” She lifted her eyes to Dan, then turned them on Chief Kennedy. “Can it?”
The chief was already shaking his head. Dan was tapping a fist absently against the desktop, his gaze narrow.
“No, it’s not a coincidence. Dan?”
“I agree, Chief. Someone had something to hide. Only question is, was it someone after your husband, or was it something your husband planned?”
What?
“Phillip? I can’t imagine Phillip being involved with something like that.”
No. It just wasn’t possible. Okay, so he obviously hadn’t been completely honest with her, but Phillip had been a very gentle man, totally opposed to violence of any kind. It was unthinkable that he would be involved in anything like this.
“Fortunately,” Chief Kennedy’s drawl broke into her chaotic thoughts, “the perp was caught. A man named Robert Hutchins. He insisted that he had acted alone. He was also found guilty of tampering with documents at the courthouse where he worked. Specifically, applications for wedding licenses from that week.”
“So that’s why we never found any evidence of your marriage,” Dan mused, his eyes thoughtful. “It’s possible that the person or people after your husband didn’t even know about you until they entered your house. My guess is that as soon as they saw the wedding pictures, you became a target. Even if you hadn’t gone home right then, you would have still been in danger.”
The chief nodded in agreement. “Tomorrow, you can start checking out these leads. It’s too late for you to do anything more tonight.” He rose from his seat. “Oh, by the way, the Pittsburgh precinct called. Chief Garraway is on medical leave for the next couple of weeks—her arm was broken in two places. She also had a couple of ribs broken. But they were clean breaks, so the doctors expect a full recovery.”
Dan blew out his breath in a whoosh, his face lighter than it had been five minutes before.
“So what do we do now?” Dan’s voice was soft. Maggie could hear the exhaustion in his tone. He was practically asleep on his feet.
“You two need to get yourselves checked out. Get a good night’s sleep, then you can head out in the morning.”
“My other house—”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Slade.” Chief Kennedy’s eyes were sympathetic. “Your house went through foreclosure last spring.”
Maggie deflated.
“Most of your possessions were put into storage. And the house you were renovating with your husband was destroyed by arson. I believe you already know about that.”
Had she ever felt more defeated? Maggie had weathered some tough storms in her life, but this was the worst. Where was she supposed to go? Now that she was here in LaMar Pond, she was exposed. The feeling of safety she had felt beside Dan earlier had fled. She had never been so alone in her life.
A hand on her shoulder startled her. She jerked her head up and locked eyes with Dan. His face had an odd expression. His eyes were sympathetic, but the tension in his face clearly showed he was deliberately keeping himself distant from her. She could almost imagine an invisible barrier between them. Obviously, the man had issues. But it was sweet that he was concerned.
She turned her attention to the matter at hand.
“So if I can’t go home, where should I go tonight?”
Dan nodded, as if he approved of her pragmatic approach.
Chief Kennedy rubbed his chin. “Well, now. I’m not comfortable with the idea of you staying in a hotel. It would be too hard to secure. It’s too late to call anyone else, although I’m sure Jace and Mel would let you stay at their house.”
“Mel? You mean Melanie, the woman I helped to put in jail?” Oh, now that would be comfortable.
“I told you she doesn’t hold a grudge.” Dan’s soft admonishment reached her ears.
“Maybe not, but I am not going to encroach on her. I can’t imagine a more awkward setup.”
She twisted her neck just in time to see Dan roll his eyes and catch his muttered word. “Women.” Maggie decided to ignore him.
Chief Kennedy appeared to come to a decision. “It’s not ideal, but I propose that you bunk down here. We have a break room for the officers. It has a couch. You can grab a few hours of sleep in there.”
Panicked, her eyes flew to Dan. He tilted his head and regarded the chief. “I’m not leaving her here alone, Paul. I’ll bunk down in the room across the hall. No one uses that room this time of night anyhow. But I can’t be on guard. I’m too beat to be of any use. Who else is on the schedule?”
“Jackson is on call. He went out to handle a domestic dispute but should be back before too long. Want me to hang out until he gets back?”
“Nah,” Dan said, yawning. “We’ll be fine. You go on home.”
Chief Kennedy made sure she was as comfortable as she could be in a police station. She smiled a little at the irony of her situation, although she wasn’t feeling that amused. Across the hall, she could hear Dan moving around as he set up a cot.
I hope he’s not in pain.
A sound outside her door broke into her thoughts. She stuck her head out to see what was going on. And gasped to see that Dan had set himself up in a folding chair outside her door. She bit her lip, her throat aching as tenderness welled inside her. His face was white and drawn, and she could see him struggling to remain awake. Yet here he was, again putting her safety above his own needs. It was one of the most selfless things she had ever witnessed. But she didn’t want to have him on her conscience.
“Dan,” she whispered. “You should lie down and go to sleep. I’ll be fine.”
“Maggie,” he growled back. “Shut up. Go to bed. I’m only here until Jackson gets in.”
She should be offended that he’d talked to her that way. She really should. But it was difficult to work up any real indignation between the exhaustion and the amusement.
She lay down on the cot and pulled the blankets that Chief Kennedy had provided over herself. Snuggling down, she drifted into a dreamless sleep.
And jolted awake when a rough hand was put across her mouth.
SIX
Her heart slammed against her chest and her breath caught in her throat. A whimper escaped, muffled by the masculine hand covering her mouth. Fully awake now, she started to struggle, working to free her arms from the blanket.
“Oof!” her assailant muttered as her elbow found his stomach.
“Maggie, it’s me!” Dan hissed against her ear.
“Dan! What—”
The hand was replaced over her mouth. “Hush. Something’s wrong. The lights went out, and someone’s here.”
“Jackson?”
He was close enough for her to feel his head shake. His lips touched her ear as he whispered as low as possible. “He called. He had to go to a car crash. No one else has any legitimate reason to be here at this hour. Shh!”
There. She heard it. Slow, deliberate footsteps. Whoever was here was doing their best to be silent. But their shoes creaked. Otherwise, they would have had no warning. Through the open door that led out into the hall, Maggie saw a beam of light sweep past. She stiffened. It looked as though whoever was out there had gone into the room where Dan was supposed to be sleeping. That meant her room was next.
A tug at her hand had her moving instinctively. She didn’t question Dan as he led her through a connecting door and out into another hallway. He had to be itching to go after whoever was in the other room, but she had learned enough about him to know that he would get her out of the way first.
A single beam of light erupted in front of them. Dan was using the flashlight app on his phone. A crash sounded in the distance. Their stalker evidently had discovered they were missing and knew his cover had been blown. He had given up stealth and was now searching with a vengeance.
Heart pounding in her ears, Maggie pressed closer to Dan as he led her to a door and opened it with irritating slowness. Every nerve ending in her body screamed, Hurry! She jammed a fist in her mouth to keep from involuntarily whimpering. Even as she trembled with urgency, she understood. If they made a sound, their stalker would find them. Although Maggie wasn’t real confident that they’d be able to elude him for long. How big was the LaMar Pond police station, anyway?