Night Watch

by Susan Sleeman

  He was glad that Kennedy and Finley had been spared seeing that. “Did the bag have an extra denture in it?”

  Nora’s eyes flashed open. “How did you know?”

  “That’s what your intruder was trying to steal.”

  “Seriously? Why would he want that?”

  Erik hoped to find out the answer to that as soon as Detective Johnson called him back.

  “Do you know Dash’s address?”

  She shook her head. “Somewhere out in the country on the east side. He traveled a lot and liked to live in the woods but be close to the airport. But if you’re hoping to talk to him, he might be hard to find.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “He’s on vacation. Took a full month off. That’s why Wanda had a bag packed. She was going to take a few days off and spend them with him.”

  Erik nodded. “Is Dash his real name or a nickname?”

  “Real.”

  Then he should be easy to find. “Wanda had forty thousand dollars in cash in her safe. Any idea where that came from?”

  Nora shook her head, her eyes wide. “Surely, nothing illegal.”

  “Did she need money?”

  “Yeah, for medical bills. She was recently diagnosed with a rare kind of lymphoma.” Nora’s voice broke, and she cleared her throat. “I don’t know the details, but she’d just started expensive treatments. She didn’t have insurance or enough money saved to pay for them.”

  Wow. This news was big. Huge. And Wanda had kept it from Kennedy. How was she going to take this? He would have to find a way to break it to her gently.

  Nora’s eyes glistened with tears. “She was worried about paying bills when they started rolling in.”

  “She could’ve asked Kennedy for help.”

  “No. Wanda didn’t want her girls to spend their money on it. That’s one of the reasons she wouldn’t tell them. She knew they’d insist on helping pay for her treatments. She was saving as much money as she could, pretty much only spending on her meals.”

  “What about retirement savings?” Erik asked, glad to finally be getting some answers. “Didn’t she have that to use?”

  Nora snorted. “Silas lost every penny of their savings in a risky investment. He was conned by a scammer.”

  Sounded like justice, considering his past. Erik didn’t know how much of this he would mention to Kennedy. He would have to give it some thought because he didn’t want to hurt her or change how she thought about her mother. Before he made any decisions, he needed to talk to Wanda’s boyfriend.

  “I know this was hard to share.” He gave Nora a sympathetic look. “Anything else you wanted to tell me?”

  “Nothing, other than I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right up front.” Nora pressed her palms over her legs. “I was just trying to protect the girls like Wanda would’ve wanted me to do.”

  “Thank you for being honest,” Erik said. “When the police officer comes to talk to you, you need to tell him everything you told me.”

  “But then it’s going to come out, and the girls will find out.”

  “I’ll talk to the detective on the investigation and ask him to be discreet.” But, I don’t know if I can keep this from Kennedy. Not and have a relationship with her again.

  Wait, what? Where did that come from? Was he actually thinking of proceeding with a relationship?

  And if he knew this and didn’t tell her, the secret would eat away at him. Just the way the WITSEC secret would’ve done with Kennedy if she’d stayed with him. He would tell her. It was just a matter of when.

  He caught sight of the patrol car entering the lot. “You’ll want to go meet the officer. His name’s Smitty, and he’ll take good care of you.”

  The moment her door closed behind her, Erik got out his phone and plugged Gordon’s name into a PI database. He found only one Dash Gordon in the Portland area. He lived on the east side, just as Nora had said. Erik searched for photos of the guy and found a few on Facebook. His build was right for the intruder, but he wasn’t the guy Smitty just hauled in, of that, Erik was certain.

  Drake slid into the vehicle and Erik brought his brother up to speed as he moved to his laptop and did a recon of the property to determine how many of his brothers he needed to call out for a knock and talk.

  The large log cabin overlooked a small lake and was tucked behind tall trees and scrub. There was only one way into the property. Erik didn’t like not having a second exit. Not at all. Could be an ambush waiting to happen. Not that Gordon would be expecting Erik, but Erik wasn’t taking chances.

  He grabbed his phone again and tapped in a group text to his brothers.

  Aiden, remain at Veritas for Kennedy’s security detail. Everyone else meet me at the I-84 exit 17 motel parking lot. We have a house to raid and maybe a murder suspect to detain.

  Kennedy had asked Finley about the Tile tracker, which she denied and then they moved onto everyday life. Kennedy tried to listen to her sister describe her day designing a web ad for a local retailer, but Kennedy’s mind kept drifting to Erik as she wondered what he’d been doing for the past few hours.

  “Earth to Kennedy,” Finley said.

  Kennedy snapped her focus to Finley. “Sorry.”

  “You’ve barely been listening to me through the whole night.”

  “You’re right,” Kennedy admitted. “I don’t mean to ignore you.”

  Finley’s expression went from judgmental to kind. “I know you’re worried about Erik.”

  “Yeah. Not only his health but I wonder what he’s doing right now. We’ve pretty much shared every step of this investigation and I know he has to be working on something now, but I don’t know what. I sure hope he’s not going to keep it from me.”

  “Do you have reason to believe he would?”

  Kennedy shook her head. “He hasn’t kept anything from me so far.”

  “At least not that you know of.” Finley’s words had a bite to them.

  Kennedy didn’t like seeing her sister so distrustful, but her last relationship had ended badly when she’d found out the guy had been lying about his marital status. He wasn’t divorced as he claimed, just barely separated.

  But Erik wasn’t like that. Kennedy was certain of it. “He’s the straightest shooter I know. I doubt he’d ever lie to me or hide something.”

  “All men do. Even Dad did.” Her voice rose a notch.

  “That’s mighty negative.”

  Finley crossed her arms. “I have experience to back that up.”

  “I think you’re dating the wrong guys. The bad boy types walk on the wild side.” Kennedy tried to forget about Erik to help her sister, who was obviously still very impacted by her breakup. “On the other hand, I always thought of Drake Byrd as kind of a bad boy, and he’s a fine man. So even if you’re attracted to that type, there’s still hope.”

  Finley sighed. “I think I’m sabotaging my relationships.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “For the same reason you did with Erik. I can’t spend a lifetime living a lie with the man I love.”

  “Yeah, that’s a hard one.” Kennedy wished she had a different answer.

  “Still, I’ve decided what I want to do about WITSEC, and you’re not going to like it.”

  Kennedy swallowed hard. “You’re going to stay in the program.”

  Finley nodded. “I have to. You pointed out my debt. Well I’m swimming in it. I can’t get out from under it. I talked to Tyrone. He says there’s enough danger that he recommends we stay in the program. And they’ll make all my debts go away when they relocate me.”

  Just hearing the word relocate put a pain in Kennedy’s heart. “We could use the money from Mom’s safe to pay it off.”

  “Not if Erik proves it was illegally gained.”

  “I don’t think that’s the case, but even if it is,” Kennedy said, “I’ll help pay your debts off.”

  “You don’t have a lot of money either. And I know Mom’s will forbids you from sel
ling her home and giving the money to me. Plus, this isn’t just about the money.” Finley clutched Kennedy’s hand. “It’s about our safety too.”

  “I know,” Kennedy said, wishing that wasn’t true but it was and she didn’t want to talk about it because it could be the very thing that separated her from Erik. “You said you didn’t read Mom’s will.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t want you to know.” Finley crossed her arms.

  “That’s got to hurt.”

  “It did. A lot. At least at first.” Finley relaxed her arms. “Now, I know she did it to try to make me grow up. Which I plan to do with this second chance with WITSEC.”

  “And you’d leave and never see me again?” Kennedy’s words were stated calmly, despite the hurt she felt.

  “I know you’ll come with me.”

  Kennedy hated being taken for granted, but Finley was right. Kennedy would go with her sister, and Kennedy would be the one doing the leaving. Not only leaving Erik and his wonderful family behind, but leaving her heart right along with them.

  22

  Nearing ten P.M., Erik and Drake arrived at the parking lot where Erik had arranged to meet his brothers and cruised through a nearly full lot to the back. He searched for his brothers but he and Drake had arrived first.

  Erik shifted into park on the side of the two-story motel where he had a good view of the entrance. “I’m going to give Johnson a call to ask about the guy Smitty arrested.”

  Drake shifted to look at him. “You thinking he could be Wanda’s killer?”

  Erik nodded as he got Johnson’s voicemail and had to leave a message. “We could rule Gordon out as a suspect if we know if this guy’s prints match the evidence, and he killed Wanda.”

  “If indeed she was killed,” Drake said.

  Erik swallowed a groan. Day five since he’d found Kennedy shivering in the water, and he still didn’t have an answer to that question. They hadn’t located anyone with a motive to kill her. Lots of people had the means, but the why was perplexing. If she was murdered, someone obviously had a reason.

  Anyone close to a murder victim was a suspect. A boyfriend fit that bill. But why would Gordon want to have someone steal Wanda’s denture plate?

  “You sure you did a thorough search for inDents?” Drake asked. “Seems like we should be able to find something.”

  “Not only me, but Nick too. Without a court order we’re not going to be able to break the domain privacy.”

  “Seems like if this guy went to all the trouble to break in and steal the plate, it has to be a key lead in this investigation.”

  “Yeah, that and knowing Wanda was sick and was trying to raise money to pay future medical bills.” Erik needed more info and Drake was just sitting there so Erik dialed Maya, who answered despite the late hour. “Erik?”

  “I’m with Drake, and you’re on speaker.”

  “You sure do work late,” Drake said.

  “As apparently do you.” She laughed. “How can I help?”

  “I’ve just learned that Kennedy’s mom had a rare kind of lymphoma,” Erik said. “I have a call in to the ME’s office, but I wondered if you might be able to tell me if a blood cancer like that could be missed in an autopsy.”

  “Sure.” She sounded tired, and he felt bad for bothering her. “I’d have to have more details to be positive, but yeah. It could be missed.”

  “I’ll try to find out more and get back to you. For now keep this between us.”

  “Will do.” There was a long pause. “And FYI, I haven’t found any sign of drugs in the containers from the lab. I know I’m not supposed to share results with anyone but Johnson, but I figured, since everything is negative so far, it can’t hurt to tell you.”

  Another lead, dead. “Thanks for the info. We’ll just have to keep looking.”

  “Or resign yourself to the fact that Wanda either made a mistake or chose to end her life.”

  Erik didn’t want to admit that, but he didn’t know what to think.

  “Sorry for bothering you so late, but thanks for your help.” Erik ended the call.

  “So looks like Nora could be telling the truth,” Drake said.

  “But how it relates to Wanda’s death is still up in the air.” Erik shoved his phone into his pocket just as his brothers drove into the lot.

  “The cavalry has arrived.” Drake laughed and got out of the SUV.

  Clay parked right next to the company SUV and Erik got out to join them.

  The moon hung bright in the clear sky littered with sparkling stars. Good for seeing their target, but bad for being seen. A soft breeze did nothing to cool the eighty-degree-plus weather, unusual at this time of night.

  His brothers piled out, and he held out his phone. The screen displayed a satellite view of Gordon’s property. “Take a look at the place while I bring you up to date.”

  He gave his phone to Clay and told them about Wanda’s boyfriend. “I haven’t told Kennedy about this, so not a word to her. In fact, if one of you even hints at it, I’ll deck you.”

  “Our baby bro taking charge big time.” Brendan laughed.

  The others joined in, and Erik gritted his teeth. He would always be the baby. He couldn’t change that, but he could continue to work hard to change his brothers’ perception of him. He wasn’t angry or even hurt. He just needed them to see him as the man he’d become. “I know you all think it’s funny, but I can hold my own and you know it. I’d appreciate it if you stopped with the baby comments.”

  Brendan held up his hands. “Touchy much?”

  “Put yourself in my place for once.” Erik faced his brother. “How will a client respect me if you don’t?”

  “We respect you,” Clay said.

  “Speak for yourself.” Drake chuckled.

  Erik was starting to get mad, but he swallowed it down.

  “Seriously, bro, we do,” Drake said. “But we’re not here to get all touchy-feely, are we? We’re here to find a way to keep this suspect from bolting so we can interview him.”

  He was right, and Erik let this go. For now, but he would continue to bring it until they took him seriously.

  “Just a quick anthrax check,” Clay said. “Mom’s been bugging me to report.”

  “I’m fine.” Erik turned his attention to Drake. “You’ve had a lot of experience bringing in criminals who don’t want to be captured. Not saying this guy is even bad or that he’ll balk, but we have to assume he will. So what do you suggest?”

  “We get eyes on the place and determine if the suspect is on the premises. If he is, we cover all exits and windows, then move in.” Drake dusted his hands together. “No biggie.”

  Erik didn’t agree. “We need to assume he could be Wanda’s killer and take precautions.”

  Clay nodded toward the back of the rental SUV. “We brought vests and rifles.”

  “Then let’s load the equipment in the company vehicle and get going.” Erik ignored the thoughts of the prior shootout and why it was important to take Nighthawk’s SUV to help his brothers stow the bins in the back of the SUV. They all dressed out in vests and added their comms units, and Erik got behind the wheel. Drake took shotgun while Clay and Brendan climbed in the back. Even at their ages, they still paired up with the sibling closest in age, as they’d done when they were kids.

  The drive took forty minutes, and they moved further from the city and deeper into wooded country.

  “I keep thinking about the guy who was arrested,” Drake said. “We know Wanda was paid by inDents each month, right? A big chunk of change.”

  “Yeah,” Erik said. “But why? Was she doing research on the dentures on the side to make some money? Was she wearing them in a trial? If that’s true, twenty grand a month is a lot of money. So research seems more likely.”

  “We should have the Veritas team look at the plate the guy tried to steal,” Clay said. “See if it’s special in any way and would warrant a twenty K a month payment to Wanda.”

  Erik nodde
d. “I’ll ask Johnson about that.”

  “Back to the money,” Clay said. “Nora said Wanda needed money for medical bills, right? So even if she had the forty thousand in the safe and was getting a twenty K deposit each month, the bills could be a whole lot more than that.”

  “No kidding,” Brendan said. “If Dad’s transplant and Aiden’s bills are any sign, she didn’t have nearly enough money to pay ongoing treatments she would need.”

  “Yes,” Erik said. “But her finances are really confusing. There were only two small medical charges on her credit card four months ago. I didn’t think anything of it, but maybe this was when she found out she had cancer.”

  “If she was having treatment, shouldn’t there be a record of paying for it in her checking or credit card account?” Brendan asked.

  “Nora said Wanda just started, so she likely hadn’t gotten the bills. Or she could’ve used cash. Not her maxed out credit card, though.”

  “Why pay interest on credit card debt if you have the money?” Brendan asked.

  “If she really was sick,” Clay said, “she might’ve wanted to keep the cash for her medical bills.”

  Erik slammed a fist on the wheel. “We just don’t know enough to form a logical answer to any of these questions. Hopefully Dash Gordon will help.”

  Drake shook his head. “I still can’t believe Wanda had a casual boyfriend. She just didn’t seem the type.”

  Erik glanced at his brother. “It’s weird to me too. But people change.”

  “Has Kennedy changed?” Clay asked.

  “Sure,” Erik said, but he thought about all the ways she was still the same. Still kind. Still devoted to and fiercely protective of family. Still ambitious. She was a self-starter. Loving. Compassionate. All fine traits in Erik’s eyes.

  “You two going to kiss and make up?” Drake grinned.