Expired Refuge

by Lisa Phillips

  Mia had read the police report years after. That was how she knew Conroy should have stopped it, but didn’t. How he’d walked away—along with Ed—without even a scratch on either of them. Just some whiplash and that was it. Meanwhile, Mara was dead. And she’d had to adjust to life without her older sister.

  She remembered him ringing the doorbell, a couple of days after. His face. I’m sorry. Like he had to apologize to his girlfriend’s younger sister. She just stood there and screamed at him. Then she tried to slam the door in his face—only her father had grabbed it. He’d wanted to talk to Conroy. Mia had run to the bathroom just in time to get sick.

  Mia drifted off in the midst of her swirling thoughts. She dreamed of dogs running at her, snarling. Mouths foaming. Gunshots.

  Boots racing down hallways. The thunderous sound of her team racing up a concrete stairwell until the sound echoed so loudly she wanted to scream.

  Then she was alone.

  Conroy’s car exploded. He lay on the ground, bleeding this time.

  Dead.

  The dog ran at her. Then that neighbor guy. Conroy yelled, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  Mia sat up, all the noise in her head still there. She blinked and tried to figure out why she felt so disoriented. Lights flashed under the closed door. Alarms blared through the house, even in her childhood bedroom.

  She shoved the covers back and nearly tripped over her own feet as she moved to the door. She yanked it open and a wall of sound hit her. Boots. Yelling. Gunshots. More yelling. Like a scene from a war movie left playing on the TV and turned up way too loud.

  She clapped her hands over her ears and tried to find the source.

  It was everywhere.

  In her father’s bedroom…there had to be a speaker blaring in there as well. Lights flashed in the window, like someone flicking their headlights to bright. On and off, over and over. She stared out the window too long, then could only see sparks of white behind her eyelids.

  The noise was deafening and blared through the whole house. Her dad hadn’t told her he’d wired the house up like that, so music could play through all the rooms.

  She needed her gun.

  Mia flipped the light switch. Nothing.

  She moved down the hallway toward her room. She had to get to a gun first, then find a way to shut off the noise.

  A dark figure ran at her. The frame was bigger than hers, in a way that sent a wave of fear crashing over her head like an ice bucket.

  He slammed her against the wall. She cried out as he shoved her down. Her head hit the corner of the entryway table and everything went black.

  How much time passed, she didn’t know. It felt like a second.

  “Mia.”

  Her shoulder moved, up and down.

  “Mia, wake up.” It was a woman. “Let’s go, sleepyhead. Before I get worried and call for an ambulance.”

  Mia sucked in a breath and blinked, straining to clear the cobwebs in her head. How long had she been out? Light glared at her. She lifted her arm to block the brightness and hissed at the pain in her arm.

  “There you are.” Wilcox rocked back on her heels. “I was getting worried.”

  She helped Mia sit up.

  “What are you doing here, Wilcox?”

  “I was called in. And it’s four in the morning, Mia. Calling me Van is fine, or Savannah.”

  “I work with a bunch of guys.” Mia pressed her fingers to her face and blew out a long breath between pursed lips. “Surnames are nicknames. First names are a running joke.”

  “Well, you don’t have a concussion.”

  Mia leaned back against the wall. “The shouting. It was so loud.”

  Savannah winced. “Yeah, it was still going when I got here. Neighbor dude was worried about you, so he called it in. But he didn’t come over, because he figured you didn’t want to talk to him after what happened with Daisy.”

  Mia clasped her hand, and Savannah hauled her to standing.

  The detective said, “Speakers. One in each room. I shut them off.”

  “Except the one I slept in.”

  “Really?” Savannah walked through the bedrooms. “Your room?” She pointed at the last door at the end of the hall.

  Mia nodded. She was woozy, but that could be the after-effects of whatever they’d numbed her arm with after the dog. Maybe she was as fine as Conroy after he got knocked unconscious.

  She bent forward and tried to stretch out her back and neck. How long had she been out? When she straightened, the hallway spun. Maybe they were both stubborn and only pretending they were fine.

  “You’re right. There wasn’t one in there.” Savannah said, “Let’s go sit on the couch.”

  She found six speakers on the coffee table. No wires. “Bluetooth?”

  “And he was close enough to hit ‘play’ when he decided he’d wake up the whole neighborhood.” When Mia glanced at her, she said, “Got calls from four houses away.”

  That was practically the whole neighborhood.

  Mia said, “He flashed headlights. In my dad’s bedroom window.”

  “So he sat in his car, pressed play, and flashed his lights.” Savannah said, “I found an old iPhone outside in the grass. He must’ve tossed it.”

  “He was in here.” She retraced everything that had happened and told Savannah everything she knew. “He ran past me, headed through the house. Slammed me against the wall.”

  Savannah winced. She had a notepad out and scribbled on it with the stub of a pencil.

  “Were there two of them?” Mia spoke her thoughts aloud. “Then again, if there was only one then I guess he could have flashed his lights and then run in quickly enough to slam into me.”

  Van studied her. “What do you think?”

  Mia said, “I honestly don’t know. I didn’t see two.” It had felt out of control, or like she’d surprised him. He’d been playing a game with her. Trying to freak her out.

  “What makes you say it was a ‘he’?”

  Mia closed her eyes. She raised her hands in front of her. “His body…it at least felt this big.” Shoulders wider than hers. Taller. “He smelled like a guy. I don’t know, you can just tell.”

  She opened her eyes to find Savannah nodding at her.

  Mia said, “Sorry you got called out in the middle of the night. I know how busy you are.”

  She shrugged. “Boss’s orders.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Van closed her mouth. Then said, “Only that Lieutenant Barnes said that if anything happens here, if he’s not on duty, needs to come to me.”

  “So you can get woken up in the middle of the night instead of him?”

  Savannah shook her head. “He nearly got blown up this morning.” She looked disturbed by that. It was plain to see on her face. “So he sleeps, and I’m here.”

  Mia didn’t know what to do with that. His coworkers respected him as a boss, but that didn’t mean he was a good person. Right? It meant he was a good cop. Or at the least a boss who commanded respect and didn’t accept anything less. Maybe it was just that Savannah was a nice person. Someone who wanted to make sure those around her had what they needed.

  Maybe Detective Savannah Wilcox was in love with her handsome, single boss.

  Bile rose in Mia’s throat. What if they were dating?

  “Uh…what was that?”

  Mia swallowed, her throat burning. “What?”

  “Your face.”

  “Nothing.”

  Savannah’s eyebrow rose. “Hah. Yeah, right.”

  “Shame. We could’ve been friends, but you don’t take me at my word.”

  Savannah sat back in the chair, smiling. “Should I?”

  “Not ever.”

  She barked a laugh.

  Mia smiled.

  “What’s with you and Lieutenant Barnes?” Savannah asked. “I mean, aside from the family connection. He and Rich are pretty good friends.”

  Mia frowned. “There’
s nothing with me and Conroy.”

  Savannah lifted her hands. “O-kay.”

  He and her father were pretty good friends. What on earth did that mean?

  The detective said, “So I’ll have these speakers dusted for prints, along with front and back doors. That kind of thing. Don’t hold your breath on a result. It will literally take weeks.”

  Mia made a face.

  “My thoughts exactly, considering it’s a whole lot easier to solve a murder with DNA test results.”

  “I can imagine.”

  Savannah shot her a look like, what are you gonna do? “Well, I should be going. Unless you need anything else?”

  “You ask all your victims that?”

  “You’re an ATF agent. It’s not like you’re actually going to need anything from me.”

  “Good,” Mia said. “Cause this has been very weird and entirely too personal.”

  “Babe, I didn’t even get started yet.” Savannah grinned. “How do you think I’m such a good detective?”

  Mia chuckled. She glanced at the clock and groaned. “There’s no way I’m gonna go back to sleep now.”

  “Run?”

  “Probably not the best plan.” Though she often literally jumped at that idea. Traversing up and down trails through state parks, either by running or hiking, was her favorite past time. “And I need to take a small collection of meds the doctor gave me.”

  “Food, then?”

  Mia shrugged. “I got some cereal…last night? No, two nights ago I think.” She couldn’t believe that was when the drug dealer had run at her and she’d been forced to ram him with her shopping cart, opening the door for Conroy to come barreling back into her life. Instead of keeping her low profile—hello, grocery shopping at midnight wasn’t for sissies—and generally avoiding him and everyone else in town.

  “We can do better than that.” Savannah waved at the front door. “There’s a diner in town. You probably remember it. New managers as of five years ago, and let me tell you, Hollis makes the best waffles.”

  The alternative—Stay here, under the radar. Lick her wounds. Drown in the unfairness of it all while she wondered when that guy was going to come back again? Her dad had actually mentioned the famous Hollis’s waffles.

  Mia stood. “Waffles sound great.”

  Savannah said, “Get your gun, babe, and let’s go.”

  Nine

  “And then he yells, ‘hands up!’”

  Two women erupted into laughter. Mia was sitting across the booth from Conroy’s detective, Savannah, at the diner where Conroy’s dispatcher, Bill, had told him Detective Wilcox was currently located—clocked out for breakfast apparently. Seeing Mia there with Savannah was a surprise.

  Mia wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, her face twisted with laughter. Savannah laughed so hard she sounded like she was going to be sick.

  “This looks interesting.”

  Van twisted around and yelped.

  Mia’s eyes widened.

  “You’re supposed to be my best detective.” Conroy folded his arms over his chest, aware of how his shirt tightened on his biceps. Savannah didn’t notice, and that was fine by him. Mia’s eyes flared. “And yet I snuck up on you. This does not fill me with confidence.”

  Van snorted out another laugh. Lovely. “I’m on break.”

  “You’re still a cop.”

  “Party pooper.” Van said, “You should put that on your business card instead of lieutenant.”

  Mia smirked into her coffee cup. He saw a glint and realized she had makeup on. That was why she looked head-turningly good this early in the morning after a broken night of sleep. But good in a way that was more like frosting on a cupcake. If the sponge cake wasn’t good, then what was the point?

  It was all about light, golden sponge underneath the decoration.

  Yes, he watched too much of that British show about baking. But no one ever complained when he brought baked goods into the police station, did they? He just had to deflect questions about where they came from. He had a reputation to protect.

  Conroy leaned his hip against the side of the booth and tried to push aside all that had kept him awake half the night. Despite being flat-out exhausted and desperately needing a good amount of sleep, he’d laid there thinking of her.

  The guilt, rushing back up.

  Mia had always been a tough nut to crack, even as a kid. Apparently, fully-grown, federal agent Mia Tathers was no different. He’d known as soon as he saw her that he’d have to work to gain her forgiveness. Her trust. He just hadn’t been expecting the kickback at that moment, the sudden slap of reality. She hadn’t forgiven him.

  Then, or now.

  He might understand a whole lot about who she was, and how she was. But the truth was that they hadn’t known each other for years. They were little more than strangers.

  “Kaylee sent me an email. She forwarded me your initial report.” Basically a few sentences of notes reiterating what had happened to Mia last night.

  Mia shot her a look.

  Savannah said, “I typed it up in the bathroom.”

  “Nice.” He turned to Mia. “Break it down for me.”

  She told him about waking up to loud noise, the headlights, and some guy slamming her against the wall. As though Mia was writing a report of her own. Basically what Van had put in her notes. Conroy would have to dig if he wanted more information, but if he treated her like a witness, she would no doubt realize it and shut down.

  “You aren’t taking my case.”

  He turned to Van’s glare. “Because you don’t have enough open cases already?”

  “You aren’t having this one. You have a bunch as well.”

  “Van.”

  She said, “Take one of my others. Heck, take two.”

  “Mouth.”

  “You aren’t my mom.”

  “No, I’m your lieutenant,” he said. “And that leash you have is getting shorter.”

  “Don’t hamstring my ability to do my job.”

  Conroy leaned down. “Only thing I’m hamstringing is your ability to tear down this department because you went too far.”

  Van pressed her lips together.

  “Good choice.” He didn’t need to say more, and she wouldn’t want him to. Not in front of her new best friend, Mia. Yes, she was his best detective. That could not be denied. However, her tendency to jump in too fast with both feet often meant he had to swing in and haul those feet out of the fire before she turned the whole thing to ash.

  One day Savannah Wilcox was going to find a man who could either jump in the fire with her and help to watch her back while she did her job. Or he was going to rein in her tendency to leap in the first place and Conroy’s life, for one, would get a whole lot easier. He certainly would have fewer sleepless nights.

  “Gotta get back to work.” Van waved her hand in Mia’s direction. “But you should know, I’m keeping this one.”

  Conroy ignored the twitch of Mia’s lips. She didn’t seem to object to being claimed as a new best friend. She said, “Fine by me.”

  He said, “Did you ask yet if Mia knows who is targeting her?”

  “Mia, who is targeting you?”

  Mia’s eyes lit. Then she realized Conroy was waiting for an answer. “Oh, uh…how would I know?” She sipped her coffee.

  Van shifted in her seat. She knew Mia was holding something back. “We have time,” Van said. “The interview isn’t over yet. We didn’t get the check.”

  And yet their plates had been cleared away. Coffee cups drained and refilled so many times there was a mound of empty half and half single-serve pods at the end of the table. Someone had tried to stack them in a pyramid, but they appeared to have fallen over in the process.

  He set his palm on the table and leaned toward Mia this time. “Who is targeting you?”

  She looked up at him towering over her. If he looked imposing, then good. He was glad to have the upper hand, even if it was because she was seriousl
y off her game after a rough night.

  He said, “My car exploded. Then a poisoned dog bit you. Then you wake up to a racket, an assault, and an intruder. What is this? Because I’m starting to think it’s not entirely about me.”

  An expression skittered across her face.

  “Tell me, Mia. Or I have a bad feeling it’s going to get worse.”

  “I…” she swallowed. “It can’t be him. He’s dead.”

  “Someone is after you. And they’re very much alive.”

  Hollis wandered over with a to-go cup she handed him. Her full figure was covered with a salmon-colored waitress uniform. Her hair was light brown and caramel, her eyebrows thick brown. She and Conroy had been in the same grade in high school, so Mia probably remembered both her and her father. Though it had been her father who had run the diner before Hollis took it over—after he’d had a stroke in the kitchen.

  “They’ve been here since five.”

  Conroy’s eyebrows rose.

  Hollis shot him a knowing look.

  “Want me to kick them out?”

  One of the women gasped at his question. He didn’t know which. Hollis said, “Are you kidding me? They keep sneaking me tips.”

  “Always use your blinker to signal a turn.” Van had a completely straight face.

  Hollis groaned.

  Mia grinned. “Never get dressed in the dark.”

  She gave him a side glance. “Enjoy your coffee.”

  “Thanks, Hol.” He took a sip. Still the best coffee in town. His phone rang in his pocket. “The two of you—” He leaned in and spoke low. “—please, at least try to stay out of trouble.”

  Van smirked.

  He caught Mia’s gaze. She nodded. “I mean, it’s not my fault. But I’ll try.”

  Conroy’s gaze slid across Van, and she caught his drift. Keep this woman safe. Regardless of how Mia felt about him, it was his job as a cop and as her father’s friend to make sure she wasn’t hurt. So far he’d not done so well. He’d have to answer to Rich for that.

  Things had turned serious. This guy had targeted her and broken into her house to send her a clear message. He was still coming for her, and he could get to her whenever he wanted.