Love Inspired Suspense December 2015, Box Set 2 of 2

by Margaret Daley

  “I know. That’s why—”

  He held up a hand to stop her. “Wait before you say anything else.” She pressed her lips together, and he continued. “If anyone had told me a few days ago that I would be sitting in my parents’ kitchen having coffee with the woman I once hoped to marry, I would have said they were crazy. But things have changed. I’ve seen what a monster Chapman can be, and I don’t want him to hurt anyone else. So I’m not getting off this case.”

  She clasped her hands in front of her on the table and leaned forward. “But, Lucas, how do you feel about being around me?”

  He exhaled and shook his head. “I don’t mind telling you it’s hard. I’ve moved on with my life, and I don’t like being reminded of the past. And I don’t really know if we can ever put everything that happened between us behind us, but I’d like to try. I’m sorry about what you’ve had to go through, and I would like to be your friend. Do you think that’s possible? Can we be friends after our shared history?”

  His gaze didn’t waver from her eyes as she mulled over his question. Finally she answered him. “I would like that, but I don’t know if it’s possible. I’m not sure you will ever want to be friends with me. And I don’t blame you for that. I hurt you badly, and it wasn’t your fault. No matter how much I regret it, I can’t go back and undo it. So if you want to stay on my case, I think we need to just concentrate on your finding Tony.”

  Lucas gave a curt nod and pursed his lips. “I agree.” He pulled his gaze away from her and reached for the notepad he’d written on. “And I know just where to start this morning.”

  “Where?”

  He held up the pad in his hand. “I found out last night that Chapman has a sister who lives in the city. Her name is Nadine McElroy. I found her address on the internet right before you came into the kitchen. I need to go talk to her. Since I can’t leave you here alone, how about coming with me?”

  “I’d like that. But it’s a little after nine in the morning. Won’t anyone who lives there be at work?”

  He grinned at her. “It’s Saturday. Remember? Hopefully Nadine doesn’t work on weekends. So finish your coffee and go get your coat.”

  She pushed back from the table, reached for her cup and stood. “I’m through. I’ll be ready to go in a few minutes.”

  “I’ll take care of the breakfast dishes. You go on and get ready so we can head out.”

  “Thank you, Lucas.”

  She turned to leave, but his voice stopped her before she got to the door. “One more thing, Mia.”

  Turning, she saw that he had also risen and was studying her, his hands jammed into his pockets. “I never know when my job will turn dangerous, and I normally wouldn’t take a client with me. But today is different. In case you’re worried about going with me, I want you to know that I will protect you from Chapman.” His face flushed, and he shrugged. “I guess I just wanted you to know that I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

  The look in his eyes and the almost-whispered tone of his voice hammered at her heart, and she felt the first crack in the ice that had encircled it for years. Her throat clogged with unshed tears, and she tried to smile.

  “I never doubted that for a moment. You are a good man.”

  He smiled, and his blue eyes blazed with a light that almost took her breath away. He cocked his head to one side. “Then what do you say? Let’s go catch us a bad guy.”

  *

  Forty-five minutes later Lucas pulled the car to a stop in front of the address that he’d found for Nadine McElroy. He touched the gun holstered at his waist for reassurance before he turned to Mia.

  “Are you ready?”

  Her wide eyes stared at the gun partially hidden by the jacket he wore. She glanced up at him and swallowed. “Are you worried you’re going to need that?”

  He chuckled. “No. Just prepared. I feel undressed if I don’t have my gun—a habit that goes back to my days as a SEAL—but I’m not worried about this interview. So don’t you worry about it either.”

  Her shoulders relaxed, and a weak smile pulled at her lips. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  They got out of the car and walked up the sidewalk of the well-kept, neat residence. The minute they stepped onto the porch, a dog began to bark somewhere deep in the house. Lucas pushed the doorbell and took a step back while inside the dog’s barks grew louder, closer and more menacing.

  After a moment he heard a woman’s voice on the other side of the door. “Hush, Chester. Get back.”

  The door cracked open, and a woman peeked out at them through it. “Yeah? Can I help you?” The dog renewed its barking, and she turned to call over her shoulder. “Bob, come put your dog up. I can’t hear myself talk with all this barking.”

  “Here, boy,” a man’s voice rang out. The dog quit barking, whirled and ran in the direction of the voice.

  The woman opened the door a little wider, and Lucas got a look at her for the first time. She appeared to be in her early forties and had the same dark blond hair that he’d seen in Chapman’s mug shot that Scottie Murray had sent him last night. The resemblance ended there. Dark circles lined her eyes, and she had the look of a woman who’d worked hard all her life.

  She glanced over her shoulder in the direction where the man and dog had disappeared before she turned back to them. “I’m sorry. That’s my husband’s dog. I can’t do a thing with him, but Bob just has to speak and that dog responds instantly.”

  “It’s okay. We understand.” Lucas smiled, hoping to set her at ease. “Are you Mrs. Nadine McElroy?”

  She narrowed her eyes and frowned as she let her gaze travel up and down each of them before she spoke. “Yes. What can I do for you?”

  “My name is Lucas Knight. I’m a bounty hunter with the Knight Fugitive Recovery Agency, and this is Mia Lockhart. I’m sure you’re aware that your brother was granted bail after his arraignment, but he didn’t show up for a scheduled court appearance. That makes him a fugitive from justice, and Mrs. Lockhart has hired me to bring him in. We’d like to talk to you if we may.”

  Her face drained of color, and her mouth dropped open as she reached to close the door. “I don’t know anything about Tony, and I don’t want to get involved. You should get off my property.”

  Lucas reached out and placed his palm on the door to keep it from closing. “Mrs. McElroy, we need your help.”

  “I told you no,” she said. “Now, please, leave.”

  “Just listen to what I have to say. Your brother held an elderly woman hostage yesterday for hours and threatened to kill her. Then he shot two other people at a hotel while trying to abduct Mrs. Lockhart. One of them was seriously injured. It’s just a matter of time before he kills someone else, and the more violent his behavior gets, the more likely a shootout will occur when the police finally find him. Wouldn’t you rather see him in jail than dead?”

  The woman hesitated for a moment and bit down on her lip. Footsteps sounded behind her, and a man appeared at her side. He placed his hand on her shoulder, and she moved her head to stare at him. “Let them come in, Nadine. You can’t go on protecting Tony forever. It’s tearing you apart.”

  Her body trembled, and she placed her hand on top of his and squeezed. Then, opening the door wider, she turned back to Lucas and Mia. “Come on inside.”

  They walked through the small entry into a larger room furnished with a sofa and comfortable chairs. A Christmas tree stood in the corner, its lights blinking and reflecting off the bright paper of the wrapped presents underneath. Nadine motioned for Lucas and Mia to sit on the sofa.

  She and her husband sat in chairs across from them, and Nadine reached for her husband’s hand before she spoke. “This is my husband, Bob. We’ve been married for twenty-two years and have two teenage sons. I’ve always tried to keep them from being hurt or embarrassed by anything Tony has done, but after his arrest for murder, I can’t do that anymore.”

  Her husband sighed and shook his head before he looked at Luca
s. “I’ve tried to tell her for years that she can’t make Tony change, but she wouldn’t believe me. It’s like she’s been on a mission to get him to redirect his life, and every time he promises to do better, he does something even worse than before instead. Then she feels like it’s her fault because she can’t make him stop.”

  Before Lucas could say anything, Mia spoke up. “I understand that, Mrs. McElroy. Through the years he has filled you with a false hope that he could change, if you would do this or that. I know how guilty that makes you feel, because I had someone like that in my life. Every time he did something bad, he made me more a victim by telling me that I had failed him in some way, and that was why he kept behaving the way he did. It was never about what he had to do to change. Always about what I had to do. I’ve only begun to scratch the surface on why I let that happen and why I didn’t break away sooner, and it’s going to take a long time for me to put it behind me. But, please, don’t let your brother keep making you the victim. He’s the only one who can control the choices he makes. You can’t do that for him.”

  Lucas sat in stunned silence at the speech that had just tumbled from Mia’s mouth. It seemed Mrs. McElroy was having trouble taking in her words, too. Bob McElroy smiled at Mia and nodded. “That’s what I’ve been telling her for a long time. I hope she’ll listen to you.”

  Nadine pulled her hand free from her husband’s grasp, sank back in her chair and rubbed her fingers over her eyes. “I know you’re both right. It’s just hard to think that the little brother I loved and spoiled could do some of the things he’s been accused of. But I have a family I love, and they need to be the most important people in my life. Protecting Tony puts them, and everyone else in Tony’s path, at risk.” After a moment she took a deep breath, sat up straight and looked at Lucas. “Okay. What do you want to know?”

  Lucas scooted to the edge of the couch and stared into her eyes. “First of all, have you had any contact with Tony since he made bail?”

  She nodded. “He came by here right after being released and asked to borrow some money. At first I told him I couldn’t, and he said he would pay me back, that he had some kind of deal he was working on that was going to make him millions. When I asked him what it was, he said it had to do with a friend of his. He was so insistent that he needed money, and I knew my boys were due home from school. So I finally gave him a few hundred dollars just to get him out of here.”

  “Did he say where he was going to stay until this deal came through?”

  “He said he’d be at Clyde’s house until he had the money in hand, then he would be leaving. I asked him about the murder charges, and he said he didn’t intend to go back to jail.”

  Lucas pulled the notepad from his pocket. “And who is Clyde?”

  “Clyde Harper. He’s a former cellmate of Tony’s.”

  “Do you know where he lives?”

  She shook her head. “No, but I think he works in a bar on the south side of town. Tony told me the name one time.” She frowned and pursed her lips as she concentrated. After a moment she shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I think it’s the Lion’s Den.”

  Lucas wrote the name down. “We’ll check him out. Can you give me a description of what he looks like?”

  Nadine grimaced and frowned. “Last summer, when Tony brought him by here, I’ll never forget how scared I was just looking at him.” She studied Lucas for a moment. “He was about your height, maybe weighed a bit more, but it was his eyes that caught my attention. They had an evil spark to them that sent chills down my back. He was bald, and the T-shirt he wore showed off a tattoo that set my teeth on edge. It was a coiled snake that curved from the back of his head and ran down his neck, onto his arm and all the way to his wrist. You won’t have any trouble recognizing him.”

  “Sounds like a guy I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley,” Lucas said as he recorded the description. Then he glanced back at Nadine. “Now, about that deal your brother was working on. Did he ever tell you who he was working with? Could it have been Clyde?”

  She shook her head and chuckled. “From the way Tony talked, it was something that had taken months to plan and implement. Clyde isn’t smart or patient enough for something like that. So if he was involved, it was more a matter of needing an extra hired gun. I got the impression that his partner on the deal was a young yuppie that he’d gotten mixed up with.” She glanced at Mia. “I can’t prove it, but I think it was your husband, Mrs. Lockhart.”

  “Why do you think that?” Lucas asked.

  “Because I heard him talking on the phone once, and he sounded upset. I heard him say the name Kyle, but I didn’t know anybody by that name.” She paused. “Not until Tony was arrested.”

  Lucas nodded and wrote the information on the notepad before he continued. “Speaking of phone calls,” he said, “the lady that your brother held hostage yesterday said that he called you while he was there. What did he want?”

  Nadine glanced down at her feet and swallowed before she answered. “He wanted what he always wants from me—money. He said a deal he’d been working on had been delayed, but he said he expected it to be resolved any minute. He said when it was, he’d be able to pay me back everything I’d ever loaned him.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  She glanced at her husband and then to Lucas. “I told him I didn’t have any extra cash right then, but I would by the end of next week if he could wait that long.”

  “What did he say?” Lucas asked.

  “He said that he thought his deal would be finished by then and he wouldn’t need the money by that time. I was getting ready for him to begin making me feel guilty about not giving anything to him when all of a sudden he seemed in a hurry to get off the phone. He said he had to go, that he’d talk to me later, and disconnected the call.”

  “That’s probably when he saw my car pulling out of the driveway,” Lucas said. “And you haven’t heard from him since?”

  Nadine shook her head. “No.” Tears filled her eyes, and she clasped her hands in her lap as she stared at Mia. “I really am sorry about your husband, Mrs. Lockhart.”

  Lucas glanced at Mia, but her face betrayed no emotion. He turned his attention back to Nadine. “Do you know the names of any more of your brother’s friends?”

  “No, but Clyde might, if he’ll talk to you. But be careful about approaching him. I think he’s a dangerous man.”

  “We will be,” Lucas said as he rose to his feet. “Thank you for giving us Clyde Harper’s name. Maybe he can lead us to where your brother is. But I would caution you. Tony is a fugitive from the law, and you need to call the police if he shows up again. If you let him in, you could be charged with harboring a wanted criminal. I’m sure you don’t want that to happen to your family.”

  Nadine shook her head. “No, I don’t. I’ll remember what you said.”

  Lucas and Mia walked to the door and stopped as Nadine opened it for them. “Thank you, Nadine, for seeing us today,” Mia said.

  Nadine smiled at her and squeezed her arm. “Thank you for what you said about not being the victim anymore. I’ll remember that.”

  Mia smiled and nodded before walking out the door. Lucas followed her to the car, and they got inside without speaking. When he cranked the engine, he let it idle for a moment as he stared at his hands on the steering wheel. Then he turned to face Mia. “I was surprised at what you said to Nadine about people making choices. I’m glad you’re beginning to see that the things Kyle did were his fault, not yours.”

  She swiveled in the seat toward him. “I saw the pain in her face. It was very much like what I’ve felt for years. I know I have a lot of emotional healing to do, and I’ve been trying to do something about it. I’ve started going to a group for abused women, and it’s helping me deal with my issues. But I still have a ways to go.”

  Her words surprised him, and his mouth gaped open. “How long have you been going?”

  “I began right after Kyle’s death. I saw an ad
on TV about a group that met in a church near my house, and I went. It’s been good for me.”

  “That’s great, Mia. I’m so proud of you.”

  Her cheeks flushed, and she dipped her head to stare at her hands. “It’s just something I felt like I had to do.”

  Lucas reached over and covered her hands with his. “There are a lot of women who wouldn’t have done that. I was right last night when I said you are strong.”

  She glanced up then, her eyes seeming to beg for him to reassure her. “Do you mean that?”

  He chucked her under the chin and smiled. “I do. You remind me of that girl who was once a Sugar Plum Fairy.”

  “I was afraid that girl was gone forever,” she said. “I hope I can bring her back.”

  His fingers still touched her chin, and he knew he should pull them away, but he couldn’t. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “We’ll find her.” She just nodded, and after a moment he sat up straight. “Now why don’t we go get your clothes?”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes, let’s do that. And I can get…” She bit down on her lip as if to cut off her words.

  “Get what?” he asked.

  “Something that I didn’t take with me when I ran out of the house.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “It sounds like it’s important.”

  “It is to me. It wouldn’t be to anybody else.”

  “Okay,” he said, “now you have me hooked. You have to tell me what it is.”

  She rolled her eyes and then glared at him. “Nothing you would be interested in. Now can we just go?”

  Lucas grinned and shook his head. “Oh, no. You’re not going to put me off like that. What is it?”

  Her face grew redder. “Lucas, quit teasing me and just drive.”

  Now he couldn’t resist finding out what she was hiding from him. “We’re not going a foot until you tell me what you just have to get at your house.”

  She clenched her fists. “All right. If you must know, it’s the stuffed bear my mother gave me for Christmas when I was four. She died a few months later, and it’s the only thing I have to remember her by.”