by Katie Knight
Tess hurried back to Nala’s side and knelt in front of her, placing her hands on the little girl’s arms. “Sweetie, what’s wrong? Do you know that man?”
“N-no. I d-don’t know h-him.” Nala’s stutter was stronger than ever, setting Tess’s nerves further on edge. Tears welled in the little girl’s eyes. “B-but he looks l-like the m-man in my d-dreams.”
“In your dreams?” Tess tilted her head, her mind racing. After the conversation with Jed about the murder investigation, she’d remained vigilant for any signs of foul play around Nala, but so far there’d been nothing. Discovering the little girl was having dreams about a strange man, though, sounded like it might be important. Then again, it could be nothing more than a child’s normal nightmares and anxiety over the loss of her parents. Either way, Tess thought perhaps getting the image out of Nala’s head and down on paper might help her process whatever it was she was going through and sleep better at night. “Huh. Hey, instead of going to the park, how about we go home and color for a little while instead. Would you like that?”
Nala nodded and slipped her hand into Tess’s, her small fingers trembling.
They returned to Jed’s house and got settled at the kitchen table. The short walk seemed to have helped Nala calm down a bit though she was still very subdued as she drew on the blank piece of paper before her while snacking on some freshly popped corn Tess had made in the microwave. Tess had suggested she draw a picture of her dream, and Nala had seemed open to the idea.
Tess took a seat across from her at the table and studied the girl as she worked. “So, sweetie, tell me more about this man in your dreams. Is it someone you know or met before?”
“No.” Nala picked up a purple crayon to replace the red one she’d been using and continued her sketch. “I don’t know him.”
“But that man today looked like him?” Tess persisted, remembering the man from the sidewalk and the most distinctive thing she’d noticed about him. “He had his head shaved?”
“Yeah.” Nala continued to color, frowning slightly. “The man from my d-dream was bald. He’s at my p-parents’ house, in the d-driveway.”
“When did you first have that dream?”
“The n-night before they d-d-died.”
Prickles of premonition skittered through Tess’s system. Dreaming about a man Nala had never met standing in the driveway of her parents’ home seemed weird, if it really was just a dream. Then again, she’d done a lot of research on how children processed trauma for her PhD dissertation, and it wasn’t uncommon for kids to frame confusing or terrifying situations as dreams to help them cope. They’d look for explanations for why bad things happened—and their mind would invent answers. But Nala said this dream predated the trauma. What did that mean? “What was he doing in the driveway?”
“Don’t know.” Nala turned her paper to work on the man’s face and upper body. “He was looking at their car.”
Pulse pounding, Tess took a deep breath. Yeah, this definitely sounded related. “Uh, did you notice anything else about this man? Anything that made him look different or stand out to you in your dreams?”
Nala pursed her lips and scowled. “He had a mark on his neck.”
“A mark?” Tess blinked. “Like a mole or a birthmark?”
“No. A picture.” Nala scribbled some more, then turned the paper toward Tess. “Like this.”
She squinted down at the lines Nala had drawn on the man’s neck, near his nape. It was hard to tell from the crayon drawing, but it looked like maybe a circle or some kind of insignia. Nala had already started on another drawing, so Tess picked up the artwork in front of her and set it aside on the counter. “This is really good, Nala. If you don’t mind, I’d like to show it to Jed later. Would that be okay?”
Nala shrugged. “F-fine with m-me.”
It was late when Jed finally made it home that night from the warehouse. Things were going pretty good there. He was interviewing new recruits for the security team and was still in the process of getting the cameras installed in all the areas so they could track movements and inventory. Apparently, a few of the cameras had arrived defective from the supplier, but luckily one of the new guys who had been transferred onto his team from another part of Steenman’s business, another former-SEAL named Kevin Walker, had an electronics background and thought he could fix them with the tools he had at home so they wouldn’t have to wait for a new order to arrive.
He sat back and rubbed his eyes glancing at the clock. It was after ten now. Nala would be in bed. Tess too, most likely. Just as well, considering he thought about his nanny far too often as it was. The night on the back porch, when he’d told her about the call from the police had been…interesting, to say the least. There’d definitely been more than a spark of attraction between them, but he wouldn’t act on it. Tess was far too good with Nala to risk ruining it all with an affair. And for a guy like him, an affair was all he could offer.
With a sigh, he straightened and got back to work on his side job—the investigation into Nala’s parents’ accident. So far, his efforts and the efforts of his guys had turned up precious little beyond what the police already knew. The brake lines had been cut, and the vehicle had crashed headlong into a tree at high speed. Martin and Ayesha had died immediately from blunt force trauma. At least they hadn’t suffered. He was grateful for that. The police investigation had also found that the car’s computer system had been tampered with, specifically the vehicle’s “black box,” similar to what planes used to record data related to performance and function. Jed had contacted Baltimore PD to see if they’d gotten the report back yet from the manufacturer to see if there was anything useful on it, but no luck yet.
Which left him basically where he’d started, eager for new information yet finding too damned little of it. He reached for his laptop, planning to reread the police report from the night of the accident when a knock sounded on his office door.
“Yeah?” Jed said, while typing on his keyboard.
“Hey.” Tess’s soft voice drifted over him like a warm blanket, soothing away his stress and relaxing the knotted muscles in his back. Honestly, he wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without knowing she was here, taking care of things on the home front. The thought of how much he was coming to depend on her was both comforting and terrifying. Jed didn’t like to rely on other people any more than was necessary, and certainly not a woman he didn’t know well and lusted after constantly. She slipped into his office and closed the door behind her, walking over to stand near his desk. The heat of her body burned through the light blue cotton of his button-down shirt and her fragrance—lemons and roses—tickled his senses. He forced those unhelpful thoughts aside and cleared his throat, focusing on the computer screen in front of him. “What can I do for you?”
“Uh, I have something I think you might want to see.” She held out a paper to him. On it was a drawing that he could tell Nala had done. It was of a man standing near a car. “She drew that today after we took a walk to the park down the street.”
“Nice.” Jed smiled. Nala was no Rembrandt, but the picture had lots of crimson splotches for leaves and red was his favorite color. “We can put it up on the fridge in the kitchen.”
“No.” Tess sighed and crossed her arms. “I mean, yes, it’s nice. But it’s the subject matter you should be concerned about.”
“A guy and a car?” Jed scrunched his nose.
“While we were walking, a man passed us on the street. He was maybe in his thirties, five foot ten or five eleven. He had a shaved head.”
“Okay.”
“Nala was terrified of him.”
Jed straightened and frowned, swiveling his chair toward Tess at last. He wished he hadn’t. She was wearing a pair of flannel PJs with pink elephants on them. Perversely, the sheer innocence of them filled his head with all sorts of naughty ideas. To distract himself, he stared down at her bare toes, the nails painted in a pale pink that matched her PJs. Not helpful. Not
at all. Because now all he could think about was kissing and licking and sucking said toes until she begged him for release.
Damn. He really needed to get laid so he could stop lusting after the nanny.
He cleared his throat and took the drawing from Tess’s hand. “Did this man do anything to Nala? Did he threaten her or you? Do anything to scare either of you? If he did, I’ll hunt him down and kick his ass.”
“What? No.” Tess gave him a reproachful look. Heat prickled up from beneath the starched collar of his shirt. He loosened his tie. Nathan Steenman ran a tight ship at the warehouse and insisted all of his management team dress professionally in suits and ties. Tough for a guy who was more comfortable in jeans and T-shirts. He stared down at Nala’s scribblings, unsure what to make of it while Tess continued. “Turns out the guy we saw was a complete stranger, but he reminded Nala of a man she’s been dreaming of. Since the night before her parents died.”
That had Jed meeting her gaze again. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. She said the man in her dreams had a shaved head too. And some kind of tattoo on the back of his neck. It’s hard to tell what it is from the drawing, maybe a circle or insignia or something. I thought maybe it might help with your investigation. I’ve done a lot of research into PTSD in children, and many times they process traumatic events by changing them into dreams so they can cope with the stress. Nala says that in her dream, the guy is standing in their driveway, near her parents’ car.” She shrugged. “It could turn out to be nothing, but I thought you’d want to know, given what the police investigation found.”
“Yeah,” he said, absently. His mind was already racing with the new information. This was the new lead he’d been hoping for. It wasn’t much, but at least they now had a description of what could be a suspicious person potentially lurking near the sabotaged vehicle the night before the Jacksons had died. He glanced up at Tess before swiveling back toward his computer, effectively dismissing her. “Thanks. I’ll get my guys on it first thing tomorrow.”
9
Bright and early the next morning, Jed strode into Steenman’s warehouse, feeling decidedly less chipper than usual. He prided himself on always being at the top of his game on the job. It was what set him apart from the competition and gave him an edge when it came to getting and retaining new clients.
Today, however, he was dragging. The fact he’d not slept well the night before didn’t help. After Tess had shown him that drawing of Nala’s, he’d sat in his office for hours, going over every police report and witness statement from the time of the accident, hoping for some mention of a man matching the description Tess had given. When that had turned up nothing new, he’d searched for reports of break-ins or petty thefts in the area on the day prior, hoping maybe someone else might’ve seen the strange man Nala had drawn. But that had been a dead-end too.
Frustrated, he’d gone to bed, only to toss and turn the rest of the night. By the time the sun was coming up, Jed was showered and dressed and on his way to the warehouse. He figured if he couldn’t be productive at home, might as well get a jump on his day here.
The warehouse would eventually operate twenty-four seven, but until they got the security full up and running, they were working with a skeleton crew of employees who’d been vetted by Steenman himself. As he entered through the side door near where the employee time clock was located, the night shift was just leaving and the day shift was arriving. He greeted several of the guys as he passed then headed for his office down the hall. He had a meeting with Steenman later that afternoon to go over the security updates he’d made thus far and to discuss the warehouse’s needs going into the future.
He unlocked the door and walked inside. The room was nothing fancy—no windows, greenish florescent lighting, cement floor, and air that smelled of paper dust and stale coffee from the break room across the hall. Still, it had Jed’s name on the doorplate and he took his position seriously.
Taking a seat behind his desk, he rubbed his tired eyes then opened the drawer to grab the file he needed for the meeting later, only to remember he’d taken it home the day before. Damn.
With a sigh, he stood and walked to the break room for some much-needed coffee. A basket of tea sat next to the brewer and Jed couldn’t help chuckling. Tess drank the stuff, herbal something or other, and he’d teased her the other morning about tea being for wimps. She’d countered with the health benefits associated with certain varieties of herbal teas. He snorted and shook his head as he popped a coffee pod into the machine and closed the lid before hitting the Start button. She always seemed to be spouting facts and figures to him when he least expected it. That was one of the things that intrigued him about her. He leaned his hips against the counter while his coffee brewed.
Then there was the cute little lisp that came out in her speech whenever she got flustered. Honestly, there were a lot of cute things about Tessa Franklin. And damn if that wasn’t the problem.
He had no business thinking about her cuteness.
The coffeemaker beeped and Jed removed his mug from beneath the spout, stirring in a splash of cream and two sugars before heading back toward his office. He’d need to make time in his busy schedule this morning to run back to the house to get that file for this afternoon. He glanced up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was nearly eight. According to his calendar, in an hour he was due to go with one of his new team transfers to inspect the off-site cameras they’d installed at the docks. They’d be installed to prevent theft from new Steenman shipments coming into the Port of Baltimore. There’d apparently been a rash of expensive tech parts from China disappearing a few months ago and Steenman wanted to be safe rather than sorry.
Distracted, he walked out into the hall and found another person standing near his office.
“Oops,” he said, nearly colliding with the guy he was scheduled to go to the docks with, Kevin Walker. Luckily, he saved his coffee from spilling. “Sorry, man. Wasn’t paying attention.”
“No problem,” Kevin said, affable as always. He followed Jed to his door then waited on the threshold. “I’m ready to hit the road whenever you are, boss. Got the company truck gassed up and idling outside.”
Jed took another swallow of coffee as he zipped through his emails to make sure there was nothing urgent he needed to respond to before he left. “Great. Uh, would you have a problem taking a little detour while we’re out? I forgot an important file at my house this morning and I need it for this afternoon. It’s on the way and it shouldn’t take long at all, I promise.”
“Sure thing.”
Jed gestured for the guy to come in. “I just need to make sure there’s nothing that has to be handled right away—have a seat, and I’ll be ready to go in a minute.” Kevin entered and took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. He looked like the typical former-military guys Jed had seen around the warehouse.
Kevin fidgeted slightly in his chair, looking around the office. The fluorescent lights gleamed off his bald head. He wore the standard Steenman warehouse employee uniform of starched button-down collared beige shirt with the Steenman logo embroidered on the front pocket, and dark green cotton pants. His black work boots were scuffed and slightly muddy on the bottom as though he’d worn them out hiking or something.
Jed focused on getting through his emails, and ten minutes later he and Kevin were on the road, heading toward the house. Doing his best to fill the silence and genuinely wanting to get to know his employees better, Jed made small talk in between giving directions. “So, Kevin. Are you married?”
“Divorced.” He flipped on the turn signal and made a left into Jed’s neighborhood.
“Kids?” Jed asked as they passed the park where Tess and Nala had been walking to the other day, when she’d seen a man who reminded her of the guy from her dreams. Jed studied the people milling about the park, hoping maybe he’d spot the guy who’d passed them on the sidewalk, but no luck.
“Girl and a boy,” Kevin said, d
rawing Jed’s attention back into the vehicle. “My son’s five and my daughter just turned ten.”
“I bet they’re changing so much as they grow.”
“Wouldn’t know.” Kevin gave a small shrug, his expression hard. “I never get to see them anymore. Ex-wife moved to California last year. All she wants from me these days is my child support payments.”
“Sorry, man.” Jed felt bad for the guy. It was obviously a sore subject for Kevin, if the hurt in his voice was any indication. Hoping to lighten the mood a bit, he said, “My Nala’s about the same age as your daughter. She’s eleven.”
“Yeah?” Kevin glanced over at him and smiled. “Cool. I didn’t know you were married.”
“I’m not. It’s kind of a long story.” One Jed really didn’t want to get into at this point. From the sound of it, the guy had enough problems of his own. He didn’t need to hear about Jed’s on top of it. “My house is the next block up on the right. Two-story Victorian with navy blue trim.”
“Got it, boss.” Kevin slowed at a four-way stop and reached over to grab a picture out of the glove compartment. “That’s my daughter, Kendall, on her last birthday before they moved.”
“Cute kid.” Jed stared at the pale blond girl in the picture and noticed the panicked expression on her face. She was staring at something off camera and Jed frowned. Girls that age shouldn’t be afraid of anything. “What’s she looking at here?”
“Oh, that.” Kevin snorted. “Craziest thing. She’s got a phobia about chickens. At the time we didn’t know and we’d hired one of those costumed performers to come and entertain at the party. Of course, the guy had to be dressed as a chicken. Kendall freaked out, and it took me an hour to get her to calm down and enjoy her party again.”