“Is that because you weren’t really theirs?” Madison knew the answer—it was included in the detailed background check—but she wanted to draw Della out more.
Della’s eyes were a blend of fire and ice, but she remained silent.
“That’s right, I know. You were adopted.” Madison expelled a breath. “You felt inferior to Faye from the very beginning. It had built up in you over the years and to hear her talking about Zoe’s life choices, well, it just made you snap.” Madison snapped her fingers along with her words.
“She had it all. She was Miss Goody Two-shoes. That’s why I wheeled her out there with no ID. No one was supposed to find out.”
Madison recalled their first meeting. Della had said Faye “was loved by everyone who met her” and with hindsight, she recognized a buried disdain. And when Della had commented on Faye being found outside the hospital “where the protests happened,” Madison had wrongly accepted that as an obvious conclusion based on the context of their conversation. Now, all was clear.
“It doesn’t work like that,” Madison said. “You killed your own sister out of jealousy.”
Della’s nostrils flared, and tears pooled in her eyes. “You have no idea what it’s like to hit the road at sixteen, pregnant and alone, with nowhere to go. I was so scared. I had no one. My family abandoned their girl when she needed them the most.”
Della was separating herself from what had happened by referring to her younger self as “their girl.”
Madison softened her voice when she spoke again. “Why wait so long?”
“To kill her?”
Madison nodded.
Della’s jaw twitched and Madison wasn’t quite sure if it was with rage or regret. “She always had the past over me. She got to grow up with parents while I was alone.”
“That’s still not an answer.”
“It built up over the years, I guess, as you said. But when I heard her start into Zoe’s choices in life, well, I couldn’t handle it. She obviously judged me back then…back when I was a teen. I thought she just followed their lead.”
“Their lead?”
“Her mom and dad. But when Faye found out Zoe was pregnant and wouldn’t let it rest, well, I lost it. She took a stand for pro-life while condemning my granddaughter. She was livid that Zoe was pregnant out of wedlock—and to top it off, that she didn’t know who the father was. Faye’s two standpoints don’t jibe in my book. She was a hypocrite.”
Madison tempered her response. “She didn’t feel that way about you. In fact, Faye was proud of your strength. It’s the main reason she protested abortion.”
Della’s eyes met Madison’s, incredulous. “Huh.”
“I swear, Della. Her fellow protesters told us that. She was so proud of you. You had the courage to stand up for yourself, for Kimberly.”
Della started crying. Her entire body heaved with the intensity of the sobs. “I killed my sister!”
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Chapter 64
DELLA CARPENTER WAS BOOKED FOR the murder of Faye Duncan, and then Madison went down to visit Cynthia in the lab. There was still no word from Terry, but she’d grab Cynthia and they’d head over to the hospital together and try this a second time.
“There’s one thing that wasn’t resolved. The cigarette next to Faye body’s I can see being anyone’s, but what about the one found in Faye’s backyard?” Madison asked.
“Oh, I have the answer to that now. Della Carpenter. Now that we have her DNA and fingerprints, I was able to run them against the evidence,” Cynthia said.
“I wasn’t under the impression the woman even smoked. And let me guess: she matched the prints left on the chair?”
Cynthia nodded.
“Guess you never know. God, she never gave me any reason to suspect her. Outwardly, the woman was the sweetest little thing.” It really was impossible to tell who a person was strictly based on appearance. If these investigations had taught her anything, it was that. Della had hidden well below suspicion too—maybe in too plain of sight. “What about the third blood profile on the newspaper?”
“No hits.” Cynthia paused for a few seconds. “Well, shall we go to the hospital and see how Annabelle and Terry are making out?”
“I think so.” Madison smiled as Cynthia wrapped her arm around her shoulders.
ANNABELLE WAS IN LABOR WHEN they arrived, and Terry was in the delivery room with her. He was a brave man, watching a baby come into this world. All the bodily fluids, the blood, the—
She shuddered. She couldn’t think about the how of it all right now.
Madison and Cynthia waited in silence until Terry walked into the waiting room, a somber look on his face.
Madison ran over to him, Cynthia on her heels. Tears threatened to fall.
The baby’s health…
She stopped just shy of her shoes touching her partner’s. “Is everything all right?” Her question remained out there for a few seconds. “Terry?” Her voice quaked just saying his name.
His serious expression made way for a huge grin. “She’s healthy!”
“You had a girl!” Madison jumped and then hugged Terry. “Congratulations!”
“Yes, congratulations!” Cynthia added. “What did you name her?”
“Well, I thought for sure the baby was going to be a boy. We had the name picked out and every—”
Madison stepped to the side to let Cynthia hug Terry.
“We were going to call our son Daniel. So our daughter’s name is Dani.” Tears filled his eyes as he smiled. He was such a proud papa. Madison felt her own eyes growing wet.
“How big is she? How is Annabelle?” The questions were pouring out of Cynthia, and Terry was all too happy to answer them. And Madison didn’t blame him. He had everything worth celebrating. A healthy, eight-pound-six-ounce baby girl and a wife who was doing spectacular considering she had just birthed an eight-pound-six-ounce baby. Madison found herself smiling along with him.
She extended an envelope to Terry and he hitched his brows.
“Your eighty dollars.”
And just when she didn’t think his grin could become larger, he proved her wrong. “I’m going to enjoy spending every cent.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You might want to hold on to some of it for our next case.”
“Uh-huh.”
He didn’t ask who killed Zoe and she didn’t tell him. There would be plenty of time to discuss work. They never did get the results on Faye’s or Zoe’s tox screens, but they always took time, and it didn’t really matter now that they had their confessions.
The balance of life was delicate. In one moment, someone died while another came into the world. This now would never come again.
“Madison, did you hear me?” Terry asked.
She shook her head. “Sorry…”
“I asked if you wanted to come see the baby and Annabelle.”
“I sure do.” And she did, but her legs wouldn’t move. There was something she had to do that couldn’t wait. “I just have to make a quick call.”
Was she actually going to do this?
“Okay. It’s room three-twelve.” He touched her arm and then headed down the hall with Cynthia.
Madison pulled out her cell phone and pressed Troy’s name in her Favorites section. When he answered, she figured it was best to say it right away, before she changed her mind. “I love you, too.”
-
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Preview of In the Line of Duty
He devoted his life to seeking justice. But would she get any for him?
It was an ordinary day for police officer Barry Weir. It was the end of shift, he was tired, and he just wanted to get home to his wife and kids. But someone had other plans for him, shooting him down and forcing him to make the ultimate sacrifice.
When news of Weir’s murder reaches the department, it leaves Detective Madison Knight and every cop in the Stiles PD itching for revenge. It cuts Madison’s boyfriend, colleague, and Weir’s childhood friend, Troy Matthews, deepest of all, driving him away from everyone he loves just when they need one another the most.
With evidence pointing to a gang-related drive-by, Madison and her team investigate the town’s seedy underbelly in search of justice for their fallen brother. But the deeper they dig, the more convoluted the case becomes. Now they need to figure out if this was a random shooting as part of a gang initiation, a straight-up hate crime, or a targeted kill. But with members of the Stiles PD under attack, they have to do it fast…before more officers pay with their lives.
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Chapter 1
I LOVE YOU. Three words that possessed the ability to change everything—your beliefs, perceptions, decisions. They also had a way of transforming whatever previously mattered to you and replacing it with this warm feeling that melts away your defenses, leaving you completely vulnerable.
Until now, Madison Knight had avoided such vulnerability at all costs. And she had been good at it. Maybe it came from her job as a major crimes detective and all the lying criminals, but it more likely had to do with the fact she’d been engaged before and it had disintegrated before she reached the altar. A bias toward men and romantic relationships was always born when the first one you gave your heart to was a cheater. Call it once bitten, twice shy.
To compound the issue, her ex, Toby Sovereign, was a fellow detective with Stiles PD. This should have taught Madison to date outside of law enforcement, but she’d failed to grasp that little lesson. Currently, the man in her life was Troy Matthews, SWAT team leader and hot-blooded American male who turned the heads of most women. But the good news for Madison was that he didn’t seem to notice their attentions. Well, maybe he noticed, as in he was aware, but he certainly didn’t care. He said that he only had eyes for Madison, and for the most part, she trusted him when he told her so.
There were still times that doubt about his loyalty would creep in, but she would acknowledge them and then release them. In the five months they’d been dating, he had never given her actual reason to distrust him. It was just her past recycling back, trying to tell her that all relationships were doomed to failure. In her defense, finding your fiancé in bed with another woman wasn’t exactly an image that went away quickly. And really, Troy had just as much reason to be suspicious of her, seeing as his marriage ended because his wife cheated on him with his best friend.
She looked over at Troy lying beside her. She was in his bed, at his house. These days she was at his place more than she was at her own apartment. Even Hershey, her chocolate lab, was snoring loudly on the floor at Troy’s side of the bed. It made her smile and her stomach flip-flop.
And there it was. The gushy side of her…
What had he done to her? What had those three words done to her? After Sovereign, she’d become good at keeping any man in her life at a distance. Less chance of getting hurt that way. And she’d usually put an end to things if it they got close to being meaningful. But Troy was just about as stubborn as she was. He wasn’t going to let her go easily; he’d said as much. His determination and loving perseverance were actually wearing down her defenses. Maybe there was a benefit to existing in a state of vulnerability. It meant she had someone she could rely on.
She wanted to wake him up, but the sun wasn’t streaming in around the drawn curtains. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 5:35.
And it was Saturday.
She let her head fall back against the pillow, surprised that she was even awake. They hadn’t turned out the light until after midnight, and she loved sleeping.
She rolled onto her side, trying to abstain from touching him. But he was so beautiful… His jaw was angular and had the hardened edges of the alpha male he was. She should have turned away from him right then, but he was lying with the sheets crumpled at his feet, wearing a pair of boxers. His chest was a work of art—six-pack abs, a speckling of dark curls across his pectorals—and lower down were groin lines.
Her breath caught and tremors coursed through her body just remembering his flesh against hers, his hands on her skin, the sex they’d had last night before collapsing into a heap of sweat. His love made her high in a way she had never experienced before—as crazy as that sounded, even to her. And maybe that’s why her mind sometimes got carried away thinking Troy might be the one.
Her heart raced at the thought. Or maybe it was just Cynthia’s romance getting to her. Her best friend and colleague had recently set a wedding date, and Troy and Madison had just had dinner with the lovebirds the night before.
Really, who needed marriage when everything was going so well? They had the love, the romance, and their independence. It couldn’t get better than this…
Something niggled in her gut. What if it could get better?
She hated that damn niggling. It had to be the fact that she was immersed in party and wedding planning for Cynthia. Madison was the maid of honor, and the responsibility had her immersed in taffeta, cake decorations, guest favors, and flowers. And if that wasn’t enough, she’d been working with Cynthia’s fiancé and Sovereign’s partner, Lou Stanford, and Samantha—a technician from the crime lab that Cynthia managed—on a surprise engagement party. It was something that the groom wasn’t typically involved in, but Lou had graciously stepped in and initiated the plan. But with the caseload at work, it had taken them months to put together.
At least the party would be behind her come next Saturday. Until then, there were only a couple of last-minute details to work out: checking in with the caterer and making sure the florist would have Gerberas, as they were Cynthia’s favorite flower. Today, though, Madison had to go dress shopping with Cynthia.
No wonder she was thinking about marriage—she was drowning in it!
“Someone’s up early,” Troy said groggily, opening one eye at a time as if he was adjusting to the light. He looked over at her and smiled. “Good morning, beautiful.”
Madison returned the smile. “Morning.”
“Why are you up already? It’s Saturday. You should still be snoring,” he said.
She raised both brows. “I don’t snore.”
“Yeah, okay,” he stated dri
ly.
She playfully hit his shoulder, and he grabbed her sides and started tickling her. She squealed and squirmed, trying to get out of his reach…but not really.
“Stop it…” It was a weak protest, but it was the best she could manage.
His hands were resting on her hips, and his green eyes were peering into hers the way they always did. It was as if the man had the ability to read her mind. And based on what he’d say and do sometimes, she wondered if he really could.
She’d never tell him how the M-word wasn’t as scary some days, though. Why risk scaring him off? Besides, he probably wouldn’t believe her anyway. Her and marriage? Laughable.
“My mind’s awake,” she said, finally answering his question. It was simple, precise, and honest.
“Is that all?” He moved over until he was against her, hard against her.
Her eyes playfully narrowed to slits, and her gaze fell to his lips. He took her mouth with hunger, yet she felt like the one feeding on him. Heat grew in her belly…and lower.
His cell phone rang, and his moan was deep-seated as he pulled back from her.
“Let voice mail pick it up,” she whispered.
Troy lifted his phone. “You know I can’t.”
As part of SWAT, he was on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
She dropped the back of her head onto the pillow, panting and disappointed.
Then her phone rang.
Strange… This was her day off, and she wasn’t on call.
She reached for her phone. Her superior Sergeant Winston showed as her caller. First Troy’s boss, now hers? This couldn’t be good news.
She answered and listened to Winston, only the odd word making it to her ears. “…a shooting…Officer Weir is down…fighting for his life…”
Madison swallowed, her mouth thick with saliva, her eyes full of tears. Her heartbeat slowed and her chest seemed locked in expansion.
“When?” She managed to scrape the one word from her throat as she looked over at Troy. He was still on the phone, staring at the far wall.
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