* * *
“C’mon, Dani,” Derrick whispered under his breath as he made a cup of tea for Gina. “Get here already.”
Gina’s tea was nearly ready, and if he lingered in the kitchen any longer, she’d figure out he was stalling so he could avoid her. It was for her own good. He couldn’t look at her and not remember what they’d once had. Something he still wanted in his life but couldn’t grab hold of.
After her traumatic day, the last thing she needed was to deal with their past. She deserved to be treated with kid gloves right now. Her situation roused all his protective instincts and he wanted to be there for her, but he didn’t know if he could do it.
What’s a guy supposed to do in a situation like this, God? Should I run as fast I can in the other direction? Let her find someone else to help as she offered to do?
He looked over the large island to the family room, where she changed Sophia’s diaper. She wore his shirt buttoned up to the neck, giving a break to her black attire. A music major in college, she’d worn bold colors and bright patterns to complement her artistic flair. Never black. Maybe she’d changed, or maybe she’d dressed this way not to draw attention.
She got up from the couch, Sophia in one arm, and held out the dirty diaper. “Do you have a trash can outside for this?”
He nodded and before he could offer to dispose of it for her, she settled Sophia into his arms. “I’ll be right back.”
He gaped after her and jiggled the baby. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d held a baby. Wouldn’t even take half of his fingers. Maybe he should put her on the sofa. Wouldn’t want to break her or anything.
He was moving cautiously toward the family room when the patio door slid open.
Dani stepped inside and her jaw dropped. “You didn’t mention a baby.”
“I didn’t know what to tell you.” He quickly off-loaded Sophia onto Dani and sighed out a breath of relief. “She’s Gina’s niece. Her brother, Jon’s, child, but she has custody of her.”
Dani arched a brow.
“I’ll make sure she explains it when we question her. Just be patient.”
“Me, patient?” She laughed and dropped onto the sofa. She put Sophia on her lap and cooed at the child. Eliciting no response, Dani patted her chubby hands together, something Derrick would never think to do.
“What’s your name, little one?” Dani asked in a high voice.
“Sophia,” Derrick answered.
“Well, hello, Sophia.” A goofy smile claimed Dani’s face. With looks like that, it wouldn’t be long before she had a family of her own.
Sophia grinned, revealing one tooth on the bottom, and despite Derrick’s lack of knowledge about babies, he found himself smiling back. Until the door opened. Then he tensed and waited for Gina to join them. He heard water running in the guest bath and knew she’d stopped to wash her hands. When she did enter the room and spotted Dani, a quick flash of unease crowned on her face. She probably thought Dani would let her have it for bailing on him all those years ago.
Maybe she would. Although Dani was his twin and they often thought on the same wavelength, he never knew what was going to come out of her mouth.
“Hello, Dani.” Gina marched purposefully across the room. Her strength even in the face of potential adversity didn’t surprise him in the least. Her vulnerability in the car, though—that’s what got to him.
Dani looked up, and Derrick could feel her demeanor change from across the room.
“Gina.” A sharp edge cooled her voice. “Long time no see.”
“It has been a while for sure.” Gina’s tone was far warmer than Dani’s, but then she didn’t have a twin brother who’d been summarily dumped. “I didn’t realize you were coming over.”
Dani cast an irritated look at Derrick, who shrugged in reply.
“No biggie,” he said. “It just didn’t come up.”
The teakettle trilled from the kitchen, and he escaped his twin’s glare to turn it off. He poured steaming water over a fragrant chamomile tea bag Dani had left in his cupboards. He kept an ear on their conversation—it seemed to be centering on babies and Dani’s recent marriage—and carried a mug for Gina and Dani to the family room.
“You mentioned your brother had been murdered,” he said, directing them away from the baby talk so they could create a plan to keep Gina safe. When her smile fell, he instantly regretted his blunt choice of words.
As he sat next to Dani, she socked him in the arm. “Tactful, sport. Real tactful.”
Normally he’d spar with Dani, but she was right. He was going out of his way to deny the attraction he still felt for Gina to the point of being rude. But what else could he do? He couldn’t follow his interest and pretend things would be different this time. She’d hurt him when she’d left, but he’d hurt her first when he hadn’t been able to commit long-term. Nothing had changed in his life. He still choked at the thought of a lifetime commitment.
So he had to get a handle on his feelings. How, he didn’t know. The only thing he did know for certain right now was if he let this connection that still existed between them continue to get the best of him, he’d hurt her again. And no man worth his salt would intentionally hurt a woman—or stand by and let her get hurt. So if someone really was after her, he’d have to protect her.
No matter how much it would hurt to have her back in his life...and then let her go again.
THREE
“It’s okay, Gina, take your time.” Dani’s eyes, blue as her designer shirt, never left Gina. “We’re here to help when you’re ready to talk about it.”
Gina tried to let the comfort of Dani’s tone take away her tension, but she could feel Derrick watching her from the arm of a leather chair, and his scrutiny made her nervous. She willed herself not to look at him and cleared her throat before beginning. “This all started with my brother, Jon. He was a member of the Coast Guard’s Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team stationed in San Diego.”
“Wow,” Derrick interrupted. For the first time his face appeared animated. “That’s a pretty exclusive job. Only the best of the best are chosen for those teams.”
“I’m surprised you’ve heard of them,” Gina said. “Most people don’t know anything about the teams.”
“I’ve read about their successes over the years. I find it fascinating. Traveling the globe. Fighting the war on drugs and smuggling.”
Right. A carefree life. No strings, no attachments. A job like that would probably be perfect for Derrick.
“Well, I haven’t heard of them,” Dani said. “I didn’t even know the Coast Guard stationed people outside the country.”
Gina nodded. “Oddly enough, they deploy on Navy ships and go wherever needed. They board suspected drug dealers’ and smugglers’ boats, arrest the criminals then turn them over to the authorities and move on. They can be gone more than two hundred days a year.”
“So they’re like the cops of the water?” Derrick clarified.
“Yes, except they don’t do any of the investigative work on the cases. The Coast Guard team solely handles the arrests.”
“Would be hard to be married to a man gone so often.” Dani stared into the distance.
Gina was sure Dani was thinking about how hard it would be to leave her new husband, and a flash of jealousy bit into Gina at how deeply dedicated the woman seemed to be to her marriage. If Derrick had shown the willingness to make that kind of pledge to her...but he hadn’t. She forced her mind back on her story. “It takes a big commitment and one Jon was looking to move out of after Sophia was born.”
Gina’s voice faltered as she thought about what came next in her story. “His wife, Becki, was in a terrible car crash last year. She was seven months pregnant at the time. She didn’t survive, but fortunately they were able to save S
ophia.”
Dani slid forward and squeezed Gina’s hand. “I’m so sorry. That must’ve been rough. Especially with your brother’s frequent deployments.”
“Thankfully he was on leave while Sophia was in the neonatal unit at the hospital. But once she was healthy enough to come home, I moved in to take care of her. Since I was on summer break from teaching, he went back to his team until he could push through the paperwork to officially resign.”
“So you’re a music teacher like you’d always dreamed?” Derrick asked.
“Yes,” she answered, wondering if Derrick ever missed a thing anyone said. “I’m a high school orchestra director. At least, I hope I’m still employed after my hasty departure.”
“I’m sure they’ll understand.” Dani slid back in her seat and draped an arm over the sofa. “So was your brother killed on duty?”
“No. He died in a car crash just a few miles from our apartment.”
“Just like his wife,” Derrick mumbled to himself.
“No, not like Becki at all,” Gina snapped then instantly felt bad about it. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted like that, but I’m certain Jon was murdered. Becki was simply late for a doctor’s appointment so she was driving recklessly. She lost control and hit a telephone pole. From that day on Jon drove like a little old man. Slow and cautiously. The police say he was speeding and lost control near a cliff. I know better. He would never want to leave Sophia without a father, too. If he lost control of the car, someone must have tampered with it.”
“That should be easy to prove,” Derrick said. “Didn’t the police conduct an investigation?”
Gina faced him, making sure she conveyed the same tenacity she’d once hoped would convince the San Diego detective to keep looking into Jon’s case. “They say they did, but if so, how could they reach this conclusion? It just doesn’t make any sense. And I told them that. I kept after them until they finished the investigation and handed me his personal possessions.” She shook her head. “They were so terse. Like they were glad to be rid of him. Or maybe rid of me. It’s almost like they were covering something up and couldn’t wait to close the case and move on.”
Dani peered at Derrick, and they shared a look that Gina couldn’t read.
Were they like the police—doubting her story?
She sat up straighter. “I know you’re both thinking I’m a crazed sister who can’t accept that her brother is gone. But that’s not true. I had to let his loss go. For Sophia. But I can’t let go of my belief that the police are wrong and he was murdered.”
“Um, actually,” Dani said with a smile, “I was thinking you were a conspiracy theory nut.”
Despite the tension cutting through the room, Gina laughed. Dani always had a way of lightening things up even in the most difficult of circumstances.
“I haven’t gone off the deep end...” Gina offered Dani an exaggerated wink “...yet.”
“But you think the police are lying to you.” Derrick’s humorless tone killed the mood.
Gina shouldn’t have expected him to laugh with her, but his continued tight-lipped approach hurt. “Maybe they’re not lying to me, but after I was attacked in my apartment last night by a man who was looking for Jon’s flash drive, I know I’m not wrong that there’s more to his death than meets the eye.”
“Back up,” Derrick nearly shouted as he came to his feet. “You were attacked last night?”
“Yes. A masked man broke in—I’m almost certain it’s the same man who attacked Lilly and tried to chase me down tonight. He wanted a flash drive that was in the box the police had given to me. I was terrified for Sophia, so I gave it to him. I thought he’d take it and run. But he said I could’ve looked at the files on it, so he had to kill me.” Sophia whimpered and Gina leaned over to rub her back.
Derrick’s nose flared in anger. “How did you get away?”
“He pulled his trigger. The firing pin jammed. Jon made sure I kept a gun in the nightstand during his deployments, so I ran for it. The man kept coming at me. I fired in his direction, and he took off.” Though she was able to keep her emotions in check long enough to tell her story, a long shiver worked over her body, and she wrapped her arms around her stomach for comfort.
“Did you look at the files on the flash drive?” Derrick asked.
“Yes, but the only thing other than photos I took of Sophia was a log of some sort. It looked like someone snapped a picture of the document. Only the bottom part of it showed up, so I don’t have a clue what it was for.”
Derrick perched on the arm again and leaned forward. “I’m assuming you called the police after you were attacked and told them about the flash drive and the log.”
She nodded, moving back from his intense stare. “Not that it did me any good. I only glanced at the log, so I wasn’t able to tell them much about it.”
“If the detectives on Jon’s case didn’t back you up on the log then that must mean they didn’t look at the flash drive when they had it in their possession.”
“You know, I never asked,” Gina said. “But Jon hid the flash drive in a wooden cross that he wore around his neck. The police may not have even realized the drive was there. I doubt they thought it was more than a religious symbol, and they probably didn’t bother to examine it very carefully. Especially when they believed his death was accidental.”
Derrick arched his brow. “Why did he feel a need to hide his drive?”
She hated admitting this, but she had to tell the truth. “Rules prohibited him from carrying a flash drive on board. Guess the Navy worried about secrets being stolen or something.”
Dani nodded. “It’s a problem.”
Derrick gave his twin a fond smile. “And as our agency’s computer expert, she would know.”
“Well, Jon didn’t steal anything. He just wanted to have a way to keep current pics of Sophia with him during long deployments. They had computers on the ship for personal use, but they didn’t have internet access. So whenever they docked, he downloaded to his drive the pictures that I posted online.” She paused. “I know he was violating the rules, but after losing Becki, he needed these pictures to keep going.”
“Did you explain this to the police the night of your attack?” Derrick asked.
“Yes, but there weren’t any signs of a forced entry or odd fingerprints in my apartment, so they doubted my story. There was a bit of blood on the floor—I think I may have shot him—but they said it wasn’t enough blood for a gunshot injury and that maybe Jon had just cut himself weeks before, and I hadn’t noticed the blood until now.”
“So they stopped investigating?”
“Not until they called the detective working Jon’s case, and he told them I was a nutcase. That I’d hounded them all the time when they were already doing their jobs. He suggested I faked the attack to get them to reopen Jon’s case.” Despite wanting to remain calm and in control, Gina trembled.
“Do you have any idea of your attacker’s identity?” Dani asked.
“I don’t know,” Gina answered hesitantly. She hated to direct suspicion at Jon’s best friend.
Derrick eyed her for a moment. “That wasn’t very convincing. Is there something you’re not telling us?”
“No... I mean...” She shrugged. “I’m not sure about this, and I hate to cast doubt on a family friend.”
“I know this is hard, Gina.” Dani sat forward again. “But you’ll have to bare your soul to us if you don’t want your attacker to go unpunished.”
Dani was right. Finding Jon’s killer plus making sure she and Sophia stayed safe were the most important things. “Jon’s friend and teammate Quentin Metzger lives next door. He was with me when the police came to tell me about Jon’s death. Quentin didn’t act surprised. Almost like he expected it to happen. Then he asked if he could go through Jon’s posse
ssions when I got them back from the police.”
Derrick perked up. “Odd and highly suspicious.”
“After my attack, I asked him about the log. He said he doesn’t know what it was for, but I got the feeling that he knew something about it.”
“Did you tell the police about this?” Dani asked.
“Yes. They seemed to blow it off, though, like everything else I told them.” Gina shook her head. “And I don’t think they questioned Quentin. If they had, he would’ve been hurt that I suspected him, and I’m sure I would’ve seen it in his or his wife, Val’s, demeanor.”
“Sounds like we’ll need to talk to him.” Derrick looked at Dani. “We’ll also need to get police records for their investigation into Gina’s attack.”
“If they even investigated.” Gina felt tears prick at the memory of the night. “I’d have stayed around to follow up on them, but I couldn’t risk Sophia’s life. I had to get out of town.”
“And so you came here, but he followed you.” Derrick’s gaze softened into a tender look. She’d been on the receiving end of his concern so many times that it made her heart ache to think about all she’d given up when she’d left him. “Good thing I was nearby.”
“I called your agency before I booked my flight here to be sure you weren’t out of town. After I arrived today, I stopped by the office, but your receptionist said you’d all left for a family event and you’d be in tomorrow. I planned to come back, but this happened tonight and so...”
“You called my cell,” he finished for her.
“Please don’t tell me our new receptionist gave you his cell number.” Dani crossed her arms. “I’ve trained her on the importance of information security.”
Dark Tide Page 3