“But I did.” Her words were remorseful and tears pleading. “I-I had to go.”
Dace nodded. He knew she had to go, but it wasn’t of her own accord. That he was sure of. “And you’re back because…?”
“Because it’s home.”
Her response was rapid and took no time to mull over like most everything else had. Dace took that as verification that she hadn’t left on her own. If she had, why would this still be home and why the sudden need to reclaim her place here after all the time that had passed? People go home for security, comfort, or in her case…protection.
“Ivy, who did this to you?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“I think you do. Or at least have an idea. I think you came home for help. You wanted me to help you.”
Ivy tossed her head back in a guffaw. “And here’s the ego aga—”
“Ivy, just stop.” Dace raised his voice, cutting her off. “My name was on your arm. You were blocks from my building. You were attacked by some mob of assholes, and I know you’re afraid because something is missing. You keep scanning the room, looking around me. What the hell is going on? I can’t help you if you don’t let me.”
“You want me to play damsel in distress? Well, here I am! If you’re so sure there’s something beyond getting jumped in an alley by a few thugs after my purse, then go ahead. Try to figure it out. I’d like to know who they were too, and why me.”
“Dammit, Ivy.”
“What do you want from me, Dace? Huh? What?”
Dace paused. He was breaking her but not as easily as he should have been able to. She’d been trained, hardened. She wasn’t going down or giving in without a fight.
“I just want answers…”
7
“She’s hiding something,” Dace said. Sitting in the hospital waiting room, he was surrounded by his brothers and C.T. “She’s fidgety and anxious. Not like her.”
“In all fairness, Brother, you don’t know if that’s like her or not. She’s been gone—” Wylie said.
Dace put up his hands in surrender, cutting his brother off. “Look, I know. She’s been gone, but the same girl I knew – we all knew – is still sitting in that hospital room right now. I see her between the outbursts and strange, elusive responses. If this was who she really was, it wouldn’t be so emotional for her. This is tearing her up inside – I can see it. She wants to tell me but thinks she can’t.”
“I got a similar vibe, man,” C.T. said. “My interview pretty much matches your assessment. She wasn’t as volatile with me, but I could tell she was hiding something. She also wants the hell out of here.”
“She said, where is he…” Dace recalled. “It was odd, pure panic. Who is he? Did she have a dog or something? She was disoriented when she first woke, so maybe she meant one of the men from the alley?”
“Or she meant another man, Dace,” Declan chimed in. “Again, we don’t know anything about her anymore. I don’t say this to hurt you, but what if she has a man in her life?”
Dace pinned a laser-sharp glare on his brother. “Yeah. Maybe she has someone. Hadn’t thought of that, asshole.”
“Dace…”
“Seriously,” Dace began, shifting his gaze from one brother to the next. “Did you guys think I came here without going through all the what-ifs? That thought had crossed my mind, but so did the dog and the bad guys…okay?”
Dace turned his back to his brothers as he stood and locked his fingers together behind his neck.
“Dace…” C.T.’s tone was low, monotone. “I know this is hard for you. I can’t even—”
Dace spun on his heels. “Can’t what, Charlie Tango? Can’t even imagine what I’m going through? I’m fine. I’d appreciate it if you’d all leave the estrogen at the door and treat this like a real case. This isn’t about me and my precious feelings. A crime was committed in our backyard, it involves someone we all know, and somehow, at least I am involved because she wrote my name on her arm after the attack. That’s what we need to figure out here. Why did she do that, and why do we have these bastards out beating up women on our streets?”
C.T. nodded. “Point taken.” He looked at the notepad he’d used during his interview with Ivy and changed the subject back to the matter at hand. “The only thing I have to go on here is a mugging. She was pretty adamant it was a couple of goons trying to grab her purse.”
“Gun-toting purse snatchers.” Luke snorted. “Who left her for dead without taking the purse or even going through it at any point.”
“Which is why I know it’s all bullshit,” C.T. agreed. “I have to agree with Dace. She’s hiding something and wants us nowhere near it.”
“Which is why we need to stay all over it,” Dace added. “I have no doubt she came here for help. She wanted our help, or at least mine up until she woke up here.”
“You’re back to her asking where he was, aren’t you,” Wylie said as more of a statement than a question.
“Exactly. We need to know who he is because that’s who or what shut her up.”
Liam scratched his chin as he stared at his laptop while his fingers quickly danced across the keys. “There isn’t anyone with her in any of the surveillance videos. I’ve gone over them a hundred times, pieced every one of them together from all over town to build a timeline, and at no time was she ever in the company of another person…or dog.”
“Okay. So where does that leave us?” Wylie asked.
“It tells us that the attack wasn’t random, and it scared her into silence,” Luke added.
C.T. nodded. “I’d agree with that theory, but why the name on the arm.”
“Because she thought she was going to die,” Dace said confidently. “She knew I’d exhaust every resource to find her killer and whatever it is that she’s hiding.”
“So her being alive is a risk to whomever she’s protecting.” C.T. filled in the blanks. “And if these guys found her…”
Dace didn’t like where this was going; it was becoming downright sinister. “They can find whoever she’s protecting.”
“This is a viable theory we can work off at the precinct. I can sell this and get our resources on it – though, I think yours might work a little faster.”
“Everything helps, man,” Liam said. “I ran those thugs through all my recognition software and didn’t get a hit, but that’s to be expected since their faces were partially covered. I’m rewriting a duplicate program to narrow the parameters after every pass to see if I can get the software to match them with the features it can single out per subject. Maybe eyes, bridge of a nose, eyebrows…fuck, I don’t know. I’m trying it all.”
“I didn’t even know you could do that,” C.T. said. “We certainly don’t have that type of intel available.”
“Neither do we…yet,” Liam said. “But I’ll find a way. I always find a way. I got the initial DNA analysis from one of your detectives, C.T., but it’s inconclusive. There were multiple profiles collected.”
“Multiple? From under her nails?” Dace asked.
“It doesn’t take much at all. It’s possible,” C.T. answered.
“Exactly,” Liam elaborated. “PD wasn’t able to identify how many, and whether they’re male or female just yet. Their process takes a little longer.”
C.T. snickered. “Let me guess, you were able to sort them out already?”
With an assured tone and smug expression, Liam continued, “You know, it wouldn’t take much for the PD to advance their systems by upgrading their…”
“I’m not the guy to say this to. It’s all Greek to me and above my pay grade. When we put this case behind us, I’ll set you up with the right people.”
Wylie laughed. “He means keep the nerd speak to a minimum and stick to the case.”
“Got it, but it’s much simpler than you think.” Liam rolled his eyes. “Anyway. I have multiple profiles, none matching any of the databases. Two males. Well, three really. The third is suspicious, though. It actually mat
ches Ivy’s.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning whoever the third male is, he’s related to her.”
“Related?” Dace paced the floor. “She doesn’t have any family. Not really. It was just her and her parents.”
“So her dad?” Liam asked.
“See, that would make sense, but she said her dad is dead.”
“Dead? When? How, Dace? We know her mom was killed in a random car accident, but…” Liam was shocked.
“Not a fucking clue. I was asking her questions and trying to get her to say something, anything. I mentioned something about him passing just to get some kind of reaction, and she said she knew. I could tell it hurt her to talk about him, so I assumed he really had died, and we just didn’t know.”
“That could be why we never could track him down after he moved away,” Liam said. “But there should have been a death record somewhere. I scoured every database I could think of but didn’t find anything.”
“Right.” Wylie ran his hands through his hair as he tried to keep up with the information unfolding. “If that’s his DNA, then he’s alive. Why would she lie about him being dead?”
“Because he was one of those men in the alley, or he’s the guy she was calling out for. The one she’s protecting.”
“What the fuck did they get themselves into? Wasn’t the guy a florist or something?” Wylie asked.
“Or was he?” Dace rebutted. “We need to move her to Watermark. I don’t like this. None of it – I feel it in my gut. She isn’t safe here.”
Luke agreed. “We already have Doc Charles coming out weekly from McKenzie and Carly living on-site to care for Daisy’s grandma. What’s one more patient? Mendoza’s always down to help, too.”
Daisy, now Luke’s wife, came to them as a special protection case from their friend, US Attorney Carter Landry, who was charged with special cases for the United States government that required more discretion and sometimes more grit. He contacted Brother’s Keeper Security when the stakes were high, and he needed someone to trust because his own office in DC wasn’t always as clean and trustworthy as it should be.
When Daisy went into hiding, so did her only living relative, her ailing grandmother who was in frail health. When the case was finally behind them, Luke and Daisy gave in to love and went all in…grandma was a part of the package and had her own team of family friends to oversee her health needs at Watermark Tower where she lived with the rest of the family.
“We can guard her here. It’s our job.”
“All due respect, Charlie Tango, but we don’t know what we’re dealing with or who to trust. Watermark is safer, and I think you’ll agree.”
“Fuck. Of course I do. I just don’t know how I’m going to spin this and explain where she is when she’s supposed to be under our protection through the investigation.” C.T. tossed his head back and let out a deep sigh. “Okay. I have a couple of people I can trust. I’ll call in a favor and pull them off regular duty and put them on her case so it looks like she’s still here and under our protection.”
“Not unless Liam gets to dig into all their shit and clear them first,” Dace said adamantly.
C.T. put up his hands. “No need, you know them. They worked with us before. Moss and Chopper. They’re both good at what they do, and more importantly, we can trust them.”
“Chopper?” Dace laughed. “Gannon’s sister, Lexi? He’s one of us, so I guess that makes her one of us.”
“That kid wants to make detective so fucking bad, and they put her on bike patrol to calm her ass down. She had more arrests than half the unit combined.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Declan asked.
“City resources were being wasted on her bookings. She was even arresting old ladies for jaywalking.”
Declan snorted. “It’s Portland; everyone jaywalks.”
“It’s still against the law. She thought she’d get some attention if she was cleaning up the streets – wrong kind of cleanup.”
“She’s a good kid. Tough,” Dace said. “Moss is a good guy too. Wouldn’t mind having him on our team permanently.”
“I’ll make the calls. Keep me in the loop and let me know when you’re moving her. I’ll get some undercovers to cover your six out of here. And Liam, can we look at that car accident that killed Ivy’s mom while you’re looking for stuff on her dad? Something isn’t sitting right with me. Until we know who the players are, I’d rather not dig around in our archives and draw attention.”
“Appreciate it, man.” Dace shook C.T.’s hand after he nodded at the rest of the brothers before making his way to the elevator.
“Let’s get her out of here and move her tonight before anyone catches on. I’ll assemble a team and get Mendoza to travel with her and get her set up for the night.”
“The great Dr. Mendoza will be trading in his stethoscope for something with bullets tonight? I think he’ll like that.” Luke laughed. “He’s full of shit when he says he likes golf.”
“You think all I carry are clubs in my golf bag, O’Reilly? Got your text, Dace.” The doors that led to Ivy’s room were closing behind Rick Mendoza. “Just came from the unit, checked Ivy’s chart and stopped in to say hi. Told her I’m the admitting doc, and her doc tonight during transport. She’s ready.”
“She’s okay with going to Watermark?” Wylie asked. “Sounds like Dacey isn’t her favorite person right now.”
“Oh, I didn’t tell her where we’re going. Just that it was somewhere safe for her to heal. She seemed…relieved.”
Dace sucked his teeth and shook his head. “Relieved, huh? Relieved to be protected from whoever is behind her attack…or me?”
8
“I should have known you’d bring me here.” Ivy chuckled. “I’m guessing that Dr. Mendoza is one of your guys?”
“Sort of. We all served with him at different times,” Dace replied as he helped Ivy into bed.
“So was he a mechanic too? Or was he allowed to tell his family what he really did?”
Dace felt Ivy’s words like the sharp dagger they were. His cover was that he was a mechanic – big rigs – and had to travel because he was one of a few who did what he did. But the family knew – mechanics don’t use aliases, nor are they so heavily armed at any given time.
“Ivy…”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry. That was a long time ago, and it was a low blow.” She offered a weak smile. “It doesn’t really matter anymore anyway.”
Her words crushed him. He didn’t matter. They didn’t matter. Not anymore, and he took that hit straight to the gut.
Dace knelt at her bedside and buried his face in his hands. He spoke in a low and apologetic tone. “Christ, Ivy. I didn’t do any of that to hurt you. Or to push you away. I know it was hard for you, but everything I did – every bit of it – was for us.”
“I get it. It’s fine. No need to rehash anything. It’s been over for years, and I…I should just let it go because the only reason to bring it up is to take a swing at you. Again, I’m sorry. I think these pain meds have me a little out of sorts.”
It wasn’t lost on him that she continued to elaborate on the fact they were over and that their past didn’t matter. Is she trying to convince me or herself? Dace wondered.
“No, it’s okay. I deserved that. I changed the plan – and I didn’t hear you when you said no. I took it as a maybe, or thought… Thought you’d get over it and be waiting because our plans were big. What’s one more year if it meant an easier life, a better one.”
Dace got his own small digs in. He knew he didn’t need to make any of those points, but he also knew she felt his verbal assault to her core and hoped it would spark something, anything, even an argument. He needed her to talk, and what better way than to piss her off.
Tears welled but didn’t fall over when she said, “Well, I guess we all played a part in this.”
Damn. She wasn’t breaking. This was a well-rehearsed game plan, and she was sticking to it �
�� holding all her cards close to her chest with a poker face that gave away nothing.
“So, this apartment is all yours. Make yourself at home. A family friend, Carly from over in McKenzie Ridge, is staying here. She helps with Tilly and has the apartment next door to this one.”
“Tilly?”
“Oh, sorry. Tilly is Daisy’s grandma – sweet lady.”
“And Daisy is?”
“Jesus. Sorry. A lot has changed around here. Daisy is Luke’s wife.”
“Luke is married?”
Dace chuckled. “So are Declan and Liam. Dec’s a dad now too.”
“A dad?” Ivy stared long and hard at Dace, and a certain sadness clouded her expression before she put on another weak smile to mask whatever was haunting her.
“Liam is about to be a dad again, and Luke’s about to have his first. Well, first two…twins.”
Ivy’s smile grew and became genuine as did the lone tear that streamed down her cheek. “Wow. A lot has changed around here. I can’t believe the boys are all grown and have families. What about Wylie?”
“He’s still a single mama’s boy. You were just with him. He rode in transport with you.”
Ivy’s jaw dropped in a breathy gasp. “That was Wy? He’s…he’s…”
“Huge? I know. Biggest of the bunch.”
“Yeah, to say the least. His size is a little intimidating. It was dark. Maybe I would have seen the resemblance otherwise. He winked at me, and I thought it was odd. Now I know why!”
“He’s always been fond of you. You were like a big sister to him. He took it pretty hard when you left.”
Ivy leaned back into her soft pillows and stared at her clasped hands. “You know…I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I didn’t mean to. I just – had to go.”
“Had to?”
“Dace.” She closed her eyes as her chin began to quiver.
“I know, no sense in rehashing the past now. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Dace stood and turned to walk away. “Carly will be in to check on you in the morning. She’s a sweet girl – you’ll like her. If you need anything, just holler. I’ll be out on the couch.”
Brother's Keeper V: Wylie (the complete series BOX SET): NEW RELEASE + Series Box SET included! Page 97