Unexpected Father

by Delores Fossen

  "Detective Lawrence, it's me, Corinne Davies," the caller said. "We met the other night at Lilly's office."

  "I know who you are," he informed her. After the incident with the stolen car, both her name and voice were imprinted on his brain. What he couldn't figure out was what the heck she was doing calling him. "How can I help you?"

  She didn't answer right away. "I hope I haven't made a mistake by contacting you, but I think I might have found some information you need."

  That got his full attention. "I'm listening." And so that Lilly could do the same, he turned on the speaker function of the phone.

  "I was going through some old files I had from when I worked for Lilly. I found some e-memos that Raymond Klein sent to Lilly's father." Her words were suddenly rushed, as if she was trying to hurry. "They seem to suggest that they were about to do something illegal. Something to do with paying off a city official so they could undercut other bids for a building project. One of those other bids appears to belong to your brother, Greg."

  Jason met Lilly's gaze. She didn't appear surprised, but concerned. She pulled Megan protectively closer to her.

  "I'll want to see these memos," Jason told Corinne.

  "I thought you would. But there might be a problem. The files might have been tampered with." Corinne's voice dropped even lower. She was either very nervous and frightened about this call, or else she was putting on a good act. "I can't verify that this e-memo even came from Klein. I'm usually pretty good at unraveling the e-mail addresses and identities of the senders, but this one has been blocked. I can't be sure if this information in the memo is correct or if someone planted it to make it look as if something illegal was going on."

  After hearing that, Jason had a dilemma of his own. Was Corinne up to something? He certainly didn't trust the woman, and that lack of trust cast some serious suspicion on what she was saying. However, he couldn't just dismiss potential evidence either, especially if that evidence could be used to convict Raymond Klein.

  "Take what you have to police headquarters," Jason instructed Corinne. "I'll pick it up there."

  "I can't do that."

  "And why not?"

  More hesitation. Jason could practically see the woman wringing her hands, or else pretending to wring them. "I think someone's watching me. Maybe it has something to do with what happened to Lilly. The shooting, I mean. I don't want to go walking into police headquarters because I believe someone will try to stop me from doing that."

  Well, he could understand her concern. Jason could also understand his own concern. "You can fax or copy the files and e-mail them," he suggested.

  "No, I can't. Some are handwritten, and the ink is very pale. I tried to copy a few, but they're barely even legible in places."

  Oh, man. He didn't even want to know where this was leading.

  "I want to meet with Lilly and you so I can give you the files in person," Corinne insisted.

  Lilly made a frustrated sound and shook her head.

  Jason agreed. "It wouldn't be safe for Lilly to be out in public."

  "I can meet you someplace safe," Corinne insisted.

  But Jason knew there were no real safe places. Especially not for a meeting with a suspect.

  "You choose the location," Corinne continued. She no longer sounded just afraid. She sounded desperate. "You bring along extra cops. Guns, whatever. Do what you need to do to secure the place, and I'll give you what I found."

  Jason quickly thought that through and came up with a solution. "All right. Let's meet in the parking lot of police headquarters, but Lilly won't be coming with me."

  "She has to, or else I'll call the whole thing off. I don't really know you, Detective Lawrence, but I know Lilly, and I know she wouldn't do anything to hurt me. That's why I insist that she be there."

  "Okay," he heard Lilly say.

  Glaring at her hardly seemed enough to convey his displeasure for her okay. "Lilly won't be coming with me," Jason insisted.

  "I'll be at the parking lot of the downtown police headquarters at 8:00 p.m.," Corinne said. "If Lilly's not there, I won't be, either."

  And with that ultimatum, she hung up.

  "We have to meet her. You know we don't have a choice about this," Lilly said immediately.

  "Oh, but we do, and that choice is for you to stay put. I'll go to the meeting and get those memos and files from Corinne while you stay here under police guard."

  Lilly's frown probably meant she didn't agree with his plan. "What if she means what she said? What if she won't meet with you if I'm not there?"

  Jason considered that, and dismissed it. "What if she's up to something?"

  "What if she's not?" Lilly argued.

  He huffed. "How long are you going to keep countering a question with a question?"

  She made a show of pretending to think about it. "Forever?"

  That didn't improve his mood. "Smart-ass."

  "So I've been told. But here's the deal, Jason. Corinne wants to meet in the parking lot of police headquarters. If she had murder on her mind, she wouldn't have chosen a place where she'd likely get arrested. Pardon the question, but would she?"

  Maybe. Or maybe this was one smart ploy to get them to cooperate.

  And a ploy to get them killed.

  "I don't like this," Jason told her.

  "Neither do I. That's why I'll stay in the car. In fact, we both will, and we'll let Corinne come to us."

  Jason stared at her. And glared. He hoped it conveyed his displeasure. But what it probably also conveyed was that Lilly had a point. Corinne might have something they needed.

  "You won't meet face-to-face with Corinne even if she insists?" Jason asked.

  "I might have a smart mouth, but I'm not stupid." Lilly brushed a kiss on Megan's forehead. "Besides, I have a very important reason for staying alive, and I'm holding that reason right here in my arms."

  Jason looked down at Megan. Before he ever switched on the speakerphone, he'd known that she'd fallen asleep. Megan seemed totally unaware of what was happening. Thank goodness. That was something at least. The stress and worry of their situation hadn't spilled over to her.

  "Those memos that Corinne found could be the very thing we need to put an end to all of this," Lilly pointed out.

  And she was right. Jason knew it. So did she.

  That didn't make this easier, though.

  "I'll get another officer to stay here with Megan," Jason finally said. "I'll also arrange for us to use an unmarked vehicle with bulletproof windows. You and I will drive to headquarters, but you won't be getting out of the car. Right?"

  "Right," she promised.

  That promise might keep her safe. Might. But Jason couldn't help but wonder if he was about to lead Lilly straight into a deadly trap.

  Chapter Eleven

  "I'm kicking myself," Jason mumbled. Though his voice carried almost no sound, Lilly heard him loud and clear. She also felt the knotted muscles in his arm as they sat side by side on the seat of the unmarked car. "You know that, right?"

  Lilly knew.

  She was kicking herself, as well.

  This meeting with Corinne could be important, critical even, but she hated leaving Megan for any reason. It didn't matter that her daughter was in safe hands with not just one cop, but two. It also didn't matter that one of the cops, Sgt. Garrett O'Malley, was someone that she knew and trusted.

  Nope.

  This didn't have to do with trust. It had to do with leaving her little girl while she tried to figure out who wanted Jason and her dead. High stakes. But with an equally high possibility of failure.

  She glanced around the parking lot again and checked her watch. "No sign of Corinne," she pointed out.

  Lilly didn't have to add that the woman was nearly a half hour late. Jason was well aware of that. He was probably also well aware that Corinne wasn't going to show with the evidence and this had perhaps been some sort of wild-goose chase.

  But why would Corinne have don
e that?

  Lilly couldn't come up with a good answer, but there were possibilities that made her uncomfortable. In addition to the wild-goose theory, maybe someone had blackmailed Corinne into arranging this meeting. And that led Lilly right back to Wayne Sandling and Raymond Klein.

  "She's not going to show," Jason declared.

  Even though it was dark, there were enough security lights in the parking lot for her to note his frustrated, impatient expression. Sighing and feeling equally impatient and frustrated, she leaned her head against the glass of the heavily tinted window.

  "Maybe the officers you sent out to check the area will find her," Lilly answered. "Maybe she's out there, waiting to make sure it's safe before she comes into the open."

  "Maybe," he said, not sounding as if he believed that. She didn't believe it, either. "Don't sit so close to the window."

  She glanced at the window. Frowned. "I thought they were bulletproof."

  "More like bullet resistant. If the shooter is using armor-piercing bullets, the shot could still get through."

  He didn't have to say that twice. Lilly immediately slid across the seat toward him, until her arm was squashed against his again. He felt warm. Comforting. Something she desperately needed.

  "There are too many things that could go wrong," Jason said under his breath. "That's obviously why I didn't want you to come."

  "But if something goes right, and we get these memos from Corinne, you might have the evidence you need for an arrest. Then we won't be in danger anymore."

  He stayed quiet a moment. "If this doesn't work, maybe you could try going about this from a different angle. During some investigations when the witness has been traumatized, sometimes we use a psychiatrist to hypnotize the person, to see if they recall anything."

  Lilly considered that. "And it's been successful?" she asked.

  "Sometimes."

  "Well, sometimes is better than nothing. I'll do it. Just let me know when and where." In fact, she wished they'd already arranged it. Recalling the face of the person who'd tried to kill her might lead them to the person who was behind all these latest attempts on their lives.

  "Let's get past this rendezvous first," Jason reminded her.

  If there was a rendezvous. And if it would amount to anything. They could be back at square one, and that meant all of them were in danger.

  Including Megan.

  Only hours earlier Jason had asked her if she would consider a relationship of convenience. Ironic. Because with the danger staring them right in their faces, she should be considering just the opposite. To keep her child and Jason safe, she might have to consider doing the unthinkable.

  She might have to leave.

  In some ways that was unimaginable. And yet in other ways, it seemed irresponsible not to do it. If she left, maybe the person trying to kill her wouldn't go anywhere near Megan. It broke her heart just to consider it, but it would break her heart even more to lose her daughter.

  The movement caught Lilly's eye, and she looked up to see two uniformed officers cut across the parking lot. They approached the car, and Jason lowered the window a fraction.

  "We found something," one of the officers said to Jason.

  "Is it Corinne Davies?" Jason asked.

  The rookie shook his head and cast an uneasy glance at Lilly before bringing his gaze back to Jason. "Not exactly. But, trust me, you'll want to see this."

  * * *

  THE ROOKIE'S You'll want to see this might have been vague, but it was more than enough to get Jason moving. Obviously, his fellow cop had something to say, and he didn't want to say it in front of Lilly. If that was the case, there wasn't much chance of this being good news.

  "I want you to wait here with Lilly," Jason ordered the rookie. He glanced at the other uniformed officer. "You'll come with me."

  Jason checked his weapon and opened the door. "Don't let her get out of the car, and don't let Corinne Davies or anyone other than me get anywhere near her, understand?"

  The rookie nodded.

  Lilly didn't agree quite so quickly. "Wait a minute," she said, grabbing Jason's arm to stop him from leaving. "What if I don't want you to go to check on this 'thing you'll want to see'?"

  "It's my job to go," Jason countered.

  She pointed first at the rookie and then at the other officer. "It's their job, too. Why can't they go?"

  "Because I'm a detective and they're not. Besides, this is personal for me. If Corinne is out there, I want to see her face-to-face, to see if I can figure out what's really going on here."

  She frowned. "I don't suppose it'd do any good to ask if I can go with you?"

  He didn't even have to think about that. "No good whatsoever. You're staying put."

  Jason turned to leave, but she latched on to his arm again. "Don't do anything…stupid, okay?" And with that, she leaned forward and hurriedly brushed a kiss on his cheek.

  It definitely wasn't one of those lusty foreplay kisses they'd shared in the foyer of his house. But in some ways, it packed an even greater wallop. Because it was the kind of kiss that people gave each other when they were more than just two people with a child in common.

  How much more? Jason asked himself.

  But he pushed the question aside. He was about to venture into what could essentially be a kill zone, and he needed a clear head for that. He didn't want the distraction of his feelings for Lilly to cloud his judgment.

  "Stay put," he ordered Lilly one last time, and he got out of the car before she could stop him again.

  Or before he felt compelled to return that kiss.

  "So, did you find Corinne Davies or not?" Jason asked the officer once the door was closed and Lilly could no longer hear what they were saying. If it was bad news, he wanted a chance to process it first before he told her.

  "No, but we found a car parked just up the street." They headed in that direction, and Jason looked over his shoulder to cast one last don't-get-out warning glance at Lilly and a watch-her warning glance at the rookie who was now guarding the car.

  "The car we found is a rental," the officer continued. "We called the company, and it's Ms. Davies' name on the rental agreement."

  Maybe she'd used a rental because she was concerned about being recognized. Or maybe because her other car had been stolen and she hadn't had a chance to replace it. Still, the situation made Jason uneasy. Of course, everything was making him uneasy at this point.

  With his hand on his gun, Jason and the officer proceeded out of headquarters' parking lot and onto the sidewalk. He spotted the silver-gray car right away. It was parked in the center point between two streetlights. In others words, in the spot with the least visibility.

  There was another uniformed officer waiting by the vehicle. "No sign of Ms. Davies yet," the officer volunteered. "She's not in the car, but we haven't made a thorough search of the area yet."

  Jason looked around at the street jammed with buildings on each side. There were plenty of places to hide if Corinne had gone inside one of them. Maybe inside and on the roof with a high-powered rifle? He glanced up, half expecting to see her standing there, with a gun aimed right at him.

  But Corinne wasn't anywhere in sight.

  Temporarily satisfied that he wasn't about to be ambushed, Jason turned his attention back to the rental car. He borrowed a flashlight from one of the uniformed officers and checked the interior.

  Nothing.

  No purse, no jacket, no cell. No sign of a struggle.

  That didn't mean there hadn't been one.

  He put his hand over the hood of the car. He didn't touch the surface in case it became necessary for them to dust for prints. But he could feel no heat coming from the engine. The car had no doubt been parked there for a while. Perhaps even for several hours.

  Jason swept the milky light over the exterior of the car, and when he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, he began to examine the street and the sidewalk. It didn't take him long to spot what he'd hoped he w
ouldn't see.

  "Secure the area," Jason ordered the officers. "And get the CSI guys out here now."

  Cursing under his breath, Jason angled the flashlight, moving it along the black asphalt. Despite the dark color, he had no trouble seeing the wet spots. Though he already knew what they were, he stooped and touched his index finger to one of the drops.

  It was blood.

  Chapter Twelve

  "Bad news?" Lilly asked. She was lying on the hospital bed, her forearm draped across her forehead.

  Jason realized she'd been asking that a lot in the past twenty-four hours. Probably because they hadn't gotten good news about, well, much of anything.

  It had been a long day.

  And it was going to get a lot longer.

  First, there was the hypnosis and then later Lilly was scheduled for one of those marathon physical therapy sessions at the hospital. But it wasn't the hypnosis and the physical therapy that concerned him most. His biggest concern was that it was next to impossible to keep her safe while they were away from the house.

  "It must be bad news," she mumbled.

  She was right, of course.

  Jason pocketed his cell and debated how much he should tell her. After all, she was supposed to be relaxing, waiting for the drug to take effect so she could be hypnotized. She was drowsy, no doubt about that, but since he knew she was anxious for an update, Jason proceeded with the recount that he'd just gotten from a fellow detective.

  "Still no sign of Corinne, and the crime scene techs estimate there's about a half a pint of blood on the trail leading away from the car." A trail that stopped one street over. Which meant Corinne had likely gotten into another vehicle. Now the question was, had that happened voluntarily or had she been forced to go? And if it'd been voluntary, why hadn't she gone to the ER? There was one just a few blocks from the scene, yet there was no record of anyone matching her description.

  "They're sure it's Corinne's blood?" Lilly asked.

  "It's consistent with her blood type. She's not in any of the data banks, so the CSI guys will first need to obtain a sample of her known DNA to compare to what they collected from the scene."