The Sullivan Gray Series Box Set

by H. P. Bayne

  “I’d appreciate that, thanks.”

  Kindra saw Dez to the door and hugged him. “It was so good to see you. Please stop by our place one evening.”

  “I’ll do that.” There were other things Dez wanted to say, not least of all a thank you for her support through the losses of Aiden, their dad and Sully. Kindra had been the rock neither Dez nor his mom had the capacity to be at the time, providing a shoulder to lean on and a listening ear for Mara Braddock as she tried to keep her head above water through those losses. That had freed Dez to go off and deal with his own grief as he saw fit, assured he was leaving his mother in hands more capable of comfort than his own. Kindra had been invaluable, and still was.

  But there never seemed to be a right time or place to say it, so Dez kept the words to himself, hoping Kindra would know it all the same.

  Instead, Dez patted his leg for Pax to come, and the dog trotted after him as they made their way back down the hall to the rear entrance.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” Larry asked.

  “Not yet,” Dez said. “But I hope I’m getting closer.”

  Dez drove the Riverview area again, this time watching for Sully-related tells from the dog, whose head was hanging out the two back windows in turn as Dez steered slowly up and down the streets.

  But there was nothing besides the obvious canine curiosity, the joy at feeling the breeze on his face, that suggested Pax had noticed anything helpful. Dez opted to get out and walk it, hoping his brother’s dog might lead him to something significant. Whatever had happened to Pax, it was unlikely he’d made it very far in the condition he’d been in, suggesting something had occurred within a few blocks of Dez’s place.

  Pax trotted ahead of him and Dez allowed it, hoping the dog had some idea where he was going. He appeared to be part shepherd by breed, certainly not a bloodhound with ingrained tracking ability but, given the circumstances, Dez would take what he could get.

  Pax made his way east, taking the same route Dez had earlier when he’d gone looking for Bulldog. And, sure enough, Pax led him the few blocks to the park, his pace quickening so Dez had to shift to a light jog to keep up.

  Pax kept to the grass near the sidewalk, his path more or less straight as he headed for a grove of trees bordered this side by lilac bushes.

  There, on the street side of the trees, virtually within sight of the spot where Dez had met with Bulldog earlier, Pax stopped.

  Dez watched as Pax’s nose went into overdrive, his head lowered to the ground as he paced in circles around the immediate area.

  “What is it, boy?” Dez asked as he squatted down next to the spot where Pax finally focused his attention. The unmown grass was flattened here in places but it was two parallel patches of bared earth, each a couple inches wide and a foot or so long, that drew Dez’s attention. He’d been a cop long enough to have seen signs of a struggle before, and these looked to have been caused by a shoed foot dragging along the ground.

  Pax had moved off a few feet, was back to sniffing the ground in one spot. Dez joined him, casting a hand carefully through the grass until it settled on something metallic.

  Pushing the grass aside, he visually searched, wanting to see what it was before chancing further handling. A piece of red fluff came into view first.

  “Oh, shit,” Dez said, guts twisting as the tranquilizer dart suggested an answer to two plus two. It made sense, given Pax’s previous symptoms; he’d been tranqued, but this new evidence gave Dez more to worry about, not less. Sully had obviously not tranquilized his own dog, and there were the drag marks to contend with. The scene came together in Dez’s head in enough detail to leave him physically ill; evidence and instinct told him Sully had been taken.

  His first thought was to call 9-1-1, get police on this immediately now that he had found some actual proof Sully hadn’t just walked away from his old life a second time. He pulled his phone from his pocket and punched in the first two numbers before his senses kicked in, his finger hovering above the keypad as he thought through what he was doing.

  Sully was, as far as the world was concerned, dead. Had been for a couple of years. He’d only revealed himself in what had been a life or death situation, had tried to leave before Dez recognized him, had told his brother he needed to remain hidden. Maybe it was all about Lockwood, maybe it wasn’t. But Dez knew he couldn’t chance blowing Sully’s cover without knowing if he’d be further endangering his brother.

  Leaving the dart where it lay for the moment, Dez opened the camera app on his phone, falling back on skills learned in policing as he snapped a few photos of the scene, focusing in particular on the dart and the drag marks. He’d have to play the role of lead investigator, forensic identification officer and patrol all in one, at least for now.

  He had no choice.

  7

  The obvious next step was a return to Kindra.

  “You say the dog led you to this?” she asked, holding the dart by the fluffy end. Ordinarily, it should have been in an exhibit bag, but Dez wasn’t walking around with many of those on his person these days.

  “In Riverview Park, yeah. I’m wondering if it’s loaded with some sort of tranq. I’m thinking it might match up to whatever Pax had in his system.”

  “I can certainly take a swab and send it in. I already couriered over the bloodwork, and they said they will have an answer for us later in the day. If I get this sent over now, they should be able to compare it to the tox screen.”

  “I’d appreciate it, thanks.”

  Kindra peered at him through eyes narrowed in thought, and Dez waited for the inevitable question. “This isn’t all about Pax, is it? There’s something else bothering you.”

  Dez considered how best to answer without revealing a truth not his to tell. In the end, there wasn't anything he could say, so he settled for a mild lie; better that than further risk Sully’s life until he had a handle on what he was dealing with.

  His reasoning might have been noble, but that didn’t stop the shame he felt creeping through him as he spoke the words.

  “There’s nothing else, Auntie K. Everything’s fine.”

  Everything was far from fine. In fact, the distance to fine was so great Dez couldn't have spotted it with the Hubble Space Telescope.

  Not so long ago, he would have gone to Eva to talk this through, knowing he would have come away with both comfort and the start of a solution. Now, that was no longer an option.

  He had been sitting in his vehicle, Pax eyeballing him mournfully from the backseat for the past twenty minutes. Dez knew he had to look pathetic as he sat there trying to think this through, searching for some plausible scenario in which the evidence he’d found was completely innocent or unrelated to Sully.

  But rational thought had joined with intuition, providing a solid slap of cold reality whenever he ventured too far into a best-case scenario. Sully was in trouble. Given the dart and the drag marks, he was in big trouble.

  Dez thought again about going to the police. If someone had taken Sully, it probably meant he no longer had any cover that needed protecting. And there was a chance if Dez didn’t find his brother fast, he’d be burying him for real this time.

  But his mind flashed back to the conversation in his apartment last night, to the hint from Sully there might be something, someone, more he was running from than just Lockwood. It would probably be easy enough to find out if someone from the institution had recognized Sully and executed the warrant. What wouldn't be so easy was figuring out a way to keep Sully concealed from other potential enemies if word got out he was alive. Lockwood was a lot of things, and not a lot of them were good in Dez’s opinion. But if nothing else, it was private, keeping the names of its patients to itself. If Sully was back there, there was no reason anyone on the outside would ever find out.

  Unfortunately, it wasn't likely anyone there would be willing to share that information with him. He’d nearly lost his job after he aided Sully’s escape, and he ex
pected the only reason he hadn't was because Sully had then died. No one felt right about sanctioning him too harshly after that, especially so soon after his dad’s death.

  But Dr. Roman Gerhardt at Lockwood hadn’t been as forgiving. The chief psychiatrist had been at the front of the line demanding Dez’s job and the filing of criminal charges. And he’d had plenty to say to the KRPD brass on the subject upon learning his wishes had not been granted.

  Dez knew he needed help, if for no other reason than to check Lockwood for Sully. But that help couldn’t be official.

  Maybe Eva was an option, after all. She loved Sully too.

  He gave her a call, learning she was working a swing shift that week. She agreed to let him come over to talk, the added benefit being the opportunity to see his daughter for a few minutes during her school lunch break. He left Pax in his SUV with a window cracked, not wanting to take the chance he would react to Kayleigh or Eva in the same way he had with Kindra earlier. Anyway, the introduction of a dog would divert Kayleigh’s attention and, given what little time he got to spend with her these days, he wanted her all to himself.

  He didn’t want to think about the day when Kayleigh wouldn’t come running up to him like she did now, eager for one of his up-off-the-floor hugs.

  “How’s my big girl?” he asked, setting his daughter down and holding her at arm’s length for an inspection.

  “Fine, Daddy.”

  “What happened to your hand?”

  “Don’t ask,” Eva said, emerging from the kitchen. God, she looked good, messy dark bob tucked behind her ears, no makeup, workout clothes showing off tight muscle and curves. The only thing that could have made her more beautiful would have been the sight of their wedding ring on her left hand. But he knew better, knew it was tucked away safely in her jewelry box upstairs, hopefully waiting for the day when the past was forgotten and the future more promising.

  But at present, this was where they were, and Dez knew he had to take some comfort in the fact they could still have a civil conversation and support each other when it was most important. He knew plenty of former couples who weren’t so lucky.

  He pried his eyes away from Eva, kneeling and taking Kayleigh’s hand in his for a closer look. “Come on. What happened?”

  “Tyler Buchanan called Mommy a bad name.”

  Dez sensed where this was going, fought like hell to contain both his anger at Kayleigh’s smart-ass, racist schoolmate and pride in his daughter. “And what did you do?”

  Eva stepped in. “I walked Kayleigh to school this morning, and Tyler called me something I’m not going to repeat, but referring to my Indigenous background. He hadn’t meant for me to hear it, just Kayleigh.”

  “Asshole,” Dez said.

  Eva flashed him a dangerous look. “Dez, don’t use that language.”

  Dez returned his attention to his daughter, eager to hear this out. “So let me guess. You punched that little bastard in the face.”

  “Dez!”

  “Hard, Daddy,” Kayleigh said. “I hurt my hand.”

  “Yeah, punching looks easier on TV than it is in real life, huh?”

  Kayleigh nodded, her expression solemn.

  “So what did Tyler do after?”

  “He fell down and starting crying.”

  Dez struggled to keep the smile in check. “You just hit him the once, though, right? Not when he was down?”

  “No, Daddy. I know that’s bad.”

  “So is hitting,” Eva said. “Kayleigh, people are going to say bad things sometimes. Violence isn’t the answer. Now go finish your lunch in the kitchen. I need to talk to your dad for a minute.”

  Kayleigh trotted off, and Eva returned her attention to Dez. God, her eyes were brilliant when they sparked fire. Her hands fisted against her hips.

  “Dez, you can’t speak to her like that. It’s not the way I want her dealing with problems. Now she has to write an essay and we have a parent-teacher meeting.”

  To Dez, meetings and assignments were a waste of time; the little turd had gotten what he deserved. He held his tongue, though, needing her fully onside.

  He spent the rest of the lunch hour with Kayleigh and then cautiously introduced her and Eva to Pax, who took to them like long-lost pack mates. With Pax next to him, Dez walked Kayleigh to school, Eva warning them to behave themselves before they left.

  Picking the Buchanan kid out of the crowd didn’t take long, the beginnings of a shiner forming around his left eye. Dez restrained himself from complimenting his daughter on her arm, but took some immature pleasure in watching Tyler’s eyes widen as they travelled up Dez’s mountainous form to his glaring expression. Message sent and received.

  Eva was waiting for him at home, eyebrow raised like she already had formed an opinion. “You didn’t intimidate the kid, did you?”

  “Hey, I just stood there. I didn’t say a word.”

  “If he saw you, then you intimidated him.”

  “I can’t help being this big.”

  “All right, what’s up?”

  Dez had been trying to figure out how best to broach the subject, and still wasn’t certain he should be getting into it at all. But with little else to go on, Eva might be his only real shot at finding Sully.

  “I don’t really know how to say this. Something happened last night.”

  Eva, sitting next to him on the sofa, fixed him with a look that did nothing to conceal her dread. “God, Dez, what did you do this time?”

  “Why do you automatically think I did something wrong?”

  “Because that’s what you do these days. You go out, you drink with your new loser friends, you get plastered and next thing I hear, some overly kind ex-colleagues of yours are lugging your ass home and tucking you into bed.”

  “Well, that didn’t happen last night. I was attacked.”

  “What?”

  “Raynor’s ex was at the same pub I was at. I’d gone outside for a breather and saw her leave. Someone was tailing her down the street. I followed, figuring I could stop it if Raynor attacked her again.”

  “You don’t even know he attacked her the first time. No one knows that, Dez. She refused to provide a statement.”

  “I know it was him. He’s a scumbag.”

  “I’m inclined to agree, but you know as well as I do investigations are built on evidence, and there was never anything on that one. Anyway, what do you mean you were attacked? Were you hurt?”

  Dez shook his head. “Just let me talk. Greta stuck to the street, and the guy detoured into Riverview Cemetery. I followed him in but lost sight of him in the dark. Out of nowhere, I got whacked on the back of the head. Next thing I know, I’m coming to in a coffin with a corpse under me.”

  “Jesus, Dez!” Eva’s hand was on his head now, gently prodding at the lump that had formed there. A jolt of electricity ran through his body at the touch, negating the jab of pain. “Did you go get checked out? You could have a concussion.”

  “I’m fine. I get a bit dizzy occasionally, but not bad.”

  “Damn it, Dez. You’ve got a brain. Learn to use it.”

  Dez smiled. “That’s exactly what I thought you’d say. Here’s the thing. I wasn’t just inside a coffin. It was buried, like six feet under. I couldn’t get out and I was running out of air. I thought I was going to die.”

  “How did you get out?”

  “That’s the thing. Someone dug me out. It’s the who that you’re going to have some trouble with.”

  Eva pursed her lips. Dez hesitated, thinking through for a final time what he was about to do. Still, he could find no alternative.

  “It was Sully, Eva.”

  “Sully who?”

  “Sully. You know, Sully Sully.”

  Eva’s gaze drilled into him, the same look he imagined she wore while interviewing lying suspects. “Sullivan Gray?”

  Dez nodded slowly.

  “Sully’s dead. He was killed two years ago.”

  “I thought so too. But
he’s not dead, Eva. It was him.”

  “Dez, come on.”

  “It’s true.”

  “You just told me you left a bar, were knocked unconscious and nearly suffocated inside an occupied coffin. You’re talking a combination of intoxication—”

  “I wasn’t drunk.”

  Eva ignored him. “Possible concussion and extreme trauma-induced stress that’s likely to cause PTSD.”

  “It wasn’t just a few seconds seeing him, Eva. He spent last night at my place. We talked.”

  “Dez ….”

  “I’m not making this up.”

  “Look, I get what you’ve been through the past couple of years, okay? I know losing Sully so soon after your dad threw you into a tailspin. I get it. I miss him too. But you’re going to have to accept it if you’re ever going to—”

  “Eva, listen to me. Sully was there. He wasn’t a figment of my imagination. He wasn’t an alcohol-induced hallucination, and he wasn’t the result of a brain injury. Hell, Pax is his dog.”

  “So you’re trying to tell me what, exactly? Sully faked his own death and just magically turned up in the nick of time to dig you out of a grave?”

  “It sounds crazy when you put it like that, but that’s exactly what I’m telling you. Sully’s alive. And he’s in trouble.”

  “You’re damn right he’s in trouble if I find out you’re on the level here. If he put us through that—if he put our daughter through that—I’ll kill him myself.”

  “I don’t think it was his choice. He’s running from someone. Or he was until this morning.” Dez filled Eva in on the day’s events, including his finds in the park. “I’ve hit a roadblock. I don’t know what else to do. I can’t report this as a possible kidnapping as Sully doesn’t technically exist anymore, and he insisted it has to stay that way. But I can’t just not do anything. He’s my brother. I need to help him.”

  “So what is it you want from me?”

  “You still don’t believe me, do you?”

  “Dez, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to believe anymore. Just tell me what you need.”