Plain Cover-Up

by Alison Stone

  Dylan fisted his hand and pressed it to his chest. “Boy, you certainly don’t go easy on a guy.”

  “I can’t play this game with you. I really enjoy being with you. I’m grateful for you. But I can’t risk my heart and then lose you. Again.”

  Dylan leaned closer and hooked his thumb under her chin. She finally looked up at him. “I won’t break your heart. Please have faith in me.” He leaned closer, his lips covering hers. She tasted of orange pekoe and lemon.

  “We live in two different worlds,” she said, her voice lacking in conviction.

  “Perhaps we should trust God in helping us find a way.”

  Christina reached out and grabbed his hand. “I’d like that.”

  He smiled, his insides warmed. “Me, too.”

  EPILOGUE

  Eight months later...

  Christina’s eye was drawn to the large window overlooking the golf course at the Apple Creek Country Club. A light snow had been falling all day and now the increasing wind added to the wintery scene.

  Dylan leaned in next to her and kissed the top of her head; the feeling of being protected, loved, warmed her heart. “A penny for your thoughts,” he said.

  “I’m so happy. Everyone we love is in this room.”

  “I’m glad your parents and younger sister were able to make it to town before the snowstorm.”

  “Me, too.” She giggled. “Looks like Mrs. Greene has my father’s ear. She’s probably reassuring him that you’re a good guy.”

  “Mrs. Greene has been my champion.”

  Christina squeezed Dylan’s hand. “I’m sorry your dad wasn’t able to come.”

  Dylan kissed her cheek. “You’re my family now.”

  “You might regret that when you’re commuting to work in the winter from Apple Creek.” Dylan had insisted they live in her cottage versus her suggestion of buying a home midway between Apple Creek and Buffalo. He was finally going back to the FBI after their honeymoon in Florida. If they could fly out in this weather.

  “I’ll never regret it.” Dylan pulled her into an embrace and kissed her neck. “A commute is a small price to pay to have you as my bride.”

  Christina giggled and a thread of warmth squeezed her heart.

  “I’m glad I finally tuned in to God’s plan for us. I was so busy trying to achieve things, prove things to myself, prove things to my dad who really never cared...” His voice trailed off. “I’m sorry I was the guy who didn’t care who I hurt along the way.”

  Christina pulled back, planting her hands on his solid chest. “Sometimes the journey isn’t as direct as we’d like it to be. But we’re here now. This is a happy day, so no more talk of sad things.”

  “Beautiful wedding,” Sarah Jennings, Christina’s sister-in-law, said as she approached with little Emma May on her hip. Nick came up behind them. “Nick and I have to leave soon to get this little one down.”

  Christina kissed Sarah’s cheek. “Thank you for coming. Really.”

  Nick shook Dylan’s hand, then also gave his sister a kiss. Then something flashed in her mind. “Did you hear any updates on Cheryl?”

  “Can’t this wait?” her big brother asked.

  “Tell me.” She tried to keep the enthusiasm out of her voice.

  “Cheryl was given probation. Hopefully she learned her lesson. Peer pressure and the need to be accepted can lead a young person down a dark path.”

  “I’m so glad.”

  “I hear Naomi’s doing well,” Nick said, then paused, looking a little sheepish. “Since we’re on the subject.”

  “Yes, she is,” Christina agreed. Naomi had been baptized and married Lloyd Burkholder, after all. “I saw her at the general store last week. She looks genuinely happy.”

  Nick smiled and a twinkle lit his eyes. “You do, too, sis.”

  Christina felt her cheeks flush.

  “Well, we better go,” Nick said. Sarah lifted her hand to wave and the baby mimicked the gesture. They’d all turned to leave when Nick said over his shoulder, “Keep an eye out for my little sister.”

  “I can keep an eye out for myself,” Christina said, as if on autopilot. She was able to breathe easier now that both Roger and his son, Matthew, were in prison. Roger claimed to not know about his son’s illegal activities, but Christina had her doubts. Either way, it didn’t matter. Other women who had been assaulted by Roger came forward, sealing his fate. It broke her heart every time she thought of young Matthew. She couldn’t help but wonder if he would have turned out differently if he had been raised by a better man.

  Recently, Linda had passed away and Christina prayed that she now had peace. A tremble coursed through Christina as she dismissed the thoughts, unwilling to let them darken her special day.

  “Are you cold?” Dylan slid his arm around Christina’s waist and pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “I know you’re fully capable of looking out for yourself, but the beauty of marriage is knowing you don’t have to.”

  One more time, Christina scanned the room where all those she loved had gathered. She was not alone. Perhaps she never had been. Despite the distance sometimes, she always had people in her life who loved her. Wanted the best for her. People she should have trusted more in times of darkness.

  Christina pivoted and smiled at her new husband. The man she trusted with her entire heart.

  God had given them a second chance at love, filling her with joy.

  “I love you, Dylan, more than you know.”

  “I love you, too.” He hugged her close. “I love you, too.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from DEAD END by Lisa Phillips

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  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for joining me on another adventure in the Amish community that was just a flicker of an idea when I first learned that Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense was looking for new Amish stories a few years ago. It’s hard to believe my first sale to Harlequin, a book titled Plain Pursuit, has led to a total of five books set in this same community of Apple Creek, NY.

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  Alison

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  Dead End

  by Lisa Phillips

  ONE

  Nina Holmes squeezed her hands into fists and resisted the urge to slam them down on the counter. “Ma’am, with all due respect. I’m not leaving until you tell me what I want to know.”

  Probably not proper decorum for the federal courthouse, but what else was she supposed to do? This woman was her last option. Nina had to get this information.

  The name tag read “SONDRA,” and it jiggled as she huffed. “Be that as it may, I am only a federal employee. I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

  Nina pushed the creased and worn paper closer to Sondra. “I just need you to contact this person at the other federal courthouse, the one in Baltimore, where these records are kept. They can have the file transferred here. It’s so old it’s paper, but only an employee of the courthouse can request the file.”

  Now that Nina was a retired CIA agent, she had zero clout.

  Sondra looked at the paper with one penciled eyebrow raised. Nina took a deep breath and launched in. “You see, I’m looking into an old case. It was an FBI investigation into the murder of a congresswoman that took place nearly thirty years ago—my mother. I need this file, Sondra.”

  It was the one thing she’d never been able to let go of, even in all her years at the CIA running covert missions. Her best friend had been there for her since third grade all the way through their time with the CIA. But now Sienna had gotten married, and they were no longer secret agents for the US government.

  Sienna had a new life, and Nina had...nothing but the will to find the truth. That was why she had to look into her mom’s death, and maybe even discover the real killer once and for all, so her father—wrongly convicted of the crime—could finally have peace. So that she could have peace. Otherwise she was never going to be able to move on with her life.

  Sondra fingered the paper.

  Nina sighed. “Please, help me.”

  The woman took the name and phone number of the person Nina had been in contact with in Baltimore—where the murder and trial had taken place. But she didn’t pick up the phone. She moved her fingers over the keyboard. The clicking of keys took on a rapid pace, and soon Sondra sat back.

  “This person, whoever it is, doesn’t show up in my system as working for that particular courthouse.” She pointed to the paper. “And that phone number is for the Baltimore public library.”

  Nina flinched. “What? How is that possible? I called the federal courthouse. I was transferred to that person. He knew about my mother’s case. He said he remembered it from the news reports, since the husband killed his congresswoman-wife.” Nina swallowed against the bad taste of those words. Her father had been innocent. “He said he would process my request.”

  “I must be too young to remember it.” Sondra’s eyes narrowed. “That is what the computer says. I’m sorry I can’t help you more.” She glanced over Nina’s shoulder and raised her voice. “I can help the next in line!”

  Nina staggered back. What was going on? She’d thought for sure today would be the day she would finally see the file.

  The public library. How could she have been given that number by mistake? None of this made any sense. The process should have been...not easy, but at least possible. She might have worked for the CIA, but it wasn’t as though she could just call up one of her old coworkers and ask them for information on a domestic murder that happened years ago.

  Nina stumbled down the hall, the injury in her left hand aching beneath the brace she wore to cover the scars. She didn’t need the questions, usually innocent enough, but she had no interest in being reminded how she’d gotten the nasty cut. She had more important things to worry about. Her teaching job at the local college would start with the fall semester in a few weeks. Until then the clock was ticking.

  It was time to find the killer and put the past to rest once and for all.

  She’d walked from the apartment she rented close to the federal courthouse. She lived downtown simply so she didn’t burn extra money on a car, insurance payments and gas. The college where she had been hired to teach economics was nearby. A new chapter for her new life.

  But so far she was getting nowhere.

  Nina blew out a breath and pushed open the heavy door. The Oregon fall weather was breezy with a pleasant temperature, much different from the biting East Coast air she was used to. Nina hitched her purse higher on her shoulder and tried to push down the frustration while she figured out a new plan of attack. Regroup. That was all she had to do, and the CIA had taught her how. She just needed to come at this from a different angle.

  The concrete steps were smooth under her canvas flats. Traffic whizzed past, and two men in bulletproof vests walked a man in an orange jumpsuit up toward her. She stepped aside, too preoccupied to really look at them. They were just doing their jobs. It wasn’t their fault she was having a bad day.

  But they slowed.

  Whether she knew them because Sienna was now married to a marshal or not, Nina didn’t want to make small talk. She trotted down the steps onto the sidewalk and turned in the direction of home. Two steps after she had set off, someone yelled her name.

  Wyatt? She turned back to tell him she couldn’t talk, or wasn’t in the mood for it, or some variation of that.

  A silver car jumped the curb as it barreled toward her.

  Nina didn’t have time to scream. She jumped aside and prayed she wouldn’t die before she found her mother’s real killer, a man who had been having an affair with her mother. A man who called himself Mr. Thomas and who’d told her stories of spies, pirates and fair maidens.

  A man no one had ever believed existed when she’d told them he killed her mother.

  Nina hit the ground and rolled.

  * * *

  Deputy US Marshal Wyatt Ames ensured his partner had hold of the prisoner and sprinted down the steps. The silver car raced away, but he ran to Nina with his gun ready. It was a reflex to draw his weapon, but he wasn’t going to shoot at a car fleeing the scene. Too easy to hit an innocent person on a busy downtown street.

  Behind him Parker called in the make and model, no plates. Request for EMTs, possible injuries.

  “Nina.” He crouched beside her and holstered his weapon. “Nina, are you okay?”

  She groaned. “No.” She sounded mad, which almost made Wyatt smile.

  He helped her roll over, which made her groan again. The road rash on her right arm and her temple made him wince.

  She eyed him. “That bad, huh?”

  He didn’t return her smile—there was too much fear in her blue eyes. He did lift her left hand so he could survey the scar from the injury she’d had the day he’d met her. She had a wrist brace on, and he couldn’t see the injury on her fingers. Was it under the brace material? That would mean the injury was down by her thumb. Why hadn’t he known that?

  Wyatt had been there the day they rescued her from the house where she’d been held, months ago now. Caught up in Sienna’s amnesia, and the hunt for a flash drive of sensitive information Sienna had hidden before she lost her memory, Nina had been kidnapped in order to draw Sienna out. The man who had held her was dead now, but Nina had been injured.

  When they’d found her, Nina’s left hand had been bandaged, the wrappings soaked in blood. Yet she’d still been strong enough to push through and help Wyatt’s partner—Parker—find Sienna, who was now his wife. That danger had passed, and Parker and Sienna were finally free to be happy.

  Wyatt had b
een impressed by Nina that day, and it hadn’t let up since. Clearly her inner character was as beautiful as she was on the outside, even with the haircut she had gotten recently. He’d never been a fan of short hair on women, but the choppy blond strands made her eyes stand out all the more and he had to admit it was cute.

  Wyatt’s phone started to ring, but he ignored it. “Don’t get up, okay?” Her left hand seemed to have gone through this unscathed, the road rash on her right arm likely from trying to protect the injury beneath the brace. “EMTs will be here in a minute and we’ll get you looked at.”

  Nina sighed and straightened her legs on the sidewalk in front of her. Wasn’t she glad help was coming?

  “Ames!”

  Wyatt turned back to his partner.

  Parker motioned over his shoulder with his thumb. “I’m going to check our friend here into his permanent staycation and I’ll be back out.”

  Wyatt nodded and turned back to Nina, still in his crouch. “That was crazy. I can’t believe that car jumped the curb and came right at you. Seriously. It was nuts.”

  Nina’s lips curled up, though he could see the pain on her face. “You’re babbling.”

  “Your life just flashed before my eyes.”

  Nina laughed. He wanted to pull her into his arms and hug her until his heart rate settled down, and she was laughing? “This isn’t funny, Nina.”

  She shook her head. “No, it really isn’t. You’re right. But to be honest, it’s just been one of those days. This is pretty much the perfect end.”

  “It’s not even lunchtime.”

  “I’m still ready to go home and crawl back into bed. Maybe tomorrow will go better, because today does not seem to be my day.”

  The ambulance pulled up, a police car parking right behind it. He knew the sergeant who climbed out. Sergeant Zane sauntered over, apparently relaxed, having decided the emergency had passed and Wyatt had whatever this was covered.