Reining in Justice

by Delores Fossen

  “What happened to you?” Cooper asked the man.

  Rooney clutched his hand to his bleeding shoulder. “The kidnapper shot me. I managed to get away from him and drove back here.”

  “Here?” Reed repeated. “You should have gone straight to the hospital or called an ambulance.”

  And that made Reed even more suspicious of Rooney’s behavior. He checked outside to make sure they weren’t about to be attacked. He couldn’t see anyone, but just in case, he motioned for Addison to go back into the hall.

  “The ambulance is on its way,” Colt informed them. “I also called in Pete so he can ride with Rooney to the hospital.”

  Good idea. Pete was usually the night deputy, and while he wouldn’t be happy about being called in, Reed wanted the P.I. to have a police escort. Ditto for Addison’s move to the safe house, and Reed figured Colt and he would do that while Cooper manned the office.

  Colt, too, joined Reed and Cooper at the front. Like Reed, Colt kept his gun drawn, ready in case things turned worse than they already were.

  Reed stooped lower so he could get right in Rooney’s face. “Tell me about the thugs you hired to come after Addison and the baby.”

  Rooney’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “I didn’t hire any thugs. And I especially didn’t hire anybody to come after Addison. Who the hell said I did?”

  “A reliable source.” Reed hoped. Still, he wanted more than just the word of a CI before he arrested Rooney.

  The fact that Rooney had been shot made Reed think the man could be innocent. Or he was being set up. Of course, Rooney could have arranged to be shot so it’d throw suspicion off himself, especially after the accusations against him.

  “I hired two people, not thugs,” Rooney admitted. “They were to track down information about Dearborn and the baby farms. I damn sure didn’t tell them to hurt or kidnap anyone.”

  Cooper and Reed exchanged glances. It was hard to tell if Rooney was lying. “I want the names of the men you hired.”

  He nodded and, grimacing again, Rooney reached into his pocket. That got Cooper and Reed pointing their guns at him. “I’m just getting my phone,” the P.I. snarled.

  Rooney handed the phone to Cooper. “Their names and contact info are in the recent calls. The ones before I phoned Reed during the attack.”

  Cooper scrolled through the recent calls and spotted the two names. Not Marcellus’s name, but he could be using an alias. Colt took the phone and got started.

  “Did you get a good look at the kidnapper who shot you?” Reed asked.

  Rooney shook his head. “But I got the license plate numbers.” And he rattled them off. However, Reed had already made note of them and phoned them in.

  “The plates were fake,” Reed explained.

  Just as he’d expected they would be. No way would the person responsible for the attack have allowed those plates to be traced back to him or her.

  “I think I bit off more than I could chew with this investigation.” Rooney grimaced in pain, and even though Addison was all the way at the back of the squad room, the P.I. looked in her direction. “I swear I didn’t know it’d come to this when I started looking around.”

  Maybe not. But that reminded Reed of something he’d wanted to ask the P.I. “Why exactly were you looking around in the first place, and what’s the name of the CI who told you about the possible trouble out in Clay Ridge?”

  Rooney pulled in a long breath and dragged his tongue over his bottom lip. “The CI is a guy called Speed who lives on the Riverwalk. Not sure what his real name is, but SAPD uses him, so they might know.”

  “I’ll call them about that, too,” Colt volunteered.

  It might have been his imagination playing tricks on him, but that seemed to unnerve Rooney a little. Maybe because the P.I. was lying? If the CI didn’t pan out, then that wouldn’t play well in Rooney’s favor.

  “And the investigation?” Reed pressed. “Why’d you even start it?”

  “I already told you. There were irregularities at Dearborn, and I wanted to make sure they weren’t involved with the baby farms.”

  There was still something about that reason that didn’t sound right, but Reed didn’t get a chance to push Rooney for more answers, because the ambulance came to a stop in front of the sheriff’s office. Soon, though, once the doctors checked out Rooney, Reed wanted to question him further. In the meantime, maybe those calls that Colt was making would pan out.

  Pete pulled up right behind the ambulance. Thank goodness, he lived in town and had come right in.

  “One of us will come to the hospital so we can finish this talk,” Reed said to Rooney.

  He nodded as if looking forward to it. “Good. Because I want to get this dirtbag who tried to kill me.”

  Reed wanted the same thing. And fast.

  He stood and watched as the medics put Rooney in the ambulance. Pete got in as well, and once the ambulance drove away, Reed turned to make sure Addison was okay.

  And he could have sworn his heart missed a beat or two.

  Because she wasn’t there.

  Reed practically ran into Cooper, maneuvering him aside while he hurried to the hall where he’d last seen her. After everything that’d happened, plenty of bad things went through his head. Plenty. But when he heard the water running in the bathroom, he realized that he’d let his imagination get the best of him.

  The bathroom door was open, and Addison was at the sink. She turned toward him, the water sliding from her face and onto the front of her shirt. Her mouth was trembling. The worry was there in her eyes. All over her actually.

  Even with the fear, the moment caught him off guard, and he felt the old fire between them. It slid through him and for that brief moment, all the bad blood washed away.

  The memories came. Damn them. Memories of other times that her beautiful face had caused a frenzy inside him. Other times when she’d been his for the taking.

  Unlike now.

  And then he saw the tears.

  Reed got to her as fast as he could, and despite the warning that his head was giving him to stay back, he pulled her into his arms.

  “I’m not going to cry,” she assured him. “You have enough to deal with.”

  Yeah, he did. But he could add one more thing. Especially when that one thing was Addison. Reed pulled her even closer.

  “I brought Rooney into this,” she said, her voice a shaky whisper. “I should never have hired him.”

  “If you hadn’t and he’s behind the kidnapping attempts, he would have just found another way to put himself in this investigation.”

  Judging from the huff she made, Addison didn’t believe a word he was saying.

  Reed cupped her chin, forcing eye contact so that she could see he wasn’t just giving her lip service. But another look at her, and he felt that punch again.

  The one he darn sure shouldn’t be feeling right about now.

  Not with them so close and her mouth just a few inches from his.

  A part of him—definitely not his brain—reminded him that a kiss wouldn’t be such a bad thing right now. Their nerves were raw and frayed. Emotions, sky-high. And a kiss might be the ticket to settling them both down.

  It was a bad lie, of course.

  But Reed’s body just went along with it, and he lowered his head and kissed her.

  If he thought he got an avalanche of memories before, that was nothing compared to what he got now. This wasn’t one of those little pecks of reassurance. The heat went bone-deep, and it silenced any part of him that was trying to stay logical and keep away from her.

  There was nothing logical about this.

  At least the kiss dried up Addison’s tears. She took hold of his forearms, dragging him closer and kissing him right back.

&n
bsp; That made them both stupid.

  But even stupidity didn’t stop them. Nope. Reed just kept on kissing her. Kept on pulling her closer and closer even though the only way closer could happen was for the clothes to go.

  Thank goodness things didn’t get that far. But he had to wonder just what would have stopped them if they’d been somewhere private and not in the restroom of the sheriff’s office.

  The sound of footsteps had them flying apart. In the nick of time, too. Because Cooper appeared in the doorway. Of course, Cooper no doubt knew what was going on, but he only gave Reed a raised eyebrow.

  Considering the hell Reed had gone through with the divorce—hell that Cooper had experienced right along with him—a raised eyebrow wasn’t much of a criticism. Still, it was enough to remind Reed that he wasn’t just playing with fire. He was playing with Addison’s heart.

  And his own.

  “Are you two...okay?” Cooper asked. Though Reed figured his longtime friend and boss really wanted to use the word crazy instead of okay.

  “We’re fine,” Addison answered, and Reed managed something along the same lines.

  Cooper nodded, clearly not believing them, but he didn’t press the issue. “Colt’s checking into those men Rooney hired, but we just got another call from the lab. It’s about the DNA results.”

  “For Mellie’s baby?” Reed asked.

  Cooper shook his head. “For Emily.”

  Oh, man. That came at him like another punch, and Reed pulled in his breath. Held it. Waited.

  “She’s yours and Addison’s,” Cooper explained.

  Addison released a breath of relief, too. Though Emily’s paternity had never been in question. Not in their minds anyway. Still, it was good to have it confirmed with DNA. With all the shady things going on at Dearborn, at least they hadn’t messed up the in vitro procedure.

  “Now, are you okay?” Cooper repeated, his attention on Reed.

  Reed knew what Cooper was really asking—could he handle fatherhood? Cooper was a father of one himself and had another on the way so he knew this couldn’t be a half-assed commitment on Reed’s part. And it didn’t matter Addison had gone behind his back to have this child. The only thing that mattered now was that Emily got the father she deserved.

  Too bad Reed wasn’t sure he could be that kind of dad.

  Though he’d do whatever it took to keep her safe. To do what was best for her. To love her.

  “I’m okay,” Reed answered, and he hoped that was the truth.

  “We got visitors,” Colt called out.

  Just like that, the emotion vanished. Well, that particular emotion anyway, and it was replaced by a healthy dose of concern. Especially since the murdering kidnapper was still at large.

  “Stay behind me,” Reed warned Addison.

  Reed stepped into the hall with Cooper, and he spotted Dominic as he opened the front door. And he wasn’t alone. There was a tall, dark-haired man with the lawyer. Because Dominic was a suspect and the other guy was a stranger, Reed drew his gun again.

  Dominic opened his mouth to say something, but the blood on the floor must have caught his attention. “What the heck happened here?”

  “Rooney was injured,” Colt answered. He slid his hand over his gun. “The ambulance took him to the hospital.”

  “Oh, God,” Dominic said, looking very concerned for a man who’d tossed some serious accusations at Rooney. He frantically shook his head. “This isn’t right.”

  “Really?” Reed didn’t bother to take the sarcasm out of his voice, either. “Someone’s tried to kill Addison and me twice. Someone succeeded in killing a woman, and her sister is now missing. Now Rooney’s been shot—”

  “No,” the man interrupted. He stepped forward and held up something in his hand. Some kind of I.D.

  When Reed went closer, he saw that it was credentials as a private investigator, including a photo I.D. But there was indeed something wrong. Because it was the guy’s picture all right, but the name beneath it was none other than Blake Rooney.

  “Is this some kind of sick joke?” Addison asked, and Reed realized that she’d not only come up behind him, but leaned in close enough to see the I.D.

  “No joke,” their visitor answered. And that wasn’t a joking expression. “I’m the real Blake Rooney, and the guy who’s been posing as me is Mitchell Cantor.”

  Their visitor paused, and that nonjoking expression got a heck of a lot worse. “And I think maybe he’s the one who’s been trying to kill you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Addison heard what their visitor said, but there was so much about it that didn’t make sense. Not the part about the man posing as Rooney perhaps being the one who was trying to kill them. The P.I. was a suspect, after all, so no surprise there.

  However, why had the P.I. she’d hired pretended to be someone else in the first place?

  Reed must have had the same question, because he aimed his index finger at the visitor. “Start explaining,” he said at the same time that Cooper grumbled something about getting verification that this Rooney was who he claimed to be. Cooper went to a computer on Colt’s desk.

  The man nodded and blew out a long breath. “The guy’s real name is Mitchell Cantor. We served in the military together. We’re not friends exactly, but we’ve stayed in touch. Anyway, he paid me a visit about a couple of weeks ago and asked me to help him out with an investigation.”

  “This Cantor guy is a P.I., too?” Addison asked.

  But Rooney quickly shook his head. “He got in trouble with the law after he left the military and couldn’t get his P.I. license.”

  Great. He had a criminal record. And yes, she’d done a quick computer check on Rooney, but his photo hadn’t been on his website. She’d had no idea that she was dealing with an imposter.

  “Rooney’s driver’s license photo matches the guy in front of us,” Cooper said, looking up from the computer screen. “I’ll call Pete and give him a heads-up that we might have trouble.”

  And trouble might come in the form of another attack. At least Cantor was hurt and wouldn’t be able to do a lot of damage on his own. Or appeared to be hurt anyway. If his injury was fake, he’d done a good job of it. The blood had certainly seemed real.

  But why would he have faked an injury?

  Addison didn’t have an answer for that, either.

  “Pete said Cantor is with the E.R. doctor right now,” Cooper relayed after he finished his call. “He’ll talk to Cantor as soon as the doc’s done. I told Pete to be careful, that Cantor might be dangerous.”

  Maybe Cantor would just come clean about being an imposter. While she was hoping, Addison added that the man would have answers to help them with the case.

  However, he might be the exact reason there was a case.

  “Cantor said he was staying here in town at a hotel. Any idea which one?” Reed asked Addison.

  She had to shake her head.

  “I’ll make some more calls,” Cooper offered.

  While the sheriff got started with that, Reed turned back toward Rooney. “What’s Cantor investigating, and why would you think he’s the one who’s been trying to kill us?”

  The P.I. gathered his breath again. “Cantor’s looking for a woman, Cissy Blanco,” Rooney said. “I’m not sure exactly what his relationship with her was, but it’s possible they were romantically involved.”

  Addison latched right on to that. “Did he father a baby she had two years ago?”

  Rooney shrugged. “I have no idea. Cantor just wanted me to use my P.I. resources to track her down, but I got a bad feeling about it right off. Like maybe he was looking for her because he wanted to get back at her for something. So I told him I was too busy to help. Guess that’s when he decided to steal my I.D. and go after her on
his own.”

  “Cissy’s dead,” Reed provided. “She was murdered.”

  “I read about it in the paper,” Rooney readily admitted, “and that’s when I knew I had to do something. I went to SAPD, and Dominic was there on another matter. He said he was Cissy’s lawyer and that I should come here and tell you about Cantor.”

  Dominic gave a crisp nod. “I knew something was wrong about Cantor from the moment I met him. I mean, why accuse me of being behind these attacks?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “It was to throw suspicion off himself, that’s why. He probably killed Cissy and then tried to kill you.”

  Maybe. It was a long shot, but maybe Cantor truly had been just looking for Cissy because he had feelings for her and had come across something incriminating about Dominic. Addison wasn’t about to trust any of them at this point, but her distrust of Cantor was sky-high since he’d lied about his identity.

  “Cantor probably knows we’re onto him,” the real Rooney continued. “I called him on the drive over here so I could confront him about what he was doing. He didn’t answer, but I left him a voice mail. He’s probably listened to that message by now.”

  “But I have his phone,” Colt said, holding it up. “No calls or texts have come through in the past hour.”

  The moment Colt said that, Reed cursed. “Cantor could have had two phones. He probably gave us that one because he figured it would clear his name when we got in touch with his contacts.”

  And it did.

  Or at least it would have done if the real Rooney hadn’t shown up.

  “I’ve got dispatch contacting the hotels in the area,” Cooper said when he finished his call. “If we can find out where Cantor was staying, I’ll have his room searched.”

  It was a good start. Cantor might have left something behind that could shed light on this. If he had any light to shed, that is. Addison silently groaned. They didn’t need any more questions. Only answers.

  “Judge Quarles knows about this, too,” Rooney added a moment later. That got their attention, as well.