Navy SEAL Rescuer

by McCoy, Shirlee

  “Murder?” The word made her heart jump. Had he killed the senator?

  “I think we were going to wait to tell her about that, Logan.” Darius turned, blocking her view as he mumbled something she couldn’t hear.

  “Tell me about what?” She struggled to sit, pain slicing through her chest.

  “Lie down before you wreck the work the surgeon did.” Darius pressed her back, pushed a button to bring the head of the bed up. “Better?”

  “Who did he kill, Darius?” She needed to know, needed to understand the sorrow in his eyes.

  “Cat—”

  “Tell me.” She clutched his hand, willing him to speak.

  “After his arrest, the police searched his apartment. They found hospital scrubs and an empty vial and syringe. Both contained traces of potassium chloride.”

  Her heart dropped, her stomach churning. Potassium chloride? The same poison that had been used to murder eleven elderly patients. The patients that she’d once been accused and convicted of killing.

  Suddenly, she knew the truth with a clarity that shot past the pain, settled deep and hard. “He killed Eileen, didn’t he?”

  “I’m afraid so, Catherine,” Logan responded. “We were able to obtain hospital footage and saw him walking into her room a few minutes before the code was called. He walked out and then she went into cardiac arrest. I’m sorry.”

  Sorry?

  That didn’t even begin to cover how she felt.

  Tears dripped down her cheeks, but she didn’t have the strength to wipe them away.

  “Shh. You’re going to make yourself sick, Cat.” Darius sat on the edge of the bed, gently lifting her into his arms. Her head rested against his chest, his heart beating slow and steady beneath her ear.

  “If Eileen hadn’t already been so ill, we might have suspected something, but...” Logan’s voice trailed off. Fine, because Catherine could barely hear past the sobs being wrenched from her throat.

  Her chest burned, her lungs hot and tight. Stars shot in front of her eyes, the room spinning, and she clung to Darius, wondering if she were going to die from grief and pain right there in his arms.

  “You’d better go,” Darius said, his voice calm and still and filled with something Catherine had never heard.

  “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

  “Make it Wednesday.”

  “We need to—”

  “You need to go, because if you don’t, I’m going to get up and show you the door.”

  Footsteps tapped on tile. A door opened and closed.

  “Cat, calm down, okay, honey?”

  “She died because of me.”

  “She died because she knew the truth, and the senator wanted to make sure she didn’t reveal it. You were secondary to that.” He smoothed her hair, wiped tears from her cheeks, and she wanted to curl into him, forget everything but his arms, his gentle touch, the quiet easy tone of his voice.

  But she needed to know the truth like she needed to breathe. Needed her past cleared up and cleaned out so that she could step into the future whole and healed.

  “What truth?”

  “Let’s talk about this when you’re better.”

  “I want to talk about it now.”

  “Cat—”

  “I need to know, Darius, because not knowing means holding on, and I need to let go and move forward.” She touched his jaw, felt the beginnings of his beard, soft and bristly all at the same time. “Is the senator my father?”

  “No. His son is. Jack Kensington. He met your mother when he was a college freshman on vacation in Coeur d’Alene. She’d lied about her age and was working as a waitress at a casino there. They hooked up, and then he went back home and forgot about her. She showed up at Kensington’s place a few months later, pregnant and looking for Jack. She found Gerald instead.”

  “And he tried to pay her off to keep her quiet.”

  “That’s not the way he describes it.”

  “He’s talking?”

  “He had no choice. Jack flew into town when his father was arrested. Took time off from his presidential campaigning to support his father. When he heard your mother’s name, he knew what must have happened. He wants to meet you.”

  “I’m not ready.”

  “I told him it had to be your choice. He’s going to respect that.”

  “Thanks.” More tears fell, as she pictured her mother, pregnant and alone. Eileen had always said Catherine’s parents were friends long before they were married. That Jessica and Titus were meant to be together. Had they married because of the pregnancy? Had Titus known that Catherine wasn’t his child, but stepped forward, claimed her anyway?

  It was a question she didn’t think she’d ever have an answer to. She wanted to think he had, though. Wanted to imagine him as a heroic young man determined to help the woman he loved.

  “I’m afraid there’s more, Cat.”

  “What?” she asked, looking into his face, seeing everything she’d ever wanted in his eyes.

  “The police are reopening your parents’ case. I asked them to take a closer look at the autopsy report. Something isn’t right. That article Eileen saved alluded to it.”

  “You think they were murdered, too?”

  “Yes. The senator is denying involvement in any of it, of course, but he’s talking plenty, and I think he’s going to trip himself up eventually. He’s already admitted that Mitch is his illegitimate son. A product of an indiscretion in high school. His words. Not mine. He says the guy has had problems since he was a teen. The only reason why the senator keeps him around is to protect the family name.”

  “It’s a little too late for that now.”

  “That’s probably why he’s so eager to throw Mitch to the wolves. He says his son’s commitment to the family has crossed too many lines. Says Mitch will do anything to protect the family name.”

  “Was he around when my parents...died? That was over twenty years ago.”

  “Mitch was twenty-two, and he’d been working for Kensington for a year. Showed up on his doorstep and asked for a job. Said he’d keep quiet about his paternity if Gerald gave it to him.”

  “I guess Gerald was more concerned about family name than in acknowledging his son.”

  “I’m not sure that sat well with Mitch. He says he’s been happy to work for Gerald, but the truth could be a lot more complicated.”

  “I doubt he’s happy with the arrangement now that Gerald is trying to sacrifice him for the family name.” Just the thought made Catherine’s stomach churn.

  What kind of father turned his back on his son?

  “Neither of them are happy, because they’re both behind bars. The judge refused bail.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “Yeah. Me, too. It’s a lot easier to keep you safe with those two off the street.”

  “Do you think Mitch killed my parents?”

  “I don’t know, and I’m not sure we ever will. The senator admitted that your mother visited a few months after you turned five. You’d been sick and in the hospital, and she needed money to pay the bills. He gave her fifteen thousand dollars, and told her to never return.”

  “That’s a good amount of money.”

  “Kensington claims that he had Mitch drive your mother home, because he didn’t want a woman as young as she was taking the bus all the way home alone.”

  “That explains the bus ticket that wasn’t used.”

  “Right. When Mitch retu
rned he handed Kensington a wad of cash. Said Jessica had refused the money again. Since she’d done it before, Kensington didn’t think much about it. Funny thing is, when he went to deposit it the next day, he realized he was five hundred dollars short.”

  “The money in the box?”

  “It’s hard to say, but your grandmother kept the money for a reason. Maybe the same reason she kept the article and the check.”

  “I wish Eileen had told me this before she died.” She closed her eyes, not wanting to think about the last moments of her parents’ lives. Always traumatic, the story had taken on a deeper horror, both of them innocent and in love, their lives cut short.

  “She tried to.”

  “I guess what I really wish is that she’d told me when I was younger. Then...”

  What?

  Nothing would have changed.

  “She was trying to protect you, Cat. I think she suspected the truth and was afraid that Kensington would try to harm you.”

  “So, why tell me now? She could have died with her secret.”

  “You were being attacked. She must have thought Kensington was responsible and decided she had to warn you. He denies any part in things, of course. Says that Mitch went on a rampage when he heard you were being released from prison.”

  “Mitch. I think he’s the man who attacked me the morning we met. The eyes were the same.”

  “He says it was his father. According to Mitch, Kensington doesn’t want anything to ruin Jack’s chance of winning the presidency.”

  “I guess a relationship with a minor could cause problems if it came to light. Even if it was unintentional. Kensington said that reputation was everything. It makes sense that he’d try to protect his son’s. Maybe, he was the one who attacked me and planted the bomb. But, Mitch can’t deny that he tried to kill us on the road.”

  “He says he had orders from Kensington. Logan thinks it’s true. Kensington’s long-time secretary, Earnest Smith, was in the other car. Unfortunately, he didn’t survive, so we can’t hear his side of the story.”

  She nodded, but didn’t speak; she felt leaden and weighted and so tired she wasn’t sure she would ever move again.

  Darius shifted, and she tightened her grip on his waist. “Don’t go,” she said, and he stroked her hair.

  “Why would I do that? You are the only place I ever want to be.” He kissed her forehead, pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

  “It just feels like everything has changed,” she said, because the truth hurt more than she could have imagined.

  “We haven’t,” Darius responded, and the truth of that was enough to ease some of the sting.

  “I love you,” she whispered, because it mattered, he mattered.

  “I know, and I love you, too.”

  She felt his smile against her hair, his fingers tracing circles on her back, felt his love like sunrise after a long dark night. Felt it settle as deep as the truth of her past. Deeper, because it was what she would build tomorrow and the next day and the next day on.

  She touched his face, her fingers sliding along his jaw. “I like your beard.”

  “I like you.”

  “I know, and I like you, too.”

  His laughter rumbled beneath her ear, and she smiled, closing her eyes again, letting herself drift on the waves of his joy. Her joy. Theirs.

  Despite the sadness and pain, despite the unknowns.

  Theirs.

  Because, they were meant to be, brought together by a plan that went beyond their own. God’s plan, His design, fitting them together perfectly. All the trials and heartache and trouble bringing them to the very beginning of forever.

  * * * * *

  [Fluffer Nutter]

  Look for Shirlee McCoy’s

  next Love Inspired Suspense novel,

  TRACKING JUSTICE,

  available in January 2013

  Keep reading for an excerpt of Threat of Darkness by Valerie Hansen!

  Dear Reader,

  When I wrote my previous Heroes for Hire book, Undercover Bodyguard, I introduced Catherine Miller as a secondary character. Accused and convicted of murder, she’d been in jail for several years. I knew immediately that she would have to have her own story, and that that story would be one of redemption and renewed faith. Catherine has been through more than most people could ever imagine, but she still longs to believe that God is real and present in her life. Darius is a perfect foil for her strength and vulnerability. A former Navy SEAL, he’s fought his own battles and embraced a life filled with challenges.

  Though most of us will never be faced with the extreme struggles that Catherine and Darius must overcome, it is good to remember that God is faithful. Good times or bad, He is always there. His strength holds us up when we cannot support ourselves, and His love is the light that leads us through even the darkest of times.

  Blessings,

  Questions for Discussion

  1. Catherine has been through a lot in her life. How has that impacted her faith?

  2. When Catherine was accused and convicted of murder, how did her friends react?

  3. How did their response change the way she viewed the world and her relationships?

  4. In what way does Catherine’s past influence her relationship with Darius?

  5. How would you describe Darius?

  6. Catherine doesn’t want to need anyone. What is her reaction when Darius enters her life?

  7. What is it about Catherine that appeals to Darius? Why do you think he feels the need to protect and help her?

  8. What in Darius’s life brought him to Pine Bluff? What has kept him there?

  9. Despite the hardships that Darius has faced, he has a strong faith. How did he come to it?

  10. What impact does Darius’s faith have on his life? How does it impact his relationship with Catherine?

  11. What is Catherine’s motivation for staying in Pine Bluff?

  12. How does that change when her grandmother dies?

  13. Darius is a strong character, but it isn’t just his strength that appeals to Catherine. What do you think it is about him that makes Catherine trust him?

  14. God is faithful, even in the tough times. How is that proven in this story?

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense story.

  You enjoy a dash of danger. Love Inspired Suspense stories feature strong heroes and heroines whose faith is central in solving mysteries and saving lives.

  Visit Harlequin.com to find your next great read.

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  ONE

  The keening wails echoing down the usually quiet halls of the Serenity Medical Center made the hair on the back of Samantha Rochard’s neck prickle. Every natural
instinct told her to flee. Instead, her experience as a registered nurse sent her racing toward the sound of misery.

  A doctor, white coat flying behind him, shoved her aside and burst through the curtain into an E.R. exam cubicle. She heard him start to speak. Then, his words were abruptly cut off.

  A sixth sense brought Samantha to a skidding halt before the weighted curtain had stopped swinging behind him. Was that scuffling? Fighting? A thud?

  She peeked through a slit between the panels. Dr. Weiss, the physician who had elbowed her out of his way, lay on the floor, moaning. A thin, scraggly figure she judged to be male stood with his back to her. The only thing about him that caught her attention and held it was the small, silver-colored revolver he was waving.

  Samantha wheeled and flattened herself against a nearby wall. Hands trembling, she pulled out her cell phone, called 911 and cupped her hands around the instrument to muffle her speech.

  “We need help at the medical center. Hurry.”

  “What’s the nature of your emergency, ma’am?”

  “I don’t know.” Samantha wanted to shout instead of whispering. “I heard a scream and…”

  When the dispatcher interrupted to ask, “Is that you again, Ms. Rochard?” she figured her report wasn’t going to be taken seriously. So what else was new?

  “Look,” Samantha said, “we’ve got a guy in our E.R. with a gun. Isn’t that enough?”