Whether he’d be willing to share, that was another thing altogether.
FIFTEEN
One minute they were making their escape, and the next Stan Dubois was climbing into the truck, scooting in next to Laney. She had no choice but to move to the center of the seat, her shoulder wedged firmly against Logan’s.
She tried not to notice how warm Logan was and how firm his biceps felt. She tried not to notice the way her heart slammed against her ribs at the contact.
“I thought you had some common sense in you. I see that I was right.” Stan slammed the door. “Better get going. Mildred is already on the phone, and it won’t take long for Seattle P.D. to dispatch officers to the area.”
“You can’t come with us, Mr. Dubois,” Taryn said calmly, but her knuckles were white, her hands gripping the steering wheel so hard Laney thought she heard the leather crackle.
“I’m not sure that you’re right about that, young lady.”
“I’m not that young, and I’m the one driving, so I guess it’s my decision to make.”
“You have a point, but because I’m not getting out of the truck, I’d say that I have the upper hand,” Stan pointed out.
“I can remove you from the car, old man,” Seth growled, and Stan smiled.
“And waste time that would be better spent making your escape? I don’t think any of you are that stupid.”
“What do you want, Dubois?” Logan asked, leaning around Laney to eye the older man. His hair brushed her chin, and his hand brushed her thigh. She stilled, almost afraid to breathe for fear that she would inhale his scent and be carried away by it.
“To help.”
“Why?”
“Because I believe in justice. I didn’t think you got it at your trial, and I don’t think you’re going to get it now. Plus, I’m bored out of my mind and raring for some action,” he responded matter-of-factly, his gaze jumping to the house and to Mildred. She stood in the door, a phone pressed to her ear. “Now, I really do think we’d better go because Mildred doesn’t feel quite the same way about the situation as I do.”
Taryn muttered something under her breath and pulled away from the house.
Stan seemed content to lean back in his seat and watch the scenery flash by. Short of pulling over and forcefully removing him, there didn’t seem to be much that they could do about it.
“Turn left at the next crossroad,” he said, and Logan frowned.
“You may be catching a ride, but you’re not calling the shots.”
“Mildred doesn’t have the brains to set you up, Logan, but I think I know who does. I thought we could pay his office a visit and see if we can find what we need to prove it. Of course, if you’d rather not, we can just keep heading wherever you’re going and forget the little side trip I have planned.”
“What are you talking about?” Logan pressed in even closer, leaning past Laney to look in Stan’s face. Laney felt every muscle, every hollow, every bit of his lean body. She wanted to move away, but there was nowhere to go. Nothing to do but wait things out and pray that when this was over, she’d be able to forget the way it felt to have him so close.
“Mildred had a son before she married Josiah Mackey.”
“That’s impossible. My parents grew up together. They were good friends before they started dating, and they married as soon as my father graduated from college,” Laney cut in, her voice too high and her stomach churning. She’d heard the story a million times from a million people growing up. She’d been the only child of the golden family, the one charged with keeping the Mackey family name alive. The weight of her heritage had rested on her shoulders. A day hadn’t gone by when her father and mother hadn’t reminded her of the fact.
“It’s very possible. Not that Mildred shared the information with me,” Stan said. “She preferred that I think of her as a wrongly accused woman whose husband had subjected her to such abuse that she’d done whatever he’d wanted. After we married, when my head was screwed on a little tighter, I started noticing all the holes in Mildred’s story.”
“It doesn’t sound like you’re very fond of her. Considering that you two are married, that’s surprising,” Seth cut in. Stan shrugged.
“Not every marriage is a happy one, is it? The fact is, I met Mildred during the lowest point of my life. My wife of forty years had just passed away, and there was a huge hole I was desperate to fill. Mildred walked into church one Sunday, and I was taken in by her smile and charm. It took me a little too long to realize it was all an act.”
“You mentioned her taking some medicine when we were in the house. Do you really think that will help someone like her?” Laney asked, not sure what good medicine would do for the kind of soul sickness that Mildred had.
“She’s on antianxiety medication. The time she spent in prison did a number on her nerves.”
“I don’t think it was her time in prison that did that,” Laney muttered. Mildred had always been moody and anxious, but that wasn’t what they should be discussing. “You said that she had a son before she had me.”
“That’s right. I did a little investigating after we were married. She was too secretive for my liking, and I couldn’t live with that. Plus, she’d taken a substantial amount of money from our account, and she wasn’t forthcoming about what she’d used it for. Handbags, shoes and cosmetics, she’d said.”
“Actually, Mildred always loved those things. I can imagine her spending a lot of money on them.” She’d always had the best of everything, and she’d always wanted more.
“True, but there was something not right about her story. I dug around and found out that she’d hired a P.I. to find you and a man who was a few years older. I had a little talk with the P.I., and he was happy to explain things.”
“Not into client confidentiality, huh?” Logan cut in.
“For the right price, most people will talk.”
“Want to tell us what he said before I dump you out on the side of the road for talking too much?” Seth muttered, but the energy in the truck had shifted. Everyone was focused on Stan and whatever information he was about to share.
“Mildred had Chris when she was seventeen. Her parents farmed her out to one of those homes for unwed mothers, and she gave him up after he was born. Apparently, his father was a member of her church, a wealthy older gentleman who was already married. I’d like to say that she was naive, but I don’t think Mildred has ever been that. More than likely, she thought he’d leave his wife, marry her and give her the life she always thought she deserved.”
“That sounds like Mildred. Manipulative. Conniving. Spiteful.” Logan’s hand drifted along Laney’s arm and wove its way beneath the heavy fall of her hair.
He kneaded the tense muscles in her neck, the gesture so natural and easy that she couldn’t deny it any more than she could deny the way her muscles went liquidy and soft at his touch.
“True,” Stan continued. “But I still don’t think she has the brains to set up the kind of sting that took you down. She’d have had to know a lot about the way the law works. She’d have had to know the inner workings of the police department. She’s more the kind of woman who knows how to jerk the emotions. I don’t think she could have created this kind of trouble.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” Logan’s hand dropped away, leaving cold where warmth had been.
Laney shouldn’t care. Should not have wanted to move in close and gather up more of what he’d offered, but she did. She held herself stiff and tried to concentrate on Stan. “I am. Mother has always taken the easy route. If she wanted you punished, she’d have found someone who could make sure it happened, and she’d have let him or her take care of it for her.”
“Exactly!” Stan beamed at her as if she’d just proved herself his star pupil, and Laney couldn’t help smiling as she
looked into his sparkling gray eyes.
“She tried to use you, didn’t she?” Taryn asked.
“Well, she didn’t marry me for my money or my looks, that’s for sure. She spent the first couple years of our marriage moaning about the damage Logan had done to her. I finally told her that as a Christian woman, she needed to take the higher road and forgive. Next thing that I knew, money was missing from our account.”
“Let me guess, she never mentioned Logan again after she found her son.” Laney could picture Mildred, undaunted by Stan’s refusal to help, determined to get her revenge at any cost.
“Right again. She must have thought she could gain the sympathy of either you or Chris. Obviously, you wanted nothing to do with her, having spent your childhood with her. Chris, though, was looking for what she offered.”
“Family?” Laney thought that must be what most people wanted. Connection and love. A sense that they belonged with someone.
“Yes. His adoptive parents divorced when he was a kid, and his father had custody. His mother hadn’t been a big part of his life, and Mildred used that to her advantage. Turn right at the light. We’re going to the law offices of Banks and Brinkman. It’s on the next—”
“Are you talking about Chris Banks?” Shocked, Laney forgot about what she shouldn’t do and grabbed Logan’s hand.
“Yes.”
“He’s my father’s attorney. My attorney.” Her stomach churned, her mind going a million miles an hour.
“I didn’t know that, but it doesn’t surprise me. Mildred received notice about your father’s illness a few months before she hired the P.I. She probably thought that having Chris get in good with your father would open up a way for her to get back the land and the house that she felt Logan stole from her. She loved that place, and she always hoped that your father would decide to leave it to her. She wasn’t happy when she learned that you were the one who’d inherited.”
“I’m sure that she wasn’t.” Laney leaned her head against the seat.
Her head ached from too many sleepless nights, and her cheek and jaw throbbed from the beating she’d taken. Her heart hurt, too; her chest felt tight and heavy. She was drained. All her thoughts about closure and new beginnings seemed so far out of reach, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to grasp them.
Logan squeezed her hand, his gentleness made tears burn behind her eyes. He was so much more than what William had been. Bigger than life. Demanding. Being with him would never be the safe thing to do. Not when it came to her heart.
“What are we thinking? Do I turn here? Or do we kick Stan out and go back to the safe house?” Taryn asked as she approached the turn.
“Might as well turn. Where to next, old man?” Seth asked, and Stan leaned forward.
“I may be old, but I can still take you down, kid. Keep that in mind when you’re talking to me.”
“Sorry, sir,” Seth offered.
“Good. We’re going to Chris’s Seattle office. He’s only there on Mondays and Fridays. We should be able to get in and out without a problem. No staff there on those days. Chris is frugal that way.”
“You’re suggesting that we break into his office?” Logan asked.
“I’m suggesting that if you want to find out who set you up, you should start with the most likely suspect and check out his associates. You were a police officer. You know that. The office is there on the corner. Pull around back. We can go in a service entrance.”
“You realize that if we get caught, you’re going to lose your marriage and your freedom, right?” Logan bit out.
“You realize that if we get caught, you might be up for the death penalty for killing the police officer who was escorting you to prison, right?”
“Not likely. The other officer lived. He knows I never fired a shot.”
“Doesn’t matter. If you’re found responsible for hatching the escape plan, you’ll be convicted of murder. That’s a no-brainer, kid.”
“You both realize that we’re sitting in a parking lot wasting time, right?” Seth cut in.
“Good point. Let’s get this show on the road.” Stan sounded excited at the prospect. The rest of the group didn’t look quite as enthusiastic, but no one seemed to be able to argue the merit of his plan.
Seth got out of the truck and opened Stan’s door. “This better not be a trap.”
“How could it be? I didn’t even know you were stopping by my house this morning.”
“Maybe not, but you seem to know a lot of other things.” Logan slid out of the truck, bright sunlight glinting in his hair.
Laney started to follow, but he shook his head.
“You stay here with Taryn. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
“Not a good idea, deputy. They’ll be sitting out here in the open, and your girlfriend’s face has been all over the morning news. Someone is bound to see her and decide to call the cops. If that happens, we’re all going down. She’s coming with us.” Seth pulled Laney from the truck, and she wasn’t sure if she should be pleased or terrified. The other four members of their team were trained police officers or security experts. She was an interior designer. She was also a chicken. She hated scary movies and disliked surprises.
Safe and orderly.
That’s how she wanted her life. It’s what she’d craved as a kid and strived for as an adult.
She’d found it with William and had been trying to keep it after his death.
Now it was gone, and somehow she didn’t think that she’d ever find it again.
SIXTEEN
The law offices of Banks and Brinkman were located on the top floor of the office building. Seven flights of stairs, and Laney felt every one. Not that she wasn’t in decent shape, but the group was moving quickly and she was still sore. Even Stan. For a guy who looked like he was pushing eighty and who’d acted as fragile as old bone china when she’d met him, he could sure move fast.
She panted up the last flight of stairs, leaning against the wall as Seth and Logan scouted out the corridor beyond the stairwell.
“StairMaster, kid,” Stan said with just a hint of breathlessness in his voice.
“What?”
“Get on the StairMaster a couple of times a day. By the time you’re my age, seven flights of stairs will be a piece of cake.” He grinned, his gray eyes sparkling with humor. How he’d ended up married to Mildred, Laney still couldn’t understand. A black hole that sucked in emotion and energy and drained the people around her dry, she didn’t seem like the kind of person someone like Stan would be attracted to. No matter how many empty holes he’d had that needed to be filled.
“Thanks for the advice. I’ll take it into consideration.” If she lived through the next few hours and days. The way things had been going, she wasn’t sure that living was a certainty.
“No problem, but next time, I charge.” He peered out the window in the stairwell door, looking into the corridor beyond. “Looks like one of our guys is coming back. Hopefully, we have a clear shot to Chris’s office. I don’t want to be stuck on the top floor of this building if the police come down on us. I’m not carrying firepower today.” He sounded almost gleeful, and Taryn sighed.
“You sound just a little too happy about all this, Stan.”
“In a few years, I may be pushing up daisies, so a little excitement in my life isn’t a bad thing.”
The door opened, and Seth peered in. “Hallway is clear. Looks like there are only two businesses up here. Both are closed for the day. There’s a security camera near the elevator, but nothing near either door. We’re good to go. Randal is accessing Banks’s office.”
To Laney that sounded an awful lot like he was breaking in.
Which, she supposed, was the point.
Breaking and entering. Harboring a felon. Aiding and abett
ing a criminal’s escape.
Her life had definitely fallen into chaos. Unlike Stan, she wasn’t exactly happy about it.
They rounded a corner and approached an open door.
Logan appeared in the doorway, his hair mussed and his jaw shadowed. He looked rugged, handsome and determined.
And he looked like home, like the best of what she’d had when she was growing up. Like every good memory, good feeling, good thought. Like exactly what she’d have wanted if she weren’t so determined to go it alone.
“What are we looking for, chief?” Seth asked as they stepped into a posh waiting area. Black leather sofa and dark wood chairs. A glass coffee table with a vase of fresh flowers in its center. Artwork on the walls. Real art, not prints. Banks and Brinkman had spent a small fortune on wall decorations and furniture.
For such a young lawyer, Christopher was doing very well.
“We’re looking for some connection to the guy who attacked Laney or to the militia group that sent him,” Logan said. “I never had any dealing with the group, so they had no reason to have any with me. Someone else called the shots. I’m sure of it,” Logan responded.
“You think that a guy who has all this would be stupid enough to leave a trail of evidence that connects him to a crime?” Taryn gestured around the office.
“I think that a guy who has all this might be just arrogant enough to think he’s above suspicion,” Logan responded.
“Why don’t you take Laney and work Banks’s office, deputy? Taryn and I will work Brinkman’s. We’ll leave Stan to work the reception area. Fifteen minutes, people. Then, we’re out of here. Whether we’ve got something or not.” Seth didn’t wait to have his plan agreed on. He just walked to a door marked George Brinkman and went inside the room.
No problem. Logan was willing to go with the flow.
As long as he and Laney were paired together.
He’d gotten her into this mess.
He needed to make sure he got her out.
He pressed a hand to her back, urging her into a large corner office and ignoring the heat that shot through him at the contact.
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