by Terri Reed
“Knock, knock.” Fiona Fargo waltzed into the conference room.
The woman was light on her feet, no clickity-clack of heels. Her flat shoes glided silently across the tile floor as she approached the captain. Her teal-colored dress swirled and she wore her bright red hair swept up and captured in back by a claw-like clip sporting a peacock plume.
A set of bright green reading glasses sat atop her head. “This came across the wire from the FBI.” She handed Gavin a report. “Thought you’d want to know.”
“Thank you, Fiona.” Gavin scanned the page. “As always, you are right. Go ahead and fill everyone in.”
Fiona took the sheet of paper, slipped the readers onto her nose and peered at the paper before lifting her bright blue gaze. “Seems Culpeper County sheriff’s department responded to a distress call from an elderly couple after two thugs broke in and roughed them up. The FBI passed the info on to us because of a possible connection to the Jeffries case.”
Adam’s breath hitched.
“How so?” Chase asked, sitting straighter.
The front legs of Isaac’s chair touched the ground as he leaned forward.
“Apparently the assailants wanted information about a woman the couple had recently taken in,” Fiona said.
“A woman?” Chase straightened. “Could it have been Erin?”
Empathy for the young officer constricted Adam’s chest. Chase and Erin Eagleton had been involved in a relationship before Erin had started dating Michael Jefferies. Chase had seen Erin hours before her disappearance—and she’d been wearing the necklace that had been found at the crime scene. Again he wondered about her connection to the murder and Congressman Jeffries’s shooting.
“That’s unclear,” Fiona said. “The couple said they’d found an injured woman on their property and nursed her back to health.”
Chase jerked to his feet. “She was hurt?”
“Minor,” Fiona was quick to assure him. “The woman, going by the name of Beth Smith, left a few days later. The Appletons don’t know where she went and haven’t heard from her since.” She took a breath before continuing. “The thugs have reportedly been going from house to house in the area, looking for the woman. Now that the local law enforcement have been notified, they’re out in force looking for these guys.”
“I should interview the couple.” Chase headed for the door.
Gavin lifted a staying hand. “No, you and Max are needed on the monument muggings.”
Gavin’s firm tone undoubtedly kept Chase from arguing. Adam suspected the captain also thought Chase was too emotionally involved to be objective about Erin. He was probably right.
That thought caused a twinge of unease to pluck Adam’s nerves. He was treading on precarious ground with Lana, getting so invested in her life. Kissing her. Worrying about her. Was he too emotionally involved to be objective? Was he repeating the same mistake he’d made with his old partner?
Maybe. Probably. Not good. He needed to distance himself from her.
“I’ll interview them,” Adam offered. He’d promised to pick up Lana from her session and take her back to Joe’s house. But once he had her at Joe’s, safe and sound, Adam would leave on this assignment.
It would be just the distraction—and space—he needed.
For a moment Gavin considered, then nodded. “Good idea. Touch base with the feds and see what they know before you head out to Culpeper.” He turned to Nicholas. “Look in on Selena Barrow. See if Erin has made contact.”
Selena worked at the White House as a tour guide and was Erin’s cousin. Selena had been riding the department, wanting answers about her cousin’s disappearance. Nicholas had been assigned to work at the White House as extra protection. It made sense for Gavin to ask Nicholas to reach out to Selena.
The meeting broke up. Chase and his partner, a fawn-colored Belgian Malinois named Valor, waited for Adam and Ace in the hall.
“Here,” he said, handing a picture of Erin Eagleton to Adam. The photo wasn’t a publicity shot like the one the news reports ran each night. Erin sat on a swing, a smile on her face and her long blond, curly hair around her shoulders. “If you find her, tell her…tell her to come in.”
Adam’s heart contracted in sympathy for the guy. “I will, man,” Adam assured him, clapping him on the back.
With that Adam headed out the door. He had to hustle back to the Child and Family Counseling Clinic located inside the social services division of the DC Superior courthouse.
When he arrived Lana sat on a wooden bench. She rose with a welcoming smile that made his heart pound. The flowered dress she wore swirled about her knees. Her long dark hair was braided into one tail that trailed down her right shoulder.
A gold cross nestled in the V of the dress’s neckline reflected a ray of sunlight streaming through the high windows. His breath caught. She was so lovely.
After thanking the officer standing guard, Adam stopped a few paces away from Lana and tucked his hands into his pants pockets to keep from reaching for her. Ace, however, had no qualms about stepping close for a pat. She stooped down to give the dog a good scratch behind the ears. Adam swallowed back the lump of envy at her attention directed to his partner.
She straightened. “Hi.”
“I take it from the smiles it went well,” he said.
“It did.” She tucked her arm through his, forcing him to step closer. The warmth of her body seeped through his uniform to sear his skin. He ignored the sensation as they left the building and stepped into the late-morning sunshine.
A loud bang split the air.
Acting on instinct and a rush of adrenaline, Adam wrapped an arm around Lana and dove to the ground.
NINE
Tires screeched on the pavement as a delivery van careened out of control and slammed into a parked car. The crunch of metal bending and glass shattering vibrated through Adam. He scanned the area outside the courthouse building, searching for a threat. Two people crouched behind a garbage bin. Others lay flat on the ground. Armed guards from the courthouse next door streamed out of the building.
A moment of stillness hovered in the air. Then slowly the sounds of the crash faded.
Adam assessed the crash site, noting the flattened tire on the van. He scanned the tops of the surrounding buildings, the windows, looking for a sniper.
Another bullet slammed into the pavement close by.
Movement on the corner roof of an adjacent building caught Adam’s eye. “Shooter!”
He pointed to the sniper’s location. The flood of officers coming out of the courthouse, weapons drawn, hurried across the street.
The sniper moved out of sight.
Cautious, he helped Lana to her feet and tucked her against his side. The need to get her out of the open pushed him forward. Cupping her elbow, Adam rushed Lana away from the scene and the ensuing chaos of arriving emergency personnel.
She placed a hand over her heart once they were on their way driving away from the shooter. “I about had a heart attack.”
“You’re safe now.”
She twisted in her seat to look back. “Are you sure he won’t follow us?”
“There’s no way he could get from the building to a car in time. Not with so many officers converging on the building.” To keep her focus off the incident, he asked, “Tell me how the appointment went with the doc.”
Her hands shook on her lap. She slouched down; obviously hoping to make herself less visible in case the sniper did somehow managed to trail them.
She glanced at him. There was no mistaking the anxiety in the dark depths of her eyes. She inhaled and slowly let out a breath as if trying to calm herself before speaking. “Doctor Weinzein was wonderful. So easy to talk to. She sees no reason why I can’t have custody of Juan. She said she’d sign off on that immediately.”
“That’s good news.”
“It is. I also received a call from the DC police that I could take possession of Rosa’s town house. An officer brought m
e Rosa’s house keys.”
“What will you do with the town house?”
“Pack Juan’s things and move them into my apartment and then sell everything else.”
“The town house is larger than your apartment.” He opened the passenger door of his vehicle for her. “With a yard and play structure.”
“True.”
“You might consider living there.”
She inhaled sharply. “I don’t know if I could.”
“Don’t rule it out yet.” His cell vibrated in his breast pocket. “Donovan.”
“Gavin here,” said the captain. “Are you on your way to Virginia?”
“Not yet.” He brought Gavin up to speed on the courthouse shooting. “I have Miss Gomez with me,” he replied and was about to say he would be dropping her off at his brother’s shortly, but suddenly the thought of leaving her alone, even though she would be completely safe, didn’t sit well. His reluctance didn’t make sense. What he wanted, needed, was distance from the appealing woman. “I’d like to keep her with me if possible.” The words popped out before he could stop them.
After a moment of silence, Gavin said, “Fine. She’s probably safest with you.”
Adam blew out a relieved breath even as he shook his head at his own folly.
“On your way back,” Gavin continued, “stop in at the safe house where we moved the kids from the group foster home. Miss Gomez can visit with her nephew while you talk to one of the boys. Cassie reported the child seems to be troubled and is having nightmares. She thought maybe a man might be better at getting the boy to open up. I’ve got a meeting with General Meyer this afternoon, otherwise I’d talk to the boy myself.”
Adam glanced inside the vehicle. Ace practically sat on Lana’s lap as she lavished love on the dog. Tenderness filled him at the sight. He wasn’t sure Lana would agree to meet her nephew yet, but this would be a perfect time for her to do so.
Especially on the heels of the news that the psychologist would be signing off on her mental ability to be the child’s custodian.
But taking her put a crimp in his plans to put some distance between them. “On second thought, I’m not sure taking her with me is a good idea.”
“Why not?” Gavin pressed. “You need to stay with her. This way you’re doing triple duty. Protecting Miss Gomez, searching for Erin and hopefully finding the owner of the blue child-sized mitten found near the murder scene. I see this as a win-win situation.”
Short of admitting he was getting too close to Lana, Adam didn’t have a choice. “Right. I’ll take Lana with me.”
Adam hung up and climbed behind the wheel. “I have to drive out to Culpeper, Virginia, to do an interview. Are you up for coming along?”
Lana’s eyes widened and a smile played at the corners of her mouth. “I would like that.”
The warmth blooming in his chest made it clear he would, too. As much as he thought he shouldn’t, he was looking forward to spending the time with her.
“A drive in the country sounds lovely,” she said. “Why are we going to Virginia?”
“Erin Eagleton may have been staying on a farm there. I need to talk to the owners to see if it was her or not.”
“I hope she’s okay,” Lana said. “I wonder why she’s hiding. Do you think she had anything to do with Michael Jeffries’s murder?”
“We won’t know why she ran or has been hiding until we find her.”
“Do you have a map?”
“In the glove box. But we don’t need it.” He tapped the navigation system built into the dashboard. “We’ve got GPS.”
She retrieved the state map. “It’s more fun doing it the old-fashioned way. When I was a kid and we’d go on road trips, my parents would hand me a map. I’d spend the whole time studying the topography and keeping track of where we were and where we needed to turn. I like knowing where I am.”
Images of her as a kid surfaced and affection expanded in his heart. “Then put on your navigator hat.” He gave her the address of the farm.
For the next two hours they chatted effortlessly, finding they had many common interests like old movies and salted caramel ice cream. Following Lana’s directions from the map spread across her lap, they found the Appletons’ farm easily. The white two-story house was flanked on each end by brick fireplaces with tall chimneys. The beaded weatherboard siding was capped by a standing seam metal roof and two dormer windows jutted out with window boxes filled with colorful flowers.
Behind the house, acres of pastureland stretched to a wooden fence. Sheep grazed lazily in the afternoon sun and paid no heed to the vehicle as Adam parked beneath the shade of a red cedar tree.
“So pretty,” Lana said, taking in the view. “Living in the city I forget sometimes that places like this exist.” Excitement vibrated in her voice. “The house must date to the 1700s.”
Her enthusiasm was adorable. They exited the SUV. Adam let Ace out of his kennel. The dog sniffed the air, his gaze going to the sheep in the pasture.
An elderly couple came out of the house. The man was tall, lanky and had gray hair. Dark eyes studied them from an angular face. In contrast, his wife was tiny, round and had a big smile on her face. Her hair was cut short and curled in tight ringlets all over her head.
Mr. Appleton met them at the bottom of the porch stairs. “Can I help you?”
Adam identified himself and then introduced Lana. “I understand you had some trouble recently. Can you tell me about that?”
Mrs. Appleton hurried down the stairs. “Oh, my. It was horrible. These two beastly men broke in to our home demanding to know about poor Beth. Though they kept calling her by a different name. When we refused to tell them anything, they hit Ed.” She clutched her husband’s hand.
“Oh, no. Did they hurt you?” Lana asked, empathy filling her voice.
“Naw, Ed’s tough,” the older woman replied with obvious pride in her husband.
The older couple’s fondness for each other brought an ache to Adam’s chest. He wanted what the Appletons shared. Love, respect and affection. A life’s worth of memories together. He glanced at Lana, then quickly away. The ache intensified.
“I’m not as strong as I once was,” Ed said with a rueful twist of his lips. “There was a time I could have taken them both. But I was afraid they’d hurt Mavis. We don’t know where Beth went. The thugs left but said they’d be back if they found out we’re hiding her.”
“Did you recognize either man?” Adam asked.
“We’d never seen them before.”
“Can you describe them?”
“One was over six feet and pushing two hundred and fifty pounds,” Ed said. “The other one was shorter, but bulky. Both wore ski masks.”
Lana inhaled a noisy breath. Adam met her gaze and saw the same thought reflected in her eyes—the men wore ski masks like the man who’d attacked Lana in the museum. Was one of these men also the shooter on the bridge? How did this all connect?
Adam took out the photo Chase had given him. “Is this the woman who called herself Beth?”
Mavis took the picture. “Yes. Only she cut off all that beautiful hair. I helped her dye it brown.”
Adam’s heart tripped in excitement. So Erin had been here. Very interesting. And she’d disguised herself. A sign of guilt? It was looking worse for her all the time. Maybe she had killed Michael. A lover’s quarrel turned deadly? But why shoot the congressman, too? Congressman Jeffries claimed he hadn’t seen the shooter and had only seen the tail end of a car pulling away.
“Did you see the news report of Senator Eagleton’s missing daughter?” Adam asked. The news media had flashed Erin’s picture on the nightly news almost every night since she disappeared.
“Oh, we don’t have a television,” Mavis replied.
“Too expensive,” Ed added. “We get our news the old fashion way on the AM radio. Are you saying that Beth is the senator’s daughter?”
“She is. Did say where she was going?” Adam took the
photo back.
“No. She stuck around for a few days and then left in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye or thank-you,” Ed said.
“She was scared of something,” Mavis interjected. “We found her hiding in the pasture barn when we went to feed the flock of sheep. Her clothes were torn and dirty and she had a gash on her head. We gave her a change of clothes and fed her and dressed her wound.”
“Did she say why she was hiding in your barn?”
“She said the less we knew the better,” Ed said. “I had the feeling she was trying to protect us.”
“She did ask to use our computer,” Mavis said.
Adam’s pulse jumped. “I’ll need to take your computer and have my tech person see what she was doing. I’ll make sure you get it back as soon as possible.”
Ed shrugged. “That’s fine. I’m not fond of the thing. Mavis figured out how to Skype with our out of town family. That’s better than a phone but I don’t like the thought of anyone watching us through the little camera thingy.”
“Obviously, Beth’s in trouble.” Worry furrowed Mavis’s brows. “Why are those goons after her?”
“I don’t know, but we need to find her before they do.” If they didn’t, Adam had a feeling it wouldn’t end well for Erin.
Would it end well for Lana? His gaze went to her. She could easily be dead now if he hadn’t been with her for the many attempts on her life. The thought left his mouth dry.
*
“Where are we going?” Lana asked as Adam turned off the main highway to head down a country road instead of going back to DC. The rolling grassy hills and quaint farmhouses dotting the landscape appealed to her sense of history. Like the Appletons’ farm, most of the homes in this area dated back to the 1700s.
She imagined the houses and land were rich with treasures and memories. If this trip to rural Virginia had been for pleasure, she would have asked to stop at many of the interesting places, hoping to find some antiquities to acquire for the museum.