"What do you think, Mia?" Mac asked, careful to include her. "You work with them, too. Think they could pull it off?"
His sister's face softened, and she nodded. "Yeah, they're good. And I know they've posed as a couple on ops." A smile flashed. "Cooper knows how to use her looks to distract guys long enough for Jennings to move in. They'll take Jacobsen by surprise."
"Bren?" Mac asked.
"I've met Cooper. Tall, curvy, long hair?" He looked at Mia, who nodded. "Yeah, she'd distract me."
"Focus, Bren." Mia rolled her eyes. "And don't get your hopes up. Cooper doesn't date other cops."
"Want me to call the Captain and ask him to send them to the airport?" Connor asked.
"Let's find out which plane he's on," Mac said. He opened the laptop and connected remotely with his office computer. Five minutes later, he eased back in the chair. "Got him. Landing at noon." He glanced at his watch. "Two hours from now. Plenty of time to get set up." He nodded at Connor. "Go ahead and call your captain."
***
The back door opened and closed, and Mac jumped to his feet, his hand reaching for his gun. "It's me," his mother called, and he took a deep breath and let his hand fall away from his holster. "Okay, Mom. Mia, you want to stay with Lizzy or carry groceries?"
"I'll stay with Lizzy," she said. "You three can be the mules."
When Mac got to the car, he opened the trunk and shook his head at the bags crammed into the space. "We're gonna have to check the suspension. It has to be wrecked hauling all this food home."
Connor grabbed three bags and headed for the house. "She likes feeding her kids."
Brendan grabbed three more bags. "She gets lonely," he said quietly. "Even though it's for a horrible reason, she's probably glad we're all here."
"Yeah, I know." Mac picked up more bags and followed his brothers into the house. Lizzy was waiting in the kitchen to help put the groceries away, and she avoided his gaze. She glanced at the back door, then quickly away, as if she was gauging how to make it out the door and past the Donovans.
"Hey," Mac said quietly. "You okay?"
She nodded, but he knew she was far from okay. "The detectives from Connor and Mia's precinct will grab Jacobsen when he gets off the plane, and you'll be safe. Hang on for another couple of hours."
"I'm not worried about me," she said, her voice fierce. She jerked her head toward his mother. "I'm worried about her, and all the rest of you.
"We're all going to be fine," he said. Lizzy swallowed and reached for a plastic bag full of vegetables and fruit. A bunch of grapes hung over the side of the bag, and her hand wasn't quite steady as she lifted it out.
They'd just about finished unloading the groceries when the front doorbell rang. Mac leaped away from Lizzy, pulling his gun, but before he could get to the door, Rose threw it open. "Quinn. Where's Tessa?"
"She had to work. Double shift." His brother caught Mac's eye as he reholstered his gun and said, "Mom, you shouldn't open the door."
"I knew it was you," Rose said, jerking her chin toward the window." I saw your car in the street."
"Still. Until this is over, promise you won't go near the door," Mac said.
"You think I'm an idiot, Cormac?" Rose huffed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mac saw Lizzy snickering.
"No, Mom. Of course I don't. But don't open the door."
As Rose headed for the kitchen, Mac reached for Lizzy's hand and drew her forward. "Lizzy, this is Quinn. He's Connor's twin."
"Yeah, I can see that," she murmured. She looked from Quinn to Connor, then at Brendan and back to him. "No question you're all related." Her eyes flickered with a hint of pain.
She was comparing them with her family, Mac realized. He wondered who Lizzy looked like.
She held out her hand and smiled, but Mac could see it was forced. "Nice to meet you, Quinn."
"Same here." He slapped Mac on the back. "And glad someone else in the family has a girlfriend. Takes some of the pressure off me and Tessa."
"I'm not..."
"It's complicate..."
"Yeah, yeah." Quinn held up his hands. "Spare me. I can see what's right in front of me. So what are we doing?"
Mac glanced at Lizzy, who was staring at Quinn. At least she hadn't disappeared into herself, like she did when Mia said the same thing. Maybe they were making progress.
Or maybe she was planning her escape.
Mac glanced toward the kitchen, where Brendan, Connor and Mia had drifted and were now helping Rose put away the groceries. "I want to send Mom to Helen's," he said in a low voice. "I want her out of here, just in case."
"I agree. But how are you going to convince her?"
"I'll tell her it's for Lizzy's safety. The fewer civilians in the house, the better we'll be able to protect Lizzy." The easier it would be to make sure Lizzy didn't slip out the door and disappear.
"Hmmm. She might go for that."
"If I can convince her, you tail her to Helen's and make sure no one's following."
"On that." Quinn glanced toward the kitchen and smiled a little. "Looking forward to watching you persuade Mom."
The negotiations were heated, but Rose finally agreed. All five of them had to promise to come over for dinner frequently to use up all the food Rose bought. She stood by the back door in her coat, scowling at all of them.
"You think I don't see what you're doing? Using poor Lizzy as an excuse to send me away to hide? I don't like it, but I'm going. Although I reserve the right to change my mind."
"Okay, Mom." Mac kissed her and urged her toward the door. "Give Helen our love."
Quinn hurried out the front door and Mac glanced at the clock. Only eleven. "Now we wait."
***
Quinn was back in less than an hour. As he walked in the back door, Mac looked up from the Sig he was checking for about the hundredth time that morning. "Hey," he said. "Any problems on the way to Helen's?"
"Nope. Didn't see anything suspicious. If your dirtbag has someone sitting on the house, he didn't follow us."
"Good." Mac slumped against the back of the chair, edgy adrenaline battling with exhaustion. "I should check if the plane's on time."
"Checked five minutes ago," Connor said, looking up from the laptop. "Status is 'arrived'."
"Which means it'll be another half hour at the earliest."
Lizzy stood up and headed toward the kitchen. "I'm going to use some of the food your mom bought and make lunch."
"I'll help you." Brendan jumped up from his chair. "I'm starving."
"Me, too," Mia announced.
Both of them followed Lizzy into the kitchen.
Quinn shot Mac an amused look. "Let the grilling begin. And I don't mean on the Weber."
Mac shifted restlessly on the chair, desperate to shield Lizzy from his sibling's interrogation. Quinn must have noticed, because he clamped a hand on his brother's wrist.
"They all did it to Tessa. Including you." One side of his mouth curled up. "Payback's a bitch, isn't it?"
"Lizzy's..." What was he supposed to say? Fragile? Sensitive? The thought made him want to laugh. Lizzy was one of the toughest women he knew. "She's got a lot on her mind right now."
Quinn's smile fell away. "Yeah, we all get that. They're trying to distract her. Give her something to think about besides that asswipe who's getting off the plane right about now." He stood up and strolled to the front window, then stood frozen, studying the street. No wonder his brother was such a good detective. He could block out everything when he was focused on a problem.
"Anything?" Mac finally asked.
"Not a thing." He glanced at his watch. "Should have disembarked from the plane by now."
"Takes a while to get everyone off," Mac said, reminding himself as much as Quinn.
"Lunch," Lizzy called as she stepped into the dining room, holding a platter of sandwiches. Brendan followed with a huge bowl of chips, and Mia brought up the rear with a plate of fruit.
As they a
te and talked, Mac couldn't stop himself from glancing at his watch every few minutes. Time stretched unbearably, until he thought the tiniest tweak would make him explode.
He and Quinn and Connor were in the kitchen, putting away the bread and the left-over fruit, when Connor's phone rang. All of them froze. Connor dragged his cell from his pocket as Lizzy crowded into the kitchen, followed by Mia and Brendan. As Connor said "Yeah?", Mac reached for Lizzy's hand.
Chapter 21
Mac's grip tightened on her hand until her bones ached. Lizzy's heart battered against her ribs in a frantic rhythm. She stared at Connor, trying to read his expression. Nothing. He'd be a good poker player, she thought stupidly. He just listened, giving nothing away.
She shivered, her stomach churning, and leaned into Mac. If they'd caught Jacobsen, Connor would be smiling, right? Talking. Asking questions.
Nothing.
Mac must have felt her vibrating, because he let go of her hand and pulled her into his side. She leaned into him, grateful for his warmth.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Connor said, "Thanks for the update, Captain. I appreciate it."
He turned off the phone, stared at it for a moment, then slid it into his pocket as he met Lizzy's gaze. "He wasn't on the plane," he said softly. "I'm sorry."
Lizzy exhaled in a rush, like the balloon of tension inside her had been pricked with a pin. She'd assumed Jacobsen would be on the plane. That the two detectives would arrest him. That this nightmare would be over.
Instead, they had no idea where the killer was.
He could be on the way to this house right now. Thank God Mac had convinced his mother to leave.
She pressed her hand against her roiling stomach and forced down the bile that rose in her throat. She was not going to be sick.
Mac rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "You okay?" he asked quietly.
"Have to be, right?" She wasn't going to burden him with her fears. He needed to concentrate on catching Jacobsen.
He studied her for a long moment, and she knew he didn't believe her. She lifted her chin and forced a smile. Her cheeks ached with the effort.
He squeezed her against his side and frowned at his siblings. "How is he not on the plane? He was on the list of passengers."
"Maybe he boarded then changed his mind and got off," Quinn said. "Maybe his Spidey sense was twitching, and he took a different flight."
"Or a train?" Brendan frowned.
Mia shook her head. "Had to be a plane. Would take too long to take a train or drive. He'd want to clean up his mess as soon as possible." She glanced at Lizzy. "Sorry. But you know what I mean."
"Yeah," she managed to say. She swallowed hard. That's what she was. Jacobsen's 'mess'. A problem that had to be dealt with. He'd do whatever necessary to eliminate his mistake. And all the Donovans were in his way.
"I really should go," she said, stepping away from Mac and the comfort of his body next to hers. "If you didn't have to worry about me, you could do more than sit around, waiting for him to show up."
"Not going to happen," Mac said immediately. "Jacobsen would love to divide and conquer. He wants us to split up. Fewer people to get in his way."
"I can go to a motel. I'll stay in the room, not let anyone in."
Mia reached out and caught her wrist. Her eyes softened as she met Lizzy's gaze. "You'll make Mac crazy if you take off. He'll be useless to you or to us. We need everyone's head in the game if we're going to catch this guy." She nodded down at the air cast on Lizzy's ankle. "And with that thing and crutches, you couldn't even run if you had to."
"I can't force you to stay." Mac watched her steadily. "But please don't go. Let us at least figure out a plan. Okay?"
Her heart screamed for her to go. To hide somewhere and take the danger away from Mac and his family. But as she studied Mac's face and saw the fear and desperation there, she knew Mia was right. She wouldn't be alone in that motel room, hunkered down with Franny. Mac would be there, too, with only Lizzy and a dog watching his back.
She knew how seriously Mac took his job. Right now, that job was catching Jacobsen.
If she took off, Mac would put his job on hold to protect her.
The realization made her heart stutter. She wasn't sure if it was joy or fear. No one had ever put their job on the line for her before. But it meant she couldn't leave. She couldn't do that to Mac.
She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Okay. I'll stay. For now."
"Thank you," Mac said quietly. He twined his fingers with hers and held on, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, then his jaw clenched as he faced his siblings. "Let's figure out how to catch this son of a bitch."
They all moved toward the dining room table, as if they shared a mysterious sibling mind meld. Once again, Lizzy's chest ached at what she'd missed. She and her brother had been close as kids, but never like this.
Watching the way the Donovan's had each other's back, the way they all jumped in to help Mac, made her want to weep for what she'd never had. She slid into the chair next to Mac and found herself leaning toward him. As if some kind of magnet pulled them together.
She couldn't think about that right now. Thinking about Mac, about what she felt for him, would only distract her. She needed to focus on how she could help.
Connor leaned forward, his elbows on the table. "Mac. Since Lizzy couldn't hear them, we don't know what Kelly and Jacbosen were arguing about. Were they working any cases together?"
"Hard to tell," Mac said, shoving his hand through his hair. "I looked, but didn't see anything official. We all work on everything, though. If one of our own cases is stalled, we help anyone who has a hot lead." He glanced at Lizzy. "I worked on the Kelly case for a couple of weeks. When I got assigned to a judicial corruption case, I worked on Kelly's case at night, on my own time."
He'd spent his own time tracking her down. Just another indication of how seriously he took his job. How hard he worked at it.
Thank God it was Mac who'd dug until he found her. If it had been Jacobsen... She shuddered. She'd likely be dead, buried in a shallow grave on Skipjack Island.
As if that mind meld was contagious and Mac knew what she was thinking, his hand closed over hers. She clung to it, able to breathe a little more easily.
"Mac." Quinn's voice was sharp, and Mac swiveled to face him. "You know what Jacobsen was assigned to?"
"His big case involved an Asian gang. Smuggling illegal aliens, gambling, protection money in Chinatown. He had a couple of other things – a bank robbery, a corrupt alderman. Kelly was mostly white collar crime." He shook his head. "Believe me, I spent three months memorizing their records. Didn't see any overlaps."
"Maybe Kelly found out something about Jacobsen through one of his cases," Brendan said. "Something that never made it into his notes. Or maybe Jacobsen deleted it from Kelly's notes before he killed him."
Lizzy felt like she was at a tennis match as the Donovans took turns offering theories. She glanced at Mac, who listened carefully to everything. Thought before he spoke.
She'd realized a long time ago how important his job was to him. Heck, he'd risked his life in a storm to get to her. The conversation flowing around her showed her how good he was at it.
"Yeah," Mac said. "My conclusion, too. But right now, it doesn't matter why he killed Kelly. What matters is catching him."
"Thought that if we could figure it out, we might figure out where he'd go," Quinn said.
"He's not holing up somewhere." Mac shook his head. "He wants to clean up after himself and he'll be looking for Lizzy. Jacobsen is like a dog with a bone. Won't let anything go." Lizzy saw his mouth tighten. "He was pissed off at me about six months ago when I got a promotion he wanted. The jerk was still ragging me about it the day before I left to find Lizzy.
Mac said it with no emotion. Like he was talking about any case, and any witness. It made her stomach twist into a knot. But as she studied Mac's clenched jaw, the thin line of his mouth
and the fire in his eyes, Lizzy realized that his emotions were boiling inside him. He was struggling desperately to control them.
She slipped her hand into his and squeezed, and he gave her a startled look. She held his gaze, and the muscles in his jaw relaxed. He squeezed back, then kept her hand in his as he took a deep breath.
"He comes here, we'll be ready for him," Brendan said.
Lizzy shuddered at the matter-of-fact way Brendan spoke. As if it was normal for a killer to come searching for them.
"Maybe he's not coming to Chicago at all," Mia said. "He's got to know by now that he's busted. As soon as you and Lizzy made it to Chicago, he'd know you'd figure out he was the killer. Maybe he got off that plane and headed for Canada. It would be an easy drive from Seattle."
"Possible." Mac leaned forward, frowning. "God, I wish I knew what Kelly had found out. If this has something to do with that Asian gang in Chinatown, Jacobsen might think he had no choice but to kill Lizzy. That gang finds out there's a witness to the murder and that Jacobsen didn't take care of it, they wouldn't stop until they found him. Those tongs are brutal. Completely ruthless."
Everyone began talking at once, debating whether Jacobsen would chase after her or run away. Without letting go of Mac's hand, Lizzy leaned back in her chair and watched the Donovan siblings toss ideas and theories back and forth. None of them were joking or teasing now. They were all dead serious.
About protecting her. They were determined to keep her safe. Lizzy blinked hard to stop the tears welling up in her eyes. They were putting their lives on the line for someone they'd met less than twenty-four hours earlier.
She remembered the awful days after her father was killed. First disbelief and horror. Then sorrow. Finally, and forever, guilt.
She didn't want to feel that way ever again. She couldn't live with herself if she were the reason one of the Donovans died.
Keeping hold of Mac's hand, she stroked her hand over Franny, who lay on the floor next to her, the dog's head resting on her front paws. Her ears twitched every now and then, as if she understood every word being said and agreed with Lizzy about the danger they were bringing to the Donovans.
Find Me (The Donovan Family Book 3) Page 20