Undercover Vows
Page 20
He’d demonstrated his love by abandoning her.
What a jerk he’d been.
But if he was given a second chance, Noah swore he’d somehow make it all up to her. He’d screwed up their past, but maybe, just maybe, they could have a future.
He looked up as Mike Travers trudged in carrying two cups of coffee. “Any word yet?”
Noah shook his head as he gratefully accepted a cup and swallowed the hot, fragrant brew. “No. No one’s been in. How long has it been, Mike?”
The old man didn’t even glance at his watch. “Only a little while, son.”
“I couldn’t bear to lose her, Mike.” His voice broke and he took refuge in the bitter coffee. He should be the one offering support to the older man, but Noah felt helpless against the impotent fear that shuddered through his body when he remembered the dreadful blast of that gun.
If only he’d driven a little faster. If only he’d run harder when he got out of the car. If only…
“Son?” Mike’s withered hand clamped around his forearm.
Noah looked up. A doctor, still wearing his sweatstained scrub uniform, stood in the doorway.
“You folks Ms. Travers’s family?”
“Yes,” they answered together.
The surgeon stepped into the room and nodded. “She lost a lot of blood, but she sure has a strong will to live. Go home and get some rest, fellas. Your lady’s going to be just fine.”
With a whoop of joy, Noah leapt to his feet and threw his arms around Mike. “When can we see her?”
“She’s in recovery now. She won’t know a thing until sometime tomorrow. Go home and sleep. She’ll be wanting some company in the morning.”
After they both offered their heartfelt thanks, Noah draped an arm around Mike’s thin shoulders and walked him to the car. They, too, had some past to clear up, but everything could wait until morning.
Keely was going to be fine.
“WHATEVER YOU DO, don’t make me laugh,” Keely muttered the next morning when the two men ambled into her room, arms laden with stuffed toys and about a thousand balloons.
Moving to either side of her hospital bed, each man staked his claim. While Mike held the hand that didn’t have the IV hookup, Noah smoothed her soft dark hair from her forehead.
“You really had us worried, sweetheart.”
“You saved my life again, Noah. I—I can never repay you.”
“No.” He shook his head for emphasis. “I never should have let you leave the hotel with him. You were the one that took all the chances. I saw you arguing with that bastard, distracting him. You’re the hero, Keely.”
Mike swiped at a damp spot under his eyes. “Stop it, both of you. Can’t abide all this sentimental pap.”
“Sure, Pop.” She curled her fingertips in his. But her gaze was fastened to blue-gray eyes. She could drown in the softness she saw in their depths. “Anyway, how did everything end up? Did we make a righteous arrest?”
Noah nodded. “Sure did. According to your buddy Bob Craybill, a search of Marty Sargent’s office turned up all the evidence we need to put Cabot behind bars for a very long time—although he’s already singing to the D.A. He wants to barter for a lighter sentence in exchange for testifying against the syndicate.”
“That’s wonderful.” She motioned for another drink of water. When she’d finished, she asked, “What about Florence Hebert?”
Noah brushed his fingertips across the soft plane of Keely’s cheek. He couldn’t seem to touch her enough. In fact, when she got out of the hospital he intended to touch every square inch of her—very carefully. If she ever forgave him.
“Noah?” Her warm brown eyes were searching. “Have you checked out into never-never land?”
“Sorry. What did you ask?”
“About Florence Hebert?”
“Oh, that’s right. We already said she was in custody. She dropped out of sight since her release from the Ensenada police. I don’t think she’ll get far though. Since Cabot’s singing like a songbird, it’s only a matter of time until they catch up with her. I think she was a little out of her element in Mexico, anyway.”
Keely chuckled. “I know what you mean. Her polyester pantsuits kind of stood out in the crowd.”
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing, little lady,” her father chimed in. “I don’t want you going on anymore undercover work. My old ticker can’t take the strain.”
She suddenly sobered. “You know what scares me the most? The fact that we all worked with Dale Cabot for years and didn’t have an inkling he was involved with an illegal gambling syndicate. Gives me the shivers just thinking about how many times I was alone with him.”
Noah leaned over and kissed a strand of black hair that tickled her forehead. “Don’t worry, Keely, you’ll never have to be alone with that creep again.”
She smiled up at him and signaled for another sip of water. “You know, he told me he blackmailed Rosie into helping him. She only agreed because of me and that money in my account.” She stared beseechingly at Noah, begging him to believe her.
“Neither one of my daughters would willingly break the law,” Mike said staunchly.
“You’re right,” Noah agreed. “According to Cabot’s confession, Rosie changed her mind. She threatened to go to the police with everything she knew about Sargent and the entire operation. Cabot told his boss, who instructed him to cause the accident.”
“That bastard!” Mike indulged in a rare profanity. “If I ever see him again outside a courtroom, I’ll…” His voice drifted off as he was overcome with emotion.
It was obvious that knowing a fellow policeman had been responsible for the murder of his youngest child was almost more than the older man could absorb.
Keely gestured for the glass of water on the bedside stand. With Noah’s help, she sipped through the glass straw. She dropped her head back onto the pillow. “But why did Sargent involve Rosie in the first place?”
Her father picked up the narrative. “Like we suspected earlier, honey. Rosie had been gambling again and had a pretty steep debt. Realizing she’d be a riskfree courier, Sargent coerced her into agreeing to smuggle the plates into the country. Apparently he had no idea that she had any connection to the police department. And when she told him…well, I guess that ultimately led to her death.”
“But she wasn’t going to go through with it, Pop. We have to hold on to that.”
“You’re right,” he said, nodding. “At least that’s something. Listen, I’ve got an appointment with that witch doctor in oncology. Can I trust you young folks by yourselves for a while?”
Noah laughed and pointed to all the medical hookups attached to her body. “I’d say she’s going to be tied up right here, Mike.”
After Keely’s father made his exit, Noah closed the door behind him. Pulling a metal chair to her bedside, he said, “Feel up to a serious talk?”
“About what?” she murmured. “I thought we had the case all settled.”
“Not about the case, about us.”
“Us?” There was that squeak again.
“Yeah. I think it’s time we hashed out the past. See where the future’s going to take us.”
She drew a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll go first. I have to admit, when you started having problems, you know, fighting in school, scuffles with the law, I didn’t know what to think.”
He started to interrupt, but she held up her hand. “Let me finish. Although my dad kept making excuses for you, I was frightened by your rebellious spirit. Knowing how your father got into trouble with his drinking, I was…afraid you were going to follow in his footsteps. So I nagged at you to shape up. To rise above your gene pool. I should have talked less and listened more.”
Noah shrugged. “Except that I wasn’t saying anything. That’s my fault.”
“What did happen, Noah? Why did you suddenly turn from an A student to a…punk?”
“Remember when they arrested that boy in our class for pushing drug
s?”
She frowned. “Yes. But what’s that got to do with-”
“Everything.”
“Oh, Noah, you weren’t on drugs?”
He tossed his head. His fingertip traced the floral pattern on the sleeve of her hospital nightgown. “No. I was a narc.”
“What!”
“Yeah. One time when we were having a cookout at your place, Chief Kapinski, except he wasn’t police chief yet, got me aside and said he had a proposal for me. They needed someone to infiltrate the school and help them nail a heavy-duty drug pusher. At first I said no, but he said if I went undercover for him, the department would pick up the tab for my college education. My mother was a waitress, for crying out loud—I jumped at the chance.”
Keely shook her head in confusion. “So all those times you got into trouble, you were really—”
“That’s right. Setting up a phony pattern so I could get in with the rotten element at school. It was all a setup.”
“Oh, Noah, why didn’t you tell me? Did my father know?”
He nodded. “At least, I think he figured it out after a while. I didn’t tell you because they told me not to trust anybody. But…somehow I expected you to use your crystal ball, I guess. But after you told me that you didn’t want to see me anymore, I kind of freaked.”
Keely felt her insides turn leaden as she recalled that last, horrible fight. Confused and shaken by Noah’s sudden wildness, she had railed at him. She remembered with dreadful clarity telling him that he’d never amount to anything. That he was destined to become a nothing like his own father.
“So you kept it all bottled up inside?”
“Yeah. I was too stubborn to tell you then. I had this stupid idea that if you had faith in me, that you wouldn’t have believed all those stories.”
He broke off and stared into space. As memories flitted across his expressive face, she could see the hurt that still lingered.
Threading his fingers through his hair in a distracted gesture, he continued. “When I realized I’d lost your esteem, I guess I lost my own. It seemed better for everyone if I just went away. I couldn’t bear to see the disappointment on your face any longer.”
She blinked away the sudden stinging wetness behind her eyes. “Oh, Noah, I’m so sorry. So very sorry. If only I had known, but I should have trusted you.”
“No! I understand now. You only tried to stop me from getting into more trouble. You did believe in me. Too bad I didn’t believe in our relationship enough to trust you.”
Suddenly, it all seemed so clear to him. He’d allowed his bitterness to color his life. Only one woman had the ability to soften him, to make him laugh. To make him whole.
Kneeling beside the bed, he took her hand in his. Staring into her wide, dark eyes, he found himself again. “Time’s a pretty good teacher, I guess. I’ve been alone too long. Become harsh and bitter. But you’ve always been the one constant in my life, Keely. I loved you then and I love you now. Please don’t tell me it’s too late. Please say you love me.”
“Oh, Noah,” she breathed, running her fingertips through the glorious texture of his hair. “I’ve never stopped loving you. But you have to promise me one thing.”
“Anything.”
She shook her head. “No, you have to promise. Say you’ll never leave me again.”
Noah shook his head as his lips at long last found those of his soul mate. He nuzzled the side of her neck and nibbled her earlobe. “Leave you? No problema, Keely. That’ll never happen. We’ve got too much lost time to make up.”
Keely cupped her hand behind his neck and drew him back to her. “Then we don’t have a minute to waste, Bannister.”
ISBN 978-14592-7557-7
UNDERCOVER VOWS
Copyright © 1996 by Judith A. Lind
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Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Books by Judi Lind
Dedication
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Copyright