Love Inspired Suspense June 2015 #1

by Margaret Daley

  “When the investigation is over.”

  Geary frowned. “I’ve missed wearing them. I suppose I should be glad that at least you found the missing one, and I’ll get it back sometime in the future.”

  Nicholas started to rise but stopped. “Oh, by the way, why were you at the White House the evening before the Easter Egg Roll? In the West Wing.” Geary had been one of many caught on camera near the general’s office.

  The aide’s mouth firmed into a scowl. “I attended a reception with the congressman in the Roosevelt Room before the state dinner. I’ve done nothing wrong and resent the accusation.”

  “What accusation?”

  Geary glared at him but remained silent.

  Nicholas stood and extended his hand for Geary to shake. He finally did and the clammy feeling confirmed to him that the aide had been lying. But he didn’t have any hard evidence to prove it—just years learning to read people.

  Geary accompanied him into the hallway and Nicholas felt the aide’s eyes on him as he strode toward the elevator. When the doors swished open, Congressman Harland Jeffries exited. With his hair graying, his tanned features stood out even more.

  He spied Nicholas and said, “Weren’t you here earlier today?”

  “Yes, sir.” Nicholas shook the man’s cold hand. “I needed to see Vincent Geary. He mentioned losing one of his initialed cufflinks that you gave him at Christmas. He felt bad about losing it.”

  The congressman looked at a spot behind Nicholas. “It seems I remember him telling me he lost one somewhere.”

  “When?”

  “Frankly, everything has been a blur for me with all that has happened. I don’t remember exactly.”

  The elevator doors opened with the down arrow lit up. “Thanks, Congressman.” Nicholas stepped inside and punched the button for the lobby. His gut instinct told him Jeffries was hiding something.

  When he headed out of the building, his cell phone rang. He saw it was his captain, so he found a quiet area to answer the call. “What’s going on, Gavin?”

  “A woman who reportedly looks like Erin Eagleton was spotted spying on Congressman Jeffries’s house. I need you and Isaac Black to go check it out.”

  For Selena’s sake, Nicholas hoped it was Erin—it meant her cousin was alive. But finding Erin would also mean bringing her in for questioning and grilling her about the night of Michael Jeffries’s murder. Was Erin the killer?

  *

  Nicholas pulled up in front of Congressman Jeffries’s mansion, parking behind Isaac Black, a Capitol K-9 Unit member who used to work for the CIA. With Max on a leash, Nicholas approached Isaac, a tall, muscular guy with dark brown hair and eyes. Abby, his canine partner and a beagle, wagged her tail and greeted Max.

  Nicholas scanned the large home. “I understand from Gavin that a neighbor, Mrs. Applegate, reported a woman who fit Erin’s description was outside the congressman’s house, looking in the windows. Jeffries is at the Capitol and is aware that we’re going to search the grounds. He mentioned his gardener works today and may have seen something.”

  “I’ll interview the gardener while you talk to the neighbor. I’m going to do a walk-around and see if I can find him.”

  “I will, too, after I talk with Mrs. Applegate. Are you having Abby sniff for a bomb?”

  “As a precaution.” Isaac glanced around. “If it was Erin skulking around, why would she come here? For what purpose?”

  “I don’t know. And we don’t know if it is Erin. I agree we take every precaution and check everything out. We don’t need the congressman killed, too.”

  With Max beside him, Nicholas made his way to the palatial house to the right of the Jeffries’s mansion. A petite woman with graying hair, dressed in jeans, a blue shirt and straw hat, opened the door. “I’m here to see Mrs. Applegate.”

  “I’m she. Please come in, Officer.”

  “Max is my K-9 partner. He is very well behaved. May I bring him in?”

  “Of course. I love dogs.”

  Mrs. Applegate led them to the living room. Nicholas sat in a wingback, while she sat across from him on a couch. The casually dressed lady was in stark contrast to the elegant surroundings. “Please tell me what you saw earlier. You reported seeing a woman trespassing on Congressman Jeffries’s property at around two o’clock.”

  “Yes. I don’t wear a watch when I work in my gardens, but I’d just gone back out after a short break to work on my roses, my prize flowers. If you come back in three or four weeks, they’ll take your breath away.”

  “What I saw of your flower beds is beautiful.”

  Mrs. Applegate beamed. “Any artist loves to hear that. Anyway, I was outside working when I saw a woman in glamorous, big black sunglasses, just like Erin always wore, looking in a window of the congressman’s house. She had a silk scarf wrapped around her head like from an old Grace Kelly movie. I assumed it was Erin because the few times I saw Michael and Erin arriving at the congressman’s house in a convertible, Erin wore a scarf just like that to protect her beautiful, long curly hair. Anyway, she didn’t look like anyone he has working for him. I’m familiar with his staff and gardeners.”

  “How tall do you think she was?”

  “Five-seven, five-eight.”

  Nicholas knew from previous meetings with the Capitol K-9 Unit that Erin Eagleton was five feet eight inches tall. Forensics had noted that the murderer was, too.

  “Of course, I can’t be certain it was Erin Eagleton, but I know from watching the news that she’s been missing ever since Michael was killed, so I called it in immediately.” Mrs. Applegate shook her head. “Such a tragedy about Michael. I was on vacation in Paris when the murder occurred.”

  “You said she was wearing sunglasses, but did you get a look at her face, features such as her nose and mouth?”

  “I only got a brief glance at her face, and I didn’t have my eyeglasses on, but because of the sunglasses, scarf and her general height and build, I thought the person was Erin.”

  Nicholas nodded. “What did you see the woman do?”

  “She ducked down when the gardener came around the side of the house, then hurried away, running off in the opposite direction.”

  “Will you come outside and show me exactly?”

  “I thought you might say that. I’m ready to go. Anything to help Harland. Poor man. Losing his son like that. Harland is always checking on me, especially if he hasn’t seen me in my gardens in several days.”

  As they walked from the house and around the side toward Jeffries’s property, she told Nicholas stories of how much the congressman had helped her. Nicholas had to admit that the man was a study in contradictions. Kind to some, like his captain. Jeffries had even started a foster home on his property. But that didn’t mean the congressman wasn’t corrupt. Nicholas kept thinking about Jeffries’s ties to Thorn Industries, a shady pharmaceutical company that he’d said had tried to strong-arm him with bribes he refused to take. Nicholas wasn’t so sure Jeffries hadn’t taken those bribes. But again, he couldn’t prove anything. Without proof, his captain didn’t want to hear a word against Jeffries.

  Mrs. Applegate stopped near her rosebushes, which were beginning to leaf out. She pointed to a large window on the right side of the mansion with bushes under it. “That’s where I saw her. You know, now that I think about it the woman looks similar in style and build to Tabitha Miller, too—she’s one of Harland’s aides—but there wouldn’t be any reason for her to be skulking around the congressman’s house.”

  He envisioned the woman he’d interviewed earlier today. She was around Erin’s height and had that same glamorous style as Erin. Nicholas could easily imagine her in huge black sunglasses and a silk scarf keeping her hair from being blown around in a convertible. Could Tabitha be the woman Mrs. Applegate had seen? Mrs. Applegate was right when she said Tabitha wouldn’t have a reason to sneak around. The congressman’s staff would admit her inside.

  No, it made more sense that it was Erin.
But why had she come? What was she looking for?

  *

  A few minutes before seven, the last of the meetings over, Selena was ready to go home. Nicholas had left a text telling her he was going to Congressman Jeffries’s house and might be a while before he was finished. All she wanted to do was go home and collapse. Halfway through her second meeting she’d felt all the exhaustion from the past weeks’ frantic pace physically and emotionally catching up with her. Her two days of rest hadn’t turned into any rest at all, not with the breakin at her home and the visit to the prison.

  She gathered her purse and work tablet and headed for the underground parking lot. As she strolled toward her car at the far end, she thought of all the things she needed to do.

  Her cell phone chimed. Nicholas. “Are you done for the day?” she asked him.

  “Yes, I’ve left the congressman’s house. Are you heading home?”

  “I’m nearly at my car.”

  “You need to wait for me. Remember, I follow you to and from work.”

  “I fell asleep at my desk. I imagined my bed and thought that might be a better place to sleep. I’m going to have to finish some work at home. I don’t usually do that.”

  “I’m not far from the White House. Wait. I’ll feel better.”

  “Okay,” she said and gave him her precise location. Nicholas said something, but she couldn’t hear over the sound of a motorcycle behind her and heading toward the exit. She raised her voice. “I didn’t hear you. Just a sec until the bike passes.” She twisted toward the motorcycle.

  All Selena saw was a person dressed totally in black, closer than she realized. The biker slowed to a stop and reached out toward her, snatching her work tablet.

  “Don’t.” She lunged toward her attacker to grab the tablet back.

  There was a flash of metal, then something sharp cut into her arm. She was knocked back against a car behind her. Slamming into its bumper, the air swooshing from her lungs, she sank to the pavement as the biker revved the engine.

  SEVEN

  The sound of a motorcycle, Selena crying out “Don’t!” and a thud chilled Nicholas to the core. He pressed down on the accelerator. “Selena. Selena, are you okay? What happened?” he shouted, sure she’d dropped her cell phone.

  The seconds ticked by agonizingly slow.

  Then Selena came on the line. “I was attacked…and stabbed—”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “My arm’s bleeding.”

  His heartbeat pounded. “Listen to me. I’m calling Security. I’m four minutes away.” He turned on his siren, “Make that two minutes.”

  He called Security, giving details of where Selena had been attacked and asking them to shut down the exit from there and send medical help. Now he was only sixty seconds away. He approached the tunnel to the underground parking, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. He saw a black motorcycle speeding past him, its driver dressed in black, and wanted to give chase. He’d heard what sounded like a motorcycle in the background when talking to Selena, but he didn’t know if that was the assailant on the bike. Looking through the rearview mirror, he called local police and reported the license number, though, and where it was headed.

  He was the first on the scene, parking his SUV near Selena and hopping from his car. She sat against a vehicle’s bumper, looking dazed, a stream of blood oozing between her fingers clasped over the wound. It ran down her arm. As he rounded the front of his Tahoe, several White House security officers jogged toward them.

  She looked at him as he knelt next to her. “Selena?”

  “I’m okay…a little stunned. Black motorcycle,” she said, trying to take a breath. “Rider all in black.” That was all she could get out before needing to close her eyes for a moment.

  If only I’d gone after the bike, Nicholas thought. But getting to Selena had been more important. “He passed me on the way in—I called in the police. Medical help is on the way.”

  She glanced at her arm. “No ambulance…just need…stitches.”

  She spoke almost as though she had disassociated herself from the incident, but she was having trouble forming sentences. “Did you hit your head again?”

  “No. Just had the—” she blinked “—breath knocked out of me.” She inhaled deeply. “No—cracked ribs.”

  “Don’t move. I’m talking to the officers then I’ll be right back.”

  Before he stood, she added, “He took my…work tablet.”

  “I’ll let security know.”

  Please let her be okay, he thought as adrenaline had him moving when all he wanted was to stay by her side.

  *

  Selena felt shell-shocked more than anything. Her arm barely hurt, but she saw the blood coursing down it in spite of clasping the wound. While Nicholas spoke with the three men in a low voice, she tried to think of something in her car she could use to stop the bleeding. Her mind refused to function properly. She couldn’t string a coherent thought together. Probably blood loss affecting her.

  One of the men, trained as a paramedic, stooped next to her with a first-aid kit and began working on her wound while Nicholas pointed toward the exit. He moved to a knife on the pavement and instructed an officer to bag it. She’d felt the cut but hadn’t seen the knife, just a flash of metal.

  After that, Nicholas strode to his SUV and released Max. While a bandage was being wrapped around her arm, Max sniffed the air and set off, following a trail from the direction the motorcycle had come from.

  She began to tremble, chills streaking through her. Pain finally leaked into her mind, demanding attention.

  *

  Watching Max come to a stop at a narrow parking spot in the underground garage, Nicholas noted the space would easily fit a motorcycle.

  He gave Max a treat. “Good boy. Now all I need to figure out is whose bike was here. Looks like more security video for me.” He tried to think of White House staffers who rode a motorcycle to work. He’d get a list and start questioning them. They usually knew who else was a biker. He checked the camera; the area wasn’t in direct line of sight but the approach was. He would find the owner if the local police hadn’t caught him already.

  His priority now was to get Selena to the ER to have her wound taken care of and to make sure she wasn’t injured anywhere else. Adrenaline could be masking something else.

  He and Max jogged back to the crime scene. The paramedic-trained security officer had finished bandaging her. Still sitting on the pavement, she turned her head slightly and looked right at him. There was an ashen cast to her skin and she shook. As he neared her, he noticed the pool of blood next to her as though a vein had been cut.

  “Open my passenger door,” Nicholas said to the paramedic working on Selena. “I’m taking her to the emergency room.”

  Nicholas squatted next to her and lifted her into his arms. Cradled against him, she gave him a weak smile. He carried her to his Tahoe and settled her onto the front passenger seat.

  “Thanks,” she said to the paramedic then Nicholas while supporting her arm against her trembling body. Shock was setting in.

  Nicholas leaned over and buckled her in then took off his jacket and covered her. Selena reclined back and shut her eyes. “Hold on. It won’t be long.” As he rounded the back of the Tahoe and put Max inside, he motioned to another White House security officer. “Take care of the crime scene, and notify Dan Calvert about what happened and that Miss Barrow’s work tablet was stolen. Put a rush on the knife. I want to know if there are any fingerprints on it.”

  “Will do.”

  The security officer with paramedic training looked at Selena then back at Nicholas. “She’ll be all right once she gets stitches.”

  “Thanks for taking care of her.”

  He hurried around the driver’s side, slid behind the wheel and started the engine. As he went over a speed bump, he glanced at Selena and found her gaze glued on him.

  “Okay?” he asked as he slipped into the flow of traffic.
/>   “I’ll live.”

  “You scared me back there. Do you remember anything about your attacker?”

  “It happened so fast. I’m starting to get my bearings.”

  “Good. You need around-the-clock protection.”

  “You can’t do that and continue to work.”

  “Yes, I can, especially when General Meyer hears.”

  Selena drew in a deep breath “I’m planning another event for the president. I don’t have time to take off. He just told me about it today.”

  “I see you’re beginning to feel more like yourself. Arguing every detail with me.”

  “I’m not arguing. Pointing out the hurdles in your plan. I want you to find the person who took my tablet. I assume the Miss Chick impostor, the person who ransacked my house and the motorcyclist are the same person.”

  “Agreed. What was on the tablet?”

  “Information pertaining to my job. For instance, most of the plans for the Easter Egg Roll. So I need you working.”

  “And I need you alive.” As he spoke, he realized how important Selena was becoming to the case—to him.

  As he pulled into the ER, he decided he would talk with the captain about this. He needed another team member to help him. He felt this was all tied to the Jeffries case. If we find who’s after Selena, we may be apprehending Jeffries’s murderer.

  *

  Spending most of the night in the ER wasn’t Selena’s idea of fun, but finally Nicholas pulled into her driveway as dawn began to pinken the sky. She yawned.

  “You need to get some rest.” Nicholas opened his door. “Stay there. I’ll help you.”

  She ignored his instruction and climbed from the Tahoe as he came to the passenger side, frowning. “I tolerated you carrying me to the car at the crime scene and at the ER, but I caught a catnap on the way here and I’m fine.” Actually, she did more than tolerate it. She cherished the strong feel of his arms around her because for a brief moment in the garage, she realized how close she’d come to being seriously injured.

  “Twenty minutes isn’t sufficient sleep.” Nicholas released Max from the back of the Tahoe.

  “About my Mustang. You should have driven me there to pick it up.”