“C’mon. Let’s get out of here.” Without another word, he took long, pounding strides down the hallway in silence. The car ride to Erwin’s house was made in silence. Tense, uncomfortable silence. She’d hoped Opa would lighten things up with his usual good humor, but even he couldn’t get Cash to talk.
Krista honestly regretted the position she’d put him in with Skyler. Krista wanted to be angry with Skyler, but she really was just doing her job, as she’d told Cash. She was nothing like the detectives on Toby’s case. She might have Krista firmly lodged on her suspect list, but she didn’t treat her like dirt or tell the press that she suspected Krista’s involvement. That was a huge win in Krista’s book.
Cash remained distracted as he parked outside Opa’s house, leaving Krista to help Opa out of the car.
“Bad day?” he whispered and stared at Cash, who stood at attention by his door, his gaze searching the surrounding area.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” Krista replied and concentrated on helping Opa climb the stairs to the porch. Cash followed in silence.
He suddenly rushed past them and blocked the way. “The front door’s open.”
Krista’s gaze flew to the door. He was right—it was cracked open an inch.
Not again.
“Stay here while I check it out.” Cash pulled his weapon and elbowed the door.
She glanced at Opa and found unease in his eyes. The same anxiety raced through her. A loud thud sounded from inside. Her gut said to flee. She swallowed down her fear and stepped to the door to see if Cash was okay.
The sofa was turned over and a table lay on its side in the family room. Opa’s lovely books had been dropped like trash to the floor. She caught movement deeper in the room. Cash was struggling with a man wearing a ski mask. They wrestled. Back and forth. Cash winning at times, the intruder others. The intruder suddenly broke free and grabbed Opa’s favored ceramic stein from Germany. He raised it over Cash’s head.
Fear for his safety took her breath but she managed to shout, “Look out, Cash!”
She hoped he heard. Didn’t matter if he did. She was too late and the stein made a sickening thud on his skull. He dropped to the floor.
The intruder spun. Took one look at her and charged.
“He’s coming, Opa! Quick—move to the other side of the house.” She nudged him into action and thought to follow. But this was her chance to help. She took a stance and planned to trip the man when he stepped outside.
“I’m not going without you.” Opa planted his feet.
“I’ll be right after you.” She pushed him again.
He took a few steps, then stopped to wait for her.
The intruder was almost upon them. No time for either of them to flee.
She stepped between Opa and the threat. She shot out a foot. Unsettled the intruder. He staggered for a second but regained his footing faster than she’d expected and tried to grab her arm.
She jumped back. He stumbled to the side but quickly recovered. She took a stance learned in her self-defense courses and blocked his forward movement with her fists. He kept coming. She readjusted and blocked him again.
“Back off,” Cash shouted as he came barreling out the door. He dived at the guy. Missed and hit the porch floor with a solid thud.
The intruder bolted down the steps.
“Stay here,” Cash commanded as he staggered to his feet.
He charged after the man, but his steps were unsteady. He stumbled again. Righted himself and held on to a tree. Took a few more steps and grabbed another tree.
Krista hated to see Cash fighting a lost cause when the guy was long gone.
She jogged down the steps and laid a hand on his arm. “He’s gone.”
“I know, but I...”
“I get that you want to go after him, but you’re clearly dizzy.”
He tried to stand unaided, then leaned against the tree. His eyes had lost their determination.
“You’re bleeding.” Krista tried to touch his head, but he backed away. “Let’s go sit down.”
He swept fingers across the injury and winced. “Not in the house. It’s a crime scene. We’ll sit in the car.”
“Okay.” She tried to help him to the vehicle.
He shrugged off her hand and made his way only to lean against the hood. He pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Jake and get an alert out.”
She nodded. “I’ll go get Opa.”
He was already climbing down the stairs and met her at the bottom.
“Cash says we shouldn’t go back inside yet. We’ll sit in the car until his team arrives.”
“I hope Darcie comes along.” He tipped his head at Cash. “Looks like Cash could use her attention.”
“I saw the creep hit him with your stein, but, of course, Cash won’t admit he needs to sit down. If we sit, maybe he will, too.” She escorted Opa to the car and got him settled in the back. She didn’t say anything to Cash but took her seat in the front. He didn’t join them.
“He’s stubborn,” Krista mumbled.
“As are you, my Liebchen.”
She cast Opa a stern look, and he chuckled. A few minutes later Cash dropped onto the front seat.
“Are you feeling less dizzy?” she asked.
“I’m fine.”
“I do not understand what is happening, Cash,” Opa said. “This person—maybe the bomber—has been here three times now. Once to steal away my Krista. The second like a mouse in the night, disturbing nothing. Third, like a whirling tornado, making a mess and trying to grab Krista again. What can he be after?”
Cash swiveled on the seat. He closed his eyes for a moment, likely because he was still dizzy and trying to regain his equilibrium. “With the way the house is trashed today, it tells us he’s desperate to retrieve something and he no longer cares if we know about it.”
“But what?” Krista asked. “I don’t have anything he could want.”
“And why has he tried to abduct her?”
“My guess, though you can never know what a creep like this wants, is that he thinks if he takes Krista he can force her to tell him where the thing he’s looking for is located.”
She looked at Cash. “Force. As in torture?”
He nodded and visions of the bomber taking control of her sent the blood draining from her face.
“Don’t worry.” Cash took her hand. “I won’t let him get to you.”
She appreciated his support and, honestly, she felt he was more than competent, but the man had almost grabbed her today. How would Cash stop such a thing in the future?
She heard the low rumble of a truck barreling down the driveway. Her pulse shot into overdrive as she swiveled to see the FRS coming to their rescue. A wave of relief over their arrival washed over her. An astounding change when she’d been so terrified to be interviewed by them at the stadium.
They climbed from the car to meet the squad, minus Archer, and the irony of Krista’s situation had her shaking her head. She still feared they’d turn on her as the detectives had in Toby’s investigation, but she’d come to rely on these men and women, too. And appreciate their strength and determination.
Darcie rushed up to Krista. “Are you okay? Cash told us the guy grabbed you.”
“I’m fine. It’s Cash you should be looking at. He was hit over the head with a heavy stein.”
Darcie turned to frown at Cash, who was leaning heavily on the hood. “You didn’t say anything about it when you called this in.”
“That’s because I’m fine.”
“C’mon.” Darcie grabbed his wrist as she might a wayward child. “I’ll decide if you’re fine or not.” She dragged him toward their truck.
“Cash’s gonna get an earful.” Brady smiled. “Glad I’m not the one
who got hurt and didn’t tell her.”
Jake looked at Krista. “Have you had a chance to look through the house?”
“No. Cash wanted us to wait for forensics.”
Jake raised a brow but said nothing.
Krista’s apprehension skyrocketed. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Cash was right. We don’t want to contaminate the scene, but I suspect his real reason for staying outside is to keep you from spending more time than necessary in the mess he described on the phone.”
“Unfortunately, you’ll have to walk through the house to tell us if anything is missing,” Brady added, his tone warmer than it had been in the past.
“We’ll be by your side as you take a tour.” Skyler offered a rare smile. “You ready?”
“I am coming, too,” Opa said. “It is time I see just what type of man we are dealing with.”
* * *
At the door, Jake handed out booties to cover their shoes, and he snapped on a pair of latex gloves, as did Skyler. Krista put on her own booties, then helped Opa.
Skyler faced Krista and Opa. “You’ll want to pick things up and put them back where they belong, but please don’t touch anything until after Veronica clears them. Just try to make a running inventory in your mind as you go. Call out if you notice something missing. Okay?”
“We’ll do our best.” Krista linked her arm in Opa’s, and after the team members entered the house, she stepped over the threshold.
She’d caught a peek at the place earlier, but she’d been focused on Cash. Now she took a long look. The book she’d left on the table this morning lay on the floor next to the sheets Cash had slept in. Opa’s afghan pooled under his favorite chair, the cushion ripped free and flung across the room.
The full force of what this man was capable of hit her. What if they’d been home? The monster could have— No, she wouldn’t go there.
“We can do this, Liebchen,” Opa encouraged.
Forcing her shoulders back, she moved forward, Opa right by her side. “This reminds me of the other time,” he whispered.
Krista knew he meant after Toby’s murder, when Opa’s home had been turned upside down and vandalized with threatening graffiti, leading to an ugly confrontation with her neighbors. That had served as the final straw after months of accusations and had sent Krista running from Portland.
“At least there aren’t horrible messages painted on the walls this time,” she whispered back.
Opa spun to face her. “But this is different, is it not? This is not the work of neighbors who took their information from the television. Nothing has been leaked to the press in this investigation. These men and women who have stood by us are honorable, Liebchen. You can trust them.”
“Trust who?” Cash asked as he stepped through the door.
“I see Darcie has bandaged you up.” Krista quickly changed the subject.
“I didn’t need it. I let her put the dressing on, or she would never have released me.”
“I heard that.” Darcie came up behind him and flicked his shoulder. “If you didn’t already have a bump on your head I’d give you one.”
The team slipped into one of their silly moods, something Krista suspected they engaged in often to relieve the stress of their intense jobs. They really were an amazing group, as Opa had said. Could she trust them? She wanted to. Especially Cash.
Veronica entered the room carrying her large case. “Aha. I knew you guys goofed around on the job. Now I have proof.”
They groaned in unison, but it was followed by genuine smiles. Despite the situation, Krista felt herself smiling, too.
“You should do that more often,” Cash said, grabbing her attention again. He let his gaze linger, seeming as if he liked what he saw.
She felt a blush creep up her neck.
“Not only is he a good man,” Opa announced not too quietly. “But he cares about you.”
“Yeah, he does,” Brady said, but didn’t sound happy about it.
Krista ignored everyone, including Opa, and continued through the family room inch by messy inch. A thorough search proved nothing was missing, so she moved on to the kitchen. Opa’s irreplaceable stoneware from Germany was shattered and mixed with his favorite coffee on the floor.
Her heart ached from the trouble she’d brought to his life, but she kept moving, sifting through the mess until there was nothing else to look at. She dreaded moving on to Opa’s room, where he’d already gone to assess the damage, but she wanted to help him if needed.
She found him, Bible in hand, his usual peaceful expression on his face. He looked up. “We will have a bit of work to do tonight.”
She went to him, hugged him close and held on for dear life. “I’m so sorry, Opa. I brought this mess into your life again.”
“There is no reason to be sorry.” He pushed back, his expression telling her he was taking this in stride like everything else. “You did not do this just like you did not kill Toby, and I will not have you feel any guilt.” He tipped her chin up. “Do you hear me, Liebchen? Do not feel bad. These are just possessions. As long as my Bible has survived and you are unharmed, I am fine.”
He stood up taller. “Now you go check your room and I will be with Cash in the family room.”
Feeling better, she went straight to her room. She dropped to the floor to look under the bed, where she’d returned the gun after the previous break-in.
The gun. It was gone.
Stunned, she sat back. Having a gun had given her a sense of security. Now her only form of protection was gone.
No. She had Cash. He would stand by them. If nothing else, he’d proved his trustworthiness in that area. But what if the intruder came back with the same gun and used it on Cash?
She couldn’t expose him to such danger. She had to tell him, but how? How did she explain that a potential kidnapper, likely a deadly bomber, was in possession of her gun and could harm others with it?
Taking her time to put off the inevitable, she finished searching her room, then went back to the family room and faced the team. She met their gazes and Opa’s squarely. “My gun is missing.”
Cash grimaced but said nothing.
Skyler frowned. “All we can do at this point is make sure it’s added to the stolen weapons database. Is there anything else missing?”
“Not that I can see, but I won’t know for sure until I put this place back together.”
“I did not notice anything, either,” Opa added.
“Then since we’re done here, we’ll get out of your way so you can clean up,” Skyler said. “Make sure you call me if you discover anything or if you happen to locate the gun.”
“Coming, Cash?” Brady asked pointedly.
“I’m staying.” Cash’s shoulders went up in a hard line. “They need me even more than before.”
Krista didn’t like the reason Cash had to stay, but she was glad he wasn’t leaving. He closed the door after his team and smiled, but the strain of the day hung in his eyes. “Why don’t we get the furniture turned over so Otto can sit down?”
Krista nodded. “And then I’ll work on his bedroom.”
“I am not invisible, you know,” Opa grumbled. “I can work on my own room if you will be so kind as to lift my mattress back onto the frame.”
“Sure.” Cash smiled sincerely this time.
They made quick work of putting his mattress back into position, and then Opa shooed them out of the room. They walked back to the family room in silence, and Cash stood at the entrance, surveying the mess as if he didn’t know where to start.
“The sofa is taking up a lot of space,” Krista said softly. “We should move it first.”
They each took an end and flipped it over. Something shiny dropped out, bounced on the floor and slid
under the coffee table. Cash went to retrieve it while Krista moved on. She righted an end table and heard Cash mumble something under his breath.
“Did you say something?” she asked, turning to look at him.
Scowling, he pulled a latex glove from his pocket and reached under the table. A metal object lay in his palm, and he stared at it. He suddenly looked up at her, his expression stony.
“What is it?” Krista held her breath for more bad news.
He met her gaze, his eyes dark and angry. “Do you recognize this?”
She started at the shiny metal tube with a black cap at the end. “I have no idea what that is.”
He ground his teeth for a moment. “It’s a piece of a detonator. For a bomb. If you’re not involved with the bomber, why would you have something like this in your home?”
FIFTEEN
Krista watched Cash pace the floor. Back and forth. Back and forth. Part of her couldn’t believe after the time they’d spent together and the relationship that seemed to be developing between them—despite their best efforts to avoid it—that he could possibly think she was involved in the bombing.
The other part of her, the one who’d lived in a state of unease for years, had expected this kind of reaction all along. Her life had come full circle. The police believed her guilty of another crime she hadn’t committed. But the hurt was exponentially bigger coming from Cash. She had to get him to see she didn’t know about the detonator.
She clutched his arm, forcing him to stop and look at her. “I had nothing to do with this. Please believe me.”
“The evidence speaks for itself.” He held up the detonator. “This is very similar to the one used in the stadium bomb.”
“Similar but not an exact match?”
“Not exact, but come on, Krista. It’s a detonator for a bomb. Not a run of the mill item found in someone’s sofa.”
She let her gaze travel the room, looking for something, anything to explain her situation. “You said yourself that you think the bomber is the one who broke in here and is targeting me. Maybe he planted that thing under the sofa to discredit me. You know, so even if I identified him, no one will believe me.”
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