Love Inspired Suspense March 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Protection DetailHidden AgendaBroken Silence

by Shirlee McCoy

  He held the knife out, daring her to try to escape. He looked ready to pounce as he crouched over her. Bailey knew beyond a doubt that he’d use the knife if he had to.

  She could hardly move. Hardly breathe.

  All she could see was the knife. All she could think about was her life ending in pain and torture. She had so much more she wanted to do. She wanted to get married and have kids. She wanted to explore the world, to learn to knit, to make peace with the mistakes of her past.

  What had he just said? He’d asked her a question. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember what.

  “I said, where is it?” the man said as if reading her thoughts. He held the knife closer, right at her throat. His eyes glimmered with an evil she’d never seen before.

  She swallowed so hard it hurt. Swallowed so hard she was afraid the blade might touch the delicate skin at her neck. So hard that her throat burned.

  “Where is what?” She finally managed to get the words out.

  Was it the stress of the situation? Was that why his question made no sense? She searched her memories, trying to figure what in the world the man was talking about. She came up with nothing.

  His other hand dug into her arm. She refused to yelp, even if his fingers caused pain to jolt through her.

  “Don’t play stupid. The information. I need it.”

  The library flashed through her mind. This man had been searching for something there. Couldn’t find it. He thought Bailey could, though.

  What was he talking about? A will? It was the only thing that made sense at the moment. But Mr. Carter’s lawyer had the will.

  There was something she was missing.

  Something major. She had to buy time as she figured out what.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her voice broke under the strain of the moment. “You’ve got to believe me. I was just a nurse.”

  He paused. “You were the only one Mr. Carter spoke with in his final days. Certainly he told you something. Maybe in those delirious moments before death?”

  What had he said? He’d asked Bailey to protect his things from someone who was coming. What if he hadn’t been crazy? “We didn’t have that kind of relationship,” Bailey finally said. “Purely professional.”

  “You knew him better than anyone else. If anyone can find the information, it’s you.”

  She could still feel the knife at her neck. “How can I find something if I don’t know what it is?”

  “You’ll know when you see it. You can move freely about the house to search. I can’t.”

  She shook her head, trying to ward away panic. Trying to figure out how to save herself. “I’m leaving tomorrow. As soon as the storm passes.”

  “You’re not leaving until you find it,” he ordered.

  Her heart skipped a beat at his implications. “I think you’re talking to the wrong person. I was just a nurse.” How could she make him understand?

  He leaned closer, his voice raspy and threatening. His breath fanned hot across her cheek, the scent of peppermint filling her nostrils. “I’m giving you one week. If you don’t have the information by then, I’ll kill you.”

  A shudder raced down her spine. “But—”

  He squeezed her arm. “I’m not finished. After I kill you, I’ll make sure everyone else around you pays.”

  “There’s no one else,” she muttered, desperate to keep her family safe. Their faces flashed through her mind, her heart squeezing at each sweet image. She couldn’t put them in danger. She wouldn’t.

  “No one else, huh?” He squeezed her throat. “Do you want to rethink that?”

  Panic jolted through her. He couldn’t know. She just had to convince him she was all alone in the world, that there was no one to hold as leverage over her.

  “There’s no one else,” she insisted.

  He squeezed her throat harder. A small cry escaped this time. As hard as she tried to hide her fear, it seemed to be pouring out in the tears that rushed down her cheeks.

  “Try again,” he growled.

  She stayed quiet.

  “I’m tired of these games. You’re the only one who can get the information I need. I repeat—you need to find it. If you don’t, I’ll kill your sister.”

  She forced herself not to show any surprise. “I’m an only child,” she insisted. She hoped she sounded convincing.

  “You think I’m stupid? Her name is Lauren. She lives down in Florida.”

  Panic made her muscles tremble. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t possibly know this.

  The man squeezed again, and her airway tightened. “Got it?”

  She only stared, unable to answer. The man had researched Bailey. He’d looked into her family.

  This confrontation wasn’t by chance. This had all been planned. Every last detail.

  Except maybe Ed. There’s no way someone had planned on him being here.

  Right? Or was he a part of this somehow?

  Nothing made sense at the moment.

  Adrenaline surged through her, making her thoughts feel hypercharged.

  As she stared at the man’s icy gaze, she had no doubt that his threat was real. This man wouldn’t blink at the thought of taking another life.

  “I don’t like repeating myself. Do you hear me?”

  Finally, she nodded.

  He leaned closer. “Don’t tell anyone about our meeting. Or that I’m here. Or that we had this conversation. Got it?”

  She stared again as a million scenarios played out in her mind.

  “Got it?” he demanded, his voice louder, gruffer.

  She nodded. “Got it.”

  “I have ears everywhere. Everywhere. I’ll hear everything you say, so be careful. Ed Carter can’t know about this. Understand?”

  She nodded.

  “And all of your lies just made me change my mind. If you don’t cooperate, I’ll have my men start with your sister. Then her kids. Alex and Emma.”

  Bailey sucked in a deep breath at the mention of their names.

  Then he raised his knife. Something hard hit her head and she passed out.

  *

  Ed checked all the rooms on the lower wing, where his dad’s office was located. He didn’t find Bailey anywhere.

  He searched for footprints. For signs of a struggle. For anything that would give an indication of what had happened to the woman.

  He’d found nothing.

  He paused in the living room, trying to figure out his next plan of action. The footprints left earlier at the door hadn’t been disturbed.

  He had a few options left. The west wing. Upstairs. The widow’s walk. Or the back of the house, where the kitchen, dining room and pantry were located.

  He paused for a moment and listened for any telltale sounds. Silence answered him.

  Until the wood floor creaked in the distance.

  He spun and saw Bailey standing at the entrance of the west wing, a dazed expression on her face. She rubbed her head with one hand. The other arm was flung across her chest in an almost protective gesture. Her hair looked disheveled, and he thought he saw a tremble claiming all of her muscles.

  “Are you okay?” He crossed the room in long strides to meet her, to begin to assess what had happened.

  She nodded, a new emotion in her gaze. She almost seemed dazed. Ed had seen the stunned expression in an instant, but the next moment it disappeared. She’d blinked and her walls had gone up. Her jaw hardened and she sucked in a long, deep breath.

  “Of course I’m fine. Why?”

  He stared at her, dumbfounded. How could she act so calm? Just what had happened? Something was off. “You’re fine?”

  She shrugged and raised her chin. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Ed didn’t miss the way her throat tightened, almost as if she was having trouble swallowing because of the tension welling inside her.

  “Why wouldn’t you be fine? How about because one minute you were in the library and the next mom
ent you were gone.” There was something she wasn’t telling him and that realization left him unsettled.

  She shrugged again. “I just decided to check things out for myself.”

  A smattering of rain against the window sent her clinging to the wall, her gaze swinging wildly about. She could talk tough all she wanted, but her actions told the truth.

  “You decided to check things out yourself? You? The woman who walked so closely behind me that I could barely move? You suddenly got enough courage to explore this dark house on your own?” Something wasn’t adding up, and he didn’t like where all of this was going.

  “I’m not as spineless as you might think I am.” She raised her chin even higher.

  He still saw the tremble racing through her.

  “What aren’t you saying, Bailey?” He stepped closer so he could see the truth in her eyes.

  Something flashed there again. Fear? Defiance?

  He wasn’t sure.

  “We’re not in this together, you know,” she finally muttered. “I was doing just fine here before you showed up.”

  He stepped closer. “Were you? If I hadn’t shown up and you’d run into some stranger who’d broken into the house with less than honorable intentions, I’d doubt you’d act so laid-back.”

  “I’ve always done things on my own. I just decided to take matters into my own hands and see if the intruder was still here. We were wasting time sticking together.”

  He didn’t buy her story for a second. “And was he?”

  She swallowed so hard that her throat muscles visibly tightened. “You didn’t see him. Did you?”

  He shifted, his hands going to his hips. He reminded himself that Bailey, most likely, wasn’t one of the bad guys here. He didn’t need to go into interrogation mode. “You need to tell me what kind of game you’re playing. Otherwise, we might both end up dead.”

  Wrinkles appeared at the corner of her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry. I won’t wander away again. I had a moment of bad judgment.”

  That little excuse wasn’t going to settle with him. But she wasn’t saying anything else right now.

  He’d keep an eye on her. He didn’t trust her.

  But for now, they had to work together.

  He couldn’t be 100 percent sure that the intruder was gone. Whoever it had been had definitely set it up to look as if he’d left. But the person behind this vandalism wasn’t a newbie. They were experienced…and possibly working with Bailey?

  He had to keep that idea at the forefront of his mind.

  Trust no one.

  That had been his mantra for more than a decade.

  He didn’t see it changing anytime soon.

  FOUR

  Bailey rubbed her throat, suddenly exhausted, weary and overwhelmed. “What now?”

  “Right now we secure the house and batten down the hatches, so to speak, for this storm. Until it’s daylight, there’s not much more we can do except try to stay safe and keep our eyes open.”

  Bailey nodded. As she felt Ed’s gaze on her, she rubbed her throat again. He wasn’t stupid. He knew she wasn’t telling the truth. But she had no other choice at this point. She had to do whatever she had to to keep her family safe. She needed time to think, to figure things out. Her adrenaline wanted to race ahead as her mind struggled through the possibilities.

  “I know where all of the entrances to the house are,” Bailey offered. “I can show you and we can make sure they’re secure.”

  Ed nodded. “Good idea. We’ll stick together.”

  She wouldn’t argue with that. She had no desire to wander this place by herself. “Let’s go.”

  They moved throughout the house, checking windows and doors. They said very little as they worked. Bailey tried to ignore the tension between them, tried to pretend that everything was like it was before. Everything hadn’t been great earlier, but now her conscience bothered her. Now she did have a secret and, along with it, she had guilt.

  Just two hours ago, things had seemed relatively simple. She’d planned on reading her novel, turning in for the night, and in the morning she’d depart this place and look for a new job. Though she’d been dreading starting over again, right now she dreaded staying here even more. Especially under these circumstances.

  How could two hours turn her life upside down?

  Finally, Ed checked the last window. It was latched.

  “We’re secure,” he said.

  But Bailey knew that nothing was really secure. Someone very likely was still in this house with them. Where? She had no idea. She hadn’t seen a sign of him as they’d moved throughout the place. Whoever this man was, he was good. He had the ability to disappear. Maybe he’d even planted cameras somewhere. That fact had her on edge.

  “Let’s get back to that fire,” Ed suggested. “It’s freezing in here.”

  Finally, they went down to the living room. Bailey knelt in front of the flames, absorbing the heat for a moment. She only wished the flames could warm her heart as it did her hands. Despair and panic did a tangled dance inside her.

  Ed’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Any food left here?”

  “I donated most of it and threw away the perishables.” She shrugged. “I was planning on leaving in the morning and I didn’t want it to be wasted.”

  Except, she couldn’t now. She had to think of some way to stay. That meant that she should probably get on Ed’s good side, especially since this was his place now.

  “I did save some crackers, cheese, peanut butter and a few apples to snack on until I left. I think there’s coffee and some of that fancy tea your dad liked, also. Would you like me to get them for you?”

  He stared again. The man obviously didn’t trust her. He shouldn’t trust her, at this point. Bailey had always been the kind of person people could depend on, the one people told their secrets to. She didn’t even know how to be untrustworthy, which only added to this crisis of conscience.

  “I’ll get the food,” Ed finally said. “Where did you leave everything?”

  “The kitchen counter. Beside the refrigerator. In a basket.” She’d been planning on taking it with her on the boat. Then she’d call a taxi from the piers to take her to the rental-car agency. She’d been planning on going down to see her sister.

  Ed stepped away. Being away from him both made her relax and feel tenser at the same time. She was glad to be away from his scrutiny, but she couldn’t help worry as she sat alone in the dark.

  Her thoughts revolved around Ed and his credibility. Why hadn’t Mr. Carter kept any pictures of his son around the house? What kind of relationship had the two of them had? Mr. Carter had certainly spoken with pride about his only offspring, but if they had such a close relationship, why hadn’t Ed shown up for his father’s last days? Something wasn’t adding up. A lot of things, for that matter. What if Ed wasn’t who he’d claimed to be?

  She shrugged it off and grabbed some blankets from the closet, leaving a few on the couch in case Ed needed them. Then she pulled the leather recliner closer to the fireplace and settled there, pulling several blankets over herself. The temperature had dropped, and the air in the house was more than chilly. It was downright uncomfortable.

  As another shiver washed over her, she looked over her shoulder. Was the stranger watching her now? Was he waiting for just the right moment to flaunt his power over her? Nausea turned in her stomach at the thoughts.

  Ed appeared with a tray a few minutes later. He’d scrounged up not only some crackers and apples but also a few bottles of water. He set them on the table between them. “I thought you might be hungry, as well.”

  She swallowed hard. “Thank you.”

  As soon as the words left her mouth, her stomach grumbled. It seemed she was hungrier than she’d thought. She leaned forward and grabbed some crackers. If anything, they might help to settle her stomach, which was twisted in knots.

  Ed sat on the couch, ignoring the blankets in favor of leaning closer to the fire, and grabbe
d an apple. “How long did you work for my father, Bailey?”

  Bailey ran a finger over her lips, hoping to dislodge any stray crumbs. “Eight months.”

  “And how’d you end up on an isolated place like Smuggler’s Cove?”

  She shrugged, thinking back on the broken path that had led to her decision to come here. “Long story. I needed some changes in my life. I had worked as a nurse in the ER, but I was tired of the pace, the pressure, the social scene of life back in Raleigh. I decided maybe I should be a home health nurse and applied with an agency. A day later, I got the call about your father.”

  “I’m surprised you lasted more than a week around that ornery man.” He offered a wry smile.

  The mystery of their relationship deepened. The way Ed said the words was with an unmistakable affection, but that didn’t add up with the facts she already knew. “Your father was a wonderful man. I mean, he was kind of gruff sometimes. But once you got past those walls, he was delightful. I loved listening to his stories.”

  He took another bite of his apple and leaned back. “What kind of stories?”

  “Of traveling the world. Of the people he met. Of how our country has changed since he was a boy. He took a lot of pride in the United States and the freedoms we have here.”

  “My dad told you all of that?”

  She nodded. “We had nothing to do but talk. I mean, sometimes we took walks outside or sat by the water or I read books to him. But mostly we talked.”

  Ed’s face tightened, and Bailey wondered about his expression. What was he thinking? That she was lying and that his father couldn’t possibly be that kind? Or did he regret that he’d missed out on his father’s final days?

  “Did he talk about his work very much?”

  Bailey shrugged. “I don’t know. He did mention some of the senators he had to work with and some of the places he got to visit. He usually only talked about that if he had company.”

  Ed raised his eyebrows. “Company?”

  Bailey nodded. “He had some people from work visit him a few times.” At least someone had cared enough to. She kept that thought silent.

  Ed tilted his head to the side. “I thought my father wanted to get away from everything—and everyone. Especially work. He associated it with too much pressure, pressure he didn’t need with his heart condition.”