by Laura Scott
“I have to tell you, you don’t look so good,” Isaac continued. “Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”
“Yeah, man. I’m fine.” Mitch swiped away a trickle of sweat rolling down the side of his face. “Maybe I am sick. I have the flu. Yeah, that’s it. I’m sick with the flu. I need to go home.”
Declan blew out a frustrated breath. Even if the kid did confess to assaulting Tess, a decent lawyer would get him off if he was indeed going through withdrawal. They’d be better off getting Mitch admitted to the hospital and talking to him again when he was sober.
“Pretty sad, huh?” Caleb asked from beside him.
Declan nodded, humbled by the fact that he’d narrowly escaped ending up just like Mitch Turner. Joining the marines had been the best decision he’d made. Without the discipline of being in the service, he didn’t think he’d be where he was today. “Yeah, his mother is an alcoholic, too, so the deck was pretty much stacked against him.”
Caleb grimaced and shook his head. “Raising kids these days is scary. I’m already worried about Kaitlin’s future.”
Declan glanced at him in surprise. Caleb’s six-year-old daughter was adorable, so why on earth would he be worried? “I’m sure Kaitlin will turn out just fine.”
“I hope so,” Caleb muttered. “It kills me to see how many kids’ lives are destroyed by drugs. And they’re getting hooked younger and younger. Noelle insisted on putting Kaitlin in a private school, and I’m glad we did. I’ll take all the help I can get.”
“I hear you.” Declan tried to ignore the tiny flash of envy at Caleb’s life with his new wife and daughter. His buddy had narrowly escaped being wrongly imprisoned for murder, so Caleb certainly deserved to be happy.
Declan glanced at his watch, unwilling to leave Tess and Bobby alone for too long. “I need to get back. There isn’t much more to do here, since Mitch isn’t in any condition to be interviewed. He probably needs to get to the hospital sooner than later.”
“I agree. We found drugs in Mitch’s pocket, so we can arrest him on possession for now. He also had a good two hundred in cash on him. We should be able to add a charge for intent to sell.”
It wasn’t as good as getting him for assault, but Declan was willing to take it. For now. “We need to get a warrant to search Mitch’s house. There’s a chance he might have had something to do with the bomb that was found in Greenland Park.”
“Isaac already has a team out there checking it out,” Caleb assured him. “Do you have any other leads yet?”
“I still think Allan Gray is involved,” Declan admitted. “He’s obsessed with Tess, and I think he’s been following her. And there’s always Jeff Berg, too. I’m still trying to figure out why he took a leave of absence from school.”
“I’ll work on the Jeff Berg angle,” Caleb offered. “I know Isaac was trying to keep an eye on Allan Gray, as well. You’re not in this alone, Deck. Griff told us about the feds, and I just want you to know we’re here for you.”
“I know and I appreciate the help.” Declan knew he was lucky to have friends like Caleb and Isaac. “I don’t suppose the feds have come up with anything useful yet, have they?”
Caleb shook his head. “Not that they’re willing to share.”
That figured. The FBI tended to keep their information to themselves. “All right, call me if anything changes.”
“Will do.”
Declan headed back outside to his truck, anxious to get back to his house. The thought of Tess and Bobby waiting for him made him think about what it might be like to have a family of his own.
Ridiculous to go there. He’d made a conscious decision not to have a family because he was too much like his father to take the risk. Yet somehow that reason didn’t seem good enough anymore. Granted, he’d lost his head when his buddy Tony was shot and killed right next to him, but that was four years ago now, and he hadn’t had a drop of alcohol since.
Would that change if he was in a relationship? He didn’t want to think so but was afraid to hope.
Why was he even thinking about this? There was no guarantee that Tess would be interested in him. She deserved someone better, that was for sure. Not Jeff Berg or Allan Gray, but there had to be plenty of single men who’d be interested in her.
Still, the very thought of Tess being with Isaac or Griff or any of the other single guys from the SWAT team didn’t sit well with him, so he forced himself to stop thinking about Tess as a woman he was interested in.
Tess was in grave danger. He needed to stay focused on that fact. But right now he was fresh out of new leads. He’d really hoped that Bobby might recognize the guy with the green ball cap, but so far the guy was still a mystery man.
He drove home, intending to do more research. They needed a break in this case soon, before another bomb was set and more innocent lives were put at risk.
* * *
Tess finished cleaning up the breakfast dishes and then went back to the kitchen table, to review the photos on Declan’s computer again. She went through each of the images, slowly and deliberately. The guy in the green ball cap still seemed familiar. Why couldn’t she place him?
She rubbed her hand over her eyes and pushed the laptop away. Maybe she needed to stop trying so hard to remember. Since they hadn’t gone to church services this morning, Tess went upstairs to get her Bible.
Bobby glanced at her when she came into the room. “I can’t stop thinking about Mitch,” he admitted. “I wish I could have gone along with Declan.”
Tess picked up her Bible and then turned to face her brother. “You can trust Declan. I’m sure he’ll let us know what happened with Mitch.”
“I wish I would have turned Mitch in to the police sooner,” Bobby confessed. “If I had, he never would have been able to attack you.”
“You can’t think like that,” she chided. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, too, but all we can do is to learn from them and move forward.”
“I guess you’re right.” Bobby waved a hand at her Bible. “I know I wasn’t always good about going to church, but I prayed a lot after Mitch took off and left me alone. Going to church helped me cope. I was there twice before I stumbled across your note.”
She smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. You need to believe that God is always there for you. I can read a few passages to you if you’re interested.”
He shrugged and then nodded. “Okay.”
Tess sat on the edge of her bed and began to read from the book of Psalms. She expected her brother to lose interest, but he seemed to be paying close attention. In fact, they were so engrossed in the passages that she didn’t realize until she’d finished that Declan was standing in the doorway listening in, as well.
“That was great,” he said. “I always thought the Bible would be dull and boring.”
“Tess knows how to make it interesting,” Bobby said proudly, before changing the subject. “So, what happened with Mitch?”
Declan shrugged. “He didn’t admit to assaulting Tess, but he’s been arrested for possession with intent to sell. They were calling an ambulance to take him to the hospital when I left, because he seemed to be going through withdrawal.”
“He’s such an idiot,” Bobby muttered, obviously disappointed that Mitch hadn’t confessed. “You would have thought he’d stay away from drugs after seeing his mother drunk all the time, but maybe this will force him to get the help he needs.”
“We’ll pray for him,” Declan said, surprising Tess. Did that mean he believed in God and the power of prayer? She was thrilled at how he’d listened to her reading from the Bible and hoped that he’d continue on this path, even after they’d gone their separate ways.
That thought was depressing, so she shook it off. “Praying for Mitch is a great idea.” Tess took a deep breath and then bowed her head. “Dear Lord, we ask tha
t You heal Mitch Turner’s addiction and show him the way to God. Amen.”
“Amen,” Bobby and Declan echoed simultaneously.
Tess smiled and felt a deep sense of contentment inside her. Being with Bobby and Declan together was nice, despite the fact that there was still a crazy bomber on the loose.
“Is there something we can do to help you find the guy who’s after Tess?” Bobby asked as he crossed over to Declan.
He shrugged. “I wish there was. Maybe walking through the case again with the two of you will help.”
“Sounds good to me,” Bobby agreed.
“Go ahead, I’ll be down in a little bit,” Tess said.
Bobby and Declan clattered down to the first floor and she took a few minutes to include Declan and Bobby in her prayers.
Tess spent a few minutes in the bathroom, brushing her hair and putting on a coat of clear lip gloss before heading downstairs. She couldn’t deny she wanted to look nice for Declan, and gave herself a mental scolding as she reached the living room.
She paused, listening to his deep voice as he talked to her brother. Her intent wasn’t to eavesdrop, but when she heard Declan saying something about joining the marines, her temper flared.
“What were you telling Bobby?” she demanded as she marched into the kitchen. “I hope you weren’t encouraging him to join the service.”
“Calm down, sis. Declan was just telling me what worked for him, right? I didn’t know he’d been in the marines.”
Declan didn’t say anything, and the warm, tender feelings she’d had toward him earlier quickly vanished.
“Bobby, we talked about this, remember?” Tess said, giving her brother an imploring look. “You said you’d be willing to give college a try. I get that joining the marines made sense for Declan, but you have other options. I have money set aside for your college tuition.”
“I know I have options, Tess. There’s no need to jump all over me.”
She wanted to smack Declan for even putting the idea of joining the armed forces in Bobby’s head in the first place. Why couldn’t he leave well enough alone? Bobby was the only family she had left in the world, and the last thing she wanted to do was to risk losing him in some Third World country. Surely Declan wanted something better for his own kids?
She knew she was overreacting so she tried to pull back her anger. “Don’t do anything rash without talking to me, okay?” she said to Bobby. “Please?”
“I won’t,” Bobby promised.
She nodded, took a couple of deep, calming breaths and finally looked at Declan. “I thought you guys were going to review the case.”
“We are. Have a seat...you can listen in, too.”
Tess dropped into the chair closest to her brother. Declan cleared his throat and began reviewing the facts of the case.
“There have been a total of five bombs so far, the first one at the minimart, the second at the custard stand, the third beneath Tess’s desk—”
“What?” Bobby interrupted. “I didn’t know that the bomb was planted beneath Tess’s desk. The only thing I heard was that it was at the elementary school.”
Tess felt some of her anger melt away remembering how Declan saved her life just two days ago.
“There was a fourth bomb planted near your sister’s car, too,” Declan continued. “And the fifth one was found under the picnic table at Greenland Park. Each of these targets has a link to your sister.”
“Don’t forget, you’re linked to some of those targets, as well,” Tess said.
Declan nodded. “All of these sites are places that kids tend to hang out, so that was one of the reasons that I thought someone like Mitch, or one of his buddies, may have had something to do with them.”
Bobby shook his head. “Like I mentioned before, I never heard anything about this at school. If someone there is involved, they’re not talking about it.”
“Either way, I believe the bomber is someone local, or the targets would be different. They’d be bigger, like a baseball game, a festival, the theater or a music concert.”
Tess’s earlier contented mood evaporated. She knew that the rest of Declan’s SWAT team were investigating the leads they had so far, but it seemed as if there was nothing more they could do, other than to wait for the bomber to make his next move.
* * *
Declan pushed restlessly away from the kitchen table. Talking through the case wasn’t helping the way that he’d hoped, and he hated feeling helpless. Maybe he should be the one following Allan Gray. As far as he was concerned, the guy was at the top of his suspect list.
His phone rang and he was relieved to see that the caller was Caleb. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I found out why Jeff Berg is on a leave of absence—his mother has been admitted to a local hospice, as she’s apparently dying of cancer. I think we can take him off the list of suspects.”
Declan let out a heavy sigh. “You’re right. I guess that’s a good reason to be on a leave of absence. Did Mitch say anything more before you shipped him off to the hospital?”
“Nah, he was babbling a bit and not making much sense. According to his doctor it’ll be several days before we can talk to him again. And Isaac’s team didn’t find anything other than the usual drug paraphernalia at Mitchell’s house, either.”
Declan tried to look on the bright side, but it wasn’t easy. “So the only real suspect we have left is Allan Gray.”
“Don’t forget the guy in the green ball cap, who may not be Allan Gray at all,” Caleb said. “It’s not like you to be so fixated on a suspect like Gray. Must be because he’s Tess’s neighbor.”
“Point taken,” Declan acknowledged, knowing he was letting his personal dislike of Gray get in the way of cool logic. It wasn’t as if he had a reason to be jealous of Allan, not after the way Tess had shot daggers at him after she overheard his conversation with her brother. He knew she was mad, but she didn’t realize Bobby had broached the subject first. Apparently her brother had already talked to an army recruiter, a small detail he obviously hadn’t shared with Tess.
“I put the guy’s basic description, as much as we could identify anyway, through the system to see if there are any other known bombers that might match it, but so far, nothing has popped.” Declan knew that it was a long shot, since they didn’t have an accurate height, weight or eye color to add.
“I can’t think of anything more we can do,” Caleb admitted. “I’m going home to spend time with my family. Let me know if you need anything.”
“All right, thanks, Caleb.” Declan disconnected from the call and glanced at Tess. “Jeff Berg’s mother is dying of cancer, so that’s why he’s back in town.”
“Poor Jeff,” Tess murmured, her gaze full of sympathy.
Bobby grimaced. “I didn’t like him much, but I feel bad for his mother.”
“I was thinking,” Tess said slowly. “We should go through our high school yearbooks. It’s possible that seeing some of the photos of our classmates might jog our memories.”
Declan lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “That’s a great idea, Tess. I meant to do that earlier, especially because I want to get a look at Allan Gray. Give me a few minutes to go upstairs and dig them out.”
He took the stairs two at a time, trying to remember where he’d stored his stuff from high school. Had to be in one of the boxes he’d stashed in the back of his closet.
He should have thought of this sooner, even though it was probably a long shot. What were the chances that the bomber was someone they went to school with? Still, doing something was better than nothing.
He found the yearbooks, blowing the dust off before carrying them downstairs. As he set them on the kitchen table, his phone rang again. This time, the caller was Isaac.
“What’s up?” Declan asked. “I thought y
ou and Caleb were heading home to enjoy a day off.”
“They called in another bomb, Deck. It’s at the Greenland Grand Movie Theater.”
A chill snaked down his spine as Isaac’s words sank in. His sister, Karen, worked there. Was she working today? He didn’t know, but if she was, this would be the second time she was in the path of a bomb. He strove to remain calm, even though his stomach was clenched with fear. “I’m on my way.”
“What’s wrong?” Tess asked.
“I have to go, another bomb has been found at the movie theater where my sister works.” He didn’t want to leave Tess and Bobby alone, but he didn’t have a choice. His sister and other innocent lives were at stake. He grabbed his truck keys off the table. “You both need to stay here and keep hidden until you hear from me.”
Tess’s eyes were as large as saucers, but she nodded her agreement. “I’ll pray for you.”
“Be careful,” Bobby added.
He gave a curt nod and rushed out to his truck, jamming the keys into the ignition and peeling out of his driveway, praying he’d get there in time.
Please, Lord, keep my sister and everyone else at the movie theater safe from harm.
FIFTEEN
Tess watched Declan leave, feeling helpless. She couldn’t imagine what he must be going through, knowing his sister’s life could be in danger once again.
She closed her eyes and prayed for everyone’s safety. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised and humbled to see that Bobby had been praying, as well.
Her brother flashed a sheepish grin. “Declan needs all the help he can get.”
“I know.” She didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so she gestured toward Declan’s computer. “We can’t sit here doing nothing—we need to figure out who is behind setting these bombs.”
“We’re not exactly trained investigators,” Bobby reminded her. “But I agree that we need to try and do something to help. I still think Allan Gray could be involved.” Bobby pulled Declan’s computer around to face him. “Maybe Allan’s on social media.”