WITNESS PROTECTION 02: The Baby Rescue

by Margaret Daley

Lisette left the viewing room and met Colton in the hallway. “Harrison is back in his cell. I think that would be a good place to show him Hannah’s picture. The bars might jiggle his mind.”

  “Not cooperating?”

  “No, but at least neither one has asked for his lawyer yet, although they were read their rights.”

  Colton accompanied Lisette to the set of cells the sheriff had at his station.

  She took the photo of Hannah Adams and plastered it against the bars. “Is this the woman who hired you to steal two vehicles?”

  Sitting on his bunk, Harrison looked up and frowned. “Jordan talked?”

  “Yes. Is this the woman who paid you? If you didn’t murder Benjamin Mason, most likely she did. Do you want to go to prison for something she did?”

  Harrison blinked his eyes open wide and pushed off his bed. At the bars, he took hold of the photo and pulled it toward him. He squinted. His forehead wrinkled. “I can’t tell for sure. The lady I met with had bright red hair, big glasses and a mole on her upper lip. This lady doesn’t, so I guess not.”

  “But the photo looks somewhat familiar?”

  “Yeah, I guess. Maybe.” He stuffed it through the bars.

  Lisette grabbed it as the man sauntered to his bunk and sat again. “I understand she was supposed to call you with a place to sell the truck and give you the rest of the money. Did she?”

  “Nope. I thought the money was too good to be true.”

  “Where did you meet her?”

  “At Joe’s Bar two days ago she’d come up to me and said she’d heard I needed money. I said yeah. I ain’t gonna turn down easy money. I have debts. She’d call me when she needed me and said I could make thousands of dollars.”

  “I asked her who I had to kill. She laughed and said nothing like that. She even gave me two hundred dollars to be available at a moment’s notice.”

  “Did she tell you who she was?”

  “Yeah. Harriet Peabody.”

  Lisette peered at Colton standing off to the side. “How were you going to get the thousand dollars?”

  “When she called with the information about which car shop to take the truck to, she would arrange a place to meet me.” Harrison scanned the small cell. “I guess she played me for a fool.” He stretched out on the bed and rolled toward the wall.

  Lisette had no sympathy for the duo. They hadn’t thought a second about the man on the side of the road. They had given her and Colton a merry chase.

  After telling the sheriff where the Cougar was, Lisette accompanied Colton from the station, exhausted but in no way ready to go to bed.

  She’d clutched the door handle on Colton’s Jeep so hard, she broke a couple of fingernails. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starved and tired. This has been one long day.”

  “Let’s go to Maxie’s, then I’ll take you home.” He ran his gaze over her face.

  Leaving a warm trail where his look had touched her. “Sounds wonderful.”

  * * *

  Later in her living room, Lisette headed toward her kitchen. “Since you walked me all the way to my apartment, the least I can do is fix you a cup of coffee. It’s cold out there.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Colton turned in a full circle, taking in her living room—warm and inviting with a tan couch and two navy blue lounge chairs with an end table between them, all grouped in front of a large fireplace with fake logs stacked on a grate. “May I turn the fireplace on?”

  “Sure. After running around in the snow today, it’s going to take a lot to totally thaw me out,” Lisette said from the kitchen, the scent of coffee drifting through the air.

  He stood by the mantel staring at the flames dancing about the pieces of artificial wood. This was one thing he missed when staying in an extended-stay hotel. No fireplaces except down in the lobby. He stepped back, holding his hands out near the fire for a moment before he took a seat on the couch. On one wall there were two bookcases full of books—various fiction titles of different genres as though she couldn’t make up her mind which type of story she liked to read the most.

  Lisette entered with two mugs, steam wafting from them, and passed one to Colton, then sat in a lounger. She kicked off the flats she’d worn under her snow boots and put her feet up on the footrest. “Ah, this feels good. My feet have been screaming at me to get off them for the past few hours.”

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Colton said with a straight face, bringing the cup to his lips and sipping.

  “Funny.” She chuckled. “Actually, it feels good to laugh.”

  “After the week we’ve had, I agree. I like your apartment, especially the fireplace.”

  “It makes the place feel cozy, which after a day like we just had is what I want.” She drank from her mug. “Maxie seemed surprised to see me again. She kept looking at us.”

  “I know I shouldn’t have taken you there a second time, but her food is so good. She’s going to have us engaged if I show up a third time with you.”

  “I’ll remember that when you suggest it again.”

  “We’re getting close to finding Saunders. He’s getting sloppy. He believes he’s thought of everything. Having the woman set up a diversion for his getaway is going to be his downfall. I think it was Hannah Adams, and she hasn’t returned home yet this evening. I have a BOLO out on her car, but nothing.”

  “She might have skipped town. Or they both might have.”

  “I think Saunders has to stay around here to sell Baby C. Otherwise, he’d have been out of here by now. Before I went in to talk with Jordan this evening, I heard back from Marshal Benson. The fingerprints in the house were Saunders’s. That means he was across and down the street from Buddy Smith, whose prints were there along with a couple of sets that couldn’t be matched.”

  “The first thing I’m going to do when I show up for work at the fertility clinic on Wednesday is get Hannah’s fingerprints on an item for you to match the ones in the house. That is, if she shows up for work.”

  He smiled. “Try to be subtle about it. We don’t want you spooking the woman and missing our opportunity to follow her to Saunders.”

  “What if she doesn’t show up?”

  “Don’t go there. I’m not going to think about that. She’ll be there.”

  “What are you, Susie Sunshine?”

  He burst out laughing. “No one has ever accused me of being that.”

  “Why not? Your attitude about justice and what we do is healthier than mine. I let it get to me. You put it in the Lord’s hands.”

  “You can, too. It’s a matter of changing your attitude.”

  “Ah, I love how easy you make that sound.” Lisette cradled the mug between her hands. “I’m still not thawed out.”

  Colton put his hand on a blanket over the back of the couch. “Here, bundle up in this.” He stood and covered the distance between them, then tucked the throw around her. “Better?”

  Her gaze linked with his. A softness in her green depths alerted him to the danger of staying. But he couldn’t back away. His look fastened onto her lips, and he realized he would kiss her before the night was through. She’d been in the hospital the night before, but instead of resting, she dove right back into the case, staying up with him through everything they had experienced today. The apartment was so quiet he heard a clock ticking from another room, and yet he couldn’t move.

  “Why do you keep yourself apart from others?”

  Her question defused the moment as though he had plunged into a snowbank dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. A shiver rippled down his spine, and he stepped away, until the backs of his legs encountered the couch. He sat, dragging his attention away from those lips.

  After a moment, he sliced a look toward her. “I thought we weren’t going to pry into each other’s life.”

  “You don’t have to tell me. You work well with people, but you don’t want to get too close. I was wondering what happened to you to make you like that.”

  “People di
sappointing me over and over. In foster care you learn to not expect much. I learned to keep my distance from others. It was easier.” Telling her felt right, and that surprised him.

  “And lonely.”

  “I have friends.” Even he heard his defensive tone. He knew they weren’t really friends but acquaintances. He didn’t pry into their lives. Didn’t want to. He’d told himself it was because he respected their privacy, but that hadn’t been it. When you got to know someone on a deeper level you gave a part of yourself to them.

  “Friends you confide in?”

  “I confide in God.”

  “I can’t argue with that, but He made us to be social. To be with others.”

  The more he was around her, the more he realized that was true, and he wasn’t very good at it. He had spent a life not being able to protect himself. “I have a question for you. What happened between you and your mother?”

  TEN

  Lisette shifted in the lounger, snuggled beneath the blanket to ward off the coldness that still infused every part of her. But then she stared at Colton, his question still ringing in her ears, and realized she cared for this man. She hadn’t allowed herself to get close to a man since her disastrous relationship with a fellow FBI agent when her world had fallen apart due to her mother’s behavior. Chad had been protecting himself, making it clear he hadn’t really loved her as he professed because his career was more important that any relationship they’d had.

  “That’s a fair question. In all my time in the FBI I’ve never had so much action or so many close calls as I have on this case. It’s made me look at my life differently. What I thought was important isn’t as much.”

  “What did you think was important?” Colton relaxed back, mug in hand, as though they were a couple spending a quiet evening together before a warm fire.

  But until now there had been nothing quiet about their evening. And she appreciated Colton for being able to do that. From what she’d heard about him, he was used to a lot of intense situations. Except for a few kidnappings, most of her cases had been routine and mundane. “What people thought about me. When my mother left the FBI disgraced and under questionable circumstances, I thought the whole agency was looking at me and waiting for the same thing from me. I’d put myself center stage when in reality I wasn’t. You know, one of the first things I thought about when I heard the shot and saw Buddy Smith go down was that I should have talked to my mom, made some attempt to forgive her.”

  “Have you forgiven her?”

  “I’m working on it. We never had a good relationship, especially after my baby sister died. She was a different person after that. Work became everything to her. At the time when I was a child, I felt abandoned even with her nearby. My father left us and I rarely saw him. I spent a lot of time in my hometown with my grandma. New Orleans was my home even though I lived other places most of the year with a mother who wasn’t home much.”

  “Are you going to call her and talk to her?”

  “I don’t know. I’m afraid she’d hang up on me, but I’ve got to make the attempt for myself. Maybe when this is over, I’ll take some time and go see her.”

  “I wish my mother was alive. We had a good relationship, but her death ripped that away.” His voice quavered. “But I did have one foster mom who really tried to make me a part of her family. I’m the one who fought it. I was seventeen, and after seven years of being rejected or feeling like the means for a foster family to make a little money, I didn’t think I belonged anywhere but by myself.”

  Thinking about their childhood hurts jammed Lisette’s throat with emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. She wouldn’t cry—hadn’t since her mother told her tears only showed her weakness. But they were there in a huge knot demanding release.

  Lisette inhaled deep breaths until the constriction about her chest eased. Then she tossed the blanket off and stood. “But you’re never alone with the Lord.”

  He blinked rapidly as if he hadn’t realized that before. “You’re right.”

  She sat on the couch next to him, needing to be near him as though his bodily warmth radiated outward to encompass her. The past forty-eight hours had been rough, but nothing like this. Sharing a part of herself with another seemed far more dangerous. She’d forgotten how to do that since Chad. “I’m glad we talked about our pasts. I think we both needed it. You can’t keep it locked up forever. It has a way of coming out when you least expect it.”

  His mouth quirked into a grin. “You caught me at a rare vulnerable moment. You’re good as an interrogator. If you ever need a reference, I’ll be glad to give you one.”

  She nodded. “Well, thank you, sir. I’ll have to remember that. Maybe we’ll be able to work on another case together.”

  His smile faded. “I’m interviewing for a position in Dallas or L.A. when this case is over.”

  “Ah, that’s right. You’ve been here two years. Time to move on.” A chill returned, and she started to stand, to end the evening before she lost her heart to someone who didn’t want it.

  Colton clasped her hand, halting her, and tugged her back down. “Both offices agreed to wait to make a decision until after this was over and I could interview with them.”

  “Does your Denver office want you to go?”

  “No, but...”

  “It’s become a habit that you move?”

  His mouth firmed. “Nothing has been settled. Why are we talking about this?” His hand holding her wrist moved up her arm, and he drew her closer.

  The beating of her heart escalated, thudding against her rib cage. She should pull away. She couldn’t. His gaze trapped hers and held her tethered to him. He slowly leaned toward her, his other hand coming up and cupping her face. Her throat went dry. She tried to swallow and couldn’t.

  He hauled her closer. The second his lips pressed against hers, she lost any objectivity concerning Colton Phillips. His mouth claimed hers in a vehement kiss that exemplified the man she’d come to care about. Too much.

  She wound her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with welling emotions denied so long she’d forgotten what it felt like to let the walls down even for a few minutes. When he encased her in his embrace, the sensation that she’d come home fluttered through her...and sent off alarms clanging in her mind. He was leaving after this case. She was staying. The walls went up, and she pulled back, her hands clasping his shoulders as if that would keep him away.

  He opened his mouth to say something but instead snapped it closed and rose, causing her arms to fall to her sides. “I’d better go. Tomorrow will be another long day, tracking down leads. The longer he has Baby C, the bigger the risk that we won’t save her in time.”

  She started to stand.

  He waved her down. “I can let myself out.”

  She watched him stroll to the door, part of her wanting to call him back. She gritted her teeth to keep the words inside.

  Before leaving, he turned toward her, gave her a lopsided grin and said, “I don’t regret for one second kissing you.” Then he was gone, the click of the door shutting reverberating through the apartment.

  I wish I could say that. I think he’s taking a piece of my heart with him.

  She scrubbed her fingers down her face, trying to erase his mark on her. She couldn’t. Tonight had changed everything.

  * * *

  On Wednesday, her first day undercover, the fertility clinic closed for lunch from twelve to one. Lisette glanced at her watch and noted five minutes to go. She realized undercover work would never be something she would jump to do again. Playing someone else was hard for her, but she was doing what she had to as a nurses’ aide.

  The morning had dragged while she tried to figure out how to get close to Hannah Adams, but the woman kept busy and wasn’t one for chitchat. At least she came to work today. She’d been gone Monday and Tuesday. Word around the office was she had been sick.

  Lisette hoped Hannah relaxed at noon. She had discovered one thing. Han
nah was supposed to meet the receptionist for drinks on Saturday evening and hadn’t. That had been the day after the masquerade ball. Had something with Saunders kept her busy?

  Shirlee hadn’t been pleased with Hannah, and the atmosphere in the office had grown cold. The nurse seemed to be ignoring the narrowed glares directed at her, almost as though she didn’t even realize how Shirlee felt about being stood up for a night on the town. At least Lisette had been able to text Colton about Hannah being supposedly sick but looking very healthy today. There had been no word back from him yet. She knew he’d been tied up with following the leads Harrison and Jordan had given them and hours of studying traffic camera footage.

  The last patient of the morning left the clinic, and Lisette sighed heavily as she came out of the exam room after sanitizing it.

  Hannah laughed. “You’ll get use to the mad rush. Wednesday is always busy. Friday will be an easier day.”

  Lisette smiled. “I felt like I’d jumped into a raging fire this morning, but I’m hoping this will work into a permanent job. I like being busy. Any advice?”

  “Don’t make plans with a person in the office and not call at least to cancel when you can’t make it.”

  Lisette widened her eyes. “She wasn’t too happy with you.”

  “Yeah, I know. Everyone knows in here. I’m sure even Dr. Martin and Dr. Vincent know. I’m going to have to figure out a way to make it up to Shirlee.” Hannah started walking toward the break room.

  Lisette fell into step next to her. “It must have been pretty important. Just tell her and apologize. She’ll come around.”

  “You don’t know Shirlee. She can hold a grudge.” She stopped short of going into the room, glancing inside.

  Shirlee sat at a round table with two others.

  “Do you want to go to the café on the first floor?” Lisette thought getting her away from the drama in the office would be more conducive to talking.

  “You didn’t bring anything for lunch?”

  “I didn’t know about the break room. I figured I had to go out to eat. First days are tough.”

  “Sure. I’m not relishing eating in the Arctic Circle. Let’s go.”