At Close Range

by Laura Griffin

  “Dr. Zachary Greene hired the hits,” Rey said. “One of our agents has tracked down payments he made to Doern that corroborate it. He’s lawyered up already, but before he did, we at least got him to identify the pilot who was killed in the chopper. It’s John Wells, who we’ve been looking at as an accomplice of Rodney Doern. They worked at Black Echo together.”

  “Wait,” Rachel said. “So, you’re telling me this Dr. Greene was running a cloning operation, too? Right here in our backyard?”

  “Yes, but not horses,” Dani said. “Greene’s a fertility specialist. He’s attempting to clone people.”

  Rachel stood there, speechless for once, as Dani gave her the nutshell version of Mia’s explanation of the process and the dangers involved.

  “He’s become famous in his field,” Rey said. “And he’s made a fortune. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been building a file on him for a year.”

  “Why?” Rachel asked.

  “His patients flagged our attention. He’s been bringing in all these young Eastern European women to work on his ranch, saying they were grooms and riding instructors. ICE started to think he was running some kind of sex-trafficking operation with all these women.”

  “But he’s using them as human guinea pigs,” Dani said. “He’s using them as breeders.”

  “Breeders?”

  “He’s trying to get his cloning business off the ground and he needs women he can experiment on.”

  Rachel shuddered. “Unbelievable.”

  “Believe it,” Rey said. “He basically lured the scientists in with money, harvested their IP, and then decided to get rid of them so they couldn’t share their expertise with anyone else.”

  “The irony is sick.” Dani shook her head. “A famous baby doctor hiring hit men to kill people?”

  “So, will he be facing federal charges, or do we get a crack at him?” Rachel wanted to know.

  “Talk to ICE,” Rey said. “But as for the murder-for-hire plot, that’s all you.”

  “Not just one murder. Four,” Dani said.

  “And attempted murder of two police officers,” Reynolds added.

  “This man sounds like a piece of work,” Rachel said. The prosecutor had a feral look in her eyes, and Dani knew she couldn’t wait to get her hands on the case.

  “Detective Harper?”

  She turned around to see one of the nurses she’d spoken with earlier. “The patient you were asking about is taking visitors now.”

  Dani left the group and followed the nurse back to an exam room. A young blond woman passed Dani in the hall, and she did a double take. She hadn’t realized that Audrey Ayers and her sister Lesley were identical twins.

  The nurse opened the door to the dim room. Audrey looked to be sleeping, but she opened her eyes as Dani stepped inside.

  “Hi.”

  “They said you wanted to talk to me.” Audrey’s voice sounded meek. Defeated.

  Dani pulled up a chair beside the bed. Audrey wore a hospital gown and looked frail under a thin blue blanket. When paramedics found her in Greene’s exam room, she’d been under heavy sedation.

  Dani glanced at Audrey’s wristband. “Will you be staying overnight or—”

  “I’ve been discharged. My sister went to get some clothes for me to wear out of here.”

  Dani cleared her throat. She didn’t know where to begin, so she plunged right in. “I read the statement you gave Special Agent Santos. I have some follow-up questions.”

  Audrey sighed and looked away.

  “Audrey, when I first interviewed you after your husband’s murder . . . did you have any idea your doctor was involved?”

  Another sigh.

  Which answered Dani’s question.

  “I guess I suspected.” Audrey wiped a tear from her cheek. “But I didn’t really know, you know?”

  Dani just looked at her, seething with frustration. Why hadn’t Audrey voiced her suspicions in the beginning? Nathan Collins might be alive right now. And Scott might not have been shot. Same for Sean, who was in surgery at this very moment getting pins put in his leg.

  Audrey looked at Dani with dull eyes. Only hours ago she’d had a miscarriage. She was grieving, and Dani didn’t have the heart to pile on.

  “Did you know about the grooms? That they were part of his big experiment?”

  “I didn’t know. I thought it was just a few of us, and I thought they were women with fertility problems, like me. I mean, I’d seen a couple of them at the clinic, but I didn’t realize they worked on his ranch until I was out there yesterday.”

  “But you suspected all along that Greene might be behind your husband’s murder?”

  Audrey nodded. “Dr. Z has this God complex. Like he’s smarter than everyone. It’s always given me the creeps. And when James was murdered, I thought . . . maybe he was involved. Then I heard about Mike Kreznik, too, and I just knew.”

  “And you still wanted to be his patient?”

  She looked at Dani for a long moment. “You don’t understand.” Audrey shifted her gaze to the window. “So much in my life . . . my marriage, my family . . . It’s all been a big disappointment.”

  Dani watched her, trying to put herself in Audrey’s place so she could understand. But she truly couldn’t. This woman had known who was behind the murder of four people, yet she’d said nothing.

  Dani looked down at her hands, still scraped and bruised from everything that had happened that day. She thought of Sean upstairs, under the knife. She thought of Scott on the ground with Doern, fighting for his life. An ice-cold anger filled her.

  Selfish, selfish, selfish. She had nothing more to say to this woman.

  “I should go.” Dani stood up.

  “I know you don’t understand me. Nobody does. You don’t know what it’s like to want a baby so badly you’ll do anything, overlook anything, just for a chance to have a child.”

  Dani paused in the doorway. “Overlook anything . . . including murder? You’re right, I don’t understand that.” Frustration welled up inside her. If only this woman had been honest from the beginning, much of this would never have happened.

  Audrey obviously wanted Dani’s sympathy, but she had none. She turned and left. She pushed through the double doors into the waiting room and nearly bumped into Scott, stepping off the elevator.

  “Hey.” He caught her arm. “I was looking for you.”

  At the sight of him, Dani’s bitterness evaporated and all she felt was relief. She glanced at his bandage. “How’s your arm?”

  “It’s a scratch. Could have fixed it myself.” He gazed down at her for a long moment, and she was transfixed by the heated look in his eyes. “Come here.”

  “What?”

  He pulled her around the corner to a drinking fountain and leaned her against the wall. He kissed her with a fierceness that caught her off guard. His mouth moved over hers, and she started feeling those warm shivers that only happened when they were alone. But they were in a public place.

  She pulled back.

  “I can’t get it out of my head, Dani.” He wrapped his arms around her.

  “What?”

  “When I couldn’t find you in all that smoke, I thought . . .” He rested his head against hers. “I don’t want to tell you what I thought.”

  She pulled back to look at him, and in all her life she’d never seen so much worry in his eyes.

  He stroked his thumb over the scrape on her cheek. “You scared the hell out of me.”

  She kissed him. Because she didn’t know what to say, and it always seemed to be the best way to communicate with him. His mouth was hot and hungry and possessive, and she wanted more than anything to go home with him right this minute.

  She eased back and caught a glimpse of Rachel watching them from across the waiting room.

  Drew stood beside her.

  “Shit,” Dani muttered.

  “What?”

  “My brother’s watching us.”

&nbs
p; Scott just held her. He didn’t seem to care who was watching. “Want me to talk to him?”

  “He looks like he wants to strangle you.”

  As if on cue, Drew walked over, a flinty look in his eyes. Despite the late hour, he hadn’t been home yet. He was in the same suit he’d had on that morning when they’d had their fight at Dani’s house.

  Dani tried to step away, but Scott caught her hand and held her in place, lacing his fingers through hers.

  He turned to face her brother. “Drew.”

  “Scott.”

  For a long moment they said nothing, just stared at each other.

  “I heard about what happened,” Drew said. “We got word there was an officer down.” He cleared his throat. “Thank you for getting my sister out of there in one piece.”

  “Um, hello? I’m standing right here.”

  “She got herself out,” Scott said.

  “Yeah, well . . . thanks anyway.” Drew looked at Dani. “Can I talk to you in private?”

  Scott released her hand, and she followed Drew to the nurses’ station.

  Folding his arms over his chest, he stared at her.

  “What?”

  “You’re all cut up. Are you really okay?”

  “It’s just a scratch,” she said, borrowing Scott’s words.

  “No, I mean with him.”

  She sighed. “Yes, Drew.”

  He searched her eyes, and she could see the genuine worry there. “I have to tell you, I’m not happy about this.”

  “You’ll get over it.”

  “You could get hurt, Dani. This could turn into a real mess.”

  “Yeah, well, it’ll be my hurt. And my mess.”

  His gaze narrowed. “Are you in love with him?”

  “Yes.”

  The word flew out of her mouth without her even thinking about it.

  Drew sighed. “I knew it.”

  She went up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Stop worrying.”

  “I can’t. You’re my sister.”

  “Try.”

  He sighed and walked away, rejoining Rachel and the feds. Dani turned back to Scott. He had his shoulder propped casually against the wall, but the look on his face was serious.

  “You all right?” he asked when she came back.

  She kissed him, long and deep—way too much for a public place, but she couldn’t help herself.

  She pulled away and looked up into those blue eyes she loved so much. “I am now.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Jorge looked just like Ric. He had dark hair and big, beautiful eyes and a tiny dimple at the base of his chin. Mia snuggled him against her breast and kissed his head.

  A quiet sigh had her glancing up at Ric in the chair beside her bed. “What?”

  He rested his hand on her knee. “You. Him.” He leaned closer, and the love-struck look in his eyes filled her with happiness.

  “He’s perfect, isn’t he?” She gazed down at the tiny hand flexing against her breast.

  Ten little fingers, ten little toes. Ric had counted them over and over. He’d interrogated the OB. And the pediatrician. And every orderly who stepped into the room to check on them. He’d watched with rapt attention as the floor nurse demonstrated how to clean the baby’s umbilical cord and change his diaper and swaddle him.

  Ric squeezed Mia’s hand now and gazed down at his one-day-old son. “You make me happy. Both of you.”

  Tears filled her eyes again. She knew it was the hormones, but she couldn’t seem to stop weeping.

  A soft knock sounded at the door, and she glanced up to see Dani.

  “Hi,” she said nervously. “Rey said you were taking visitors? I can come back if—”

  “Come right in,” Mia said.

  Dani took a tentative step into the room as Ric stood up.

  “Congratulations to both of you. He’s beautiful.”

  Ric smiled proudly. “Eight pounds, ten ounces.”

  “Wow.” Dani stepped closer. “Impressive.” She glanced at Mia. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

  “You’re not,” Ric said. “Fact, I was just about to make a coffee run. You want anything, babe?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Ric slipped out, and Dani took the chair he’d been sitting in. She put a little blue gift bag on the table beside a balloon bouquet.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Tired.” Mia smiled. “And emotional.”

  Dani nodded.

  “But happy emotional, you know?”

  Dani nodded again, but Mia could tell she didn’t really understand. Maybe she would someday.

  “How’s Sean?” Mia asked, changing the subject.

  “Doing better. I was just up there visiting, and he said they’re sending him home Friday.”

  “That’s good news.”

  “He’s in for a lot of rehab.”

  “He’s lucky to be alive.” Mia unlatched the baby and shifted him to the other side, then rearranged her nightgown. “Sorry.” She cast a look at Dani.

  “Don’t be sorry.”

  “Ric told me the helicopter pilot is the other one they were looking for? The accomplice?”

  “That’s right.” Dani cleared her throat. “He and Doern were together at a private security firm called Black Echo. They left there several years ago and started freelancing together.”

  Mia shuddered. “It’s so unreal that all this happened.”

  “Thanks for your help figuring it out.”

  “Sure.” She glanced up. “So, what’s this I hear about you and Scott Black?”

  Dani smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I don’t know. What did you hear?”

  “That you two got together somehow in the middle of all of this?”

  “You could say that.” Dani reached out to stroke her finger over the blue-and-pink-striped baby blanket.

  Mia could tell Dani didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe it hadn’t settled out yet.

  “I don’t know. It feels strange. I care about him so much that I’m scared, Mia.”

  “Of what?”

  “I’m not sure. That I’ll screw it up. Does that make any sense?”

  “Yeah, it does.” Mia gazed down at Jorge’s soft little cheek. “It makes total sense.” She looked at Dani. “How does Scott seem about everything?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Have you talked about it?”

  “He’s not really a talker.”

  “Well. Give it time.”

  Jorge stopped nursing. Mia gazed down at him and stroked his forehead.

  “He’s so beautiful,” Dani whispered.

  “I know.”

  “Is he asleep?”

  “Yeah.”

  Mia got up and straightened his blanket. “You want to hold him?”

  “What, now?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’d hate to wake him. I’ll hold him next time.”

  Mia smiled and settled him into the bassinet.

  Ric walked in with a superlarge cup of coffee. “He sleeping?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I should go,” Dani said. “You guys get some rest.”

  She hugged them good-bye and slipped out. As the door whisked shut, Ric looked at her.

  “How is she?”

  Confused. Terrified. In love. “She’s good, I think,” Mia said, lying back on the bed. “How are you?”

  “Tired.” He stretched out beside her. Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. “Tired and happy.”

  • • •

  For the first time in her life, Dani woke up in Scott’s house.

  She was alone again. The dark blue sheets smelled like him. She closed her eyes and soaked up the delicious scent as she listened to him rattling around in the kitchen. Six straight nights they’d spent together, and not once had she beaten him out of bed in the morning. He was a chronic early riser. She guessed it had to do with all those years in the military.

  Dani go
t up and ducked into the bathroom. She found an extra toothbrush in the linen closet along with a clean towel. She turned on the shower and brushed her teeth. As she stared at the mirror, she itched to open the medicine cabinet, but she held back. She didn’t want to learn about him through snooping. She wanted him to open up to her, even though that would be a much slower process. Dani had never been patient, but with Scott she was determined to try.

  She stepped into the shower and stood under the spray, letting the hot water sluice over her. It was Saturday, and she had the whole day ahead of her. She planned to stop into work briefly to take care of some paperwork, and then she wanted to swing by Mia’s. And maybe visit her parents. And hopefully spend the evening with Scott, even though they hadn’t talked about it.

  She reached for the shampoo and her hand froze. On the shelf beside the big black bottle were two slender white ones. They cost fifteen bucks apiece and smelled like strawberries, and Dani stared at them until her stomach hurt. Who had put those there? Scott? Or some woman he’d had over?

  She finished showering and climbed out.

  She dressed in her clothes from yesterday and brushed her hair. She went into the kitchen and spotted Scott through the window, walking in from the garage, where he had a weight bench. He wore shorts but no shoes. His chest was slick with sweat and he had a towel draped around his neck.

  Dani’s heart lodged in her throat. She loved him. It was so plain, so clear, in the bright light of morning.

  All this time she’d told herself she didn’t need anyone, that she was okay being aloof and alone, and it was a lie. She wanted someone to hold her at night. She wanted someone to come home to each day, someone to tease her and listen to her and share after-sex food with at three in the morning. And not just someone. She wanted Scott.

  She was in love with him. Her chest ached with it, and even if she was setting herself up for disappointment, she couldn’t make the feeling go away.

  He stepped through the door. “Morning,” he said, toweling off his face and looking her over.

  Her heart was racing, and she discovered she couldn’t speak.

  “There’s coffee.” He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.