“Not so funny,” he murmured, his hand slipping from her jaw and sliding under the hair at her nape, his palm raspy and warm and altogether too wonderful.
“Austin, this isn’t a good idea.”
“No?”
“No.” But she was leaning into him, her hands on his chest, her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, every cell in her body yearning for him in a way that she had never yearned for Rick. Had never yearned for anyone.
“I’ll stop if you want me to, Eva. I’ll walk away and let you and Brady go on the way you were. Just say the word, and I’ll go home.”
She couldn’t.
Didn’t.
And his lips touched hers, gently, easily. No pressure. No demands. She wanted so much more, and she slid her hands into his hair, pulled him closer. She yearned for this, for him.
She lost herself in the sweetness of the kiss, the gentleness of his touch, her heart thundering wildly, her body humming with need.
“Momma! Help me!” Brady’s desperate scream cut through the moment, his terror making Eva’s knees weak, her body fluid and loose.
Justice barked. One quick sharp burst of sound that seemed to be coming from Brady’s room.
“Brady!” Eva tried to run, but Austin pulled her back.
“Stay here!” he shouted as he ran into Brady’s room, his heart pounding double-time, his muscles tight with fear.
Brady seemed to be half asleep, sitting in the middle of his bed, his white-blond hair sticking up in every direction.
That’s the first thing Austin noticed.
The second thing he noticed was Justice, his paws resting on the window frame, his nose pressed against the glass. Hackles raised, body stiff, he growled long and low, the warning raising the hair on the back of Austin’s neck.
“Did you see something, boy?” He touched the dog’s head, and Justice dropped down, his body relaxing as if whatever he’d seen was gone. Austin scanned the area beyond the window. Purple dusk had turned to pitch-black night, deep shadows shrouding the yard. No moonlight. Just darkness upon darkness.
“Brady!” Eva skidded to a stop next to the bed, her face pale, her eyes filled with fear. “What’s wrong?”
“He was trying to get in the window. I saw him, Momma. He was coming to get me again.” Brady threw himself into her arms, and she sat on the edge of the bed with him, her hair just a shade darker than his, her lips still pink from Austin’s kiss.
“Who was trying to get you, sweetie?” She smoothed Brady’s hair.
“The man with the brown hair.”
“Maybe you were dreaming,” she said, but her gaze jumped to the window, then settled on Austin. “Do you see anything?”
“No, and neither does Justice,” he said, because the bloodhound lay relaxed and at ease near his feet. Someone had been there, though. Austin didn’t say that. Not in front of Brady. The poor kid was already scared enough.
“See, Brady? Everything is okay. If it wasn’t, Justice would be barking and growling.”
“But I saw him, Momma. I really did. Justice growled, and I looked, and he was right there,” Brady insisted, but he sounded tired, his eyes drifting closed as he leaned against Eva.
“Whatever you saw is gone now. Go to sleep, sweetie.” She eased Brady onto his pillow, covered him with a thick, blue blanket, kissed the fading bruise on his forehead and motioned for Austin to follow her into the hall.
His hair was mussed from her hands, his eyes blazing. The feel of his lips was still warm on hers. She wanted to throw herself back in his arms and tell him how scared she was. Wanted to listen as he told her everything would be okay.
She wrapped her arms around her waist instead, glancing into the room. Brady lay still and silent. Probably sound asleep again.
“Justice saw something, didn’t he?” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
“Could it have been a deer or a mountain lion? Maybe a bear?” That’s what she wanted it to be. Any one of those things would be better than the alternative.
“Justice doesn’t growl or bark at animals. I’m going to take him out back. I’ll knock when we’re finished.”
“Austin...” She didn’t know what she wanted to say, her thoughts lost in the swirl of dread that filled her mind and drove everything else away.
“It’s going to be okay, Eva.” He cupped her shoulders, his palms warm through her T-shirt, his gaze steady. She’d spent her life wondering what it would be like to have someone she could really depend on. As she looked into Austin’s eyes, she thought she finally knew.
“I hope you’re right.”
Austin did, too. He squeezed Eva’s hand, dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
* * *
Austin hooked Justice to his lead and led him out the back door, using his flashlight to illuminate the dark edges of the yard.
Justice snuffled the ground as they moved toward Brady’s window. The bloodhound paused there, huffing deeply as he nosed the grass.
“What do you smell, boy?” Austin crouched near the house, studying the packed earth beneath the window. No footprints visible, but that didn’t mean no one had been there.
“Something going on out here? I saw a light and thought I’d better check things out.” The patrol officer who’d been sitting guard out front walked around the corner of the house. Older than Austin by a couple of decades, he had the confident walk and the straightforward air of someone who knew his job and did it well.
“Brady thought he saw someone looking in the window at him.”
“If he did, the person didn’t walk around from the front of the house.”
“It would have been easy enough for someone to cut through the back neighbor’s property without being seen. It’s black as pitch out here,” Austin replied, and the patrol officer nodded.
“True. Did your dog alert?”
“He saw something.”
“How about I dust for prints? See if we come up with anything on the sill?”
“Sounds good. I’ll see if Justice can pick up a scent and track it. I’ll radio in if we find anything. Seek,” he commanded.
Responding immediately, Justice inhaled deeply, his body trembling with excitement as he raced through the neighbor’s backyard and onto the street beyond it.
SIXTEEN
Midnight and still no sign of Austin.
Exhausted, Eva paced the living room for another hour and finally gave up her vigil. She changed into flannel pajamas and climbed into bed next to Brady. He seemed to be sleeping nightmare free, his body limp and his breathing deep. Good. After a couple of restless nights, he needed his sleep.
Eva did, too, but she couldn’t make herself relax enough to drift off. Every creak of old wood, every groan of wind in the eaves reminded her that someone might have been stalking the house just a few hours ago.
Stalking Brady.
Please, God, let the police find the second kidnapper soon. Please keep Brady safe until they do, she prayed silently.
Brady whimpered in his sleep, and she smoothed his hair and kissed his forehead, finally giving up on the idea of rest. She went to her room and dug through her dresser drawer. Her mother’s Bible was there. Unlike the hardcover Bible Eva usually read from, her mother’s was soft, worn leather and still held just a hint of the cheap perfume that Tonya had worn every day of her life for as long as Eva could remember.
Eva carried it into the living room and flicked on the lamp, the soft, golden glow chasing away the darkness and some of her fears. She pulled back the curtain, making sure the patrol car was sitting at the curb.
Still there.
And still no sign of Austin.
He’d said that he’d stop back in when he was finished his search, so where was he?
Had he been attacked? Overcome? Injured?
She tried to push away the thoughts. It didn’t do any good to speculate. But she couldn’t seem to help herself. She kept imagining his b
ody lying bleeding and broken somewhere. Imagined him in desperate need of help with no one to turn to.
“Stop it!” she hissed, settling on the couch and curling up under the afghan Mrs. Daphne had given her for Christmas. She felt cold to the bone, her body aching with it, her teeth chattering. If she hadn’t been completely terrified by the thought, she’d have walked into the backyard and grabbed a couple of pieces of firewood from the pile, started a fire in the fireplace.
She was terrified, though, so she stayed put, pulling the afghan closer and letting the Bible fall open, knowing exactly which passage it would fall to. Isaiah 40:31.
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not become faint.
The words were underlined and highlighted, the page stained with years’ worth of tears that had flowed because Tonya had married a criminal, a rake, a liar, a thug. Tears that had fallen because she’d felt trapped by her commitment and the love that had made her weak.
So many tears.
Eva’s first memory was of her mother crying. She’d been five or six and peeking out of her room after Ernie stormed from the trailer. She could still remember the knot in her stomach as she’d watched her mother pick up the shattered plates and the old clock that Ernie had destroyed. Tonya had been young. Maybe twenty-four, but she’d moved like an old woman, bending slowly as if every bone hurt. When she was done, she’d pulled the Bible from its hiding place under the couch cushions and lowered herself into the old rocking chair, tears pouring down her face, her lips moving as she read words that should have comforted her.
Eva didn’t want to be that woman, rocking to the rhythm of her sorrow. She didn’t want to be so in love with someone that she lost every bit of who she was.
She wanted a love that built rather than tore down. A relationship that made her better rather than worse.
She wanted the dream she’d had when she was a kid. The happy home and the loving husband.
Someone knocked on the door, the soft sound pulling Eva from the past. Austin. She didn’t have to look to know it was him. She swiped her hand over the Bible’s wrinkled page, trying to wipe away the memory of her mother’s tears, her hand shaking, her heart beating hard and heavy as she walked to the door.
She felt sick with the memories of her mother, tired in a way that she hadn’t been since she’d found Tonya lying in a pool of her own blood, her hand reaching for her husband’s. Even in death. Even after she’d given the last bit of what she had for him.
Eva opened the door, crisp winter air gusting in and cooling her heated cheeks, her heart leaping as she looked into Austin’s eyes.
If anyone could ever be her happily-ever-after, it was him.
The thought whispered into her heart, lodged there and she couldn’t deny it.
“Sorry it’s so late. I wouldn’t have knocked, but I saw your light go on, and I thought you’d like an update,” Austin said quietly as he unhooked Justice’s leash and stepped inside.
“I was up waiting for you, so you don’t have to apologize.” Her voice sounded gravelly and thick with the tears that she didn’t want to shed.
Tears for her mother.
For herself.
Tears for the things that could have been if Tonya had only been strong enough.
“Are you okay?” he asked gently, pulling her into his arms and pressing her head to his chest.
She knew she should back away, deny herself the comfort that he offered, but she wanted to stand there with him almost as badly as she wanted to take her next breath. Her hands slid beneath his coat, her heart thudding painfully, her breath coming in a quick dry sob.
“Eva?” He eased back, looked into her face. “What is it, honey?”
“Why can’t you be a horrible person, Austin? Why can’t you be untrustworthy and mean? If you hated children and kicked puppies and chewed tobacco, it would be so much easier to walk away from you.”
“Who says you have to walk away?” He smiled a little, running a knuckle down her cheek, sliding it over her bottom lip.
“Me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m a coward.”
“You aren’t even close to being that.” He pressed a gentle kiss to the palm of her hand, closed her fingers over it, and her entire body shuddered with longing.
“You’re wrong. I’m the biggest coward in the world.” She dropped onto the couch, pulled the afghan close. It wasn’t nearly as warm as Austin. “Did you and Justice find anyone?”
“We tracked a scent trail for a few miles, but lost it close to downtown.”
“So someone really was looking in Brady’s window?” She hadn’t wanted to believe it, but she couldn’t say she was surprised.
“Yes, and there’s more. We pulled a print from the windowsill. There was a match for it in our database. That’s why I was gone for so long.”
“You have a name?”
“Don Frist. He has a rap sheet a mile long. Mostly petty crime, but he was in jail last year on drug-possession charges. I pulled his mug shot. He’s our second kidnapper.”
“You’re sure?” She grabbed his hand, didn’t even realize she was holding on to him until his thumb ran across her wrist, the sweeping caress sending heat through her blood.
“Positive. He’s the guy I saw in the Lost Woods. We have a warrant out for his arrest. All we have to do is find him.”
“What if he comes back before you do?” The thought of him skulking around the house, searching for a way inside, made her stomach churn.
“We’ve upped police presence in the neighborhood and put a patrol car on the street behind yours. That will make it more difficult for him to access your yard through the neighbor’s.”
“Difficult, but not impossible.”
“No.” He paused, ran a hand down his jaw. “Eva, there’s something else.”
“Go ahead.”
“Frist’s fingerprints matched some that were pulled from your parents’ home after their murders.”
“Are you saying that he killed my parents and now he’s after my son?” She stood so quickly, she felt dizzy, stars dancing in front of her eyes, darkness sweeping in so unexpectedly that she would have fallen if Austin hadn’t grabbed her waist and held her steady.
“Sit back down, Eva, before you pass out.”
“I’m not going to pass out.” But she sat, anyway. Just in case. “Now, will you please tell me what’s going on? Did Frist murder my parents?”
“Aside from the fingerprints, there was no evidence to link him to the crime. He was questioned after his prints were found, and he had an airtight alibi.”
“What alibi? A friend vouching for him? A glimpse of him at a bar somewhere?” She sounded bitter and angry. She felt bitter and angry. Two years she’d been waiting for a suspect to be named and someone to be arrested, and the police had had Frist’s fingerprints all along.
“He was at a wedding in Maine, and he had photos and plane tickets to prove it. He said that his fingerprints were at the crime scene because he was a friend of your father’s.”
“My father didn’t have any friends.” He’d had people who he used and people who used him, but no friends.
“The investigating officer thought there might be a criminal connection between the two of them, but that didn’t mean that Frist was the murderer.”
“It didn’t mean he was innocent, either.”
“No, but there were other fingerprints at the scene. A couple of sets that were identified. A couple that weren’t.”
“Why is this the first that I’m hearing of it?” she asked sharply.
“I can’t answer that, Eva. I wasn’t the investigating officer. If I had been, I’d like to think that I would have been a lot more forthcoming with you.”
Her eyes bore into his. “You’d like to think it?”
“It would be easy for me to say that I would have been, but sometimes
information is kept from the family of the victims out of compassion or concern.”
“Right.” She walked across the room, tried to wrap her mind around everything he’d told her. “You don’t have any proof that Frist murdered my parents, but you do have proof that he was at my house and that he kidnapped Brady. He’ll at least pay for that.”
“Right, and we’re looking for more. We’re waiting for a judge to issue a search warrant. Once he does, we’ll go into Frist’s house and see what we can find.”
“In the meantime, Brady is still in danger.”
“And will be until we can bring Frist in. I think you need to consider bringing in a tutor while all this is going on. Having him at home rather than school will make it easier for us to protect him.”
“A tutor for how long?” she asked.
“For as long as it takes to find Frist.”
“That could be months, Austin, and I can’t take any more time off work. Arianna has already made it clear that I’d better show up on Wednesday. If I don’t, I’ll lose pay, and I can’t afford that.”
“Don’t worry. Everything is taken care of,” he told her.
“What do you mean?”
“Slade and I agreed that Mrs. Daphne couldn’t be Brady’s babysitter while you work. We’ll have a police officer take over until all this blows over.”
“Blows over? You make it sound like a thunderstorm.” She sighed, and he smiled, lifting the Bible from beside her and letting it fall open in his hands.
If Tonya had met him, she’d have thought he was exactly the kind of man Eva deserved.
The thought made her eyes burn and her chest tight.
“Yours?” he asked, and she knew he was looking at the tearstains, the underlined words, the pain.
“It was my mother’s.”
“What was she like?”
What had Tonya been like?
When Eva thought of her, all she saw were tears.
“Sad.”
Tracking Justice (Texas K-9 Unit) Page 14