Cold Truth: (Cold Harbor Book 2)

by Susan Sleeman

“Answer it on speaker. Try to keep him talking. Maybe he’ll slip up and say something helpful.” Coop squeezed her shoulder and settled on the chair next to her.

  “Hello.” Her voice shook.

  “I’m having fun playing our game, Kiera.” The gravelly computer voice scraped against her nerves and nausea swam in her stomach. “Aren’t you?”

  Lying didn’t come naturally to her. She believed in truth at all costs, but what would the cost be here if she told the truth? She glanced at Coop for help. He mimed zipping his mouth. She got it. He didn’t want her to say no the way she had on the prior call. She took his hint and didn’t say anything at all.

  “Are you still there, Kiera?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want to see your brother alive?”

  What kind of question was that? Of course she did, and he knew it. “Yes.”

  “Then you must answer my questions.”

  “I will.” She hated how defeated she sounded, and she didn’t want to let him know how he affected her so she took a breath and gave herself a quick pep talk. She could do this. After all, it was just a phone call.

  Right. Just a call from the man who has your brother’s very life in his hands.

  “So, Kiera, I hear you sampled your brother’s cocaine and you ended up in the ER.”

  “Those weren’t Kevin’s drugs.”

  “The drugs were in his home. They had to be his.”

  “Wait, how do you even know about this?” she asked. “Are you watching me? You are, aren’t you?” Her stomach roiled and acid burned up her throat.

  “Of course, I’m keeping tabs on you. How else can I stay one step ahead of you?”

  His superior tone grated on her, and she couldn’t keep her emotions in check any longer. “Just tell me where Kevin is. Then you won’t have to track anyone. Tell me. Tell me now!”

  Coop grabbed her hand, warning her with a look to calm down and not blow this.

  “One more outburst like that and we’re finished. Which means Kevin’s finished. Now say you’re sorry.”

  “I’m sorry,” she got out, nearly choking on the words.

  “Are you with your new friends?” he asked. “I really don’t like them.”

  “Friends are important,” she said the only thing that came to mind.

  “I agree. Kevin is a wonderful friend.”

  Ah-ha. Maybe she’d gotten him to admit something after all. “You’re friends?”

  “We’ve gotten to know each other quite well lately.”

  “Were you friends before you took him?”

  “Now, Kiera, that’s not something I’m going to tell you.” He tsked. “Are you ready for your next question?”

  No, tell me more. Let me figure this out without one of your confounded questions. “Yes.”

  “Here we go.” His voice perked up as much as a scrambled voice could perk. “Name this law. At a constant temperature, the amount of a given gas that dissolves in a given type and volume of liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of that gas in equilibrium with that liquid.”

  “Henry’s law.”

  “Very good, Kiera. Good luck in your next phase of the game.”

  “Wait, don’t go. I need more information. This is too broad. Too vague.”

  “I’m sorry, Kiera. You’re the one who graduated number one in your class. My little challenge should be a snap to solve.”

  She heard him take a long breath and let it out instead of disconnecting.

  “By the way, you can pop into the website any time you want to check on your precious Kevin. And you’ll record your findings from this clue there as well. Once again, you have twenty-four hours. This is fun, isn’t it, Kiera? Buh-bye now.”

  Kiera lowered her phone to the table and tears pricked at her eyes. She was going to cry like a big blubbering baby in front of these strong men and woman. Yeah, she’d been right. She wasn’t an adventurer. She was someone who belonged behind a lab table. Stuck inside all day with only the world of chemistry to confront. That she could handle. Not this. Not this very dangerous situation. It was obvious even trained law enforcement and experts couldn’t help her.

  Maybe she should ask God for help. He knew where Kevin was located and how to rescue him when no one else did. But would God even listen to her? She’d been independent for so long—even blocking God out of her life—that now it felt awkward to pray. But she had to. Kevin deserved prayer. The team deserved prayer.

  Through her tears, she offered an earnest request for help from the depths of her soul. Immediately, the heaviness in her heart lifted. She blinked in surprise. Maybe God had heard her after all. She wiped her eyes, embarrassed that she’d fallen apart in front of the team.

  “Why don’t you explain this law to us in laymen’s terms,” Coop suggested.

  Perfect. A subject she could latch onto. A chance to keep from embarrassing herself. She could easily talk about her schooling. About the laws she’d learned. Laws that were black-and-white. Nothing vague and confusing like this game. That she could handle.

  She took slow breaths until she could speak without crying. “Basically, Henry’s law says the higher the pressure, the more gas can be dissolved in a liquid. Decreasing pressure will cause gas to come out of liquid. Colder liquids hold more gas than warmer liquids, and as a liquid warms up, the gas starts to come out.”

  “An example?” Jackson asked, his tone impatient, something she’d come to learn was part of his personality.

  “Right, an example.” She exhaled, feeling like she finally could do something to help the team solve the latest riddle. “Think about carbonated beverages. They hiss and bubble when you open them. Carbon dioxide is dissolved in the liquid to make it carbonated. Pressure in the container keeps the carbon dioxide soluble in the liquid. When the cap is opened, the pressure is released, the carbon dioxide becomes less soluble, and it can’t remain dissolved so it leaves the solution in the form of bubbles.”

  “And how could this be related?” Gage asked.

  She considered it for a moment before shaking her head. “I honestly have no idea.”

  “Let’s look at the website again to see if there’s a soda bottle or something else that might be carbonated,” Coop suggested.

  “I’ll put it on the screen.” Eryn turned off the VCR and moved to her computer.

  Soon the website video filled every inch of the screen, and it felt like her brother was right in the room with her. Except he wasn’t. He was still a captive, and she hadn’t made any progress in rescuing him.

  “Just so you know,” Eryn said. “I’ve confirmed that this video feed is live.”

  As if Kevin knew they were talking about him, he lifted his head and cocked it to the side. Maybe he was hearing something in the distance. Maybe his abductor was there. Was coming closer.

  She couldn’t pull her attention away from him to search the website for a soda container, so she let the others do that and kept watching her brother. Her heart pierced with such a deep ache that she didn’t know if she could keep breathing. She heard the team talking but couldn’t focus to understand any of it.

  Coop touched her hand again, scaring her, and she jerked back. “Sorry. I was watching Kevin. I…I’m so…I don’t…” She couldn’t put her feelings into words.

  A grave expression claimed Eryn’s face. “We understand.”

  “Take your time to compose yourself.” Coop’s voice was low and filled with compassion. “When you’re ready, Gage has a question for you.”

  “Go ahead,” she said, wanting to focus on something other than her breaking heart.

  Gage leaned closer. “What about people named Henry? Is there anyone in Kevin’s life with a first or last name Henry? Or even a middle name. Maybe someone he works with?”

  Could that be it? “Could it be that simple?”

  “Sometimes the obvious thing is the right thing.”

  “I don’t know of any Henrys in Kevin’s life, but we could
go back through his things and his computer with that in mind.”

  “We can also follow up with Oceanic.” Eryn’s understanding expression was nearly Kiera’s undoing, but she had to hold things together.

  She was thankful for this woman’s compassion. For Coop’s compassion. For the whole team, actually. But she couldn’t help but wonder if they believed her innocence now. They didn’t mention her involvement anymore. Maybe with her ingestion of the drugs and lack of positive ID of Kevin in the Oceanic video, they’d come to believe her.

  But honestly, she really only cared if Coop believed her, and she planned to ask him about it the next time they were alone.

  Kiera rode in Coop’s SUV on the way to Kevin’s house. The sun was already dropping toward the horizon and another day had passed without them moving closer to locating Kevin. The team spent the day at Oceanic interviewing employees with Henry in their name. Turned out to be a big bust, and Kiera hadn’t been able to help at all while she holed up in her tiny cabin. She’d wanted to go to Kevin’s place first, but his things weren’t going anywhere, so the team decided interviewing potential men who could flee was top priority.

  She’d tried to keep busy by calling her father and touching bases with him, but his investigator hadn’t managed to find anything that Coop’s team hadn’t found. She’d also spent time trying to bolster her father’s mood. Not an easy thing to do when Kiera was feeling down herself. She wished she could have done something helpful today, but without another lead, what could she do?

  Maybe things would change with the search of Kevin’s home. Coop pulled into his driveway, and she prayed they would find a lead here. But first, she would ask him about where he stood with trusting and believing her.

  He turned the key, silencing the big engine. Before he could pull out the key, she laid her hand on his wrist. He locked gazes with her, and her brain emptied of everything but his amazing eyes. A warm pull urged her to move closer. She wanted to. How she wanted to.

  Stop it.

  She had to hold back and find out if he believed her.

  “Did you want to say something or did you just have to touch me?” A sweet smile tipped his lips in direct contrast to the interest burning in his eyes.

  His humor gave her a sense of relief. Maybe a sense of something else, too. Something she couldn’t put her finger on.

  What was the matter with her? Why couldn’t she focus? She’d always been very good at that. Have a task and stick to it until she was finished. But since Kevin had disappeared, she not only couldn’t keep her mind on track, she couldn’t even keep it anywhere near the tracks.

  She peered at Coop. He cupped the side of her face, his fingers tender and gentle. She loved the feel of his touch soft on her face more than she should and was powerless to move back. He slid his fingers into her hair and drew her closer. His musky scent surrounded her.

  He angled his face. Leaned in.

  He was going to kiss her, and she wanted him to. More than breathing.

  She reached up to meet his lips. They settled on hers, and the shock traveled through her body. She wanted more. More of him. To be closer. She gripped his shoulders and eased closer. The car shift jabbed into her leg, bringing her to her senses.

  What was she thinking kissing him, much less right outside Kevin’s house?

  She jerked free and looked away. How could a single touch make her forget everything?

  Forget Kevin.

  She’d wanted to talk about him. About if Coop believed her brother now. Believed her.

  She looked at him. His breathing was ragged, and he seemed confused. Probably because she’d jerked away from him.

  “I didn’t mean for that to happen.” She took a long pull of air and cleared her brain. “I wanted to know before we go inside if you’ve come to believe that Kevin and I had nothing to do with the toxin theft.”

  His jaw clenched. “You want the truth?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Wariness darkened eyes that only moments ago declared his interest in her. “I still have doubts.”

  Her heart fell. Not only didn’t he trust her, but she’d kissed him. Sadly, she wanted to kiss him again.

  “Why?” she asked, hating that she cared enough to do so.

  “The bank deposit and the print reader. Especially since we saw in the video that Kevin’s fingers are intact.”

  “There will be an explanation for both. You’ll see.”

  He sat back. “Perhaps, but at this point I need to focus on the facts.”

  “Need to or want to?”

  “Same difference.”

  “No it’s not. Now that you’ve gotten to know me better and see the kind of the person I am, you could choose to ignore the facts and trust in my belief in my brother.” She held his gaze. “Trust in me.”

  He took a long breath. “Trust isn’t something I give lightly. In my line of work—shoot, in my military days—you learn to trust only one thing. Your team is there for you and they have your back. Putting your faith anywhere else proves time and time again that trust can be broken, and then what do you have? Nothing.”

  She had no idea he was this cynical, proving she really didn’t know much about him, and yet she was falling for him. How pathetic was that.

  She studied him. “What about your family? Surely you trust them.”

  He paused. “I didn’t have a life like you had growing up, Princess. I came from the school of hard knocks. Not a fairytale with a twin who had my back or even parents who were there for me.” The gut-wrenching pain in his voice shocked her.

  Did he resent her for being raised in a wealthy home?

  It wouldn’t be the first time that she’d experienced such bias, but Coop was above that, wasn’t he? He was a down-to-earth guy who didn’t place any importance on wealth or prestige. At least that’s what she’d observed. She sure didn’t care about it, but of course, it was easy for her because she’d grown up in the lap of luxury. She never believed she was spoiled. Her parents had kept them grounded and made them work hard and didn’t simply lavish money or things on them. But she never had to worry about food. About a roof over her head. About whether they’d be there for her.

  Clearly, he didn’t have family who had his back. She wanted independence in life. To live on her own away from her parents and Kevin, but what must it feel like to live so completely alone? She couldn’t even imagine it, but she heard real pain coming from the strongest man she’d ever met. He never experienced trust, so his default was skepticism. She still didn’t like the fact that he didn’t trust her, but now she understood a little better.

  “I’m sorry, Coop,” she said and hoped he caught her sincerity. “I had no idea you felt that way.”

  “Forget it. Water under the bridge.”

  “No, don’t do that.” He started to jerk the keys from the ignition, and she grabbed his wrist. “Don’t shut down on me when you finally shared something.”

  “What’s the point? Sure, we have chemistry. Tons of it. The kiss was amazing. At least for me, but I can’t even explain why I’m so attracted to you. You’re beautiful and men must hit on you all the time, but we come from two different worlds. We won’t mesh for the long run. Been there, done that.”

  This had nothing to do with his upbringing. This was personal. “A woman hurt you.”

  He looked away.

  “I’m right, aren’t I? She hurt you badly. Maybe betrayed you and now you can’t trust anyone else.”

  He swung his head back toward her so fast his head should have snapped off. “Leave it alone. Okay? We’re here to do a job. And only a job.” He shoved open his door. “Let’s go.”

  She sat stunned. She had to admit his intensity had scared her for a moment. He wouldn’t hurt her. At least not physically, but he might hurt her emotionally if she let this infatuation get to her, which clearly she’d been doing.

  Not any more. This longing for him had to end here.

  She pushed out of the SUV
and locked her heart down securely. No way she would let Coop deeper into her heart and get hurt. No way.

  12

  That had been one big stinkin’ fiasco in the car. At Kiera’s parents’ house, too. Coop’s life maybe. He’d told her more than he’d ever shared with anyone, and now she felt sorry for him. Pitied him. Not something he could abide.

  Sure, he had a tough childhood, but he’d learned early on to pretend that nothing was wrong at home. If he didn’t, teachers got nosy and tried to help. He might not have liked his mom’s drinking, but he liked the idea of foster care even less. Along the way, he’d convinced himself that family was overrated. And except for his brief disaster of a relationship with Waverly, he’d never come close to wanting more and wouldn’t talk about it. His past was private ground. Ground that he didn’t let anyone walk on.

  Seeing the Underwoods yesterday ate a hole in his gut. Their money, lifestyle, and the love they showered on Kiera all reminded him of what he’d missed in life. He’d kept it buried so deep that he never thought about it. Most of the time.

  Okay, maybe he felt a twinge when Gage and Hannah got married, but Coop had swallowed it down. But now? Here? He’d been dumb enough to share a few tidbits with Kiera, and she suddenly became his social worker…no longer the woman whose eyes refused to let him go, and despite warning bells, he’d had to kiss her.

  Stow it man. Stow it deep and secure in the vault again and don’t let it back out. Ever. This will soon be over, and she’ll go back to her own life.

  Why didn’t that make him feel any better?

  “Grrr.”

  “What did you say?” Kiera glanced up a him from the chair in front of Kevin’s computer.

  “Nothing.”

  She eyed him for a moment, then seemed to dismiss him in a shrug. Once the machine booted up, she opened a search window for files on the computer and typed in Henry. The search returned zero results.

  “Try his email.” Coop said.

  She jumped. Maybe she’d forgotten he was there. Made him mad. He had no right to be angry, but he was. She’d likely already put the kiss out of her mind. Totally out. And would never want to repeat it. Not with a man she felt sorry for.