“No.” She started to lay her head on my chest, but then she sat up again, her eyes moving slowly over mine. “Well, it didn’t to him. I thought that maybe something might come of it, but it never did. And then I met you.”
“And you forgot all other men, right?”
“Definitely.”
I tugged her closer to me, laughing. She laughed, too, snuggling tight into me, her mouth pressed against my throat.
I rolled her over and kissed her roughly, swallowing her laughter. Then we parted, sliding into that short phase between consciousness and sleep. I was already beginning to dream when the bedroom door suddenly burst open and Stevie came rushing toward the bed.
“Hey, pumpkin,” I said, catching her body just as she was about to crush Knox. “What’s the matter?”
“I had a bad dream, Daddy.”
“I’m sorry.”
I sat up and cradled her against my bare chest, pooling the blankets on my lap. Knox rolled over and touched her ankle.
“Hey, Stevie.”
You’d think the child had waited all her life to see Knox again. She pushed away from me, jumping into her arms so quick that Knox barely had time to sit up and pulled the blankets over her bare breasts. Stevie buried her head against Knox’s shoulder, a sob rattling her slight frame.
“What’s the matter?” Knox asked.
“I had a dream. About that night.”
Knox glanced at me. “You mean the night that your momma died?”
Stevie nodded.
“What happened?”
“I remembered who tripped over the chairs.”
Another glance.
Knox slid her hand over her back. “Who?”
“Grandma. It was Grandma.”
Just as the words came out of her mouth, a huge explosion rocked the house. I instinctively threw my arm across Knox and Stevie, pressing them back against the mattress. Fire glowed in the windows almost immediately, filling the room with an eerie sort of glow.
When it was over, I sat up and went to the balcony doors, looking down into what was once my backyard. Now it was a pile of debris. The kitchen, off to the left of us, was gone. Completely demolished.
“What the fuck?”
Chapter 16
Knox
I sat Stevie in the center of the bed and quickly pulled on the clothes I’d so recently peeled off. Dunlap was dressing, too, tugging on jeans as he rushed toward the bedroom door. I could already hear voices in the hallway, the new nanny calling for Stevie. Dunlap stuck his head out and called to her.
“She’s in here.”
The door opened and the nanny, Mattie in her arms, and Elliot looking in. They only hesitated a moment upon seeing me. Elliot snatched Stevie off the bed and headed for the stairs.
“We have to get you out of here,” he called over his shoulder.
Dunlap grabbed my hand and pulled me down the stairs after him. We climbed into Elliot’s SUV, all of us squishing in the back two seats. Stevie pulled away from Elliot before he could hand her to me, crawling into my lap and hiding her head against my chest. Dunlap had taken the baby from the nanny, soothing her as she protested being woken so long before morning.
I could see the flames shooting up into the sky. The kitchen was gone. Absolutely gone.
Who would do that with two children in the house? Surely not Julep. She wouldn’t risk hurting the kids.
Elliot was on the phone as he pulled away from the front of the house. We could hear fire trucks coming up the hill. Elliot turned in the opposite direction, trying to avoid being spotted. It was protocol. We were supposed to keep as low of a profile as possible just in case the person responsible was watching.
“You okay?” Dunlap asked.
I nodded. “You?”
“Yeah.”
He said he was, but he was twisting around, staring at the remnants of his house. He was clearly shaken by this, more so than he had been over the car accident. This one was much too close to home, no pun intended.
We were halfway across town when I suddenly realized where we were going. Elliot was taking us to Ash’s property. It was a large getaway on the outskirts of town, on the opposite side of town from the compound. It was one of our safe houses, but it was only to be used in extreme situations. David must have felt this situation warranted its use.
It was that realization that grabbed my heart with icy fingers more than actually seeing the house burning.
I didn’t understand. Julep wouldn’t have done this. But Stevie saw her at the house the night Colby died. And she had motive. But…she wouldn’t have done this.
“Has anyone new been at the house recently?”
It took Dunlap a second to focus on me. “New? No.”
“Anyone at all?”
“Janis came by this morning to deliver some paperwork. And my sister and her brood were there for a couple of hours when they brought the girls back.”
I dismissed those people out of hand. None of them had a motive to hurt Dunlap. But there had to be someone, someone with access to the kitchen.
I leaned forward so that I could speak to Elliot.
“Are they reviewing the cameras? Was there someone in the kitchen today?”
“You know protocol.”
“Did they see anything that could help us?”
Elliot glanced at me. “You know I can’t tell you.”
“Elliot, if it was you—”
“You’re not technically on this case. You’re part of the client’s family. I can’t share anything until David deems it necessary.”
“But you know—”
“I can’t tell you, Knox. I’m sorry.”
I groaned, but I sat back again, tugging Stevie closer against me. We rode in silence until Elliot pulled up to the front of the house. He led the way inside, making sure we moved orderly and safely. Once inside, he gestured toward the back of the house.
“You should try to get the children back to sleep.”
“Take Mattie,” I said to the nanny. I told Dunlap, “We’ll take the girls. You stay here.”
He nodded, glancing at Elliot. There were four bedrooms, large and luxurious, filled with modern furnishings. Two of the rooms were set up for small children. I assumed they hadn’t always been that way, but now that Ash had children of his own—as did most of his friends who used this place—they were now. I led the way to one of those rooms, gesturing for the nanny to put the sleeping baby in the crib.
“Don’t leave, Knox,” Stevie said, as I laid her down on the twin bed.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
I curled up on the bed with her, pulling her against me as she snuggled, tears staining her little cheeks.
“Can you tell me more about your dream?”
She nodded. “We’d just gotten home from our trip. Shawna was changing Mattie and I was bored, so I went looking for Daddy. He wasn’t in his bedroom, so I went out on the balcony. I liked to stand out there because it was fun looking down on the world from up high. But then I heard the noise and I looked over the edge. Grandma was there, staring back at the tub.”
“You’re sure it was your grandma? It wasn’t Shawna or your mom? It wasn’t Janis or one of your aunts?”
“No, it was Grandma.”
“Okay, baby. That’s good.”
She fell asleep a moment later, falling into a deep sleep with the ease of a child. I untangled myself from her a moment later, crawling off the bed slowly.
“They sleep so heavily.”
“They do.”
I walked over to where the nanny was sitting in a rocking chair, watching Mattie through the slates of her crib.
“You like working for Dunlap?”
“I did. Until all this.”
She had her cell phone in her hands. As she spoke, the screen lit up. I recognized Julep Montgomery’s number from the one she’d given me to report to when I was supposed to be working for her.
“What the hell?”
I snatched the phone away, glancing over the most recent texts.
Stevie had a nightmare.
Don’t let her go into Dunlap’s room.
She’s already in there.
Incompetence! What did I tell you?
“What is this? Why are you talking to Julep about Stevie?”
The girl paled under her dark, Florida tan. But she didn’t even try to defend herself.
“Elliot!” I went to the door, screaming down the hallway. The nanny came up behind me and tried to snatch the phone back, but I managed to keep hold of it. Both Elliot and Dunlap came running. The girl was back in the rocking chair by the time they got there.
“She’s working for Julep.”
Dunlap took the phone, reading through the texts. He cursed under his breath before rushing into the room and snatching the girl up from the chair. Elliot tried to stop him, but there wasn’t much he could do without waking the girls or causing more injury than Dunlap was doing with his steel grip. He dragged her into the hallway and tossed her back against the wall.
“What are you doing? Have you been working for her since the beginning?”
“She contacted me after I started working for you. She promised to pay off my student loans if I reported back to her. It seemed harmless.”
“Harmless? Have you seen my house?”
The girl looked shamed, her face falling as she stared back at him.
“I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“Did you plant the explosives or whatever it was?” Elliot asked.
“No,” she said, indignant. “I didn’t do that.”
I believed her, but Dunlap and Elliot continued to interrogate her. After about ten more minutes, I moved between them.
“I think it’s time we call it a night. Everyone’s exhausted.”
Dunlap shook his head, but Elliot seemed to agree.
“I’ll put her in the guest room next to mine. You two can take the master.”
“She’s not to go anywhere near my kids,” Dunlap announced.
“Of course not. I’ll watch her.”
Dunlap stared at Elliot as if he was trying to decide if he could trust him. He finally nodded and turned away, grabbing my hand as he did.
We undressed in silence, falling into the bed just as the sun was slowly beginning to lighten the sky outside. I curled into his arms, laying my head on his chest.
“It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out.”
“I know who’s doing it. I just wish I understood why.”
“Dunlap—”
“She never liked me. But to put my kids in danger like that? I don’t understand it.”
I didn’t say anything because I didn’t think it would get through to him right now. Plus, I was already beginning to fade, my eyes slowly closing. I drifted off, trying to remember something that had been bothering me for a long time. But I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Something…
Chapter 17
At the Compound
David paced the length of his office, but Kipling was calm. He could see what needed to happen. This was like a military operation that had gone south. You didn’t give up, you just altered your direction a little, just enough to head back toward the solution you wanted.
That’s what needed to happen here.
“Let me go over and talk to them,” he said.
David glanced at him. Kipling knew that David didn’t particularly like him. He was pretty sure the man resented him for coming in and taking over his operation. The thing was, Kipling admired David and his work. He’d done a hell of a job getting this place up and running. And running in the black? It was pretty impressive. But he knew that David felt a little like a failure for having to call in reinforcements.
If he’d been military, he wouldn’t have looked at it that way.
“The video shows a woman in the kitchen and behind the house, but there’s no clear shot of her face, so we don’t know who it is.”
“And the fire department? Have they determined what caused the explosion?”
“They’re leaning toward a gas leak.”
It made sense. Loosen a line here or there and the house would explode without anyone any the wiser about how it was done. It was a new construction. Maybe the assumption would be faulty pipe work.
“We need to draw her out into the open.”
“Obviously. But how.”
Kipling shrugged. “We send Dunlap back to the house.”
David shook his head, but Kipling had a plan. He knew how to work these operatives in a way that would benefit both the client and the firm. He just needed David to learn to trust him.
“We can do this.”
***
Kipling and David pulled up to Ash’s property a little after noon that afternoon. Kipling had heard the stories of this place, especially after what happened between Donovan, his wife, and the woman stalking them. Donovan’s best friend, Joshua, was beaten to death the night they graduated from high school. His lover, Amanda Graham, had decided it was both Joshua’s sister, Kate, and Donovan who were responsible—even though he was beaten by some bullies who attended their school. She’d gone after Kate, trying to murder her outside her place of business, an act that brought Gray Wolf—and Donovan—into her story. It was more than five years ago, but Donovan still told the story like it happened yesterday.
It was heartwarming and sickening all at the same time for Kipling. He liked Donovan. They’d served together in Afghanistan. But happiness was as revolting as bile to him. His happiness had been murdered. He hated seeing it in other people despite his attempts to be respectful of their right to find it.
Elliot answered their knock at the front door, a cup of coffee in hand. He stepped back without a word, allowing them inside.
“Everyone’s still asleep. It was a long night.”
“I understand,” David said.
“Go wake Knox,” Kipling demanded.
Elliot glanced at David, only acting when David nodded. That irritated Kipling a little. He didn’t like his orders being second-guessed. But he also wasn’t used to being the second-in-command.
“Are you sure this is the direction you want to go in?” David asked as soon as Elliot disappeared around a corner.
“I’m sure. Have her meet me out back.”
Kipling walked away, slipping out the back doors that led to a lovely deck that overlooked the wooded property behind the house. Ash knew his real estate. Looking at this, Kipling’s annoyance with everyone’s happiness was tempered a little. He knew that Ash bought this property as a getaway for him and his first fiancée, Alexi. She was CIA—like Knox—but she broke Ash’s heart when she decided to disappear on her own, leaving him behind to wonder what had happened to her. Kipling had heard that Ash eventually tracked her down only to discover she was living a quiet life with a new husband and child.
Kipling wondered what it would be like to discover Jesse was alive, living as someone else’s wife. It made him sick to his stomach at the thought. He couldn’t imagine what the reality had been like for Ash.
Knox stepped outside, fully dressed. Leave it to a Marine to be ready for battle at a moment’s notice.
“Let’s walk,” he said, stepping down the deck steps to the woods behind it.
Knox fell into step beside him, as obedient as a good soldier. Kipling wouldn’t have expected any less.
“David’s concerned about your feelings for Dunlap. He thinks you can’t be objective.”
“That’s why he won’t let me run this case.”
“Yes, well, I think you’re the perfect person to have in control.”
Knox’s eyes widened as she missed a step beside him. “You do?”
“You know him better than any of us. You know what he might be hiding, what he might have simply forgotten to mention, or what he thought was unimportant, but was actually very important. You know the people around him. You know all the potential suspects.”
&n
bsp; Knox inclined her head thoughtfully, as though those things hadn’t crossed her mind.
“That’s why I’m putting you back on this case.”
“Okay,” she said immediately. “What’s the plan?”
Kipling smiled. He liked her enthusiasm.
“You and Dunlap go back to the house. Act as if he was staying with you last night and the girls were with a friend or something. You didn’t know about the explosion until now.”
“Okay.”
“Dunlap calls in his construction crew to check out the damage and assess what should happen next. You proceed like you just found out what happened, like you think it’s an accident. You proceed like it wasn’t an attempt on his life.”
“You’re trying to draw out the person behind all this.”
“Exactly. Alexander, Elliot, and I will be in a house across the street, watching. When someone shows their hand, we’ll be there.”
She nodded. “And the girls?”
“They’ll stay at the compound with Ricki and Ingram’s wife.”
She dragged her fingers through her hair, lifting it off her neck and tying it with an elastic so that it flowed into one, thick ponytail. She was preparing herself for battle. Kipling could see it in the determination on her face.
“I don’t think it’s Julep Montgomery,” she said, catching Kipling off guard.
“Who do you think it is?”
“I don’t know. But I don’t think Julep would put the children in danger in the way that the house exploded last night. She might appear indifferent, but she’s a southern woman. That’s the way her generation is. But she loves those girls.”
Kipling nodded. “Then we’ll broaden our expectations. But we will continue to watch her in light of what you found out about the nanny last night.”
“Great.”
She turned and started toward the house. Kipling grabbed her arm.
“Be safe, Knox. Don’t get dead.”
She smiled. “That comes from you, doesn’t it? I always wondered.”
“It’s something my commanding officer said to us on my first tour.”
“Yeah. My commander had his own little sayings, too.”
She turned again, walking toward the deck. “Make sure you keep your eyes where they belong.”
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