Best Served Cold

by Rebecca Deel

  After using the facilities and washing her hands, Natalie asked, “Where are they taking us, Stella?”

  “A town called Otter Creek. That’s where Nate and Quinn are from.”

  “Have you been there?”

  She smiled, joy surging at the memories of the last time she’d been in town. She’d attended Alex and Ivy’s wedding. “It’s a great place with amazing people. Who knows? You might want to stay. It’s a good place to raise a family.”

  “Would you consider living there?”

  “I’ve been asking myself that question.” The more Stella thought about it, the more the prospect appealed to her.

  “Nate’s that important to you?”

  “There’s no one more important.”

  “Does he feel the same?”

  She drew a deep breath, butterflies fluttering in her stomach. “I think so.” She hoped he felt the same. He’d hinted, but they hadn’t had time for a serious talk since Ty’s death.

  “Wherever Luke and I end up, will you let me know what happens with you and Nate?”

  Stella hugged her. “You bet. Come on. Let’s get out of here before the guys send out a search party.”

  Luke waited by the elevator with Brent, Nate, and Deke. His face lit up when he saw his girlfriend. “Ready, honey?”

  Natalie nodded. “Stella, I didn’t have a chance to grab my bag, so I don’t have any clothes or toiletries. Would it be safe to stop somewhere out of town so I can buy a few things?”

  “One of my female operatives put a bag together for you and Luke,” Brent said. “It contains enough basic clothes and toiletries to get you through the night.” He punched the call button for the elevator. “One of the operatives I’m sending with you is a woman. Make a list of what you need and she’ll pick everything up for you in Otter Creek. Turn off your cell phones so your location can’t be pinpointed. I left two encrypted phones for you in the SUV. Program Deke and Stella’s cell numbers into the phones. My number is already stored in the call list.”

  Nate tossed his keys to Brent. “Bring my SUV around. Luke’s stash of books is in the back seat.”

  “Five minutes.” He stepped inside the elevator.

  “Stella, Deke, thank you,” Luke said. “I don’t think I’d be alive right now if not for you.”

  “We’re glad to help.” Deke squeezed Luke’s shoulder. “Do everything your bodyguards tell you and try not to worry. That’s what Fortress is for. We’ll keep in touch. If you have questions, we’ll answer what we can. We’re out of the loop right now, though.”

  “Why?” Natalie asked.

  Stella didn’t want to worry the couple. Telling them about Ty’s murder was out. “My boss thinks I’m the leak in the marshal office.”

  She scowled. “That’s ridiculous. How could he be so stupid?”

  “Exactly what I said.” Nate punched the call button again.

  “I don’t believe that,” Luke added. “You and Deke spent weeks protecting me. No way you would turn me over to Manetti’s men.”

  “Too bad our boss wouldn’t listen to you,” Deke muttered.

  “Does he suspect you as well?”

  “I’ve been suspended, but I still have my badge.”

  “Oh, no.” Natalie gripped Stella’s hand. “We’ll cause you and Deke more trouble.”

  “Don’t give it a moment’s thought. Deke and I care about you and want you safe.”

  “But rescuing us will cause you more problems?” Luke asked.

  Deke motioned them into the elevator. “Let us worry about that. Focus on spending time with your girl. Once Fortress is sure you weren’t followed to Otter Creek, you’ll be able to visit the town as long as your bodyguards are along. Same deal as before. Stay off social media and don’t contact anyone from your former life.”

  “What names do we use?”

  Stella glanced at Deke. “You want to tell them what we came up with?”

  “It should be safe enough to use since we never wrote anything down digitally or on paper.”

  “What do you think about Dean and Leah Conner?”

  “I like it,” Natalie said. “What about wedding rings?”

  “Being sized since you’re newlyweds and you eloped.”

  “Brent will get rings to you,” Nate said. “He doesn’t miss details like that.”

  They rode to the underground garage. Stella and Deke waited with Luke and Natalie in the car while Nate and Quinn made sure the garage was secure. The way this compound was run, Stella couldn’t imagine it being anything else. She’d never seen such tight security at short notice.

  Nate motioned to Stella. “Clear.”

  She and Deke urged the couple into the cavernous concrete interior of the garage. Three black SUVs waited. Brent opened the back door to the first vehicle. “Luke, your bags are in here along with Natalie’s purse and the phones.”

  “Fabulous.” Natalie grinned. “My Kindle is in there.”

  Nate told his boss Natalie and Luke’s cover names and requested wedding rings for them.

  “I’ll take care of it. I have an operative about an hour away. I’ll have him buy wedding bands. If you decide to let Fortress create your cover, we’ll make sure you have the rings you want.”

  “There’s a great bookstore in town, Luke,” Nate said. “If you run out of things to read, go to Otter Creek Books. The lady who owns the store is a friend. She’ll get whatever you want.”

  “I’ll do that.” He shook hands with Deke and Stella. “Thank you.”

  “Take care.” Stella hugged Natalie again. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Within another minute, the couple along with their bodyguards were gone.

  “What now?” Deke said.

  “Back to the cabin to regroup,” Nate said. He glanced at Stella. “Okay with you?”

  She nodded. Maybe Jon would have information about the encrypted file. She walked to the SUV while Nate and Quinn talked to their boss.

  “Stella.” Deke caught up with her. “Did you find anything at Ty’s place?”

  “Not in his files or his desk. His computer, though, had an encrypted file.”

  He frowned. “Just one?”

  “Nate sent it to Jon Smith. If anybody has a chance at decoding the file, it’s Jon.”

  “That guy is scary good.”

  “He’s just scary.”

  Nate laid his arm across Stella’s shoulders. “He’s a man you want at your back when you’re surrounded by the enemy. No one is more fierce or skilled.”

  “No surprise,” Brent said. “He’s a SEAL.”

  Quinn folded his arms over his chest. “You’re a little biased there, boss.”

  “SEALs rule.” He grinned.

  “Over the fish.”

  Brent slugged Quinn’s arm. “Watch it, Army grunt.”

  “Deke, you riding with me?” Quinn asked.

  “Sure. See you at the cabin, Stel.”

  Stella climbed into the SUV beside Nate. Driving from the garage into the cool night, her cell phone chirped. She checked her readout, frowned.

  “What is it?”

  “Pete Kelly wants to talk to me.”

  Nate glanced her direction. “Did he say what about?”

  “He has information that might clear me of the murder charges.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Nate’s eyes narrowed. Sounded too good to be true. Was Pete the leak, interested in snipping loose ends and killing the woman who thwarted his agenda? “Where does he want to meet?”

  “His place.”

  Territory he controlled. Didn’t make Nate feel better about the situation, but one look at his girlfriend told him she’d go without him and that wasn’t happening. “Where does he live?” He programmed his GPS and drove toward southeast Davidson County. “Tell me about Pete.”

  “Good guy, great sense of humor, good cop. Pete keeps his head down, does his job, and works well with everybody in the office.”

  “Including Riley
?”

  “Even Riley. Mia, Pete’s girlfriend, is a sous chef and makes killer lasagna.”

  “They’ve been dating a while?”

  “Six years. Mia wanted to wait until her career was established. Chefs deal with cutthroat competition.” She glanced his direction, cheeks flushed. “You know that since you’re a chef yourself.”

  “It’s not that way in our restaurant. Mom and Dad don’t tolerate kitchen divas. I tried it once. I never repeated the mistake.”

  “Sounds like a good story.”

  “For you. Painful for me.”

  “Now I really want to know what happened. Anyway, Pete’s finances were straightforward. In fact, nothing popped for any of the marshals.”

  “They could have another account in a different name.” Not that hard to do. All Fortress operatives had several IDs with credit cards and developed histories. Zane Murphy and his cohorts were geniuses at creating people in cyberspace.

  Something in his tone must have raised a red flag in her mind because her hand clamped onto his arm. “Do you have different IDs?” She held up a hand. “Wait. Don’t tell me.”

  His lips curved. “Can’t testify to what you don’t know?”

  “Exactly. Pete wants to marry his girlfriend. He’s crazy about her and thinks they’ve waited long enough.”

  “Did he show unusual interest in your cases?”

  She shook her head.

  “Is he computer savvy?”

  “He has tech skills. He’s not in the same league with Jon, but he can hold his own.”

  “I doubt many people are in Jon’s league So it’s at least possible Pete hacked into your computer files.”

  “He has the skills and plenty of opportunity. Deke and I spent most of our time away from the office.”

  Nate reached over and wrapped his hand around Stella’s. “You were amazing today, baby.”

  “I rock at shattering windshields.”

  “Don’t belittle what you did, Stella. You gave me time to transport Luke to safety.

  “I’m frustrated, Nate. We aren’t any closer to solving Ty’s murder than we were two days ago.”

  “We’ll see if Jon’s mad computer skills can break the encryption on the file. Maybe Pete will know something useful.”

  “You think it’s a setup.”

  “We have to consider the possibility. If he’s the leak, this is the perfect opportunity to kill you and claim he defended himself when he confronted you.”

  “I hate being suspicious of my co-workers.”

  His hand tightened around hers. “When you unmask the leak, the situation with your co-workers won’t improve much.”

  “I know.” Her voice was soft, resigned.

  Yeah, Stella and Deke would plug the leak, but cops didn’t think much of others who betrayed the blue brotherhood’s trust. Stella and Deke would protect each other. The same couldn’t be said for the other marshals. If they were drawn into a life or death situation with the other marshals at their backs, would their co-workers protect them? For Nate, the risk was unacceptable. Trusting the wrong people would place Deke and Stella on a slab at the morgue.

  He exited the interstate onto Bell Road and headed toward Rutherford County. Minutes later, he parked in the driveway of a brick, ranch-style home. Nate scanned the area. Nice, quiet subdivision in line with Kelly’s government salary. The car in Kelly’s driveway wasn’t luxurious by anyone’s estimation. At this time of evening, cars were in the driveways and soft light shown through windows in most of the houses. A white cat scurried through the yard and a dog howled in the distance.

  “It’s hard to believe a murderer might be living here. I hope Pete’s not involved in Ty’s murder. I like him.”

  “Let’s find out, sweetheart.” After a last glance around, he met Stella at the front of the SUV. Together they walked to the front door and knocked.

  When Pete didn’t answer, Nate rang the doorbell. From inside the house came a dog’s mournful howl. The sound raised the hairs on the back of Nate’s neck. He palmed his Sig. The knots in his gut multiplied tenfold.

  He reached for the doorknob to find his progress impeded by her hand. She signaled him to wait, then she grasped the knob with her sweater-covered hand. Right. Prints. They couldn’t afford to leave prints behind if something was wrong. From the dog’s distress, there was a problem inside that house, the kind leading to more questions and suspicions by the feds.

  The doorknob wouldn’t turn. Stella glanced at him, shook her head. Locked. He had lock picks in the SUV. Not wise to break into the house within full view of any nosy neighbors, though. This was an active area. While they’d been waiting for Kelly to answer, several cars and joggers had passed the house.

  “Back door,” he whispered. “I need to get something from my bag.”

  “Do I want to know what?”

  “No.”

  She sighed. “Didn’t think so. I’ll wait in the backyard.”

  Nate returned to his vehicle and rummaged in his bag until he located his lock picks. He slid them into his jacket pocket. Stella waited by the door, hands clamped over her arms.

  He palmed his tools and helped Stella slip on his jacket. Small compared to him, the jacket could have wrapped around her twice. “Turn around, baby.” Kneeling, Nate worked on the lock. In less than thirty seconds, the door swung open. “Door’s open,” he whispered. He wiped his prints off the knob and glanced back at Stella, eyebrow raised. Did she want to go first? Though it went against his every instinct, he’d let her decide. She was a well-trained cop and he trusted her judgment.

  She pointed at herself. Yep, figured she’d do that. Bottom line was if he was wrong about the situation inside the house, Kelly would be more inclined to shoot first and ask questions later if he saw Nate. He nudged the door open with his elbow and let her sweep past him into the house. The kitchen was neat, cheerful in the low light. No sign of Kelly or the dog. The animal whimpered now. Nate’s hand tightened around the grip of his Sig. Was the animal hurt?

  Stella crossed the room in silence. Nate followed, alert, weapon ready. At the hallway, she signaled him to sweep left. He stood at the entrance to the living room. Nothing out of place. No marshal or dog.

  The whine grew louder. He heard Stella’s soft murmur, a gasp, then, “Nate.” Her voice sounded tight.

  He followed her voice to the other side of the house. Inside the master bedroom, Stella knelt beside a blond Labrador retriever, arms wrapped around his neck, face pressed against his fur. “Stella?”

  “Bathroom. Don’t touch anything.”

  He glanced into the open doorway. A muscular man lay sprawled on his back in a pool of blood, gunshot wound to his chest. One shot, close range. Nate sighed. Great. They had to call this in. Jordan would have a field day with this. What were the odds Stella would find two bodies within a week?

  He crouched beside the body. Kelly was shirtless, wearing jeans with a clean towel draped over the rack and a change of clothes on the closed toilet lid.

  He shifted, caught the glitter of glass on the floor near Kelly’s wrist. He tilted his head for a better look. The watch crystal? Nate grabbed the hand towel at the sink and wrapped it around his hand before he lifted the marshal’s arm. The watch stopped on impact with the tiled wall or the floor. He and Stella had been at Fortress headquarters in the garage forty minutes ago when the watch broke. Brent had installed security cameras everywhere. Footage would be available with a time and date stamp. The feds couldn’t pin this one on his girlfriend or him. Didn’t take a genius to realize Nate would do anything necessary to protect Stella. The Army trained him well. Killing Pete Kelly wouldn’t have presented a challenge.

  He retraced his steps, dropping the towel on the bathroom counter. “We need to call Cal Taylor.”

  “What’s the point? It’s a federal case.”

  “I know, baby. We need Taylor to run interference with Jordan and Riley. He will ask Brent for the security footage from Fortress whe
re the feds will assume you’re stalking co-workers and killing them, one person at a time.”

  “Why do we need the security footage?”

  “When Kelly was shot, the impact of the bullet threw him back against the wall before he fell to the floor. His watch stopped while we were in the garage at Fortress.”

  “He was shot right after he texted me. All right. Call Taylor.” She stood and patted her thigh. “Come on, boy. There’s nothing more we can do for your owner.” The Lab followed Stella from the room.

  Nate made the call.

  “Taylor.”

  “It’s Nate. We have a problem.”

  A sigh. “Another one? I haven’t finished processing the first problem you gave me.”

  “Another marshal is dead.”

  “You have to be kidding me.”

  “Afraid not.”

  Taylor growled. “Give me the address.” When he’d written it down, he said, “Don’t touch anything. Is your girlfriend with you?”

  “What do you think?”

  “Great. Just great. The feds will toss her in a cell and throw away the keys. I’ll collar one of the junior detectives and have him process these clowns. I’m on my way.”

  Nate studied the crime scene. What had Kelly known that would clear Stella? The marshal must have given himself away to the killer. Why were good cops being murdered? He walked to the living room and sat on the couch beside Stella. Kelly’s dog had his head on her lap, whining.

  His girlfriend leaned her head against Nate’s shoulder. “His name is Spenser.”

  He rubbed the Lab’s head. “You’re a good boy, buddy. You watched over your owner until help arrived.”

  “What’s going to happen to him, Nate?”

  “Maybe Mia will take him.”

  “I hope so. He’s sweet.”

  He pressed a kiss to her temple. “If she won’t, we’ll make sure he has a good home.” Nate knew one friend who would be interested in adopting Spenser.

  “We need to search the place before Taylor gets here,” Stella said.

  “What happened to not touching anything?”

  “It went out the window along with the likelihood of me staying out of jail. If we don’t do it now, we won’t have an opportunity for several days and that might be too late. Do you have gloves?”