“Let’s get going then,” Nicole said.
Ruben put his arm out. “Paggie is meeting us there.”
Nicole took his arm. It was good to have someone to lean into. She remembered Kent’s note. His words still felt so immediate. He gave her permission to rely on Ruben.
A gift from the grave if there ever was one. She didn’t want to take advantage of her partner and she certainly didn’t want to injure his relationship with Paggie, but it was nice to have his arm under hers.
She had never felt weaker. Emotionally, physically, mentally. She felt like she was letting women’s lib down, but she couldn’t change her reality to suit some ideologues.
Her father and brother had kindly passed on attending the funeral of the man they loathed. Okay, maybe they didn’t loathe Kent, or maybe they did.
Did it matter? Ruben was here just as he always had been.
Nicole knew it would be easy to fall into the old pattern. The pre-Kent pattern. Did she want that? Was grief clouding her judgment?
Again, on the day of the funeral, did it really matter? She needed someone to lean on and she was okay with that.
They arrived at the limo door. Ruben opened it for her and helped her in.
The drive over was unremarkable. The town rolled by without her really recognizing any landmarks. It was like they were driving in a foreign city. She simply couldn’t focus enough to know where they were.
Then suddenly, too quickly, they came to a stop. They couldn’t possibly be at the cemetery yet. It was too soon. She wasn’t ready.
No matter how she felt, the driver got out and came to her door, opening it. Reflexively, she put her hand out and allowed him to help her up. Ruben was right behind her as she stumbled back a few steps.
The sight before her seemed surreal. She knew they had to move the ceremony outside due to the high number of RSVPs. Nicole had assumed that meant fifty, maybe a hundred people.
Instead, the hillside was covered in folding chairs. All of them filled. It was a swath of black funeral attire. There had to be at least five hundred people. Maybe seven hundred. Could it be a thousand?
Punctuating the black were bright spots of ethnic clothes. Orange from Africa. Pure white from the Middle East. Plus large clusters of military dress uniforms.
She turned to Ruben. The question clear on her face. What was this?
Ruben shrugged. “For such a loner, Kent had a big fan club.”
Nearly in unison, the crowd spotted her and turned. Sympathy etched on their features.
Nicole had to hold it together. To have this many people care about her husband? It made her miss him all the more. The depth of Kent’s character was never ending.
Ruben held out his arm. Nicole once again took it as he guided her to their graveside seats.
* * *
Ruben made sure Nicole was settled in her seat next to Glick before heading to the second row, joining Paggie.
She didn’t seem all that happy. He sat down, taking her hand anyway, wrapping it in both of his. She needed to know that she was still his. She flashed a grin, then looked toward the priest who was starting the ceremony.
They had to build him a temporary pulpit to be able to be seen by the masses. There had been talk of a Jumbotron, but Ruben had nipped that idea in the bud. It felt like Kent was lying in state.
Even dead, the profiler had to grab all the attention.
Attendees were from every continent. Yes, even Antarctica. Kent’s reach had been global. Ruben was slightly surprised the Queen of England wasn’t here. Instead, she had sent three princesses, a duke, and an earl. The French president was in attendance as well as two Cardinals.
It was crazy.
Somehow Kent’s arrogance was well placed. He really was as good as he thought he was. Except for the whole dead thing.
Ruben was so lost in thought, he missed the entire ceremony until everyone was murmuring “Amen.”
The entire congregation rose and the extremely slow and long processional past the casket began. Nicole had decided to put Kent’s ashes in the casket so that no one would know about the horrendous mix-up at the morgue.
Hand-in-hand, Ruben and Paggie joined the long line waiting to pay their respects to Nicole.
* * *
The Secretary of State kissed Nicole’s hand. “I am so sorry for your loss. Kent was truly one of the greatest minds of our age.”
Nicole murmured her thanks as another person stood in front of her. It was a sheik in full white robes and checkered headdress. He rattled off something in Arabic. Then the translator kicked in.
“Kent was truly a man of the world. Always so kind.”
Kind? Nicole never thought that she’d ever hear her husband called kind, and by a sheik? What the hell had Kent done for him?
No matter her disbelief, she bowed her head, thanking the man for his kind words.
Next in line were a group of men in uniform. Marines, Navy, Air Force and Army.
“Ma’am we just wanted to pay our respects. We can’t tell you how helpful Special Agent Harbinger had been in our operations. I doubt if any of us would be alive today if it hadn’t been for him.”
Nicole knew that Kent had worked for the Pentagon, but not to this extent.
“Thank you, thank you so much.”
The lead man held out his hand. She shook it.
“Your boy is going to be a prince amongst men,” he said, tearing up. “We just… we just wanted you to know if Harbinger’s son ever wants to join the military, we would be honored to have him.”
Oh, hell no, Nicole thought but didn’t speak out loud. Nicole was keeping her son nice and close to home. She respected the offer though and thanked each of the men as they passed by.
At first, Nicole didn’t recognize the figure that threw herself in her arms. “Oh, Nicole, how are we going to go on?”
“Dalia?” Nicole asked, recognizing the teenage girl as she raised her mascara smeared face.
“I miss him so much, already,” the girl said.
Behind her were a group of Kent’s wards. Even Kyra was here. Kent’s first rescue. Kent’s reach extended across oceans and decades. These were his foster children. Each one saved from horrible abusive situations and given a new chance at life.
How was she going to live up to his legacy?
“Someday I want to meet his boy,” Dalia said, as her friends urged her away from Nicole. The line was impossibly long.
A woman in a sari came up next. She had no translator, but Nicole seemed to understand each and every word the woman said.
Nicole fought tears again.
Why did Kent have to be so freaking awesome?
* * *
Joshua watched the funeral from some hidden cameras. He knew Kent rocked, but to this extent? The profiler had been holding out on him.
But his job right now was not to be impressed, it was to be on the lookout for the serial killer. Kent had left very specific instructions on how to monitor the funeral. He had been certain the serial killer would show up at the ceremony.
So Joshua was on facial recognition. He had the latest software, yet he was having a hard time of it. The sheer number of faces rivaled JFK airport during the Christmas travel season.
He’d already picked up several identities that were flagged as classified. Yep, Kent had spooks at his funeral. That was just how the man rolled.
There were also several drug dealers, one exiled Third World president and five Nobel Prize winners.
Nicole was in good company.
But no one that stood out as the killer.
If Kent were around, he’d be mighty disappointed, but Joshua couldn’t conjure a suspect out of thin air as much as he wanted to.
Slowly the cemetery emptied of attendees leaving a sea of white chairs across the hills of the cemetery.
In some ways, Joshua wished he could have been at the funeral instead of here, but here, doing Kent’s work, he felt closer to the profiler. Kent had tru
sted him with this task and he would see it through.
Even though he would have liked to have met Kiera Knightly.
* * *
Ruben guided Paggie up to Nicole. It took a moment for his partner to realize who was standing in front of him.
“Ruben,” she said warmly, then realized he wasn’t alone, “Paggie. Nice to see some familiar faces.”
“You okay?” Ruben asked. Nicole’s face seemed pale and her features pinched. That had been one hell of a receiving line.
“Yeah, I’m good. Looking forward to getting home, that’s for sure.”
Ruben looked to his fiancée then to Glick. “Captain, can you get her home?”
“Of course,” Glick said. “It would be my pleasure.”
Knowing that Nicole was in safe hands, Ruben continued on. The line was finally winding down.
Paggie stopped him though, as they headed to her car. “Go,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean this is one of Nicole’s worst days. She needs you.”
“No,” Ruben said, shaking his head. “Glick has got it.”
Paggie tilted her head. “Glick is not going to take her through that funky drive thru on Robertson with the triple malt strawberry shakes.”
That was true.
“Are you sure?” Ruben asked.
“No, but you should do it anyway.”
He leaned over and kissed Paggie on the cheek. “Thanks for understanding.”
His fiancée dragged a finger down his chest. “You are, of course, going to pay for this later.”
“Happily,” he said, this time kissing her on the lips. “I’ll be home soon.”
“Right,” Paggie said with a laugh. “I won’t wait up for you.”
Ruben realized once again how much he loved Paggie, as she walked away down the hill to her car. She seemed to really get him.
Turning from his fiancée, Ruben went and stood beside Nicole’s chair.
“I thought you were going with Paggie?”
“We decided maybe you needed a break from all this…”
“Do I…” Nicole said with a smile.
“Captain, if you don’t mind?”
“She’s all yours,” Glick said, as he rose and walked off.
Ruben presented his arm and Nicole took it.
Quickly, they arrived at the limo and sped away from the cemetery.
Nicole smiled as she realized they were pulling into the Speedy Dog joint. Ruben ordered for them. Seriously, this place couldn’t be more of a greasy spoon. Not a salad in sight. Even the lettuce on their hamburgers was iceberg.
He handed Nicole her shake.
“Ah…just what I needed.”
“I figured.”
They leaned back in the limo and enjoyed their drinks. Nicole far more than he did. The amount of syrup in his slushy was far out of proportion to the ice. And the bag with their food was already grease-stained. How people ate here consistently was beyond Ruben.
He felt the urge to run all the way to his gym across town then put in a good hour of aerobics.
Nicole, though, closed her eyes and sucked up her shake.
“Well, that was…” Ruben said, not quite knowing how to finish the sentence.
“Weird, right?” Nicole said, with a chuckle. “How many times can you say, ‘don’t know you’ but thanks anyway?”
“Especially to royalty.”
Nicole smiled. “I am just glad it is over. Now maybe life can simmer down a little.”
“Maybe,” Ruben offered. “Home?”
After a deep sigh, Nicole answered. “Yes.”
CHAPTER 7
Nicole lay in bed with her baby. Her unnamed baby. She had decided on a name, but hadn’t yet announced it. It was like Kent and her little secret.
“Logan,” she whispered across the baby boy’s soft scalp. He had very little hair and what little of it he had was oddly blonde. Given that both she and Kent were brunettes, it seemed strange that they had created a toe-headed baby, but Joshua said the genetics supported the hair color and she wasn’t going to argue with the morgue attendant.
The name seemed to suit the child and Lord knew that Kent would approve. It was Wolverine’s real name.
Finally, she had found a name they could both agree upon.
“Logan,” she whispered again, kissing her baby on the head. She had never found the “baby” smell to be appealing before now. Apparently her hormones were really kicking in, making Logan smell like heavenly nectar.
Nicole would like to stroke her baby on the head, but her arms wouldn’t obey. They were like having two bar bells attached to her shoulders. Her whole body felt weighted down.
The funeral had really taken it out of her. Or the fact she really hadn’t rested since Logan’s birth.
Maybe she should have listened to all those people, including her father, that had told her she should stay in bed a little longer. And for all that running around, she had struck out. She was no closer to finding Kent’s killer.
Ruben had come up empty handed on the heroin angle. Sure he got a lead on the dark net angle, but they both knew that was a Hail Mary as well. The dark net was gigantic. Finding a single transaction related to their case was going to be a miracle.
So instead of continuing the investigation after the funeral, Nicole had laid down with Logan. Probably the first time she had done so since bringing him home.
It was hard to lay in the bed without Kent. Of course, she had spent plenty of time here by herself. But not like this. Not without the hope he would come through the door at any moment.
She was alone.
Sure her baby was here, but she was left to raise him by herself. Some day, probably sooner than later, her father and brother would have to go home.
On one hand it would be a relief, them hanging over her shoulder was already pretty annoying, but on the other hand, the house would be empty. Just her and the baby.
Continuing life in this mausoleum of a house.
Maybe she would sell it and buy a condo or something. Something smaller. Something that didn’t feel so empty. Something that didn’t remind her of Kent every time she turned around.
Logan shifted, putting a hand on her chest. It was so tiny.
All the tears she had been holding in all day burst out. Tears splashed on Logan’s head, wetting it. Nicole tried to kiss them away, but there were far too many. They ran down like a waterfall.
She sobbed gently as Logan nursed.
The grief was more painful than any of the times she’d been kidnapped. Kent had stolen her heart and taken it with him into the afterlife.
And she couldn’t even solve his death to give herself some sense of closure.
The ironic thing was that she needed Kent to heal her heart from losing Kent.
Logan’s rosy cheeks dried her tears. Here was a tangible piece of her husband. This baby was proof of their love.
Wait.
Nicole wiped her tears away.
Damn it. Logan was proof of something else as well.
The revelation struck like lightning. Damn Kent.
She gently urged Logan off her breast and burped him as she rose and crossed to the door. Nearly as soon as she opened it, her father was there.
Nicole handed Logan off to him.
“Where are you going now?” he asked.
“To go kick my husband’s ass,” Nicole spat.
“What?”
Nicole just waved him off.
Her actions were going to be pretty damned clear very, very soon.
* * *
Joshua was laying down some serious moves to I’m So Fancy, because well, he was that fancy. The computer was chugging along on its current task. He probably could make it through One Less Problem and Love Runs Out before the computer dinged.
And if he got good news from the new search, he might rock out to Pharrell’s Happy. Because that was just how he rolled. He always clapped along.
; And he wasn’t being too immodest to think he could rock a hat like Pharrell. Maybe at the next ME conference, he would take one for a spin. Except he’d probably put a nice big sheriff’s star right there on the front. Yep, that would bling it out.
The door opened so quickly behind him, that Joshua didn’t have time to prepare himself for the verbal tirade.
“How could you?” Nicole demanded. “How could you betray me like this?”
Cringing, Joshua turned to the extremely angry detective. Good thing she wasn’t the Hulk, because she would be green and muscle bound by now.
“Like what?” Joshua squeaked.
Nicole took in a long, deep breath. She was really winding up. “Where is he?”
“Ruben?” Joshua asked, even though he knew exactly whom Nicole meant.
The detective put her hand on her hip. “Joshua…”
He gulped hard and tried with all his might not to glance over to the cold storage door.
“Where is he?” Nicole repeated.
“Ruben went back to the station. Glick wants him to start taking on cases again.”
“Oh, I’ll give you a case,” Nicole said, stepping forward, moving so close her nose could probably punch him. “Your homicide, Joshua, if you don’t tell me where he is.”
“I still…I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Joshua said, although even he could hear how shaky his voice was.
“Kent!” Nicole shouted to the room. “Get your ass out here, right now!”
“Kent? His body was cremated.”
“Right, Joshua. Like you would have allowed his body out of your sight for a second. If Kent were really dead, you would have slept next to him until he was in the ground.”
Joshua stepped back. Nicole had the dead drop on him. She knew him way too well.
Nicole flung her hands up. “Plus if Kent was really dead, you would have been flirting with me, figuring this was your only shot.”
Joshua looked away from the detective. It was like she was looking into his soul.
“I would have put it all together if I wasn’t in the middle of giving birth.”She spun on her heel. “Kent get your ass out here right now.”
Even though he knew it was futile, Joshua reached out. “Kent is dead.”
2nd Cycle of the Harbinger Series Collection Page 8