“You sure you’re up to it? I know stalking cases bother you. As well they should.”
“There is nothing I want more right now than to make sure that Gillian Birch doesn’t have to spend another single night afraid.”
“Then watch your back. Something’s not right, Paige, and I can’t put my finger on what
Chapter 18
GILLIAN’S brothers and sister and niece showed up at the small bungalow just after eight that evening. Paige and Sebastian, as well as Ken and Jaz, were stationed around the house when they arrived.
Paige was with Gillian when she let them in.
Gillian immediately grew agitated and panicky. A far cry from what she was in the minutes before. Paige tried to pick out which sibling it was causing the woman’s anxiety, but it seemed all of them were equally responsible.
But there was a closeness between her and Geoff that wasn’t there for the others.
Paige studied the other brother. Clayton Birch was a smaller, less handsome, less dynamic version of his brother. He spoke very little, remaining on the couch and quietly observing.
He was completely different from his brother.
But it was the sister that really took the cake. She was at least sixteen years older than Gillian and probably five or six older than Geoff. She was rude and hateful and Paige disliked her on sight.
Her fourteen year old daughter wasn’t much better.
She’d been snotty when introduced and dismissive when the situation was explained. And she’d been downright disrespectful to most everyone in the room.
Paige disliked her on principle alone. Was this the kind of girls in the school her youngest brother attended? Was this what the future held for her and Mick as Simon got older?
Sebastian pulled the younger brother into another room a few moments after the sister and niece left. They hadn’t stuck around long.
And they’d barely spoken to Gillian at all.
She totally didn’t get it. There would be no way she’d leave a member of her family alone when faced with such a threat. Not for a heartbeat.
Why? What distanced Gillian from the others?
Chapter 19
PAIGE stayed with Gillian, along with Jaz. Hernandez took the first watch out on the street. She didn’t know why, but she felt antsy and tense.
Something was going to happen. What, she didn’t have any clue, but something.
She took a few moments while Gillian was taking a bath to text her husband. She didn’t feel right making a full-fledged telephone call during an active case—unless in her hotel room—but she needed to hear from him.
Even if it was just a few one line responses. Did Simon do his homework? Yes. Did he miss her? Hell yes. Don’t let the dog eat nachos again. No kidding.
Mick was so predictable sometimes.
“I’m, uh, finished.” It was Gillian again.
Paige slipped her phone in her pocket. She’d cover the first shift tonight, then Sebastian and Ken would show up in about five hours. After that she’d head back to the small hotel and the room she was sharing with Al.
There would be a few minutes to text him back then.
“Something important? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You didn’t. And just texting my husband to make sure our thirteen-year-old has done his homework. Nothing vital to the case.”
“I’m sorry to take you away from home. You don’t look old enough to have a thirteen-year-old. And didn’t you say you’ve recently married?”
She could talk about family. Definitely. And maybe it would help her figure out the Birch clan somehow. “Yes. The teenager is actually my brother. Our…mother…passed away recently. Simon lives with us. He and my husband are really close. Mick, my husband, works stable hours. He’s generally responsible for the homework and dinner aspect of the evening.”
“It’s wonderful that you’re so close. My sister and I…well, I’m sure you saw for yourself. We’ve never been close. There’s sixteen years between us.”
“I noticed. She doesn’t seem that close with your brothers, either.” None of the Birch siblings seemed to like one another—with the exception of Gillian and Geoff.
“She isn’t. None of us are. I guess. Geoff has always been quiet and, well, cranky. He usually stays off by himself. Clayton…Clayton has never really thought for himself well. He is so easily led. I guess I can be the same way. Though Geoff calls me stubborn and bull-headed a lot.”
“You seem closest to him.”
“I think so. I’m sure he loves me, at least.” Gillian wiped at her eyes. “Listen to me. Don’t I sound a bit pathetic. Agent Brockman, Daviess-Brockman—I’m sorry.”
“Call me Paige. There are so many Brockmans floating around my division it’s crazy.”
“Paige, I’ve never done anything. I stay home and write stories for children, or I am at the library. Church. And once a month I go to the supermarket. And that is the most difficult thing I do. I freak out when I go to the dairy aisle. I can’t explain it.”
She’d met people with anxiety before. “I understand.”
“I don’t. I never go anywhere, I never do anything. I work from home and at a library surrounded by children. Where or why is this guy doing this?”
“You’ll drive yourself insane thinking like this. The problem isn’t in what you did. It’s in how this person views the world.”
“And I view it as a big scary place. I always have. I remember my mother and father getting so angry because I would hide under my bed when it came time to go somewhere unfamiliar. I remember Carolyn yanking me out of the house by my hair one day. I was maybe ten at the time. Only Geoff stood up for me. I think it was because he understood what it was like.”
Geoff. Did she realize that how much she loved her brother echoed in her voice? “It sounds like he has a good heart. My husband is that way. All gruff and grumpy on the outside, but soft and loving on the inside. It took us quite a while to appreciate each other.”
“That sounds so sweet. You are very lucky.” Gillian was quiet for a long moment. “To tell you the truth, I’ve never dated anyone. Not even one dinner and a movie evening.”
Paige hoped her surprise didn’t show on her face. The woman in front of her was very pretty, wholesome. There would have to be men who found her extremely attractive. She was kind and successful in her field. Yet she’d never dated.
“Why?”
“I’ve been asked. I’ve just always sort of…freaked out and said no too soon.”
“When was the last time you said no to someone?” Was that it? Had it been someone Gillian had rejected?
“Six months ago. The head of the library’s board of directors. He…he went to school with Geoff. He stopped by and we started talking, and he asked me for coffee. And I just said no without thinking. I’ve had a crush on him for years. I was one of those silly girls crushing on her brother’s friends back then. But I said no. I don’t know why.”
“What’s his name?”
“You don’t think he—“
“I think it’s best that we run every angle. We have to make sure. And Gillian, once this is over…go out there. Force yourself somehow.” Paige took the woman’s hands in her own. “Look, if there’s anything that I know with absolute certainty it’s that you have to take chances. If you don’t, you’re not really living. You’re just existing. And I mean personally. A person has to have connections, and like it or not brothers—and sisters—sometimes just aren’t enough, if it bothers you. And I think it does. If it’s not this board of director guy, then when this is over ask him. What can it hurt to try?”
“I guess I don’t really know.”
“And you won’t, until you do it, will you?” Paige squeezed the woman’s hand and turned toward the living room window. Where she knew Hernandez watched from the road. “You have to take the chance. I did. And it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
A car drove by. Paige saw the headlights. T
hey were moving far too fast.
It circled the block three times.
Hernandez called her cell. Jaz came in from the back of the house where she’d been stationed. “Paige?”
“Stay by the back door.” As the senior most agent in the house, it was Paige’s call. And she knew it. “Gillian, I want you to go in the bathroom. Close the bathroom door, and I want you to stay down in the tub. It’s cast iron and that’s kick-ass. Keep as much space between you and the exterior of the house as possible.”
And if they kept the target in one spot, a protected spot, they could move more freely themselves.
Every instinct Paige possessed was telling her something was about to happen. She spoke briefly into her phone. “Hernandez, follow the car. Stay close. We’re tight, here.”
“Gotcha. Keep safe.”
“You, too.”
Chapter 20
AL was almost asleep when Sebastian called. She grabbed her jacket and threw it on quickly over the t-shirt and yoga pants she always slept in while on away cases. She never knew when she would have to jump from the bed and go straight to work, so she always slept in something she could work in if needed.
A far cry from the ice blue lace she’d worn the night before that Seth had so enjoyed peeling off of her.
She missed him. The second test had only reaffirmed the change they were facing and she needed to be there next to him tonight. They had only been married a short while and with them still living in the house with her brother’s family, adding another baby to the mix wasn’t exactly ideal.
But they’d make it work. She knew they would.
She grabbed her weapon and her badge and locked the hotel room behind her. Sebastian was waiting by their rental SUV. “What do we know?”
“Not much. Jaz called. Something’s going down now.”
“Any clue what?”
“No. Hernandez is in pursuit and Paige and Jaz are sitting on Gillian Birch.”
Al understood what he was saying, or not saying, rather.
Anything could be going on. It was better to proceed with caution.
They really had nothing to go on. If Hernandez caught someone they would at least be pointed in one direction.
She stayed quiet, running over everything they knew—or rather didn’t know—about Gillian Birch and her family. The town itself.
There were only four hundred and eighty-three people in Garrity. One hundred and two were children, another eighty-five or so were elderly. That left them a suspect pool of approximately three hundred people.
Better numbers than they’d had in some of their previous cases, but it was still going to take them awhile to narrow that number down to one, maybe two if the theory that there were two panned out.
“I think it’s time we start asking questions of the townspeople. Someone around here knows something.”
Chapter 21
PAIGEdidn’t think they were overreacting but after more than ten minutes without word from Hernandez, and no sign of any movement surrounding the house, she looked at Jaz.
Someone had to do something. Jaz had already notified the rest of the team of what was going on. But…they were at least fifteen minutes away—even if they could all wake and mobilize that quickly.
By the time someone got there—or Hernandez returned—anyone out there could be gone.
“Jaz, stick with Gillian. I’m going to take a quick look around.”
“You sure that’s a good idea, Paige? I don’t think we should split up. Not if it isn’t necessary.” Jaz was reluctant, and Paige understood to an extent.
Last time Jaz and her partner had split up they had both nearly been killed. Paige felt a rush of guilt when she remembered what her friends had been through. It was her fault; the man who’d attacked them had been after her.
“Jaz, I’ll stay visible from the windows. Just a quick look around.”
She wasn’t expecting to find much. But someone needed to do something. And that someone was her.
***
Paige slipped out the backdoor and around the back hedges. She kept her flashlight focused on the ground nearest the path. Nothing was disturbed, but that didn’t quell her instincts.
Someone had been there. She’d bet good money on it. She pulled her weapon and kept it ready, as well.
She wouldn’t be caught unaware in the dark.
She circled the house, then extended her search to the edge of the small property.
It was there she found the first footprint. It was most likely a man’s shoe, or boot. Smaller than average, just a bit larger than her own.
She wasn’t exactly an expert on using footprints to determine height or weight—she’d leave that up to more forensically oriented agents. Nugent, the team’s computer expert, was good at giving basic rundowns of that sort of thing.
Not that a single footprint meant much. It could have been the meter reader on his way between Gillian’s yard and the next.
Were they overreacting? It had just been a single car. The fact that Gillian lived on a completely quiet street and it was well past midnight truly meant nothing. Someone could have been lost. Or even drunk.
There was nothing to imply the driver was after Gillian. Nothing. So why were her instincts going crazy over a car and a footprint?
Paige turned, and her eyes landed on the back edge of the property. Most of Gillian’s yard—it was a full acre in size—was surrounded by trees. Nothing unusual for this area of Texas, Paige didn’t think. But it did make it easier for someone to hide.
Was that the case?
Still, the edge of the trees was outside the visibility range of the house. If she headed that way, there would be no possibility that Jaz could see her.
Paige turned and looked at the house.
Someone came hurrying around the edge of the small house. She recognized him immediately. “Saul. Trees.”
“Understood. I’ll head down the right. You take the left.”
They found nothing except a few more footprints and a crushed soda can. It still had condensation on the edge of it. It hadn’t been there long.
“Well, there goes the meter reader theory.” She shone her flashlight on the can once Hernandez had rejoined her. “Think the TSP can pull DNA quickly?”
He snorted. “I think Marshall tries, but this place…I doubt they have the money for DNA swabs. Anyone have a q-tip?”
“Sarcasm so not appreciated. Can you imagine working with such limited resources?” She couldn’t. PAVAD always had the best forensics, the best medical examiners, and the best equipment. They now had a jet for each of the CCU’s three teams.
Marshall’s branch of the TSP barely had funding for an administrative assistant for the chief! Nugent had been very thorough in his dossier building of all the key players.
Before Paige could stand or say anything else, the sound of crashing glass and a woman’s scream had her and Hernandez hurrying back toward the house, weapons drawn.
Paige went through the door first, Hernandez a few feet behind her.
They found Jaz in the living room, her own weapon at-the-ready.
“Gillian?” Paige asked.
“Still in the bathtub. Window in there is too small for someone to get in.”
“What happened?” Paige took up a watch position near the front entryway.
“I’m not sure. My best guess is someone with a .22. There’s an entry hole there.” Jaz pointed at the area just above her head. “Not very big.”
“Any sign of a car?” Hernandez asked. “I lost the Buick I was following.”
“None that I saw. What make and model?”
“Older model Buick, light, cream, or gray in color. Four door, body damage on the left rear panel. Guy might still be out there.”
Paige looked at the two of them. “What’s ETA on Seb and the others?”
“Any minute now.”
“Jaz, stay with Gillian. Saul, let’s check the windows and doors. We’re not splitting up un
til we have the rest of the team.”
Chapter 22
AL knew with one look that Paige was just jonesing to get outside and look for whomever it was that shot through Gillian Birch’s window.
Nice to see her sister-in-law was developing some sort of restraint.
“From here on out the entire team stays here,” Sebastian said. “I want Ken and Saul outside perimeter. Watch every angle. Jaz and Paige—I want you outside, but close to the house in case this guy comes back.”
“What are you thinking?”
“This guy knew we were here. I think the entire county knows it,” Sebastian said. He stood at the door, his weapon holstered but available. “Marshall and his people are combing the neighborhood now. The car was probably parked nearby or abandoned and he doubled back. Or we continue with the partner theory. One drove the car while the other stuck around here.”
“I don’t know. We have that soda can. Someone was out there long enough to get thirsty. What are the chances of getting the DNA flown back to St. Louis tonight? Kelly or Cody could have it done in no time.”
“That might be our quickest option.” Sebastian looked at the team. “Nugent, Therez, go. Jet should still be ready. I’ve had it put on standby.”
“Yes, sir,” Jaz said.
“And sit on DNA until it’s pushed through. They’ll balk since it’s a stalking case and considered lower priority. Persist. Remind them if necessary that it’s a CCU case.”
Al understood. CCU cases were always given higher priority through forensics, as it was generally understood that their cases often had greater chances of violence involved.
“What’s next for us?” It was just a general question. She knew the answer—they waited.
For either the UNSUB to strike again or for some other break in the case that would miraculously fall into their laps.
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