Finding North (16 page)

Denver,
Colorado

Erin stepped out of her
bedroom and onto the landing at the stairs. Hidden from the people
downstairs, this was her last moment to herself before she
married
Matthew. She
swallowed hard.

She’d wanted to be
Matthew’s wife the moment she’d met him. After he and Alex had
finished Special Forces training, he had a month of R and R.
Because Alex was in LA, he and his best friend, Troy, were spending
their break in Los Angeles. They’d planned a month of bed hopping,
hard drinking, and general debauchery. That’s who he was when she’d
met him.

Erin looked down. She was
wearing her mother’s silk wedding dress. Unsullied by any
decoration, the gown screamed “elegance.” She was taller than her
mother, so Erin chose to go barefoot. She had a tuft of lace and
yellow roses stuck in her perfectly curled red hair. She smiled at
her image in the dollar-store full-length mirror stuck on the wall
in the hall. She looked great.

She closed her eyes, and
the image of Matthew when she’d met him came to her again. His hair
was long, and he had a couple days growth of a beard. He had that
feral smell — part body odor, part sex — which some men have when
they don’t bathe. Alex joked that he hadn’t showered since
training. When he looked at her . . . Erin’s breath
caught.

Yes, she’d wanted to marry
him in that moment. And she’d wanted to marry him three hours
later, when he’d arrived — showered, shaved, and clean cut — to
take her to dinner. And, she wanted to marry him four weeks later,
when he’d hopped a shuttle to see her before leaving for
Afghanistan. She’d wanted to marry Matthew every moment of every
year she’d known him.

Until she met
Marcos.

Then, she didn’t want to
marry anyone. Ever.

Samantha came up the
stairs and stopped on the landing midway. Samantha looked up at
Erin and smiled. Erin’s gorgeous sister was wearing a skintight
blue dress that made her eyes look voluminous. Erin smiled at how
happy Samantha seemed right now.

“
You look beautiful,”
Samantha said. “Radiant.”

“
You’re not mad that I’m
leaving the sisterhood of the unmarried Hargreaves?” Erin
asked.

“
As long as you don’t
leave our sisterhood,” Samantha said.

“
Not a chance,” Erin
smiled.

“
Well, come on.” Samantha
waved for Erin to come down the stairs. “He’s waiting.”

Erin beamed. She met
Samantha on the landing. Turning to go down the last stairs, she
saw Matthew waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. He looked
incredibly dashing in his tuxedo. But his
smile . . . His smile told her how beautiful
she
was and how
excited
he
was to
be marrying
her
.
She blushed.

Matthew stepped aside, and
their daughter, Grace, was standing behind him. She wore a little
dress that Quanshay had made from the cathedral train of Rebecca’s
dress. Grace held a bouquet of roses.

“
Mommy, you look
beautiful!” Grace said. She ran up the stairs to give the flowers
to Erin. “These are for you.”

As best man, Troy lifted
Grace from the stairs after Erin had taken the bouquet. Matthew,
Troy, and Grace moved out of the way, and Erin floated down the
stairs. Matthew’s team filled the entryway of the house. Her father
waited for her at the entrance to the living room. The living room
and dining room were filled with Erin’s friends from work, the Fey
wives, and family. Patrick took her arm and helped her navigate
through the people packed into their living room. Father Seamus
stood waiting with Matthew, Grace, and Troy under the
tulle-and-flower-lined arch in the doorway between the living room
and dining room. John stood next to the doorway to the dining room
with a webcam so that Alex, Colin, and Raz could watch the wedding
from New York.

Patrick kissed Erin’s
cheek and went to stand next to Rebecca. Samantha followed Erin to
the archway.

“
If we want to finish at
midnight, we don’t have much time,” Father Seamus said. He winked
at Erin. “Let’s just skip to the end, shall we?”

“
Works for me,” Erin
said.

“
After all these years, I
think that’s about all that’s left to say,” Matthew
smiled.

Father Seamus
nodded.

“
Take her hands,” Father
Seamus said.

Matthew gave Grace to Troy
and turned back to Erin. He took her hands.

“
Do you, Matthew Mac
Clenaghan, take Erin Hargreaves to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
Father Seamus asked.

“
I do,” Matthew
said.

“
Do you, Erin Hargreaves,
take Matthew Mac Clenaghan to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
Father Seamus asked.

“
I do,” Erin
said.

“
Rings!” Father Seamus
said. “I forgot about the rings!”

Cian pushed Hector James
and Hermes forward. Hector James gave a ring to Matthew, and Hermes
gave a ring to Erin. Matthew looked at the ring in his hand and
gave it to Erin. She gave him the set in her hand. They gave the
rings to Father Seamus.

“
May the Lord bless these
rings which you give to each other as a sign of your love and
fidelity,” Father Seamus said.

“
Matthew?” Father Seamus
asked.

Matthew took Erin’s ring
from him.

“
In the
name . . .” Father Seamus said.

“
In the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” Matthew said.

Matthew slipped a wedding
band on Erin’s finger. He held up the three-carat diamond ring
mounted on a string of smaller diamonds, and she beamed. The crowd
laughed. He slipped it on her hand.

“
Erin?” Father Seamus
asked.

He held out Matthew’s
ring. Erin took the ring from him.

“
It’s so pretty,” she
said.

“
In the
name . . .” Father Seamus nudged.

“
In the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” Erin said.

She held it up for people
to see. Matthew had picked a tungsten ring with a Celtic-knot
detailing on the top. She slipped it on his ring finger.

“
In the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the power vested in me by
the state of Colorado . . .” Father Seamus looked at
the mantle clock. “I . . .
pronounce . . . you . . .”

The mantle clock clicked
to midnight. The first chime rang.

“
Husband and wife,” Father
Seamus said. “You may . . .”

Matthew scooped up Erin
and kissed her.

“
Yea!” Alex yelled so loud
that the audience laughed. “Whoo hoo!”

When Matthew broke off the
kiss, Father Seamus said, “May I introduce you to Matthew and Erin
Hargreaves-Mac Clenaghan.”

The audience
applauded.

In New York, Alex, Colin,
and Raz jumped off the couch to cheer for Erin and Matthew. They’d
just started clapping when a knock came at the door. Raz went to
the door to answer it. Before he got to the door, they heard,
“NYPD. Open up.”

Alex and Colin turned
toward the door, and Raz opened it. Two uniformed police officers
stood on the other side of the door with their weapons
drawn.

“
You need to come with
us,” the officer said.

“
What’s this about?” Raz
asked.

“
You need to come with
us,” the officer said.

“
He’s not coming with
you,” Alex said. She got out her DOD identification and her
Homeland Security badge out of her backpack. “I am a senior agent
at the Department of Homeland Security, as is Agent Rasmussen. This
is a DOD black card. Agent Rasmussen and Agent Hargreaves have one
as well.”

The officers looked at the
badges.

“
You have no authority
regarding us or our actions,” Alex said. “Plus, it’s the middle of
the night, and . . .”

“
I have a warrant for each
of you,” the officer said.

Alex gestured for them to
lower their weapons, and held open the door. The uniformed officers
came into the apartment.

“
What’s this about?” Raz
asked again.

“
Answer his question, or
I’ll make more heat than you can stand,” Alex said.

“
One of our detectives is
missing,” the officer said.

“
Dex?” Raz asked. “I just
left him, maybe 1200 hours.”

“
Five minutes after you
left, a team of five men forcibly removed Detective Zeno from his
home,” the officer said.

“
If Agent Rasmussen left
him at 1200 hours, how does it have anything to do with him?” Alex
asked.

“
You need to come with
us,” the uniformed officer said.

Raz and Colin looked at
Alex. The uniformed officers looked at her as well. She thought for
a moment before nodding.

“
We need a minute,” Alex
said. “My sister just got married. We’ve been watching.”

“
Commander said bring you
now,” the uniformed officer said.

“
Senior officer? DOD
badge? Remember?” Alex asked.

“
Fine,” the uniformed
officer said. “We’ll wait at the door.”

When they got back to the
couch, the party had already started. Colin turned off the webcam
and video link while Raz got their coats. Alex called Colonel
Gordon to report. After a quick conversation, Raz helped her with
her coat, and they left with the uniformed officers.

FFFFFF
Tuesday morning

May 17 — 8:15 a.m. EDT
(6:15 a.m. MDT)

New York City, New
York

Shep opened the back of
the police cruiser. Raz stepped out. He turned back to help Alex
out of the vehicle. Raz put his arm around her against the
early-morning cold. Colin stepped out of the vehicle and stood
behind them. They looked up at the three-story
concrete-and-cinderblock building in front of them.

They were standing on the
sidewalk outside of Dex’s Tribeca home. Uniformed police officers
had cleared the sidewalk and street. New York Police Department
Crime Scene Investigators were working inside the home and on the
street. A dark sedan pulled up, and two New York Police Department
detectives stepped out. They walked to where Alex, Raz, and Colin
were standing.

“
You seem to be Detective
Zeno’s only friend, Agent Rasmussen.” Detective Rosa Williams’
voice was respectful and sarcastic at the same time. “Since you
won’t tell us what you’re doing here, we may as well take a look
inside.”

Alex glanced down the
street to see if anyone else was coming. Seeing no one, Alex said,
“Sure.”

“
Have you been here before
yesterday?” Detective Leo Batista asked.

They’d spent the last five
hours in an interrogation room with Detectives Batista and Williams
while the NYPD tried to determine what crime to charge Alex, Raz,
and Colin with. Detective Batista had proven to be smart and
aggressive.

“
Yes,” Raz said. “Dex
moved in to help his father when his father became
ill . . . probably the last year or two of his life.
Prior to that, Dex had never been in this building. I helped Dex
move in. I was here from time to time while his father was alive
and then after he’d passed.”

Raz nodded. Alex looked up
at his face. Knowing Raz well, she saw that he was holding
something back.

“
Why don’t you show us
around?” Detective Rosa Williams asked.

She smiled at Raz. When
they couldn’t determine who Alex and Raz were or what they were
doing in the city, Detective Williams had suggested visiting Dex’s
home.

“
I’m happy to show you
what I know,” Raz said. “Dex’s father was a hoarder. We tried to
clean it up after his father died, but his father hoarded precious
things. Most of what he hoarded couldn’t be sold or dumped. There
was generations’ worth of precious items stacked around the house.
When I saw Dex last night, he said he’d never been able to get on
top of it. So, there’s not much I can show you.”

“
Did you know that Joshua
Peretz would inherit this property?” Detective Batista
asked.

“
Who?” Raz asked. He shook
his head at the mention of his birth name. “I don’t know who that
is.”

“
Mr. ‘I have no
fingerprints’ . . .” Detective Batista
started.

Alex glanced to her left
and saw Joseph, Trece, and White Boy walking toward them. They wore
dark blue suits, dark blue ties, and their dark sunglasses.
Margaret and MJ followed close behind. She saw Leena and Vince,
wearing the same outfits, coming from their right. Alex put her
hand on Raz’s arm. He stopped talking and looked down at
her.

“
Excuse me,” Joseph
said.

Alex was so glad to see
him that she wanted to cheer.

“
We’ll take over from
here,” Joseph said.