Hard to Let Go (12 page)

How the hell did he even think he had a guess? The fact that he did made Beckett damn curious, but if he indulged that curiosity and Marz was anywhere within the vicinity of being right, then Kat would be out of the bag.

“Leave it,” Beckett said. “What time is it anyway?”

Marz gave him a long, appraising look, then finally nodded. “Uh, going on four-thirty,” he said as he made for his desk.

Shit. Probably wasn’t even worth trying to sleep now. Not when they were meeting at oh-six-hundred. Nick wanted time to scope out the coffee shop, establish a perimeter, and get his people into place long before the eight o’clock meet.

“Have you even slept yet?”

“Tried.” Beckett scrubbed at his face. And damn if his hands didn’t smell like Kat. “Mostly failed.” The exception to that? When he’d held Kat in his arms. Then he’d slept like a fucking baby.

God, he really wanted to go to her, make sure she was okay and apologize one more time. He didn’t deserve that from her, but that didn’t make him want it any less.

“Yeah, I know how that is,” Marz said, booting up the machine in front of him. “Although, waking up in the middle of the night doesn’t bother me as much now that I have Emilie.” He winked.

Beckett had given Marz ten kinds of shit about developing feelings for the woman, but his friend was a lucky son of a bitch. The irony of realizing that now wasn’t lost on him. “Uh-huh,” he managed.

Marz chuckled as his fingers clacked over the keyboard.

“Need help with anything?” Beckett asked, his voice like gravel.

“Not right now, but I don’t mind the company if you wanna hang.”

Yawning, Beckett shook his head. “I think I’m gonna go drink a pot of coffee while standing in an ice-cold shower.”

Marz nodded. “Throw in a few cans of Red Bull while you’re at it.”

“Now you’re thinking,” Beckett said, his feet scuffing against the concrete floor. “I’ll be back.”

“Hey, B?” Marz called when Beckett had almost reached the door.

He turned. “Yeah?”

“I think she’d be great for you.” Marz held his hands up as if to surrender. “And now I’m back to leaving it.”

Sonofafuckingbitch.

Chapter 12

G
etting the text message signal from Nick, Kat moved out of her hiding place and walked the twenty-five feet down Eastern Avenue to the corner coffee shop. Kaine must’ve just arrived.

Taking a deep breath that pressed the handgun tucked into the back of her jeans into her spine, she pulled open the door and stepped inside. Sure enough, Becca was rising from her table and greeting a tall, older man in a camouflage combat uniform.

Kat dropped a jacket at a table close to Becca’s, just as they’d planned, then joined the short line to order. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Becca and Kaine move to get in line themselves. A patch with two black stars sat in the middle of Kaine’s chest, identifying him as a major general. Standing behind her, their conversation was easy for Kat to overhear, and was all the normal sort. Whether he’d encountered traffic or had a hard time finding the place. How long she’d been here, etc.

Kat, Nick, and Becca had come in over an hour earlier to scope out the interior and select a table for the meeting. Nick wanted Becca in front of a window so he could keep a visual on her, and arriving early meant they could control that.

When it was her turn, Kat ordered a coffee and a muffin, then returned to her table. She chose the seat that would allow her to face Kaine and the front door. Not including the two employees behind the counter, ten other people filled the small shop, many of them on laptops or reading the newspaper.

When Becca and Kaine returned to their table, breakfast in hand, Kat kept her eyes focused on her phone.
They’re seated
, she texted.

Got em
, came back from Nick a moment later.

Kat knew roughly where all the guys were posted outside. Nick sat in a parked car across the side street. Easy sat in plain sight on the other side of Eastern by the park, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and carrying a plastic cup in his hand that made him look like a panhandler. Shane sat in his truck on Eastern beyond where Kat had been hiding. And Beckett and Marz were behind the building, guarding the back exit and the alley it led to. Jeremy and Charlie had remained at Hard Ink, monitoring the wire they had on Becca, running communications, and watching the street cameras that Marz had intercepted to make sure nothing unusual headed their way.

After a few minutes of small talk Kaine said, “How are you, Becca? How are things?”

She nodded and took a sip of her coffee. “Things have been okay. For a while after Dad died, I let work keep me busy. And that helped.”

“Your father was a good man. I miss him over there,” Kaine said, giving her a sympathetic smile. The guy had that tough, rough-hewn look that a lot of older military guys get, as if he’d been hardened by age and combat and hardship.

“Yeah. It would probably all be easier if I knew exactly what happened to him, because of course it’s hard not to wonder and imagine. But I guess that’s just how it is.” She gave a small shrug and sipped her coffee again. Nick had coached her on what to say and how to answer possible questions. The team wanted to see how Kaine reacted to certain things and whether his questions or the topics of conversation he introduced might reveal anything about his true intent.

Kaine frowned. “He died a hero, Becca. That’s the key thing to know. Best not to dwell on the how. Your old man wouldn’t want you to do that.”

Kat’s phone buzzed.
You lied to me, Katherine. You said you’d meet me, which you never intended. Just another of your lies, wasn’t it?
Cole. Sighing, Kat thumbed back over to Nick’s texts so she’d be ready to contact him if she needed. She had no time to think about Cole’s bullshit right now, and she never responded anyway. Sure as hell kept every message, though.

Nibbling on a pastry, Becca nodded after a moment. “I know,” she said. Kat wanted to high-five Becca for how cool she was playing this, especially since her father clearly did want her and Charlie to know what had happened. Or else he wouldn’t have sent them a hidden microchip full of evidence and the means to decode it. Kat could only imagine what was going through the other woman’s head.

“How is work, anyway?” he asked, sipping his coffee.

“I’ve taken some time off, actually,” she said.

Kaine ate a bite of pastry. “Oh?”

“Yeah,” she said smiling. “The E.R. just got to be . . . a little crazy.” She shook her head. “Thankfully, the money Dad left gives me a little flexibility. Of course . . .” She fingered the handle of her mug. “I’d give it all back in a heartbeat if it meant he could be here again.”

Kat’s phone buzzed in her hand again, but she was too busy watching Kaine’s face for a reaction. And he definitely had one. His eyes widened and one brow went up, just the littlest bit. It happened so quickly that if she hadn’t specifically been watching for it, she might’ve missed it. Of course, who the heck knew what it meant?

“Amen to that,” Kaine said, lifting his mug in a salute.

Bracing for more vitriol from Cole, Kat peered down at her phone.

She seem okay? Anything else happening in there?
Nick. Thank God.

She’s doing great. Totally calm. All else is quiet.
Kat put down her phone and pulled off a big piece of muffin. As she chewed, she pretended to be interested in her phone again.

“So, you said you and Charlie don’t keep in touch much anymore?” Kaine said. “I would’ve liked to see him, too, but I’ve never had his contact information.”

“Yeah. Charlie’s always been erratic at keeping in touch. We e-mailed maybe a month ago and then that was it. When his landlord informed me that Charlie hadn’t been around, I actually filed a missing persons report, but the police just think he took off.”

“Damn, Becca. I’m sorry to hear that. Do you agree with the police?” Kaine gripped both hands around his mug.

“I don’t know, to be honest. I mean, he’s done it before and showed back up again later. I guess I’m not sure what to think.”

Aw, geez.
Kat was so proud of how Becca was doing she wanted to throw confetti.

“I’ve got some contacts in the police department here,” Kaine said. “Prior military who went law enforcement after retirement. I could see if they’d look into it further if you like.”

Well, the guys were gonna find that one interesting. It wasn’t unusual for prior military to go into the police or other first-responder-type jobs, but it
was
interesting to know that, along with the Church Gang, Kaine had contacts in the BPD.

Becca smiled and sat forward. “Really? I’d love that. It would just be nice to know for sure. Do you need anything?”

“Maybe just his contact information and any known contacts? Just places to start.” Kaine sipped his coffee, his gaze looking over the top of the mug.

Grabbing a pen from her purse, Becca nodded. “I’ll give you what I can,” she said, writing on a napkin. “We didn’t talk by phone much but this is his cell.” She wrote for a few more seconds, then slid the napkin across the table.

After that, they made more small talk. About their pastries. About his stay in the area. About how nice the weather was here compared to Afghanistan.

Kat’s phone buzzed.

Two BPD squad cars pulling up out front.

Kat’s heart thumped against her breastbone. Probably nothing. Right? It was a
coffee shop
, after all. And still plenty crowded. Except, Nick’s team had ample evidence that some of Baltimore’s cops had been firmly in the Church Gang’s pockets, and now, from what he’d just said, they knew Kaine had contacts there, too. It was a damn shame, but in this situation the police had to be assumed guilty until proven innocent.

“Well, it was really good to see you, Becca. I wish I had more time to visit,” Kaine said, balling his napkin up and dropping it in his empty cup.

Three officers incoming
, came the next message.

Kat pushed her fork off her table. It clanged to the floor—a signal to Becca that meant
Wrap it up.

“It was good to see you, too,” Becca said, pushing her chair back. Still chatting, they both stood and carried their dirty dishes to a bin over the trash can.

Three uniformed Baltimore city police officers walked in the front door. Kat’s gaze ping-ponged between the policemen and Becca. The men didn’t seem to take any special notice of Becca or Kaine. They got in line, eyes toward the wall-mounted menu, seemingly focused on what to order.

“Did you say you walked here?” Kaine asked, gesturing with his hand for her to go first as Becca nodded. “Can I drop you somewhere?”

Kat wasn’t loving this at all. The space was narrow and crowded enough that Becca was going to have to cut through the line—between the police officers—to reach the front door. Maybe Kat was overreacting, but something just felt
off
. Stuffing her remaining half muffin into her coffee cup, she grabbed her jacket, rose as nonchalantly as she could and made her way toward the door.

The middle cop turned around and walked full-force into Becca, hard enough that she reared back a step or two. Kat bit back a gasp, forcing herself to finish walking to the dish bin instead of standing and gawking at them.

Kaine caught Becca with a hand on her back. “Are you okay?”

“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” the policeman said.

Becca waved a hand. “It was just an accident. I’m fine.”

The officer put a hand on Becca’s shoulder, and ice skittered down Kat’s spine. Between the three cops and Kaine, Becca was completely surrounded. And the other woman’s protestations of being fine were sounding more and more strained to Kat’s ears.

She needed a distraction. So she hooked her elbow inside the dish bin and turned as if to walk away. The bin followed her and fell to the floor in an impressive crash of silverware and broken ceramic.

The whole restaurant—including the cops and Kaine—turned to look at her, but Kat glued her gaze to one of the workers behind the counter. “I’m so sorry. My jacket got caught and I didn’t notice.”

A young man came around the counter and had to cut through the line to try to reach where Kat stood. “Excuse me,” he said, needing two of the cops to step aside to make it over. The moment they did, Becca pushed through the line and reached the door, Kaine following belatedly behind her.

“I’m really sorry,” Kat said, glancing between the mess she’d made and Becca’s back, disappearing outside.

“Don’t worry about it,” the coffee shop guy said.

“Can I help?”

He waved her away. “I got it.”

Kat gave him a quick nod and took off for the door. “Excuse me,” she said, squeezing between the same two cops that Becca had. They let her through without any issues, but prickles ran over her scalp anyway.

Maybe she was just predisposed to look for trouble where it didn’t exist, but her gut was ringing out a five-alarmer. Something just didn’t feel right.

Outside in the morning sunlight, Kat caught a glimpse of Becca and Kaine turning the corner onto the side street. Kat moved in that direction, walking slowly and acting like she was texting a message.

“I’m parked down this way,” Kaine said. “Sure I can’t give you a ride?”

“No, thank you,” Becca said with a smile. “I have to make a stop on the way back to my place anyway. And I really enjoy walking.”

Kaine nodded, his smile seemingly genuine.

Behind Kat, two of the cops emerged from the shop, coffee cups in hand, and crossed the sidewalk to one of the two squad cars parked there. They got in, and Kat kept waiting for them to go. Had they received a call? But they just sat there.

A car engine revved on the side street, and Kat looked just as Nick pulled away from the curb. That was the plan—their leaving the shop was his signal to drive the two blocks down to their designated pickup spot.

Becca parted from Kaine, walked to the intersection and crossed to the other side.

The police car pulled a U-ey so that it was headed in the same direction on Eastern as Becca. It passed by where she walked, but to Kat’s eyes seemed to be moving slow.

She texted Nick:
Bad feeling about the cops. Maybe we should go back in shop?

Her phone buzzed, and Kat tried to read her message and keep her eyes on Becca.

Overreacting. Stick to the plan
. That was maybe the tenth time he’d told her that today.

Kat headed for the intersection, her belly a mess of intuition. Maybe she was wrong, but shouldn’t she play it safe? This woman was the love of her oldest brother’s life. Anything happened to Becca, and Nick would never forgive her. Nor would she be able to forgive herself.

Kaine’s rental—hopefully planted with a tracking device by now—pulled up to the stop sign, waited, and then turned right. Away from Becca. Okay, that helped. A little. Maybe she
was
overreacting.

Kat jogged across the street, not wanting to allow too much distance between her and Becca. At least they didn’t have far to go. The plan was for her to follow Becca two blocks to a corner pharmacy, where they’d both enter so Kat could scan Becca for any tracking or listening devices that might’ve been planted on her. When they came out, Nick would be waiting to pick them up.