Kade (13 page)

Well, almost.

Kade’s brother Grayson had arrived just minutes after the fatal shooting and immediately taken over the necessary mop-up of an inevitable investigation. Grayson was pacing their suite while talking on the phone, and from what Bree could glean from the conversation, he was within minutes of turning over the investigation to one of his deputies so he could leave for San Antonio.

With Leah, of course.

That was good, Bree kept reminding herself. However, in this case
good
felt like something beyond bad.

“We’re doing the right thing sending Leah with Grayson,” she whispered. She tried not to make it sound like a question, but it did, anyway. She prayed she wasn’t sending her baby from the frying pan into the fire.

Kade eased down his hands, looked at her. Then looked at Leah, who was in Bree’s lap. “Yeah.” He no doubt knew everything Bree was feeling because he was feeling it, too. He paused. “I also need to make arrangements for you.”

Bree shook her head. “Once Leah is away from the danger, what I’d really like is a showdown with whoever’s responsible for this.”

That sent another jolt of anger through her. She wanted to find this person fast and be the one to put them in jail or do what Kade had just done. End it with a bullet.

“You’re up for that?” Kade questioned.

Probably not. Her hands were still shaky, and she felt years removed from her FBI training. Right now, she felt like a mother with a child who’d just been placed in harm’s way. And that was a far stronger motivation than she’d ever had to bring down a criminal.

Bree touched her daughter’s cheek, and even though Leah’s eyes were closed, she gave Bree one of those baby smiles. The feeling of warmth replaced the anger. But not the determination for Bree to keep her safe.

However, Leah wasn’t the only person for her to be concerned about.

“Are you okay?” she asked Kade. “And before you give me a blanket
I’m fine
answer, I’d like the truth.”

Kade stayed quiet a moment. “Ever killed a man in the line of duty?”

“Once.” A cut-and-dried case of defending herself, just as Kade had done.

“It doesn’t get easier,” Kade mumbled.

Bree rubbed his arm and hoped that would help. But how could it? He’d done what he had to do, but he’d also have to come to terms with taking a life.

Yet something else they had in common.

As if they needed more.

Sometimes, like now, Bree felt that Kade and she were speeding headfirst, no helmets, into a brick wall. One of them, or both, would get hurt, but there didn’t seem to be anything that would stop it. She didn’t know whether to fight it or just save her energy and surrender.

Grayson ended his call, and when he didn’t make another one, both Kade and Bree looked at him.

“The dead shooter’s name is Tim Kirk,” Grayson explained. “He worked as a security guard at the Fulbright clinic during your undercover investigation.”

Maybe that’s why he’d seemed familiar to Bree. “Kirk’s connected to one of our suspects?” And she didn’t include Coop in that list, despite what Anthony had told them during his visit to the ranch.

“He is. And he’s also connected to the man who tried to kill you at the motel. Mason checked Kirk’s cell, and yesterday morning he called the prepaid phone of the triggerman who turned up dead.” Grayson paused. “However, the last person he called was Anthony.”

Anthony, who’d accused Coop of wrongdoing. Of course, that accusation hadn’t gotten Anthony’s name off their suspect list. Now he was at the top of it.

“SAPD is sending someone over to Tim Kirk’s apartment to check it out now. There might be more evidence linking him to Anthony. Or one of the others,” Grayson added.

Maybe Coop, judging from Grayson’s tone. Well, good. Bree wanted them to look, but she was sure they wouldn’t find anything.

“While they’re at Kirk’s place, I hope they’ll search for those surveillance backups that went missing from the Fulbright clinic,” Kade reminded him.

“They will.” Grayson shrugged. “But unless Kirk was planning to use them to pin the blame on someone else, those backups might have been destroyed.”

Yes, Bree had considered that. She had also considered if that had happened, they might never have enough evidence to convict any of their suspects to long jail sentences. Heck, it was possible that even with a conviction Anthony and Jamie would get as little as probation.

Kade and she needed more evidence.

Grayson looked at Bree. “Any luck remembering where you were held during your pregnancy? Because there might still be some evidence there we can use.”

Bree pushed her hair from her face and forced herself to think. “It was a house in the country.” Which she’d already told them. “High brick fence with guard dogs. Dobermans.” She shook her head. “I can remember the rooms clearly now, but I can’t tell you what was past that fence.”

If that disappointed Grayson, he didn’t show it. “When one of the kidnappers helped you escape, do you have any idea how long it took you to get from the fenced house to the motel?”

Those images weren’t so clear. In fact, they were nonexistent.

“I don’t have a clue about the time frame, but I do know we didn’t go directly from the house to the Treetop motel. We went to another hotel first. In Austin, I think. And she gave me a heavy dose of drugs before we left.” Bree stopped a moment. “But she was in a hurry. The man wasn’t there, and she said we had to get out before he came back because he was going to kill me.”

Since Kade’s leg was touching her, she felt him tense. “Why did he want to kill you?” Kade asked. “Leah was gone by then. Why did he or his boss feel you were no longer of any use to them?”

Again, Bree forced herself to think. “Maybe I saw something. Or maybe something changed in his situation. His boss might have found a different kind of leverage to tamper with the investigation.”

But what?

Bree drew a blank on all counts.

“It sounds as if you were around the female kidnapper a lot,” Grayson commented. “Any chance it was Jamie Greer?”

“A good chance,” Bree admitted. “The height and body build are a match.” Still, she had to shake her head. “But she certainly didn’t dress like Jamie, and the prosthetic mask was very good. I couldn’t see any of her features behind it.” She shrugged. “Of course, the drugs probably helped with that. Hard to see a person’s features when they’re swimming in and out of focus.”

“Keep trying to remember,” Grayson insisted after a nod. He checked the time and blew out a weary breath. “McClendon, Anthony and Jamie are all on their way to my office. Or they sure as heck better be. If not, I warned them they’d all be arrested.”

Good. Maybe they would defy that order, and that would get them tossed in jail. A temporary stay was better than nothing.

“I need you to help Mason question them,” Grayson added, his attention on Kade. “Are you up to it?”

“Absolutely.” Kade got to his feet. “Anthony accused Bree’s boss of being a dirty agent, said he had a witness. Maybe he’ll bring that witness with him.”

Bree adjusted the baby to the crook of her arm and stood, too. “I’d like to get in on this.”

The brothers exchanged glances and were no doubt thinking she wasn’t mentally or physically ready for this. She wasn’t, but that wouldn’t stop her. “When I hear what they have to say, it might help me remember where I was held captive.”

Grayson finally nodded. “Tape the interviews and follow the rules. If one of them is guilty, I don’t want them slipping through the cracks on a technicality.”

Bree was on the same page with that. Someone would pay for what had happened. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be Kade, her or Leah.

“It’s time,” Grayson said, and with those two little words, Bree knew exactly what he meant.

Kade did, as well, because he leaned over and kissed Leah’s cheek. “This won’t be for long,” he promised the baby in a whisper.

Bree kissed her, as well, but she didn’t trust her voice to speak. Oh, mercy. This was much harder than she’d imagined it would be; something she hadn’t thought possible.

“Three of the ranch hands are making the drive with us,” Grayson let them know. He picked up the diaper bag, looped it over his shoulder and then walked closer.

Waiting for Bree to hand Leah over.

Bree gave her baby one last kiss. Kade did the same. And she eased Leah into Grayson’s waiting arms.

“I’ll take good care of her,” Grayson promised. And just like that, he hurried out of the room.

Bree’s heart went with him.

Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked them back when Kade slipped his arm around her.

“Everything will be okay,” he said, his voice clogged with emotion. He cleared his throat. “And the sooner we question our suspects, the sooner we can maybe end this.”

So that Leah could come home.

Well, come to the ranch, anyway. It was her home, of course, but Bree knew that might change when Kade and she worked out some sort of custody arrangement.

“Let’s go to the sheriff’s office,” he insisted, and with his arm still around her, he led her to the door where Grayson had just exited.

Kade stopped.

He looked down at her and opened his mouth. Closed it. Then shook his head. “Later,” he mumbled.

Bree nearly pressed him for an answer, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to open any cans of worms with Kade right now. One thing at a time, and the first thing was to get through these interrogations.

By the time they made it outside to Kade’s truck, Grayson had already driven away.
To safety,
Bree reminded herself again. And if Kade and she could do their jobs and make an arrest, their time apart from Leah would be minimized. That was all the motivation she needed to end this quickly.

“What if Anthony produces a witness who says that Coop is dirty?” Kade asked her. He started his truck and headed for town.

“Then, I’ll assume Anthony paid off the person to lie.” Bree figured this wasn’t the answer Kade wanted to hear. She stared at him. “Why are you so willing to believe Coop worked for McClendon?”

He stayed quiet a moment, mumbled something she didn’t quite catch. “For the worst of reasons.” Another pause. “I think I might be jealous of him.”

“What?” Bree couldn’t get that out there fast enough.

“This is hard for me to admit, but Coop seems possessive of you.”

“In a boss to employee sort of way,” she clarified. “There has never been anything personal between Coop and me.”

“You’re sure he knows that?”

Again, she jumped to answer, but then stopped. And Bree remembered something that’d happened over a year ago. “Coop kissed me.”

“He did what?” Kade volleyed glances between the road and her.

“He’d had too much to drink. And he apologized.”

Kade made a
yeah-right
sound.

“Hey, you kissed me, and you apologized,” Bree reminded him.

“The apology was a lie. I’m attracted to you and so is Coop.” He cursed. “But that attraction probably means he wouldn’t betray you.”

Bree felt relieved. For a moment. However, the uneasy feeling came. “I pushed him away that night,” she recalled. “I told him I didn’t feel that way about him.”

She waited for Kade to say something about a scorned man seeking revenge, but he only shrugged. “If you hadn’t been kidnapped, he probably would have tried again. I would have,” Kade added in a mumble.

Bree stared at him. Yes, he would have. “If you hadn’t, I would have,” she confessed. “And if you think that pleases me, think again.”

Despite the seriousness of the conversation, the corner of his mouth lifted, and she got a hint of that killer smile once more. “I just don’t want you to think that the attraction I feel for you has anything to do with Leah.”

She’d been on the verge of smiling herself, but that stopped it. Bree shook her head.

“I’m not trying to work out custody issues with you in bed,” he clarified.

Oh.

At first there was a jolt of anger, that maybe Kade would think that’s what she was trying to do. But she kept staring at him and didn’t see any sign of it.

The only sign she saw was the confirmation that what she felt for him had zilch to do with Leah. Or with the danger. It had to do with the fact that he was, well, hot.

She groaned and leaned her head against the window. “Sex should be the last thing on my mind right now.”

“Yeah,” Kade agreed.

That didn’t make it true.

Both of them knew that.

“I’m thinking when you’re a hundred percent, we just get it over,” he continued. “I mean, we worked ourselves up on the assignment. Now the close contact is steaming things up again. If we could just find the time to jump into bed, that might cool us down.”

Her smile came, anyway. “Is that some kind of invitation to your bed?” Oh, yes. Headfirst into that brick wall.

He took her hand, lifted it and brought it to his mouth to kiss. “I already have you in my bed, but you’re not in any shape for sex.”

Her mind agreed.

Her body didn’t.

And Bree was about to blurt that out when Kade’s phone buzzed. He answered it but said little so she couldn’t tell if the caller was Grayson. Soon, she’d want to contact Kade’s brother and make sure the trip to San Antonio had gone smoothly.

Bree prayed it had.

“Let me know if you find anything,” Kade said to the caller, and he hung up. “That was Nate, my brother at SAPD. It’s not about Leah,” he quickly added.

Good thing, too. Her mind wasn’t going in a good direction on this.

“Nate sent one of his detectives to Tim Kirk’s apartment, but it’s been ransacked. His wall safe had been opened, and it was empty.”

Definitely not good. Any potential evidence had probably been destroyed or contaminated. Still, Bree had a gut feeling that Kirk was the person who’d kidnapped her. Proving it, though, would be a bear.

But then, as Kade was pulling into the parking lot of the sheriff’s office, she saw someone who could maybe clear all of this up.

Anthony.

He was heading inside the front door of the building. For the interview no doubt, but he clearly wasn’t happy about being there. And he was alone.