Love Inspired Suspense January 2014 (76 page)

“Sir, it's best if you go. Now.”

A scowl whispered across Mr. Miller's face before he sighed. “Is this about what happened the other day?”

Andrea hesitated before she nodded.

“Then I'm calling the police.” Before Andrea could stop him, he turned and pulled his cell phone from his pocket, lumbering away faster than Andrea thought the little round man possibly could.

She moved to go after him, but Josh grabbed her wrist. “It's too late, anyway. If Cameron saw any of this, he's already long gone.”

This was it. The stress of carrying everyone else's lives on her shoulders was three seconds from splitting her in two. A dull pain gouged at her temple, threatening to force tears. If some shadowy person wanted her to stop doing what she loved, fine. But she couldn't hold up any longer, couldn't watch any more people place themselves in the crosshairs. “I quit. I'll give them what they want. They want the file? They want me to stop counseling? I'll shut down. They win.”

“You quit what?” Josh grasped her shoulders. “Stop it. You can't let them do this to you.”

Dutch stepped up, reminding her he hadn't left yet. “I'm not sure what all is happening here or who
they
is, but I've got your back. And I think this boy here does, too. Don't let a few bad apples steal what you're doin' here, Doc.”

Her head ached with the tension of decision. “Just leave me alone.” Turning on her heel, she practically marched toward the front door. There was no reason to look back to know that both men followed her. Josh's purposeful, precise step and Dutch's slight shuffle kept time with her.

Her hand was in her pocket for the keys when Josh gripped her upper arm and dragged her backward to a stop. Her back collided with the solid wall of his chest and, despite the situation swirling around them, she definitely noticed.

For a few breaths, he held her tight against him, then leaned down to whisper against her ear. “Your friend is carrying a weapon.”

Andrea's heart did its best to squeeze between her ribs. It was a fight for her next inhaled breath. Josh had to be wrong. Why would a guy like Dutch need to carry? Where would he even get a gun? Once again, the world tilted, and everything she knew to be true was distorted as though reflected in a fun-house mirror.

Dutch stood too close for Andrea to ask questions. From this angle, she couldn't read either man's face but knowing Josh, a plan already whirled in his head.

Before she could react, Josh released her and spun on Dutch, backing the older man against the large window at the front of the counseling center, his left forearm to Dutch's neck, right arm tucked protectively close to his side.

Dutch's eyes hardened in that initial instant as Andrea gasped and stepped back, torn between shielding herself and defending her friend. As she watched, the mask slipped into place, and shock tinged Dutch's expression.

Josh pressed farther, forcing Dutch's chin up. “Who are you, really?”

“I'm...I'm me. I'm Dutch. Just a homeless guy.” His gaze shifted frantically to Andrea. “Tell him who I am, Doc.”

Andrea couldn't even move. The whole scene was so incongruous to everything she thought of as reality.

“Don't talk to her.” Josh leaned in closer. “Talk to me. Your average homeless guy doesn't carry a gun. It wouldn't be allowed in any shelter I know of.”

“I'm not—”

“You are. I saw it ten seconds ago when you reached up to shift your ball cap.”

A car engine hummed closer across the parking lot. Andrea swallowed hard against a rising tide of new panic. “Josh. It's Detective Simmons and another police car.”

Josh didn't even look her way. “Good. She can deal with your friend.”

Detective Simmons stepped out of her car and stood behind the door, surveying the scene. “What's going on here?”

“He's got a weapon.”

“I don't have no weapon. And he assaulted me.” Dutch was suddenly all motion, fighting Josh. “I didn't do nothing. Arrest him.”

The detective stepped closer. Her eyes narrowed, and she reached toward Dutch with the swiftness of a striking snake. When her hand reappeared, a gun came with it.

Andrea gasped and stepped back as Josh tightened his grip against the older man, eliciting a grunt.

“So this isn't yours? You tripped and it fell into your waistband?”

Lines appeared around Dutch's eyes and mouth, but he said nothing.

“Okay, fine.” Simmons handed the gun off to a nearby officer and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “Unless you can produce a concealed-carry permit, you're under arrest.”

Andrea's fingers chilled as Josh stepped back and an officer hauled Dutch past her. He never even looked in her direction.

“Now...” The detective turned her attention back to Andrea. “Mind telling me why the two of you are here? Seems like an odd place for breakfast.”

Andrea straightened her shoulders. “Do you want to accuse me of something else?”

A summons from the officer who had custody of Dutch stopped whatever Simmons was going to say next. She turned and followed them, speaking over her shoulder as she stepped from the sidewalk to the pavement. “We'll find out if he's one of the men trying to harm you. Until then, go home. We'll talk about what you were doing here later.”

“She's right.” Josh gripped Andrea's elbow. “All of this activity likely scared Wade away, anyway.”

Pressing a finger to her lips, Andrea nodded and watched the police car pull out of the parking lot. She felt trapped in a whirlwind of events blowing by in mere seconds. Had the man she'd trusted so completely been about to kill her?

THIRTEEN

T
he car ride back to her apartment bogged down in a silence so heavy it blocked every effort to dispel it. If she listened hard enough, the car's engine probably revved higher under the added weight of her spirit.

Dutch. Armed and present when he'd never been to her office on a Monday before. If he was truly guilty, then no one in her life was above suspicion. As far as Andrea was concerned, Dutch's arrest was one more betrayal in a growing mountain of lies. Had he been snooping in her office, going through her stuff under the guise of helping? Her entire life felt like an illusion.

Maybe she was dreaming. Hopefully she'd wake up soon and find out all of this was the result of bad Chinese food before bed.

Except Josh. If only she could banish the rest of her life as a nightmare and keep him. It had been so long since anyone had gotten close, and he'd managed to kick down the barriers she'd built like they were made of a child's wooden blocks. Her entire life since her brother's death had been dedicated to helping soldiers like him, the wounded who came back with scars no one could see, who self-medicated until they could care less whether or not they ever felt again. For the first time, Andrea was tired of doing it alone.

“There something on my cheek?” Josh's words cut the threads of her twisted musings.

It took a second for her to remember where she was. “What?”

“You were staring at me.” Though he didn't turn to her, his expression held a slight amusement, like he'd been able to read her mind.

“Actually, I wasn't even seeing you.” Not really. “My mind was somewhere else.” Great. Now he'd want to know where it was. She turned her attention back out the window and shrugged, hoping he'd buy her nonchalance. “I think I'll see about getting a window in my office.” She turned her gaze out the side window.

Josh clicked the blinker to get off the highway at her exit. “So you're not giving up the center after all?”

“No. I'm not. Whatever is going on, I won't fail my brother or anybody else who's dealing with that pain. I can't.” Seeing Dutch hauled away hadn't dimmed that passion. It had only stoked a new blaze of determination. “No matter what any two-bit criminals try to throw at me, keeping that place open is what I'm supposed to do.”

“And the window?”

“When I leased the building, I thought not having one added privacy. Lately, with all that's happened, it just feels like the walls are closing in.”

“That sounds like it's got more to do with your life than your office.”

“True.” Andrea sniffed and dragged her index finger along the edge of the window, fine dust smudging her fingertip. “So Dutch has been up to something this whole time.”

“Nobody said that.” Josh's voice fell flat. “He could be carrying that pistol for protection. It's likely it had nothing to do with you. He probably sleeps under a bridge at night. Without it, he could be dead.”

“You sure didn't seem to trust him earlier.”

“I don't trust anybody who's armed around you right now. But I'm saying you can't jump to conclusions. He could just as easily be innocent of any of this.”

“He could be.” She was powerless to stop the sarcasm from tingeing her words. “But it doesn't do a thing to keep me from wondering who else is lying to me. Or about me.” She tossed a hand in his direction.

“I haven't lied to you.”

Her reply congealed and stuck in her throat. The comment was too intimate for the moment, loaded with subtext and emotion. It took a second for her muscles to loosen, and they were approaching her apartment complex when she came out of suspended animation. She dug the card for the gate out of her pocket and held it out to him. “Not yet.” It was more bitter than she'd intended, but his statement had ripped away her filters.

Josh slipped the card from her hand and slowed to a stop in front of the gate. He swiped the card and handed it back. “I don't have any plans to start lying to you, either.”

The hurt in his voice tempered her bitterness and loosened her tongue. Her hand found his neck, rested tentatively then kneaded out knots she knew her situation had tied. “I'm sorry. That didn't come out right.”

“No, it didn't.” He sat with his left hand tight on the steering wheel and didn't speak again until he pulled into a space in front of her building. “I'm trying not to take it personally.” He surveyed the area, never once looking at her.

“It's just that—”

Josh's fingers on her wrist stopped her next words and stilled her hand. He stared across the parking lot at the end of her building. If he paid any attention, he should be able to feel the way her pulse quickened with a blend of fear and something else she was only just beginning to admit.

He swallowed hard. “Out my window, right by the corner of your apartment. I'm pretty sure that's the truck Cameron was driving the last time we saw him.”

Adrenaline hit Andrea's system so hard pain jolted through her heart. The front end of a pickup truck, bumper shining in the early morning light, peeked from a parking space around the edge of the building. She slipped out of the car and moved to stand in front of the vehicle.

Josh met her there and gripped her biceps in a way that said she wasn't going anywhere without him.

In a sane moment, she'd resent the implication that she couldn't take care of herself, but right now, it was good to have someone stronger nearby. “Are you sure it's him?”

Josh didn't release her arm. “That's the same truck. It has to be. It has the same dent in the front fender.”

“Why would he call me away then show up here?” Unless the confrontation with Dutch and Mr. Miller and the arrival of the police had scared him away. He knew she'd come home eventually. The final showdown could be starting right now.

Josh's shoulder brushed hers as he stepped closer. “Get in the car and stay there.” He pulled away and crept to the side of the building, edging along the brick in a way Andrea remembered from urban warfare training. Problem was, this wasn't training, and Josh entered the situation already injured, without the advantage of body armor and an M-16.

She caught him near the stairwell. “I'm going with you.”

“It's too dangerous.”

Andrea stepped closer. “Everything I do is dangerous right now, including waiting alone in that car.” Her old training rushed forward, and she crouched lower. “I'm not letting you go without me.”

He shot her a look that said this would definitely be a topic of discussion later, even though he kept silent.

Together, they crept along the warm brick until they reached the end of the building. Andrea scanned the small overflow parking lot and the trees beyond, knowing Josh did the same. Finally, he gave her a final signal for silence and slipped around the corner.

Andrea held her breath, then followed as Josh took a step back and crashed into her.

“No.” The groan fell from his mouth and hit the pavement like a flat basketball.

Over his shoulder, Andrea caught a glimpse of the cab of the truck as the sun filtered through the trees and tinted the glass bright red.

Her breath caught, allowing nausea to rise in a sickening wave. She swayed on her feet.

That wasn't reflected sunlight spattering the windows.

It was blood.

* * *

Déjà vu. Or a really bad recurring nightmare. That's what all of this had to be.

Josh leaned back against the hood of a police car in front of Andrea's apartment and ran both hands through his hair, staring at the pavement between his feet. He'd lost count of how many times he'd seen emergency lights and heard wailing sirens in the past few days. If he never experienced either again, he'd die a happy man.

The tips of no-nonsense brown shoes appeared in his line of sight. He didn't have to look up to know who'd be staring him down. He'd been waiting for her.

In an oddly out of character gesture, Detective Simmons hesitated before she leaned against the hood of the car about a foot away from him. She gave him a hard look, then turned her gaze to a third-floor window where Andrea looked down at them, once again wrapped in a blanket. If Josh hadn't caught her shoulder earlier, she'd have rocked backward and smacked the brick corner of her building with the back of her head. Even now, she seemed fragile and wounded, like she might have endured one blow too many.

The detective brushed invisible lint from the knee of her khaki pants. “After the week she's had, I'm surprised she's not in shock.”

Josh hazarded another glance at the detective, but she was watching Andrea. “You're not going to accuse her of something this morning, are you?” His stiff fingers gingerly kneaded the tight muscles above his elbow. “Murder, maybe?”

A ghost of a smile crossed the woman's face, and Josh realized she was younger than he'd originally judged. She tapped the badge hanging around her neck. “I'm the good guy, remember?”

Josh straightened his arm, pulling tight muscles, and tried to assume an air of calm for Andrea who, even from this distance, still seemed deathly pale.

“And no. I'm not going to accuse her of anything. Guy in the apartment across from hers said he heard a vehicle backfire around five this morning. Since most engines don't exactly backfire nowadays, my guess is he heard something else. No—” she tugged on her badge “—your Miss Donovan is in the clear.”

“But I'm not.” With glittering clarity, Josh knew why she'd settled beside him.

“Nobody said that.” Her voice was practiced and even.

“Mmm-hmm.” He kept his eyes pinned on Andrea. “I'll go ahead and tell you I was home all night until I came here. Wide awake and hopped up on adrenaline and ibuprofen. And nobody else was with me.”

Detective Simmons chuckled. “You're safe, Walker.”

He turned wary eyes to her. “That was too easy.”

“You were with her at the time of death.” She glanced at him for his reaction then looked back at the building in front of them when he didn't give one. “The apartment complex's gate camera caught Cameron's vehicle entering by tailgating another vehicle going through the security gate. It was after you two left.” The car rocked slightly as she shifted position. “We still need to talk about why you decided to do something as foolish as sneaking off to her office in the dark. What were you after?”

Josh needed to avoid the coming lecture. If she chastised him for trying to protect his soldier or Andrea, there was no way his anger would stay below the surface. “What about Dutch?”

“I can't comment on that yet. Only thing I can say is it's a good thing we had eyes on the building. And Dutch had nothing to do with this shooting, not based on when we believe it happened. Even if he is your guy, he's only one of several, based on the look of things.”

That's what he'd been most afraid of. This was bigger than it seemed, with too many threads tangling around each other. If only they could find the one string that unraveled everything, before anyone else got killed. “Is that really Cameron in the truck?”

“We're pretty sure it is.”

Josh's eyes narrowed, his mind desperate to grasp anything other than the emotion that tried to rush him. “
Pretty sure?
How could you not be...” Nausea made him grip the hood of the car so hard the metal dug into his fingers.

“Yeah.” The detective's voice was laced with the slightest tinge of disgust. “High powered, high caliber to the back of the head. Small hole on the back side...”

“Massive destruction on the front side.” Josh couldn't stop the film rolling in his head. Only once had he seen what that kind of power could do on exit, and the sight had been one that still woke him in a cold sweat. Now Cameron was gone, his physical self obliterated by an unseen enemy.

“We'll have to wait on a positive ID, but preliminary evidence suggests it's him.”

Reality broke through to hit Josh like Andrea's unexpected right hook had a few days ago. He'd lost a couple of guys in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though tragic, it wasn't the same kind of shock this was. This hit like lightning, unexpected and out of place.

Then the voice started an unending loop. Another person in his shadow dead. Another person he'd failed to protect. The names played like roll call: Lauren, Brendan, Cameron...
Please don't let Andrea be next.

He kicked a wayward pebble across the pavement and forced his mind onto a different path.

“You know...” From the sound of the detective's voice, he could tell she'd turned away from him. “This isn't your fault.”

His head snapped up like her words had him on a leash. Had she read his mind?

She looked back at him so fast he didn't have a chance to turn away. For a minute, she didn't say anything, then she let her attention go back to the reflected lights of the emergency vehicles behind them. “You'll figure that out eventually.”

It was too soon since his own realization. This was a subject he didn't want to get into now, and certainly not with a woman he hardly knew and wasn't even sure he liked.

Detective Simmons didn't give him a chance to think, anyway. “You did a pretty good job at deflecting me earlier, but I haven't forgotten. Do you want to tell me what you two were doing at the counseling center? Like I said, there's no Waffle House nearby, so you weren't headed out for breakfast.”

“Be nice if life were that simple.” He kept his eyes on Andrea, who talked with a man he assumed was another detective while a paramedic stood at her side holding a blood pressure cuff. “Cameron called and said he was ready to talk, that he'd meet us there.”

“And here I thought you were smarter than that.” Her shoes scraped softly on the pavement as she moved slightly away from him.

Smarter than that? He'd like to cop an attitude and tell her she couldn't imply he was stupid, but the raw truth was he'd known all along he was juggling danger like a hand grenade with the pin pulled.