Nate (12 page)

She marched into the room and shot past Grayson, who was standing. Edwin and Adam were seated, and Darcy planted her fists on the metal table that separated them. She leaned in and got right in their faces.

“Explain to me what
proof
you think you have that would implicate me in this crime,” she demanded.

The men exchanged glances but didn’t exactly seem unnerved. Nate decided to do something about that. He, too, moved closer.

“Ms. Burkhart asked you a question,” Nate clarified. He shut the door, locked it, pretended to turn off the interview camera and then slid his hand over his gun in his shoulder holster.

That got their eyes widening.

Nate knew both men. Had interviewed them extensively about Sandra’s death. Edwin was fifty-three and looked pampered and polished in his blue suit. To the best of Nate’s knowledge, the man had never had a job in his life, even though he did get an allowance for managing one of his late wife’s charity foundations.

Adam was a younger version of his father. There were no threads of gray in his brown hair. No tiny lines around his blue eyes. But there was no mistaking he was his father’s son. Like his father, he also lived off an allowance from his mother’s estate.

“You’re going to shoot us?” Edwin challenged, eyeing the stance Nate had taken with his gun.

“Depends,” Nate tossed back. Normally, he didn’t play cop games, but he was almost as pissed off as Darcy was. “Right now, I consider you two my top suspects. I think one or both of you is responsible for endangering my daughter and Ms. Burkhart’s son.”

Nate adjusted his position and leaned in so that Darcy and he were shoulder to shoulder. “And I’m also thinking you’re both dangerous enough to try to run out of here now that you know you’re suspects. If you do that, I’ll stop you.”

Adam practically snapped to attention, but the threat didn’t seem to faze Edwin. Except for the slight stirring in his jaw muscles. Because Nate had interviewed him and because he’d cataloged the man’s responses, Nate was guessing that Edwin was also riled to the core. The man was just better at hiding his emotions than his son.

“Why would you say I had a part in this?” Darcy demanded again.

Edwin lifted his shoulder, but it was Adam who answered. “Because you stole seventy-five thousand dollars from my mother.”

Darcy looked at Nate and shook her head. “When, where and how did this supposedly happen?” Nate asked.

“A week ago at my mother’s estate,” Adam continued. “The money was taken from a safe while Darcy was in the house.”

Darcy huffed. “I was there,” she admitted. “With two San Antonio police officers who work for Nate. I wanted to see where Sandra had died in case it came up at the trial. But I didn’t go anywhere near a safe, and I didn’t take any money.”

“Well, it was there before you arrived, and it wasn’t there after you left.” Adam folded his arms over his chest. “We think you used the money to orchestrate this kidnapping.”

“And why would I do that?” Darcy spaced out each word and glared at Adam.

“Simple. This makes your client look innocent. He’s not. But the truth doesn’t matter to you. The only thing that matters to you is winning and letting a killer like Dent go free.”

Since that seemed to eat away at what little fuse Darcy had left, Nate took over. “You have any proof she took it? Security surveillance tapes? Eyewitnesses?”

“No.” Edwin didn’t glare. He just looked smug. “But who else would have done it? Adam did an inventory of that safe just minutes before she arrived, and when he checked the safe again later that afternoon, the cash was gone. Are you saying your own officers are thieves?”

“No.” Nate could play the smug game, too. “I’m saying you two are troublemakers or liars. Maybe both. You honestly think Darcy would have done anything to endanger her son or my daughter?”

Darcy made a slight sound. Relief, maybe? Nate glanced at her and realized that’s exactly what it was. Oh, man. Had she really thought he might believe she’d put her child in danger to clear a client?

But Nate took a mental step back.

Yesterday, he might have indeed believed it. Before he’d seen her reaction to Noah’s kidnapping. Before he’d witnessed firsthand how terrified she was.

Before he’d kissed her.

Yeah, that was playing into this, as well.

The sweltering attraction. But Nate knew in this situation that the kiss wasn’t clouding his judgment. Darcy hadn’t taken that money, and she hadn’t had anything to do with kidnapping the babies.

Grayson moved to the end of the table and sat down. He studied Edwin and Adam for a moment. “So, you’re suggesting a lawyer with no criminal record would do something like this?” He didn’t wait for them to respond. “Because she’s not a suspect, and you two are.”

“I did nothing wrong!” Adam shouted.

“Nor did I.” Edwin’s voice was almost calm.
Almost.

“That remains to be seen,” Nate let them know.

Edwin got to his feet. “Are you arresting us? Because this was just supposed to be an opportunity for us to tell you about her stealing that money and trying to clear her client. And I don’t appreciate your intimidation tactics. If I’d known we would be grilled like this, I would have brought my attorney.”

“Come on,” Grayson fired back. “Did you really think you could walk in here and put this kind of spin on what happened? If Darcy had wanted to clear her client, she would have gone about it differently. Not using reverse psychology.”

“And if she had criminal intent, she could have created and paid for a witness,” Nate explained. “One that would have given Dent an airtight alibi. It would have been far cheaper. Far safer. And it wouldn’t have put her baby’s life on the line.”

Nate leaned in so he could look them in the eyes. “But you two have a lot to gain if you put Dent behind bars. Or better yet, get him the death penalty.”

“Dent made his own bed,” Edwin insisted. “He’s running scared because he’s guilty. And he knows you can prove it. You’ve said so yourself that you believe he’s guilty.”

Nate had said that. He couldn’t deny it. And maybe Dent was behind the kidnapping, but Darcy certainly wasn’t. So, that meant either these two had been duped into thinking Darcy was guilty, or they were the ones trying to do the duping.

Edwin gave his suit an adjustment that it in no way needed. “We’re done here. We’ve given you the information, and now we’ll go to your captain at SAPD. We’ll press him to file charges against…” He cut his eyes toward Darcy. And smiled an oily smile. “Well, whatever she is to you.”

Nate didn’t consider himself someone who had a bad temper, but Edwin’s suggestion sent anger boiling through him.

“Who said we’re done?” Nate fired back.

Surprise showed in Edwin’s eyes. Adam seemed alarmed.

Grayson stood, gave Nate a nod. “I’ll take things from here.” He looked at the two men. “You have the right to remain silent—”

“You’re arresting us?” Edwin howled.

“Detaining you for questioning and possible arrest for multiple felonies,” Grayson clarified. “When you’re done hearing your rights, I suggest you call a lawyer.”

The two men started to protest, but Grayson glanced at Nate, and he knew what that glance meant. This was now an official interrogation. Not an interview. And that meant Darcy and he shouldn’t be there.

“We can wait in Grayson’s office,” Nate said to her.

She looked ready to argue, and her gaze flew to Grayson as if he might allow her to stay. But Grayson only shook his head.

“Come on.” Nate caught her arm and led her out of the room.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For sticking up for me in there.”

He maneuvered her inside Grayson’s office but didn’t shut the door. Privacy and Darcy weren’t a good idea, especially since her nerves were raw and right at the surface.

“It was a no-brainer. As I said, you love Noah too much to put him in danger.”

Darcy looked at him and shook her head as if she didn’t know how to respond to that. But she did respond. Man, did she. She stepped forward until she was pressed against him, and slipped her arms around him.

“I’m wired to handle stress,” she whispered. “But not this kind.”

Was she talking about Noah now, or this suddenly close contact between them? Nate wasn’t sure, but that didn’t stop him from pulling her into a hug.

Unfortunately, a hug he needed as much as she did.

He, too, was wired to handle stress, but it was different when his entire world was tipping on its axis. For so long he’d been living in a dark cloud of grief and pain over losing Ellie that he had nearly forgotten what it was like to feel something, well, good.

His body was burning for Darcy. There was no denying that. But that didn’t make things easy. Or even acceptable. Wanting Darcy could put a wedge between him and his family.

Without breaking the armlock they had on each other, she eased back a little and looked up at him. A soft breath left her mouth. Like a flutter. And her face flushed with what he thought might be heated attraction.

Nate tested that theory by brushing his mouth over hers.

Yeah, attraction.

“We shouldn’t act on this,” Darcy whispered.

But she didn’t back away. She kept her mouth hovering just beneath his. Her breath smelled like the cinnamon tea she’d had earlier, and he wanted to see if she tasted as good as she smelled.

But Nate didn’t get the chance. The sound of the footsteps stopped him.

He braced himself for a face-to-face with one of his brothers, who would almost certainly notice all the heavy breaths and lust-filled eyes that Darcy and he had for each other. But it wasn’t his brother.

It was Wesley Dent.

Nate stepped into the hall, directly in front of the man.

They knew each other, of course. Nate had interviewed and interrogated him at least a half-dozen times. Times that Dent apparently hadn’t liked because his green eyes narrowed when he looked at Nate.

Unlike Edwin and Adam, there wasn’t much polish here. Dent wore his usual jeans and untucked white button-down shirt that was fashionably rumpled. It was the same for his shoulder-length, highlighted, brown hair. As a rule, Nate didn’t trust a man who got highlights and manicures. He especially didn’t trust Dent.

Was he looking at the person behind the kidnapping?

Just the thought of it caused the anger to boil up inside him again.

“I heard about your daughter. And your son,” Dent said, glancing at Darcy before he brought his attention back to Nate. “You’ve arrested Edwin and Adam?”

“Not at the moment,” Nate informed him. “They’re here for questioning.”

Dent’s eyes narrowed again. “Why not just arrest them? They’re behind this.”

“Where’s the proof?” Nate challenged.

“The motive is proof.” Dent looked up, huffed, as if he couldn’t believe Nate hadn’t done the obvious—arrest his dead wife’s ex and son. “Those two morons wanted you to set me up. To fix the investigation. If that isn’t proof, I don’t know what is.”

“Maybe,” Nate mumbled and he left it at that.

“How did you know about the kidnapping being tied to you?” Darcy asked. She stepped out into the hall with them.

Dent wearily shook his head. “It’s all over the news. I tried to call your office, to make sure you and your son were okay, but your secretary said you were out indefinitely.”

All over the news.

Though he hadn’t turned on the TV or opened a newspaper, Nate didn’t doubt that word had gotten out. Heck, this was probably a national story by now, especially with so many deaths and the kidnapping from a small-town preschool. But he did have to wonder how many of the details had been leaked. Details like the possible identity of the person who’d hired Ramirez to force Darcy and Nate into throwing the investigation.

“So, when will you be back at work?” Dent asked Darcy. “We need to discuss what’s happened.
Alone,
” he added, sparing Nate a glance.

That was reasonable. After all, Darcy was his attorney, but Dent’s remark stirred up other feelings inside Nate. Old wounds about Darcy and he being on opposite sides. And new wounds about his confused feelings for her.

“I’m not sure when I’ll be back,” Darcy let him know. She looked over her shoulder when the bell on the front door jangled.

Nate looked, too. After what had happened, he didn’t feel completely safe even in the sheriff’s office. He couldn’t see who had arrived because Tina Fox, the dispatcher, stood to greet the person and blocked Nate’s view. He did relax a little, though, because it was obvious Tina wasn’t alarmed.

“Look, I know you’ve been through a lot,” Dent complained to Darcy, “but my life is at stake. If the cops arrest me—”

“Mr. Dent, effective immediately I’m resigning as your lawyer,” Darcy interrupted.

Both Nate and Dent stared at her, and Nate didn’t know which of them was more surprised.

“I wouldn’t be able to give my full attention to your defense,” she continued. Her voice wavered a little but not her composure. “My secretary or assistant can give you other recommendations.”