Navy SEAL Rescuer (20 page)

TWENTY-ONE

“I
f you’re here to interview her, Logan,
forget it. She’s not up to it.” Darius’s voice slid into the darkness, pulling
Catherine from a warm and quiet place into a cold and painful one.

She moaned, trying to shift away from the agony and only
managing to make it worse.

“Cat?” Darius called, and she struggled to open her eyes, look
into his.

He was close. So close she could see every eyelash, every
bristle of hair on his chin.

Hair?

She wanted to reach out and touch his face, see if what she was
seeing was real or imagined, but her arms were leaden, her body refusing to
move.

“Just relax, honey. You’re going to be fine. The surgeon
repaired your lungs, and you went off the respirator this morning. Another few
days and you’ll be up and around.” He brushed her hair away from her forehead,
and she could see the worry in his eyes.

“How long—”
Have I been here?
she
wanted to say, but her voice felt raspy and ill-used, her throat raw.

“Seven days. Both your lungs were punctured. Taryn is pretty
upset that your injury outdid hers. She left the hospital yesterday.”

“She’s okay?”

“She’s a pain in the butt,” Logan muttered, appearing behind
Darius’s shoulder. He looked worn-out, his eyes deep shadows.

“Mitch?” she asked, because she had to know if he’d lived, what
he’d said. Even pain couldn’t drive the need away.

“In jail booked on charges of murder and attempted murder.”

“Murder?” The word made her heart jump. Had he killed the
senator?

“I think we were going to wait to tell her about that, Logan.”
Darius turned, blocking her view as he mumbled something she couldn’t hear.

“Tell me about what?” She struggled to sit, pain slicing
through her chest.

“Lie down before you wreck the work the surgeon did.” Darius
pressed her back, pushed a button to bring the head of the bed up. “Better?”

“Who did he kill, Darius?” She needed to know, needed to
understand the sorrow in his eyes.

“Cat—”

“Tell me.” She clutched his hand, willing him to speak.

“After his arrest, the police searched his apartment. They
found hospital scrubs and an empty vial and syringe. Both contained traces of
potassium chloride.”

Her heart dropped, her stomach churning. Potassium chloride?
The same poison that had been used to murder eleven elderly patients. The
patients that she’d once been accused and convicted of killing.

Suddenly, she knew the truth with a clarity that shot past the
pain, settled deep and hard. “He killed Eileen, didn’t he?”

“I’m afraid so, Catherine,” Logan responded. “We were able to
obtain hospital footage and saw him walking into her room a few minutes before
the code was called. He walked out and then she went into cardiac arrest. I’m
sorry.”

Sorry?

That didn’t even begin to cover how she felt.

Tears dripped down her cheeks, but she didn’t have the strength
to wipe them away.

“Shh. You’re going to make yourself sick, Cat.” Darius sat on
the edge of the bed, gently lifting her into his arms. Her head rested against
his chest, his heart beating slow and steady beneath her ear.

“If Eileen hadn’t already been so ill, we might have suspected
something, but...” Logan’s voice trailed off. Fine, because Catherine could
barely hear past the sobs being wrenched from her throat.

Her chest burned, her lungs hot and tight. Stars shot in front
of her eyes, the room spinning, and she clung to Darius, wondering if she were
going to die from grief and pain right there in his arms.

“You’d better go,” Darius said, his voice calm and still and
filled with something Catherine had never heard.

“I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Make it Wednesday.”

“We need to—”

“You need to go, because if you don’t, I’m going to get up and
show you the door.”

Footsteps tapped on tile. A door opened and closed.

“Cat, calm down, okay, honey?”

“She died because of me.”

“She died because she knew the truth, and the senator wanted to
make sure she didn’t reveal it. You were secondary to that.” He smoothed her
hair, wiped tears from her cheeks, and she wanted to curl into him, forget
everything but his arms, his gentle touch, the quiet easy tone of his voice.

But she needed to know the truth like she needed to breathe.
Needed her past cleared up and cleaned out so that she could step into the
future whole and healed.

“What truth?”

“Let’s talk about this when you’re better.”

“I want to talk about it now.”

“Cat—”

“I need to know, Darius, because not knowing means holding on,
and I need to let go and move forward.” She touched his jaw, felt the beginnings
of his beard, soft and bristly all at the same time. “Is the senator my
father?”

“No. His son is. Jack Kensington. He met your mother when he
was a college freshman on vacation in Coeur d’Alene. She’d lied about her age
and was working as a waitress at a casino there. They hooked up, and then he
went back home and forgot about her. She showed up at Kensington’s place a few
months later, pregnant and looking for Jack. She found Gerald instead.”

“And he tried to pay her off to keep her quiet.”

“That’s not the way he describes it.”

“He’s talking?”

“He had no choice. Jack flew into town when his father was
arrested. Took time off from his presidential campaigning to support his father.
When he heard your mother’s name, he knew what must have happened. He wants to
meet you.”

“I’m not ready.”

“I told him it had to be your choice. He’s going to respect
that.”

“Thanks.” More tears fell, as she pictured her mother, pregnant
and alone. Eileen had always said Catherine’s parents were friends long before
they were married. That Jessica and Titus were meant to be together. Had they
married because of the pregnancy? Had Titus known that Catherine wasn’t his
child, but stepped forward, claimed her anyway?

It was a question she didn’t think she’d ever have an answer
to. She wanted to think he had, though. Wanted to imagine him as a heroic young
man determined to help the woman he loved.

“I’m afraid there’s more, Cat.”

“What?” she asked, looking into his face, seeing everything
she’d ever wanted in his eyes.

“The police are reopening your parents’ case. I asked them to
take a closer look at the autopsy report. Something isn’t right. That article
Eileen saved alluded to it.”

“You think they were murdered, too?”

“Yes. The senator is denying involvement in any of it, of
course, but he’s talking plenty, and I think he’s going to trip himself up
eventually. He’s already admitted that Mitch is his illegitimate son. A product
of an indiscretion in high school. His words. Not mine. He says the guy has had
problems since he was a teen. The only reason why the senator keeps him around
is to protect the family name.”

“It’s a little too late for that now.”

“That’s probably why he’s so eager to throw Mitch to the
wolves. He says his son’s commitment to the family has crossed too many lines.
Says Mitch will do anything to protect the family name.”

“Was he around when my parents...died? That was over twenty
years ago.”

“Mitch was twenty-two, and he’d been working for Kensington for
a year. Showed up on his doorstep and asked for a job. Said he’d keep quiet
about his paternity if Gerald gave it to him.”

“I guess Gerald was more concerned about family name than in
acknowledging his son.”

“I’m not sure that sat well with Mitch. He says he’s been happy
to work for Gerald, but the truth could be a lot more complicated.”

“I doubt he’s happy with the arrangement now that Gerald is
trying to sacrifice him for the family name.” Just the thought made Catherine’s
stomach churn.

What kind of father turned his back on his son?

“Neither of them are happy, because they’re both behind bars.
The judge refused bail.”

“I’m glad.”

“Yeah. Me, too. It’s a lot easier to keep you safe with those
two off the street.”

“Do you think Mitch killed my parents?”

“I don’t know, and I’m not sure we ever will. The senator
admitted that your mother visited a few months after you turned five. You’d been
sick and in the hospital, and she needed money to pay the bills. He gave her
fifteen thousand dollars, and told her to never return.”

“That’s a good amount of money.”

“Kensington claims that he had Mitch drive your mother home,
because he didn’t want a woman as young as she was taking the bus all the way
home alone.”

“That explains the bus ticket that wasn’t used.”

“Right. When Mitch returned he handed Kensington a wad of cash.
Said Jessica had refused the money again. Since she’d done it before, Kensington
didn’t think much about it. Funny thing is, when he went to deposit it the next
day, he realized he was five hundred dollars short.”

“The money in the box?”

“It’s hard to say, but your grandmother kept the money for a
reason. Maybe the same reason she kept the article and the check.”

“I wish Eileen had told me this before she died.” She closed
her eyes, not wanting to think about the last moments of her parents’ lives.
Always traumatic, the story had taken on a deeper horror, both of them innocent
and in love, their lives cut short.

“She tried to.”

“I guess what I really wish is that she’d told me when I was
younger. Then...”

What?

Nothing would have changed.

“She was trying to protect you, Cat. I think she suspected the
truth and was afraid that Kensington would try to harm you.”

“So, why tell me now? She could have died with her secret.”

“You were being attacked. She must have thought Kensington was
responsible and decided she had to warn you. He denies any part in things, of
course. Says that Mitch went on a rampage when he heard you were being released
from prison.”

“Mitch. I think he’s the man who attacked me the morning we
met. The eyes were the same.”

“He says it was his father. According to Mitch, Kensington
doesn’t want anything to ruin Jack’s chance of winning the presidency.”

“I guess a relationship with a minor could cause problems if it
came to light. Even if it was unintentional. Kensington said that reputation was
everything. It makes sense that he’d try to protect his son’s. Maybe, he
was
the one who attacked me and planted the bomb. But,
Mitch can’t deny that he tried to kill us on the road.”

“He says he had orders from Kensington. Logan thinks it’s true.
Kensington’s long-time secretary, Earnest Smith, was in the other car.
Unfortunately, he didn’t survive, so we can’t hear his side of the story.”

She nodded, but didn’t speak; she felt leaden and weighted and
so tired she wasn’t sure she would ever move again.

Darius shifted, and she tightened her grip on his waist. “Don’t
go,” she said, and he stroked her hair.

“Why would I do that? You are the only place I ever want to
be.” He kissed her forehead, pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

“It just feels like everything has changed,” she said, because
the truth hurt more than she could have imagined.

“
We
haven’t,” Darius responded, and
the truth of that was enough to ease some of the sting.

“I love you,” she whispered, because it mattered,
he
mattered.

“I know, and I love you, too.”

She felt his smile against her hair, his fingers tracing
circles on her back, felt his love like sunrise after a long dark night. Felt it
settle as deep as the truth of her past. Deeper, because it was what she would
build tomorrow and the next day and the next day on.

She touched his face, her fingers sliding along his jaw. “I
like your beard.”

“
I
like
you.
”

“I know, and I like you, too.”

His laughter rumbled beneath her ear, and she smiled, closing
her eyes again, letting herself drift on the waves of his joy. Her joy.
Theirs.

Despite the sadness and pain, despite the unknowns.

Theirs.

Because, they were meant to be, brought together by a plan that
went beyond their own. God’s plan, His design, fitting them together perfectly.
All the trials and heartache and trouble bringing them to the very beginning of
forever.

* * * * *

[Fluffer Nutter]

Look for Shirlee McCoy’s
next Love Inspired Suspense novel,
TRACKING JUSTICE
,
available in January 2013

Keep reading for an excerpt of
Threat of
Darkness
by Valerie Hansen!

Dear Reader,

When I wrote my previous Heroes for Hire book,
Undercover Bodyguard,
I introduced Catherine Miller as
a secondary character. Accused and convicted of murder, she’d been in jail for
several years. I knew immediately that she would have to have her own story, and
that that story would be one of redemption and renewed faith. Catherine has been
through more than most people could ever imagine, but she still longs to believe
that God is real and present in her life. Darius is a perfect foil for her
strength and vulnerability. A former Navy SEAL, he’s fought his own battles and
embraced a life filled with challenges.

Though most of us will never be faced with the extreme
struggles that Catherine and Darius must overcome, it is good to remember that
God is faithful. Good times or bad, He is always there. His strength holds us up
when we cannot support ourselves, and His love is the light that leads us
through even the darkest of times.

Blessings,