The Christmas Rescue (2 page)

He glanced at Kayla and Brianna once they reached his jeep. He opened the passenger door for them. “Kayla, I need to go back and talk to the police for a minute. Will you wait for me? Please?”

Kayla flashed a puzzled frown but nodded. “I wouldn't mind a ride, since darkness comes so early now. But if you could hurry, I'd appreciate it. I'm sure Brianna is hungry.”

Relief washed over him. He was afraid she'd insist on walking back to her car. He turned on the jeep's ignition and cranked up the heat. “I'll be quick, I promise. Five minutes.”

He took off at a jog, retracing his steps until he'd reached the group down at the lakefront. He was glad he was wearing his dress uniform when he approached the police officers. He pulled out his official coast guard ID. “I'm Chief Petty Officer Rafe DeSilva, and I have reason to believe this body may be linked to a Coast Guard investigation. You mentioned a tattoo, do you mind if I take a look? If you have a possible identity, I'd like to know.”

The uniformed officers exchanged wary glances, but then shrugged. “The tattoo on this guy's shoulder is consistent with a missing person report we received for a William Schroeder. But since there's not much left of this guy's face or his fingers we'll need either DNA or a dental match to be certain.”

Rafe's gut clenched.

Bill Schroeder. Just as he'd feared.

He reached down to lift the sheet covering the body and looked at the shoulder tattoo for himself. He had a whole file on Bill Schroeder and he wasn't surprised to see the tattoo of an anchor and the name Jeannie written
along the bottom. Jeannie just happened to be the name of Schroeder's ex-wife.

“Thanks,” he said to the police officers as he covered the body back up. “We'd appreciate a call once you do have a match with the dental records.”

“Sure,” the officer agreed.

Rafe jogged double-time back to the jeep to find Kayla and Brianna waiting patiently for him. He slid into the driver's seat and glanced back at Brianna. “Did you time me?” he asked in a light, teasing tone.

“Yep. Mommy helped. You were gone six minutes. You're late,” she said matter-of-factly.

He couldn't help but laugh as he put the car into gear and then pulled away from the curb. “You're right. I'm late. Sorry.”

“Mom promised we could stop for pizza on the way home,” Brianna announced. “Would you like to come with us?”

“Ah, Mr. Rafe is dressed for work, sweetheart,” Kayla quickly interjected. “Maybe another time, hmm?”

Kayla's not so subtle un-invite bothered him. He sensed Kayla wanted to avoid him and he wasn't sure why. He didn't think it was because of his Hispanic heritage, although he supposed anything was possible.

He'd never approached her on a personal level, asking her to go out with him. Kayla was a widow, and he was a widower. She was strong and brave and beautiful, but the last thing he wanted or needed was a ready-made family.

He also knew that her brother, Alex, had found God and faith thanks to meeting his new wife, Shelby, but Kayla hadn't. So even though he knew he should stay far away from Kayla and her adorable daughter, he found himself wanting to help in any way he could.

Was it God's intent that he help show Kayla the way? Maybe. At the very least, they could be friends.

“Actually, I had just finished with my meeting when Alex called,” he corrected smoothly. “And pizza sounds great. My treat.”

Kayla bit her lip and glanced away. He sensed she wasn't thrilled with the idea of him coming along, but he had no idea why. It was just a simple meal.

“Yay!” Brianna shouted happily. He grinned, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. At least one female didn't mind sharing dinner with him.

He ignored the pang of loneliness. The coast guard was his life; he wasn't interested in anything more. His family had been gone for almost five years now. Stranded in the middle of the snowstorm, waiting for the ambulance to arrive, he'd ended up holding his pregnant wife, Angela, in his arms while she and their baby both died from a rare complication during labor.

No, a family wasn't for him. He shook off the sad thoughts as he pulled up in front of Kayla's SUV. “Which pizza place?” he asked.

“DiVinci's,” she answered. The restaurant was located in the small town of Bear Lake, not far from where her bed-and-breakfast was located. He didn't doubt she'd chosen the place closest to her house to dissuade him from going.

Ha. Fat chance. He could be stubborn, too. Besides, he couldn't shake the protectiveness he felt toward her. Going to DiVinci's would provide a good excuse for him to make sure she made it home without incident. “Sounds good. I'll follow you there.”

Brianna jumped out of the backseat. Kayla leaned on the open passenger door. “Really, Rafe, I can explain to
Brianna. I know you have much better things to do with your free time.”

He raised his eyebrows. Did she imagine he had some sort of active social life? If so, nothing could be farther from the truth. “Kayla, relax. I'm hungry and DiVinci's has great pizza. It's just a friendly dinner.”

“Okay, suit yourself,” she muttered before shutting the door behind her. He watched as she helped Brianna into her child safety seat, before sliding in behind the wheel. He pulled out behind her, following her to the highway.

As he drove, he mulled over the threads of his case. With Bill Schroeder's death, their investigation would halt in a dead end. Schroeder had been their best chance at breaking the criminal trafficking ring. They'd focused their attention on Bill Schroeder in the first place because one of the local police officers had spotted Bruce Pappas, a well-known criminal awaiting trial, down at the lakeshore getting into one of Bill Schroeder's boats. After that, Bruce Pappas had suddenly vanished. Never showed up for his court date. And had never been seen again.

At the time, Schroeder had insisted he'd returned Pappas back to shore, and the authorities had never been able to prove otherwise.

So they'd begun keeping Schroeder under surveillance. They'd noticed he took trips at odd times during the day and night. But while his actions were suspicious, they needed hard, irrefutable proof. They'd been hoping to catch him in the act of actually transporting a criminal, but so far they'd had no luck.

So much for that plan.

He called his young partner, Evan Marshall, and his commanding officer Luke Sanders, to give them the
news. Sure, they'd have to wait for a positive ID, but clearly it looked as if Schroeder's disappearance had been the result of foul play.

Neither man answered their phones, so he left messages and then snapped his phone shut with a sense of frustration. Not that it really mattered that Evan and Luke didn't answer, there was nothing more they could do tonight anyway. They'd need to regroup and find another thread to follow in the investigation.

He pushed thoughts of work aside with an effort. He needed to focus on relaxing and enjoying himself for once. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had dinner with an attractive woman.

Of course this wasn't a date, he hastily assured himself. Just a nice dinner with a friend and her daughter.

When Kayla turned into DiVinci's parking lot, he pulled in right beside her. As they walked inside, he caught a whiff of her strawberry shampoo and had to stop himself from actually leaning closer to breathe deeply, filling his head with her wholesome scent.

He pulled his scattered thoughts away from dangerous territory. He'd promised her a friendly meal, nothing more.

Brianna chatted throughout dinner, which was nice since Kayla was unusually quiet. Brianna explained all about her school Christmas party and the shopping they'd done earlier that day before going off to visit her dad's memorial.

Her last comment piqued his interest. This was the first he'd heard of a memorial. He glanced at Kayla, oddly disappointed. He'd heard from Alex how she'd taken Jeremy's death very hard. She obviously still carried strong feelings for her dead husband even though he'd been gone for two years. He'd been a part of the
team that had searched for Jeremy Wilson when his boat hadn't returned to shore. They'd found him, but too late. “That was a really nice idea, putting up a memorial in your husband's memory.”

Kayla's smile was strained. “Actually the memorial was Bill Schroeder's idea, not mine.”

A prickle of fear raised the hairs on the back of his neck. Bill Schroeder? Had she kept in touch with him over the years? In the months they'd been watching Schroeder, they'd never seen Kayla down by the lakefront near his business. And according to Alex, Kayla hadn't stayed on close, friendly terms with the guy, either.

But she had been at Pelican Point today. On the same day Bill Schroeder washed up along the lakeshore. Not that he believed she had anything remotely to do with his death.

Still, he didn't like the strange coincidence. Didn't like it at all.

Ice formed along the length of his spine. Was it possible Kayla was more closely involved with Bill Schroeder than he'd realized?

“D
id you know him?” Kayla asked abruptly, when Brianna left them alone to greet one of her friends from school dining at a nearby table.

“Who?” he asked, reigning in his chaotic thoughts. “The guy in the water?”

She frowned and nodded. “Yes. I figured you went back to talk to the police because you knew him.”

He hesitated, not sure what to tell her. He wouldn't lie to her, but at the same time, he wasn't at liberty to discuss his case. Especially when Kayla happened to know his key suspect on a first name basis. “It's possible the dead guy could be involved in one of our investigations, but we won't know for sure until we have positive ID.”

“I see,” she murmured, idly toying with the paper sheath from her straw.

He leaned forward, capturing her gaze with his. “Kayla, I need to ask you something. Just how well do you know Bill Schroeder? I mean, I know he was your husband's partner in the charter fishing business, but do you still see him? Talk to him?”

She shrugged. “Not really. He did come over about
a week and a half ago to show me a picture of Jeremy's newly erected memorial.”

Ten days ago? Right before the guy disappeared? He tried to sound nonchalant. “Really? What made him think of putting up a memorial after all this time?”

She shrugged. “I'm not sure, I asked him that, too, and he told me he'd always planned on doing it, but just hadn't had made the time. I thought it was a really nice gesture.”

Rafe wished he could be so sure. He wanted to ask more, but knew that if he persisted in asking questions, Kayla would grow suspicious. “A very nice gesture,” he agreed lightly.

Brianna chose that moment to skip back to their table, so he carefully changed the subject. When they'd finished their meal, he boxed up the leftovers and paid the bill.

“Thanks for dinner, Rafe.” Kayla's smile was lopsided and didn't quite reach her eyes.

“Yeah, thanks for dinner, Mr. Rafe. That was the bestest pizza ever!”

Brianna's exuberance made him grin. “You're welcome,
mi nina.
”

Outside, he slid the leftover pizza box in the front seat of Kayla's car while she buckled Brianna in the back.

“I'll follow you home,” he said when Kayla climbed behind the wheel.

“That's not necessary, Rafe. I appreciate everything you've done, but you've already gone out of your way for us.”

Her sincere gratitude warmed his heart. Startled by the abrupt stab of longing, he took a step back. “Humor me, okay? It's on the way home.”

Kayla rolled her eyes. It wasn't on the way, seven
miles in the opposite direction to be exact, but she nodded before closing the door.

Kayla's bed-and-breakfast was located just a few miles west of town. Her home was nestled deep in the north woods, far from the bright lights of the city. Total darkness surrounded them as they drove down her long, winding driveway.

There was a light on in the kitchen, but the rest of the house was dark. He got out of his jeep and came up beside her as she helped Brianna jump down from her perch in the backseat. “Did you set the security system?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Good.” He took the pizza box from her hands and led the way up to the front door. Her dog, Clyde, must have heard them because he started barking.

The white panel of the security system was easy to see against the dark exterior. But the green light that normally showed the system was turned on wasn't lit. He frowned. “Are you sure?” he asked sharply. “Because it's not on now.”

 

Kayla stared uncertainly at the security panel, searching back through her memory. “I'm almost sure I set the alarm.”

“Okay, take Brianna and go back inside the car and lock the doors,” Rafe commanded. “Give me your keys. I'll go through the house.”

After everything that had happened, she could only nod, fiercely glad that Rafe had insisted on following her home. “Come on, sweetie,” she said, tugging Brianna close. “Let's wait for a bit in the car.”

“Why, Mommy? What's wrong?” Brianna's green
eyes were wide with fear as she sensed the tension between the adults.

“Nothing is wrong,” she reassured her daughter, not wanting Brianna to be afraid in her own home. “Mr. Rafe just wants to make sure everything is fine before we go in.”

“I want Clyde,” Brianna said plaintively.

The sounds of the dog barking actually reassured her. She couldn't believe someone was hiding inside with Clyde home. The one thing their puppy was really good at was creating a ruckus. “He's with Mr. Rafe and I'm sure they'll be out soon.” Kayla watched through the windshield as Rafe flipped on the rest of the lights, making his way through the inside of her spacious home.

She bit her lip, trying to remember. She had set the security system, hadn't she? She was almost certain she had, but couldn't be absolutely positive. She'd resented her brother and Rafe for insisting on installing the alarm system nine months ago, but lately she'd been glad to have the extra protection. She'd fallen into the habit of using the security system on those days and nights that she and Brianna were home alone. On the nights they had guests, there was no point in using it because her guests could obviously come and go as they pleased.

The elderly couple who'd been her last guests had left this morning, and she and Brianna had left shortly thereafter. It was possible she'd forgotten to set the security system.

Besides, if someone had breached the system, wouldn't the police have been notified?

Rafe returned a few minutes later with Clyde, their clumsy puppy, at his heels. She opened the car door when he approached and climbed out.

“I didn't find any—ah—anything,” he said, with a quick glance at Brianna. She was grateful he hadn't blurted out how he'd been searching for an intruder. “But you might want to check things out for yourself to make sure nothing has been disturbed.”

“I'm sorry, I must have forgotten to set the alarm,” she said softly.

“Probably,” Rafe agreed. “The system is set up so that it sends an alarm if the wiring is cut.”

That's what she'd thought. “So the only way someone could get past my system is if they somehow figured out my code.”

Rafe scowled. “Yes. Do you change it every few weeks like I told you to?”

“I've changed it,” she said a little defensively, brushing past him to head up to the door. “Maybe not every few weeks, but I have changed it.”

“Check things out. I'll be in shortly,” he said, heading over to rummage in the back of his jeep.

“Brianna, bring Clyde inside,” she said. Kayla kept Brianna close as she did a quick walk-through. The house was eerily silent. Normally she loved being out in the middle of the woods, far away from civilization, but for some reason the silence bothered her now. Maybe she was still unnerved by finding a dead body in the lake. She glanced around, looking at her things. From what she could tell, everything was exactly the way she'd left it.

Her apprehension drained away. Rafe hadn't found anyone. Everything was fine. She was silly to be so anxious. Obviously she'd forgotten to set the alarm.

“Brianna, it's time to brush your teeth and get ready for bed.”

Her daughter groaned, but headed toward their private rooms off the back of the kitchen.

She took the leftover box of pizza and shoved it into her empty fridge. The night out had been an extravagance she really couldn't afford. It was very nice that Rafe had offered to pay. And now she and Brianna would have leftovers tomorrow night, which was a good thing, considering her cash reserves were pitifully low.

She tried to shrug off the gnawing concern. She'd figure out something. She always did.

“Kayla?”

Rafe's husky voice sent her pulse skyrocketing into triple digits. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves before turning toward him. “Yes?”

“Come here. I'd like to show you something.” He reached for her hand and the warmth of his touch sent a tingle of awareness up her arm.

He shut off the living room light and she was momentarily blinded by the darkness. “Come outside for a minute, but watch your step.”

Curiously, she followed him outside. When he shut the door, she could see the small green light glowing from the keypad, indicating the system was engaged.

Rafe's presence was noticeable, even in the darkness. He stood close. Too close. She eased back a step.

“Your passcode is 7724, right?” he asked.

She sucked in a harsh breath. “How did you know?”

He turned a switch and her porch was awash in a strange, purple glow. He aimed the black light at the keypad. “See how this black light picks up the little bit of oil residue from your fingertips? I could tell the numbers you used were 247 but I didn't know which order. It didn't take me long to figure it out, especially since
I knew you were born in 1977. It may take a stranger a little longer, but not much. Once they have the three digits, it narrows down the possibilities immensely.”

Speechless, she could only stare at the evidence he'd presented. He was right. Again.

He tapped in the code and then opened the front door and walked back inside the living room, turning the lights back on. “That's why I told you to change your passcode every couple of weeks. To prevent anyone from figuring it out.”

“I never realized,” she murmured, sobered by his brief experiment. Her earlier fears came rushing back. She couldn't hide her apprehension. “Do you think it's possible someone was here?”

He paused for a moment, and then slowly shook his head. “No, I don't. If the intruder was smart enough to crack your code to gain entrance to your home, he'd certainly be smart enough to engage the alarm again when he left. Why advertise he was here? I believe you forgot to set it.”

She let out a sigh of relief. “You're right. I'm just being silly. And I will change the code, I promise. And I'll clean the keypad regularly, too, as an added measure. Thanks for checking things out for me.”

Rafe hesitated at the door, gazing down at her, his expression troubled. “Maybe I should stay. I don't like the thought of leaving you and Brianna all the way out here alone.”

Her breath congealed in her throat and she didn't know what to say. Having Rafe nearby would be pure torture, and she wasn't sure her nerves could handle the stress. And Brianna would only get more attached to him than she already was. “I don't think that's a good idea,”
she said finally. “And besides, you work tomorrow, don't you?”

His intense gaze was mesmerizing, his brown eyes so dark they were almost black. “Yes, but at least I could make certain you're safe here tonight.”

“We'll be perfectly safe,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “I'm expecting guests tomorrow and they'll be staying through the weekend. I have lots to do to get ready. Really, we'll be fine.”

He stared at her for a long moment, before finally nodding. “All right. But promise you'll call if you need me. Do you have my number?”

She hoped he didn't notice the embarrassed flush in her cheeks. Taking his number seemed so—intimate. But when he waited expectantly, she pulled out her cell phone. “No, I don't. But I'll program it in now. What's the number?”

Rafe recited his cell number and she quickly entered the number into her phone. She wouldn't call him, of course, but knowing he was within reach if for some strange reason she did need him was oddly comforting.

“Good night, Kayla.” He reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. The slightest brush of his fingertips on her skin made her shiver.

She took a step back, plastering a smile on her face. She kept her tone light. Friendly. “Bye, Rafe. Drive safe.” When he left, she closed the door and then leaned against the wooden frame, her legs weak. She really had to figure out how to get a grip of her emotions around him. After all, he was just a man.

“Mommy? I brushed my teeth.” Brianna skipped into the living room, glancing around. “Where's Mr. Rafe?”

“He had to go home,” she said, straightening away from the door.

Brianna's face fell. “But he forgot to say goodbye.”

Her heart twisted in her chest before it plummeted to her stomach. This was exactly why she couldn't call Rafe. Brianna already cared about him, too much.

“I'm sorry, sweetheart.” She gave her daughter a hug. “He must have been in a hurry to get back to work. Come on, it's bedtime.”

“I wanted Mr. Rafe to tuck me in.” With a dejected pout, Brianna allowed her mother to take her back to their private rooms. Clyde followed, jumping up on the bed next to Brianna. He'd been sleeping with her since he was an infant puppy and there was no breaking him of the habit now.

She tucked Brianna in bed and gave her a hug and a kiss before shutting off the light and closing the door. Back in the kitchen, Kayla kept busy making a grocery list of the bare essentials she'd need for her weekend guests.

But even as she worked, she couldn't keep her mind off Brianna's keen disappointment. She'd known her daughter had been hinting for a father. Brianna had gone so far as to ask why Kayla didn't go out on any dates like her friend Sophie's mother did. She'd tried to change the subject, but Brianna seemed to have a one-track mind.

Going to the memorial hadn't spurred questions about her dead father, as Kayla had hoped. Apparently, Brianna was more interested in trying to replace Jeremy with someone new.

And Kayla was very much afraid that Brianna might have picked Rafe as a potential candidate to be her new father.

 

The next night Kayla tumbled into bed, exhausted after getting her guests settled in. It seemed like mere seconds later when a sharp scream pulled her from a deep slumber.