The Reunion Mission (25 page)

Jonah fought down the rising fear that coiled inside him, forced his voice to remain calm. “What tragedy, Miss Lydia? What happened?”

“It’s Hardin. Poor Annie found him shot dead in his office when she got here this morning to open the place.”

Relief that the body bag hadn’t been for Annie, and a gnawing concern for her trauma, tangled inside him.

Lydia shuddered and wrinkled her nose in dismay. “I can’t even imagine how grisly and horrifying that had to have been for her,” she said, mirroring Jonah’s thoughts.

“Where’s Annie now?” He cast another searching glance over the rubbernecking bystanders. “What happened to her? Is she all right?”

“Shook-up real bad, but not hurt.” The older woman’s face crumpled in sympathy. “Poor dear. Last I saw her, one of the cops had put her in the back of a cruiser to take her statement, get her out of the diner and away from the pushy reporters.” She aimed a finger down the block. “Over there.”

Jonah squeezed Lydia’s hand. “Thanks.”

He jogged down the street in the direction Lydia had pointed, searching each of the numerous police cars for Annie. When he spotted her, a curtain of dark hair shielding her bowed face, her thin shoulders hunched forward, her body rocking rhythmically back and forth on the rear seat of a cruiser, his gut twisted. Her body language reflected abject misery and terror.

A suffocating urgency to reach her, comfort her, protect her, grabbed him by the throat. He darted around the cluster of uniformed officers holding court on the sidewalk and knocked on the car window. “Annie!”

Her head jerked up, eyes wide. A gray pallor leeched her complexion. In seconds, the officers on the sidewalk assessed Jonah as a threat and seized his arms.

“Back off, sir,” one cop ordered as he hauled Jonah back from the police car.

Annie scrambled to find the door handle, beating it with her fists when she found herself trapped in the cruiser’s escape-
proof backseat.

“That’s my girlfriend,” he lied. “I just want to talk to her! Can’t you see she’s upset?”

“She’s a material witness. Until the detectives question her—”

“I know the drill!” Jonah released his frustration on the uniform. “I was on the job in Little Rock for nine years! I just want to hold her, calm her down.” He shook free of the man’s grip and shoved past another cop blocking his path.

“Sir, you can’t—”

Jonah stuck his nose in the second cop’s face. “Look, pal, you can stand right next to us and monitor our conversation if you want. We won’t discuss the case. But I
am
going to let her out of that car.” He met the officer’s narrowed gaze with a dark glare of his own, then grated through clenched teeth, “Now get the hell outta my way.”

With a determined stride around the cop, Jonah snatched open the cruiser door.

Annie lunged from the backseat and fell into his arms. “Jonah!” she gasped, her body trembling. “They killed Hardin! They shot him! Oh, God, Jonah.”

He crushed her slim body to his chest, only to find his arms were shaking as much as she was. Just holding her, knowing she was safe, released the knot of tension that strangled him. He clung to her, stroking her back and sucking in deep restorative breaths.

“Oh, Jonah, it was horrible. There was blood everywhere, and his eyes—”

“Shh,” he murmured into her ear. “Don’t say anything now. We can’t talk about the case until you’ve answered all the police’s questions. Okay?”

She raised frightened eyes to his and nodded. A near-convulsive tremor shook her, and she dug her fingers into his arms.

“Is this my fault?” she rasped under her breath.

Jonah’s gut clenched. “No!”

“But I—”

His grip tightened, and his gaze drilled into hers. “No! You can’t think that way.”

“We both know why this happened.”

Jonah cut a furtive glance to the cop standing a few feet away, listening. He had to keep Annie from saying too much, incriminating herself or blowing his investigation.

She shivered, near hysterics. “A-and I’m the one who lost—”

He kissed her. Just a quick collision of mouths. Not the deep, intimate kiss she deserved and he hoped he could give her someday, but enough to shock her into silence.

Enough to tell him her lips were every bit as soft and sweet as they looked. Enough to fire both his libido and his primal protective instincts.

She blinked. Gaped. Lifted a trembling hand to her mouth.

Guilt kicked him. Perhaps now, when she was already vulnerable, shaken by Hardin’s murder, wasn’t the best time to complicate his tenuous relationship with Annie. Even if the kiss kept her from incriminating herself in front of the eavesdropping cop.

Blowing out a cleansing breath, he turned to the cop. “When will she be done here? I want to take her home.”

The officer arched an eyebrow and flashed a suggestive I-just-bet-you-would grin. Jonah gritted his teeth, battling down the urge to wipe the smug look off the man’s face. But getting arrested for assaulting an officer would do Annie and his investigation no good.

“We just have a few more questions to ask her. She was in shock earlier, and we were giving her time to calm down.”

Jonah brushed the hair back from Annie’s cheek and gently
massaged the tense muscles in her shoulders. “You feel up to some questions?”

Annie turned a wide-eyed glance to the policeman. “Can h-he stay with me?”

“Sorry. No.” When her face turned a shade whiter, the man hitched his head toward the sidewalk. “He can wait right there, though. This will only take a minute.”

Jonah took Annie’s icy hands in his and squeezed. “I’ll wait for you.” He brushed a soft kiss on her knuckles and backed away. “You’re strong, Annie. You can do this.”

Her expression, as she cut a glance toward the cop, said she didn’t agree.

Jonah leaned his back against the brick wall of the building next door to the diner and kept a close watch as Annie gave her statement and answered questions. He only caught snatches of the conversation. But having conducted more of these interviews than he liked to remember when he’d been on the force in Little Rock, he could fill in the blanks. Crossing his arms over his chest, he scanned the gathered crowd, scrutinizing faces, taking mental note of who’d come to rubberneck.

Could Hardin’s killer still be lurking in the area? Somehow he doubted it. The killing could have been a robbery gone bad, but he doubted that, too.

Annie’s instinct that the killing was related to the cash delivery stolen from her was much more on the mark. But in this day and age, where money could be transferred from one account to another with the click of a mouse and the blink of a cursor, why deal with cash and messengered deliveries? The whole scenario reeked. He was certain the thief had been waiting for Annie, the delivery a setup to squeeze Hardin.

Was the head of the operation getting greedy, trying to eliminate the fringe players to keep more profit for himself? Had Hardin become a liabilty?

Jonah clenched his teeth. He needed more hard evidence soon so he could close his investigation, nail the bastards responsible. Before anyone else got hurt. Like Annie.

A cold ball of fear settled in his gut. Annie could easily be the thief’s next target if he thought she knew too much.

Time to change tactics with Annie. She still needed to learn to protect herself, but Jonah wasn’t about to leave her safety up to a few lessons in self-defense moves. Whether she liked it or not, he intended to stay at her side, watching her back until he knew the men responsible for Michael’s death and Hardin’s murder were behind bars—or dead.

Chapter 9

C
old permeated to her bones.

Annie rubbed her arms as she answered the cop’s questions, but her hands did little to displace the chill that sank deep into her marrow. Hardin’s lifeless stare haunted her whenever she closed her eyes. The metallic scent of blood overlaid by remnants of day-old grease lingered in her nose, churning her stomach with every inhaled breath.

“Do you own a gun, Ms. Compton?” the cop asked, jerking her attention back to the seemingly endless questions.

She blinked, stunned by the implication. Did they suspect
she
had killed her boss? That she had a motive to shoot Hardin?

And did it matter if she hadn’t actually been the one to pull the trigger? Hardin was just as dead, and her careless loss of his money was why he’d been murdered. She knew that much with a horrifying clarity.

The icy numbness burrowed deeper. “N-no. I— I’ve never owned a gun.”

“Do you have access to someone else’s gun?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t do this. I found him already...dead.”

The cop was clearly unmoved by her denial of guilt. He fired a few more questions before finally flipping his notepad closed and eyeing her dispassionately. “All right. That’s it. You can go for now, ma’am. But don’t leave town. We may have more questions for you in the next couple days.”

Annie nodded and wrapped her arms around her stomach, feeling she had to physically hold herself together or she’d shatter.

She glanced down the sidewalk to the spot where Jonah stood patiently waiting for her. Why turning to Jonah in this crisis felt right, she couldn’t say, but when she’d seen him at the window of the police car, her relief had been immediate and immense. She’d held her breath as he fought to get past the officers blocking his path. She’d needed his calming comfort, his reassuring strength, and hadn’t questioned why she’d instinctively known he’d come. As soon as the initial shock of finding Hardin dead had morphed into a bone-chilling fear for her own life, Jonah’s had been the face she’d sought as the police gathered and morbidly curious crowds clogged the sidewalk.

Now he tucked her trembling body under his chin, his arms folded securely around her, and she let the tears she’d been holding at bay throughout the policeman’s questioning wash down her cheeks.

His embrace was firm and reassuring without crushing her. The soothing strokes of his wide hand on her back eased the chaos and terror of the past hours. Nestled close to him again, she allowed her thoughts to drift back to the jolt that had shot through her when he’d surprised her with his kiss. More unexpected than the kiss itself was her body’s electric reaction. If his intention had been to scramble her thoughts and distract her from the situation, he’d succeeded nobly for several breathless seconds. The tender caress of his lips had spun a soothing warmth through her terror-chilled blood.

“When you’re ready, I’ll take you home,” he murmured, his warm breath stirring the hair at her neck.

Home. Her children.

A fresh wave of icy horror flashed through her. She stiffened and jerked back to stare at Jonah in dismay. “My kids! What if the people who did this go after my kids?”

Nausea swamped her gut. If anything happened to Haley or Ben...

Jonah’s grip tightened slightly, and he took her chin between his fingers and thumb. “That’s not going to happen.”

Frowning, she pulled her chin from his grip. “You don’t know that. They could be at my apartment now!” She glanced to the cluster of policemen half a block away and lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. “I’m the one who lost that money. If they did this to Hardin, then why wouldn’t I be next on their list?”

“I’m not denying that you could be in danger. But I promise you, I won’t let them hurt you or your kids on my watch.” The rough edge to his voice, the penetrating heat of his dark eyes rippled through her with concentric waves. Another tiny piece of her trust surrendered to his firm persuasion.

Jonah had bulldozed his way into her life and appointed himself her counsel and guardian. She knew so little about him, and what she did know was conflicting and confusing. By all rights, she should be running in the other direction. She’d had enough of bossy, controlling men.

Yet Jonah’s concern for her and her family seemed genuine. That alone was novel in her experience. Walt had been selfish, cared little for what his drinking and cruelty were doing to her and the children.

And Jonah had encouraged her to become self-reliant, empowered, confident. Walt had preyed upon her through fear and intimidation.

He nodded his head toward the parking lot. “My truck is over here.”

She followed him to his pickup and climbed inside. As they drove to her apartment in silence, Annie’s head pounded with questions, terrifying images of death and a numbing fear that she’d once more lost control of her life.

Jonah parked in a visitor’s spot on the far side of the parking lot, and she climbed out of his truck. Relief poured through her when she spotted Rani and her children playing on the grassy quadrant between apartment buildings.

Jonah placed a proprietary hand at the small of Annie’s back as they started across the crumbling asphalt.

Haley noticed her first, and her daughter’s face brightened. “Mommy!”

She ran across the parking lot to intercept her mother, and Annie stooped, catching her little girl in a fierce, protective bear hug. Holding Haley, knowing her kids were safe, melted a layer of the chill in her bones.

“How come you’re home, Mommy?”

“I...just got the day off.” Clinging to her daughter, Annie inhaled the sweet scent of the baby shampoo Haley still used, and a rush of tender emotion washed through her. Her children were everything to her, and if she had to go into hiding again to protect them, so be it.

Haley pushed back from the hug. “Does that mean you can play with us? Can we play with my Barbies?”

Excitement and hope laced Haley’s voice, and joy lit her eyes.

“In a little while. I need to...take care of a few things first.” Annie stroked her daughter’s hair and kissed her forehead. “But later, I promise to play Barbies with you.”

Her daughter grinned her satisfaction, then turned a curious look to Jonah, who’d stayed back as she greeted her daughter.

“Who are you?” Haley asked, wrinkling her nose.

Annie sent Jonah an apologetic glance. “Haley, if you want to meet someone, you introduce yourself politely. Remember?”

“Oh, yeah.” Haley scratched her nose and gave Jonah a measuring look.

Annie watched Haley’s reaction to him closely. Jonah was the first new man she’d brought around the kids since the ordeal with Walt came to a head more than a year ago.

He stepped forward and held his hand out for Haley to shake. “I’m Jonah Devereaux, a friend of your mom’s. Nice to meet you, Haley.”

Jonah’s hand swallowed her daughter’s smaller one, and an uneasy tremor fluttered through Annie, a reminder of how vulnerable her children were.

Rani had reached them with Ben in her arms, and she gave Annie a worried look. “Ms. Annie, is everything all right?”

“Well, yes and no. The diner had to close today unexpectedly. I can watch the kids today.”

Rani gave her a brief update on what the kids had eaten and when Ben had woken up that morning as she passed the toddler over to his mother.

“I’ll call you when I know what’s going to happen tomorrow. My plans are kinda up in the air right now,” Annie said. She sighed as Rani told the kids goodbye and headed toward her apartment.

If fearing for her life and her children’s weren’t enough, Annie hated the uncertainty this turn of events cast over her future. Would she have a job tomorrow? Would the diner close indefinitely? Would she have to leave Lagniappe to protect herself from the person who murdered Mr. Hardin?

As she herded Ben and Haley back toward their apartment, Haley stopped to play with the neighbors’ cat. Eager to get the children inside, out of view of any eyes that could be watching her, stalking her, she opened her mouth to chastise Haley for dawdling.

But Jonah crouched beside Haley and joined her in stroking the cat’s back. Annie paused, watching her daughter give the cat solid thumping pats.

“Gently,” Jonah murmured. “See how he put his ears back? That means he’s unhappy. You don’t want to hurt him, right? Kitties like soft pats.”

Haley gentled her touch and tipped her head. “Like this?”

“Yeah, good.”

The lesson in kindness to animals caught Annie off guard. His concern that Haley not hurt the cat contributed to her confused feelings toward Jonah. She tried to reconcile Jonah’s fighting skills with this protective and loving attitude toward animals.

A shiver raced over her skin remembering how safe she’d felt in his arms when he’d gotten her out of the police cruiser. How could someone who sparred as a hobby, who didn’t hesitate to take on another man in a dark alley in hand-to-hand combat have such a gentle soul? The contradiction flew in the face of everything her personal experience taught her. She was risking a lot bringing Jonah home, exposing her children to him.

She prayed she didn’t regret taking the chance later. But she needed answers from Jonah, and the diner wasn’t safe for this particular discussion.

“Do you have a cat?” Haley asked. Her wide-eyed innocence twisted in Annie’s chest.

Jonah blinked his surprise, then chuckled. “Well, no. Do you?”

“No, sir. Me and Mommy want one, but she says we can’t. She says maybe we can someday.”

Jonah arched an eyebrow and divided a smile between Haley and Annie. “And when is someday?”

“Haley, take Ben and go on inside. I’ll fix you a snack when I get upstairs.” Annie waited until Haley had led her toddling brother up the steps and closed the door before turning back to Jonah. “I don’t know when someday will be. It can’t get here soon enough for me.” She gripped the railing to steady herself, recalling the darkest days of her life. “Someday is when I don’t have to worry that my husband will hurt an innocent animal to scare or control me. I couldn’t justify exposing a pet to Walt’s volatile temper and cruelty.”

Jonah’s expression inexplicably tensed and softened at the same time, anger and empathy clearly battling for dominance.

“Someday,” she continued, struggling to keep her voice steady, “is when I’m not on the run, living in hiding to escape the murderous intentions of my husband. I didn’t know from day to day where we’d sleep at night, if Walt would find us and make good on his threat to kill me. A cat would have been impractical.”

Jonah nodded, his dark eyes boring into her. Rather than rattle her as his intense gaze usually did, his focused attention encouraged confidence and soothed her frayed nerves.

She cleared the knot of emotion clogging her throat and added, “Someday is when I don’t have to stretch my paycheck so thin you can see light through it. I can barely keep a roof over our heads and food in my kids’ stomachs with what I earn.”

The neighbors’ cat wound through her legs, rubbing, and Annie bent to pick it up. Cuddling the feline close to her chest, Annie buried her face in the cat’s soft fur. “I would love to let my baby have a pet, but cat food and vet bills aren’t in the budget.”

Jonah reached for her, but instead of patting the cat, he stroked Annie’s cheek with his wide palm. “Someday may be closer than you think.”

She scoffed and set the cat back on the ground when it squirmed. “How can you say that after this morning? Even if the diner reopens and I still have a job, Hardin was
murdered
because of that stolen money. How do I know I won’t be next?”

Conviction and determination blazed in Jonah’s eyes. “Because I won’t let that happen. Hardin’s isn’t the first life lost because of these bastards, and if it is the last thing I do, I’m going to find the people responsible and see that they pay.”

* * *

As Annie fixed her kids an early lunch, the bone-deep chill returned when Jonah’s remark replayed in her head. Who else had been killed? How had Jonah become involved in investigating the gambling and money laundering?

Her children’s restless squabbling drifted in from the living room where she’d left them watching TV with Jonah. She hurriedly finished draining the boiling water from the macaroni, eager to get back to the children and quiet their bickering. Jonah had to be uncomfortable around her fussy kids. Even the most stalwart soul could grow edgy around cranky children. Lord knew, the kids crying had been enough to set Walt off.

She shuddered remembering how often she’d had to run interference, bend over backward to keep the kids quiet when Walt was in one of his moods. And the backlash when her efforts hadn’t been enough.

With those dark memories haunting her, Annie set the macaroni aside and rushed to the living room to break up her children’s latest squabble.

“That’s the way! Punch it again. Harder,” Jonah said as she stepped around the corner from the hall. He held a sofa pillow in front of him, egging Ben to jab the cushion with his tiny fists.

Outraged, Annie snatched the pillow away, her temper spiking. “Stop it!”

Both Ben and Jonah lifted startled looks.

“Annie?”

“How dare you teach my son to fight! I risked my life getting away from my husband so that my kids wouldn’t learn his abusive ways. I will
not
allow you or anyone to teach my son it is okay to hit!” Anger and hurt raised the level and pitch of her voice. Her body shook, and tears bloomed in her eyes as she glared at Jonah.

He raised a placating hand and rose from the floor to face her. “Your son already knows how to hit. I was trying to teach him to punch something
other than
his sister. I told him hitting a girl was never okay. I wanted him to redirect his frustration on an inanimate object.”

Annie stared at Jonah, dragging in air and needing a moment for his explanation to pierce the skin of her anger. With her heart thundering, she recalled seeing Ben punch Haley in a fit of anger more than once. She’d asked Rani to do all she could to squelch the behavior when she saw it.

Her gaze darted to Haley, who blinked at her, wide-eyed and pale. Compunction plucked at Annie. She’d assessed the situation at face value and unfairly jumped to a biased conclusion. Now she choked down the bitter fear and resentment that strangled her and worked to calm her runaway pulse before addressing her daughter. “Ben was punching you?”