Trial by Fire (22 page)

Chapter 21

Connor burst into the room and ignored Nate’s eye roll. Jerking Nate’s chair back, he yanked him to his feet and threw an arm around Nate’s shoulders. Connor wasn’t as tall as Nate but what he lacked in height he made up in girth. Every additional pound was solid muscle. To Nate he was the human prototype of an overgrown mama bear. God help anyone, human or otherwise, who dared poke a stick at one of Connor’s charges. And for some reason, Connor appointed himself the overseer of his big brother and bigger cousin. It amused Nate and Luke to no end. But, hell, you couldn’t help but love the righteous caretaker who put his life on the line every day of the week to help someone in need. Much as Nate hated to admit it, that someone was often him. Last night taking care of Erin was just one example.

“Jesus, Cuz, are you okay? Damn, three hours ago you and Erin left my house all gooey eyed. I was certain when the Chief called that you and Erin had played horizontal hooky but instead he tells me he put you on leave and put Sam in charge of the investigation. And, goddamn, Nate, is it true that bitch implied you killed Mike?”

Nate let Connor hang onto him for a moment before he broke his hold and grabbed a long neck from the fridge and handed it to his cousin. Nate took a slug of his beer and glanced over at Sam.

“Ask the Commander. He’s heading up the investigation. I’m the suspect at this point.”

Connor whirled on Sam and demanded, “Well?”

Sam took a sip of his beer and met Connor’s stormy gaze.

“Yes, Lieutenant. To all your questions.”

The roar of yet another car in the driveway and the rapid click of boot heels on the wood floor signaled Erin’s arrival.

Nate glared at his cousin.

“Couldn’t you have kept her in the dark at least until I get this mess straightened out?”

Connor hissed under his breath, “What do you think I am, Cuz? A fucking supersonic jet? That I can head off a force of nature?”

Erin stood in the doorway, anger emanating from her slender body. A rosy flush brightened her pale cheeks and along with her flashing tourquoise eyes, prepared Nate for the onslaught that was sure to come. He didn’t have to wait. Glaring at Sam and then focusing on Nate, she unloaded.

“Keep me in the dark? Is that what you intended, Nate? Not to let me know that you were in trouble?”

Her lips trembled and tears welled up in her gorgeous eyes. Nate reached for her, but she held up her hands keeping him at a distance. Before he could respond, Erin turned to Sam.

“You also could have called me, Sam. Or maybe even the Chief? But, no, the Chief called Connor, who also didn’t bother to let me know—only acted surprised that I knew. Apparently even my best friend would have kept me in the dark. No, it took Naomi to call me and let me know that the Chief took Nate off the case.”

“Come here, Erin.” Nate put his arms around her and pulled her in close to his chest. She resisted, and tried to push him away, but he held her tight until her resistance evaporated. With a sob, she clung to him.

“I’m fine, Erin. Let me hold you, darlin’, and, yeah, I should have called you. I apologize. Damn, I wanted to keep you out of this mess.”

Erin pushed against him putting space between them.

“How could you think that I wouldn’t want to be here? What if it was me, Nate? You would have been by my side in minutes and mowed down anyone who tried to keep you in the dark.”

“You’re right, Erin. That’s exactly what I would have done. And yeah, honey, in some crazy way I was trying to protect you from the ugliness and—” He put his finger over her lips when she started to interrupt. “And, Erin at first I was so angry that the Chief would presume to take me off the case that I wasn’t thinking straight. You can thank Sam for wrestling me off the ledge or in this case taking me on in the ring, where I damn well coulda maimed him for life. He’s a courageous guy and he helped me to get straight where my real anger lies. And yeah, the Chief did what he had to. Exactly what I would have done if I were the Chief.”

Nate knew he couldn’t hold back the ugly truth any longer.

“Erin, there’s more. Another reason I resisted calling you. They’ve got evidence, not the least of which is the crazy way I’ve been acting. I’ve let this case get to me and it shows. But it’s more than that. Hell, in a few minutes the evidence team is gonna be swarming all over this place. Seems as though someone pointed out to Dan that I’m a master with the whip. Even mentioned that they should take a look in my weapons safe and they’ll find a whole variety of whips. Which is true.”

Connor broke in. “Who the hell came up with that load of crap?”

Nate snorted and kept his gaze on Erin. He couldn’t avoid telling her the truth. God knows, she was gonna find out soon enough.

“The same person who gave Dan close to a hundred voicemails from Laura to me. Explicit messages, ones that imply that she and I… have a relationship.”

“Jesus, Nate. How could she… why… I don’t understand.”

Nate glanced at Connor and shook his head, then focused again on Erin. “Not surprised you don’t get it, Connor. Neither did I. She started calling me over a year ago. Leaving these crazy insinuating messages. After you and I got together, baby, the calls even heated up. Soon I was getting three or four a week. I got an app on my phone that you can use to delete nuisance calls. I’ve used it before. I never knew she was calling the way that she was. I know I should have told you about them, Erin. I… I just hated to bring you into her lair. I know her, Erin, but you don’t. She’s nuts. She no more wants me than she wanted any of the dozens of men she strung along. But she never likes to let anyone go free. Once they belong to her, they
always
belong to her. Gospel according to Laura Chumpter Chambers. But, Erin, honey, I have to warn you. The ones Dan played for me this morning are damned explicit.”

Erin bit down on her lip and visibly swallowed.

“I already know that, Nate. I’ve heard them. She also sent them to me.”

Connor and Sam joined in Nate’s exclamation, “What. The. Hell?!”

Erin held up her phone and punched on the voicemail. Laura’s sultry voice slid into the kitchen. Thirty seconds into the recording, Erin shut it off and stared up at Nate.

“I didn’t listen to all of them. I couldn’t. It was too painful. But it’s clear from the ones I heard, Nate, that she is either making up a bizarre relationship that doesn’t exist or… or you and she have been intimately involved for over a year.”

Nate ignored Connor’s gasp and the scraping sound of Sam pushing his chair back from the table. He grasped Erin’s face between his hands and looked deep in her eyes. She couldn’t hide the pain or the upset she was feeling. He ached, seeing her distress. He could only imagine what he would do if the situation were reversed. Hell, just the mere thought of Sam running in a group with her had sent him over the edge. One hundred intimate e-mails? Someone would die! He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His voice was soft, for her alone.

“And what did you decide, Erin?”

She didn’t hesitate. Her voice was astonishingly firm.

“I decided that I was wrong.”

Nate took another breath and waited for her to continue. The fist that had been squeezing his chest since he first heard the messages came back in full force. Breathing became a conscious effort. Not something that was going to happen on its own.

He didn’t trust his voice but tried to sound calm.

“How were you wrong, baby?”

“I underestimated her, Nate. I knew she was hateful, despicable, untrustworthy, but I didn’t know that she was evil. I told you the other night that she frightens me.” Erin pressed her lips in a firm line. “But I’m not scared of her anymore. She’s gone too far. And she’s trying to take you with her. She’s going down, Nate. And if you and Sam can’t make that happen, then I will.”

Nate’s eyebrows flared in surprise. He wanted to shout out a huge laugh, a bellow of relief. But the serious expression on Erin’s face deserved a restrained response.

He said quietly, “Thank you, Erin. Thank you for having faith in me, in us. I understand how you feel. As I was waiting for your answer—one I didn’t doubt, or at least not much—I knew that if the situation were reversed and someone had sent you messages like that, I’d kill the guy.”

Erin nodded and she swallowed again. She whispered, but everyone in the room could hear her words and the pain that overlay them. “I hate her, Nate. I hate her more than I’ve hated anyone. Because she’s trying to hurt you. But she’s underestimated me. She thought I would believe her. That I would turn on you like some faithless twit. She will soon know that she’s wrong. That when she comes after you, she will have to go through me.”

At that, Nate couldn’t hold back his laugh. But it got caught in the lump in his throat and sounded more like he’d choked. He didn’t deserve this woman. He’d always known that. But as though a mist had cleared, he realized that he’d judged Erin through a ‘Laura lens.’ Not that Erin was remotely like Laura—in any way. No it was more that like Laura, he’d underestimated Erin. She was astonishingly strong and in the same way that he would never let anyone hurt her, she was as protective of him. He beat back some surprising moisture burning the backs of his eyelids then bent down and kissed her, a gentle kiss.

He let a smile play across his face. “Laura’s in more trouble than she knows. It’s one thing to have me, or God forbid, Connor on her ass, but you, darlin’? She oughta be shaking in her platform boots.”

The sound of the doorbell brought them all to attention. Sam rose to his feet.

He reached out and took Erin’s hand. “I’m going to risk Nate’s jealousy, Erin, to tell you how much I admire you. Nate is a lucky guy. You are as brave and as strong as you are beautiful. I am glad for both of your sakes that you have each other. This next couple of days is going to be difficult. I’m taking on a role that I never asked for, but I promise you both that wherever this investigation leads, I’m on your side and have your best interests at heart. I’m saying this now because the evidence team is at the door and will soon be plowing through your beautiful home, invading your privacy. I hope that you will keep this in perspective and continue to regard this gorgeous place as your sanctuary. Please don’t let Laura take that from you.”

He moved to the doorway. “You can decide to be present or if you wish, find a quiet place to wait until the team is finished.”

Nate stepped forward. “Thanks, Sam. Erin, it’s up to you. I need to be available to answer any questions. If you want to go for a run or maybe go down to the lake, that’s probably best.”

Erin shook her head. “No, Nate. I’m here. Right by your side.”

For at least a while, Nate was grateful that she wanted to stay. He’d made another pot of coffee then joined Erin and Connor at the kitchen table. Listening to Sam’s calm voice organizing the search he admitted that, as usual, the Chief was right. Sam was exactly who should be in charge. None of the rest of his men could have managed. As it was most of them had glanced away when he entered, pained, sheepish looks on their faces.

“Nate, we’re going to need the key to your weapons safe.” Sam’s voice cut through his troubled reverie. He looked up to see Sam in the doorway with Dwayne several feet behind.

Rising to his feet, Nate strode to the door and reached out to clasp Dwayne’s shoulder.

“Look, buddy. This is tough, but you and I have seen a hell of a lot worse and we’ve done it together. Got that?”

At Dwayne’s grateful nod, Nate led them into his study and over to his gun cabinet. He swiped at the biometric fingerprint lock and the doors opened, revealing a wide range of guns. They were mostly government issue: Sigs, Walthers, a couple Glocks, and his newest acquisition, a Kimber 380. Dwayne whistled when he saw it.

“Wow, Nate, I ain’t seen one of these except at gunshows. They as powerful as the press says?”

Nate huffed. “More so. With the right rounds, they can do as much damage as this AK47. With the hollow points, in ten seconds I can mow down fifteen men.” He picked up one of his antique revolvers that held a single round and muttered, “Yeah, we’ve come a long way, Dwayne. The cowboys would have had to reload after their first shot. Why they always carried two pistols. That way at least they got a second shot.”

He swiped at an additional lock on a drawer at the bottom of the cabinet, slipping the mechanism. Pulling open the large drawer, he revealed his collection of knives and whips. He kept them double-locked for safety sake and also because he hadn’t wanted to frighten Erin. She knew some of his past but like most former special ops guys, he didn’t talk much about the past, except to a few chosen buddies. For Nate, that included two people: the Chief and his cousin, Luke. Seeing Sam take in the collection without changing expression, he sensed Sam could become a confidant. At least it appeared nothing in the cabinet, or now the drawer, surprised the solemn man.

Nate turned to Dwayne. “Most of these are what Eskrima fighters call Latigos. Means whips. For the most part they all have a leather handle and then this middle piece that’s called a lash is usually a braided thong. This end piece is known as a fall. This can also have a metal tip on the end. Depends how much damage you want to do.”

Nate didn’t hide his expertise although he knew to uninitiated ears, his knowledge was damning.

Sam merely nodded. “Did you ever do any exhibition work with these?’

Nate couldn’t hide his pride. Again, knowing that he could be describing the cruel bastard who killed Mike Peterson, he plastered a nonchalant grin on his face.

“Naturally, Sam. You know what a cocky son of a bitch I am. Nothing a showoff like me likes more than an audience. And hell, no better way to impress the hell out of potential adversaries than slicing through a four-inch square of paper, from twenty yards away.”

His grin widened. “Of course, you had to find a son of a bitch who’s crazier than you are to hold the paper.” He added with a snort. “Never was a problem with those Eskrima fighters. Never in my life have I seen scarier bastards than those guys—or more deadly. I learned a lot in the time I spent there.”