Arouse Suspicion (24 page)

"Hold it," he ordered.

Gary Otis's eyes slid to where a pistol lay, six feet away.

"Don't try it," Nick warned the teenager, but then addressed the trio. "Raise your hands where I can see them."

Gary glared at him but didn't make a move toward the weapon. Angela shifted closer to her boyfriend, fear in her expression. Only Karen Crandle appeared unruffled.

"So you figured it out?" she asked.

Nick ignored her question. "Where's Danni Hawkins?"

He heard a muffled voice and shifted to the left. Danni was tied to a chair at the end of the row, hidden by the stations' dividers. Her eyes were wide, and she was trying to speak, but tape covered her mouth.

Nick's knees wobbled with relief. The sight of her wild chestnut curls and huge dark blue eyes gave him a moment of lightheadedness. A part of him had been terrified that Danni was already dead.

Although he wanted nothing more than to untie Danni and hold her, he had more pressing problems to deal with.

"Karen and Gary, on the floor, facedown and hands behind your backs."

Rebellion filled their faces, but they did as he ordered. A loaded weapon was a powerful motivator.

"Angela, untie Danni," Nick said, his voice a shade gentler with the girl.

Her face pale, Angela stooped down to untie Danni's ankles from the chair. As the teen moved to release her hands, Danni's eyes widened. She yelled something in a muffled voice, but Nick couldn't understand.

Until he heard Gilsen's voice. "I've been looking all over for you, Nick. Nice of you to come to me."

Nick glanced over his shoulder to see Gilsen holding a gun and framed in the doorway. His heart sank. "You won't get out of the city. Your picture's plastered everywhere—airport, bus station, rental car agencies."

"But I don't need any of them. I've got Karen and a moving truck."

As a teenager, Gilsen had had everything: girlfriends, brains, and athletic prowess. Even a successful career, except Nick hadn't known at the time that Paul's success was illegally gained. It seemed Paul had always bested Nick, no matter what measuring stick was used.

But this time Gilsen couldn't win. If he did, both Nick and Danni were dead. And Nick had no intention of seeing the woman he loved killed.

Déjà vu flooded Danni. Two years ago, it had been Scott who'd died because of her inadequacy. Now it would be Nick. And people would go on believing Patrick Hawkins had taken the easy way out, instead of being murdered by a dirty cop.

Karen and Gary climbed to their feet and brushed off the front of their clothing. The teenager took Nick's revolver, which Danni recognized as her father's.

"Now what?" Nick asked Gilsen conversationally.

"As soon as the stage is set, you and Danni will come to an unfortunate end." The thief and murderer sounded almost apologetic.

"Why?"

He shrugged. "It's not good business practice to leave loose ends. I'll still have to change my name, but you two are the only ones who know where we're going."

"To use kids—" Nick motioned to Gary and Angela. "Like them, again?"

Gilsen glanced at the teenagers. "I paid you well, didn't I?"

"Yes, sir, you did," Gary answered.

"Did I use you?"

"No, sir."

Gilsen, with a condescending smile, turned back to Nick. "See, I don't use kids. I
employ
them."

A muscle flexed in Nick's jaw, and Danni knew how difficult it was for him to curb his anger. Yet without Paddy Hawkins's guidance, Nick might very well have turned out like Gilsen.

"How are you going to get rid of us?" Nick asked calmly.

Startled, Danni looked at Nick, who met her gaze. Despite the flippancy of his tone, his eyes were intense, as if trying to tell her something. She watched as his gaze deliberately slid to Gilsen and the weapon in his hand, then back to her. Nick was going to try to take Gilsen.

Her partner would need a diversion.

She struggled to free her hands but was bound too tightly to the chair. However, her feet were free, and Gary Otis had shifted so he was directly in front of her....

She caught Nick's eye and nodded minutely. For a moment, she thought he didn't understand. Then she felt it— like the final knot unraveling. He placed his faith in her and she placed hers in his. Without reservations.

Danni listened to Gilsen describe to Nick, in detail, how he was going to make their deaths look like a murder and suicide. But her attention remained focused on Gary, and when the teenager looked away from her, Danni surged upward. Head lowered, she rammed into Gary, who stumbled back against a chair and flailed for balance. But Danni's momentum tipped the scales, and Gary fell under her weight. The boy's head hit the floor with a sickening thud, and Gary lay unmoving. Danni, still lashed to the wooden chair, registered a wrenching ache in her shoulders as she lay on top of the teenager.

Angela screamed and stood frozen as she stared down at her unconscious boyfriend.

Danni rolled off Gary and renewed her struggle to free her arms. There was slack in the rope that hadn't been there before, and she took advantage of it, tugging free of the chair with only a mild hiss of pain. But she still wore the handcuffs behind her, and she quickly rolled onto her back and drew her knees to her chest. Straining against the metal, Danni drew her cuffed hands down the back of her thighs and behind her knees, past her calves, and finally over her feet. Although the handcuffs still held her, at least she had her hands in front of her now.

She ripped the tape from her mouth and barely noticed the sting, then did a quick visual reconnaissance. Nick had taken advantage of her diversion and grappled with Gilsen, who still had his pistol, but the barrel was pointed upward. However, Nick's red face showed the strain he exerted to keep the weapon away from him.

Danni swung around and came face-to-face with Karen Crandle, who had snatched up a pistol and aimed it at Danni. Her finger was poised on the trigger.

"Shoot him," Gilsen suddenly yelled.

Karen swung the weapon toward Nick.

Danni's heart missed a beat. She dived for her father's revolver where it lay on the floor and rolled to a kneeling position with the weapon held between her hands.

"Drop it," Danni barked.

Please drop it.
Two years ago she'd frozen, and her partner had been killed. This time it was Nick's life in the balance.

She saw the flex in Karen's right hand as if in slow motion, and this time she didn't hesitate. The old revolver kicked in her hands as the gunshot registered. Karen crumpled to the floor, the pistol falling from her hand as she went down with a bullet in her shoulder.

She kicked Karen's weapon under a computer station. Then she swung her attention to Nick and Gilsen in time to see Nick throw a right hook that sent Gilsen tumbling backward. Gilsen's head cracked against the corner of a desk on the way down. He lay motionless.

Nick stumbled over to Danni. "Are you all right?"

She trembled as she looked from Gary and Angela, who'd fallen to her knees beside her boyfriend, to Karen and Gilsen. The only one who moved was Angela, but it was with grief, not menace.

Danni finally settled her gaze on Nick. His concern for her reflected in his face and eyes and the warm, strong hands that clasped her arms. A bruise was already forming on his cheekbone, and blood trickled from a split lip, but he was alive. And so vibrant and handsome that he stole her breath. And her heart.

She leaned forward to rest her head against his chest, and his heartbeat calmed her. "Definitely all right."

Nick enveloped her within his arms and kissed the top of her head. "Keep an eye on them, and I'll call nine-one-one."

She nodded and stepped back, using every ounce of energy left in her adrenaline-drained body to stay upright. Listening to Nick's authoritative tone on the phone, she couldn't help but smile. Her father had helped mold the man Nick had become—the man she loved.

Her throat felt tight as she smiled.

Thank you, Dad.

Epilogue

As Nick parked the Jeep behind a familiar sedan, Danni wasn't surprised to see Sam and Nancy Richmond standing at her father's graveside. Their heads were bowed, and they held hands.

"Looks like they had the same idea as us," Nick said.

Danni nodded absently, concerned by Nancy's fragile appearance. "Nancy couldn't come to the funeral, but Sam told me she wanted to pay her respects."

She opened her door and stepped into the sunny warmth of the early afternoon. She waited for Nick to come around, and when he took her hand, she clung to his welcome strength. They walked across the luxuriant green grass with the reverence a cemetery invoked.

They stopped at the foot of the grave, and Sam glanced up, startled, then gave them a brief nod. But Danni could see he was focused on his pale wife who dabbed at her eyes with a lace-trimmed handkerchief.

Danni lowered her head and listened to nearby birdsong and the far-off drone of traffic. One week ago she'd stood in this exact place surrounded by grieving people, but she had felt isolated and alone as she'd stared dry-eyed at her father's casket. Today, with the three people she cared for most, she felt their sorrow keenly but also felt their love and acceptance.

Nancy sniffed and wiped her nose. "I wanted to say good-bye," she said softly.

Danni raised her head and smiled tremulously at the woman who'd baked her cookies and helped her shop for school clothes. "I know Dad appreciates it."

Nancy reached out and clasped Danni's hand. Her fingers were cool and waxen, but there was still strength in her grip. "He loved you so very much, Danni. He just didn't know how to show it."

A lump filled Danni's throat, and she could barely speak around it. "I know."

Sam wrapped an arm around Nancy's thin shoulders. "I owe you both an apology," he said to Nick and Danni.

"Why's that?" Nick asked.

"I didn't believe you," the older man admitted with a shake of his head. "I was Paddy's partner for over twenty years. I should've known he'd never take the easy way out."

"Don't feel bad, Sam. Nick had to struggle to convince me." She glanced up and met Nick's warm gaze. "He was the only one who had faith in Dad."

"You had faith, too," Nick said. "It just took you a little longer to find it."

No one had ever placed as much confidence and trust in her as Nick did, and it both humbled and empowered her.

"What's going to happen to those people who killed him?" Nancy asked.

"Paul Gilsen and Karen Crandle are going away for life with the testimonies of Gary Otis, Angela, and the other kids who did Gilsen's dirty work," Danni replied.

"Good," Sam said forcefully, then melancholy crept across his seamed face. "I had such high hopes for Paul."

"You did everything you could, Sam," Nancy said. "He was just determined to follow the wrong path." She began to cough.

Sam held her until the fit passed, but Nancy's face had grown even paler. "Time to go home and take a nap," he said softly to his wife.

Nancy raised her gaze and there was a hint of sassiness in her eyes. "Care to join me, big guy?"

Danni smiled, amazed at Nancy's spirit. She glanced at Sam's tender expression, and the depth of his love stopped her breath. For a moment, she ached to know that kind of love.

Sam kissed his wife's wrinkled cheek. "I never could refuse you." He lifted his gaze to Nick and Danni. "We'll have you two over for dinner again real soon."

"We'd like that," Danni said. She hugged Sam and then Nancy, taking care not to embrace the frail woman too tightly.

Nick shook Sam's hand and gave Nancy a peck on the cheek.

Danni watched Sam lead Nancy back to their car, an arm around her as if she were made of spun glass. Their shared love was almost tangible.

Nick sighed, and Danni glanced at him.

"Why do shitty things happen to nice people?" he asked.

"Why was Dad murdered? Why did you have such rotten parents?" Danni shrugged. "At least with Sam and Nancy, they had a good life together. Maybe in the long run, that's all that counts."

Nick studied her. "Maybe."

Danni turned back to her father's grave. "Do you think he's at peace now?" she asked. "Are
you
at peace?"

She met Nick's compassionate gaze and answered as honestly as she could. "I was so angry with him for not being the father I wanted him to be and for dying before he could become that man." She licked her dry lips and listened to a distant siren. "But... But he
was
a good father. A-and a good man. Y-you opened my eyes...."

Her voice broke, and the tears she hadn't shed a week ago would no longer be denied. She turned her face into Nick's jacket and allowed herself to grieve for her father and for herself.

Danni had no idea how long she cried, but she was aware of Nick's arm around her, his quiet, soothing words, and his own mirroring sorrow for Paddy. With a shaking hand, she wiped away the moisture on her cheeks and straightened but remained close to Nick's side.

"Feel better?" Nick asked softly.

She nodded as the heat of the sun dried the remaining tear tracks.

Nick wrapped his arm around her waist, and she allowed him to guide her back to his Jeep. Once seated inside, Danni said, "You should write the book."

"It's not fiction anymore."

"Then write it as true crime. I've heard they're popular."

Nick gazed out the window toward Paddy's grave. "I think he'd like that."

"Dad would
love
that. He liked having his name in the paper."

Nick chuckled. "Remember that scrapbook he kept?"

Danni laughed. "Oh, yeah. In fact, it's at his house if you want to come by and borrow it for research."

"That's a good idea. But I'm going to need your help with the book, too. I mean, I'm not a cop, and I don't know all the jargon. I bet you've got some stories about Paddy, too."

A merry-go-round of memories swirled through Danni, of a younger Paddy Hawkins and a little girl with curly hair, dark blue eyes, and a stubborn chin. She lifted her gaze to Nick and smiled. "I might have a few."

"I'd like to hear them." Sincerity warmed his voice.

Danni nodded, then changed the subject to a less emotionally charged one. "When can you take Gus home?"

"Tomorrow. She's doing really well. I only wish I had a ground-floor apartment."

"Why don't you stay at Dad's place? The carpet was cleaned yesterday, and there's a backyard for Gus. What more could you ask for?"

"You."

Danni blinked, uncertain if she'd heard him correctly.

"What?"

"I love you," he said without hesitation.

The depth of love in his eyes stopped her breath, and in that instant, she recognized what he was offering... what she'd ached to possess all her life. Nick was offering her what Sam and Nancy shared. Her eyes filled with moisture, but she managed a cocky grin. "Funny you should say that. I kinda fell in love with you, too."

"Did you now?"

Nick's slow, sexy smile sent Danni's libido into overdrive.

"In fact, I thought we might even make pretty good partners. How does Hawkins and Sirocco, Private Investigators, sound?" Danni asked.

"I kinda like it."

"I thought you might," Danni said smugly.

"We should probably seal the partnership with a kiss."

"Better than a handshake."

"Infinitely."

They leaned toward one another and were barely able to touch lips between the bucket seats. Laughing, they returned to their respective seats before they fell out of them.

"We'll just have to firm up the deal this evening," Danni said, waggling her eyebrows.

Before Nick could respond, Danni's new cell phone interrupted them. She dug it out of her coat pocket. "Hawkins."

"It's Cathy. You've got a prospective client."

As she listened to her administrative assistant, Danni's smile grew. She closed her phone and looked at Nick.

"Hawkins and Sirocco have their first case. Remember the man who wanted to hire me last week?"

"The one with the two grand bonus?"

Danni nodded. "He wouldn't take no for an answer. He's upped the bonus to two and a half grand plus the normal fees and expenses if we retrieve the diamond ring he gave his mistress. Cathy set an appointment with him for two o'clock today."

Nick glanced at his watch. "That gives us just enough time to get over there. Who is it?"

"You know him. He was very impressed with another job we did."

"We?" Nick's eyes widened. "Not Willy the Jungle King and his redheaded temptress?"

Danni smirked. "Welcome to my world."

Maureen McKade began her professional writing career when she sold her first Western historical romance manuscript in October 1995. That book, Winter Hearts, was twice a national awards finalist, first in The Golden Heart, then as a finalist in RWA's RITA awards in the Best First Book category.

Since then she's written numerous books and also penned a short story for the anthology
How to Lasso a Cowboy.

As an Air Force wife, Maureen has found a career in writing to be well suited to the somewhat nomadic life of the military. Currently, she and her husband live on Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado with their dog and cat.

You can contact Ms. McKade and keep up with her latest news at her website,
www.maureenmckade.com
.