Love Inspired Suspense March 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Protection Detail\Hidden Agenda\Broken Silence (7 page)

“Are you afraid?” Gavin asked, reaching across the table and touching Rachel's hand. It was such a sweet gesture, so unexpected in a gruff police officer, that Cassie found herself studying his face, trying to find some hint of who he really was.

He met Cassie's eyes and smiled. “Maybe you could tell her that there's nothing to be afraid of. That telling the truth always pays off, and no matter what she says, she's not going to be punished.”

She could. She would. She just needed to stop staring into his eyes and focus. She broke eye contact to kneel beside Rachel. “Sweetie, it's okay. Whatever you have to say, you're not going to be in trouble. What did you hear?”

“One of the boys,” she whispered, her gaze darting to the door. “I heard him leave the room and go downstairs.”

“Do you know what time it was?” Gavin asked quietly.

She shook her head. “I just know it was after we were supposed to be asleep. I...was reading with my flashlight, and Destiny was snoring and so was Lila. I heard a door open and, I heard someone walking downstairs.”

“It might have been Virginia,” Cassie pointed out. “Or me getting David's medicine.”

“No.” Rachel shook her head. “It was one of the boys.”

“How do you know?” Cassie asked, and Rachel fiddled with the hem of her nightgown, avoiding looking in Cassie's eyes. Another lie was coming. No doubt about it.

“I think I heard him talk.”

“Who was he talking to?” Gavin asked. “Was someone else with him?”

“He was by himself. Maybe he was just talking to the wall like Cassie does.”

Gavin laughed, and Rachel smiled.

Cassie wasn't amused. Rachel's story wasn't adding up, but she was too tired to figure out which parts of it were true and which were lies. “Rachel—”

“I think I have all I need for now,” Gavin interrupted, his smile gentle, his expression soft. He seemed to have an affinity for the kids. That surprised Cassie. He'd been at the house quite a few times, but she'd never seen him interact with any of the children. Maybe she just hadn't noticed, because she hadn't wanted to.

Kane had been it. The One. Prince Charming and happily-ever-after tied up in a nice little package.

That's what she'd thought, because she was apparently not nearly as savvy about men as she was about kids.

When Kane had given her the ultimatum, he'd broken her heart.

She had promised herself that it would never be broken again.

That meant pouring herself into her job and ignoring the men who walked in and out of her life.

“You can go back to bed, Rachel. Maybe we can talk again tomorrow, okay?” Gavin said.

Rachel nodded and scurried out of the room.

Her feet pounded on the stairs, and a door slammed.

“She's lying,” Gavin said quietly.

“I know.”

“Do you have any idea why?”

“I have a dozen ideas, but until she admits it, they're not going to do us any good.”

“What are your thoughts?”

“She was somewhere she shouldn't be and saw one of the boys leaving.”

“Do you think you can get her to tell the truth?”

“I can try, but Rachel came from a very abusive home. She lied to stay safe.”

“Poor kid,” he said, and she thought he really meant it. “I've got a meeting at headquarters. I'll be back in a few hours. We'll try again then.” He stood, murmuring a few words to Glory who followed him to the door.

Cassie stayed where she was.
We
made it sound as though they were a team, and she didn't want to play into that thought any more than necessary.

Gavin paused outside the door. Even with a five-o'clock shadow on his face and a layer of dirt on his clothes, he looked good. And
that
was something she shouldn't be noticing.

“I'm going to leave Glory downstairs. She'll be on guard duty until I get back,” he said. “I've also got a female officer waiting outside. She'll come in when I leave and stay until I return. We're going to make sure you and the kids stay safe.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Hopefully when I get back, we'll be able to get a little more information out of the kids. One of them saw something, and until we find out who, all of them are in danger.”

“I know.”

“Good. Just make sure you don't forget that you're in danger, too. You saw the perp's face. He knows it. Stay inside, Cassie. Stay away from the windows and doors. Play it safe, because these kids need you. And the guy who killed Michael? He couldn't care less about that.”

He strode away, the words seeming to echo through Cassie's head.

She knew he was right, but she didn't like it.

She wanted to turn the clock back, make sure that none of the kids snuck outside, keep all of them safe and secure the way she always had.

She couldn't, of course.

That was the problem with life. You could only move forward. There was no way to go back and change anything.

Sometimes she dwelled on that more than she wanted to. Sometimes, she lay in bed thinking about all the things that she should have done differently.

It didn't do any good.

It wouldn't do any good this time, either.

God had a plan. He always did.

She'd just have to trust that whatever came, He'd work that plan out.

She rubbed the tension from the back of her neck, flicked off the light and headed to her bedroom. She needed a shower, needed to wash the scent of blood from her skin, wash it from her clothes. Mostly she just needed to believe that things were going to be okay. That was the hard part, because things hadn't always been okay. Just like her kids, she'd lived through a lot of tough times. She knew how quickly good could turn bad. She'd had three years of fulfilling work at All Our Kids. That didn't mean she'd have tomorrow.

An image of the gunman flashed through her head, mixing with the image of the man who'd been on the back porch. They were the same. There was no doubt about that. She'd looked into cold blue eyes, and she'd never forget them.

She grabbed clean clothes from her dresser and walked into the tiny bathroom attached to her bedroom. She'd take a shower and then she'd go raid the cupboards. There had to be a candy bar hiding somewhere. It wouldn't take away the fear, but at least it would give her a little energy while she waited for Gavin to return.

One thing was for sure, she wasn't going to sleep. There might be an officer stationed downstairs, but she didn't trust anyone but herself to protect her kids.

SIX

G
avin took a long swig of coffee and tapped his pen against the conference table. It had been—he glanced at his watch—forty minutes since he'd decided to send Chase to Erin Eagleton's apartment. The girlfriend of the victim, Michael Jeffries, and a senator's daughter, she hadn't been there when Brooke had gone to question her. Hopefully, she was there now. They needed to hear her side of the story. Since none of the children at All Our Kids had been willing to admit to being near the Jeffries mansion, he was short witnesses and short a suspect. He needed both, and Erin might just be the key to that.

If she was a witness, they needed to speak with her, find out what she'd seen, what she'd heard.

If she was a suspect...

He fingered a photo of the pendant Chase had found and frowned. He couldn't imagine Erin pulling the trigger and killing her boyfriend, but that didn't mean she hadn't done it.

She'd been at the scene for sure.

They just had to put a time on that, and they couldn't until they questioned her and Harland.

He glanced at his watch again. As of twenty minutes ago, Harland was out of surgery and in recovery. He was expected to survive, but he wasn't up to being questioned.

“Watching the time isn't going to make things happen more quickly,” Isaac Black said as he thumbed through the crime scene photos Gavin had printed out. A former CIA operative, Isaac had been working with Capitol K-9 for a few years. He and his bomb detecting dog, Abby, had a good reputation for getting jobs done.

“It shouldn't have taken more than twenty minutes for Chase to get to Erin's place,” Gavin responded.

“You know how traffic is in the city. One day it's easy driving. The next it's not.” Isaac lifted a copy of the photo Gavin had been looking at and pointed at the pendant. “Seems to me, we should be putting an APB out on Erin Eagleton. If Chase is right about the locket being hers, there's no doubt she was at the crime scene. The sooner we get her into custody, the better.”

“Being at the crime scene doesn't make a person guilty,” Adam Donovan said.

“Doesn't make her innocent, either,” Nicholas Cole responded quietly. Tall, with blond hair and pale brown eyes, he and his Doberman, Max, had proven themselves over and over again, their work ethic and teamwork making them an irreplaceable part of Capitol K-9.

“We'd better hope she has an alibi.” Isaac set the photo of the pendant aside and lifted one of Erin. Taken from an online newspaper article, it showed her at some political event, her floor-length dress hugging her slender curves, her arm around Michael Jeffries. She smiled into the camera, the pendant she wore clearly the same as the one that had been found at the crime scene. “Her family isn't going to like that we're pulling her into this mess.”

“We're not pulling her into anything,” Gavin said, pushing away from the conference table and striding across the room. He needed a long run and a hot shower to clear his head, but he wasn't going to get either.

Too bad. He needed to come up with a plan that was going to get them what they needed and get it quickly. Muddled thinking was not going to help with that.

Outside, the sun was just peeking over the trees, the sky deep purple and pink. He'd been working for nearly twenty-four hours, and he didn't think he'd be off the clock anytime soon. That was the nature of the job. One of the things he loved about it and one of the things Helena had hated. “Erin was at the scene,” he continued. “She put herself into our investigation.”

“We'll see how her senator father feels about that,” Adam muttered. “I've got a feeling he's going to try to shut down our investigation into his precious little girl.”

“If he does, Margaret will handle it. Our job—our
only
job—is to find the person who killed Michael Jeffries.” Gavin turned back toward the conference table. Ten members of the fourteen-member K-9 team were there, all of them nursing coffee or soda, some of them with their dogs beside them, some without. He loved his team. Every member was as important as the next, and each one brought a special skill, a unique way of looking at things. When she'd put Capitol K-9 together, Margaret had chosen carefully and she'd chosen well.

“We'll be conducting this investigation like any other,” he said. “Doesn't matter that the victim was the congressman's son. Doesn't matter that we might be stepping on some high-level toes. This is a murder investigation.”

“It could be a double murder investigation,” John Forester remarked. A newer member of the team, he'd been brought in to replace his older brother, who'd been murdered a couple of years ago. The killer had never been found. It was a thorn in the side of Capitol K-9. One that Gavin hoped they'd one day remove. “Rosa Gomez didn't just fall off the cliff at President's Park. Anyone who thinks she did has his head buried so deep in the sand he can't see day from night.”

Gavin thought the same, but the Gomez case wasn't theirs.

Yet.

If they could prove there was a connection, they'd have to take it over. Until then, they had to tread carefully. “I'm with you on that, John, but the DC police are handling the investigation. We need to keep our noses out of it until we have a definitive link.”

John nodded, but he didn't look happy. “There's something big going on here, Gavin. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks so.”

That was enough to get the team talking, their voices rising and falling as they discussed possibilities, suspects, reasons why Michael Jeffries, a guy who'd worked his entire adult life to protect the rights of others, would have been gunned down. Michael had been a good guy, a great guy, and everyone in the room knew it.

Gavin's cell phone rang, and he answered immediately.

“McCord here. What's up?”

“It's Chase. I'm at Erin's place. No sign of her. I spoke to a couple of neighbors. One remembers seeing her leave yesterday afternoon. She hasn't been back.”

“The neighbors are sure of that?”

“As sure as they can be without going into the apartment. Want me to get a search warrant?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because I already called Judge Simpson. He's getting it started. Should have it in a few hours. You want me to stick around here until then?”

“Yes. If she shows up, let me know, and call as soon as you have the search warrant in hand.”

“You've got it.” Chase disconnected, and Gavin shoved the phone back in his pocket. “Looks like our prime witness is on the run,” he muttered.

“Or she's dead,” Adam responded. “Have you thought about that possibility?”

“Trust me,” Gavin muttered. “I've thought about all of them. You want to head over to her place, Adam? Wait with Chase and help him search the apartment once the warrant is in?”

“No problem.”

“The rest of you can follow your regular schedule. I'll need Nicholas, John and Dylan to help me with protection shifts at All Our Kids. Margaret has already approved the overtime. Check your schedules,” he said. “Make sure you're not on White House duty in the next few days. If you are, let me know, and we'll work around existing assignments. Everyone else, keep your eyes and ears open. I'll send out information regarding DNA evidence once it comes in. We have two different blood types collected at the scene. Glory took a nice chunk out of the perp's arm, so I'm assuming some of the blood is his. Hopefully that will point us in the right direction.”

“Hopefully it will point us in
some
direction,” Isaac muttered, standing and stretching. “Right now, we've got nothing but a body and a shooting victim.”

“And a witness who may have seen the face of the killer. Cassie Danvers got a good look at the guy who was on her back porch. I've already asked Margaret to call in a sketch artist. I'm heading back over to All Our Kids,” Gavin added. “Hopefully a couple of hours of sleep has loosened their tongues.”

“Bring doughnuts and juice,” Nicholas suggested. “Kids love stuff like that. Plus, you get them all sugared up and it might get them so hyper they won't be able to control their tongues, the information could just spill out.”

“Good idea. Since I'm planning on you running shift there tonight, I'll make sure they're all on sugar highs.” Gavin snagged his pile of crime scene photos. “See you at seven.”

“Hey!” Nicholas sputtered. “You didn't say anything about me working there tonight.”

“I have now.”

“I'm not good with kids!” he protested.

“Neither am I, and I'm spending all day with them.”

Which meant they'd be awake and active and probably loud.

Gavin frowned. Maybe doughnuts weren't such a bad idea. If their mouths were full, they wouldn't be as likely to scream, shout, do any number of things that were bound to make him grind his teeth and want to beat his head against a wall.

It wasn't that Gavin didn't like kids. He did. He just hadn't spent much time interacting with them. His life was too busy, his work too demanding. It was the mantra Helena had spouted every day for the past six months of their dating relationship.

She'd been right.

He'd admit it. But his work mattered. The time he spent protecting the public at political events, protecting politicians, protecting their families, was time well-spent. At least, in Gavin's opinion it was.

He could see why a girlfriend, wife, children might not put as much value on his job. Which was why he'd decided those things wouldn't be part of his life. He had no regrets about that. He didn't feel as if he'd be missing out. There were times, though, when he felt lonely, when he and Glory returned to his empty apartment, and he wondered what it would be like to return to a smiling face, a hug, a tender touch.

He shook the thought off as he dismissed the meeting and headed out into the parking lot. He'd stop home for a shower and a change of clothes, then head back to All Our Kids. There were probably half a dozen doughnut places in the vicinity. He didn't think Cassie would thank him for it, but he was going to stop and get a couple dozen of the sugary treats. It might not help, but it couldn't hurt. He needed to build a bond with the kids if he was going to get the truth out of them.

He thought about little Rachel with her curly blond hair and her big blue eyes. She'd looked pure as the driven snow, but she'd been lying through her teeth. He'd known it. Cassie had known it.

Someone else was lying, too. If he had to guess, he'd have said it was Tommy. Although he couldn't quite call it a lie since all the kid had done was shake his head. He'd also looked scared, his body trembling even as he'd refused to speak.

Had the little boy left All Our Kids? Had he walked the path to the congressman's backyard and seen something that had scared him into silence?

Gavin needed to get the truth out of him, because he needed to find Michael's killer. Until he did, no one at All Our Kids would be safe.

* * *

“Cassie,” someone whispered in her ear, warm breath ruffling the hair near her ear.

“I'm sleeping,” Cassie muttered.

“If you were, you wouldn't be talking.” Whoever it was didn't get the hint.

One of the kids for sure, but Cassie didn't open her eyes. “People talk in their sleep.”

“Cassie!” The kid shook her shoulder. “The police officer is back.”

“She never left,” Cassie mumbled. K-9 police officer Brooke Clark had proven to be as conscientious, as kind and focused on her job as Gavin had been. No way would she have walked out on the job.

“Not her,” the child—and Cassie wasn't planning to open her eyes, so she wasn't sure which one was whispering—said, “the hunky blue-eyed guy who was asking us all those questions.”

Hunky?

Had to be Destiny, then.

Cassie forced her eyes open, and realized she'd fallen asleep at her desk, the side of her face pressed to cool wood.

“What time is it?” She groaned. She'd been up until sunrise, cleaning the kitchen and the foyer, scrubbing blood from the floor. Officer Clark had offered to call in a cleaning crew, but she hadn't been sure they could be there before morning. Cassie hadn't wanted the kids to wake to the mess. She'd wanted to do everything she could to make things look as normal as possible.

Not that there was anything normal about Cassie falling asleep at her desk. She'd been making a list of things that needed to be done. Back porch cleaned, kitchen window fixed. Stained tiles on the kitchen floor removed.

“Past time for Sunday school.” Destiny's face was about two inches from Cassie's, her dark hair a wild mess of waves. She needed her bangs trimmed. Another thing for Cassie to put on her to-do list. “Guess that means we'll have to skip church today.”

“Don't sound so happy about it.” Cassie sat up, her neck muscles spasming. “We can always go to night service.”

“And be out there where any guy with a gun could shoot one of us dead.” Destiny's words were flippant, but there was no mistaking the fear in her eyes. She might act tough, but inside she was a scared little girl.

“No one is going to shoot any of us.”

“That's not what Virginia said. She said we're all doomed.”

“Virginia and I will have to have a little talk.” Cassie smoothed her hand down the front of her cotton shirt. She should have worn a T-shirt and jeans, but she'd grabbed the first thing she'd seen when she'd opened her closet—a white cotton blouse with eyelet sleeves and a maxi skirt.

They definitely didn't hold up well to being slept in. There were so many wrinkles in the shirt, it looked as if it had been crumpled into a ball and shoved into the back of a drawer.

“Right now, she's talking to the hunk. They're downstairs in the living room, and Virginia said none of us could be in there with them. I think she has the hots for him.”