Reunited in Danger (3 page)

Chapter Four

A sliver of pink-hued morning sunlight arrowed across the hospital room as Keely strode
in quietly with a cup of coffee in her hand. She’d spent the night in a chair and
had gone out for a quick walk to get the kinks out, and to find some breakfast. To
wait for Logan. If her father woke up, she’d go with Logan to check out the house.
See if she could find anything out of place. But until her dad woke up, she’d stay
at the hospital.

When she saw Logan standing next to her dad’s hospital bed, his gaze focused on Ben,
eyes soft and caring, she came to a halt. Spotting her in the doorway, he straightened
and put on his game face, guarding his emotions. So what else was new?

“How’d he sleep?” he whispered.

She nodded, giving him a thumbs-up to keep from making too much noise. She studied
the dark circles below his eyes. He had worked through the night and needed sleep,
yet he’d stopped by the hospital to check on her dad. This was the Logan she remembered
from her childhood. The boy who’d cared. Not the nineteen-year-old who’d run from
her.

He closed the distance between them, standing near, his broad shoulders and leather
jacket so close she wanted to run away instead of being tempted by something she could
never have.

“There’s something I need to tell you, Keels,” he said, his tone somber. “I’m moving
soon. Headed out to Texas for a new job. Head of security for a big corporation.”

Hurt slammed through every cell of her body and landed in a big knot in the pit of
her stomach. So this was it. He was leaving again. Like before.

His gaze searched hers, looking for…what? Happiness? Regret?

“Good luck with that. Congratulations,” she managed to get out. It was better this
way, anyway. Her body might yearn for Logan, but she was smarter than that.

He reached forward with both hands, and for a split second she thought he would pull
her in for a hug. Instead, he clutched her upper arms gently, his warmth seeping through
her shirt and into the marrow of her bones.

“But I’m not leaving until I help Dunnigan find out who did this to Ben.”

Part of her wanted to tell him to hit the road now. But she couldn’t turn away a cop’s
help. Not when they had the same goal. “I appreciate that. Your badge can open more
doors while we investigate this than my social worker ID.”

He rocked away from her, dropping his hands from her arms. “
We
? There’s no we here, Keely. I’ll keep you updated, but you won’t be involved in the
investigation.”

She opened her mouth to object, then clamped her jaw shut. She didn’t need his permission.
The neighbors knew her. Somebody might have seen the attackers running away. She’d
do what she could to find out who did this to her dad.

Her father stirred, moaned low in his throat. The sound had her and Logan striding
to opposite sides of his bed. Ben blinked, and looked first at Logan, then to her.
He smiled, which must have been difficult since his lips were badly chapped and swollen,
but the smile went all the way to his dark brown eyes.

“Two of my…favorite people.” Her dad had to stop midsentence to catch his breath,
wincing in pain.

She bit her bottom lip to hold back her emotions. Anger at the people who hurt him
burned in her gut. But color had returned to his face and he looked more like himself.
Relief flooded through her. He’d be okay.

Ben looked around the hospital room. “What happened to me?” he asked.

“Two guys assaulted you in your house. Do you remember anything about the attack?”

He thought for a second, then closed his eyes. “Last I remember I was opening my front
door after coming home from the airport. Somebody pushed me inside, but I couldn’t
tell who. They tried to yank away my briefcase, then… Wait.” His eyes flashed open.
“What happened to Su Lin?”

Keely sighed.
Damn
. She’d been hoping he’d be able to identify or at least describe his attackers.

“The police are trying to find
her
,” she said, reassuringly. “She never got on the flight in LA.”

Ben shifted in the hospital bed. “Why wouldn’t she? She seemed so determined, so set
on coming here to make a new life.”

“What I don’t understand is why you were home at three. I thought that’s when her
plane was coming in.”

“The first flight was canceled, so I’d changed the reservation for her. She was supposed
to get into the airport at one in the afternoon. I waited for ninety minutes, then
gave up and came home. Walked right into a hornet’s nest, apparently.” He looked at
the IV in his arm, at the monitors beeping by his bed. “What did they want? Why attack
me?”

Logan leaned forward. “They seemed to be after your briefcase. Would you know why?”

“No reason that I can think of,” her father said. “It’s not worth anything.”

“I’m taking Keely to your house, sir,” Logan said. “I need to determine if anything
else is missing.” He placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “One thing might help us. Could
you tell me what was in your briefcase?”

Ben’s forehead creased. “Just some things for Su Lin. She’s an American citizen, but
she doesn’t speak much English. Her parents speak none. Loving Arms had made a welcome
packet in Thai. Other than that, there was a gift certificate for a local maternity
store, but nothing of value, really.”

“Our department checked Su Lin out, sir,” Logan said. “Her parents kicked her out
when she got pregnant at eighteen. That’s why she contacted you? Loving Arms was helping
her with an adoption?”

Ben shifted in his bed. “Maybe her parents took her back. Maybe she changed her mind
about giving up the baby for adoption. But we would have helped her through her pregnancy
either way.”

Keely’s gut clenched. “It happens all the time, Dad.” She knew how women swayed back
and forth on the decision about whether to give a baby up for adoption or keep it.
Especially young, unwed women. The choice was never easy.

Logan turned to her. “We need to head out. The city can’t afford to post a uniform
at the door, but I want to alert security to keep an eye on your dad’s room.” He awkwardly
patted Ben on the shoulder, then left the room, allowing her time alone with her dad.

She held her dad’s hand in both of hers, careful to apply only gentle pressure. His
leathery hands, work-hardened from years of tending the garden, peeling vegetables
for meals for homeless people, and helping others, squeezed hers back.

“You know…” Ben paused to catch his breath. “I’ve always liked Logan.”

So had she. That was the problem.

…

Logan parallel parked his SUV in front of Ben’s row house. The ten-minute drive had
proved torturous to his senses. He’d been thinking about Ben’s attack and the possible
motives. At least it kept his mind off knowing Keely was near enough to touch.

“Thanks for the ride.” She slid out of the vehicle a split second after he killed
the engine. The door slammed.

Ahh
. Just what he’d been waiting for. She’d finally remembered to be angry with him.
Good
. Even if he had to take the brunt of her emotion, at least she was letting it out.

He jogged along the sidewalk to catch up, then waited while she dug in her jeans pocket
for the house key. After quickly glancing at Mrs. Beyer’s marble steps to the right
of Ben’s, she opened the front door.

Inside, she flicked on a light in the entryway. Ben’s house was like most other row
homes and included a small vestibule followed by another locked door that led to the
main floor of the house. The only sunlight in the middle row unit came from either
the front or the back of the house and a solar light panel in the second-floor ceiling.

She maneuvered the key in the lock of the second door and then hesitated.

“Want me to—” If he went in first, it might save her from reliving what she’d seen
here yesterday. She shouldn’t have to experience the shock and fear again of seeing
Ben injured.

“No, I’ve got it.”

Relief eased its way into his joints to see her spirited personality returning.

She turned the key and stepped into the foyer, then froze when she faced the mess.

He stood beside her as her gaze passed over the rumpled carpet and the turned-over
dining room chairs. After a moment, she straightened her shoulders and took a deep
breath.
Atta girl.

She stepped across scattered broken glass and picked up two framed photos. One of
Ben and Lillian, which she brushed off and placed on a side table, and one with a
crack down the center of her with some geek in a tuxedo. She turned the photo and
frame face down on the table and brushed black fingerprint dust off her hands.

“I can call a crime scene cleaning service,” he offered.

“No. I’ll do it myself.”

“At least let me help. I do know how to use a vacuum.”

“I said no,” she snapped.

He let it drop. He thought she might check the area in the family room—the site of
the beating, but instead she turned to face him.

“I have to be at work in an hour—couldn’t take the whole day off—so we may as well
get one thing out of the way.” She crossed her arms, drawing attention to the way
her full breasts rose and fell.

Her temper
. He’d missed it. Her temper was a bit adorable, unlike his—which was the type that
hurt people. Hers was a productive sort of temper. She got mad at injustice and sprang
into action. He’d missed it while he was in Afghanistan fighting in the fields, missed
it when he was away at the police academy.

Missed it painfully when he’d walked out of her life.

But he’d had no choice, had he?

He could pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about. Play stupid. But why bother?
He knew what she wanted to discuss. Time to face what he’d done so they could put
it behind them and move on.

Crap.

He grabbed one of the toppled dining room chairs, set it back upright, and straddled
it. “Okay,” he said, meeting her gaze. She’d dressed casually today, in jeans and
a faded rock band T-shirt with a denim jacket. The jeans hugged her hips in a way
no hot-blooded man should have to endure without a cold shower nearby. She wore her
hair down, and tucked a long brown strand behind her ear before narrowing her eyes
to glare at him, making him yearn to reach out and stroke her cheek.

She closed those gorgeous blue eyes for a long second and took a deep breath. When
she opened them, she focused her sharp gaze directly on him. Pimps, drug dealers,
and murderers stared him down on a daily basis, but nobody could shake him to the
core like Keely. The only trick would be keeping her from realizing it. For her own
good. But he’d gotten very good at keeping things from her.

“I thought…I thought we were important to each other back then.”

Her words came out a whisper, stabbing him softly. He clenched his hands into fists.
He couldn’t lie to her. But he couldn’t tell her the truth, either. Not without hurting
her even more than he already had.

She straightened her shoulders. “Why did you lead me to think I meant something to
you and then leave me without even saying goodbye? Do you know how I felt, knowing
you’d been arrested for fighting, and then learning you’d left for the Marines as
soon as the police released you?”

You’re wrong for her,
Keely’s mother Lillian had told him at the police station the night he’d been arrested.
He’d called Ben to pick him up when the charges were dropped, but Lillian had shown
up, instead. He’d been a messed up, angry kid, and he’d believed Lillian when she
said Keely deserved better. Which was why Lillian had ordered him to disappear from
Keely’s life. And he had.

He wouldn’t tell Keely now. Why tarnish her memories of her mother? Besides, he’d
agreed with Lillian. Probably would have come up with the idea on his own, eventually.
The arrest and Lillian’s pressure had only made it easier.

“Yeah, just as I thought,” Keely muttered. “You had no good reason. When I reached
out with an olive branch three years ago, why didn’t you return any of my calls?”

“I had to work. Criminals don’t take time off.” He shifted in the chair. Was this
what it felt like to be interrogated? He sat ramrod straight, his muscles tense. All
he needed was a hot lamp in his face and a good cop and bad cop across from him. On
second thought, Keely seemed to be doing fine in the bad cop role.

She moved her hands to her hips and took a few steps toward him, then tripped on a
discarded book. He shot out of the chair and caught her by the waist as her arms flailed.
Her hair swung forward over her shoulders and her mouth was suddenly close enough
to kiss. A few more inches, and he’d be able to taste her sweetness, relive the feel
of her lips. He swallowed. She probably had no idea how beautiful she looked. And
how he longed to touch her.

Her wide-eyed gaze searched his, then she blinked. “I can stand on my own.”

Reluctantly, he let go, returning to the chair to put distance between them again.

Her eyes shone, but he knew she would never cry in front of him. Guilt had him wondering
how many times his actions had sent her to her room to cry alone.

She ran a hand over her chin. He wanted to cup that chin and brush his lips against
hers. This was why he’d stayed away so long. How could he possibly spend time with
her and not touch her? Maybe it didn’t matter. He’d be leaving soon and the temptation
to be with her would be gone. But the memories that haunted him would never leave.

…

“Fine. Keep your reasons to yourself.” Keely drew a deep breath and backed up to lean
against the faded wallpapered dining room wall. She shouldn’t have started this conversation.
Getting Logan to open up to her—or anyone—took energy. Energy she needed for finding
out who attacked her dad.

She’d been too weak to do anything more than call Logan three years ago. But when
she’d arrived at her dad’s just as Logan’s car was leaving, it made her miss what
they’d once had. When her call had gone unreturned, she figured she’d gotten her answer.
He’d left her all those years ago because he hadn’t cared.