Cold Case Recruit (21 page)

“Will do.”

Brycen started to turn back for the Volvo.

“Hey, Detective.”

Brycen stopped and looked back at the black agent.

“When Chandler took Melvin’s statement, Melvin said Watts was pretty upset over what happened to the Tennessee House and that nobody messes with his business and walks away. Watch your back, all right?”

He didn’t need to be told, but he appreciated the agent’s concern. “Thanks.” With a lift of his hand in farewell, he walked to the car and drove toward Drury’s parents’ house.

They’d have to wait until either Watts returned to the motel or the FBI found him and made an arrest. Spending more time with Drury both enticed him and stirred up worry over leaving. He was sure she felt the same. For Junior, but also for themselves.

As he turned onto the street where Drury’s parents lived, he spotted a boy riding a bike. His legs pumped frantically, as though he was late to get wherever he was going.

And then he recognized Junior’s jacket.

He pulled to the side of the road and rolled his window down.

Junior saw him stop and braked. He jumped off his bike and ran over to Brycen, who checked the road for cars. Crazy kid!

“It’s Mommy!” Junior yelled. “You have to help her!”

Chills raced from his scalp down his spine. Something had happened to Drury?

Junior ran to the passenger door and opened it himself, climbing in. While Brycen pressed the gas, he dug out a piece of paper.

Brycen read as he drove. All that was written was an address. That and a warning not to bring anyone else or he’d kill Drury before he arrived.

“The man told me to ride my bike to give this to you!” Junior breathed fast. “He has my mommy! Is he going to hurt her like he did my daddy?”

“Not if I can get to her.” And he had to. Not only for Junior, but for himself. He could not lose another woman because of his line of work. It didn’t matter that Drury had contacted Kadin.

He felt so much for her. Making love with her this morning...he could almost believe in marriage.

*

Watts forced Drury at gunpoint into the trunk of his car and drove for about thirty minutes. When the car stopped, she contemplated fighting. He’d tied her hands, so that might be tricky. When he opened the trunk with his pistol aimed at her face, her decision became clear. She’d have to wait for another opportunity.

He hauled her out of the trunk and on her feet. She saw a house on a large plot of land. The nearest house from here was probably two miles down the road. She could make it there if she could get away.

“Move it.” He shoved her.

She stumbled into a walk toward the house. A large brick Colonial with black trim, it spoke of money.

“Is this your house?” she asked.

“Just keep moving.”

It must be. “You earned a lot of money off the suffering of innocent people.”

At the door, he glanced back as he got out his keys.

Drury rammed her elbow back and into his sternum. He bent forward with a grunt and she turned to run past him.

Except he tripped her with his foot and she fell down onto the concrete slab of the front porch. Her shoulder hit hard and hurt like mad. She stifled an all-out yell and struggled onto her knees.

Watts grabbed her by her tied arms and pulled her up, putting her face right up to his. “Try that again and I’ll beat you.”

She moved her head away from the stench of his breath. “When’s the last time you went to the dentist?”

He put the key in the door and pushed it open, his biting grip stinging as he yanked her inside and kicked the door shut. From there he took her down a hallway to a master suite.

He shoved her forward. “In there.”

She entered a walk-in closet big enough to be a small bedroom.

Unfastening the cuffs, he said, “Put everything in those drawers in the duffel bag.”

Glancing back, rubbing her wrists, she saw he pointed to the built-in drawers and a duffel bag on a bench before two low shelves of shoes.

“Where are you going?” More important where would he take her? She didn’t know what the note read he’d given to Junior, but it must be directions to meet somewhere, presumably to kill both her and Brycen.

Watts ignored her, sitting on the bench, holding his gun over his forearm, not really aiming at her.

“The FBI knows who you are,” she said, throwing items from the first drawer into the duffel bag. “They’re going to catch you.”

Without responding, he merely met her glances as she packed.

“Why bother with me and Brycen when you have bigger problems than us?” she asked.

“You’re the reason I have those problems,” he said. “First your husband and his meddling, and now you and that detective...”

“Why did Noah go to the coffee shop? Did he follow Carter there?”

“Carter got sloppy. He talked too much to Pulman and held meetings with Melvin there.”

So that was how Noah had ended up at the coffee shop. He’d been suspicious of Carter and must have seen him with Melvin, maybe also talking to John Pulman. And then the call for help had come in from Evette. He’d gone alone because he’d seen Carter meet with Melvin. And then he’d seen Watts—a most-wanted human trafficker. Had he known when he went to the coffee shop? Had he connected the Tennessee House by then? If not, he’d been close.

Noah must have noticed the falsified report and begun his own investigation. He should have told someone, especially about the report. But then he might not have discovered Carter’s involvement with Watts.

“You told Carter about Noah answering Evette’s call for help alone?” she asked.

Watts scoffed. “Carter. What a waste he turned out to be. Yes, Carter was another mistake I made. The first was not killing Melvin’s weak, ugly wife before I started doing business with him.”

His business? Carter’s protection for a fee? Help in keeping law enforcement from sniffing out his trail?

Drury couldn’t resist saying, “She couldn’t take the beatings like a real woman, huh?”

His expression, empty and cold, didn’t falter. “You have a smart mouth.”

Closing one drawer, she opened the next and crumpled some shirts into the duffel bag. “Where is Carter?”

“Hopefully his useless bones are scattered all over the mountainside after the bears ate his stinking corpse.”

Sickened, she stopped and looked back at him. He’d murdered Carter?

“I paid him to keep the cops off my back and he drew them in like flies. He got what he deserved.”

“Did all those innocent people you promised jobs deserve what they got?”

He didn’t respond immediately. He couldn’t deny he’d stolen the dreams and hopes of innocent people. Maybe for an instant he felt brief empathy. She doubted that.

“Finish packing. We have a plane to catch.”

A plane? Drury took her time packing. She had to do whatever it took to avoid getting on a plane with him.

*

Brycen didn’t have time to drop off Junior anywhere safe. He had to get to Drury. The address would take him to a pretty nice neighborhood. From the satellite image of the place on his phone, the lots were spaced far apart and backed to a heavily wooded area. There was also a dirt swath in the back of the house, indicating a private landing strip. The photo showed no planes on the ground, but that had to be Dexter’s escape plan—fly somewhere remote, kill Drury and Brycen and disappear.

“When we get to where we’re going, I need you to do exactly as I tell you, okay, Junior?”

Junior looked over, more worry marring his face than should for one so young.

“You stay in the car with the doors locked and don’t get out or let anyone in unless I say it’s okay, got it?”

He nodded.

“I’ll get your mother and bring her to you. You have to trust me on that.”

“I trust you.”

Brycen felt a moment of uncertainty. What if he couldn’t bring her back? What if Dexter had killed her already?

No.

That could not be. He floored the pedal as he reached the two-lane highway that would take him to Dexter’s hideaway. The navigation screen told him he was almost there.

*

“Hurry up,” Watts said.

Drury put a pair of jeans in the bag and went for another, packing them one at a time to give Brycen more time.

Impatient, Watts stood and pushed her aside, throwing the rest of the jeans in the bag.

Drury made a run for it. She darted out of the closet and into the hall, running as fast as she could to the main room. There, she skidded to slow down. The front was too open. There were trees in the back. She ran for the back door. It was locked, so she flipped that up just as Watts banged her over the head with his gun.

She fell. Getting onto her hands and knees while the room spun, she tried to crawl away.

“Stupid woman.” Watts grabbed the back of her shirt and lifted, throwing her into the room. She slid on the wood floor and hit the side of a chair.

Watts aimed his pistol at her.

Drury’s only thought was of Junior.

The sound of a helicopter made Watts straighten and go still. Then he ran to the back door and swore.

Drury stood and ran down a hallway, going into the first bedroom and shutting the door. There was no lock. Through the window she saw a man get out of the helicopter with an automatic weapon.

Watts started shooting at whoever it was. The man jumped to the ground from the chopper and fired his weapon. He missed Dexter, but it was enough to stop him from shooting.

From another room in the house, she heard glass breaking.

Brycen?

She went to the door and cracked it open. Watts appeared in the hallway from the main room just as Brycen came out of a bedroom down the hall. Brycen fired his gun.

Watts dove back into the main room, behind a wall for cover.

Drury went into the hall and rushed for Brycen, who took her hand and pulled her behind him. She wanted to wrap her arms and legs around him and kiss him everywhere for making it here.

Outside, a fierce explosion vibrated the house.

Watts could be heard swearing in the main room.

Brycen ran after him.

Drury made it to the room just as Watts left the house firing his gun.

Brycen followed. Then he stood on the patio and aimed, firing once. Drury stepped out onto the stone patio and saw the stranger climb into the helicopter. A plane Watts must have intended to use to escape was engulfed in flames. The energy from the explosion blew her hair slightly.

She looked closer at the stranger. It was the man from the airport. He gave them a salute and lifted up into the air.

Brycen watched with her.

She saw Watts lying on the ground, gun still in hand, facedown and blood pooling from the gunshot wound to his head.

She covered her mouth, seeing the stranger who’d helped save her and Brycen fly away.

“His sheets must be too dirty to stick around for a chat,” she said.

Brycen turned to her.

“That’s what he told me at the airport when he came to warn me.”

He turned back to the retreating helicopter. “That chopper doesn’t have any identifiers on it.”

“I wish we knew who he was.” But she had something more important to do. “Where’s Junior?”

“In the car.”

“You
brought
him?” She went back into the house and ran to the front door.

Brycen kept up with her.

She saw her son in the passenger seat. As soon as the boy saw her, he clumsily opened the door and got out, running to her.

Swooping him up into her arms, she kissed his cheek. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Noah Jr.”

“Your eyes are sore?”

She laughed and almost cried she was so happy. Finally it was over. Noah’s murder was solved. For good now. She could bury him and put that part of her life behind her.

Now she just had to figure out her future.

Chapter 16

A
few days later, after closing out the case with Deputy Chandler, Brycen packed his bag and left it on Drury’s bed. All he had to do was say goodbye to Drury and Junior. He could stay a few extra days, but what good would that do? Drury had asked him to stay through lunch. He’d share that with them and then go.

He entered the living room and saw her end a call from a new client who’d just booked a flight to go skiing somewhere remote. With her silky blouse that fell to her waist above a beady-pocket pair of skinny jeans, long dark hair draping over her shoulders, her beauty magnetized him.

“Hi,” she said, blue eyes flashing with awareness.

“Hi.” They’d been on awkward ground like this ever since he saved her. He slept with her while he closed the case, but they hadn’t made love. He sensed her putting her guard up, preparing for the inevitable. And he found himself doing the same thing, uncertain whether he’d made the right decision to leave.

The doorbell rang and he watched Drury go and answer it. Was she expecting someone? When he heard voices and the door closing, he stood from the sofa. Junior was in his room catching up on homework.

He stood in the threshold between the living room and the entry and saw Kayla’s father and sister enter behind Drury.

What the hell?

Drury approached. “Sorry, Brycen, I didn’t think you’d agree to this. It wasn’t my idea. Avery contacted me. They want to make peace with you.”

“And you took it upon yourself to arrange a meeting?” He tried to quell his anger. Meeting with Kayla’s family didn’t bother him; her sneakiness did.

She backed up as Avery and her father stopped before him.

“Thank you for seeing us,” Avery said. “We didn’t come to tell you to get lost. In fact, we came to apologize. You didn’t tell us you married Kayla the day of the accident.”

“You didn’t give me a chance.”

Mr. Jefferson lowered his head. The man had anger-management issues and it must cost his pride a hefty load to come here. Brycen had to give him credit for that, but he still had a lousy attitude. He’d make peace, but he’d never consider Brycen worth his attention.

“Would you like to take a seat?” he asked.

“No. This won’t take long,” Mr. Jefferson said. And then when he must have realized how pompous he sounded, he added, “We won’t take up too much of your time, is what I meant.”

“We hope you can understand why we treated you the way we did,” Avery said. “Kayla told me about your...your views on marriage...” She glanced at Drury, who stood behind the kitchen island with her hands on the counter.

Did Avery see something between Brycen and Drury?

“We thought...” Avery continued, “well, we thought you’d...string her along. We thought you were stringing her along. And then she died. And the way she died...”

“You don’t have to explain,” Brycen said. “It must have taken a lot for you to come here.” He looked pointedly at Mr. Jefferson, who finally met his gaze like a guilty party.

“There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Avery said. “Why didn’t you tell us you married her? I know you think we didn’t give you a chance, but why didn’t you tell us?”

He could have told them. And he probably should have. He probably should have told Drury everything, too. Even Kadin Tandy himself didn’t know everything. He knew about Kayla, and maybe even the marriage, but he didn’t know the most terrible thing about Kayla’s death. He’d thought he’d spared them the anguish. When instead he’d drawn it out. He’d also created a burden on himself he could never shed.

Thanks to Drury, he had this chance to ease the weight. Avery and her father might have difficulty sorting through what he had to say, but they needed to know.

“Kayla was pregnant,” he said.

He heard Drury’s sharp inhalation.

Avery’s mouth opened as though she tried to say something but couldn’t.

Mr. Jefferson stared at him, an empty man made even emptier with the news.

“I didn’t tell you because I knew you were already hurting too much,” he said.

“Oh my God,” Avery breathed. “How far along?”

“Not long. Eight weeks.”

“Oh,” Avery breathed again. Tears welled in her eyes. She put her hand on her father’s arm.

“I didn’t tell anyone because it would have been too painful,” Brycen said, looking back at Drury. “I’m sorry.”

She gaped at him, startled. But then she said, “No. It’s all right, Brycen.” Walking around the island, she came to him and he faced her as she put her hands on his chest. “It all makes sense now. Why you left Alaska. Why you had a hard time warming up to Junior. Why you left the CPD. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“You and Junior have helped me finally get past it,” he said. “Junior especially.” He smiled with a wry laugh.

“He can be quite the charmer.” She smiled back.

He looked over at Mr. Jefferson, who still stared as though he’d received the shock of a lifetime. If Brycen were a cruel man, he’d say he had it coming. But he only felt sympathy for the man.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I don’t know if telling you back then would have been any better.”

“No.” Avery shook her head numbly. “It wouldn’t have mattered. It’s terrible. But you were right in telling us.”

“That’s why you married her,” Mr. Jefferson said. “For the baby.”

Brycen took Drury’s hand and faced the two. “That was part of the reason. I believed Kayla and I would make it as a couple. I wanted to marry her.”

He didn’t lie. He wouldn’t say he didn’t love Kayla. He didn’t need to add to the hurt.

“I think we should go now,” Avery said. “Daddy?”

Mr. Jefferson nodded and began to turn.

“Mr. Jefferson?” Brycen said.

The man looked back.

“I hope you can find a way to get past your regrets and be happy. Kayla would have wanted that. She wouldn’t have wanted you to think she didn’t love you. She did.”

Moisture gathered in the older man’s eyes. “Thank you.” He didn’t move for the door yet, and his daughter kept her hand on his arm. “I’d be honored to see you in town. I’m sorry for the way I’ve treated you.”

He talked as though Brycen had decided to stay.

Instead of responding, Brycen addressed another issue he had just discovered a few minutes ago. “I received a call from Deputy Chandler. Someone tried to attack another woman at the pub where Cora works. He was arrested and confessed to also attempting to attack Cora.”

Drury beamed a smile toward him with the good news. Cora no longer had to worry about looking over her shoulder.

“That is fantastic news,” Mr. Jefferson said, a man starved for good news. He looked at Avery. “We should go see her.”

Avery nodded. “Thank you, Brycen.”

“You don’t have to thank me. Just promise me you will both move on with your lives and be happy.”

“Yes. We promise to try.”

Brycen watched them go to the door and leave.

“Brycen—”

He faced Drury and put his finger over her mouth. “Yes, you should have told me you invited them here. But it’s okay. I can finally close that chapter of my life.”

She looped her arms over his shoulders. “You’re such a good man. How am I ever going to let you go?”

He kissed her. “I’ll stay awhile if you want me to.”

She kissed him this time. “No. You go back to Chicago. You have your show, and Kadin offered you a job with DAI.”

Even if he did want to stay, he had a life in Chicago he couldn’t just walk away from.

“We could see each other,” he said.

She ran her finger down his cheek and over his lower lip. “That’s awfully tempting, but if you want to see me, I’d like you to do so only if you have faith in us and our future.”

As in, she wouldn’t be with him if he put a condition on their relationship, and she viewed his belief that love didn’t last as a restriction. Funny, he could almost agree with her. But he wouldn’t. Not until—and if—he was sure.

*

Drury stood behind Junior as Brycen put his bag down in front of the door. Junior hadn’t said much since he’d gone in his room and told him he was leaving. She had her hands on his shoulders to let him know she was there for him.

Brycen went to Junior and crouched before him. “You be good for your mother. Keep up on your schoolwork and don’t get into trouble. No picking your nose or farting during class.”

Junior laughed. “Nobody farts in class.”

“Oh, trust me, they do. You just haven’t smelled one yet.”

He squealed with a laugh this time.

Brycen put his hand on Junior’s arm. “You’re a special kid, Junior. I’m lucky to have met you. I’m going to miss you.”

Junior’s humor faded. “You said I was your partner. Partners stick together.”

“Yes, they do.” He looked up at Drury and she felt him thinking of her as his partner—a very different kind of partner.

She couldn’t believe he’d walk away from this, from what they had together. But she kept telling herself he had to find his own way back to her. She wouldn’t have him any other way.

“Hey,” Brycen said. “If it’s okay with your mom, maybe you could come to Chicago for one of my shows over your school break.” He looked back up at Drury. “I could introduce him at the end of the show.”

“Really?”
Junior jumped up and down and tipped his head back to see his mother. “Can we, Mommy? Can we, please?”

Drury wasn’t so sure that’d be a good idea. If her son had to get used to not having Brycen around, what would it do to him to have to say goodbye for a second time?

Then again, maybe by then Brycen would have come to his senses.

Not one to shy away from a good adventure, she said, “Sure, we can do that.”

“Yeah!” Junior jumped against Brycen for a big hug. He hugged him back.

“Okay, kiddo. I’ve got a plane to catch and your mother said she wouldn’t fly me.” He winked at Drury.

“Liar. My plane wouldn’t make it all the way to Chicago.” She gave his forehead a playful shove. “You’re just chicken.” And she didn’t mean of flying.

Chuckling, he stood. “You’re the one who won’t have a long-distance relationship with me.”

“You don’t meet up with my standards,” she said. Although she was teasing, she meant every word.

Leaning forward, he kissed her, a soft warm touch at first.

“Ew.” Junior wiggled out from between them. “Why do you keep doing that?”

Brycen put his hand on her waist and kissed Drury with more purpose. She didn’t stop him. Junior would just have to be uncomfortable. But when the kiss heated up and broached on inappropriate groping, she withdrew and put her forehead against his.

“Can I call you?” he asked.

“No.” Looking up, she made sure he could see she wouldn’t bend.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

She stepped back. “Come back to us, Brycen.” Touching her lips, wishing she could save the feeling, she watched him contemplate her.

“I’ll send you the information on the show.”

Drury couldn’t allow herself to be angry with him. She did think he was making a mistake. But he had to make his own decisions and she wouldn’t help him stay away by agreeing to a long-distance relationship. She wanted him here.

*

With each step closer he came to Chicago, Brycen felt emptier. Moreover, he felt Drury tugging him back to her. Now at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport waiting for his flight, he couldn’t stop thinking of her. When his phone rang a jolt of excitement zinged him with the hope that Drury called.

It was Kadin.

“Cage.”

“You sound disappointed to hear from me.”

“I thought you were someone else.”

A few seconds of silence passed before Kadin said, “Ah, Drury Decoteau, huh?”

Brycen sat up from his reclined position on the airport gate chair. “What?”

“I’ve seen her picture. I’ve met her in person, too. She’s hot... Not as hot as you, honey.”

Brycen pictured his wife with her hands on her hips, admonishing her husband for noticing another woman was hot.

“Yes, she is pretty hot.” That was all he’d volunteer.

“Did you sleep with her?”

“You called for something?” Brycen said, steering his too-perceptive temporary boss back to business.

“Yup, you did.” Kadin chuckled. “You’re right, it’s none of my business, especially if I’m going to be your new boss.”

“I’m my own boss.”

“Working for me is like working for yourself. Have I interfered in your investigation?”

“No.” The man wouldn’t stop until he had his way. “Why don’t you get to the point, Kadin?”

He chuckled. “All right. Deal. You’re on your way back to Chicago and I was hoping to plant a bug in your ear to consider doing your show from Anchorage.”

“I’ve already told you—”

“I know what you told me. You told me no the first time I came to you with an offer.”

“Are you saying I’m—”

“I’m saying I could help you relocate. DAI would benefit from having a detective in Alaska. You can keep your show if you want, but I’m betting you’re ready to put that in the archives.”

The boldness of the man!

“Just think about it.”

He’d asked him the same thing last time. “Why do I have the feeling I’m wasting my time flying home?”

“You aren’t. Well...you are, but you’d have to go back and get your things anyway.” He chuckled. “Little does Drury know, she’s helping me out.”

“How so?” Brycen had to ask, hearing the call to board his flight.

“You may as well give in now. You’re in love and that isn’t going away.”

How could he make such an observation? He hadn’t even been here. “I’m not in love.”

“No? I denied it, too. I didn’t realize love doesn’t happen according to your plans or expectations. What you think is love doesn’t even come close to the real thing. You have to experience that kind of love before you make any assumptions.”

“I’ll think about your offer.” Brycen disconnected before Kadin could go on about him and Drury.

He reluctantly headed for the plane. Reaching the passenger boarding bridge, he stopped and looked back. Once he got on this plane, he’d be gone. He’d be far away from Drury and Junior, away from a life with them.