Dangerous Reunion (Love Inspired Suspense) (13 page)

It was less than a mile from Treasury’s house to the marina. No problem for a man used to jogging several miles every day. But today the distance seemed longer than the marathon he’d run last summer. His heart beat in rhythm with the pounding of his feet on the street’s surface, and he willed his body to move faster.

When he came closer to the marina he realized he’d been right. Cars lined the sides of the street, and he could see people gathered along the edge of the parking lot by the ferry. He slowed his steps and moved cautiously through the gathered onlookers. His chest heaved, more from fright than the run, and he eased forward. If Kate was among the injured, how could he face it? Being with her again had been the best thing that had happened to him in years.

Her words about her faith that God would take care of her even in death drifted through his mind. He stopped at the edge of the crowd and put his hands over his eyes. Her faith helped her face each day and what it brought without fear. He wanted that, too.

A breeze from the ocean ruffled his hair. It reminded him of her words that God was like the wind; you couldn’t see Him but you could feel Him. His heartbeat drummed in his ears, and he opened his eyes and stared upward.

God,
he prayed,
if You’re there, give me the strength to face whatever is on the other side of these people.

His heartbeat slowed, and his body relaxed. It was as if the wind itself had seeped through his pores and blown away the panic he’d felt a few minutes earlier. Now a peace like he’d never known filled him. He opened his eyes and made his way through the crowd to the edge of the parking lot.

The area before him looked like something one might see in the aftermath of an action movie explosion. Emergency vehicles with flashing lights dotted the parking lot. Men and women, some of whom he recognized from island shops, faced the crowd and blocked a better view of the scene. But where was Kate?

Then he saw her about halfway across the parking lot talking to two men. She glanced over her shoulder at the EMS workers behind her and shouted to them, “Here are two doctors who are vacationing on the island. They want to help.”

His knees sagged with relief, and he started toward her. He was almost there when a paunchy man wearing a long, white apron blocked his way. “Sorry, mister, you’ll have to wait with the rest of the crowd.”

At the edge of the parking lot a man inched onto the pavement and trained his camera on the scene. Kate frowned and yelled at a volunteer who stood nearby. “Try to keep anyone from photographing the scene. We still have victims here.” Kate looked in Brock’s direction and waved. “It’s okay, Sam,” she called out. “Let him through.”

One of the firefighters ran up to her, and she turned her attention to him. She listened as he spoke, then pulled out her cell phone. She said a few words, then nodded and closed the phone.

The paramedic headed back toward his truck. “Thanks, Kate.”

Brock took a step forward but stopped at the sound of a shout behind him. “Kyle, no! Don’t go down there!”

Brock turned to see a young man running across the parking lot with another one chasing him. He recognized Kyle Johnson and Mike Thornton, the boys he’d met when the missing boat from the marina was recovered.

Kate caught sight of the two and ran toward them. She and Mike both grabbed Kyle who was now crying hysterically. “Granddad! Grandmother!”

Kate put her arm around the boy and spoke quietly to him. He shook his head, struggled to get loose from her grip and screamed louder. Mike’s father, Ean, ran from the crowd toward his son. When he stopped, Kate spoke to him for a moment. Ean nodded, and then he and Mike pulled the grief-stricken boy from the scene.

Brock’s legs trembled as he walked toward her. She’d never looked more beautiful to him, but he recognized something else in her appearance. Not only was she an attractive woman, she was also a police officer who looked every inch the professional.

Ever since he’d been here he’d seen how highly she was regarded among the island residents. With a confidence he’d seen in few seasoned officers, she stood in the midst of chaos dispensing orders and responding to the needs of the emergency workers and family members with an authority that left little doubt who was in charge.

The truth hit him. She belonged here. Not in a big city on a police force, but on the small island with the people she’d known and loved all her life. She’d wanted him to share that with her, and he’d refused. He’d paid the price for that decision. Seeing her now made him wish he could roll back time and undo that mistake, but he couldn’t.

She gazed sharply at him when he stopped in front of her. “Brock, what are you doing here? You should be resting.”

He shook his head. “I want to help. Tell me what to do.”

“You can help us keep the crowds back. The ambulance will be heading to the Health Center in a few minutes. We have a helicopter coming in to take the survivor to a hospital.”

Brock glanced over the carnage. “How many people died?”

Her eyes filled with tears before she blinked them away and straightened her shoulders. “Three. Russell and Rose Johnson and one of the delivery drivers, Pete Hodges. The other delivery man is critical, but he’s alive.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know for sure. One of the workers on the ferry said he saw the men in the parking lot open the door of the trailer. He said they stepped around to the side for a moment, and out of nowhere this jogger appeared. He didn’t see where the jogger came from—he was just suddenly running across the parking lot. He ran up behind the trailer and threw something in, and then took off.”

“Did the ferry worker see what the jogger threw inside?”

“No, but Russell yelled at him. The guy didn’t look back. He ran out of the parking lot and onto the street. Russell walked to the back of the truck, and then the whole thing exploded. The second blast sent the big cloud of smoke upward.”

The memory of the firebomb hitting the stage the night before flashed in Brock’s mind. “It must have been some kind of incendiary device. Did the ferry worker get a good look at the jogger?”

“No. He wore a jogging suit with a hooded shirt. His head was covered, but he could see sunglasses on the man’s face. He couldn’t give me a description.”

Brock mulled over what Kate had told him. “So our pirate has struck again.”

“He sent me another text message from Doug’s cell phone. Do you want to see it?”

Brock’s heart thudded as she held the phone out to him. He read the message and sighed. “This guy is a piece of work. I’ve never understood why anyone would want to hurt an innocent person.”

“Me, either. This time he’s gone too far, though. I’ve talked with Sheriff Baxter. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are on their way. This investigation is going to be in their hands. Calvin and I will assist them.”

Relief flowed through Brock. “Good. Maybe this guy will concentrate on avoiding federal agents and leave you alone.”

Kate sighed. “Maybe so. We’ll have to see.” She glanced around. “It looks like the ambulance is getting ready to leave. Let’s clear a path for him.”

Brock moved to assist Kate. He couldn’t help but be relieved. Whoever was causing all this mayhem on Ocracoke had gotten out of control. Maybe by working together the two agencies could stop him.

He hoped so. Kate had been placed in too much danger already, and he wanted her safe. Once she was, he had two choices. He could either tell her of his feelings for her, or he could leave. At this point he didn’t know which would be better. That was a decision he didn’t look forward to making.

K
ate rubbed her hands over her eyes. She didn’t remember when she’d ever been so tired. She glanced at the clock on the wall in the interrogation room at the police station. After midnight, and they were no closer to an answer to the tragedy today than they had been hours ago.

The cold remains of the gallons of coffee they’d consumed sat scattered about the table where for the past five hours she, Calvin and Brock had related the horror of the day to the ATF agents who had arrived in late afternoon. She stifled a yawn and sat up straighter. “Anybody want more coffee?”

Austin Whitman, the ATF agent in charge, looked up from writing on the pad in front of him and shook his head. “None for me.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed his glasses up. The lenses magnified his tired eyes. He leaned forward, his arms resting on the table. “Deputy Michaels, when a crime like the one you had today occurs, our agency is authorized to take over the case. That doesn’t mean, however, you and your officers will be left out of the loop. Our objective is to help you find the person who’s committed the act. Maybe by pooling our resources we can find this crazy killer and put a stop to his wild rampage.”

Kate had liked Austin Whitman the minute they had shaken hands. His no-nonsense attitude had come across quickly. She glanced around the table at Austin and the other three agents and nodded. “We’re glad you’re here. The actions of our perpetrator have gone beyond anything we’ve experienced before on Ocracoke. We appreciate your help, and we’ll work with you any way we can.”

Agent Whitman smiled. “Good.” He pointed to the map of the island that Kate had laid in the center of the table. “You’ve marked the spots that our guy has hit. He seems to be all over the place. Since no one has seen his face, it’s going to be hard to find him. He could walk right past us on the street, and we wouldn’t know. Some of us will be in the crowd at the festival tomorrow…” He glanced at his watch. “Or should I say today, in case he strikes again.”

Kate glanced at Brock and Calvin. “We’ll be there, too.” She pushed back from the table and stood. “If there’s nothing else, I think we need to get some sleep and meet back in the morning. Calvin will let us know if we’re needed tonight.”

The agents stood, and Agent Whitman held out his hand. “We’ll see you in the morning.” After shaking hands with Kate, he turned to Brock. “It’s good to meet you, Detective Gentry. You may be out of your jurisdiction here on Ocracoke, but it’s good to have a fellow officer volunteering to help us.”

Brock gripped the man’s hand. “Thanks. I want to do anything I can.”

Kate stared at the two men, who’d seemed to hit it off when the agents first arrived. Brock had always said he wanted to start in a big-city department and then progress to a federal agency. She wondered if that was still in the back of his mind. He hadn’t mentioned it since he’d been on the island, but she couldn’t imagine he’d given up that goal.

When the agents left the room, Kate turned back to Calvin. “Don’t hesitate to call me if you see anything suspicious tonight.”

“I won’t, but there’s something I need to ask you.”

“What?”

Calvin touched his lower jaw and winced. “I think I’m developing an abscess in one of my back teeth. I’ve been in pain for several days, but I didn’t say anything because I knew how shorthanded we were. With these agents on the island, would it be okay for me to take off Monday and go to my dentist on the mainland? I don’t think I can stand this much longer.”

Kate frowned. “You should have told me, Calvin. We would have made arrangements to cover for you.”

“I didn’t think I should leave, but with federal agents here I thought it might be okay.”

Brock pushed up from his chair and yawned. “You’d better get that taken care of. If the infection spreads, you could really be sick.”

The memory of her talk with Lisa about Calvin flashed into her mind. Did he really have a bad tooth, or did Calvin only want to meet the woman Lisa had heard him talking with on the phone? The question was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t speak it. Calvin had always been an exemplary officer, and she wasn’t going to doubt his motives for asking to go to the mainland.

She swallowed back the words she’d almost said. “I agree. So let me know what you find out. I’ll be back in the morning to relieve you, and I can cover Monday night if you’re still gone.”

Calvin opened his mouth to speak but grabbed his jaw and winced again. “Well, if you’re sure you can spare me, I think I’ll grab a few hours’ sleep in the morning after I get off patrol and then take one of the afternoon ferries to the mainland. That way I can be at my dentist’s office early Monday morning. He’s a good friend, and he always works me in when I show up.”

“Let us know how things go and when you’ll be back.”

“I will. Now I’d better get back on patrol. No telling what’s going on over at the Blue Pelican with this being the last night of the festival.”

Kate waited for Calvin to leave before she glanced at Brock. “I’ll drop you at Treasury’s before I head for home.”

“Thanks.”

As they stepped from the office, the cool night air enveloped them. Kate stopped beside her car, closed her eyes and inhaled. “What a day. I still can’t believe that Russell and Rose are dead. I felt so sorry for their grandson.”

Brock stood on the opposite side of the car, his hand on the door handle. He stared at her across the roof of the vehicle. “I did, too. But are you really all right? Having this killer send you two text messages from Doug’s cell phone must have been rough on you.”

“Yeah, it was, but it’s made me more determined than ever to catch him. There has to be justice for those who’ve died. But I suppose there was one good thing to come out of the day.”

“What’s that?” Brock asked.

She stared at him. “You mentioned Ean Thornton as a possible suspect after his outburst the night we found the stolen boat. After today I know he couldn’t be. He knew his son, Mike, was supposed to be helping Russell set up the fireworks display. There’s no way he would have done anything that would put his son in danger.”

“I guess you’re right.” Brock bit down on his lip, and his gaze raked her face. In his eyes Kate could see a flicker of something. Sadness? Regret? “I have to tell you something else I was wrong about, Kate.”

She tilted her head, her heart pounding at the wounded look on his face. “What?”

“I watched you today at that horrible scene, and I knew you belonged there. I was wrong when I asked you to leave this island. You’re a part of it as much as the sand and salt marshes that hold this little piece of earth together. You belong here, and I’m sorry for the hurt I put you through by trying to make you leave.”

The words she’d never expected to hear him say shocked Kate into silence. When she didn’t answer, Brock jerked the car door open and climbed inside. She wanted to tell him that she’d watched him over the past few days, and she, too, had discovered something. Brock belonged here, too.

She’d seen the way he’d bonded with the island residents, her sisters in particular. It was almost as if the sand had penetrated his body and transformed him into an O’Cocker, the term locals used for those who lived on their small stretch of land.

She knew it, but she could never tell Brock what she saw in him. He had to discover it for himself. That was what she’d wanted six years ago, and now she wanted it again. But she doubted if he would recognize it now any more than he had then.

On Sunday afternoon Kate and Brock sat in the squad car at the edge of the parking lot that was still marked as a crime scene. The ATF agents had been busy all day at the site of yesterday’s explosion, but so far they had uncovered nothing new.

Kate glanced at Brock, who had been quiet since she picked him up earlier in the morning. His gloom-and-doom mood had prevailed most of the day, and she couldn’t figure it out. The horn of the ferry shook her from her thoughts and turned her attention to the harbor and the arriving ferry. The sun glinted on the white sides of the sleek vessel as it glided into port and slid into its berth.

A long line of cars waited to board as they did every Sunday afternoon. This was the day of the week when most vacationers departed, only to be replaced by those crowded on the incoming ferries to begin their stay on the island. Sometimes it seemed a never-ending cycle, but she knew it would soon change. When fall came, many of the island businesses would close, and the tourist trade would trickle to a small number.

“There’s Calvin.” Brock’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “He doesn’t have to worry about making this ferry.”

She looked past Brock’s pointing finger to the cars waiting to board the ferry and spotted Calvin. He was at the head of the line. “Since we’re so remote, islanders who need to get to the mainland are loaded first. I guess it’s one of the perks of living here.”

Brock glanced around and sighed. “I’d say there are a lot of reasons to like living here.”

Kate’s eyebrows arched. Was he trying to tell her what she hoped? That he had decided this is where he belonged, too? She wanted to press the question with him, but the fear that she was mistaken kept her silent.

For the next few minutes they watched the cars disembark from the ferry and drive onto the main street that ran through the village. When the last one had left the ship, a worker standing at the boarding ramp motioned for the vehicles to pull forward. Calvin eased his car onto the ramp and drove onto the ferry.

One after another the cars and trucks followed until the last one had boarded. As the ship prepared to push out into Pamlico Sound for its return trip to Swan Quarter on the mainland, Kate caught sight of Calvin climbing the stairs on the outside of the deck to the clubhouse. She thought of all the times she’d sat at a table in that huge room and ridden back and forth on the ferry. To some the trip might seem like an inconvenience, but to her it was part of her life here.

Kate took a deep breath and turned the car’s ignition. “I guess it’s time to get back on patrol. I think we’d better check the beach and see if there have been any problems today.”

Brock nodded. “Sounds good.” He glanced out the window as she drove through the village. “Do you remember how we used to go to the beach on Sunday afternoons? Your mother would always pack us a picnic.”

Her heart thumped at the mention of her mother. “I remember.”

Brock was silent for a moment. “Emma looks so much like your mother.”

“I think so, too, and she’s like her in ways other than her appearance. Mother loved animals and was always helping any stray she found. I think of her every time I see Emma with her cat, Rascal. Mother would have made sure he had a home, too.”

Brock laughed for the first time all day. “That cat ran under my feet day before yesterday when I was coming out of the bed-and-breakfast and nearly scared me to death.”

Kate chuckled and glanced at him. “He’s good at that. He does it to me all the time. Treasury says—”

Before she could finish, her phone rang, and she pulled it from the clip on her belt. Betsy’s cell phone number flashed on the caller ID. “Hi, Betsy. Do you need something?”

A soft cry of alarm caused Kate to sit up straight. “K-Kate, I’m so sc-scared.”

Kate pulled the car to the side of the street and stopped. “What’s wrong, Betsy?”

“I can’t find Emma.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at home. Emma and I ate lunch with Treasury after church, and then we came home. I told Emma that I needed to get a painting to take back to the booth at the festival and for her to wait for me in the car. When I came back outside, she was gone.” Betsy’s last words dissolved into tears.

Fear knotted Kate’s stomach. “How long has she been gone?”

“About thirty minutes. I looked all through the house, in the yard, then I went out to the beach. She’s nowhere to be found. Oh, Kate, what if that man who tried to burn her took her?”

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Kate made a U-turn and headed back through town, the siren on her squad car blaring. “We don’t know that’s happened, Betsy. Brock and I will be there in a few minutes. If we don’t find her, I’ll call the rescue team to help us search.”

“Oh, Kate,” Betsy cried. “Please hurry. I’m so scared.”

Kate accelerated the car and looked over at Brock, who clutched the car seat. His wide eyes told her he understood what had happened. He licked his lips. “Has Emma disappeared?”

Kate bit her lip, nodded and blinked back tears. This was no time to get emotional. Betsy sounded almost hysterical, and Kate needed to stay focused so they could find Emma. The thought of her being the victim of the madman who was terrorizing the island made her nauseous. She’d seen Russell’s and Rose’s bodies as well as Doug’s. She couldn’t let that happen to her little sister.

The car roared down the road to the house Kate shared with her sisters, and she skidded to a stop at the end of the driveway. Betsy stood in the yard. Tears streaked her face, and she clutched her hands in front of her.

When Kate stepped from the car, Betsy rushed to her. “Kate, we’ve got to find her. I’ll never forgive myself for leaving her alone if something’s happened to her.”

Brock touched Betsy’s shoulder. “We’ll find her, Betsy. I don’t know where she is, but I have a gut feeling that she’s okay.”

Tears filled Betsy’s eyes. “I hope you’re right.”

Kate scanned the area for anything that would give her a clue as to what had happened to Emma. She spotted Emma’s footprints in the sandy soil and pointed to them. “It looks like she might have gone toward the beach.”

Betsy’s face paled. “What if she went in the water and the riptide took her out to sea?”

Kate frowned at her sister. “We can’t think like that.” She strode toward the break in the ridge that led onto the beach. “Come on, Brock. Let’s see what we can find.”

They climbed the ridge and stepped onto the beach. All that Kate could see in either direction was a long stretch of sand and the water rolling in. She turned back to Brock. “Maybe we should go in different directions. You search the beach area to our left, and I’ll go to our right.”