Did You Miss Me? (48 page)

‘My eyes? No. Because you’ve had a bad day, I’ll allow you one more personal then you gotta get back to business. Got me?’

‘Yeah. What causes this . . . uniqueness?

Novak’s lips twitched. ‘You are your mother’s son, aren’t you? Flatter and dig in one motion. It’s a genetic anomaly that runs in my family. Not contagious, not fatal, just cosmetic.’

‘Okay.’ Ford had many more questions, but he’d been allowed only one, so he respected the limit and got back to the subject he knew the Fed wanted to discuss. ‘
Is
she telling the truth?’

‘Yes. In fact, she left some things out, either because she simply forgot or because she didn’t want to hurt you more.’

‘Tell me, then. Please.’

‘All the stuff about Kimberly having a record for theft is true. We don’t know how she met this Doug character, yet. We know they’ve worked together on several heists – important to your story is the theft from a state trooper’s gun safe. That’s where Doug got the taser gun he used on you. Kimberly was an acquaintance of the trooper’s daughter. That’s how she got her entrée to the trooper’s house.’

‘How did she know the safe’s combo?’

‘Planted a webcam in the heat vent above the safe. Turns out she and Doug have used this method several times since. We have a list of guns they’ve . . . purloined.’

‘Are they . . .’ Ford swallowed hard. ‘She and he . . . ?’

‘Lovers? Probably. Recently? That I don’t know.’

‘Hell.’

Novak looked sympathetic. ‘Pretty much sums it up.’

‘So Kim did set me up, just like my mom told me.’

‘Yeah. I’m sorry, Ford. Your mother’s PI dug up a lot of this information. See, he has huge motivation to catch Doug.’

‘Finding me. Right?’

‘Partially. This is the other thing she didn’t tell you. I feel like you should know. She wanted to hire a bodyguard for you.’

‘I said no.’

‘So she hired one anyway.’

Ford’s eyes widened. ‘She did
what
?’

Novak lifted a shoulder. ‘You’d find out sooner or later. The BG worked for Maynard. Name was Isaac Zacharias. Maynard’s a pal of yours, right?’

‘Yeah, we’re tight. Mainly because he’s just my mother’s friend. I don’t have to call him “daddy”. Unlike some other people who were touching her way too much tonight.’

Novak arched his ultra-white brows. ‘Not bad, trying to dig dirt on Joseph Carter. I got nothin’ there, other than he seems to care for your mother a great deal. So, back to Maynard. That night you were taken? His pal gets killed. Doug nearly severs his head right off his neck.’

Ford’s gripped the bed rail when the room began to spin. ‘Holy shit.’

‘Exactly. That’s why Maynard’s a man with a mission. Zacharias was his old partner when he was a cop. Not sure your mother knew the severed head bit. I think Carter was trying to protect her from hearing it.’

‘Oh my God. Poor Clay. That poor man . . . Zacharias. He died protecting me.’

‘That was his job. He also fucked up, though, just so you know it all. Zacharias never ran a background check on Kimberly, even though he said he had. He told Maynard that Kim was clean. If he’d done his job . . . well, things would have turned out differently. But Maynard seems like the loyal type.’

‘He is. I don’t think that’s a failing.’

‘Never said it was. I just meant he knows his friend fucked up, but he’s still keen on finding Doug. He and his assistant found the webcam in the trooper’s house. They also found the other cop houses that Doug and Kim broke into.’

‘She seemed so perfect,’ Ford said angrily. ‘Played me for a sap.’

‘Fitzpatrick searched her room. Found her crib notes. She’d been researching what you like, don’t like, music, food, hobbies. That’s why she seemed so perfect.’

How humiliating
.
‘
Hell.’

‘Was she your first?’

He scowled. ‘Because you’ve been nice you get one personal and that was it. Yes.’

‘Then this is gonna take a while to heal, man. Most guys get garden variety betrayal. You know, she cheats with a football player. You, it’s like you chose the
Titanic
for your first cruise. Upside is, if you ever go on a boat again, it’ll never be that bad.’

The Fed looked like he had more to say. ‘What else?’ Ford asked.

‘Your mom doesn’t know this part and I only know because I asked Maynard directly. According to Kim’s girlfriend, Kim and Doug may not have practiced safe sex.’

Ford’s stomach turned over. ‘What?’ he whispered.

‘Look, I’m not your dad. I’m not anybody’s dad. I’d probably be a lousy dad. But I am a big brother and, um, one of my sisters trusted her boyfriend when he said he was clean. He wasn’t and now my little sister’s not either.’

Ford swallowed hard. ‘Is your sister’s condition curable?’

‘Not at this time. Nobody’s saying Kim has any STDs. If you used a condom, you’re likely okay. You still need to get tested. Got me?’

‘Yeah.’ Overwhelmed, Ford covered his face with his hands. A sob was building in his chest and he didn’t know what to do. He heard a chair scrape on the floor, the plastic squeaking as Novak sat down.

‘It’s okay,’ Novak said softly. ‘If you need to let it out, let it out. I’ll close that door and nobody will come in. Or I can stay. Your choice. My feelings are fine either way.’

‘I don’t want to let it out,’ Ford said hoarsely. ‘Last time it wasn’t pretty.’

‘When was the last time?’

‘When my mom was sick and my dad was being a real prick. And my grandmother sold my horse to get back at my mother.’

‘How old?’

‘Me or the horse?’

‘You,’ Novak said, amusement in his voice.

‘Twelve.’

‘Hell of an age. What’d your mom have?’

‘Breast cancer. She was twenty-six. If she’d been her age now, she’d have had a nine in ten chance of being fine. Then, they gave her six in ten of making it five years.’

‘She made it.’

‘My mom’s a fighter. But me . . . I’ve never been so fucking scared in my life. Until last night. I thought I was gonna die all alone out there and no one would ever find me. And I thought Kim was out there and I couldn’t save her.’

‘Well,’ Novak drawled, ‘somebody would have eventually found you. When the snow melted.’ He sobered. ‘As for Kim, she didn’t want to set you up in that alley. It sounds like she was having major second thoughts because she was getting attached to you. Doug stole her sister, only fourteen. We think that’s how he got her to do his evil bidding.’

‘I guess that’s something.’

‘That’s what your mom was trying to tell you when you told her to leave.’

Ford rolled his eyes to the ceiling, miserable again. ‘God, I’m an asshole.’

‘Hey, I know assholes. I
am
an asshole. You ain’t one, kid.’

Ford looked over at him. ‘Thanks, Agent Novak. I appreciate it. All of it.’

Novak shrugged. ‘We’ve used the word “condom” in a conversation. I think you should call me Deacon.’ He stood abruptly and pushed the chair against the wall. ‘Try to get some sleep. I’ll make sure nobody bothers you.’

Ford waited until Novak was at the door. ‘Deacon, I hope your sister stays well.’

‘Me, too, kid. Me, too.’

Chapter Twenty-Two

Wednesday, December 4, 11.45
P.M.

J
oseph got his laptop from his room so that he could search the online archives for Wilson Beckett’s death certificate. When he re-joined Daphne, she was pacing back and forth in front of the window, arms crossed tight over her breasts. Pausing for a moment, he let himself watch her move. The silk she wore flowed around her legs like water and he was keenly aware that she wore nothing under those pajamas.

He’d been keenly aware of that the entire time she’d been on his lap.

The entire time she’d explained what she should never have had to explain to anyone.
Especially to me
.

Beckett deserved to die for what he’d done to Daphne alone. Add to that her cousin Kelly, Heather Lipton, and the others . . .

But why now? Why was all this coming together now?
Doug
. They’d been so fixated on Beckett that they’d lost focus on Doug.

‘Doug did this,’ Joseph said. ‘Set this plan in motion. He kidnapped Ford, somehow convinced Beckett to be his accomplice. He found Beckett, for God’s sake. How did he find Beckett to start with? How did he even
know
about him?’

‘Damn good questions,’ she said. ‘I’ve been wondering that myself. The only time I said Beckett’s name was to that FBI agent, Claudia Baker. I imagine she filed a report. Could Doug work for the Bureau?’

‘God, I hope not. What’s Doug’s game? He makes sure Ford is found
here
, drawing you back to the one place you probably never would have come back to in a million years. You think it’s coincidence that Beckett came here to kill your son tonight?’

‘No. I think Beckett was manipulated by Doug just like we were. Doug wanted us to find the connection between George Millhouse and the knife used on Isaac Zacharias. He wanted us to find those weapons in the basement of Odum’s house. He wanted us to find the connection between the pistols in Bill Millhouse’s trunk and the tasers used in the alley. Doug has manipulated us into finding exactly the evidence he wanted us to find. That he’d manipulate Beckett isn’t such a stretch for me.’

‘He brought Beckett back into your life.’

She stopped pacing, her back to him. ‘I know. But why?’

‘To discredit you. To ruin you. To make you hurt.’

‘I got that much. But
why
? What did I do to him?’

‘Once we figure out who the hell he is, then hopefully we’ll know. But it must have been major, at least in his eyes. This is . . . a lot of effort.’ He sat on the bed and patted the mattress next to him. ‘Sit.’

‘Actually, I need to pace.’

‘Actually, I need you to sit. I can’t concentrate when you move like that.’

She turned to frown at him. ‘Like what?’

‘Like any way you move,’ he said dryly. ‘So please . . . sit.’ He opened his laptop and signed in to his Bureau account. The mattress depressed next to him, the whisper of silk taunting him, the scent of peaches filling his head. He adjusted the computer on his lap.
Maybe I should have just let her pace
. ‘I want to see that death certificate.’

‘I have a copy. It’s in my safety deposit box.’

‘I should be able to get to it online now.’ Joseph focused on the screen, not chancing a glance in her direction. ‘It was a West Virginia death cert, right?’

‘Yes, Ohio County.’

‘And you got it from Agent Baker?’

‘Yes. At first she just told me he was dead, but I wanted proof. It was my mother’s life we were talking about. I’d called the records office to corroborate it myself, but they wouldn’t give me any information over the phone. I had to mail in a request, which I did, and I was told it could be a month before I got the actual piece of paper, but when I told Agent Baker that I’d requested it she said she’d get it for me faster. She did and then a few weeks later I got another copy in the mail from the state. If I hadn’t used the mail or Baker’s connection, I’d have to have gone in person all the way to West Virigina. There wasn’t an Internet back then.’

‘Yeah, there was. Just not for civilians.’

‘Which both of us were at the time, therefore my statement holds, Mr Phelps.’

His lips curved at her grumpy retort. ‘Phelps? I’m flattered. He’s one of my childhood heroes.’

‘Then your ears should have been burning all those times Paige described you as tall, dark, and dangerous, with a this-tape-will-self-destruct-Jim thing going on.’

His smile faded. ‘All that “raw danger”,’ he said, hating the term he’d heard so many times over the years. Paige had not been the first to use it, not by a long shot. Probably just the first to use it with honest affection.

‘I imagine that drives the women crazy,’ Daphne said quietly.

He looked at her then. She sat with one knee drawn to her chest, resting her chin atop it. Once again he was struck by how very young she looked.

‘Maybe it did. But I never cared. Not until I met you.’ A shadow of doubt passed through her eyes that irritated him. ‘You want to know what drove the women crazy?’ he asked with an edge that he couldn’t contain, yet knew she didn’t deserve. ‘It wasn’t me. Most of the time it was money. My father’s money. And for the few that were attracted to the badge, it was the perception of danger that wasn’t really danger at all.’

Her gaze met his head on, unwavering. ‘Then what was it?’

‘Just the stink of the animals I deal with every day. It rubs off on you, a . . .’

‘Malevolence,’ she supplied, understanding.

‘Yes. Perfect word. If any of those women had to face real danger, they would have turned tail and run like scared rabbits. If they’d had to face one percent of what you see on a daily basis as a prosecutor, they’d dissolve. If, as adults, they’d had to face a millionth of what you dealt with as a defenseless child they would never have survived.’ He blew out a breath, listening to himself. He sounded bitter and he didn’t mean to. ‘Some of them were very nice women. Others were gold-diggers that didn’t get a second date. But none of them . . . mattered. They fed a basic hunger.’

Her eyes skittered to the pillows they’d left jumbled before Novak had called them back to the hospital. ‘Sex,’ she said, her voice going husky, her cheeks going pink.

The erection that had been uncomfortable became painful. ‘Yes. I won’t deny it. I haven’t been celibate, but I’ve never been indiscriminate. And I’ve always been safe.’

‘Good to know,’ she murmured.

‘But it was more than sex, Daphne. It was . . .’ He hated admitting it, but her opinion of him was too important to let it go unspoken. ‘After Jo, I was dead inside for a long time. As time passed, I healed but I was so incredibly alone. The women I’ve known kept the loneliness at bay. For a little while.’

Her eyes flew back to his, darkly turbulent. ‘I find myself terribly conflicted,’ she said. ‘I know lonely, and I never would’ve wanted that for you. But I’m still wishing every woman who’s ever had you to a fiery perdition. And I have no right.’

He might have smiled at her phrasing, but she was dead serious and so was he.

‘I think you believe there are more to wish to perdition than really existed. There haven’t been that many. And none since the day I met you.’

She swallowed hard. ‘What about the bank executive, the flight attendant, the surgeon, the actress?’

All of the women he’d brought as dates to her fundraisers. ‘Nice women, all of them. None of them looking for a relationship any more than I was. They wanted a night out, where they could wear their bling. Not even one nightcap in the bunch.’ He shook his head with a small smile, remembering. ‘They’re all old friends. A few of them actually wished
you
to a fiery perdition.’

Her brows shot up. ‘Me? Why?’

He lifted a shoulder awkwardly. ‘You were breaking my heart.’

Her lips parted in surprise. ‘Because of Clay?’

‘Yep.’ He trailed a fingertip across her smooth, rosy cheek. ‘You say you don’t have a right to resent anyone who came before. You have every right, just no need. They didn’t matter to me. All of them were a pale imitation of what I’d lost. Of what I want. Which is what I see right now.’ She went statue still, not breathing even though her pulse fluttered wildly at the hollow of her throat. ‘I knew it the moment you walked through Grayson’s front door. You matter, Daphne. You matter to me.’

Her eyes closed, new tears seeping from beneath her eyelids. ‘I’ve waited so long to hear somebody say that to me,’ she whispered, breaking his heart all over again.

Joseph put his laptop on the floor, the search he’d been running forgotten. Threading his fingers through her hair, he pressed his lips to her forehead, her wet cheeks, the corner of her trembling mouth. ‘You matter to me,’ he repeated hoarsely.

Then her hands were gripping the back of his neck and she was on her knees beside him, leaning over him, kissing him with a hunger that wiped every thought from his mind except getting inside her, as fast as possible. He palmed her butt and swung her over so that she straddled him. She hummed against his lips, breaking contact only long enough for them both to gulp a lungful of air before returning to his mouth with a different kind of kiss, this one luscious and full of movement. He ran his hands up and down the backs of her legs, brushing her inner thigh with his thumbs, a little higher, a little closer to where he really wanted to be on each upsweep.

God
. He could smell her arousal, all musky and sweet. Unable to wait, he yanked the pretty pink silk pajama bottoms down and plunged two fingers up into her warmth. She was tight and wet and she writhed against him, working herself against his hand.

Abruptly she pulled away from his mouth to stare down into his eyes. ‘Any which way I can have you,’ she whispered. ‘And some ways I haven’t thought of yet.’

It took him a few seconds to realize she was quoting him. He’d said those words. While they were driving up that morning. When he was being blunt. ‘Yeah? So?’

‘Have you thought of them yet?’

‘A few. More than a few. Why?’

She leaned down and nipped his lip, making his pulse roar in his head. ‘Where are your condoms?’

‘One’s in my back pocket.’

‘So get it.’

He pumped his fingers into her more slowly, teasingly. He could press his thumb to her clit and finish her off, but he liked seeing her this way. She glowed.
She’s mine
. ‘Then I have to take my fingers out of you and I don’t want to.’

She leaned to whisper in his ear. ‘But then you can put something better in me.’

She laughed breathlessly when he yanked his fingers free and rolled to one hip to reach his back pocket. He fell back on the mattress, ready to unzip his jeans when she stayed his hands.
Shit
.
Don’t make me stop
.
Please don’t make me stop
.

He forced his voice out of his throat. ‘Do I need to stop?’

‘No.’ She moved his hand, grasped the zipper herself. ‘This is mine. Mine to do.’

This was about power. About her taking back what had been stolen from her. By Beckett and Elkhart. By cancer. This was important. He linked his hands behind his head. ‘Just be careful. I, uh, didn’t take the time for shorts.’

She was careful and she was slow. He was ready to beg when she finally got the zipper all the way down, freeing his erection, grasping it in her hand. She squeezed and his hips lifted off the bed. ‘God. Daphne.’

With her other hand she touched his chest, sweeping him with her palm. Learning him. ‘You’re beautiful,’ she murmured. ‘Really.’

He wanted to be. He wanted to please her. Wanted to be better than that prick of an ex-husband and any other men who’d touched her since her divorce. Men he hoped he never met because he might do violence. ‘If you could hurry, I’d really like that.’

Her mouth curved. ‘You made me impatient. It’s my turn.’ With agonizing slowness she ripped open the condom wrapper and rolled it down him, her touch feather light. His eyes rolled back in his head.

‘Mother of God. If you don’t hurry, I’m going to take over.’

‘No you won’t.’ She slid off him and he pushed himself up on his elbows to protest. Except she’d shucked her pajama bottoms and was grabbing his jeans. ‘Lift.’ He did and she yanked until he was naked, then got on the bed still wearing her pajama top and crawled toward him. She leaned in, kissing him thoroughly. ‘You won’t take over because you know this is important. For me.’

Her eyes had lost the glaze of passion and were now determined. He wound a lock of her hair around his finger. ‘Yes, I get that. But I want it to be good for both of us and you’re . . . out of the moment. Can I help ease you back in?’

She tilted her head warily. ‘What did you have in mind?’

‘Straddle my chest like before.’ She did and he had to work hard to keep his hips flat on the mattress. She was open to him, glistening and wet. ‘Scoot closer. Closer.’ He could see the moment she’d figured it out. Her eyes widened and she blushed.

‘Mercy,’ she murmured.

‘No. None.’ He held his breath as she hesitated the last few inches. Then she grabbed the headboard and pulled herself forward until her knees slid off his shoulders and she was pitched forward, her lower legs pressed against his chest for traction. He could have lifted his head, but he waited. Waited . . . Waited until a growl rolled out of him. ‘Daphne.’

Finally she relaxed her body, lowering until she made contact with his mouth and he was back in heaven. Greedily he licked, tasting, feeling each quiver, the rumble of each moan as she rocked against him, finding her own rhythm, and it didn’t take long for the passion to return. Better still, from this angle he could see up her top, getting his first view of her bare breasts. No bra, no lace, nothing between her skin and the silk.

He let out a silent sigh of relief, his worst fears not being the case at all. If they had been, he’d have dealt, but he was relieved as hell he wouldn’t have to. They were fine, beautiful. They were scarred, but part of her. He was looking at all of her.

And they were perky. When she was eighty, the girls would still be perky.