Love Inspired Suspense May 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Trail of Evidence\Gone Missing\Lethal Exposure (5 page)

SIX

J
onas registered the bullets riddling the side of the restaurant, the glass falling, the screams surrounding him. All he could do was wrap one hand around Felix's wrist and the other around Brooke's arm and yank them to the floor.

He covered Felix with his body as best he could while he scrambled to think, to picture a way out. What if they came inside? Terror slammed through him. He had to keep Felix safe. He stayed still, feeling Felix's heartbeat slam against his own. “Be still, don't move,” he yelled above the screams, the chaos.

The roar of an engine, then the squeal of tires spinning against the asphalt reached his ears.

Were they gone? He stayed put for another few seconds, waiting, listening. When nothing more happened, Jonas lifted himself away from his son. He ran his shaking hands over Felix's face, his arms, chest, checking for blood. And found nothing. Felix stared at him, freckles looking 3-D against his white face. “Are you hurt?” Jonas asked him.

“No.” Felix blinked. “I don't think so.”

Jonas turned. “Brooke? You okay?”

“Fine.” Her fingers trembled, but she pushed away from him and scrambled to her feet. She checked the dog, then glanced out the window. “He's getting away. Stay here and stay down! I'm going to see if I can get a plate.” She and Mercy bolted through the restaurant. Jonas grabbed Felix to him and held him as he searched the restaurant for anyone with injuries. Sirens sounded in the distance.

Was the shooter really gone? Had they just lived through a drive-by?

“Dad?”

His son's shaking voice cracked.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“I'm okay.” He pulled Felix to him for a hug, and the teen didn't resist. He held him for a brief moment and then the chaos escalated a notch with the arrival of law enforcement.

Brooke came back in, her face tense, jaw set. She probably didn't get a plate. She beelined for them as more cops and paramedics swarmed the restaurant. Brooke must have told them it was all clear. Which meant the shooter got away. Brooke motioned for them to follow her. Jonas gripped Felix's arm and led him away from the scene. The noise level rivaled that of a jet plane. Once outside, Brooke turned to say something and stopped. Her eyes went wide. “You
are
hurt.”

“What?” Felix frowned.

“Who?” Jonas asked.

“You.”
She reached for his arm. He looked down to find it bleeding. The low throb of pain finally registered with him.

“It's just a scratch.”

“We'll let the paramedics make that diagnosis. Come on over here.”

“I'm a doctor, remember?”

Felix snorted. “You're a vet, Dad. Let a real doctor look at it.”

“Thanks so much, son. Nothing like keeping a person humble,” he muttered. But he saw the worry in Felix's eyes and nodded. “Fine, if it will make you two feel better.”

Brooke led him over to one of the ambulances. While the paramedic patched him up stating, “It's only a scratch, you're a fortunate guy,” Brooke and Mercy dove into the fray of the investigation. He watched her put Mercy to work, the dog sniffing, looking for any evidence that might help them discover who had just shot up the restaurant.

And why.

Jonas decided not to let denial take over. There was no doubt in his mind that this shooting was related to the other two incidents from last night. What scared him was that whoever was after the phone didn't seem to care if he hurt someone else in the process to get it. Innocent people could have been seriously injured or killed in this latest episode and that scared Jonas to the bone.

Mercy didn't seem to find anything to interest her. The crime scene unit moved in and an officer approached him. “Do you feel up to giving your statement?”

“Sure.” His arm throbbed, but he'd refused the painkiller offered. He needed a clear head. His glance slid back to Brooke and he watched her nod at one of the other Capitol K-9 Unit members as she walked toward him. She'd called for reinforcements.

Which meant she'd come to the same conclusion he had. Everything was related. He just hoped they managed to live long enough to figure out the connections.

* * *

Brooke tried to rub the grit from her eyes. She was used to going with very little sleep sometimes, but that didn't mean she liked it. She walked over to fellow team member Nicholas Cole. A former navy SEAL, he stood tall, military written all over him. He'd left his K-9, Max, in his vehicle but she hadn't called him to the scene for Max's help. She wanted to give Nicholas the phone to pass on to Gavin, their boss. She knew the two were meeting in a couple of hours and she wasn't sure how long she'd be tied up at the scene. “Thanks for coming.”

“No problem.” Concern knit his brow. “You sure you're all right?”

“Shaken, but I'm fine. Grateful to be alive.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“A few scrapes and cuts, but fortunately no one was killed. The bullets hit the window of an empty booth just behind where we were sitting. I tried to get out fast enough to see a license plate, but I was too slow.” Frustration at her failure bit at her.

He shook his blond head and focused pale brown eyes on her. “What's going on?”

Brooke pulled the phone from her pocket and handed it to him. “Do you have a charger in your car? I have a different kind of phone so mine won't work.”

He looked at the bottom of the phone. “Yep, mine will work. Come on.”

Brooke followed him with a glance over her shoulder. Jonas appeared to be finished with the paramedics. He caught her gaze and motioned for Felix to follow him. The two headed her way. She turned back to Nicholas.

“What's on it?” he asked.

“Rosa Gomez's picture.”

He shot her a sharp look. “Where did you get it?”

She gave him the short version of the story. He plugged it in and the phone beeped to indicate it was charging.

Jonas and Felix drew closer. “They're escalating,” she murmured to Nicholas.

“What do you mean?”

“The smoke bomb was meant to get us out of the house maybe.” She nodded toward the mangled restaurant. “This was different. This was meant to kill.”

Jonas stepped up beside her, and she shut off that thread of conversation. Felix hung close to his dad, still looking pale and shaken. She nodded at Jonas's arm. “Are you okay?”

His lips quirked, but his eyes remained serious. “It's just a scratch.”

She smiled. “This is Nicholas. Nicholas, meet Jonas Parker and his son, Felix. Felix is the one who found the phone and was gracious enough to tell us everything he knew about it.”

Felix's brows shot up and Brooke winked at him. His shoulders relaxed a fraction and he shot her a grateful look.

The two men shook hands and Nicholas gave Felix a fist bump. “Good job, kid.”

“But I—” Felix started. Brooke held his gaze and he finally shrugged. “You're welcome, I guess.” He swallowed. “I have the case at home if you want it, too.”

“We do, thanks.” Nicholas powered up the phone and gave a low whistle when the screensaver appeared. “That's her and that's her son, Juan.”

Nicholas scrolled through the other pictures. “Most of them are of the boy.”

Brooke leaned in. “Wait a minute, scroll back. What's the last picture she took?”

Nicholas went back to it. “This one? It's fuzzy, but it's a man.”

“And they're out on the cliffs. See the outline?” Brooke pointed.

“Yes. And the date is the day she was found dead.”

Brooke met his gaze. “I think it's possible Rosa took a picture of her murderer.”

“It hasn't been proven to be murder,” Nicholas reminded her. “It could have been an accident. This guy could be anyone.”

“True,” Brooke agreed, “but the fact that her wallet is still missing...”

“Could be someone have found it like Felix here found the phone.”

“Okay, that's possible.” Brooke pursed her lips. “But she's still connected to the Jeffries home where there was a murder. And then there was all that trouble at the children's home after it was discovered one of the children may have seen the murder...” Several weeks ago, the All Our Kids foster home had been targeted. The children and staff had been moved to a secure location until authorities were sure they were safe. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be until they discovered which child had snuck out during the night and witnessed Michael Jeffries's murder and the congressman's shooting. None of the kids would admit to being near the Jeffries home.

“You don't believe Rosa's death was an accident, do you?” Jonas asked.

“No. Not for a second. Do you?”

“No,” Nicholas said. “I've made no secret that I think it's homicide. We need to keep digging for the evidence to prove she was murdered.”

Brooke pulled in a deep breath. “We also need to have a meeting with the rest of the team and figure out the best way to determine who that man in the picture is.”

He pulled his phone from his pocket. “I'll set up that meeting and get this phone to Gavin. I'll text you when he gives me a time. In the meantime, quit getting shot at.”

“I'll do my best.”

* * *

Brooke had slept fitfully last night, worried about Jonas and his son. She worried Felix would have nightmares about the shooting. She'd also been concerned that whoever was after the phone would come back again, not realizing Jonas had turned it over to the Capitol K-9 team. She knew Gavin had arranged for a protection detail on Jonas and Felix, who were staying at the veterinarian office until his home could be aired out, but she'd been unable to put the duo's safety from her mind.

And now she worried she'd be late for the eight o'clock meeting Gavin had called to discuss the new developments in the case. Mercy lay at the foot of the bed and watched as Brooke rushed to get ready. Brooke had finally fallen asleep around four in the morning and of course she'd overslept. She clicked to Mercy and she and the dog rushed out the front door to the vehicle. Mercy hopped in the back. Brooke paused to see her neighbor, twelve-year-old Christopher Denton, swinging his wooden bat. “Nice form, kiddo!”

He grinned and gave her a salute. “I had a good teacher.”

She saw the balls at his feet. “No broken windows, huh?”

“I'll do my best. I'm just hittin' grounders.”

She could only hope his grounders didn't turn into fly balls. Brooke had taught him how to swing a bat and connect with a baseball about two weeks ago when she'd seen him struggling. His single mother worked two jobs so Brooke looked out for the boy when she could. “Is your mom home?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Good deal. See you later.” Brooke climbed into the SUV and slammed the door. She backed out of her drive, keeping a careful eye on the surrounding area, then headed down the street to the stop sign.

Fifteen minutes later, she walked into headquarters and bolted for the conference room. The last one to arrive, she slid into her seat and let out a slow breath. “Sorry.” Mercy slipped under the table with the other K-9s. Nicholas sat to her right, Gavin stood at the head of the table next to a whiteboard. Adam Donovan, a former FBI agent, leaned forward and gave her a friendly nod.

Isaac Black smirked. “They make alarm clocks, ya know? You see, you plug them into the wall and they have these buttons where you can set the time you need to wa—”

Brooke flashed him a fake smile. “Zip it, Black.” Chase Zachary, a former Secret Service agent, shot her a grin and she rolled her eyes. But she truly didn't mind the good-natured ribbing; she figured it was called for. No matter how determined she might be to be on time, something usually happened to have her running at least five minutes late.

Gavin rapped the table. “Listen up, we've got some new developments in the Jeffries case. Brooke, you want to fill everyone in?”

Brooke took a deep breath and launched into an explanation of everything that had happened since she'd been awakened by Jonas's phone call.

She ended her narration by holding up a picture they'd printed from the phone, “And this is the picture of the man we saw on Rosa's phone. We need to find him. He's either the one who killed her or he knows something about her death.”

“Anyone have any suggestions on how we want to go about looking for this guy?” Gavin asked.

“Let's get his face on the news and put some flyers up,” Adam said.

“Good idea. Anyone else?”

For the next hour, they bounced around ideas and finally decided on the flyers. Chase stood. “We'll get them made up and start posting them around the area. Hopefully, someone will recognize him and call us.”

Gavin looked at Nicholas. “Are you still working with Selena Barrow?”

“‘Working with' might be a slight exaggeration. If that's code for listening to her expound on the fact that we haven't found her cousin yet, then yeah, I'm still working with her.” Serena was employed as the White House tour director. She was also Erin Eagleton's cousin. Erin's charm had been found at the murder scene and she'd been missing ever since. Serena was convinced her cousin was in danger and often showed up at the office to request an update on the case. Nicholas seemed to be the one who ended up fielding her questions more often than not.

Nicholas leaned in. “But I can handle her. That's not what's weighing on me the most. I've been doing some more digging into the congressman's business dealings.” He glanced at Gavin and Brooke could see his hesitation. She knew exactly what was going through his mind. He didn't want to say anything negative about Gavin's former mentor and yet he had information he felt the team should have.

Gavin stiffened. “Go on.”

Brooke bit her lip.

“You're not going to like it, but hear me out, Gavin, all right?”