Maddie and Wyn (22 page)

Fuck, fuck, fuck.
That night four years ago, hell, that whole week had disasters in it, and once again Wyn had dived headfirst into the worst possible hellhole of his own making. If only his head hadn’t been screwed on so very wrongly after that run-in with his…
No. No excuses.

Only moving forward mattered now. Wyn now knew Maddie hadn’t let go of them any more than he had. She’d never opened herself to loving or being with another man. And just as powerful as the sex they’d finally given into tonight, Maddie had finally begun directly unleashing her old anger and hurt and aiming it squarely at him. He could take it. He would take it. If they had any hope of moving forward as a couple she needed to unload what she’d corked up so tightly inside her, and he needed to take every bit of it and not shut her down by trying to make excuses or explain his terrible actions away.

He would have to tread carefully with Maddie, keep on her good side, and pray she could one day forgive him and let him back into her heart. He just had to make sure he didn’t stumble over himself and screw things up.

At the same time, he still had a job to do. She had someone regularly invading her home, and his only need right now was finding that person and eliminating the threat to her safety.

Fuck.

Not at all certain, without much of a plan, but nonetheless a kernel of new hope taking seed, Wyn closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.

“I did not break into the boss’s house,” Robbie, one of Maddie’s employees, insisted for the third time. “I never would. I love this job.” Visibly hot under his coverall collar, the sandy blond expelled a breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “I would never do something dumb enough to make me lose it.”

“Your girlfriend certainly doesn’t like you working here though,” Wyn pushed, watching Robbie closely for ticks or tells. “Maybe she came to visit you at work, saw you coming out of Miss Morgan’s place, and thought you were doing something with your boss, when really you were in that home uninvited.”

Exploding out of his seat, Robbie kicked the chair against the wall. “Felicity knows she was mistaken about everything now! There was never nothing going on with me and Maddie. Felicity is getting help, and the boss understands and says she’s already forgotten about what happened. If she still has an issue with me, I will talk it out with her and fix it, but if you say another word about my girlfriend—” crimson mottled the man’s face, his skin pulled taut, “—when you don’t know shit about her, you and I are gonna fucking come to blows.”

As steady as Robbie was volatile, Wyn leaned back in his chair and held the man’s stare without blinking. “You’ve gotten angry very quickly. Is that a problem for you?”

Robbie’s lips curled at the edge. “No, but if you keep this up, it’ll become a problem for you. I fucking volunteered to talk to you because I wanted to help out the boss. But we’re done now, asshole.” He kicked another chair for good measure. “I gotta get back to work.” With that, the guy stormed out of the break room and back into the main body of the garage.

After crossing a line through Robbie’s name on a pad of paper, Wyn checked his notes and questions, prepared to talk to the next person on his list. He’d already spoken to a guy named Bill; middle-aged man, married, lots of kids; Wyn had detected the man might have some money issues at home, but Bill had offered up his DNA without balking, so either he felt very comfortable in his innocence or hadn’t picked up on the possibility that Wyn had DNA to compare with his, and thus maybe he should be a bit more cautious. Either way, Wyn would know soon. Robbie had agreed to talk but not give his DNA. Right now Wyn couldn’t tell for sure if the refusal was layered in guilt or simple belligerence. The guy had a few run-ins with the law in his early years in another state; very minor stuff, but his interactions with cops back then could be triggering his reticence today. Wyn had one more person to speak with today, a gentleman named Ernie, and then would have to come back in the late afternoon or the weekend to talk with Maddie’s teen employee, Jayden.

Wyn got up and moved to the break room door, prepared to call for Ernie. Instead Garrick moved in next to Wyn, a probing scrutiny in his ocean eyes. “Do you really want to keep doing this?” His voice remained amiable, and he kept it nice and low. “Do you truly think questioning the employees here is your smartest move or the best use of your time? Particularly while Maddie is away?”

His jaw clenching, Wyn swallowed down the sharp retort. Friendship and respect for Garrick kept the rancor out of his tone. “This is not my only pool of suspects,” he conceded, albeit reluctantly, “but I have to look at the people who not only are the closest to Maddie as a friend and employer, but are also in regular close proximity to her home. Since I’m bunking at Maddie’s place for the time being, I thought it would be a good idea to take care of some business here at the garage before heading into town for work. It just makes good sense.” He laid as unflinching a stare on Garrick as he had on Robbie a moment ago. “Do you have a problem with that, friend?”

“Remember that I am your friend.” Holding Wyn’s stare, Garrick remained even tempered and kept their heads close together. “I trusted you once when my life was on the line, and I am forever in your debt. That’s why I’m trying to help you. This is not a good idea.” He let his focus travel around the garage, landing on each employee, all who were working hard, and his mouth pulled in a tight line. “Not like this.”

Wyn took the same visual tour around the big garage Garrick had and his gut clenched hard. Problem for him was, he didn’t know if the sick feeling was entirely guilt related or if his cop instincts were trying to tell him something wasn’t entirely kosher with Maddie’s garage and employees.

A bad taste sat in Wyn’s mouth, but a wash of cold forced him to say, “If someone here is betraying Maddie, and I didn’t look hard enough in an effort to spare her feelings or to keep in her good graces, I’d never forgive myself. I won’t fail her.” His heart started hammering, and he vowed, “Not again.”

Garrick swung around and narrowed in on Wyn. “Again?”

Rather than answering, Wyn eased Garrick aside. “Excuse me.” He strode across the garage and tapped an African American gentleman on the arm. “Ernie.” Offering a smile, he extended a hand toward the break room. “Mr. Charbeau. If you could join me for a few minutes?”

The weathered old man smiled back at Wyn. “Surely.” He took a kerchief out of his coverall pocket and wiped his hands and face. “I’m right behind you.”

Wyn led the way back to his makeshift interrogation room, righted the two chairs Robbie had kicked, and offered one to Ernie Charbeau.

With a murmured “thank you kindly,” Ernie sat down, making a few creaks and noises Wyn imagined he’d be making too if he were in his sixties and still working a forty hour week, fifty weeks a year.

Once Ernie was settled, Wyn asked, “Mr. Charbeau, may I first ask if you are comfortable giving me a DNA sample?”

“DNA?” The craggy man’s voice rose to a high scratch. “What is this about? I was under the impression Maddie had a simple break-in, when she wasn’t even home.”

“If you don’t want to give a sample, you don’t have to.” Wyn jotted down a note under Ernie’s name, letting the man observe, knowing suspects became paranoid if they believed they’d unintentionally given away valuable information. “It’s voluntary,” Wyn glanced up, keeping his tone amiable, “but it would help immensely.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t give,” Ernie replied, seemingly unfazed, “but I don’t want to be steamrolled or kept in the dark if I’m helping out.”

“Do you like your job?” Wyn changed tactics. “I guess you must, considering how long you’ve worked here.”

Ernie shrugged. “It’s honest work, and it pays the bills, and I like working at a place where I am respected.”

“Did Mr. Corsini really respect you, though?” Wyn sharpened his proverbial blade, at the ready to thrust. “After all, you gave him so many good years of your life as a loyal employee, and yet when he decided to move on he didn’t even make you the boss, let alone sell you a piece of the business. That must have stung.”

Ernie suddenly chuckled, and the glints of gold in his hazel eyes lit with humor. “Not a bit.”

“Really?” Inside, Wyn sat up like a dog on alert. On the outside, his expression remained static. “The oversight didn’t feel like a slap in the face? You, or even your family, didn’t feel slighted at all?”

As easy as a summer breeze, Ernie sat back in his chair and clasped his hands against his stomach. “What’s your name again, young man? Did you say it was Wyn?”

His focus narrowing, a little thrown by this man’s sudden ease, Wyn replied, “Yes. Lieutenant Wyn Ashworth.”

“All right.” The man softly smiled at Wyn again. “Lieutenant Ashworth, I am an old man and getting older every day. Do you really think I want the headaches and extra responsibility and worry that come with owning a business, and having to take care of books, and worry about taking care of employees, and garage and building maintenance, or do you think I might prefer to go home to my wife every night and have my weekends free for my family and watching sports?”

“A slight is a slight,” Wyn countered, “and resentment can build over time. Your old boss isn’t here to take the brunt of any sudden anger, but Maddie is, and she lives all alone, and she trusts all of you, and it would be so easy to take advantage of her. You must at least be a little pissed off that Maddie has gained so much simply by your old boss taking her under his wing.” Wyn didn’t believe for a second that Maddie hadn’t earned every damned bit of her ownership of this garage, but this older gentlemen, from a different era, might need to feel as if someone could empathize with any resentment he might have. “If I talked to your family, Mr. Charbeau, would they give me a little bit of a different story than the kumbaya one you’re trying to sell me now?”

Ernie merely shook his head and looked at Wyn as if he were a little boy. “Does Maddie know you’re here asking these kinds of questions right now?”

“Why?” Shifting forward, Wyn clasped his hands on the table and zeroed in on Ernie. “Are you worried?”

The man hooted. “Only for you.” He shook his finger at Wyn, but added, “But I’m going to humor you, so here it goes. I have not—”

Right then the door burst open, and Maddie filled the space, her cheeks gloriously pink and wisps of hair flying free from a loose twist coiled at the top of her head. She had on a white flowy, flowery dress that fell to her knees and pink ballet flats that looked like they’d just come out of the box. As lovely as she looked—Wyn rarely saw Maddie in dresses—she might as well have been a trained ninja assassin who’d just found her target.

Maddie was not happy. And those rays of death shooting out of her eyes were aimed squarely at Wyn.

Fuck.

*

“Ernie,” Maddie said, immediately addressing her valued employee and friend. “I apologize for this. It won’t happen again.”

Then, barely controlling the explosion building inside her, Maddie somehow plastered the tightest damned smile on her face and locked in on Wyn. “I need to talk to you in my office.” Her teeth were clenched so hard she could barely speak. Holy mother, if she hadn’t given Devlin her word that Wyn could stay in her home and investigate this case, she’d be kicking him to the curb right this instant. “Go there. Now.”

Without waiting for Wyn to jump to a defense, Maddie did an about face and marched out of the break room. Spotting Garrick, she beckoned him to her. When he reached her side, she told him, “Get everyone together and take them out for a late breakfast on me.” She handed him some cash from a pocket inside her cell phone case. “Lock the place up for me, and put a sign on the door that says we’ll be back in an hour.”

Reading instant concern in Garrick’s eyes, Maddie held up a hand and stopped him before he could protest. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

Garrick lifted a dark brow. “But will Wyn?”

“His balls will still be attached.” She caught Wyn striding to her office from her peripheral vision, and the bubbles of anger inside her grew. “Probably.”

Taking hold of her elbow, Garrick pulled Maddie’s attention back to him. “I believe he genuinely thinks he’s doing right by you.” The depth of Garrick’s gaze was familiar, full of knowledge and trust. “Motive and intent in this instance matters.”

She glared back at her office door. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

Garrick tugged her arm again, and strength infused his voice. “Do.”

Although not officially married to Devlin or a legal member of her family, Garrick could tug at her conscience just as strongly as her brothers could. Maddie’s heart melted a little bit, but she jabbed Garrick in the side and smirked, “I swear you’re getting just as pushy as Aidan and Dev.”

Garrick didn’t blink or pull back one bit. “I love you just as much.”

“I know.” Letting him in, she gave his hand a quick squeeze. “And I appreciate your advice. But I’ll be fine.” She smacked him on the ass, letting him know they were still members of the same team and on the same side. “Now go.”

With one more heartbeat of eye contact, Garrick nodded and then whistled sharp and loud, gaining the attention of Bill, Robbie, and Ernie. “Break time! Let’s go eat!” His voice rang with authority and within minutes he had everyone corralled out of the garage, the locks on the bolts sliding closed behind him.

Silence hung with deafening volume in the cavernous, empty garage, and Maddie’s pulse sounded in her ears like the rage of an angry ocean pounding against the shore.
Now you’re mine.

Each step she took to her office picking up speed, Maddie burst into the room, slamming the door open against the inner wall of the chamber. She found Wyn nonchalantly perched against her desk. His easy stance triggered the cut of the wrong wire inside her, detonating the explosive within.

Maddie slammed the door closed just as hard as she’d opened it. She charged, going toe-to-toe with Wyn without a filter or fear. “How dare you come into my place of business and question my employees without my knowledge or consent.” Not exactly short herself, Maddie towered over Wyn’s half-seated position and thrust herself into his personal space. “How dare you disrespect my people by turning them into suspects in front of each other, right in their place of work?”