Finding Summer (Nightwind Book 3)

by Suzanne Halliday

  Conflict raged inside him. His brother took a bullet, and his father looked like he was hanging by a thread. He wanted to follow Summer, but the situation was not secure.

  There was only one thing to do. He took off his belt and used it to tie one of Giselle’s wrists to the opposite ankle. Unless she knew how to move like a crab, she wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Dad, you got this?” he asked with his hand reassuringly on his father’s back.

  Stan looked at him. He was dazed. “She freaked out when she realized Dad and I were on to her. I can’t believe my own mother shot me.”

  He checked Stan’s gunshot wound and calmed down. It looked like a clean shot to his bicep. Thank god she had shitty aim.

  “You’re gonna be fine,” he murmured. “The ambulance will be here any second.”

  “Let the groveling begin,” his father tried to joke, but his ashen face told Arnie how much of a strain he was under. “You go on, son. I’ve got this.”

  Arnie stood and nodded. Then he sniggered. “Did you see the way she dropped Giselle? Ah ha ha. Fucking awesome.”

  Stan chuckled, despite also groaning, and put up a fist. Arnie gently bumped it with his. Then he took a deep breath and started for the lioness’s den.

  Summer throbbed with a potent blend of endorphins, adrenaline, relief, and incandescent anger.

  “Your daddy is an asshat,” she complained to Ari as her daughter suckled greedily, oblivious to the drama they’d all been through.

  “How the hell am I supposed to explain this in your baby book?”

  With the baby cuddled close, she feathered her fingers gently across Ari’s head and caressed her cheek.

  “Hardly the three wise men,” she snorted. Disbelief assailed her fraying emotions. “More like stooges. Three of them. In a family business. Dad and sons. Ergh,” she angrily grunted. “And who the fuck is McGee?”

  “It’s a joke,” a deep voice, thick and unsteady, responded.

  Her head snapped up to find Arnie staring down at her. His blue eyes gleamed, but his expression was wary.

  “Go away,” she snapped.

  “No.” He knelt beside the glider. They were eyeball to eyeball for the first time in a year.

  Summer had no idea where she found the strength to remain rock-steady while inside, a bumper car rally of emotions engaged in a free-for-all.

  “Please go away,” she amended in a mockingly fake tone. Prepared to be as ornery and troublesome as possible, Summer was in no way ready for what seeing tears in Arnie’s eyes would do to her resolve.

  “You know damn well I’m not going anywhere.” He lowered his gaze to the baby nestled in her arms. She’d never felt so exposed in her whole life as he stared at the baby their fiery passions had created as Ari suckled at her breast.

  On his knees beside the chair, his face was mere inches from Ari’s. She heard him moan, “Oh my god,” followed by an indrawn sob.

  She wanted to be a bitch—make him regret leaving her and make him sorry for what he missed—but she couldn’t.

  She did, however, get in a single dig. “She’s yours.”

  His shocked eyes flew to hers. “I know.”

  Confident she had him by the ball, Summer arched a brow and stared him down. “Is that so? And how long have you known about her? Hmm?”

  “What’s today?” Arnie replied. He shrugged and made a face. “About a week, give or take.”

  No way. A week? In what world did his statement make sense?

  “Oh.” She backed down. “Um, her name is Arianne. I call her Ari.”

  He held her eyes. Tears sparkled in his. “You named her after my mother. Did you know?”

  “She’s named for her father.”

  “Yes, and thank you, but my mother’s name was Lianne.” He smiled at the baby. “Arianne Leigh.”

  He’d discovered a lot in a short time. Her jaw dropped. She hadn’t even known about her middle name and used it as a last name out of convenience. Feeling the heavy weight of providence, Summer choked on her surging emotions.

  Ari scooched in her arms. She let go of Summer’s nipple and complained.

  “What’s the matter with her?” Arnie asked with real concern.

  As modestly as she could, Summer switched Ari to the other breast and guided her greedy mouth to a waiting nipple.

  “She’s hungry, that’s all.”

  He went still and silent. His eyes were riveted to the sight of his daughter happily nursing without a care in the world.

  They didn’t speak again during the ten or so minutes Ari suckled. Summer was fully aware of Arnie’s intense stare. He hardly blinked as he hovered inches away.

  She wanted to touch him. Wanted to run her fingers through his hair and stroke his back. This was a big moment—father and daughter meeting for the first time. Summer felt his emotions. She was staggered by the hurt and loss she didn’t want to think about. His pain was nothing compared to what she’d been through.

  Ned stuck his head in the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt, but the paramedics are transporting Stan, and the police are here.”

  Arnie grumbled, “Okay,” and Ned backed away.

  When Ari was full, she let go of Summer’s nipple and smacked her lips. On an impulse, as she sat forward to cover up, she handed the baby to Arnie.

  “Here, make yourself useful.”

  He was startled and jerked away, but she persisted and ended up shoving their three-month-old into his arms.

  “Hold her head and put her on your shoulder. Pat her back softly and see if she has any wind.”

  “Wind? What?”

  “A burp. See if she has to burp.”

  Summer turned away and struggled to get her boobs strapped down. She sucked in a series of steadying breaths. If talking to the police was in her future, she wanted to be calm.

  When she turned around, Arnie was still holding Ari in his big hands. She never made it to his shoulder because daddy and daughter were connecting in a bonding moment so beautiful and powerful it shook her.

  Ari cooed and smiled as she stared at her father’s face. His look of wonder touched Summer’s heart.

  She hesitated twice before stroking Arnie’s back. “Hold her like this,” she gently murmured and showed him how to cradle the baby in his arms. “She can see you better this way.”

  Every time she touched him, a flare of awareness rattled her cage. Her senses remembered everything about this man—how he smelled, the way his muscles rippled, how he tasted.

  Shaking her head to stop where her thoughts were going, she stiffened slightly, determined to take control of a situation she clearly was the last person to know about.

  In a flat, businesslike tone, she said, “We should go talk to the police.”

  He ignored her and just kept staring at the baby. Ari was performing her top ten cutest moves to a rapt audience of one.

  Feeling like an outsider, she was about to get testy when he sniffed, and she realized he was crying. Not the way she cried with big fat tears and a river of snot pouring from her nose. He was having a manly cry, and she loved him for not being ashamed to show it.

  Wait. What? She loved him? Control-alt-delete.

  “She’s so tiny. Is that normal?”

  The urge to giggle was fierce, but she didn’t give in. “Haven’t you ever seen a real baby before?”

  “Well, not really,” he grumbled. “Why doesn’t she have hair? Is she supposed to be so light?”

  With a tired mommy sigh, she shook her head and looked at him as though he was half a coconut short of a full load.

  “Tell you what, I’ll give you some websites to explore.”

  “Um, Mr. Wanamaker?” a polite police officer called out as he pushed open the bedroom door.

  “Here,” Arnie answered.

  “Wanamaker? Excuse me, what?”

  He winced from her frosty tone. “We have a lot to talk about.”

  “Sorry, sir, but Detective Shelton would like a word.”<
br />
  “Oh, I just bet,” he murmured under his breath. He looked at her and then at Ari. “Is it okay if I hold her? For now?”

  Having the sense it would require the Jaws of Life to pry the baby from his hands, she gave an indifferent shrug and waved him from the room. “Just so you know,” she informed him from behind as they walked into the living room, “if she poops, I’m just a bystander.”

  They walked into a scene from a crime show. There were cops everywhere, mingling with a forensic team taking evidence. The woman who set everything in motion was in handcuffs, but the minute she saw Arnie, the lady turned a fire hose of crazy on him full blast.

  “He’s a killer, is that in your report? Ask him! Ask him,” she shrieked.

  “Oh, Jesus,” Arnie muttered.

  “Shut up, Giselle,” Ned snarled.

  “Fuck off, you sniveling wuss.”

  A very large man stepped forward. He was dressed a little bit like a certain detective from an old TV show her dad loved. If he said his name was Columbo, there was no way she’d be able to stifle a laugh.

  “Wanamaker?” he barked in a raspy voice.

  Arnie nodded. “Sorry, I’d shake your hand but mine are full.”

  The shaggy-haired cop wearing a rumpled and ill-fitting sport coat glanced at the baby, and said, “Cute kid.”

  He turned to her. “Ma’am. I’m Detective Shelton. Which one of you wants to go first?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “How ’bout you? Miss Warren, is it?”

  “Um, yes.” She looked at Arnie. “Give her to me.”

  He jerked away. “I thought you said I could hold her.”

  “I did, but I need to see her at all times. It’d just be easier while they ask their questions if she’s with me.”

  “You’re mistaken if you think I’m leaving your side ever again. Where you go, I go. Isn’t that right, Shelton?”

  “You two are amusing as fuck,” the disheveled detective replied. “King said there’d be epic groveling.”

  “Is everyone and their freakin’ brother talking about me and my life?” Her temper exploded. “Is this a joke to you two?”

  Arnie looked like he’d been caught with his briefs down, and new century Columbo just looked bored.

  “Give me that baby,” crazy lady shrieked as they led her from the apartment.

  “Am I allowed to smack her one more time?” Summer asked as sarcastically as possible.

  “Come on,” Detective Shelton said with a wave. “Let’s give the forensics team some room and take this outside.”

  Ned walked up to them. “Do you need anything else from me? I’d like to go to the hospital now and check on my other boy.”

  “Someone from your team is already en route to walk him through reporting the gunshot wound.”

  “You have a team?” she asked Arnie with dry amazement.

  Ned squeezed Arnie’s forearm and smiled in Summer’s direction. “Young lady, you are in for one hell of an awakening.” He winked. “The minute I’m sure Stan is okay, I want to hold that baby.”

  In the driveway, she stumbled to a halt. It was past one thirty in the morning, but it looked like the whole neighborhood was standing in the road. Flashing lights lit the night sky. Wall-to-wall police cruisers and LAPD vans lined the street. Yellow tape cordoned off the Gerry’s house and the one where Todd lived. Unbelievably, a police helicopter circled overhead.

  A news van was also present. She groaned at the thought of her life ending up on the six o’clock broadcast.

  “Let’s go next door,” Arnie suggested. “Get out of this crazy mess.”

  They skirted around people and let themselves into the renovation house where they spent the next hour giving the detective a detailed account of the past year. In the process, she learned a hell of a lot about Darnell Templeton Wanamaker, the third, also known professionally as Arnie Templeton. She also got a damn clear picture of who and what NIGHTWIND was.

  Little pieces of his soul ached and throbbed with bitter regret and frustration as he listened to Summer’s incredible tale detailing the threat she came face-to-face with, and how she and her band of supporters circled the wagons to hide and protect her when she was at her most vulnerable.

  The way she went through the story, step-by-step, month by month, told him she knew how much danger she was in.

  Responding to the careful questioning of King’s LAPD contact, he and Summer filled in all the gaps. Detective Shelton, for his part, was forthcoming with the information they had and shared it with them.

  Giselle, it turned out, was even crazier and more deadly than they knew. Todd’s mother wasn’t just some random nurse. Gloria Dinkins aka, Gloria Bensen, was prepared from the moment of his daughter’s birth to kidnap and hand off an infant to human traffickers. Their plan was nefarious and sick. The Dinkins’ home was stuffed with baby gear and surveillance equipment. It was a fucking miracle they hadn’t moved against Summer earlier. By sticking close to home and rarely going out, she made them desperate and forced their hand.

  “There’s nothing the LAPD enjoys more than a bunch of pissant motherfuckers with money to burn and a mercenary’s equipment catalog. Drones, vests, night goggles. All total knock-off crap, I want you to know, but effective enough to cause headaches. And the chloroform. Jesus. What idiots.”

  Shelton wrote down everything she said and then looked at him. “They removed a retaining wall and cut through the hedge to gain access to the back of the house. If you hadn’t been watching and waiting, shit would have gone south real fast.”

  Arnie growled. “There was no security at all. The entire property was vulnerable, and things moved so fast once we were on-site, there was no way to surveil properly.”

  He accepted the praise and congratulations for a job well done from the seasoned detective, aware the whole time of Summer’s intense interest. She was hearing things capable of sending her running from him as fast as her legs could carry her.

  While Shelton sat with Summer and the baby, he excused himself to take a call from Dottie. She patched him through to a secure line with Captain Reed Warren for one of the most difficult conversations he’d ever had.

  The guy was furious over what his sister endured. He went up one side of Arnie and down the other. Calling him every name in the book, Summer’s brother accused him of being a defiler of young women, and at one point, he suggested Arnie’s security bubble wasn’t enough to protect him from the captain’s wrath.

  He deserved the man’s scorn and took the angry lecture about his less than honorable behavior as well as could be expected.

  Then he gave Reed Warren the unclassified four-one-one on who he was, what he did, and gave him a glimpse of the cast of characters he answered to. It was a dicey move, one he knew had potential consequences for both of them, but he didn’t have a choice. Not if he intended to marry the man’s sister and hopefully have a couple more kids.

  With the air more or less cleared, Reed issued one final threat Arnie wasn’t likely to forget.

  “If anything happens to my sister or Arianne, I will kill you.”

  “Message received, Captain Warren,” he assured him. “But you have no reason to worry. I promise you this—the full reach and scope of NIGHTWIND will cover both of them from here on out. Same for you. If you ever need us, you know who to call.”

  The minute she hit the wall, Summer rose with Ari in her arms. It was close to three in the morning and quick action was necessary if she wanted to avoid a full meltdown.

  “We’re finished,” she announced with bossy exhaustion. “The baby needs a diaper change, and unless you want me to display my unreasonable side, this interview is concluded.”

  With no intention whatsoever of waiting for permission, she marched out of the renovation house without pause or a look back.

  “I. Am. Done,” she told Ari.

  As she entered the vestibule, Arnie caught up with her.

  “Wait up.”

  She didn’t have the ene
rgy—might never have the energy—and blew him off as a stalling tactic.

  “Can you please make sure Bud and Lynda’s place is locked? And the cat is okay? I’m too tired and …”

  “On it,” he replied, and off he went into the Gerry’s house. She watched him go and just shook her head.

  In the bedroom of her apartment, she placed the baby on her changing table and went through the motions. After her daughter was freshened up, dry, and dressed in warm footed pajamas, she wrapped Ari in a fluffy blanket.

  “Are you hungry, sweetie? I hope so because Mommy’s boobs are full.”

  Ari had just finished nursing when Arnie tiptoed into the room.

  “Everything is secure for tonight. The cat was not impressed by my presence. I had to move furniture because of some damaged locks and a broken window. I’ll get people out here first thing in the morning for repairs and cleanup.”

  Too damn tired to do anything except nod, she put the baby on her shoulder and did everything in her power to ignore him. Unfortunately, he was big, and the room was exceedingly small.

  “What do you need, Summer? What can I do for you?”

  He was joking, right? She scowled, or maybe she rolled her eyes. One of those things had to be true. Or maybe she had no expression—exhaustion coupled with too much excitement made it hard to be sure of anything.

  What she needed right now was for him to go away so she could think. Too much had happened in a short span of time. She needed to process, starting with who Arnie Templeton actually was.

  Clearing her throat of the emotions making it difficult to speak, she shifted in the glider and closed her eyes. Yes, she was tired, but she also couldn’t look at him without reacting to his presence.

  “Um, I could use a hot tea. Something decaf and simple.”

  Eager to do something and be helpful, he reacted as she expected and marched off to the kitchen. Assigning him a task gave Summer a chance to reset in peace.

  A mental list of things she had to do queued up in the forefront of her thoughts, starting with explaining to Bud and Lynda why their house was cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape.

  Her wall art was going to need a new frame, and there were red stains on the wall left by Stan’s bloodied hands.