Explosive Situation

by Terri Reed

  Henry stared at her, his gaze intense. “Are you sure you’re all right? I mean, considering—”

  She held up a hand, stopping him from finishing his sentence. “I’m fine. Everything is fine. Okay?”

  He may suspect she was pregnant, but she did not want to discuss her baby with the man she was investigating. If anyone found out that she’d opened up about something so personal, she might as well just turn in her badge now. And that wasn’t going to happen. If, or when, she resigned from the police force, it would be her decision. She was done allowing herself to be pressured into circumstances and situations she didn’t fully embrace.

  Seeming to accept her pronouncement, Henry nodded. “Good.” He beckoned for Riley. As they waited for the young woman and her friend to join them, Henry said, “This wasn’t an accident.”

  Olivia shivered, wishing she was still ensconced in his embrace. “I realize that. You said you’d thought a silver sedan was following you the other night?”

  His dark eyes hardened. “I did. And I’m pretty sure that was the same car. Did you get a look at the driver?”

  She shook her head. All she’d seen was sunlight reflecting off the grill as the sedan sped forward, aimed in her direction. “You?”

  “Not enough for a description. He had on sunglasses and the visor was down. He had black gloves and a hoodie on just like the guy who tried to break into my condo.”

  “Do you think this is the same guy who assaulted me yesterday at the museum?”

  “We have to assume so,” he said.

  Which meant the man targeting Henry and those close to him was growing impatient. But what was his endgame? If his goal was to hurt Henry, why go after her when she was the only one who could ruin Henry’s career?

  * * *

  Monday morning, Henry stopped at Eden’s desk with coffee cups in both hands. He set one in front of the tech guru.

  Eden glanced between the cup and him. “This is for me?”

  “I didn’t want you to think I was ungrateful for all the work you do.”

  She smiled at him, her dark eyes twinkling as she reached down to pet Cody. “Hey, handsome.” She picked up the coffee and took a sip. “Hmm. Perfect. How did you know the way I take my cup of joe?”

  He grinned. “A wise man takes notice of what a person wants when asking her for a favor.”

  “Well, I’m glad I don’t have to disappoint you today.” She swung around to her monitors. Her fingers flew across the keyboard. “So I pulled up all the video footage from the surrounding area where the bomb went off in Coney Island. As well as around Joey Yums, like you asked.”

  She pressed Enter and the video monitors lit up. The far monitor showed a perfect shot of the front of the Joey Yums restaurant. The middle monitor had a street view in front of the eatery and the third monitor showed a long shot of the boardwalk.

  The time stamp on the video was from a half hour before Henry had arrived. Eden hit the fast-forward button.

  “Wait!” Henry sucked in a sharp breath. Eden stopped the video on a clear shot of Riley and her friends entering Joey Yums. Five minutes later, they exited with food containers that they ate from while walking along the boardwalk, passing very close to the garbage can that later exploded. Henry’s heart rate doubled. It was one thing to suspect how close his sister had come to disaster and another to see it in color.

  As soon as Riley and her friends walked out of the view on the third monitor, a hooded figure wearing a backpack could be seen from the direction of the street. The guy kept his face averted as if he knew where the cameras were located. Sunlight glinted off the guy’s sunglasses. He walked toward Joey Yums’s entrance before doing an about-face and walking slowly down the boardwalk in the same direction as Riley and her friends.

  The guy walked past the last garbage bin and disappeared off screen. Henry frowned. “He’s clearly following Riley, but he’s not our bomber.”

  Eden held up a hand. “Wait for it.”

  A minute later the hooded figure returned, his body angled so the camera couldn’t record his face, but he seemed to be staring at the young couple kissing on the bench. Then the guy took off the backpack, lifted the lid of the garbage can and dropped the backpack inside. He shut the lid and jogged away. The couple on the bench didn’t appear to even notice him. They were too entwined in each other’s arms to realize that disaster was right next to them.

  “I want to see this bomber again.”

  Eden rewound the video.

  Henry studied what he could see of the man. Jeans, tennis shoes and the edges of dark sunglasses, but Henry couldn’t determine the man’s race. But he did notice the black gloves on the bomber’s hands, just like the ones worn by the prowler at the condo and the driver of the sedan. “This has to be the same guy who tried to run down Lieutenant Vance.”

  Eden turned to stare at him. “What?”

  He told her about the incident at the church and the museum.

  “Oh, that’s why the museum called,” Eden said. “I haven’t had a chance to return the call, but I will. In the meantime, let me see if I can find any video footage around the church for you.”

  He told her the approximate time and the make and model of the car. He pointed to the screen where the hooded figure stood frozen on the boardwalk. “Can you backtrack this guy’s route on the street? See where he came from?”

  “I can,” she said. “But it will take some time. I can text you when I have something more to show you.”

  “That’d be great. Any chance you have any information on the phone that was used to contact me?”

  “Sorry, it was a burner phone. It’s turned off now. But I have a program running to alert me if it turns back on.”

  Henry wasn’t surprised that the phone was a dead end, but he couldn’t stop the wave of frustration and helpless anger roaring through him.

  Eden waved at him. “I don’t like when people stand over my shoulder. Why don’t you go to the unit meeting? I’ll text Gavin that I’m still working.”

  “Thanks,” Henry said. “I owe you one.” He seemed to owe a lot of people these days. Even his boss, Gavin, who’d promised to send someone to talk to Davey Carrell about which of his friends might be threatening Henry and those close to him.

  Eden turned back to her screen as if he hadn’t spoken.

  Henry and Cody headed downstairs to the conference room where the meeting was taking place. Gavin was at the front of the room getting ready to call the meeting to order.

  Henry and Cody slipped inside and took up a spot against the back wall.

  A minute later, Olivia stepped inside the room and took a place next to him. Surprise washed over him. It wasn’t usual for IA to attend a precinct meeting, but considering the encompassing nature of her investigation, he supposed observing the unit as a whole, and him specifically, wasn’t out of line. Their gazes locked for a moment. He was stunned to see the flare of interest in her amber eyes before she quickly turned her gaze forward. She looked good this morning, as regal as she had on Friday, but today’s suit color was a deep purple with a striped, collared shirt underneath. Her hair was in a fancy braided updo. His blood surged with a confusing mix of attraction and affection.

  When he’d dropped her off at her apartment yesterday after her near-disaster with the sedan, he’d been hard-pressed to leave her alone. Only her assurance that she’d planned on staying inside for the rest of the day until one of her brothers arrived to take her to their parent’s house for dinner had relieved some of his anxiousness.

  He had to admit he was glad to see her this morning unharmed. He’d hate it if something happened to her because of him. The need to protect her rose strong within him. He fought the urge to put an arm around her. She would probably deck him. And he’d deserve it.

  “I have an announcement everyone,” Gavin said from the front of the
room, drawing Henry’s and the whole room’s attention. All the officers went silent. “Thanks to US Marshal Emmett Gage, who was able to grab a cup and napkin from Randall Gage, his cousin and our prime suspect in the McGregor murders, we have a DNA match.”

  The room erupted with cheers and gasps. K-9 Officer Belle Montera, who’d been assigned to question the US marshal about his cousin in the first place, seemed both relieved and subdued. Henry knew that Belle and Emmett Gage were engaged to be married, and to have absolute proof that his cousin was a murderer had to be tough on the dedicated law enforcement officer. Henry’s gaze sought out his friend, Bradley McGregor, his heart gladdened by this new development. The long-unsolved murders of Bradley and Penny’s parents had put a horrible strain on the siblings.

  Bradley met his gaze. There were tears in his eyes as his arm slipped around his sister, seated beside him. Tears ran down Penny’s face and she nearly collapsed sideways out of her chair.

  “Okay, people,” Gavin said, reclaiming everyone’s focus. “We have our work cut out for us. Now we just have to find Randall, who hasn’t been seen since he bolted from the greasy spoon weeks ago. The FBI and the US Marshals are on the trail. But we need to be vigilant. This man has killed two, possibly four, people. That we know of.”

  Henry knew the sergeant was referring to the recent double homicide of the Emerys, parents of a little girl who’d been left unharmed. The Emerys were killed on the twentieth anniversary of the McGregors’ murders—with the same MO. Had Randall Gage also killed the Emerys? Or had that been the work of a copycat? The unit didn’t know at this point, and it was frustrating. Henry glanced at K-9 Detective Nick Slater, who’d gotten personally involved with the aunt of little Lucy Emery—the lone survivor of her parents’ murder—during the investigation. Nick and Willow were now in the process of formally adopting Lucy, and Henry could see from Nick’s tight expression how bad he wanted justice for the Emerys.

  “There wasn’t any DNA found at the Emery crime scene, right?” Transit Officer Max Santelli asked. He stood near the window with his rottweiler at his side.

  “Correct. There was no DNA evidence found on either of the victims. Or the evidence left behind. But our forensic expert is working hard on extracting DNA from fibers found on the back door knob of the Emory apartment.”

  “And if we can’t match this evidence to Randall Gage?” Officer Jackson Davison asked. He sat at the conference table with his cadaver dog at his feet.

  A grim look entered Gavin’s eyes. “Then it’s possible we have an entirely different killer on the loose. A copycat.”

  Henry’s gut clenched with aggravation. He couldn’t be on the case because of the charges being investigated by Internal Affairs. He swung his gaze to Olivia. She didn’t look in his direction and kept her focus on Gavin.

  Henry sent up a silent plea to God that Olivia would hurry up and finish her investigation. And find him innocent so he could get back to work and keep his family and friends safe. Including, the lovely IA lieutenant.

  * * *

  As Olivia stood at the back of the conference room, listening to Sergeant Sutherland’s announcement of the DNA match and the possibility that the second murders might be a different killer, she had an idea. Hopefully she wouldn’t be overstepping by sharing her thoughts with Gavin and his team.

  She waved her hand to get Gavin’s attention. Like everyone else in the city, she’d been following the double homicide case. Her conscience wouldn’t keep her from speaking her mind.

  Eyebrows rising, Gavin said, “Internal Affairs Lieutenant Olivia Vance has something she’d like to say.”

  All eyes turned to her. Heat infused her cheeks, but she straightened her spine and stepped forward. “If Randall Gage is the killer of both sets of parents, then he left two young children alive. He may view himself as a protector of children.” A murmur of agreement swept through the room. “I would suggest two things. One, look for similar crimes where a child was spared. Two, contact the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit profiler, Caleb Black. He’s the best of the best at Quantico.”

  Gavin studied her for a long moment. “Good ideas, both. We’ve considered the child-protector angle. I will reach out to the FBI and see if they can spare Agent Black.” He turned back to his unit.

  The dismissal was obvious. Slightly nauseous, Olivia stepped back into the shadow of the other unit officers. She could feel Henry’s gaze like a laser on her, but she held her head high. She wouldn’t apologize for speaking.

  Gavin went on to report about other activity in the K-9 Unit. Twenty minutes later, when the meeting broke up, Olivia hightailed it out of the room as quickly as possible.

  “Hey, Olivia, wait.”

  Henry’s voice stopped her in the station’s entryway. She really wanted to get some fresh air before she lost her breakfast all over the station’s floor. Slowly, she turned and faced the man she was investigating.

  Bracing herself to be told she’d crossed some imaginary line, she stiffened her spine and planted her feet apart, much like she’d seen her father and brothers do when faced with an adversary. Though calling Henry an adversary didn’t sit well with her. Not after he’d saved her life yesterday. As well as how often she’d thought about kissing him. Would his lips be soft and giving or hard and demanding?

  And what was that wonderful cologne that clung to his skin? She’d had to resist moving closer to him while they stood together at the unit meeting.

  She really needed to get a grip. The influx of pregnancy hormones was messing with her head and her heart.

  Henry strode to her side. His handsome face broke into a grin that set off a flutter in her tummy. She was pretty sure that wasn’t the baby. She was helpless to curb the unprofessional attraction rooting inside of her.

  “Good job on the suggestions,” Henry said. “You really have a knack for reading situations and giving good advice.”

  His words were like a balm to her vulnerable state of embarrassment. “Thank you.” She shrugged, trying to downplay the feeling of pride swelling within her chest. “I do have a degree in criminal justice as well as psychology.”

  His eyebrows rose. He rubbed a hand over his now-shaven head. “Impressive. Why are you working in IA when you could be of more help as a counselor or even a criminal profiler for the NYPD or the FBI?”

  His question stung. She had originally considered trauma counseling for victims, but that would have required deviating from family expectations. So she’d joined the police force, following in her father’s and brothers’ footsteps. She’d started out on patrol until her father had lectured her that the best way for her to earn respect and success was through Internal Affairs. Her father was a straight arrow who respected the difficult position of internal affairs and had stressed she had the goods to excel in IA.

  Despite her best intentions, she’d let herself be pressured into a position she’d never really wanted, but her dad and brothers had convinced her she was a perfect fit for the job.

  Now here was Henry questioning her choice of profession.

  Was this some kind of tactic to get out of being investigated? She searched his dark gaze and found no hint of a hidden agenda.

  Did she dare confess that she’d once considered a different path? Or that there were times when the isolation of Internal Affairs brought regret to the forefront of her mind?

  Deciding that indulging in any personal give-and-take was too dangerous for her job and her peace of mind, she simply said, “I appreciate your thoughts. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some old case files to go through.” Better than confessing she was struggling with her attraction to him.

  His mouth twisted in derision. “My old case files, no doubt.”

  Lying wasn’t in her wheelhouse, so she nodded and couldn’t stop the ache of regret that they were in this position. But the job was the job. No matter how distasteful she sometim
es found it.

  For a moment, he seemed to be wrestling with some inner turmoil and then he said, “Full disclosure, I had a previous claim leveled against me once in the early days of my career, but it was quickly ruled unsubstantiated.”

  Her heart sank. That didn’t bode well for him. “Thank you for being up-front with me.”

  “Of course,” he said. “I don’t want there to be anything hidden between us.”

  Her heart gave a little jolt. She wasn’t sure what to make of his statement, so she simply watched as he turned and strode away.

  After taking a moment to splash water on her face in the restroom and doing some deep breathing exercises, she headed to the records room. An hour later, she found the case he’d referred to.

  In looking at the date and knowing when Henry’s father had died, there was no question Henry had been acting in grief during a domestic call where the wife was barely hanging on to life from a beating by her husband.

  What Henry was doing on the job that day was a question she’d like answered by the department’s psychologist, who’d deemed him fit for duty. But obviously the situation had triggered something in Henry, as when the male suspect had taken a swing at him, Henry had swung back.

  Internal Affairs had cleared Henry of wrongdoing.

  But still, the knowledge that Henry had reacted out of anger and grief was something she needed to take into account and address with him. To be fair, she wanted to hear his side of the story so she could understand his thought process at the time. And it might help her to discern what happened the night that Davey Carrell was injured.

  After asking around for Henry’s location, she found him in the training center next door to the precinct.

  She entered a warehouse-size room filled with an eclectic mix of obstacles. Luggage pieces of various shapes and sizes were stacked in three different groupings. There was a bicycle rack with several bicycles locked up. A shrink-wrapped stack of pallets and a car-shaped cutout caught her eye. Plus multiple boxes of various shapes and sizes were intermittently scattered between all the other obstacles.