by Jen Talty
“Then why were you sitting on his lap and kissing him?”
Gunner wanted to date; well, now he was going to get his chance because no way would she break her kid’s heart.
Or hers.
Not if she could help it.
“Your dad and I are going to try our hand at dating and see where it takes us.” For the first time in ten years, Arcadia felt as though she wasn’t going to go through this journey alone.
Chapter 8
“What am I looking at?” Gunner took the folder that Ace handed him but didn’t open it. He leaned against the railing across from where Ace stood. The hot Florida sun beat down on his back, which itched from the new words added to his tattoo.
But his family truly had control of his heart.
Ace had a somber look etched on his face. His jaw was relaxed, but his lips were pulled tight, and a crinkle wiggled across his forehead, showing off his age. “An official complaint about you.”
“Me? What the hell did I do? And to whom did I do it to?” A few years back, Gunner got into it with a fellow Fire Protection Specialist who was an asshole. One night, after a few drinks, Gunner had enough of Jonathon’s chauvinist ways, and Gunner punched him, more than once.
The next morning, Jonathon filed a formal complaint, and Gunner ended up suspended for a week, and the altercation would forever be in his military record, especially since Gunner had done some real damage to Jonathon’s face.
That said, he’d kept his nose clean since then.
“Wendel Lawrence. He said that you assaulted him at his son’s school,” Ace said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Gunner flipped open the file and scanned the report.
“He’s got a witness.”
“I see that.” Gunner flipped the page. He rolled the name Riley Simpson around in his brain, but nothing came up. “I punched the man once, that’s it. I wouldn’t call it assault. And the asshole just laughed anyway. Declan was there. He’ll file a statement on my behalf.”
“I already had him file one this morning, but it doesn’t matter. You hit him.”
“Who is this Riley Simpson person?” Gunner asked.
“She’s a single mother. A widow and from what I’ve learned, she’s got her sights set on Wendel as her next husband. They have been out a few times, but Wendel goes out with a lot of women.”
“Why would anyone want to be with that asshole?”
“I haven’t a single clue.” Ace rested his hand on Gunner’s shoulder like an older brother giving advice would. “Harper’s closing in on him, but he’s filed a formal complaint against her too.”
“She did get in his face a couple of months ago.”
“And last night,” Ace said.
“What the hell did she do now?”
Normally, Harper never lost her cool, and she had the best resting bitch face known to man. But she was a shark, and he’d hate to be on the wrong side of her questions during an interrogation.
“She ran into him while he was out on a date with Riley.”
“Ran into? Or planned? Because she didn’t leave here until nearly eight last night.”
Ace arched his brow. “Let’s go with ran into. Anyway, she went up to them and said hello and then leaned in and whispered in his ear that she was days from arresting him. According to the waitress, Harper accidentally spilled wine all over his lap.”
“Nothing Harper does is an accident,” Gunner said.
“It gets better.”
Gunner could only imagine.
“While she frantically tried to clean up the mess, a file dropped from her purse right in Riley’s lap. Inside was a picture of the last victim wearing a necklace that is found on every victim, a little-known fact that hasn’t been released to the public.”
“She’s taunting him,” Gunner said.
“She wants to catch him before someone else dies, so she’s trying to make him squirm.”
“I’d say she’s doing a damn good job.” Gunner knew very little about how investigations were handled. Other than being friends with Harper and her husband, Gunner’s role as a paramedic didn’t require that skill set.
Nor did he want the responsibility.
But now that his family was involved, even peripherally, he wanted every detail, and he wanted to be immersed in the case.
“Harper is good at her job, but she’s letting this one get to her. Hits too close to home with her sister’s murder,” Ace said.
“Every murder hits her that way.” It was something he could understand since every suicide or attempted suicide brought him right back to the day they found Courtney’s body and the letter she left behind. “Did Wendel file complaints about anyone else?”
Ace laughed. “Me and Hunter over how we handled the investigation of the fire at his house, but since its ongoing, nothing will happen with it other than a little pressure from the chief to wrap it up. And since yours happened off-base, all that will happen at this point is you’ll need to sit with a case worker and explain your side, but—”
“He’s taking it local.” Gunner didn’t need to be an investigator to figure that out.
“Flip to the last page of that report.” Ace folded his arms across his chest.
There, in the back of the file, was a picture of Wendel with a black eye, a bruised cheek, and a cut lip. “I didn’t do that,” Gunner said. “I hit him in the belly, and not even full force.”
“He’s got a witness that says otherwise, and he looked like that when Harper saw him, so don’t be surprised if the local police come knocking at your door.”
“Why would they waste their time on a case like this? It’s just two blokes exchanging a few fists. Who the fuck cares?”
“It happened on school property for one and two,” Ace took the folder, fingered through the pages until he pulled one out, and held it up, “he has this threatening email from you.”
“What? He’s the one who sent me a hostile note.” Gunner took the paper between his fingers and read the report.
“Watch your back, buddy. If you think what happened today was bad, you just wait. It’s all being set up. You will rot in prison. You know what they do to men who rape their brothers-in-arms’ wives, right? It’s just a matter of time. I’ve got it all worked out.”
“That’s my email address, and it’s even in response to his email, which has been altered, but I didn’t send that.” Gunner scrunched the paper in his fist. “He’s seriously trying to make it look like I’m setting him up?”
“You’re missing the bigger picture. He’s setting you up as the rapist and murderer.”
Gunner opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
“That’s fucking crazy, and he won’t be able to do it.”
“Harper needs you to give her full access to your email, voluntarily, so she can disprove this immediately.”
“Done.” Gunner’s phone vibrated in his back pocket. He took a moment to clear his throat and pulled out his cell.
“But he’ll try, and that could be damaging.”
Gunner glanced at the screen. “It’s my landlord.” He tapped the green answer button and set it on speaker. “Hello?”
“Sorry to bother you, but I was just handed a search warrant for your house.” His heart raced as all the blood in his body boiled. “I’ll be right there.” He stared at Ace who pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You didn’t go home last night,” Ace said as a statement. “Harper had someone drive by here last night and my place a few times, but not your place.”
“But she has someone following Wendel. It should be easy to dispute all of this.”
“Harper couldn’t get round the clock surveillance, so there are some gaps.”
“Shit,” Gunner mumbled. “I’ve got to get to my place.”
“I’ll drive, and on the way, I’ll make sure Harper knows what’s going on.”
“Give me a minute.” Gunner made his way to the kitchen, contemplating what he was going
to say. He’d been looking forward to spending as much time with Arcadia and David as he could, even if that meant spending it with most of his entire team. He wanted Arcadia to see he had a good life here, and that it would be worth giving it a go.
God, he hoped she wanted to spend the rest of their lives making up for his stupid mistake.
But he’d have to win her over, and running out on her and David wasn’t the way to do that.
“What’s wrong?” Arcadia asked.
“Yeah. You look like you saw a ghost or something,” David said.
As perceptive as his mother. “My landlord called. Something happened at my place. I’ve got to head over there.” He found a piece of paper and a pen. “Here’s the address of my buddy Hunter’s place. His wife’s name is Claire. She’s a real gem, and you’ll love her.”
Arcadia nodded.
He set his keys on the counter. “You can take my pickup if you want.”
“You’re leaving it here?” Arcadia asked.
“If you don’t mind. Ace and I are going to my place together.”
“Sure thing,” she said. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. It’s nothing. Just a leaky pipe.”
Arcadia cocked her head back.
He might be able to tell her the truth, but he didn’t want to worry David.
“Trust me,” he whispered, pulling Arcadia in for a quick kiss, and then he hugged his son. He held him for a long moment, closing his eyes and resting his nose against the top of his head. He smelled like innocence on top of a decadent chocolate cake.
No way would he let anyone destroy what he’d just found. “You take good care of your mom, you hear?”
“Yes, sir,” David said, glancing up with a big smile. “Thanks for finding us.”
“Thank you for forgiving me for not being around. I can’t really make up for all the lost time, but I’m going to do my best.”
“I love you, Dad.”
Salty tears stung the corners of his eyes. Never in a million years did he think he’d hear those words.
Nor did he believe he could ever love someone as much as he loved this boy. “I love you right back.” In a matter of a day, David had become Gunner’s world.
“Do you know what they are looking for?” Gunner asked Harper as he stood in his front yard, not caring that half the neighborhood had come out and were all conversing on the street, pointing and staring.
“The warrant isn’t specific other than they have the right to seize anything they deem pertinent to their case,” Harper said as she snapped on a pair of latex gloves.
“How does me hitting Wendel, once, constitute a case and a search warrant?”
“It doesn’t,” Harper said. “Do you know a woman by the name Denise Cannon?”
Gunner nodded. “I took her out a few times a couple of months ago.”
“She was raped last night.”
“Jesus Christ,” he mumbled. His heart sank to the pit of his stomach, stirring up acid and sending it to the back of his throat. He gagged. “Was she murdered?”
“She’s in the hospital. Her neighbor had stopped by and saw her on the floor with a plastic bag over her head.”
“That’s how all the victims on the base were killed.” Gunner rubbed the back of his neck as he watched a local detective carry out his laptop, followed by a uniformed officer carrying a box.
“What sucks for you is that we never released how the bodies were found, so no one knows about the plastic bag but those I told, first responders, and the killer. Everyone but the killer I know and trust with my life.”
“I’m glad you don’t think I’m a killer,” Gunner said with a dollop of sarcasm. “Was her attacker still in the house?”
“He ran out the back door. We’ve got a print of his shoes in the mud, and he also left behind some duct tape,” Harper said. “What shoe size are you?”
“Are you seriously going to ask me that?” The pounding of his heart grew so fast he couldn’t tell when one heartbeat ended and another one started.
Harper cocked her head.
“Thirteen,” he said under his breath.
“Well, that’s good because the print we have is a size eleven, but the bad news is the neighbor, when asked for a description, it’s closer to you, than to Wendel.”
“Does the neighbor know Wendel?” Gunner’s mind raced with a million questions. He tried to sort through all them, prioritizing them, but they spun around like alphabet soup in a blender. “Who is the neighbor?” Gunner remembered when he’d dropped Denise off after a disastrous date, but only because he realized she wanted a husband and not a fling, a woman had been walking her dog and stopped to talk to Denise and him, but he couldn’t remember her name.
“Riley Simpson,” Harper said with a smile.
“The eyewitness who says I beat the crap out of him? The same one who was on a date with him last night?”
“Wendel is getting desperate, and he’s making mistakes.” She squeezed Gunner’s biceps. “I’m sorry about Denise, but we’re confident she’ll pull through.”
“She’s a nice girl and doesn’t deserve this.”
“No one does.”
“What if they find something that Wendel might have planted in my house?” Gunner pointed to the detective and officer standing in his driveway, glaring over their shoulders.
“I think they already have,” Harper said.
“That’s not making me feel any better.”
“In about five minutes, they are going to get a phone call from their boss telling them to turn everything over to me. That the Air Force will be leading the investigation. Remember, Denise was once an Airman, so she’s one of us and we—”
“Take care of our own.” He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, swallowing the vile taste this entire thing has left in his mouth. “Here they come.”
“Just be cool,” Harper said.
“Like you were last night?” He closed his eyes and let out a long breath before speaking again. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” He blinked.
“The only thing that didn’t go as planned was the rape and attempted murder of Denise,” she said behind a clenched jaw. “And what sucks is she doesn’t fit the profile of the victims on the base.”
“I’m shocked then that they are giving us point,” he said.
“Only because she was in the Air Force.” She snapped her fingers, waving to Ace who talked to a few of the locals that he knew.
Ace nodded and jogged in their direction.
“Answer their questions. Don’t lie about anything, including that I was with you until about eight last night,” Harper said.
“Are you Gunner Davidson?” the detective asked.
“I am.” He held out his hand and gave the man a firm handshake. He puffed out his chest. Not so much as a form of a pissing contest, but mostly to keep himself tall and proud. It also helped that Ace stood at his side.
“And you live here?”
“I do.”
“Do you know why we’re here?” the detective asked.
“You seem to think I might have something to do with the rape of an old girlfriend of mine.” It was a stretch to call her that, but they had dated for a month, and he had slept with her a few times, so it seemed to be fitting.
“That and the assault on Wendel Lawrence,” the detective said.
“Oh, I’d be careful bringing that up.” Harper looked the man up and down. “Detective?”
“It’s Detective Hardy.”
“Like the Hardy boys, that’s cute,” Harper said. “Anyway, you’re going to null and void this search if you bring in the accusations of the assault to Wendel. It’s not part of your search warrant, and the two cases are not related.”
“And you must be the great Harper Dawson.”
“Well, it’s Harper Welch now, but yes. That’s me, and I’d kindly like you to tell me what you’ve taken from Gunner’s house.”
Gunner had to admit, it was kind
of fun to watch Harper in action, though he would prefer it not be about him.
“If you’d like to come over and check out the evidence, feel free, but…” Hardy pulled out his cell and frowned. “Will you excuse me a minute?”
“Sure thing,” Harper said with a sweet smile while she rubbed her round belly. “This is going to be fun.”
“For you, maybe, but my neighbors are all wondering if I’m a crazy killer or not.”
“That will blow over,” Ace said, slapping him on the back. “Besides, this isn’t the right neighborhood to raise a young man in. I think you’d do best to move into Arcadia’s place.”
“You’ve got me married already?” The word ‘married’ rolled off his tongue a little too easily. He swallowed.
He actually liked the idea.
It warmed his heart.
For the first time in ten years, he felt alive.
And terrified at the same time.
“You’re a piece of work, Harper.” Hardy shook his head. “How you managed to have everything turned over to you is astounding.”
“I want to thank you for the collection of evidence. I’ll have my team come in now. You can just leave everything where it is.”
“Gladly.” Hardy turned on his heels and whistled. He raised his hand and made a swirly bird motion with his finger. “By the way.” Hardy glanced over his shoulder. “I would have enjoyed working with you, especially if it meant nailing Wendel Lawrence.”
“Is there something else I should know?” Harper asked.
Gunner held his breath.
“My kid goes to school with Wendel’s kid.”
“Then mine as well,” Gunner said.
Hardy nodded. “The only reason I brought up the assault charges was because I was there that day and know it’s bogus.”
“Why didn’t you say that sooner?” Harper planted her hands on her hips. Her belly bounced.
“You didn’t give me a chance,” Hardy said. “My boss says I’m at your disposal. So, want to know what we found?”
“I do.” Harper nodded.
“Shall we work together on this because I want to nail that asshole.” Hardy planted his hands on his hips.
