Christmas Witness Conspiracy

by Maggie K. Black

  Tall and lanky, Detective Mack Grey had an intensity that had allowed him to move through countless criminal hotbeds undetected, while his fiancée, social worker Iris James, had a light and airy smile that lit up a room, which was coupled with an endless drive to help those in need. They’d fallen in love when Mack had been undercover and he’d risked everything to be with Iris. And yet, it was nothing compared to what Liam would’ve faced if his relationship with Kelly had become public.

  Notably, despite the fact that Jess’s wedding was probably minutes away, they were both in blue jeans and sweatshirts.

  “Whoa, hey! What are you guys doing here?” Tension fled Liam’s shoulders as he stepped sideways and reached for Kelly’s hand to help her up. “Kelly, this is Mack, one of the detectives on my team, and Iris, who runs a homeless drop-in center in downtown Toronto. Two of the best people I know.”

  “Nice to meet you!” Kelly said, and as she stepped beside him, Liam found himself brushing Kelly’s back right between her shoulder blades. Her hand reached out and shook theirs in turn. Then she glanced down. “This is Pip.”

  Liam gestured to the television screen. “Tell me you know something about this.”

  “Yeah.” Mack nodded. “A friend gave me a heads-up about the warrant. I don’t know where they’re getting the intel and I don’t believe it for a moment.” Then the detective looked down at Pip. Liam watched as a question hovered in Mack’s eyes. He suspected his colleague had heard the rumor and wanted to hear from Liam’s own mouth if it was true. “Now, please tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”

  “Pip is...her... My... Our...granddaughter,” Liam said. As awkward as the words felt leaving his lips, somehow they felt just a little bit easier every time he said them. “Kelly and I met a very long time ago, when I was placing her in witness protection. She’s the hacker who kept Hannah Phillips’s file out of the Imposters’s hands last year. Hannah is our daughter... I—I didn’t know about Hannah or Pip until yesterday.”

  Mack didn’t say anything at first. Instead, he just stood there, his eyes on Liam’s face. It was like two gunslingers waiting to see if the other would flinch as an uncomfortable pause spread around the room.

  “Mack tried to place me in witness protection, too,” Iris said to Kelly, as the two women sat on the play mat and turned their attention to Pip.

  But there was far more to the story than that. And Liam understood, or at least he thought he did, the conflicting emotions behind Mack’s gaze.

  Mack had been suspended and had faced a significant knock to his career after it was suspected he and Iris had gotten too close when he was on an undercover assignment. This was despite the fact Mack had never even acted on his romantic attraction to Iris. Mack had risked absolutely everything for the woman he was about to marry. He’d paid a hefty price for falling in love on assignment. But Liam had broken the rules on a much bigger scale, kept it pretty much a secret and then had gone on to have a stellar career afterward with people being none the wiser.

  “I didn’t know,” Liam told Mack quietly, stepping away from the women and lowering his voice. “Someone covered it up. I’m guessing to protect me. I was immediately sent on a long undercover assignment. None of Kelly’s messages got to me and her RCMP witness-protection file was doctored. I will always regret I didn’t do more to fight for her back then.”

  It was an admission that had been building for a long time, like steam wanting to escape from the top of his heart. And considering everything Mack had been through to be with Iris, he was the right person to admit it to.

  “But what happens now?” Mack asked. “If word gets out that you fathered a child with a witness—even if it was twenty years ago—there will be consequences. You’ll be investigated. You could be suspended or demoted. You might even be fired.”

  Or nobody ever has to know. Liam felt something inside him push back. Kelly was still planning on leaving the country with Hannah, Renner and Pip. He’d only confided anything about the relationship to a tiny handful of people, all of whom he trusted. There was no reason why the news would need to come out. Not unless Kelly wanted to stay in his life in some kind of present and visible way, and there was no proof or evidence she wanted to do that.

  “In case you haven’t heard, I’m dead,” Liam said with a laugh that even sounded hollow to himself.

  “So you’d actually keep it a secret?” Mack asked, and again, there was an edge to his voice. No, it was more like a knife, peeling away at something Liam didn’t want touched. And even though he knew Mack was a good man who meant well and wanted what was best for him, Liam felt his jaw tighten.

  “Don’t worry,” Liam said. “I’ll do the right thing.” As soon as I figure out what that is and where we go from here. “Shouldn’t you be heading to the wedding?”

  “We’re actually here to babysit,” Mack said, raising his voice to include Kelly and Iris, as well. “We’re going to watch Pip for an hour while you and Kelly go to the wedding. Jess said she’s got the balcony closed off, so you guys can sit there.”

  Liam watched as his friend’s arms crossed over his strong chest. His tone, while warm, implied it wasn’t up for debate. No wonder they’d both shown up in jeans.

  “You should go to the wedding,” Liam stated.

  “And so should you,” Mack countered. “You’ve worked with Jess even more than I have. Iris and I don’t even know Travis. Jess and Travis wouldn’t even be getting married if you hadn’t helped save their lives.” Then he glanced at Iris and something softened in his eyes. “Iris and I wouldn’t be getting married on New Year’s Eve if you hadn’t helped save our lives, either. Liam, we owe our lives to you. I know I do.”

  Liam’s head shook. “I’m not going to let you—”

  “Stop.” Mack held up a hand. “Let me do this. You’ve done so very much for me. For all of us. Besides, it’ll give me a chance to just hang out with Iris and relax. Between everything going on at the drop-in center over Christmas, two weddings this weekend and our own wedding next week, we haven’t had a quiet hour to just sit around and do nothing in forever. I can also use the time to read up on your so-called death, the warrant out against Seth, the Imposters and Hannah and Renner Phillips for when we all meet up and plan our way forward between the wedding and reception.” Then he grinned. “And we’ll still be going to the reception. I’m not missing barbecued ribs and cake.”

  Liam chuckled softly. If he stood here and argued with Mack much longer, none of them would be making it to the wedding. Besides, Mack was already sitting on the play mat.

  “I give you my word your granddaughter will be safe,” Mack said. “I will guard her with my life.”

  Liam knew he would. He turned to Kelly and as she started to stand, he found himself reaching for her hand.

  “What do you think?” he asked as her fingers lingered for a moment in his. “Mack is an incredible officer, and I’d trust him with my life and yours and Pip’s. The church is only a few minutes’ walk from here. But I’m not going anywhere without you. I want to be there if Renner calls or if you get an update on Hannah. Whatever we decide, I think we should stick together.”

  He didn’t know how to explain it to her, let alone to himself, but something inside him couldn’t bear the thought of not having Kelly there by his side.

  Kelly looked up at him and bit her lip. And he realized she still hadn’t pulled her hand away from his.

  “Pip will be safe here,” he added. “Travis installed a state-of-the-art security system in this apartment when he was first placed in witness protection, and then Seth upgraded it even more.”

  He felt himself frown as he said Seth’s name. Where was he? Why had he decided to skip Jess and Travis’s wedding? Why was the world now convinced he was an Imposter? True, Seth had made some dubious decisions. But still.

  “Iris runs both teen-mom and high-risk parenting g
roups at the drop-in,” Mack added. Pride gleamed in his eyes as he looked at his fiancée. “I promise you we’ll keep Pip safe.”

  “But it’s up to you,” Liam said. “If you want to stay, we stay.”

  “And where I go, you go,” Kelly said, softly. She nodded slightly, as if coming to a decision, then pulled her hand from his and turned to Mack. “Thank you. I don’t know how much Pip is able to pick up of what we’re feeling. But maybe it will be good for Pip to have a break from us to play with a friendly new face. I think I need to take a walk, breathe and pray, too. And right now a church feels like the right place to be.”

  Yeah, he understood that feeling, too. Pip cooed and waved her arms at him as Liam bent down to kiss the top of the tiny baby’s head goodbye. He was surprised just how much it tugged at his heartstrings to leave her, even if it was only for an hour and with someone he trusted implicitly. How hard would it be when Kelly and Pip left his life for good?

  Kelly declined Iris’s kind offer to lend her something fancy, but accepted her follow-up offer of a spare T-shirt and change of sweater. She’d freshened up and done something else to her appearance before they left, too, but Liam wasn’t sure what. Changed her hair, maybe? Added lip gloss? He wasn’t sure. All he knew as they walked in comfortable silence to the small church was that Kelly somehow looked even more beautiful than ever in a way he couldn’t put a finger on.

  The small church sat alone on a small rural road surrounded by fields. It was already full—the service was about to start and nobody seemed to notice them—as they snuck in a side door and up into the empty balcony. There they sat, on battered folding chairs, and watched as the wedding unfolded beneath them. Travis stood at the front of the church, holding baby Dominic in his arms—they wore matching tuxedos with dark blue bow ties. Willow practically twirled with joy as she walked Jess down the aisle, their smiles shining more than the dazzling beads on their dresses and the winter light shimmering through the window ever could.

  Liam felt Kelly’s thumb run over his and he looked down at their hands. Their fingers were linked. And he couldn’t even remember when they’d started holding hands or which one of them had initiated it.

  Noah Wilder, the fourth and final detective on his team, and his fiancée, Corporal Holly Asher, stepped up to the lectern and began to read a passage from Song of Solomon together. “‘Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong as death...’”

  “They’re the couple getting married tomorrow,” Liam whispered. “They’re also the two that stopped the witness-protection auction and were there when the initial Imposters were killed. If these Imposters are out for revenge, these two are probably in the line of fire, too.”

  Kelly nodded.

  “‘Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it,’” Noah and Holly continued. “‘If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned.’”

  Contemned, Liam thought. In other words, it was contemptible to trade worldly possessions for love. And what had he traded for love? A career? A job? His father had spent his childhood drilling into him that close relationships and a career taking out bad guys just didn’t mix. But during the past year, Liam had watched the other three detectives on his team, and the people they were now marrying, give up so much for each other. And Liam hadn’t even been willing to drive to Kelly’s door and see for himself that she’d moved on for someone else.

  “Have you ever wished for all that?” Kelly whispered. “A marriage, a family, kids?”

  “Never,” Liam admitted. “Not even once. To be honest, once I was told you’d moved on without me, and we disappeared from each other’s lives, the thought of marriage and kids never crossed my mind again.”

  “Because of your job?” she asked.

  “Because of you,” Liam said. “Because losing you hurt so much I didn’t even know if my stupid broken heart was even capable of beating again.”

  He watched as her lips parted, then he looked down at their hands.

  “I’ve been shot,” he said. “Too many times. I’ve been stabbed, punched and kicked. My nose has been broken. I’ve had a concussion and been in a medically induced coma. I’ve faced down way too many rooms full of killers. And somehow, none of that ever scared me off going right back into another undercover case. I never even hesitated. I guess I was just wired that way.”

  Then he pulled his hand away from hers, feeling their fingers brush against each other as they parted.

  “But losing you was a one-and-done thing for me,” he admitted. “It was the worst thing I’d ever gone through and I never wanted to feel it again.”

  Everyone stood and the room burst into song. The service was ending. He touched Kelly’s arm, guiding her to follow him as he dropped to the floor so that anyone looking up while leaving wouldn’t spot them. She sat cross-legged and he sat with his back to the wedding, facing her.

  “I told myself and anyone else who would listen that I was married to my job,” Liam said. “But maybe, if I’m honest, it was always you.”

  “It was always you for me, too,” she said.

  Below them he could hear people shuffling out of the church. Kelly leaned forward and her hand brushed his jaw. He couldn’t imagine ever trusting anyone else to touch his face like that. His fingers ran up into her hair.

  Then he kissed her. Despite the fact he was still in no place for a relationship, their lives were uncertain and she’d be leaving his life as soon as Renner texted her back, he let his lips linger on hers and his hand reach for hers. Here alone in the church balcony, surrounded by the smells of wood and candles, old books and flowers, it was just him and Kelly. And he wasn’t about to miss what could be his last chance to hold her the way his foolish heart had longed to since he’d first laid eyes on her back on the docks.

  They broke the kiss, but didn’t pull away. Instead they stayed there, with Kelly’s head on Liam’s shoulder and his arms around her as they listened to the final person leave, and then the lights switched off. Only then did they both end the hug and stand. They walked down the staircase in silence, as if both their hearts were heavy with words neither of them knew how to speak, then stepped out the side door, into the cold. The door clicked shut behind them. Pale, barren fields covered in snow spread out ahead of them.

  “Ready to head back to the apartment, meet up with my team and plan our way out of this?” Liam asked.

  But before Kelly could answer, he heard the sound of someone running. Instinctively, Liam turned back toward the church. Kelly’s hand was already on the handle of the door they’d just gone through. Her eyes met his. “It’s locked!”

  “Liam!” A figure dashed around the corner. And Liam blinked. It was Seth. The hacker’s form was swamped in a puffy, hooded coat, and a ski hat was pulled down over his shaggy head.

  “Seth!” Liam said. “Hey, what are you doing here? Why does the television think you’re an Imposter?”

  “Long story.” Seth was panting so hard he had to bend over to catch his breath. “I’ve got a car. It’s parked down the street. You guys have to come with me. Now.”

  “No!” Kelly said, saying the word before Liam could. “We’ve got to go back to the apartment and get Pip.”

  “You can’t.” Seth shook his head. His eyes were pained and he was still gasping for breath. “You’ve got to come with me. Now. No time to explain.”

  “Why?” Liam asked. He reached out and put a hand on Seth’s shoulder. The hacker flinched under the touch. “Stop, take a deep breath, calm down and tell me what’s going on.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” Kelly said. Her arms crossed. “Not without a real good explanation.”

  He heard the cars before he saw them, two expensive-looking black sedans—they pulled up on either side, blocking them in. Armed and masked men stepped out of both si
des, wearing not only the same black Imposter masks, but also, incongruously, the same colored eye patches they had when taking people hostage on the boat. Kelly’s hand grabbed his. The door was locked, their backs were against the wall, they were outnumbered and surrounded on both sides. There was nothing for Kelly to hide behind. Not this time. If shooting broke out there was no way to keep her out of the line of fire.

  Help me, Lord! What do I do? How do I get her out of here safely?

  But it was the look of guilt in Seth’s eyes that scared him most of all.

  “Liam, I’m sorry,” Seth gasped. “They—they were waiting in the alley beside the bookstore.”

  Horror rose up inside Liam. “What did you do?”

  Then as he watched, Seth turned and faced the masked men.

  “Well, I did it!” Seth called, almost theatrically, despite the fact he was still rasping from being out of breath. “I led you to them. Now where’s my money? I told you, if you want the credit for this one, I’m not letting you have it for free.”

  “You led them to us?” Anger radiated through Kelly’s voice as it rose to a hiss and Liam suspected that despite being surrounded by weapons, it was only the slight pressure of Liam’s own hand on her wrist that kept her from lunging at Seth.

  “Yeah, let’s go with that.” Seth stepped forward, glancing at the masked men flanking them on either side. His chin rose. “No hard feelings, but you know I was never a true part of your team. You never respected me like you did the others or let me forget my past. And now with everyone going off to their own thing, what was going to happen to me? I’m just supposed to go back to a life of witness protection? I had nothing before I joined your team. Law enforcement had even banned me from using a computer or going online, until you and your buddies came along and convinced me to help you solve crime.”

  Liam remembered all too well. Seth’s life had been not much more than glorified house arrest when they’d invited him to join their team. And while his heart told him there was no way Seth would betray them and there had to be a good explanation for everything, he could still hear the tremor of truth moving through Seth’s words.