Cold Case Pursuit

by Dana Mentink

Penny appeared to be trying to smother a giggle.

  “My mom’s not too subtle, huh?”

  “I think she was hoping you had a date. I take it that’s not a frequent occurrence.”

  He sighed and got out the salad bowl, fishing in the fridge for lettuce, tomatoes and carrots. “No. Dating is not on my agenda. I told her I have my hands full with Rain, but she won’t accept that.” He paused. “She feels bad. Her last matchmaking effort resulted in me marrying a woman who left two days after Rain was born, so our track record is terrible, anyway.”

  The giggle died away. “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “It was a mess, of course, but I’m coming to realize that it was for the best. If Diane stuck around, she would have resented it and passed that feeling on to Rain. I wouldn’t ever want Rain to feel like she was unwanted.” He froze. “I... I’m sorry. I’m sure that’s not how your mother felt.” Blockhead move, Ty.

  To his great relief, she smiled. “It’s okay. I’ve had a lot of years to puzzle it out and I like to think my mom loved me the only way she could, even if it wasn’t the way I wanted or needed.”

  He nodded. “I get it. My dad loved me, too, I suppose, but he was an unhappy guy, never satisfied with anything or anyone. Mom said she wouldn’t ever hold it against him since he gave her two sons. Diane gave me Rain, so I’ll always be grateful for that.” A memory of Diane flicked across his senses, her blue-black hair fanning out across the hospital pillow.

  Something in her expression when she’d been handed Rain after the delivery had finally hammered home the truth, even though he hadn’t allowed himself to believe it then. He’d been so certain that she would react like he had. Tears had run down his face and his hands had shaken so badly he could almost not support the perfect life that had just emerged into the world. His daughter, a perfect baby, an undeniable delivery straight from God.

  Diane had looked over her daughter. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” she’d asked.

  He’d only been able to nod, the emotions stripping away his speech.

  She’s ours, he’d wanted to say until her expression stopped him.

  She’s yours, Diane said with her eyes.

  And that’s when the terrible realization began to sink in. Diane was not going to parent this baby. Further, she was not going to stay with him, either. Nothing had changed in that hospital delivery room, for her, anyway.

  He found himself saying the words aloud. “I was sure Diane would fall in love with Rain once she held her, like I did. I think she was just too young to...” He trailed off.

  “To be a good mother?” she finished softly.

  Why was he always saying some dumb thing when he was around her? He heaved out a deep breath. “I guess that’s what I told myself. The blaming hurt less than admitting she didn’t love me or Rain enough to stick around. In retrospect, I wasn’t the best husband. I didn’t try to understand her very much and I worked around the clock.”

  He recalled one particularly nasty argument they’d had when she’d spent several nights in a row out with her friends. “I need a life, Tyler,” she’d insisted. “My friends understand me better than you.” But had he ever tried to get to know her friends? Join in their activities? He sighed.

  “She said I didn’t know how to have fun and maybe she was right. I know I could have tried harder.”

  Had he really admitted that? He’d never really formalized the thoughts until that moment, but it was true. It wasn’t solely Diane’s age that killed their relationship. He could have—should have—done better.

  The divorce was wrapped around with feelings of intense shame. He didn’t like to think of the conversations they’d had, the way he’d pretty much begged Diane to stay. The love had died on her end long before it ebbed away for him.

  “Fun looks different for different people,” Penny said.

  He looked for judgment in her expression, but he didn’t find it there. Penny was young, too, but he could already see she had plenty of maternal instinct. It shone in her smile and the soft brown of her eyes. His heart thunked against his ribs.

  “Does Diane have much contact with Rain?”

  “No. She sent a card on Rain’s first birthday, but other than that, she hasn’t checked in once. I haven’t changed my cell phone or email addresses because Rain is going to want contact with her mother at some point. Frankly, I’m dreading the day I have to explain the situation to her. How am I going to tell her that her mother didn’t want her?”

  “You love her. You’ll help her understand it wasn’t about her. Some very kind people in my life helped me to see that.”

  Something about her sweet smile made him want to press a kiss to her lips. He was dumbfounded by his own thoughts. Penny was a colleague, Bradley’s sister, and what’s more he was supposed to be keeping her safe, not admiring her character or thinking about kisses. He stood there, addled, but she’d already begun to wash the lettuce for the salad.

  Grabbing some paper napkins, he slapped them on the table. While the lasagna was cooling, the three of them gathered around the coffee table to build a block tower. It didn’t get very high as Rain knocked it over once with her elbow and Scrappy did the same with his tail. They settled for making a block corral for Babby to sit in.

  As Penny and Rain added the finishing touches, he stood to stretch the kinks out of his back. He went to the window and gazed down at the busy street below. It was almost fully dark outside. Somewhere out there, Randall was plotting to kill. He looked back at Penny and Rain bathed in the glow of lamplight. Their giggles filled the room with sweet music that had been missing for a long time. One false move, one careless moment, and Randall would snatch her life away. Though he knew there was really no chance anyone could see into his apartment, he pulled the curtain closed, anyway.

  It gave him the sensation that the three of them were cocooned in the soft light. If he could only prolong the time, keep the thought of Randall far away from this happy moment. Penny had watched him close the curtains, then quickly refocused on the blocks. Randall would never be out of Penny’s thoughts until Tyler put him away forever. After that, would she be ready for marriage? Would he ever be again?

  Unsettled, he went about serving up the lasagna and pouring ice water into glasses and milk into a sippy cup for Rain. The dogs had been fed and lounged nearby. He guided Penny into a seat and slid Rain’s chair, with the attached booster setup, close. Babby was given an honorary seat and even his own plate and spoon for his imaginary meal.

  “What is Babby going to eat?” Penny asked.

  “Candy,” Rain said with a maternal nod.

  “Nature’s perfect food,” Tyler said.

  Penny grinned. “Babby gets to start with dessert and skip the vegetables. That’s a pretty sweet deal.”

  As he began to say grace, the happiness of this family scene, so long missing from his life, clogged his throat. Embarrassed, he found he could not continue.

  Penny smoothly finished the grace, and Rain added her own vigorous “Amen!”

  He sent her a nonverbal thank-you and she acknowledged with a quiet smile.

  He found himself staring at Penny as he ate his meal. Was there really a loving, sweet red-haired beauty sitting across from him, chatting with his daughter? She seemed so interested in what he had to say, in helping Rain to manage her dinner, almost like she belonged there. The cold note of reason intruded on his happiness. She wasn’t here because of him...it was merely a safe place to land until her brother came and fetched her. She was here for protection, not because she was looking to get to know him and Rain any further. He swallowed wrong and coughed into his napkin.

  Keep things cordial and professional. It was sage advice, but as the evening wore on, he found himself thoroughly enjoying her company. When the meal was over, he was sorry. He firmly declined her offer to help wash dishes.

 
“No thanks, I got this. I happen to be a master dishwasher even if I can’t cook a lick. Rain looks like she’s angling for a playmate. Feel free to defend yourself if she tries to drag you into the play area.” He gestured to a corner partitioned off by a folding screen. “Don’t feel obligated. I am making it my life’s mission that my daughter will learn the meaning of the word no.”

  Penny laughed. “I’m sure a bit of playtime with me won’t upset your entire disciplinary agenda.”

  Penny and Rain trundled off to the play area with the two dogs. Soon he heard Rain snap on her kiddie music player and the clamor of cheerful music started up. While he washed and dried the dishes, his mind drifted back to Randall, who was even now making plans to murder the gentle woman who was playing dress-up with his daughter. He smacked a plate into the dishwasher harder than he’d meant.

  Not gonna happen.

  Bradley tapped on his door as he was drying off the counter. Tyler let him in.

  Bradley inhaled with a look of rapture. “Man, it smells good in here.”

  Tyler laughed. “No thanks to me. It’s my mom’s lasagna.”

  “I figured you didn’t make it if it smells this great.”

  “I will pretend I didn’t hear that. Have some.” He cut a square, plated it and handed it over along with a fork.

  Bradley ate a massive bite and rolled his eyes. “Excellent. Where’s Penny?”

  He pointed to the corner. Another song about ducks and frogs began. “It doubles as the playroom.”

  Bradley nodded as he chewed, keeping his voice low. “Penny’s a natural with children. I tell her that, but...” He stopped.

  “But?”

  “She’s just not sure of herself. Thinks she wouldn’t be a good mom because of our own parents. Scared it’s in the DNA or something.” He shrugged. “Never mind. I shouldn’t be talking about her business. Thanks for pitching in while I was tied up.”

  “No problem. Happy to help.” He would not tell Bradley exactly how happy he felt at having his sister around. “What did you find out today?”

  He forked in another mouthful. “Nothing about Randall, but I talked to Lani on my way here. That guy Joel Carey says he’s got a photo that will prove Brooke and her pups are his.”

  Ownership of the gorgeous stray German shepherd and her pups had been a source of controversy since they’d been rescued from an abandoned building site. The pups had become a favorite of everyone in the department. Brooke, the mama dog, and her clan had been getting meticulous care at the police veterinary center. The whole unit had fallen in love with the adorable, precocious puppies. Tyler had even taken Rain to see them.

  Joel Carey insisted he was their rightful owner. He was mistrusted by all the cops, including Tyler. Carey’s timing was suspicious since he came forward right after a heartwarming news piece aired featuring the dogs. The dog was named Rory, he claimed, and she’d run away when a fire broke out at his place. The fire had conveniently destroyed all of Carey’s ownership records about the striking animal.

  “I still don’t buy it,” Tyler said. “Carey’s just looking to breed or sell them to make some money. We can’t just hand them over.”

  “If Carey produces a photo of himself with Brooke, we’re not gonna have much choice.” Bradley wolfed down another bite of cheesy noodles. “Tell your mom I’m going to name my firstborn after her.”

  “That will be dicey if you have to call your son Francine.”

  “Good point. I’ll hope for girls. What’d you and Noelle find on Ivan Holland?”

  “Nothing concrete, but we’re getting closer. He’s in the area and he’s getting desperate as his people turn on him. Matter of time.” He waited until Bradley swallowed and addressed the elephant in the room. “Eden is working on the text he sent Penny, but...”

  Bradley’s eyes darkened. His tone hardened, like it had when Tyler had called to fill him in on the newest threatening text. “But she’s going to get nothing, just like the last time.”

  “Randall might be playing with you and Penny. Maybe he’s moved out of the area. It would be smart after what he pulled at your house. Could be he’s just bluffing about trying again.”

  Bradley set down the plate a tad too hard. “You and I both know he’s not going to stop. Getting her a new phone number is like putting a bandage on an arterial bleed. Have we got extra eyes on Lucy Emery, in case Randall is the one who took out her family, too?”

  “Nate’s arranged that with Sarge.” He paused. “What does your gut say, Bradley? Do you think Randall also killed the Emerys?”

  “I don’t know, but that’s secondary at the moment. We have to get our hands on him. Now.”

  Tyler nodded. “Copy that.”

  Bradley followed him to the play corner. Tyler’s breath caught. Penny sat on the beanbag chair, Rain curled up in her lap. Penelope’s arms were around Rain. Both were sound asleep. Dusty and Scrappy snored away, as well, sprawled on the throw rug. Scrappy’s paws were thrust up in the air. He was dressed in a pink tutu. Dusty snored away, wearing a pair of Rain’s dress-up butterfly wings.

  Bradley chuckled. “You’d never catch King wearing dress-up clothes.”

  But Tyler had eyes only for Penny and Rain.

  Emotion unfurled deep inside him, like a plant blooming after a long-awaited rain shower. His daughter and Penny were joined together, as if they were meant to be that way. But surely not. She was a deeply wounded woman, determined to hold together the unraveling strands of her life. And he was an older, world-weary single father, lacking the courage to risk his heart to make another family.

  He took a picture with his phone of the two sleeping on the beanbag.

  Bradley sighed. “All four of them sound asleep. Too bad I have to take Penny home.”

  Too bad, he agreed.

  SIX

  Penny slept fitfully, slogging through the Saturday morning chores at their Sheepshead Bay home. She missed seeing Tyler and Dusty in the backyard, but they were back at work. It’s Bradley’s turn to babysit me, she thought glumly. At least she required less supervision than Scrappy, who had already unspooled an entire roll of toilet paper all over the bathroom and down the hall. His irrepressible curiosity reminded her of Rain. A flush crept up her cheeks when she remembered how she’d fallen asleep in Tyler’s apartment, right there on the beanbag with his daughter.

  Way to show him you’re a competent adult. She’d been awakened by her brother’s gentle patting on her shoulder, and Tyler had then rolled Rain into his arms and carried his daughter to her bedroom. Why couldn’t she have stayed awake a bit longer?

  Still, the evening had been cozy and perfect, a shared meal and interesting conversation. Astonishing, how relaxed she’d felt. How long had it been since she’d enjoyed the company of a man to that degree? She did not date often, and when she did, she inevitably found a reason to break it off when the prickly panic began to creep in, the low whispers that told her she was not ready to let things progress any deeper. Marriage and family were not in her immediate future.

  The squawk of a bird flying over the yard made her start. Did she even have a future anymore? With a killer waiting for his chance?

  She slapped a slice of bread into the toaster to distract herself from the unsettling musings and poured a cup of kibble into Scrappy’s bowl. “You are supposed to eat kibble, not peanut-butter sandwiches or toilet paper.” He stared at her fixedly, but when nothing more enticing was added to the mix, he set about gobbling it up.

  The house phone rang, a telemarketer she figured, but it kept right on ringing until she finally picked up the call.

  “Penelope?” The quivering voice made her press the receiver closer.

  “Mrs. Lawson? Is that you?”

  “Yes, honey.”

  Penny lost the next few words until her neighbor got to “...flooding.” The word was followed by
sniffling. The elderly lady in the brownstone next door was a widow who rarely ventured out unless it was to deliver a loaf of her freshly baked cinnamon bread to Penny and Bradley. Widowed five years prior, she was a virtual hermit. Penny’s heart sped up at the anxiety in Mrs. Lawson’s voice. “You’ve got a flood, Mrs. Lawson?”

  Bradley entered the kitchen, attention diverted from the coffee machine by her phone conversation. King regarded Scrappy with a watchful eye. He was tolerant of the mutt, but not completely accepting yet. Scrappy was smart enough not to challenge King in any way. She put the call on speaker so Bradley could hear.

  “I was just drawing a bath in the tub to soak my feet in some Epsom salt, but the faucet handle snapped off and I can’t shut off the water. I tried to pull out the plug, but I can’t reach down that far without falling.”

  The sniffling grew more pronounced.

  “On my way,” Bradley said.

  “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Lawson. My brother will come right over, okay? He’s a whiz at fixing things. It will be all right, don’t you worry.”

  Bradley fetched his toolbox, strode to the door and disabled the alarm.

  “Stay here,” he said to Penny. “Bolt the door behind me.”

  “I will.” She dutifully turned the lock after he left.

  Ten seconds later, the phone rang once more.

  “I’m so sorry to call again,” Mrs. Lawson said, her voice quavering. Penny had to press the phone closer to her ear as the woman continued. “But can you bring a tarp? I want to protect the legs of my oak dresser. The water is flooding the tub and soaking the carpet.” Penny could hear Mrs. Lawson’s quiet sobbing.

  “Yes, of course. Be careful not to slip, okay?” She peered out their living-room window. “Bradley is on his way up the stairs right now, I can see him at your door. I’ll get that tarp.” She wasn’t about to disobey Bradley’s direct order, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to fetch the tarp from the cellar and text him. He could return and snag it after he’d turned off the water.

  King would not follow her down into the basement. He was staring out the window, tracking his partner’s every move. She knew Scrappy would be at her heels all the way down the steep, narrow stairs, so she let him out into the backyard. He shot outside, rump wiggling at the thought of a romp in the yard. She locked the sliding door before pulling her sweater more tightly around herself, then went to the cellar steps and flipped on the light. The cold interior smelled of mold and old cardboard. The darkness seemed to penetrate her body. Goose bumps rippled her arms as she peered down the staircase. For a moment she froze on the threshold, breathing hard.