by Laura Scott
THREE
For the second time in less than twelve hours, Eden watched the bomb squad arrive. Minutes later, Gavin Sutherland pulled up, the tall dark-haired sergeant’s grim expression appearing to be carved from granite.
“Max, fill me in.”
Eden listened as Max explained about the knife attack at the subway station, and how his K-9 partner, Sam, had alerted on Eden’s apartment door and again, here in front of the Secret Santa package.
“You have a theory?” Gavin asked.
“Yes.” Max glanced at her, then back to their boss. “I believe the guy who stabbed her must have been working with bombs at some point and still had oil lingering on his fingertips when he checked out Eden’s apartment.”
“You think there’s a bomb in the package left for Eden?” Penny asked, her eyes wide.
“Maybe.” Max blew on his cupped hands in an effort to keep warm. “We’ll know soon enough.”
“We have the bomb secured,” someone from the bomb squad called out. “Looks like an explosive device was hidden in a snow globe. We have it in a container for transport.”
Eden went still. She collected snow globes of various shapes and sizes. A personal fact that a stranger wouldn’t know. The gift had to have been sent by someone who knew her personally.
“If you can get prints, let us know,” Gavin directed. “And I want the building cleared before we head back inside.”
“I’ll take Sam,” Max offered. “Seek, Sam. Seek!”
Swallowing her instinctive protest, Eden reminded herself that Max and Sam had a job to do. Their recently established Brooklyn K-9 Unit was housed in a beautiful limestone three-story building, which had been the former home of another police precinct that had outgrown the space and moved into a larger building. Adjacent to the unit was another structure housing the K-9 training center and kennels. It was upsetting to know that the one place she’d always felt safe had been tainted with a bomb.
This guy had gone too far.
Max and Sam returned fifteen minutes later. “All clear.”
“Good.” Gavin took the lead heading back inside. Eden and Penny followed. “I want a staff meeting within the hour.”
“Will do,” Penny said, returning Max’s jacket, then resuming her post behind the desk. “I’ll call everyone in.”
“I need to review the subway video,” Eden said to Max. “Maybe we can learn something before the meeting.”
“I know.” His voice was gentle, the way it had been last night. His kindness helped keep her grounded. “I’ll get Sam taken care of at the kennels and join you as soon as possible.”
With a terse nod, she turned away and headed to the third floor of the precinct where her workspace was located.
Still shaken by the snow-globe bomb intended for her, she forced herself to get to work. She had several stacked computer screens at her workstation, and her desk was one that could raise and lower so she could sit or stand behind it.
She pulled up the footage from the front of the precinct. The same man dressed in black could be seen coming up to the station, carrying a small brown package, leaving a minute later. He kept his head down, his coat collar hiding his face. The drop-off had taken place less than two minutes after she left. Suppressing a chill, she then pulled the subway video from the past twelve hours as Max joined her.
He came up to stand behind her, leaning over her shoulder to see the video, making her conscious of her petite stature. Her head barely reached his chin. “Are you starting with the attack?”
“No, I viewed the front door of the station first. See?” She gestured to one of the screens. “You can see he drops off the package but there’s no good view of his face.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I know. This screen—” she gestured to the next one over “—has the video up from the subway station. I didn’t go back to find the guy dressed in black, because it seems obvious now he knew where I was headed as I left the precinct.”
“I hope we find him.” Max’s sandalwood scent seemed to surround her as she played the video from two different camera angles, each displayed on their own screen. She slowed the video down when she caught a glimpse of her cheerful red coat.
For long moments neither of them spoke, their eyes glued to the screen. When a figure dressed in black came through the turnstile, she hit the pause button.
“That’s him.” Her voice sounded strained, even to her own ears. “You can see how he has a black hat covering his hair, and the collar of his leather coat turned up and is wearing a black scarf, just like in the video outside the precinct. I can’t even tell the color of his skin from this angle.”
“Yeah, he’s clearly trying to hide his identity.”
She stared at the grainy photograph. The subway cameras weren’t top of the line, but adequate for most things. Tayron Lee had a lean build, and she couldn’t tell from the picture on the screen if that was him or not. She resumed the video.
The man dressed in black hesitated near the turnstile for several long moments, keeping his head down the entire time. When the train arrived, he made his move, crossing over toward her. His gloved hand came out of his pocket, and she could see the silver blade of the knife.
“Pause it there,” Max said. “Zoom in on his face.”
Tearing her gaze from the knife, she did as he requested, slowing the video frame by frame in an attempt to get the best view of his face.
The guy kept his head tipped down, almost as if he knew where the cameras were located. As she moved the video forward, she saw the moment his arm lashed out, the knife going into her red coat.
There was a second of nothing, then he jerked the knife out and turned away. Yet there still wasn’t a good view of his face, even from the second camera angle.
She played the video until the guy was out of camera view. “Give me a moment to find the street video to pick up which direction he went.”
She played with the video a bit more, bringing the street view up on a third screen. The guy headed left instead of to the right, and all they saw was his back as he ran away.
“Well, that was a bust.”
Max’s hands came up to lightly grasp her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Eden.”
She felt ridiculously close to tears, which wasn’t like her in the least. She forced confidence in her tone. “Sorry for what? I’ll find him. There has to be a camera somewhere in the city that captured his face. He can’t know where every camera on the street is located.”
“If anyone can do it, you can.” Max’s hands tightened momentarily before dropping away. She instantly missed his warm touch. “We need to get to the staff meeting soon, but I want you to promise me you won’t go anywhere alone.”
She twisted around to look up at him. “Well, I can promise to try, but I can’t stay here forever.”
His blue gaze didn’t waver. “Call me if you need to leave. In fact—” he glanced down at his watch “—why don’t we plan to have lunch together? We’ll head over to the 646 Diner. I’m in the mood for one of their cheeseburgers.”
Her pulse skipped, but she knew better than to think of this as some sort of date. Max was only trying to lighten the mood after the horrible start to the day. “Sounds good. I’ll see if anyone else is able to join us.”
For a moment she thought she saw a flash of disappointment in his eyes, but it was gone so quickly she figured it was nothing more than her imagination. “The more the merrier.”
Eden watched as Max headed out the door, willing her heart to return to its normal rhythm. First breakfast, and now lunch. She gave herself a mental shake. Completely ridiculous to be so excited about having lunch at the 646 Diner. It was a cop hangout, so even more of a reason it wasn’t a date.
Eden turned back to her computer screens to continue searching the video. It felt a bit like searching thr
ough a sandy beach for a diamond, but she was determined to get a picture of the assailant.
The stabbing and the snow-globe bomb were more than enough. She needed this guy behind bars before Christmas.
* * *
After leaving Eden, Max went straight to Sergeant Gavin Sutherland’s office. He knocked, then strode in without waiting for a response.
“I want Eden protected.”
“And you couldn’t wait for the staff meeting to bring this up?” Gavin had been promoted from the NYC K-9 Command Unit in Queens about a year ago, when they’d created this unit in Brooklyn. Max found Gavin to be a good boss and was thankful for the opportunity to work with him.
Max knew he was overstepping his bounds but pushed forward. “We just watched the video. The guy who left the snow-globe bomb is the same one that stabbed her at the subway.”
“And you think the perp is this Tayron Lee character?”
“Possibly. I checked his background. He has a couple of disorderly conduct tickets, last one about a year ago, but no arrests.” He hesitated, then added, “I’m concerned about gang connections. Tayron likes to be called Tiger and he calls Eden’s brother, Ricky, Rat. Some gangs use nicknames to hide their true identities.”
Gavin scowled. “I don’t like the thought of Eden’s brother being involved.”
“I know.” He’d been torn about mentioning it, but his concern about Eden’s safety overruled the possible conflict of interest. Another reason he hadn’t waited for the staff meeting. “They lost their father when Eden was eighteen, her older brother, twenty-one. Ricky dropped out of college, but Eden excelled, skipping a grade and graduating early. As I’m sure you know, NYPD recruited her from college for her technical skills. She feels working here is a way to honor her father’s memory. She would never do anything to compromise her job here.”
“Her dad was a great cop, served the city well for twenty years.” Gavin tapped his pen on the surface of his desk. “Kent Chang was a straight shooter, and we know there isn’t anyone who can replace Eden on our team. But we could ask Danielle Kowalski, the technical specialist from the Queens unit, to pick up the investigation now that we know Eden is a target.”
Removing Eden from the investigation would be best since it was difficult to remain objective when family was involved, but Max hesitated. “I don’t think that will go over well with her. I mean, it’s her life on the line and she’s the best one to view and enhance any video we find on this guy. As a witness, she would be the one to identify him. Besides, she already suspects Tayron Lee. No reason to think her view will be clouded by the fact the guy is her brother’s friend. In fact, she seemed happy to have him questioned.”
Gavin didn’t speak for a long moment as if weighing the pros and cons. “Okay, she can work the case for now. But if we find out Tayron is involved, then we shift the work to Danielle in the Queens unit, okay?”
“Sounds good.” Max tried not to let his relief show. “In the meantime, we need to keep Eden protected.”
“You’ve been doing a good job of that so far. May as well keep on it.” Gavin glanced at his watch. “Let’s head over to the conference room. The others will be joining us shortly.”
“Okay.” He hadn’t really expected Gavin to keep him on the job of protection detail yet couldn’t deny the overwhelming sense of relief. The idea of Eden being in danger was bad enough. Putting her safety in someone else’s hands would have been even more difficult. The Brooklyn K-9 Unit had a slew of very talented officers and detectives. They were all more than capable to protect Eden.
But this one was personal. After secretly admiring her for so long, he didn’t like knowing she was in danger.
When the entire team was assembled, Gavin filled everyone in on the recent events. He finished the meeting by explaining that Max would be on protection duty for Eden. He felt Eden’s gaze on him but didn’t dare meet her eyes.
“Sarge?” He waited until Gavin glanced at him. “What about the subway patrols? I worked extra last night after we received word about a ring of subway robberies, but it was fairly quiet.” Until the knife attack on Eden.
Gavin’s gaze turned thoughtful. “Belle works the subway, too, and if we get another threat of some kind, we’ll find someone else to watch over Eden.”
Max nodded. “Thanks.”
After the staff meeting, Max went over to the training center to get Sam. His partner was overjoyed to see him and eager to get to work.
He and Sam returned to the Bay Ridge Avenue subway station, retracing the perp’s steps from the night before. He’d wanted to kick himself for going to the right last night in an attempt to grab the guy. At the time it had seemed the most logical direction, but he’d been wrong.
The attacker was smart enough to avoid taking the less likely route to escape. Heading left kept him in view of the subway entrance longer, rather than going to the right to slink around the corner. A calculated risk that had paid off.
Max paused outside the Bay Ridge Avenue subway station and looked down the street in the direction the perp had taken. There were several bodegas and shops, any of which could have been used as an escape route. If they were still open at ten thirty at night.
He took Sam down the street, making frequent stops along the way, taking note of which ones were open late. When he realized it was more than he’d anticipated, he called Eden. “Do me a favor and look at the video of your assailant leaving the subway station. Can you see if he might have ducked into one of the shops along the avenue?”
“I’m looking at that section of the video right now. It’s not as easy to see him as I’d hoped. I’m trying to pick him up with another camera.”
He could hear her fingers clicking on the keyboard. He continued walking, trying to figure out which way the guy may have gone.
“I have the next camera up but haven’t seen him yet.” Her tone was laced with frustration. “It’s like he disappeared into thin air.”
“He had to have gone through one of the stores to duck out the back.” He swept his gaze over the area. “These places look decent, no indication they’d house a criminal.”
“I’ll keep looking and will let you know if I find him.”
“Okay.” He made the rounds at every business that was open the night before, asking about the guy dressed in black and requesting video footage. By the time he finished, he was cold and hungry. It wasn’t quite time for lunch, but knowing Sam needed a break, too, he headed back to the precinct.
After placing Sam in one of the kennels, he made his way to Eden’s workstation. “Find anything?”
She turned to glance at him, her expression weary. “Not yet. I don’t understand it. He had to have gone somewhere.”
“Yeah.” Her spicy scent was difficult to ignore as he joined her at the workstation. “I questioned ten business owners and looked at their video feeds but haven’t found any sign of him.”
“No one disappears in New York City.” She let out a frustrated sigh. “I really thought I’d have something by now.”
“Hey, it’s early. We’ll get him.” He tried to sound reassuring but had a bad feeling that whoever this guy was, he was knowledgeable enough to have planned an escape route that kept him off the radar. “How well does Tayron know the area?”
She looked thoughtful. “I’m not sure where he grew up, but he went to the same high school Ricky and I attended. They both went to college, too, but never finished.” Her voice held a note of bitterness.
“And you grew up in Dyker Heights?”
She nodded. “Why?”
“I’m just trying to get a feel for the guy.” He cleared his throat. “According to Clayborn, there’s still no sign of Tayron.”
Eden’s lips tightened and she picked up her cell phone. “Ricky, it’s me. I need you to call me, okay? It’s important.”
“Do you think he�
��ll return your call?”
“I don’t know.” Her dark gaze was troubled. “Lately, he hasn’t been returning my calls as quickly as he used to.”
Max hesitated. “Could he be doing something illegal?”
She opened her mouth as if to instinctively deny the allegation, then hesitated. She nodded. “Yes, unfortunately. Ricky took my dad’s death hard, and I believe Tayron took advantage of that, steering him down a dangerous path. Maybe he wants to get rid of me, because I’m trying to pull Ricky back from whatever he’s mixed up in.”
He could tell the idea distressed her and had to hold himself back from taking her into his arms. “Hey, I know it’s early, but why don’t we head over to the diner? Do you know if anyone else is able to join us?”
A dark flush stained her cheeks and he wondered why she felt embarrassed. “Penny said she’s waiting for Tyler to get back to her, and if he does, they might be able to make it. Unfortunately, the rest of the team are spread out across the borough.”
“Hey, it’s not a big deal.” He was secretly pleased to have her to himself for a while. “Looks like you could use a break, no need to wait for Penny and Tyler.”
“A break would be good.” She rubbed her eyes, then shut down her computer. “Are you bringing Sam with us?”
He was pleased she seemed to care about his K-9 partner. “Might as well since the guy who owns the diner allows our K-9s inside.”
“Okay.” She turned toward the door and reached for her coat. He took it from her and held it up so she could slip her arms into the sleeves. “Thanks.” Her voice was so quiet he had to lean forward to hear.
“You’re welcome.” Once they reached the first floor, he briefly left to fetch Sam from the kennels while Eden promised to wait for him at the front desk.
He hurried back with Sam just as Penny hung up the phone, jotting down some notes. “Hey, Penny, we’re heading over to the 646 for lunch.”
Penny nodded. “I just spoke to Tyler. He’s running late. No need to wait. You two should eat while you can.”
