“My cousin Troy told me this morning,” he said simply.
“You could have warned me.”
Serial killer. The words replayed again in her thoughts as they had since Travis had spoken them. Like headlines from a dozen news channels and newspapers at once. She wasn’t ready to talk to the police again. How was she supposed to answer questions without giving away suspicions she’d harbored since her father’s call after his release from jail? What kind of daughter was so quick to believe that claims about her own father were true? But how could she not believe them now? Her father had vanished from her life, and the man police and newspapers described didn’t sound like the man she remembered at all. As if it wasn’t enough that she was still mourning her mother’s death, now he was gone, too.
“I hadn’t gotten that far.” He stood and shifted to face his office door.
Tatiana frowned at him, though she’d already imagined the police descending on her at the office that day. Her head swam as she lifted from the chair, so she steadied herself by resting her hand on the desk as she scooted past the guest chairs to stand next to him.
“Maybe you should sit.”
Travis was watching her too closely, just as he had been since he’d delivered the news about the second murder. He’d guessed that she was not okay, though she’d tried to continue the meeting in a business-as-usual fashion. Nothing was usual about the events at Colton Plastics that day.
“No. I’ve got this,” she said after a pause that had probably stretched too long.
The police had her at a disadvantage. They’d been aware of the accusations against her dad for weeks. Not minutes, like her. No way she would meet them sitting down, even if she had to use the desk to stay upright.
With a click, the door swung open. Jan admitted two men wearing suit jackets, one with a tie, one without. Tatiana recognized the more casual of the two by his short black hair, light brown skin and a scruff on his chin, but she’d never met the clean-shaven guy with a light complexion and dark hair.
“Miss Davison?”
The first law enforcement agent stepped forward, but Travis surprised her by edging between them. Usually, she would have been furious that a man had even tried to defend her. She lived and worked in the engineering world, where she usually went toe to toe with a half dozen mansplainers before lunch, but right now she was grateful that someone at least had her back.
“Please allow me to introduce Tatiana Davison, our new co-CEO at Colton Plastics.” He gestured to the man standing closest to them. “Tatiana, I’d like you to meet FBI special agent Bryce Colton. My cousin.”
She nodded rather than to have to shake his hand.
“And this is Detective Troy Colton, of the Grave Gulch PD. Also my cousin.”
Troy extended his hand, but when she nodded again instead, he lowered it.
“We’ve met,” she said.
Travis looked back and forth between them. “Oh. Right. From the other interview.”
“We were in the same class at Grave Gulch High, too,” she told him.
Just the thought of that awkward first interview made her squirm. The first time her father was accused of murder. When she’d still been positive that her kind, loyal dad could never have committed such a crime.
Troy dipped his head. “Good to see you again, Miss Davison.”
“I wouldn’t call it good,” she tossed back before she could stop herself. She swallowed and then grasped onto something else Travis had said. “You’re all related?”
“Cousins. From different branches of the family, though. Troy’s dad, Geoff Colton, and Bryce’s mom, Verity, are brother and sister to my father, Frank.” Travis glanced at the two men by turns, but he wasn’t smiling. “I tried to warn you about the family business.”
“You weren’t kidding,” she said.
Travis leaned closer to Troy and spoke out of the side of his mouth. “I thought I asked you to wait for her to at least get settled in.”
“Sorry, man, ” Troy said. “We’ve got a job to do. And Chief Colton wants results now.”
As if he couldn’t wait any longer to get started, Bryce stepped around Travis.
“Miss Davison, you might not be aware, but local police have been attempting to reach you for weeks concerning the whereabouts of your father. He is wanted for questioning in the case involving the murders of Vincent Gully and Jonathan Manelli,” Bryce said. “We would like to ask you a few questions.”
“Vincent Gully? But my father was cleared—”
Troy made a sound in his throat. “Well, not cleared, exactly. Released because of missing evidence.”
Bryce picked up the story for him. “Randall Bowe, former forensic scientist for the GGPD, is wanted in connection with alleged evidence tampering in several cases, including your father’s. Bowe is currently at large.”
“There has to be a mistake.”
The expressions on the three men’s faces told her otherwise. “I’m sorry, Officers, but I didn’t know anything about a second murder until earlier today, and this is the first I’ve heard about evidence tampering.”
Tatiana had learned some other things that morning as well, though the test in the restroom seemed so long ago now. She hugged herself tighter until her chest ached from the pressure.
Troy crossed his powerful arms. “You would have if you’d returned any of the messages I left on your cell while you were overseas. The same number where we were able to reach you for an interview regarding the earlier charges. Clarke Colton left several messages as well.”
“I didn’t receive any messages.” It wasn’t technically lying to police if she never listened to them, right?
“And is this the same phone number you are using now that you have returned to Michigan?” Troy pressed.
“She said she didn’t receive them.”
Tatiana turned her head away from the officers, blinking. Had Travis lied for her, even if it was only a small point in their enormous investigation?
He gestured toward his office door. “Now if you two will excuse us, we were just settling into a budget meeting. Tatiana will have a lot of work to do to shorten the learning curve at CP. Maybe you could schedule this interview at the police department later—”
“That’s not going to work out,” Bryce said, pulling his notebook and pen out of his suit jacket pocket. “We have to speak to Miss Davison right now. We’ve already had to wait too long.”
“This is an active murder investigation,” Troy reminded him. “Impeding a witness falls under obstruction of justice, you know. It’s a crime. So, unless you want to be taken into custody yourself—”
“Fine.” Tatiana slashed both hands through the air. “I’ll answer your questions now. But you’re wasting your time talking to me when you could be following other leads. I have no idea where my father is, so I won’t be able to help you.”
The two law enforcement officers exchanged a dubious look. Bryce spoke for them both.
“Thank you, Miss Davison. Do you have an office where we can speak alone?”
“We have a conference room where you can spread out a little more,” Travis answered instead. “And, if Tatiana doesn’t mind, I would like to sit in on the interview.”
Bryce shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I agree.” Troy was staring at Travis, his brow lifted.
His cousins weren’t the only ones surprised by that suggestion. Travis had shifted backward so that he stood shoulder to shoulder with her, except his was higher. Was he trying to present a united corporate front or something? It was probably a practical decision. Whatever she said in the interview might affect Colton Plastics, after all. So why did she get the sense that he’d made the offer for her?
“Guess that’s up to her, isn’t it?” Travis said.
All three men turne
d back to her.
“I’d like my co-CEO to stay,” she said. Their relationship was more complicated than that, more than he even knew, but that descriptor was enough for now. No matter what his reason for offering, she appreciated not having to face two officers alone. “That is, if you want to talk to me during my workday. If you’d prefer a private interview, I’d be happy to stop by the police station after work.”
Again, their visitors communicated silently. Troy shrugged first, and Bryce did the same.
Troy gave Travis the kind of stare that would have cowed a lesser man, but Travis didn’t even blink.
“Do you think you can keep your mouth shut during the whole interview?” Troy asked.
Travis pressed his index finger to his lips. “I’ll be as quiet as a church mouse.”
“Those aren’t necessarily all that quiet,” Bryce chimed.
“Quieter,” Travis clarified.
“Good,” Troy said. “If you cause us trouble, we won’t have any problem arresting you. Family or no family.”
“We might have to do Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who gets to cuff you.”
Bryce’s words were light, but his smile was a tight one. All was not sunshiny in Colton family land, and the fact that Travis was defending her had brought on some of those clouds.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Travis gestured to Tatiana. “Now if you’d like to show these gentlemen to the conference room, I’ll ask Jan to bring some coffee and be right behind you.”
At that, he slid behind his desk and bent to tap a few keys on his laptop. First, he’d stood up to his own family members on her behalf, signaling he wouldn’t let them push her around. Now, he was stepping back, offering her the power position with their guests, when he would have been a far better guide through the building than she was. She couldn’t have appreciated both gestures more. As strange as it was to admit it, Colton Plastics was the one place lately where she felt safe.
“Right this way,” she said.
As Travis’s relatives, Bryce and Troy might have been more familiar with CP than she was, but she guided them with authority down the hall around the corner to the conference room. Good thing she’d spent several hours in that room when she’d visited the company, or she might have had them walking around the building, hunting for it.
“Take a seat, gentlemen.”
She indicated two chairs near the window, and then, instead of taking the spot at the head of the table, she rested her folio on the position facing them and lowered into that seat. As memories from her last police interview washed over her, she straightened in the suddenly too-hard chair, her silk blouse sticking to her sweaty back. Something seemed to have a vise grip on her lungs, refusing to allow her to take more than shallow breaths. During that first meeting with police, she’d worried that something she said might hurt her father’s case, and he would be wrongfully convicted. Now, she was torn between protecting a man who’d become a stranger to her and sharing her own suspicions.
Bryce pushed the button on his pen.
“This won’t take long. We just need you to tell us—”
The door clicked then, and Travis hurried through it, carrying his own notebook.
“What did I miss?”
“Not much in the forty-five seconds we’ve been in this room,” Troy grumbled.
“Oh, good.”
Travis’s gaze moved from the head of the table and to Tatiana’s position at the side, and he sat next to her, as she’d hoped he would.
“Now, Special Agent Colton, what were you saying you needed from me?”
At her side, Travis gave a tiny nod. The hold on her lungs decreased by tiny increments. Despite still having to face police questioning, she wouldn’t have to do it by herself this time. Someone else was on her team. She wasn’t alone. This was the first time she hadn’t felt abandoned since her father’s arrest. Well, other than when she’d been in Travis’s arms.
Just as her traitorous mind needed to forget his tender touch and his kind words from that night, she also needed to drop this naive belief that he was on her side. That his concern for her went beyond his interest in the company he’d built. Of course, he would feel obligated to support her now and help mitigate damage to the business that the news about her father would bring. He’d already been aware of the first case involving her dad, and he’d taken the risk of recommending her to his board, anyway.
She couldn’t fool herself into believing that he would continue to stand behind her position with Colton Plastics once he knew about the baby. Was that why she’d been relieved that the officers had arrived to interrupt her announcement? So that she could delay the disbelief on his face when she told him? He might be angry, too, that their protection hadn’t worked. But the most difficult thing for her to watch would be his troubled realization that the blood of an accused serial killer would flow through his own child’s veins.
No, Travis wouldn’t want her anywhere around the company after he learned the news. Sure, he would do the right thing by her and the child. He would probably pay her off for the next eighteen years. And then he would show her to the door.
After twenty minutes of questioning, Tatiana slumped back into the chair and crossed her arms. So much for the interview being a short one.
“Now, Miss Davison, you’ve said you haven’t spoken with your father.” Bryce paused, tapping his pen on the paper as he checked his notes. “Since his release. But we need to know more. Tell us about the places that hold special relevance for Mr. Davison. Places he might have gone if he didn’t want to be found.”
“Come on, Bryce.” Travis clasped the arms of his chair. “How many times are you going to ask her the same question in different ways?”
“Until she answers it,” Troy grumbled. “And, anyway, didn’t we agree you would be a silent witness? The emphasis on silent.”
“Right. Don’t mind me. I’ll just be over here twiddling my thumbs.”
Unlike Travis’s cousins, Tatiana appreciated his interruption. It gave her a break from having the detective and the FBI agent treating her as if she were the suspect, not her father.
She rested her hands, palms up, on the table. “I’ve already told you that I don’t know where he is.”
This time Troy spoke up instead. “We’re not asking where he is, though we’d be happy to take that information as well if you’re offering. What we want to know is where he would be.”
That was the question that she didn’t want to answer. Not with so many happy memories flooding her thoughts. The escapes to Florida for spring break, during the waning winter months when Michigan was still frozen solid. The stops her dad made on every trip at roadside flea markets, just because her mom loved them. She didn’t want to think about the ice-fishing cabin they’d rented near Ludington or the few summers they’d spent at the lake cottage rental up north. Shadows eclipsed every sunny memory now.
“I don’t know.” Her voice cracked on the last word.
“In the file, it says he worked at least for a while at a West Michigan furniture manufacturer until your mother’s death early last year.” Troy paused and glanced at his notes. “That would be a Marcia Davison. Did he travel for work or any of his hobbies?”
“Yeah, like golf?” Bryce added. “Everybody in Michigan golfs, right?”
“Or is he a Civil War reenactor?” Troy chimed.
She shook her head in answers to all their questions. Didn’t they get it? She didn’t want to tell them anything.
After a long pause, Troy leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “We will find your father. Covering for him won’t change that.”
Tatiana shoved her chair back and stood, immediately resting her hands on the table as her head swam and stomach acid backed up in her throat. Was it the baby or the situation? Or both? She stared at the table instead of meeting their gazes.
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“Sorry. I can’t do this.”
She rushed to the door.
“Miss Davison, wait.”
Her hand on the latch, she turned back to find Bryce standing behind the table but making no effort to follow her.
“Look, I get it. This is your dad.”
He smiled as though he really could relate to a situation that an average person couldn’t begin to understand.
“You love your father. Most children love their parents.” He pressed his lips into a line, shook his head and then spoke again. “But the sad truth is that same man who brought your mother flowers every Friday after work and took care of her until she died of cancer also murdered two men in cold blood. If the pattern holds, in another two months, he’ll kill again.”
Troy came to his feet as well. “You wouldn’t want to feel responsible if someone else were to be killed because you didn’t help us stop him, would you?”
As a sharp sound escaped her throat, Tatiana yanked open the door and ran out. She didn’t know where she was going. She barely knew the Colton Plastics facility, and all the closed doors looked the same. But there was one thing she did know: she couldn’t stay there.
CHAPTER 3
“That went well.” Travis glared at his cousins across the conference room table.
Troy frowned back at him. “I thought we said—”
“You might not have noticed, but the subject of your interview has left the room. So, I’m guessing your interrogation is over.”
“Any idea where she could have taken off to?” Bryce asked.
“She’s probably still trying to find her way out of the building.” He couldn’t blame her if she ran all the way to the parking lot without ever stopping at human resources to complete her benefits paperwork. “She only had the basic tour during her visit in January. I’ll have Jan try to find her and ask if she’ll come back. I’m guessing no.”
Harlequin Romantic Suspense March 2021 Page 26
