A Cop in Her Stocking

by Ann Voss Peterson

  “You’re…why?”

  “I don’t know,” she yelled over the alarm’s buzz. “I wasn’t thinking, I guess. I was so panicked about getting the files, I didn’t think it through.”

  Obviously he needed to be more clear. “Why are you stealing files?” Just asking the question felt ridiculous, but he sensed there was a serious explanation behind it. There had to be.

  “I got a call.”

  “From whom?” he asked.

  “I didn’t recognize the voice. But he said he had Connor. He said if I stole these files, if I gave them to him, I could get Connor back.”

  Now he was really confused. With the alarm blaring in his ears, maybe he hadn’t heard her quite right. “I thought Doug had Connor.”

  “No. We lied about that.”

  He’d known she was lying, but he’d never guessed the lie was about Connor being safe. “Why?”

  “I’ll explain it all. Really, I will. And then you can arrest me or whatever you’re going to do. But right now, the whole system has shut itself down, and if I can’t get it back up, I won’t be able to copy anything.”

  He didn’t know any of the details, but he knew Megan, and what she was saying made a strange kind of sense. Her little boy’s safety was the only thing that could ever make her go to such extremes. To protect her son, she’d do anything.

  The question he had to answer was, what was he going to do?

  A jitter lodged in his chest. He was a cop, through and through. It was all he ever wanted to be. All he probably could be, and yet…

  The alarm stopped.

  Ty slumped with relief. Even though his ears still rang with ghosts of sound, at least he could now hear himself think. “You got back in?”

  “No. I just shut off the alarm. The rest isn’t working. It’s not working.”

  The defeated tone in her voice gave him a hollow feeling at the base of his throat. “You’re sure?”

  Her fingers stilled. “I screwed up. I screwed up. I tripped the security, and now the client database has totally shut down. I’ve never worked with a system like this before. I don’t know what to do.”

  Red and blue lights flashed through the closed blinds on the parking lot side, first from a distance, then closer until the whole room pulsed with color.

  “They’ll know it was me. I had to use my number to get into the building.”

  “No one will have to look that far. Your car is parked out front. They’re probably already running your plates.”

  She focused on him, eyes wide as if the fix she was in had just become real. “What do I do?”

  He needed time. Time to think. A luxury he didn’t have. The officer outside was likely assessing the broken door this very moment, waiting for backup to arrive before he came inside.

  Time—for fiddling with the computer, for weighing decisions, for regretting the action he was about to take—was over. If he was honest with himself, there was only one decision he could make. He’d lost Connor. He had to do whatever it took to get the little boy back. And he had to do his best to protect Megan in the process. “The police will be inside any minute. Unless you want guns drawn on you, we need to get out there, explain things.”

  “Explain things? How?”

  A good damn question. “Just follow my lead.” He tried to interject confidence into his voice, but it sounded flat even to his own ears. He just hoped he could come up with something in the next few seconds.

  JUST FOLLOW HIS LEAD. JUST follow his lead.

  Megan repeated the words in her head, but she didn’t feel any more confident than when Ty had said them the first time. So she’d face the police, explain what she was doing, and then what? Even though she hadn’t been successful in stealing anything, she would take the blame for it all the same. And then what would happen to Connor?

  “Ready?” Ty said, gesturing out the office door.

  “Wait.”

  She ducked back to the computer, pulled out her flash drive and jammed it in her pocket. All that was on it was a client list, but at least it was something. It proved she’d tried. Although she had serious doubts that someone willing to kidnap a little boy would award her extra points for effort.

  On the way out to the hall, Ty paused. He pointed to the cleaning equipment she’d hauled into the office for cover in case she was found. “Is that a vacuum cleaner?”

  “Yes.” She had to admit, the device looked more like a jet pack from some old sci-fi movie than a piece of cleaning equipment. “You wear it like a backpack.”

  He grabbed the device, slung it over one shoulder, the hose dangling down his back, and strode into the hall.

  She followed him out through the entry vestibule. Broken glass crunching under the soles of her shoes, she eyed the damage Ty wreaked in order to get into the building and cringed.

  They met two officers the moment they stepped outside the company’s front entrance. One had gray sparkling through his dark hair and mustache. The other was clean shaven and had a case of acne that would make a teenager cringe.

  Megan held her breath and prayed they wouldn’t ask her anything. She had no idea what she would say if they did. She just had to trust Ty would lead and she’d know how to follow when the time came.

  The older one eyed Ty and arched his eyebrows in surprise. “Davis? You working night shift without telling me?”

  Ty chuckled, the laugh sounding so relaxed and real, Megan glanced at him. Ty gestured to the backpack vac. “Helping out a friend. Ed, Trevor, this is Megan Garvey.”

  They exchanged pleased-to-meet-yous. Megan forced herself to meet the men’s eyes as she shook their hands.

  “Helping a friend? How are you helping?” Ed frowned at the vacuum as if he wasn’t sure what the thing was.

  “Megan works for Brilliance Cleaning. She’s had a rough day, so I volunteered to do a little vacuuming. But as it turns out, I’m not doing much helping tonight.”

  “You’re the one who set off the alarm?”

  “Afraid so.” Ty nodded to the broken window and held up the aluminum vacuum wand. “Turns out that entry area is more cramped, this thing is more lethal and I’m much more clumsy than I ever imagined.”

  The younger cop chuckled. But the older one didn’t seem to find it quite so funny. “It takes a lot of force to break through glass like that.”

  Megan’s legs vibrated, as if at any moment, they could just give out and send her crashing to the concrete. She didn’t know how much Ty knew about security systems. Heck, she hadn’t thought too much about the systems at Keating herself. She’d been more concerned with cleaning water spots from the faucets and making sure the trash can liners fit. But after tonight, it was obvious that the company had installed different alarm systems on their doors and on their computers. The question was whether or not they would show up as two different types of breaches when the system automatically contacted police.

  “It wasn’t Ty. He was just trying to cover for me. I set off the alarm.” She could feel Ty watching her, and she hoped he figured out what she was doing. “I used one of the computers to try to go online.”

  “Really?” The older cop’s eyes seemed to burn straight through her. “Why would you do that?”

  The lie turned to dust in her throat. She searched her mind, but nothing was there.

  “You guys hear about the child abduction this morning at Lakewood Mall?” Ty asked. “Megan’s son was the boy kidnapped today.”

  “Garvey.” The older cop’s focus swung from Ty back to Megan. “I’m sorry. Your name should have rung a bell. Guess I’m getting old.”

  “I’ll say,” the younger cop said under his breath.

  “They found the boy. He’s with his father. But it’s been kind of a rough day, as you can imagine. And when the alarm went off, I overreacted a bit.”

  Officer Ed stroked his mustache with thumb and forefinger. “And broke the door with that vacuum tube?”

  “Or maybe a tire iron.” Ty shrugged. “I wa
s worried.”

  The younger cop laughed out loud. “You’ve always been the jumpy sort, Davis.”

  Ty chuckled, the sound of relief palpable. “You’ll record this as a false alarm then? A simple mistake? I’ll pay to replace the door, of course.”

  “That would probably help the situation,” Officer Ed agreed.

  “Sorry we had to drag you out here for no reason.”

  Ed waved away the apology. “Better than having a reason. I’m sure the owner will feel the same way.”

  Megan wasn’t sure of that. Not sure at all. But as long as the officers had bought their story, she couldn’t complain. Now that she had another chance, she just hoped she could find a way to override the security shutdown and get to those files. “Thank you, officer. So can we finish cleaning now?”

  Ed shook his mostly silver head. “Afraid not. At least not until an owner or manager arrives. He’ll have to sign off before we can let you back in the building.”

  Megan felt sick. “He’s coming out here tonight?”

  He glanced at his watch. “Unless he had a problem with the roads, he should be here any minute.”

  ANTHONY KEATING WASN’T HAPPY to be dragged out into the snowstorm at ten at night, and he made his displeasure clear to everyone involved. But it wasn’t until Megan’s own boss from the cleaning company showed up that she finally let go of all hope of getting her hands on those files.

  Gary Burke might have been Doug’s second cousin, but he looked nothing like her ex-husband. Big and doughy around the middle, he wore his hair military short and his beard mountain man long. He blustered into what little lobby Keating Security had and marched straight past Megan without giving her a glance. He disappeared into Keating’s office.

  Megan glanced at Ty. The police officers had left when Keating arrived, but Ty had stayed even after he’d made his case to Keating and promised to pay for the door. “You don’t have to stay.”

  “I know.”

  Minute stretched after minute. Finally Anthony Keating walked past them and out of the building, and Gary poked his head into the hall. “Megan? Can I have a word with you?”

  Heat infused her cheeks. She had a bad feeling she knew what was coming. She could only hope some of the sympathy the officers had shown had rubbed off.

  She followed him into Keating’s spacious office. Even though the room was well-appointed, with soft leather chairs and a small couch, she hovered just inside the door, preferring to face her boss on her feet. “You talked to the police?”

  “I talked to Keating,” he boomed. “What happened tonight? He said you tried to use a computer? Why would you do something like that?”

  “My son…” She hated using Connor as an excuse, but at least the story was accurate…in a way. “He went missing today. At least we thought he did for a little while, but it ended up that he was with Doug. I just wanted to send him an email before he went to bed.”

  Bushy brows pulled low over Gary’s eyes. “Keating says the computer you used did not have an internet connection.”

  She swallowed. Her throat felt parched and she realized for the first time that she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink all day. “It was a mistake. I didn’t realize…I shouldn’t have used a client’s computer. It won’t happen again.”

  “You used the wrong computer? You expect me to believe you didn’t know the difference?”

  “I was still upset. I wasn’t thinking.” She tried to sound innocent, honest, but she’d forgotten exactly what that felt like. Her voice sounded more nervous than anything, chattering too high, too fast.

  Gary shook his head. “I realize the police don’t know much about you, Megan, but I do.”

  A hum rose in her ears. Her heart leaped into double time.

  “You can tell those officers you accidently used the wrong computer to get on the internet, but you can’t feed that excuse to me.” His voice lowered, sounding more tired than angry.

  She pulled in a breath and held it. She had to somehow talk her way out of this. She had to get another crack at that computer system. But for the life of her, she couldn’t think of a way to justify hacking into a client’s secure computer system. At least not a justification Gary would buy.

  The truth.

  She couldn’t dare lay out the facts for her boss, could she? She’d just succeeded in getting law enforcement away from this case. If Gary knew she was dealing with a kidnapper, he wouldn’t let her access those computers, he’d call the police. And if he did that, everything would be over.

  “I screwed up. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  Gary let out a heavy sigh and crossed his arms over his belly. “I’m sorry too, Megan. I really am. But Tony Keating doesn’t want you cleaning this place anymore, and I have to say, I can’t blame him.”

  She’d known the words were coming, but they hit her like a fist anyway. Now what was she going to do? “I understand. I’ll finish up tonight and turn in my keys.”

  “I’ll need your keys now.” He held out a big hand. “Tony has already changed the security code, so I’ll finish up the cleaning tonight.”

  She figured he wouldn’t let her have one last night, but she had to try all the same. “I have some personal things in the janitor’s closet.” She wasn’t sure how a trip to the janitor’s closet would buy her enough time to try the computers again, but it was all she could come up with.

  “I’ll collect them for you. And Megan?”

  She choked back her despair and willed her voice to function. “Yes?”

  “I’m so sorry. Really, I am. I hate to do this, but…” He paused and dropped his gaze to the office floor, as if he couldn’t quite go on.

  Megan didn’t know what he was building up to, but she was hard pressed to care. Without access to that computer system, there was no way she could come up with the files the kidnapper demanded. Without the files, she’d never see her son again. Gary didn’t know it, but he’d already taken from her everything that mattered. He couldn’t hurt her anymore than he already had. “What is it, Gary? Go ahead.”

  “I can’t have an employee of mine breaking into a client’s computer. I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go.”

  She was wrong. He could hurt her more. He could take away her livelihood. But compared to the risk to her son, losing her job was way down on her list.

  “You okay?”

  “I’ll be fine, Gary. Just fine.”

  He nodded. “You could have gone to jail for what you did. You know that, don’t you? You’re getting out of this easy.”

  Easy? Not exactly. She’d go to jail willingly if only she knew Connor would be safe. “Good night, Gary.”

  She forced her feet to carry her past him and out of the office, down the hall and away from her only chance to save her son. The lobby was empty, and although she’d told Ty to leave before she’d been called in to talk to Gary, she found herself wishing he was still there.

  She passed the temporarily patched window and pushed out into the storm. The wind had kicked up since she and Ty had last stepped outside to talk to the officers, and flakes pelted her cheeks, stinging like cold needles. Tears flooded her eyes. One moment of distraction, one mistake, and she’d made everything so much worse. And now…now she had run out of options.

  Once again, she was on her own with nowhere to turn.

  She raised her face to the storm. There by her car stood Ty, coat pulled up around his ears, snowflakes glistening in his dark hair. “Don’t look so shocked. I said I would help you get Connor back. I meant it.”

  She wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of one glove. She knew she should say something, but she had no idea what.

  “I only have one condition. That you tell me the truth from here on out. You’ve got to trust me. Deal?”

  She bobbed her head in a nod and willed her voice to work. “Deal.”

  Chapter Six

  Ty let up on the accelerator and eased around the bend in the roa
d as Megan’s car hugged the turn. The ancient little junker was surprisingly good in the snow. Better than his car. But even so, the roads were getting brutal, one moment slick as ice, the next snow deep as quicksand. With all that she’d gone through today, he was glad he had offered to drive.

  He’d pick up his car in the morning.

  This whole situation was crazy. Connor kidnapped. Megan trying to steal sensitive security information. He hadn’t asked her what had happened with her boss. He hadn’t needed to. As soon as he saw the expression on her face, he knew things had gone badly. Not that he imagined for a second that everything would turn out okay. Once that alarm went off, he had three choices. Turn Megan in, run or face the consequences. And since neither one of them was cut out for the first two options, he’d figured things might get ugly.

  The question now was what to do next. He had the answer. Convincing Megan to agree was the tricky part.

  He took the upcoming turn onto Forest Avenue. The street was fully decked out for the holidays. Twinkle lights festooned every light pole and danced over nearly every roofline and porch all the way down the block. They drove past Harris House—Dee Dee Harris the heiress’s home—each window of the sprawling stone Victorian featuring a wreath robed in new snow. The cast iron fence flanking the huge property was roped with heavy swags of evergreen and white lights. Snowflakes swirled in the air, making the scene feel magical.

  Ty doubted Megan saw any of it. She stared out the window, but there was a blankness to her eyes, a faraway expression on her face. She wrapped her arms around her middle as if she was chilled, even though the car’s heater was roaring full blast.

  No doubt, she was thinking of Connor.

  “We’ll find a way to get him back, Meg.” He could feel her turn to face him, and he wished he could hold her gaze. But with the roads getting worse by the second, even here in town, he only dared steal short glances. “We will.”

  “I was fired tonight.”

  That was what he’d been afraid of. “I’m sorry.”