A Cop in Her Stocking

by Ann Voss Peterson

  “Don’t even think about setting off the alarm. If that happens, your son dies. It’s all arranged. I don’t even have to lift a finger. Hear me?”

  Megan forced a nod. Her lungs contracted, too tight to breathe. She eyed the single window on one side of the door, too high for her to even touch the frame. A bank of windows flanked the other side, lower, within a tiptoe’s reach of the step. If they weren’t painted shut…

  “Hurry up.”

  “If I hurry too much, I’ll set the damn alarm off.”

  “That’s your problem. Now do it.”

  She checked once again to make sure the windows weren’t alarmed. Then she placed the heel of her hand right below the window lock, as Ty had done on Derek Ernst’s garage. Doing her best to breathe, she gave the upper sash a hard rap.

  Pain shot through her hand and down her arm. The window lock stayed in place.

  “That’s your plan?”

  “You said to get us in without setting off the alarm. Be quiet and let me do it.” She positioned her hand again and gave another upward blow.

  The lock popped free.

  A breath shuddered from her lungs. She slid the bottom sash upward. Now to climb inside. She positioned her foot on the rail and hoisted herself through the small space.

  She pushed through heavy velvet curtains and landed on a shelving unit on the other side of the window. Various toys and gadgets clattered and bounced to the floor. She pulled herself through the rest of the way and turned back to the window.

  Samantha Vickery glared at her from outside, the gun’s barrel leveled on her chest. “If I don’t show up, your son—”

  “Is dead. I know. Now are you going to climb inside, or are you waiting for a cop car to drive by and see you?” Not that it was likely to happen that way in the isolated alley. She just had to pray Ty had his eye on them.

  “Stand back from the window. Not so far that I can’t see you.”

  Megan stepped back, and Samantha clambered inside.

  Megan glanced around the dark shop. The mannequin loomed near the front door, looking like a person watching. Chains and whips caught the light of a passing car’s headlights.

  Samantha cleared the frame just as the lights flitted across the front windows. She straightened and thrust the gun out in front of her once again. “To the office. Now.”

  Megan shuffled toward the door the camomile tea woman had emerged from, hoping that was the office Samantha was referring to. Even though the door was only a few feet away, the space was an obstacle course of cluttered shelves and dramatic displays. “Why are we here?”

  “Just move. You weren’t supposed to be part of this. But things have changed. Certain people have gotten cold feet and screwed everything up.”

  “You’re talking about Doug?” Had Samantha Vickery killed him? He was in her pool. At least in the house where Corrine had seen her take Derek. “Or are you referring to Derek Ernst?”

  “It’s not my fault if they can’t do what it takes.”

  “And what does it take? Being willing to kill an innocent child?”

  “Listen, that isn’t my idea, either. The kid was never supposed to be in any danger. Everything would be fine if that husband of yours wouldn’t have gotten spooked by the cop.”

  The lieutenant. Was that how the timing worked? His visit had frightened Doug. And when Doug wanted out, they’d killed him?

  Reaching the door, she glanced back at the blonde. “What is all this about? It’s certainly not about stealing sex toys and leather lingerie.”

  Samantha didn’t answer, not that Megan expected her to. “Open the door.”

  Megan tried the knob. “It’s locked.”

  “So open it.”

  Ty had shown her the trick with the window. She had no idea how to break in a locked door. “What do you think I am, an experienced burglar?”

  “So look for a key. Try the top of the door frame.”

  She stretched to her tiptoes and felt the top of the frame. Her fingertips hit a piece of metal. She grasped it and took a look, straining to see in the darkness.

  Sure enough, it was a thick metal wire twisted into the shape of a key. High-tech security, this was not.

  She unlocked the door, and pushed it open.

  Where the rest of Julianne’s House of Pleasure looked like the old building that housed it, this room was truly high-tech. Two computers and various other equipment stretched along one side of the wall, stuff that was far more advanced than anything Megan had worked on, stuff that made even Derek Ernst’s setup look rinky-dink. One computer was connected to a modem. One was not. “So that’s why you seduced Derek. To get hold of his computer skills.”

  “You don’t think I had the hots for him or something?”

  “So why did you kill him?”

  “I didn’t.”

  The kidnapper. The male voice she’d heard on the phone. “Who did?”

  “If I told you that, then destroying what we are about to destroy wouldn’t really do much.”

  “What are we about to destroy?”

  She hit the back of the computer chair, swiveling it around. “Sit.”

  Megan perched on the edge. “Now what?”

  “Now you get into the computer.”

  “It’s probably tied into the alarm system.”

  “That’s why you’re here. You and the codes you stole from the security company. You don’t think I needed you just to get past the door alarm, do you?”

  Megan stared at the monitor. She was shaking all over now, from her fingers to her feet. Not only did she not have the security information, but she’d proved to be not very good at defeating the computer security systems Keating had in place on its own computers. This was way over her head.

  How in the world was she going to pull this off?

  She opened the desk drawer, looking for any sign of a password. Except for a few pens, the drawer was empty.

  “Well?”

  Maybe if she could stall for time, Ty would be able to come up with something, wherever he was. She sure hoped he could, because she was running out of other options. “When I get into the system, what am I looking for?”

  “First get in. I’ll tell you what to do from there.”

  Megan tried to quell the tremble in her chest. She couldn’t beat the computer’s security system. Not without a password. Not without the Keating files.

  “Well? What are you waiting for?”

  Her bluff had been called. The ruse was over. There was only one thing left for her to do. What Ty had told her. “I’m not going to do this. Not until I see Connor. Not until I know he’s unhurt.”

  “You’re not going to see anybody if you don’t get this done.” Samantha raised the gun, as if she thought Megan needed a reminder that she was carrying a weapon.

  Megan stared at the monitor. Ty said he’d be with her. He promised he’d have her back. He would keep his word. She knew it. He’d keep his word or he would die trying.

  She leaned back in the chair, gripped the arms and held on. “I don’t care. If my little boy isn’t okay, I don’t care about any of it.”

  “Oh, for crying out loud. Would everyone around here rather die than cooperate? This is unbelievable.” Samantha Vickery reached for her cell with her free hand. She scrolled through her address book, hit a number and held the phone to her ear.

  Megan held her breath.

  “I know, I know. I didn’t have a choice.” Samantha Vickery shot her a poisonous glare. “She won’t do it. Not until she sees the kid.”

  Little did the woman know, but Megan couldn’t do what she wanted even then. She just had to trust Ty would get her and Connor out of this mess before the Giftinator and whoever she was talking to figured that out.

  TY JOGGED DOWN THE SIDEWALK, his pistol clutched in one hand, his eyes riveted to Julianne’s House of Pleasure ahead. His throat and head ached from the cold air, but he didn’t dare slow his pace. It had taken longer than he’d thought to co
nvince Ed and Trevor to help without reporting to Jess Taylor or Leo first. Ty wasn’t worried about Sergeant Taylor, but he knew she’d tell Leo, and with the timing of Doug’s death niggling at the back of Ty’s mind, he’d rather not take the chance that Leo wasn’t on the up and up.

  Nearing the sex shop, he slowed to a walk and turned down the side street. The alley behind backed up to the wrought iron fence surrounding the vast Harris House grounds.

  He slipped behind a Dumpster and focused on a single rear window to the right of the door. A light glowed through the slats of miniblinds. A shadow moved across the window. That had to be them inside, although what they were doing, he hadn’t a clue.

  He hunkered down beside the Dumpster to wait. Between the fence and the dead end alley, there was nowhere to go but past him.

  If Megan had followed the plan, they would either have to bring the boy to her or her to the boy. At that point, it would be up to him. He just prayed Ed and Trevor were there to back him up.

  “What are you doing here, Officer Davis?”

  Ty whipped around, searching the darkness, trying to locate the speaker. A crack exploded in his ears and a bullet plowed into his chest.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Megan gasped at the pop of gunfire coming from outside the shop. Her mind raced. The kidnapper? Ty? Connor?

  Samantha Vickery bolted to the window and peered between the blinds. “The computer. Now.”

  Megan shot to her feet, trying to see outside, as well.

  The alley was dark, but she spotted the silhouette of a man. He was standing over something…no, someone on the ground.

  “I said, get into that computer.” Samantha shoved her back into the chair. She swung the gun barrel hard against Megan’s cheek.

  Megan’s head whipped to the side. Pain shuddered through her skull and rang in her ears.

  “If you want to see your son—”

  “I can’t.”

  “What do you mean, you can’t? You have the codes.”

  What should she say? She couldn’t do what the woman wanted. If she admitted she didn’t have the codes, what then? Would Samantha kill her? Would she and whoever was out in the alley kill Connor?

  Had they already?

  A sob stuck in her throat. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think.

  “You do have the codes, don’t you?” Samantha turned away from the window and faced Megan. She brought the gun up and pointed the barrel straight at her face.

  Megan forced her voice to function. “The police will be here. Someone will call about the shot.”

  “Then you’d better make it quick.”

  She tried to clear her mind, to push the pain back, the panic.

  Ty had wondered if Julianne’s provided more than sex toys. He’d wondered if it was a front for prostitution. If she followed that line of thinking, she could guess what might be on the computers. Something scandalous. Something that could be used for blackmail. “If you want to destroy the computer’s memory, we don’t need the codes. We just take the computer and run. Dump it in the lake or something.” At least then, they’d be out in the open. At least then Ty or another officer might be able to help.

  The woman narrowed her heavily lined eyes to slits. “You never got the information from the security company?”

  Although the truth was obvious at this point, Megan still didn’t dare admit anything. “Just destroy the computer itself.”

  “Damn, damn, damn. I don’t want to destroy everything on it. I didn’t do all this just to save his ass.”

  Of course. Why hadn’t Megan thought of it before? Samantha had said things didn’t go as planned. And her words hinted that she didn’t fully trust her partner in crime. Maybe Megan could use the woman’s fear and mistrust to manipulate her, to catch her off guard. “He killed Derek Ernst, didn’t he?”

  The woman gave her a suspicious look.

  “You certainly didn’t plan for me to copy and destroy files at gunpoint.”

  Her lips flattened into a line, conceding the point.

  “So what happened? Was Derek going to go to the police? Or did your partner just tell you that?”

  “What are you saying?”

  Megan shrugged, letting Samantha’s own imagination fill in the blanks. “And Doug. I’m guessing dealing with a three-year-old child, maybe having to kill him, that wasn’t your idea either, was it?”

  The woman’s eyes shifted to the window and then back to Megan.

  “Was it?” Megan prodded.

  “No.”

  “So who’s next? Me, certainly. Maybe my son, too. Then what? Then who is a liability?” She gestured to the computer. “Because I can’t get you into this thing. All I can do is help you destroy it.”

  The woman tightened her grip on the gun, her hands shaking. “He told me it would work out.”

  “For who? Him? His wife?”

  The woman looked at her with wide eyes. “How did you know?”

  Megan hadn’t. She’d taken a wild guess. What kind of man was being blackmailed by a sex shop? He had to have something to hide from someone. And he had to have the money to pay. “So what are they? Videos?”

  Samantha didn’t answer, but she didn’t have to.

  “Videos of him with another woman?”

  Samantha looked away.

  “Videos of him with you?”

  Her focus shot back to Megan’s face.

  “That’s it. You set him up.”

  “Not on purpose. I didn’t know Julianne was recording everything. She had a whole business, she and her Valducci partners. But even though she used me to set them up, she wouldn’t cut me in on it. But Evan—”

  “Evan Blankenship?” Megan couldn’t believe her ears. Had Evan killed people in order to protect his job as a small town mayor? No. Of course not. That wasn’t it at all. He did it to protect his marriage to Harris the heiress. A marriage that probably came with a prenup.

  “He promised me that if I destroyed the videos of us, he’d let me have the rest. If I destroy the computer, I’ll have nothing.”

  “Maybe the plan didn’t go awry. Maybe that’s what he intended all along.”

  The blonde shook her head.

  Megan could tell she was getting to the woman. She pressed on. “Maybe he always intended to hang you out to dry for setting him up in the first place. Or worse, maybe he thinks you’re as much of a liability as Derek and Doug.”

  Samantha leaned toward her, knuckles white on the gun’s handle. “You have to get into the computer. You have to copy a video. At least one.”

  “And you have to bring me my son.”

  “I can kill you. I can shoot you right now.” She brought the gun up to Megan’s head and pressed the barrel against her temple.

  Megan’s pulse thrummed in her ears. The metal was cold against her skin. Her hands felt clammy. She thought of the crack of gunfire that had come from the alley. The shape of a person splayed on the ground. Too large for Connor. Was it Ty? “Go ahead, shoot me. Then you’ll be next. And he is going to be the only one who gets out of this.”

  “I’m not going to let him do that to me.” The woman reached for her cell phone and punched Redial.

  Raising her arm, Megan spun in the desk chair. Her elbow struck Samantha Vickery square in the face.

  She staggered backward. The gun and the cell phone skittered to the floor.

  The sound of a ring came from outside the window. “Yes?” a male voice barked from the phone.

  Megan hit the woman again, putting her full weight behind the blow.

  Samantha’s head jolted back and she fell on her hands and knees. She propped herself up for a moment, stunned, then started sweeping the floor with her hands.

  The gun.

  Megan scanned the floor. There it was. Under the corner of the desk. She dove for it. Her hand closed over the cold metal. She fitted it into her palms and turned around.

  “Kill the boy.”

  Megan leveled the gu
n on her, but her finger wouldn’t pull the trigger.

  “Evan? Kill the boy. Now,” Samantha screamed into the phone.

  Outside, another gunshot split the air.

  TY LOWERED HIS GUN AND SLUMPED against the Dumpster. He eyed the body of Lake Hubbard’s mayor, shot and bleeding in the dirty alley behind a sex shop. Evan Blankenship. Ty hadn’t seen it, not for a second. All the time he’d spent being jealous that Evan was offering Megan support, getting her job back for her, all of it—and he was actually behind this whole thing.

  A woman’s voice squawked over Blankenship’s phone.

  Megan was still inside. She needed his help. He needed to get in there.

  He gritted his teeth and tried to push to his feet. Pain racheted through him. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He’d promised her. He’d promised. And yet he was no help at all.

  He couldn’t believe he’d let the bastard sneak up on him. Let him shoot. But he hadn’t seen him. Not at all. One minute the alley was empty, the next…

  Ty squinted into the darkness along the wrought iron fence. All the legends of the old lake mansions flitted through his mind. The most legendary, of course, being Harris House.

  Lights flashed in the sky, red and blue. A squad car skidded into the mouth of the alley, another behind it. Ed and Trevor jumped out of the driver’s doors, guns drawn.

  “Over here,” Ty yelled as best he could. “I’m injured. The mayor is likely dead. There are two women in the shop. Megan and Samantha Vickery. Vickery has a gun. Hurry.” He gasped for breath, each wheeze brought with it a white-hot pain that made him feel as if he was about to pass out. “And Harris House. There’s a tunnel over there, by the fence. Connor Burke is inside.”

  The back door of the shop flew open. An alarm screamed through the alley. And standing with her hands up, her cheek red and bleeding and her hair a wild tangle, was the sweetest sight Ty had ever seen. “Megan.”

  MEGAN BARELY LOOKED AT EVAN Blankenship lying face down on the ground in his expensive overcoat. She raced to Ty’s side and fell to her knees beside him. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Where’s Vickery?”