Guardian

by Catherine Mann

  “I appreciate your concern, and I know Lowell would, too, but I am truly all right. I’m doing what needs to be done to get through this,” she said, hoping he would go so she could just leave and rest her head on David’s shoulder.

  “As long as you and Brice are okay.” He spun a loose pencil on the table. “Did your flyboy friend find any leads?”

  “He’s digging around today into earlier test data on the new gun turret system. And we’re going to speak with the Vasquez family tonight. I want to review the cousin’s statement.”

  “The cousin who was watching the boy the night of the shooting accident. Right? Any particular reason you’re consorting with the enemy officially?”

  “This is a military proceeding. Our job is to find out the truth, not win for the sake of winning.” She glanced at her watch. “I’m supposed to meet David, so I really need to go.”

  “Come on.” Geoffrey gripped her elbow and led her toward the door. “I’ll walk you out.”

  “Thanks. Actually, I would appreciate that.” She shrugged off the unease prickling along her neck.

  Was there some hidden danger lurking in the courtroom?

  Or was that simply paranoia after all that had happened in the past few days? She hated not knowing who to trust.

  Her gaze skated to Caleb as he talked with his lawyers across the aisle. Could he truly be capable of trying to kill her? It was one thing to accept he could be guilty of dereliction of duty. Granted, that moment caused horrible damage. But it was a stretch to tie negligence to the type of person who would deliberately try to murder her, and David, too, given the evidence of the Cessna’s compromised fuel tank.

  Could the fresh-faced blond captain be that desperate?

  The uneasy sensation of being watched returned. Sophie resisted the urge to check behind her and picked up her pace, her heels clicking against the floor.

  When she passed a jean-clad man in the back row, he slid from his seat. The man had observed the trial all day, but she’d thought he was just a friend of Tate’s. Blatantly, the guy in jeans followed them, his every footstep reverberating in her mind. Sophie tucked closer to Geoffrey.

  She wanted David.

  Sophie searched for his reassuring presence. Once through the double doors, she scanned the hallway until she located him lounging against the wall just beyond the metal detector. She walked faster.

  She knew the minute he saw her. Straightening, he gave her his lazy-lidded smile, almost like the first time she’d seen him. His smile stirred inside her, like a jolt of warm and rich coffee.

  The young man passed her, and Sophie sagged with relief.

  Until he stopped by David, looking too leanly handsome in his green flight suit and boots.

  “Hey there, Major.”

  David clapped the guy on the back. “Thanks, Smooth. I owe you.”

  Sophie gripped her briefcase tighter. “You two know each other?”

  David gestured to the guy. “Sophie, this is a friend from the squadron, Master Sergeant Mason Randolph.”

  Damn, of course. Now she remembered him, but seeing him in civilian clothes rather than a flight suit had thrown her.

  Randolph smiled. “You can call me Smooth, ma’am.”

  “Were you here to support Captain Tate?” Although Tate’s supporters usually showed up in uniform and shot daggerlike glares her way.

  The sergeant shifted from foot to foot. There was no mistaking his uncomfortable body language. “I’ll leave that for Ice here to explain.”

  Ice…David…She’d almost forgotten his “cool under pressure” call sign. She didn’t like being kept in the dark.

  But she didn’t want Geoffrey witnessing the tension. “Colonel,” she said, using his title to give herself distance as much as to adhere to protocol on base, “thank you for everything. I’ll e-mail you an update if we uncover anything new.”

  Geoffrey walked backward for a couple steps before turning away.

  David palmed her between the shoulder blades, his touch familiar. Stirring.

  Distracting.

  He steered her toward his Scout. She really did need to start looking for a new car of her own, since hers had been totaled in the accident.

  But first things first. “Did you send Smooth to play watchdog over me today?”

  His boots thudded a steady pace beside her along the walkway. “I only asked him this morning. He was on leave, stopped by to shoot the breeze.”

  “You could have called or texted.” She measured her words to keep from snapping. “I was freaked out here, thinking I was being followed by whoever’s trying to kill me.”

  She reached for the car door.

  He flattened a hand on the door, barring her. His broad shoulders blocked out the late-day sun, the long zipper of his green flight suit calling to her fingers to tug it down, down, down.

  The air hummed over the place he’d almost touched. “I’m sorry, Sophie. I didn’t think of that.”

  While she appreciated his apology, she knew he would probably do the same thing again. Not purposefully but purely by instinct. His instincts made him stellar at his job—edgy and consistently right. But it also made him a tough man to have an equal relationship with.

  A relationship? There that word came again, the thought, the knowledge that the connection between them was getting deep and complicated.

  Her heart raced faster. “Thank you for worrying about me.”

  “Do you want to hear what I found out today?”

  An olive branch? She clutched it. “Absolutely, Major.”

  “How about a Coke for the road, Counselor?” David’s appreciative smile eased the bundle of tension, unraveling it into sparks dancing through her. When his gaze flickered over her legs, David cleared his throat. “It’s about a half hour to the Vasquez place. We can talk on the way and give the kids a call on the cell phone.”

  Her boss’s censorious look from earlier tugged at her as firmly as the wind whipping across the parking lot. Damn it, she could work with David without jeopardizing the case. They were working together for truth, not personal agendas. He’d proved himself nothing but trustworthy.

  And if she kept telling herself that enough times, hopefully she could quiet the sense that she was making a mistake.

  * * *

  Envy chewed at David.

  He stared at the middle-class suburban home and drooled like a kid with his nose pressed against a candystore window. The Vasquezes had moved here after their home had been hit. They’d given up their dream of owning a place with land and horses to move back into a neighborhood. Ricky said he felt safer with houses around him. So they’d rented this place.

  A folded stroller rested beside the front door of the single-story, ranch-style house. The minivan and sedan in front of the garage shouted family.

  He’d dreamed of this kind of life, so long ago he’d almost forgotten its draw. But he simply couldn’t imagine getting married again and going through another breakup. Although he had to admit, celibacy had been damn uncomfortable the past year.

  Sophie pointed toward the driveway. “Pull in behind the van. Dr. Vasquez has to leave after supper to teach a night class.”

  David whipped the Scout behind the parked mama-mobile. Sophie unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed her briefcase off the backseat. “He’s taken on the extra class load to help with bills. They need the additional money to tide them over until everything settles out with insurance…and who…”

  “Who else to sue?”

  She shrugged.

  Guilt replaced envy. How could he have been jealous of the Vasquezes when he had the one thing they would trade all for? A healthy child.

  David struggled to stifle images from the day of the accident. Sophie set him on edge, making his memories tougher to suppress. With a will of their own, thoughts of the six-year-old’s accident unfolded anyway, one of those haunting images that would stay behind his eyelids even in sleep.

  Aided by years of practice,
David tucked the horror away with hundreds of others he would never forget.

  David leapt from the car and circled to Sophie’s side. “Let’s get to it. We’re already running late as it is.” They hadn’t even had time to change after work.

  She swung her feet out. Gripping the door for balance, she slowly stretched one leg to the ground. Every inch toward the pavement tugged her skirt up, exposing more skin, offering a distraction he welcomed right now. Just when he thought he might have to arrest her for indecent exposure, she landed beside him.

  Ricky Vasquez pushed through the front door “Hi, Major Campbell.”

  The child’s face creased with a lopsided grin that almost managed to hide each wince as he powered forward on his crutches.

  Sophie’s eyes radiated determination, and his eyes dropped to the Bronze Star on her uniform. Ricky had a fierce protector in this woman, a determined guardian of his rights. Without question, it wasn’t about the money for her.

  She gave Ricky one of those smiles David coveted, the same smile she gave Brice, the same smile she had given Haley Rose when they’d hugged good-bye.

  Ah hell. He was in big trouble.

  Ricky worked his way down the step awkwardly with his crutches, followed by his parents. David couldn’t help but think of that horrifying flash in time when Ricky would have been hit—something adult combat vets had trouble coping with.

  While it would have helped piece together what happened if Ricky remembered more. But still…Thank God the boy had no memory of actually being hit. Sophie relied on witness testimony to build her case.

  Did the boy have nightmares anyway? He must.

  Too often, they returned at night.

  He knew that firsthand. Only a strong woman could live with a man haunted by such tenacious ghosts. Leslie had vowed it was too much. But Sophie? She’d even faced the same hell when she got her Bronze Star. Had her husband been any kind of comfort to her?

  A couple should be partners.

  David looked at the yard, stroller, and porch with husband and wife arm in arm. Envy returned.

  With a startling flash, he realized he still wanted this life, not just for his daughter but for himself. He wanted to hook his arm around the shoulders of a woman who could love him without reserve, who wouldn’t try to change him and would simply accept him as the man he needed to be.

  He wanted the woman to be Sophie.

  * * *

  Sophie twirled her tongue around the helado frito. Fried ice cream. Ecstasy. Or as close as she could get since waking up today. Her gaze slid to David longingly.

  But she couldn’t lose sight of why she was here. The supper had been designed to put the cousin at ease for the questioning…except Juan wasn’t around.

  Setting her spoon on the saucer, Sophie turned to Angela Vasquez. “We need to go over your nephew Juan’s deposition before I put him on the stand.”

  “He should be here soon,” Angela said, sitting at one end of the lengthy dining room table, her husband at the head bouncing a baby girl on his knee. “Juan had a date. Not much longer before your son will be dating, hmmm?”

  “Too soon. I’m not quite ready for that parental hurdle.” She glanced at the silent hottie beside her. Strangely silent. Since they’d pulled up in the driveway behind the minivan, David had been staring at her with the most pensive expression. “What about you, David?”

  “Excuse me?” His spoon clanked against the dish in front of him.

  Sophie resisted the urge to check the mirror. “Just commenting that I doubt you’re ready for Haley Rose to start dating.”

  That caught his attention. “Nuns don’t date.”

  Dr. Vasquez and David shared a sympathetic chuckle, which was cut short by the front door slamming. The noise reverberated, startling the baby until her bottom lip quivered while she seemed to be deciding whether or not to cry.

  Dr. Vasquez frowned. “That should be Juan now.”

  Footsteps echoed in the hall until Juan entered with his arm encircling the shoulders of a teenage girl wearing a purple dress one string shy of indecent.

  Something about her looked familiar. Sophie struggled to remember. The girl’s three nose rings glinted in the light from the chandelier, and Sophie recognized the girl from the duck-shoot booth at the school fund-raiser night at the amusement park. Memories of cotton candy, pink kangaroos, and kisses swept over her.

  Angela patted Juan’s shoulder. “You remember Major Campbell, don’t you? She talked to you when Ricky was injured.”

  The teen went still, then strolled to a chair, his baggy jeans slipping low on his hips. “Hello, Major Campbell,” Juan said, nodding to her before leaning in to kiss his aunt’s cheek. “Hope you don’t mind, Tia Angela, but I brought Hannah with me.”

  Hannah? The girl with three nose rings was named Hannah? Of course, Hannah didn’t have body piercing jewelry and magenta hair when her mama had named her.

  Hannah dropped into a seat beside Juan. The duo looked like they would prefer a weeklong block of advanced algebra to answering her questions.

  Sophie pulled an easy smile, one that guaranteed to soothe any antsy witness. “You probably don’t remember me, Hannah. We were at the amusement park this weekend. I won that crazy-big pink kangaroo at the duck-shoot booth.”

  “Oh, yeah.” A weak grin, more of a grimace, fluttered over Hannah’s face. “You had a couple of kids with you.”

  Conversation wilted like the leftover salad in the serving bowl. Dr. Vasquez stared at Hannah with ill-disguised disapproval. David focused on Dr. Vasquez bouncing his daughter on his knee.

  That must be the reason for David’s bad mood. He must be preoccupied worrying about Haley Rose. She sympathized since her heart ached for the day she could safely bring her son home. Being a parent, knowing how to keep a child safe, was the toughest job. Entrusting her child to others was beyond frightening.

  Her mind hitched back on the thought of Juan as a babysitter. Even though the kid wore baggy pants, he was a straight A student.

  Angela circled to the teenage couple with two dishes of ice cream, placing one in front of her nephew’s girlfriend.

  Ricky slurped drippy spoonfuls. “Hannah helped babysit me the night of the accident. They played smoochy face while I watched cartoons.” He gagged dramatically before scooping up more ice cream.

  Hannah was there the night of the accident? No one had mentioned that before. And from the surprised look on Angela’s face, she hadn’t known, either. The original statement read that she and her husband had gone to a movie, taking the baby with them, leaving Ricky with Juan.

  Sophie eased forward in her chair.

  Follow the thread.

  Unsure where it might lead, she didn’t want to put David in an awkward position based on what he might hear. She also hoped Juan might be more forthcoming without a looming guy in the room.

  “Hey, Ricky, would you mind showing Major Berg your video-game system while I talk to your cousin? Major Berg is a real pro at high-tech toys, but I bet you can beat him. David, maybe you could take the baby along, too?”

  Hannah jumped to her feet, her smile glistening as brightly as her gold-plated nose rings. “I’ll take the baby.”

  David’s eyes widened with ill-disguised horror at the mention of entrusting the baby to Hannah. Dr. Vasquez looked none too pleased, either.

  Sophie rested a hand on the girl’s arm. “If you don’t mind, Hannah, I’d like you to stay. Since you were here, maybe you can help me with a few things.”

  “Uh, sure.” Hannah resumed her seat with all the enthusiasm of a student facing finals.

  Sophie moved her hand from Hannah’s arm to David’s. “David, do you mind?”

  David looked from Hannah to Juan. “No problem, Counselor.”

  He scooped the gurgling baby from Dr. Vasquez and tucked her in the corner of his arm. The chubby little girl studied him with wide eyes. Her bottom lip quivered. Her eyes swam with big fat baby tears. David stroked the
back of his fingers over her cheek until she turned her head and latched on to his knuckle.

  David grinned.

  Sophie melted.

  He cradled the baby while he leaned forward to snag the bottle from the edge of the table. “Ricky, come show me all those video-game moves you’ve been bragging about.”

  Ricky eased to his feet. Sophie couldn’t help but notice the wince of pain, the slow pace so different from the healthy gallop she took for granted in her son.

  Someone would pay for what had happened, damn it.

  Even if that implicated David?

  She didn’t have a choice.

  Juan fidgeted in his chair. “I’ve been thinking about everything, and I, uh, was wondering, do I really have to testify?”

  His aunt leaned forward to touch his arm. “Of course you do. No cold feet, Juan. We need you.”

  “Will they even believe what I say about that night?” The teen stared at the top of his shoes.

  “Why shouldn’t they?”

  “What if the jury just thinks I’m another illegal?”

  Sophie blinked back her surprise. Anger rumbled deep inside her.

  Angela’s eye glinted with anger she quickly covered, keeping her face smoothly controlled in front of her nephew. “But you are not. You were born in the States, just like Ricky. My brother and I came here legally. Your uncle’s family has been here for nearly a century.”

  Sophie reassured Angela with a touch to the arm. “I promise that won’t be an issue. I’ll do my best to protect you on the stand. We’ll trot out those great grades of yours and your volunteer work up at the animal shelter. You need to tell the truth about what you saw for your cousin.”

  Hannah looked overly complacent since Sophie’s attention had focused elsewhere. Time to play her hunch, all the while she prayed her instincts stunk.

  “But you two weren’t watching Ricky that night, were you, Juan? You didn’t see the impact because you weren’t in the room.”

  Guilt flared on both teenage faces.

  Damn.

  The foundation under her already borderline case crumbled. “Where were you, Juan?”

  Juan looked at his aunt, his brow furrowed with fear. “I’m so sorry, Aunt Angela. Ricky fell asleep on the couch watching cartoons, and if he woke up, we didn’t want him to see us, uh, making out. So we went to another room. I’m really sorry,” he repeated, his words tumbling faster over themselves. “I heard all the noise and found out Ricky was hurt.”