by Jen Talty
She sighed as her eyelids fluttered open.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he said.
“What time is it?”
“Not quite six.”
“I’ve got to be to the base by seven thirty.” She rolled to her back, reaching her arms over her head while she stretched.
“I do too. I’ve got a twenty-four-shift coming up.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Otherwise, I’d say let’s ride in together.”
Her eyes went wide. “Like we need to give people something to talk about.”
“No one is talking. At least not my buddies.”
“Maybe not, but word travels fast and with the case…” her words trailed off as she slapped her forehead with her hand. “Shit, I didn’t check my email before going to bed. I wanted to be able to ream my assistant out and enjoy telling him to get off your ass.”
“You talking like that is just turning me on.” He pulled her to his chest, letting her know just how much.
“Oh no, you don’t.” She wrapped the sheet around her body and shimmied from the bed, leaving him exposed. “Oh my,” she said. “No. No. No.” She shook her head. “I will not let you distract me again. I need to get in the shower.”
He pulled the comforter over his body. “I can join you in the shower and wash your back.”
“I know where that will lead and as much as I’d love it, I really need to get to the office early, preferably before Edwin.”
“I’ll go put on a pot of coffee and start some eggs.”
“You are the best.”
“I aim to please.” He winked, then groaned as she dropped the sheet and padded to the bathroom. If she had been any other woman, he might feel rejected, but he understood she had a job to do and needed to get at it. Besides, five times in two days, that might as well be a world record. He laughed at himself. He couldn’t care less how often. The best part about being with her, was just being with her. He had no idea how to explain it other than, simply being in her presence made the world a better place.
He found his clothes and made his way to the kitchen. Once the coffee machine started percolating, he checked his phone.
Two texts from Declan and a voicemail from Ace.
He responded to Declan first, letting him know that yes, they would be going to work together, no, he didn’t need breakfast, and yes, he knew his record was being called into question.
Which was the voicemail from Ace.
He texted him, letting him know he could call because Brodie would never call this early. Too many little kids that might be sleeping, and his wife was pregnant again. It wasn’t easy being a military wife and even harder when shifts were often more than a day long.
His phone rang immediately.
“Hi, Ace,” he said as he whisked the eggs. “How’s the family?”
“Alex mouthed off to the teacher at school, so I had to ground him. He’s not very happy with me right now. Charlie has an ear infection, so he kept us all up half the night. And if my bride doesn’t get her wish to have a girl, I think she’s going to chop my head off, but otherwise, damn wonderful, thank you for asking.”
“Alex is seven. What the hell did he say to the teacher?” Bodie sprayed the frying pan with some Pam before tossing the eggs in.
“He got into it with a boy in school who is picking on someone else. The teacher was trying to explain to him that while she appreciates him standing up for other children, he needed to get an adult before taking matters into his own hands.”
“He’s going to be one hell of a young man with his boy scout attitude.”
“Not boy scout, more like vigilante, but yeah, it will serve him well when he’s like twenty-five.”
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Ace said. “But I didn’t call to shoot the shit about my family.”
“I told Harper everything, and the General sent her the official paperwork.”
“I’m sorry this is being tossed in your face again.”
“It’s really not a big deal, except for that damn stupid gas can. Harper can’t tell me a damn thing, and I sure as shit haven’t asked. I wouldn’t do that to her.”
“There isn’t anything to tell. The only problem is, they have no one else to look at besides his brother, and he’s MIA, but I’ve called in a few favors, and Tex found some interesting news. He’s going to send it to Harper.”
“What’s the news?”
“He found a paper trail to an offshore money account in Jonathon’s name.”
“How much money?”
“The more important question is: why was it closed the day after his death?”
“That is odd, now isn’t it,” Brodie said as he slid the eggs onto two plates. “I take it Tex is sending all this to Harper directly. And not her office. I think her assistant has it in for me.”
“Tex said he’d bypass channels and make sure Harper gets it before anyone else.”
“Thanks.”
“Brodie!” Harper’s voice screeched.
“I’m in the kitchen,” he said. “Look man, I gotta run. I’ll see you on base shortly.” He tapped the off button and set the phone on the table.
Harper stood in the hallway, wearing only a pair of dress slacks and her bra. Her wet hair dangled over her shoulders, her face white and her mouth hanging open.
“What’s wrong?” He raced to her side, curling his thick fingers around her shoulders. “Harper, are you okay?”
She shook her head. “Edwin just called. He’s questioning an eyewitness right now.”
“And?”
“That witness is saying they saw your truck and you at Jonathon’s right before the fire started.”
Chapter 11
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Harper didn’t bother to close the conference room door before laying into Edwin. “Not only are you jeopardizing this case, but I have half a mind to take you right off it and suspend you for insubordination.” Actually, that is exactly what she intended on doing, only she wanted to see how Edwin would respond to the threat.
“Hey, I’m not the one screwing our best suspect,” Edwin said loud enough for the entire office to hear. She suspected that included Brodie, who sat in the hallway with a guard. At least it wasn’t in handcuffs.
She ignored the jab and still left the door open. Dealing with Edwin and his mishandling of the case needed to be done in public, even if it meant a few whispers about her love life behind her back. She had the upper hand, only she was the only one who knew it. Well, her, Mozart, and Tex. They had been the ones to suggest outing Edwin. At first, she didn’t want to do it, but then Mozart took the ‘trust me’ tone, and that meant he suspected more than the intel he handed her but didn’t have the proof yet. “The second someone came forward as a potential witness, you should have informed me. Instead, you went behind my back and made a judgment call that should have been made by me, the Officer in Charge.”
“We needed to vet her story,” Edwin said. “Time is of the essence in a case like this. I did what you would have done, had you been doing your-”
“I wouldn’t finish that statement if I were you. You took it upon yourself to question the witness and deem her story credible without doing a full check.” She tossed a file on the table.
“That’s not true. I followed standard—”
“Did you ask me to sign off on an official statement regarding Captain Welch?” She folded her arms and tapped her foot, waiting for an answer.
Edwin stared at her with pursed lips. “You weren’t here, and when you are out of the office I’m in—”
“Only when I’m on vacation are you in charge. You made this decision last night. You interviewed a potential witness without my knowledge. Not even a phone call or text. Standard procedure would have been to contact me with all aspects, and this wasn’t a situation where you needed to act so fast you took me, your superior, right out of the loop. We’ve got one of our own dead. Murdered.
And you’re accusing a decorated officer. That is not something this office takes lightly.”
Edwin went to close the door, but she put her foot in the way. Tex had found out that Edwin had been up for this job, but he’d been passed over, for the second time, partly because he often went rogue, doing things his own way, and twice he’d mishandled a case, though each time, he got nothing but a reprimand.
This time, things would be different. Being a go-getter was one thing, but she needed team players, not cowboys who wanted to make headlines.
“We have an eyewitness that puts Captain Welch at the scene—”
“Your witness saw nothing because she wasn’t even there.” She flipped open the folder, exposing a picture of a woman named Ronda Young driving her car through a parking lot across town.
“What is this?”
Harper tapped the photograph. “That’s your witness fifty minutes away at the time she said she saw Captain Welch.”
“That’s impossible.” Edwin shoved the papers away. “You can’t even tell that’s her, and she did tell me she let her daughter borrow her car this week.”
“That’s funny, because her daughter hasn’t shown up for work since the fire, which is odd since she was sleeping with our dead fireman.” Thank God for Mozart and his buddy, Tex. She needed a man with Tex’s skills in her office.
Edwin opened his mouth then snapped it shut.
“You didn’t know that piece of information, did you?” She picked up the image and shoved it in front of Edwin’s face. “That’s your witness. Clear as day. And the time stamp. Her story doesn’t fly.”
Edwin held the picture in his hands, his lips drawn in a tight line.
She wasn’t going to wait for him to try to fumble his way out of this one. “You had me bring Captain Welch in after you officially named him as a suspect before doing due diligence with the witness. You’re lucky I got wind of it before the statement left this office. I’ve scheduled a hearing for next week regarding this matter, so until then, consider yourself on leave. You are not to come near this case, or any other one for that matter. Now, I could have you escorted out, but I’m not going to do that to you.”
Edwin stood tall, his jaw tight. “You’re making a mistake. There is history between Jonathon and Brodie. A dangerous one. Not to mention Brodie is a conv—”
“That’s enough.” She stepped closer, raising up on tiptoe, and kept her voice so low only he could hear. “I know what is behind those sealed records, you don’t. So, say something like that again, and I will bring you up on so many charges, it will make your head spin. Now get the fuck out before I have an MP slap handcuffs on you.”
Edwin visibly swallowed, then turned on his heels. She waved to one of the MPs she’d brought in to make sure Edwin left. A full investigation was officially underway into his practices as an Air Force Investigative Officer.
She took in a few deep breaths as Ace and Brodie made their way down the short hallway.
“Wow,” Brodie said as he stopped two paces away. “I wish you could have told me all that on the way in.”
“I didn’t know all of it until I got to my desk,” she admitted. She’d been overwhelmed with information the second she entered the office. Between what Tex had found and the reports on Brodie’s adolescent adventures and what the General had forwarded, her head spun like a toy top.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping to hold back the headache threatening to render her utterly useless.
“There is a lot to process, and I need some time to go through everything,” she said. “In the meantime, Brodie, I need you to stay on base.”
“His shift is covered,” Ace said with a nod. “Besides, he and I have some paperwork to cover before he takes over as Crew Chief.”
“Thanks,” she gave Brodie a weak smile, knowing that everyone in the office had been stealing a glance here, a stare there, all wondering if they were indeed sleeping together.
Well, it was none of their damned business, but she needed to keep things professional while in her office. Letting Edwin go off was a means to an end, though she wasn’t quite sure what that end was just yet.
“I’ll be on base until tomorrow morning,” Brodie said.
“Thanks for coming in, and I’ll be in touch.” She wanted to reach out and touch him, but that would just add fuel to the office gossip chain.
Thankfully, Brodie didn’t need any extra prodding and understood her concerns.
She watched him waltz down the hallway in his Fire Protection Specialist boots, pants, and mock T-Shirt, filling them out like a perfect wetsuit after it’s been molded to your body in the water.
“Louis, follow me,” she said to the newbie investigator. Talk about green. This was his first assignment after going through training and instead of starting as an MP, he’d worked as a clerk in the legal department.
“Yes, ma’am.” Louis was barely twenty-five, but he seemed eager to learn the ropes. She’d only been working in the office for a couple of days, but she’d seen the way Edwin treated those below him, and she for one planned on changing how things worked in the office.
“How familiar are you with this case?” she asked as she stepped into her office. The stacks of files next to her computer didn’t help the pounding between her ears.
“Honestly, other than what you told me this morning, I don’t know jack shit, ma’am.”
One thing she valued more than anything on the job was honesty. “Are you afraid of hard work and long hours?”
“No, ma’am,” he said with such enthusiasm it made her heart flutter a little faster.
She rifled through the papers covering her desk until she found the information she was looking for. “Here is access to all of the files on Edwin’s computer. I want you to go through his work email, his—”
“Ma’am?” he stared at her with wide eyes.
“There shouldn’t be anything personal on his work computer. If there is, ignore it, but I’ll need you to notify me, okay?” If Edwin had used his military computer for anything personal, she’d have more to toss at him, and at the very least, she wanted him removed permanently from her team.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She really wanted to tell Louis to cut the ma’am crap, but she knew he wouldn’t. Not on his first week under her tutelage and certainly not on his first case. She needed fresh eyes and a keen sense. Not someone who worried about what to call her.
“Focus on everything Edwin gathered on the murder of Jonathon. I want you to prepare a report for me in a couple of hours, and then we can discuss and create a plan moving forward.”
“I can do that.” He stood, taking the stack of papers she offered.
“I’ll get security to bring you his laptop and files.”
“Thank you,” Louis said as he stepped from the office. “I won’t let you down.”
“I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please shut the door.”
Once in the privacy of her small office, she let out an audible sigh, but it was interrupted by the phone.
“This is Major Dawson,” she said.
“Dawson, this is Derek in the ME’s office. We’ve got something for you that changes everything.” Derek rushed the words so that they blended together in an almost incoherent pattern. “You’re not going to believe this, but the body found in the fire isn’t Senior Firefighter Johnathon Battle.”
“What?” She rubbed the inside of her ear. “Who is it then?”
“His brother, Archer.”
Chapter 12
When Ace shouted the words: you’re back on, Brodie wanted to break out into the moonwalk, a dance move he didn’t too often admit to being able to do. But instead, he ran outside and did a back flip. It seemed manlier.
But it was then tainted by the realization that Jonathon Battle and his girlfriend, Ronda Young, were missing, and a man had been murdered.
Brodie ran a hand through his hair before putting on his fireman’s hat. He followed his
buddies Jax and Hunter into what was left of Jonathon’s home. They knew the fire had been set in the bedroom. They knew gasoline had been used on the body and bed, which is why it had been difficult to ID the body. The only other thing they knew was that Archer had been arrested and convicted of bank robbery before it was overturned on a technicality.
And the money was still missing.
Brodie stepped into what used to be the kitchen. A smile tugged on his lips when he saw Harper. “Hey,” he said.
She nodded, handing something to a young man he’d seen in the office, though he hadn’t a clue to who he was. “How does it feel to be back?”
“Mixed emotions,” he said, planting his hands on his hips and scanning the room. As an arson specialist, their job had been to assess the fire.
They’d done that. But Harper decided having them around to help in her investigation might give her stronger leads. He wasn’t so sure about that, but he was happy to do his part. “Anything you want us to look for besides the murder weapon?” The autopsy report showed that Archer had been shot in the head at point-blank range. The bones in his shoulder showed a possible stab wound, and in his hand was a possible entrance and exit wound that could have been caused by another gunshot.
“That would be the needle in a haystack,” she said, fingering her long ponytail.
“So, basically, we’re just waiting for something to prick our asses.”
“What?” she asked, scrunching her nose.
“My mother would say that all the time when my dad would use that quote. Of course, we always had to remind her that hay was prickly, so it didn’t make sense.”
Harper laughed. The sweet sound cut through the rubble and eased the lingering knot in his stomach.
“I do have something interesting to show you that Louis found.”
“Who is Louis?”
She pointed to the kid she’d been talking to a minute ago, who was now following Hunter around like an eager, little pup. “He started in my department three months ago. He’s been treated like shit by Edwin the entire time.”
