For His Daughter

by Dani Sinclair

  “You can borrow it when I’m through.”

  Their sarcasm wasn’t lost on Kayla. “Alex! What’s the matter with you? With both of you!”

  “What’s he doing here?” Alex asked quietly.

  “He came to see Meredith. We were just—”

  “Where is Meredith?” Lee demanded, suddenly remembering his daughter.

  “Across the street. I left her with Mary Lou Strongmore, my neighbor.”

  Heart in his throat, Lee brushed past her. If Alex was her brother, then he wasn’t a burglar, therefore he was Kayla’s problem. She’d left Meredith with a stranger.

  “Wait, Lee!”

  “You shouldn’t have left her,” he snapped over his shoulder as he started down the hall.

  “It’s okay. Meredith knows Mary Lou.”

  But he didn’t.

  “Hold it, Garvey!”

  He ignored her brother, as well. Fay was dead. Maybe he’d killed her and maybe he hadn’t. He still didn’t know for sure. But someone had already shot at him once and his daughter was the only bargaining chip that a person could use to get at him again. Lee wasn’t taking chances. He sprinted through the open front door and down the steps on the run. Alex yelled after him.

  “The cops are looking for you, Garvey.”

  Kayla grabbed her brother by the arm before he could charge down the steps after Lee. She didn’t understand what was going on between the two of them, but she wanted answers and she wanted them now.

  “Let him go, Alex. He knows the police want to talk with him.”

  Alex hesitated. “He told you about the shooting?”

  “He didn’t have to. I was there.”

  Her brother’s jaw dropped in shock. “What do you mean, you were there?” His voice became low with menace.

  Kayla’s heart began to pound. She’d never seen that particular expression on her brother’s face before.

  “It’s okay. I’m fine. Lee protected us,” she said quickly. “He pushed us to safety and drew the gunman’s fire—”

  “What are you talking about?”

  The intensity behind the question made it a demand. His hand suddenly gripped her shoulder. She had never seen this hard, implacable side to her easygoing brother before. He’d always treated her with tender concern. Oddly enough, he reminded her of Lee when Lee went into his cop persona.

  “I’m talking about the shooting over in the park a few minutes ago.”

  “There was another shooting?”

  “You’re hurting me.”

  Instantly Alex released her. He ran a hand across his face in a weary gesture, but his other hand, she noticed, was tightly fisted at his side. Before she could ask him what other shooting he meant, Alex was apologizing.

  “I’m sorry, Kayla. Tell me what happened.”

  While he appeared contrite, the tone behind his questions remained intractable.

  Something was badly wrong. Kayla rubbed her forearms, feeling unnaturally cold. The depth of Alex’s interest was all wrong. Like her, Alex had no love for the police. And if her suspicions about his relationship with Fay were correct, he might view Lee as competition where Fay was concerned.

  Fay had made no secret of her fascination with Alex from the moment Alex came roaring back into town on that huge, ugly motorcycle he liked to drive. Kayla suspected that Alex, with his bad boy good looks and touch-me-if-you-dare swagger, got a lot of that sort of attention. Some women were drawn to men with rough edges. Her brother had more than a few. He’d skirted the edge of the law a lot after their father was killed. But that had been a long time ago. Her brother had grown up.

  Into a dangerous man.

  The thought paralyzed her. So did the realization that she didn’t really know her brother all that well anymore. At eighteen, with a quick hug and a promise to come back, he’d left to join the military. He never had returned. Not even for their mother’s funeral.

  He said he’d been overseas when she died. And he had called to see if Kayla was okay or needed anything when he heard about their mother’s death. After that, he’d stayed in touch with Kayla, calling occasionally and scrawling a hasty birthday or Christmas card accompanied by a whimsical gift of some sort. The crystal earrings she was wearing right now were from Alex.

  Gifts came from different parts of the country, but Alex wasn’t forthcoming about himself or his job. She knew he’d left the military, but he fielded personal questions glibly without actually telling her what he was doing. And she let him, because the truth was, she’d been a little afraid of the answers.

  Two months ago, Alex had arrived in town without warning. She hadn’t recognized him. His hair needed cutting, his face needed a shave, and he dressed like a man who didn’t care what anyone thought. Except when it was just the two of them. Then his indifference dropped away and he relaxed completely, once again becoming the brother she remembered.

  Even though he had a small apartment near Frederick, Kayla had seen very little of Alex since he’d been back. He generally called her before coming over. She hadn’t been aware that he even knew where she kept her spare key.

  She’d seen him in Frederick one day with a group of men that made her wonder if he wasn’t still running on the edge of the law. Or maybe he’d crossed from gray to black. But he was still her brother and she loved him unconditionally. Alex would never hurt anyone. Especially her.

  “Kayla? Tell me what happened.”

  Quickly she told him about the incident in the park, the words tumbling nervously from her lips. Her thoughts were going in a crazy direction. Alex couldn’t have shot at them. The very idea was ludicrous. She was not afraid of her own brother.

  But she couldn’t stop wishing that Lee would come back.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Alex muttered when she finished her explanation.

  “I know. But R.J. and Cornelius were talking about how maybe the Williams boy was out shooting at squirrels or something.”

  Alex narrowed his eyes in negation and Kayla had to nod her agreement. “The bullets were aimed, Alex. They nearly hit Lee.”

  Alex rubbed at the stubble on his unshaved face, staring at the wall with a frown. She remembered his earlier comment.

  “What did you mean about another shooting?”

  “That’s what I came here to tell you about. I didn’t want you to hear the news through the grapevine.”

  His head suddenly swung toward the open front door. Lee had reappeared so silently. she hadn’t heard him come up the stairs. Kayla felt a surge of relief, but it was short-lived. Lee’s expression was even tighter than her brother’s.

  “At the Bide Awhile?” Lee asked.

  “Oh, that’s right,” Kayla said. “Carolyn told us there was trouble out there. That’s why Chief Hepplewhite wanted us to come back here and wait for him.”

  Alex addressed her without taking his eyes from Lee. “She didn’t tell you what the trouble was?”

  “No.”

  Alex turned back to her, his expression changing to one of regret. A cold, sick feeling gripped her stomach.

  “Alex? What is it?”

  “Fay’s dead, Kayla.”

  “What are you talking about? We had dinner together last night. You remember. You were there. I saw you at a back table.”

  Alex didn’t reply.

  Desperately her eyes sought Lee. His features were set in grim lines, but there was no emotion whatsoever in his eyes. He knew, she thought. He already knew Fay was dead.

  “The maid found her body a little while ago,” Alex said gently. “She’d been shot in the chest at close range. A pillow was used to muffle the sound.”

  Fay was dead?

  Lee closed his eyes. A muscle near his mouth jumped as if stretched too tightly. But when he opened his eyes, his expression was all wrong for someone who should have been surprised.

  “You knew!”

  Lee swung his head from side to side.

  “You knew she was dead!”

  H
e came farther into the room. “How could I know, Kayla? I’ve been with you. But I suspected something was wrong. Fay should have been here a long time ago.”

  Of course she should have.

  “Get away from her, Garvey. You okay, Kayla?”

  She stared into her brother’s sympathetic eyes and felt tears burn the back of her throat. No. She wasn’t all right. She might never be all right again.

  Fay couldn’t be dead. That would mean...Meredith! “Lee, where’s Meredith? Why isn’t she with you?”

  “Mrs. Strongmore is feeding her lunch. I didn’t want to interrupt, so I told her you’d be over in a little while to collect her.”

  “We’ll have to tell her, Lee. She’s only a little girl. She won’t understand.”

  Pain scored his face. His hands clenched at his sides. “I know.”

  Kayla whirled on her brother. “Who killed her, Alex?”

  “Why don’t we ask him?”

  The implication sizzled in her mind like fire. Shocked, she looked from one face to the other. Lee’s stance altered. He faced her brother like an adversary. Kayla stepped between them quickly.

  “Lee wouldn’t kill anyone.”

  “Thanks,” Lee told her back.

  “Besides, he was with me.”

  Her brother’s jaw dropped, then snapped shut. “All night?” he demanded grittily.

  “Of course n—”

  “When did it happen?” Lee interjected quickly.

  He moved forward aggressively to stand beside her. His arm slid around her shoulders as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do. A protest sprang to her lips, but died in the face of her brother’s fierce expression. Lee’s touch suddenly made her feel oddly protected.

  “Take your hand off my sister.”

  “Stop it, Alex,” she demanded. “Why are you acting like this? What’s going on here?”

  “Why don’t you ask Garvey?”

  “I’m asking you!” Anger now filled the hollow void that had opened inside when she heard Fay was dead. This was too much. They were acting like children.

  Her brother’s jaw clenched. “Kayla, Fay was shot at close range by someone she knew. She was expecting a lover, based on the setup in the room.”

  Kayla felt no surprise. She’d known Fay had a lover. More than one, she’d suspected. Hadn’t she wondered if Alex was one of them?

  “Well, that lets me out,” Lee said easily, though tension sizzled through his body, matching her own. “How do you know so much about her murder?”

  Alex flicked his gaze back to her. “I was out there this morning. I heard the talk.”

  Her heart thudded painfully against her chest. What would her brother have been doing out at the motel this morning? The possible reason terrified her.

  Alex turned to her. “I find it interesting that your friend here didn’t brace me in the bedroom with his service revolver.” Alex turned his stony gaze back on Lee. “How come?”

  “My mistake,” Lee said with answering aggression. “I didn’t realize you were armed or I’d have come prepared.”

  Alex was armed? “What are you two talking about?” Kayla practically shouted.

  “Hepplewhite thinks Fay was shot with a 9 mm,” Alex said. “Isn’t that what the D.C. police force issues?”

  “Interesting that you’d know what we carry. Taking up police work now, Alex?” Lee asked with menacing quiet.

  The male posturing would have been comical if it hadn’t been so awful. They were more alike than they realized. Their voices both grew soft when they were angry.

  And they were very angry right now.

  “Enough!” She pulled free of Lee’s arm. “I won’t have this. Fay is dead! If you two want to beat each other to a pulp, be my guest. But take it outside. I can’t afford new furniture.”

  Alex instantly looked contrite. “Sorry.”

  “Sorry doesn’t cut it. I just lost a friend.” She had to swallow against the burning lump growing in her throat. She turned on Lee, letting the anger spill past the cauldron of emotions boiling in her mind. “And your daughter just lost her mother. Don’t you care at all?”

  His gray eyes glittered with something more than remorse. “More than you’ll ever know.”

  The weight of his words lay heavy in the sudden silence of the room. For a second, no one moved. Then the cuckoo clock in the dining room filled the pause.

  “I’ve gotta go,” Alex announced. “Will you be okay?”

  “She’ll be fine,” Lee told him.

  “I can talk for myself.”

  Alex stepped through the door. “I’ll talk to you later, Kayla.”

  “Stick around,” Lee invited. “I’ve got a feeling the police might want to talk to you, as well as me.”

  Alex didn’t respond. He disappeared down the steps without another word.

  Kayla was shaking all over. Until Lee gently touched her arm, she hadn’t even realized it. Fay was dead. Murdered. Meredith didn’t have a mother anymore. And Alex was acting so strangely. It was all too much.

  “I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Lee asked.

  “No.” Tears clogged her throat, burning behind her eyes. She would not cry in front of this man. A man Fay had claimed to hate and fear.

  “Excuse me.” Feeling as brittle as overheated glass, she forced herself to walk down the hall to the bathroom. She might shatter any moment under the weight of her confused thoughts.

  Lee watched her go, torn by her pain. Whatever his opinion of Fay, Kayla had called her friend. And after this morning, Lee understood his wife’s attachment. Kayla was a giving, caring woman, and probably the only person in the world who would mourn Fay’s death.

  This had been a brutal way to find out about her murder. He should have tried harder to break her brother’s jaw. The bastard was trouble looking for a place to happen.

  Lee hesitated. He wanted to go after Kayla and be sure she was all right, but what sort of comfort could he offer her? Alex had expressed more of the truth than even he knew. It had been Lee’s gun that had killed Fay. And no matter how Lee looked at the situation, he still couldn’t see how someone else could have gotten inside that room to murder her. By process of elimination, he must have killed his ex-wife.

  Except, how could Alex know so many details about the crime?

  Unless he’d been inside the room.

  When? How? Even small-town police departments wouldn’t let civilians look at a crime scene. So how had Alex known about the gun and the pillow?

  Lee knew he was liking his current thoughts entirely too much. He rubbed at the spot over his kidney where Alex had connected. Had Alex killed Fay? Was he reaching for the impossible? Maybe.

  If only he could remember what had happened last night.

  Lee slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. Outside, a car door shut. In two strides, he was at the window overlooking the front yard. A police cruiser sat in the driveway. A uniformed officer headed up the walk. Lee was out of time.

  Good old Alex had done one thing for him, Lee realized. He’d reinforced the precariousness of Lee’s position. The police would want to know where Lee had spent the night. They’d want to know where Lee’s service revolver was. They’d want to know about the fight between Lee and Fay last night.

  And Lee didn’t have a single answer he wanted to make to any of those questions.

  So much for the brotherhood of the force. His fellow officers looked more like the enemy than friends. The local police didn’t know him at all. How hard would they work to find another suspect with Lee sitting here, tailor-made?

  Lee raced to the kitchen. The back door opened onto a porch with a staircase going down to the yard. Lee took the steps, his heart racing faster than his body could travel. He’d never been on this side of the chase before and he didn’t like the feeling one bit. He would never look at a fleeing suspect the same way again, he decided.

  Assuming he’d get another chance to chase one.

  Lee
ran along the side of the house. The cruiser sat silent and empty. A car drove past and turned into the bank. Alex was nowhere in sight.

  Lee ran to the back door of the Strongmore house. He’d grab Meredith and go. He could be in Pennsylvania or West Virginia in under an hour. Unlike Kayla’s duplex, Mary Lou Strongmore’s place was a single family home. He saw the woman through the kitchen window near the sink. She smiled and waved as he took the porch steps in twos.

  “Come on in. That was fast, but I’m afraid your daughter was even faster. I didn’t expect you back so soon. Merry fell asleep in front of Sesame Street. She is the sweetest little girl. Reminds me of my daughter, Clarissa.”

  With her voice rumbling on, Lee moved ahead of her into the living room. His daughter lay on the rose-carpeted floor with her fist curled against one pink cheek. A colorful afghan had been spread over her small body and a large orange tabby cat lay protectively beside her. Meredith didn’t even stir when they entered the room. The cat, however, blinked up at him with judgmental yellow eyes.

  Lee stared at his daughter and felt his chest constrict. He couldn’t do it. She was so little. So trusting. He couldn’t take her on the run. He tried to swallow past the lump in his throat and resisted the urge to bend down and cuddle her one last time.

  “Mrs. Strongmore....” Emotion had thickened his voice. “There’s been...another incident.”

  When he’d come over to check on Meredith the first time, he’d explained about the shooting in the park. Now concern instantly wreathed that friendly, lined face. Mary Lou Strongmore worriedly patted a silver strand of hair back into place and rested on her cane.

  “I need to ask you a large favor. I know I haven’t any right—you don’t even know me, but I just found out—there’s no easy way to say this. Fay was shot and killed this morning out at the Bide Awhile.”

  A thin, blue-veined hand tried to cover her startled gasp.

  “If you wouldn’t mind, may I leave Meredith here for a while? Things are in an uproar, as you can imagine.” His mind spun, searching for words that would make him appear innocent later, when the police questioned the woman.

  “I need to go over to the park to try and catch up with the police. Kayla’s pretty upset right now. She and Fay were close, as you may know. The deputy will be coming by to question her and I’d rather Meredith be kept away from all the turmoil as long as possible.”