Maggie's Guardian (Harlequin Super Romance)

by Adams, Anna

  “Just to ease Eleanor’s mind,” Joe said.

  They must have talked it over pretty strenuously if they both described their plan the same way. “We’ll have to let Noah and the police know,” Tessa said.

  “Fine.” Joe was already heading for a telephone, his long stride easier than she’d ever seen it. He must have been as worried as his wife. “I’ll make the calls. You ladies get the baby ready to go.”

  Tessa dressed Maggie and then Eleanor took her off to her room, while Tessa packed a diaper bag and a few of her own things. She looked around the room, strewn with Maggie’s belongings.

  She couldn’t think of anything else she or Maggie might need for one night at the Worths’. She grabbed a notepad and scrawled a note for Noah in case he missed Joe’s phone message, and then she paused on her way to the Worths’ room to slip the message under Noah’s door.

  Eleanor met Tessa in the hall with Maggie cuddled, grinning, against her shoulder. Tessa laughed at the baby.

  “She thinks we’re starting an adventure,” Eleanor said.

  “I think she’s planning how to make us pay for totally messing up her bedtime tonight.”

  “Maybe a little of both, but she’ll fall asleep in the car.”

  Resisting a yawn until her eyes watered, Tessa remembered why she and Noah had enjoyed so little sleep last night. “I hope she sleeps when we get there. Forty-five minutes to your house?”

  “As long as the snow holds off and we don’t run into traffic.” Eleanor spared an arm to hug Tessa. “Thanks for doing this for me. I’ll be so grateful to sleep in my own bed tonight.”

  Her happy mood convinced Tessa the relatively short trip was worth it. As Eleanor sailed down the stairs, Joe came in from the cold, stamping his feet.

  “I’ve warmed up the car. You ready?” he asked them.

  “Did you talk to Noah?” Tessa grabbed Maggie’s snowsuit and cap from the sofa, but Eleanor took it and began to put it on the baby.

  “I left a message on his phone. Apparently, he was trying to reach Boston when I called, but I also talked to the deputy outside, and he radioed Weldon. We’re just outside his jurisdiction at home, and he wants to leave the deputy here to make sure no one breaks into the house again, but he’s arranged with our police to send someone to watch our house.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Eleanor rose from stuffing Maggie into her snowsuit. “I’ll let you take her, dear. You’re already better than I am at talking her into her car seat.”

  Joe opened the door and then picked up Tessa’s bags. “I put ours in the car already,” he said.

  Tessa stopped to set the alarm, for all the good it seemed to do. Maggie might have been looking for an adventure, but her idea of fun didn’t start with the dreaded car seat. By the time Tessa strapped her in, Joe and Eleanor were waiting in the front.

  Tessa spread her hands like a calf roper. “Done.” Slumping, she yanked her coat open. “Fighting her is hot work.”

  Joe chuckled as he maneuvered his big boat of a car in a U-turn. Tessa caught a quick glimpse of the deputy as they left her house behind.

  “You don’t have to entertain us with small talk,” Eleanor said over her shoulder. “Just lean back and enjoy the ride. I may sleep myself.”

  For forty-five minutes? Tessa held back a laugh. The night was still in its infancy, and second thoughts about leaving the safety of her home began to pick at her. But Maggie reached for her with both hands and a mournful cry, and she leaned over the car seat, wrapping the baby in a warm hug. Before she knew it, young night, short drive and all, she was asleep.

  FOR ABOUT AN HOUR, Noah managed to persuade himself he’d done the right thing. He kept trying to reach Baxton and Della on the phone, but he got only answering machines. He called the station again. No one there had heard from Baxton yet.

  During the second hour, Tessa’s voice in his head grew too firm to ignore, asking him to choose her and Maggie over his job. How many detectives in his office would have dropped everything to find Della Eddings?

  Noah believed that Tessa and Maggie would be safe tonight, but maybe their physical safety hadn’t really been the point.

  He’d wanted to do the right thing for Della. Her children had clung to the back of her jeans in a row of three the day she’d come to his desk. She’d sworn her husband was going to kill them all if someone didn’t stop him. Noah and Baxton had introduced her to people at the agencies that could help her, but they hadn’t been able to arrest her husband. Finally, when he’d brandished a gun at her on the street across from her office, Baxton had agreed to let Noah enjoy a man-to-man with Frank.

  But Frank had made other plans. He’d disappeared as if he scented the law on his ass. And Noah and Baxton, on their own time, had spent the past three months searching for him.

  Tonight Tessa’s last caution to be careful had quenched the fire in his belly. For the first time in his professional career, he wanted to turn a job over to someone else. What would happen if he did? Someone else would find Frank Eddings, leaving Noah free to take care of the family that had begun to feel like his own.

  A little over an hour would take him back to the house in Prodigal.

  He called the office one last time and spilled his guts to the duty lieutenant. Pitching a battle, which he spiked with the information that he couldn’t find Baxton, who must be out looking for Della, he persuaded the duty guy to arrange an unofficial posse. Then he asked for a report when they found Baxton and Della, and he turned the car around.

  Snow began to fall again, outside Portland. Noah had to slow for it and the occasional plow. He considered calling Tessa, but he wanted to see her expression when she saw him, to make sure she understood what he meant by coming back. He wanted a future with her, and he was willing to change to make it.

  With the snow and the slower traffic, he passed the Welcome To Prodigal sign just before eleven.

  His cell phone rang. He picked it up and flipped it open. Before he could say hello, Baxton was yelling in his ear. “It was a damn false alarm.”

  “What was?” Noah asked.

  “I had a call this afternoon, an anonymous tip, but the guy asked for me, said he’d heard we were looking for Frank Eddings, and that Frank had a gun, and he planned to pay his wife a visit today.”

  “Where have you been since then?”

  “Looking for her. I finally found her in Atlantic City, gambling with her mother. I’ve had her apartment watched all day, and no one showed up. I think someone played us.” He finally stopped. “Maybe it was Eddings, himself.”

  Noah shook his head in the silent car. “I don’t know, but I’m glad Della and the kids are all right. Can we use this to get someone assigned to her case?”

  “Not ethically.” Baxton barked a laugh that was sadly devoid of devotion to ethics. “But I’ll see what I can do. Where are you?”

  “Didn’t you hear I turned around? I’m about five minutes from Tessa’s house.”

  “Well, don’t bother me any more tonight. I’ve got to find a way to pay for the man-hours you racked up, calling out the cavalry.”

  “Thanks, Baxton.”

  “Yeah. Sometime early next week, let me know when you plan to come back to work.” And Baxton hung up as abruptly as he’d started speaking.

  When Noah turned onto Tessa’s street, the house was so dark it looked empty. A twinge of uneasiness made him hit the brakes, but Weldon’s deputy was just where the chief had promised he’d be. Noah parked behind him and got out of the car.

  The guy didn’t move as Noah approached. Great— Prodigal’s finest had fallen asleep on the job. But when Noah came level with the car, he saw the deputy’s head, pressed to the window in a pool of dark moisture.

  “Damn.” He drew his gun and ran for the house. Just in time, he realized if he kicked in the door, he could get Tessa and the baby and the Worths killed.

  He eased around to each of the windows. No movement at all. When he’d circled t
he house entirely, he kicked in the door, swearing his frustration as the wood splintered and the alarm began to scream. No one moved anywhere.

  He took the stairs at a dead run but found all the bedrooms empty. Where the hell were they? Kidnapping didn’t seem like this killer’s style.

  Tessa’s room looked as if a cyclone had hit it, but that might have been Maggie’s influence. The Worths’ room looked as if no one had ever stayed in it. All their clothes were gone. What kind of a killer stole an elderly couple’s clothing?

  He went back to Tessa’s room. Nothing. No note. No real sign of a disturbance. He had to get help for the deputy and alert Weldon to his failure as a guard. And he had to fight off the bone-crushing knowledge of his own failure until he found Tessa and Maggie.

  Passing his own room, he kicked the door wider.

  And saw a square of white paper on the dark floor.

  He snatched it up. In Tessa’s handwriting, he saw the words. “We’ve gone to Eleanor and Joe’s house.” And she’d penned a phone number that he dialed as he launched himself down the stairs.

  No answer there. Not even an answering machine. “Damn, damn!”

  He dialed 911 and explained the situation to the operator as he snatched up the plaid blankets Tessa left on the couches and ran from the house.

  Noah’s cell phone rang as he eased the deputy’s car door open. Weldon shouted his name before he could get the receiver to his ear.

  “The alarm company called, and I just got your 911 call, too. What the hell’s happened?”

  “Your deputy is out cold, and Tessa and the Worths are gone. Send the paramedics.” Noah dropped the phone and gently slid the deputy onto his back on the car’s seat. He covered him with the blankets and waited impatiently for the paramedics. He couldn’t leave the deputy alone.

  He reread Tessa’s note and dialed Weldon’s office back to ask for an address for Joe and Eleanor. Had they been jumped as they’d left the house?

  He doubted it. The deputy wouldn’t have rolled down his window for a stranger. He would have been leery of anyone who didn’t belong in Tessa’s house.

  Noah turned his head toward the house’s open door. A moment, just before he’d left tonight, replayed in his head.

  He’d been trying to persuade Tessa he wasn’t abandoning her. Joe, climbing the stairs, had argued on his side. Noah had looked up and finally noticed how tall the older man was. How lean. For a second, Joe had reminded him how frustrated he’d felt at not being able to get another good look at Eric Sanders so he could compare him to the man in Weldon’s photo of the killer.

  Evidence began to stack up in Noah’s head. Someone had wanted him out of the house tonight. How many times had he called Baxton about Della Eddings from Tessa’s phone? Someone who’d overheard him checking in with Baxton could have called in a tip to get him out of the way.

  And the file in Tessa’s computer had been too easy to place there. Maybe someone who was supposed to come and go in Tessa’s house had inserted the computer file and called Baxton. Joe could easily have persuaded the deputy to roll down his window. Rolling it back up and then shutting the door on a bludgeoned man would have been child’s play for the person who’d killed David.

  More afraid than he’d ever been in his life, furious that he’d been so distracted with his own feelings for Tessa, he took down the address Weldon’s other deputy gave him.

  At last sirens sounded in the distance. Weldon pulled up first, the paramedics just behind. Once the deputy was being treated, Noah went to the chief’s car.

  “It’s Joe,” Noah said. “Or maybe he and Eleanor are in this together. It must have something to do with Joanna. I’m on my way.”

  “Did you call their local law enforcement?”

  “Everything just fell into place. I’ll call them now.”

  Weldon nodded. “I’ll call, too, and explain. You might get more cooperation.”

  “Tell them I want to try to talk to Joe or Eleanor first. If I don’t let them know I’ve been here, they may think they’re in the clear.”

  “What if they’ve already killed your ex-wife?”

  A cold chill went through him. “I don’t think so.” Maybe he was fooling himself, but he had to hope. “They’d want to get Maggie to their house, and Tessa goes with Maggie. They love the baby. They’ll try to part her from Tessa without violence.”

  “You’ve tried to call them already?”

  “Yeah, but they didn’t answer.”

  “It’s snowing. They might not be there yet. Try them again, so I can tell the chief to stay out if you talk to them.”

  Noah frowned at the other man. “Send him in if he sees Tessa’s in trouble.”

  “I’m not a hick, Gabriel. I thought we established that.”

  Noah dialed the Worths again. On the third ring, Joe answered, sounding plain scared.

  Noah nodded at Weldon and took a deep breath. If he screwed this up, Tessa could die. “Hi, Joe. I changed my mind and turned around. I’m almost at the Prodigal turnoff, but I’ve been calling Tessa’s house, and I finally realized you all must have left.”

  “Yeah.” Joe’s breath was audible. “Eleanor felt nervous staying there when someone might break in, so we called Weldon and told him we were coming up here.”

  “Quite a drive in this weather, wasn’t it?”

  “We slowed down when we hit the snow. Why don’t you go on to Tessa’s house, and we’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Nah. I just want to make sure everything’s okay with you all and the baby, and it’s not that far. I’ll come on over if you give me directions.”

  Joe faltered again. Noah only prayed he wasn’t prompting the other man to kill Tessa and run for cover. “Will you put Tessa on the phone?”

  “She and Eleanor are tucking Maggie into bed. Why don’t I have her call you?”

  “Okay.” Noah had a brainstorm. “But tell her to keep trying if I don’t answer. I’m going to call the chief up there and have him send a patrol car by.”

  “Weldon was supposed to do that already,” Joe said.

  “Good. They should be outside your house before I am,” Noah said with relief. David’s killer wouldn’t have kept lying about the police if he didn’t think there was a chance no one had found the deputy yet. Noah took Joe’s reluctant directions and hung up.

  Weldon was already dialing his own phone. “Give me five minutes,” he said. “I’ll explain what we need, and then you call and tell them what you want them to do.”

  “Thanks.”

  He flew through the snowy night, cursing his own idiotic mistakes. He’d die before he’d lose Tessa and Maggie.

  He followed Joe’s directions, swearing he’d kill the other man with his bare hands if Joe had sent him on a wild-goose chase. But Joe had managed to pull off a vindictive, well-planned murder. He wouldn’t throw his near escape away for one less night with Tessa and her detective ex-husband.

  What had driven Joanna’s parents to such a murderous rage? He intended to find out and stop them before they killed his wife.

  His phone rang again. He flipped it open and Tessa’s voice filled him with relief he couldn’t show her.

  “I’m so glad you turned back,” she said.

  “Tessa, concentrate on what I’m about to say. Don’t change your expression—don’t move a muscle—are you standing where Joe and Eleanor can see you?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Turn around, as if you’re just looking at something nearby. Touch it as if it interests you.”

  “Okay, sounds good.”

  “I don’t have time to ease you into this, so hold on. At least one of them killed David, and I think they planned to kill you tonight. When you can get away from them, go to your room. Take Maggie with you, and lock yourself in.”

  “How long will you be?”

  “Less than thirty minutes, but I’ll shave off the seconds where I can. I need to get to you.”

  “Yes.”

&
nbsp; “I love you, Tessa. Now hang up before we look suspicious.”

  He felt as if he were abandoning her again. But he couldn’t keep her on the phone. Joe and Eleanor would know they were caught. He called the number Weldon had given him and arranged to keep Chief Tinsley’s men out of Joe and Eleanor’s sight unless they heard signs of a struggle.

  This time, when he got off the phone, he focused on what came next—on destroying the man and woman who wanted to kill Tessa.

  All his adult life, Noah’s only goal had been to get killers off the street. But tonight he had a new goal, one that brought him supreme and terrifying anticipation.

  The second he’d heard Tessa’s voice, known he could still save her, he’d become the kind of human being he hated and hunted.

  He couldn’t count on the courts. He couldn’t even count on himself not to make mistakes. There was only one way he could make sure the Worths never had a second shot at killing Tessa.

  He intended to kill them.

  TESSA LAY IN THE DARKNESS, Maggie nestled close to her side. She’d already dressed the baby in her snowsuit again. She didn’t dare make a sound.

  As far as Eleanor and Joe were concerned, she’d suddenly grown so tired she had to lie down so she’d be awake later to talk to Noah about what they should do next. That ridiculous nap she’d taken in the car supported her story.

  She surrounded Maggie with pillows and eased off the bed. Crossing to the window, she hoped to see Noah down below.

  In the darkness, alleviated only by the glow of the light outside the garage, she saw no movement. Was anyone out there? She looked back at Maggie, feeling reckless for standing ten feet away from the baby—as if something might happen. But she didn’t want to wake her until she had to. Eleanor would be in this room like a shot if Maggie made a sound.

  Tessa had to get her out of this house. Eleanor and Joe weren’t going to give up their grandchild without a fight. Maybe Maggie was the reason they’d begun killing after Joanna’s death, but Tessa would die for her, too.

  A sudden flicker of movement caught Tessa’s attention. Pressing her face to the window, she thumped her forehead on the glass. Outside, a man stepped into the open. She knew Noah without a glimmer of light touching him.