by Dana Mentink
“The dead marine—the one Sullivan killed. I was just getting some backstory on that. The man was assigned to the mess hall, custodial duty mostly. His uniform and ID were taken, of course.”
She was suddenly all business. Okay, he would take his cue from her tone. “Sullivan’s in the area, no doubt about it. Close. Could be your former boyfriend is, too. He made his last parole appointment, but that was Tuesday morning. Could have made it here in time to wrestle up the wasp nest.”
She stared at him. “You’ve been investigating?”
“Affirmative. Need to know which threats are coming from where.”
“We are working on catching Sullivan. Andy is my problem.”
He put down his coffee cup. “Until the threats against you end, it’s our problem.”
Pink flushed her cheeks. “There is no ‘our.’ Andy is a separate investigation, mine only. When it comes to him, we’re just...sharing air space.”
He laughed, and slapped a hand on the table. “Good one.”
“I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
He shook his head. She was so different than his ex wife, in spite of the resemblance. “Sorry, you have these really cute facial expressions when you’re irate, but like it or not, we’re partners until Sullivan is brought down and any baggage you bring to the case is relevant to that end.”
“Baggage?” She stood suddenly, giving him her back and staring out the window.
He rubbed a hand across his brow and pushed away from the table. “I shouldn’t have said that. You got a painful past with this guy, and I didn’t mean to be callous about it.” He reached out, her shoulder delicate to the touch. “Insert dumb foot into fat mouth.”
She didn’t react for a moment and he was about to take his hand away when she finally spoke.
“I deserved what I got with Andy,” she murmured.
There was a river of anguish in that last statement. “You made mistakes.”
“Big ones. Drinking too much, pills. Anything to make him—” She stopped.
Love me, Ethan finished silently. He knew what that was like, turning yourself into something you weren’t in order to be loved. He could write a book on the subject. “You survived,” he said softly, kneading her delicate shoulder. “You learned.”
“God saved me from Andy by bringing Jillian into the picture at just the right moment. To this day it surprises me that I even sent her that text. She’d called me the day before to tell me she was in the area visiting a cousin and could we meet up. I blew her off. To be honest, I was ashamed for her to see me the way I was. I was so different in prep school when we were roomies.” She sighed. “Fast-forward to age twenty-two and I’m up to my ears in alcohol and an abusive relationship. I didn’t want anyone to see me like that, but when I finally figured out what Andy planned to do...”
“Hold up the convenience store?”
She turned and his hands fell away. Something like betrayal flickered through her eyes. “I forgot. You’re a military cop. You already know all about my past, don’t you? Why am I going on about it?”
“I know some of the facts, not the reasons behind them.”
“What does that matter? I did terrible things and Jillian saved me from myself. That night, the night of the holdup, I called her and she came and got me while he was away, bundled up my stuff and drove me out of town. Andy went through with his plans anyway, got caught and he went to prison. I...I started going to church after that. But now I’m in deeper trouble than I ever was. Paying the price, I guess. I earned that.”
“No condemnation, not anymore. God’s forgiven you, if you’ve asked Him to.”
She turned those eyes to him, warm and damp with suppressed tears. Then she looked down as if ashamed, but he crooked his finger under her chin and gently eased it up. “The past is in the rearview. It brought you where you are, but you can’t drive if you’re too busy looking backward.”
A tiny sliver of a smile quirked the corner of her lips, his reward.
After a moment, she nodded and stepped away.
He found he wanted to do more, to show her with an embrace that he understood, that he could relate. There’d been plenty of shipwrecks in his own life, his marriage to Jillian being the worst. He prayed he would forget about her, but to date, he had not prayed he could forgive her. Maybe he never would.
So free with spiritual advice, aren’t you, Ethan? his conscience taunted. Not lookin’ at the mess with Jillian in your own rearview mirror?
His phone buzzed with a reminder. “I have to go back to Canyon today to meet with the team about Sullivan.”
“I’ll stay here and keep digging.”
“Uh-uh. You should be with me. Team should know what’s going on.”
She screwed up her mouth. “Want to tell the truth? You’re afraid I’ll do something reckless if left unattended, aren’t you?”
“No, ma’am, but all the horses in this team need to be pulling in the same direction.”
“More Tennessee wisdom?”
“If the saddle fits...” He drained his coffee. “I’m just...concerned about your safety. Sullivan murdered a cook and stole his ID to get onto base at Canyon, but someone’s helped him.”
“And now he’s got a uniform and ID from the soldier he murdered at Baylor so he’s got access to the US Marine base also. You’re wondering if he’s got an accomplice here, too.”
Ethan nodded. “He always seems to be one step ahead of us.”
“So maybe you’ve got a leak inside your investigation team.”
Ethan washed his mug in the sink to avoid answering. He was not sure how much of the team’s work to share with her. “Just keep your eyes peeled, okay?” His phone buzzed again. “And Marine battle dress will do. I assume Jillian left some for you.”
She nodded and he checked his phone. A text from his pal Linc. You and Jillian patch things up?
Had the Canyon team heard of his undercover assignment so quickly? It was supposed to be kept on a need-to-know basis. He texted back. Where’d you hear that?
Before Tech Sergeant Linc Colson replied, he got a second message from a friend who rented the apartment next to him at Canyon.
Dude, madly in love with your ex?
Ethan was texting furiously when Linc sent him the source, a link to an anonymous blog that had cropped up recently and attracted dedicated followers on and off the base.
The first line made charges detonate all along his spine.
“Rumor has it that Ethan Webb is still madly in love with his ex-wife Jillian Masters and he’s been making the long drive between Canyon and Baylor on a regular basis. Completely smitten, he’s spending every moment with her, desperate to win her back. Will we hear wedding bells ringing out again for these two? Or is it all a ploy to help catch the Red Rose Killer?”
He stopped reading, smacking the phone down on the table.
Kendra eyed him along with Titus. “Bad news?”
“When we get to Canyon, I’m going to have to make a side trip,” he said through gritted teeth.
SIX
Kendra pulled on the baggy military pants, top and boots, gathering her hair into a tight twist and pinning it under the cap. Jillian was taller but no one would notice the extra length tucked into her boot tops. Baby sat on the bed and watched her.
“How’d I get to be a marine, Baby?” Kendra mused. “A naval aviator yet. I wouldn’t have even survived boot camp.” And you might not survive this. She tucked a small tape recorder in one pocket and locked her weapon in the gun safe Jillian had in the closet. There was no way she was getting through air force security with a Glock strapped to her side. Besides, a pilot would not carry a weapon unless on a mission. Was Sullivan hiding out on Canyon Air Force Base? Or was he right here near Baylor, enjoying toying with her until he was done playing?
She
cuddled Baby, kissed her head and made sure the house was secure and the new lock Ethan had installed on the bedroom window firmly fastened before she went to meet Ethan and Titus at his truck.
If she wasn’t mistaken, Ethan seemed to jump when he saw her, an involuntary jerk, before he looked down at his boots. His own airman battle uniform were of a darker palette than hers, the Security Forces blue beret snug on his head. Hastily, she scanned her uniform. “Did I get something wrong?”
“No, uh, you just...” He shook his head and gestured to the driver’s-side door, which he had already opened. “Let’s get rolling.”
By the time the seat belt was buckled, she’d figured it out. Sometimes she forgot she was the spitting image of his ex-wife. He stared out the window, jaw tight, guiding the truck back to Canyon. What had Jillian done to him?
Best for you not to know. Just get the job done.
Titus whined from the space behind the driver’s seat.
“Doesn’t like riding in the back,” Ethan explained.
“Sorry, dog,” Kendra said. “Get over it. You’re not the boss of me.”
Ethan laughed, and she felt relieved to see the tension drain away. “Got two older sisters I wish I could convince of that. They live in Tennessee and every time I go home they have a bunch of women they want me to meet.” He sighed. “They figure every man who isn’t married surely should be working toward that end.”
She chuckled. “I always wanted a sister. I guess Jillian was the closest I ever got.”
“No siblings?”
“One brother. We’re not close anymore.”
“Why not?” He grimaced. “Oh, wait. Was that a nosy question?”
“Yes.”
“That mean you aren’t gonna answer it?”
Another back seat whine from Titus.
“When I started hanging around with Andy, my brother, Kevin, told me to break it off, that Andy was bad news. I didn’t want to hear it. The deeper I got into trouble, the more I shut Kevin out until he washed his hands of me. I don’t blame him really. My mother was an addict with mental problems, but Kev worked really hard not to repeat the pattern, to make a life for him and his wife and their baby.” She cleared her throat. “I wouldn’t have wanted me around them, either.”
“Have you contacted them since?”
“Since I got clean? No. The farther away from them I am, the farther away Andy is.” The remnant of the wasp sting on her cheek throbbed a reminder.
The long drive to Canyon Air Force Base finally ended. The road leading to the security gate was lined in barbed wire, until finally they got to an armed MP with a rottweiler tethered to his wrist. Ethan rolled down his window, and Titus issued a friendly bark, trying to jam his snout out the gap until Ethan backed him off. The rottweiler wagged his hind end in greeting.
“Ethan,” the MP said after saluting. “Good to see you.”
“Hey, Linc. Reporting for the meeting.”
Linc’s eyes shifted to the passenger seat. “Ma’am,” he said bobbing his chin at her. His eyes were hard and flat, his mouth tight. Clearly he was no fan of Jillian Masters. She kept her cap pulled down.
Linc inspected the car and his dog sniffed every inch of the vehicle also.
“He’s your friend?” Kendra whispered.
“Security’s buttoned up since the killings. Linc’s gonna do his job, whether we’re pals or not.”
When they were waved through, Kendra figured it was time to ask. “Who’s on your list of suspects for Sullivan’s accomplice?”
He hesitated. “That’s a need-to-know basis.”
“That’s perfect, since I need to know.” She could see him weighing it, measuring his trust in her.
He exhaled. “A few of the women he’s dated. We’ve done initial interviews.”
“No. I mean insiders, people on base or near it.”
Again, silence.
“As you pointed out, I painted a target on my back.”
More silence.
She grabbed his forearm, earning a growl from Titus. “Do you want to see my PI license? I’m not the enemy and I deserve to know. What’s that you said about horses pulling in the same direction?”
He rubbed a hand over his face. “Man, I hate when my words are used against me.”
She sat back with a victory smile. “So let’s hear it.”
* * *
Ethan fiddled with his beret. Fiddling? He wasn’t a fiddler and he didn’t want to tell her or anyone about the case. But he’d done a little checking on his own. She was a good PI, top-notch as a matter of fact, with plenty of cases solved and some with nasty connections to drug trafficking and murder. He figured she had a right to know.
“Three top the list at the moment. Rusty Morton, a buddy of Sullivan’s, who works at the K-9 training center, but I’m having doubts. Second is Jim Ahern, flight mechanic.”
“Who else?”
“A nurse on base here, Vanessa Gomez. She treated Sullivan after a fight, but she’s gotten a rose so we initially struck her from the list.”
“Initially?”
“Jillian was always jealous of Vanessa after she treated me for an injury. Accused her of flirting with me. Jillian always maintained Vanessa sent the rose to herself to throw us off the scent.”
“But you don’t believe it?”
“I don’t believe anyone anymore. We got more suspects than Dole has pineapples. We did clear Zoe Sullivan, his half sister. Boyd’s got a soft spot for her, but she’s not assisting him. She’s Linc’s wife now and they’re raising her son, Freddy, together.” No need to go into the whole hair-raising story about Zoe’s near-death experience from which Linc helped her escape. Linc, Zoe and Freddy were a family, and Ethan was pleased that at least one good thing had come out of the Sullivan mess.
“Anyone else?”
“Yvette Crenville, a nutritionist, dated him but they busted up pretty publicly when Sullivan was dishonorably discharged. That was the tip of the iceberg of course, since he was later imprisoned for a killing spree that left five people dead.”
“Do you trust her?”
“Like I said...” He got out of the car in front of the base news office, and she did the same. Tension rolled off him like storm clouds. “It would be better if you stayed in the truck.”
“Would Jillian meekly do what you ordered?”
“I...” His mouth snapped shut. “No.”
She gestured. “After you, then.” She added, low and soft, “Pumpkin.”
Titus licked her hand as Ethan snapped on his leash before they strode into the office. Just before they entered, a man leaning against a trash can caught her eye. He wore clothes that matched hers—a marine, the markings indicating he was a combat pilot like Jillian. The brim of his cap shaded his face, but he was tall, strong, and she had a feeling he was staring right at her.
Muscles in her stomach tensed, deep down. She stared right back at him. Ethan noticed her look. He took a step toward her and the man turned away, heading in the opposite direction.
“Know him?” Ethan said.
“No. You?”
“No. We get marines in here all the time.”
Or people who had stolen Marine uniforms and credentials?
Suppressing a shiver, she followed Ethan into the news office.
Ethan did not waste time approaching one particular desk, where a middle-aged soldier with horn-rimmed glasses was tapping away on his keyboard. The name placard on his desk read Captain John Robinson.
Ethan fired off a hasty salute. “The blog. Is it your handiwork, sir?” he said without preamble.
Robinson paused, fingers still on the keyboard until he returned the salute. “Hello, Ethan.” He glanced at Kendra and quirked a smile. “Ma’am.”
Ethan’s shoulders lifted in a tense wall. “All
this...drivel about love and whatnot.”
Kendra felt her own cheeks heating up. Talk about awkward. She’d not realized until then how difficult it would be for Ethan to pretend to be reconciled and back in love with a woman whom in reality he couldn’t stand.
“What’s the matter?” Robinson said. “Don’t like having your love life splashed over cyberspace?”
Ethan went still, the anger radiating out of him like a solar flare. “Sir, this underground blog has been leaking info that only the investigation team should know. How is that happening? You’re the base news reporter. Answer the question, please.”
“Well,” Robinson said, lacing his fingers together and cradling the back of his head with his outstretched arms. “The answer is... I have no answer, only a theory.”
“What theory?” Ethan growled.
“That it’s someone close.” He turned slowly to the female lieutenant at the next desk, a blonde with blue eyes accentuated by dark-framed glasses. “Someone who felt slighted that he or she didn’t get assigned the Red Rose Killer story. Someone who understands websites and is within earshot of all kinds of juicy tidbits both on base and off.”
The woman whose placard read Lieutenant Heidi Jenks stood, chin up, and walked right to Robinson’s desk. “At least do me the courtesy of not talking about me while I’m sitting five feet away.” She squared off with Ethan. “I have nothing to do with that underground blog. Yes, I wanted the Sullivan story and yes,” she added, her nostrils flared, “I could do a much better job on it than Robinson here, but I am a journalist, not a gossip columnist.”
She fired a look at Kendra. “Personally, I’d be glad if you and Ethan are back together. Marriage vows are supposed to be forever, right?” Her eyes narrowed. “No matter what?”
Time to act the part.
“That’s right,” Kendra said, keeping her voice even in that flat way Jillian kept hers, which she’d come to admire.
