The Chase

by Lisa Harris

  He found her sitting on a wooden bench outside the emergency entrance, surrounded by manicured lawns and tall evergreens. Someone had scrounged up dry clothes and shoes for both of them, but she still looked cold and tired. His gaze rested on her face, and he felt his heart race. What had he been thinking? He never should have kissed her.

  He slid onto the bench next to her, aware of the relief flowing through him that she was alive, which outweighed the guilt of his impulsive action. “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I was finishing up at the sheriff’s department.”

  She smiled up at him. “You’re fine.”

  “How do you feel?”

  “A little tired and still cold, but the sunshine feels good. The doctor said I don’t have to be admitted, though I think I might take a day or two off after all of this.”

  He chuckled softly. “That’s probably a good idea. And how about some more good news?”

  Her eyes widened. “You found them?”

  “Thanks to your quick thinking, yes. We were able to pick them both up through the GPS on your phone.”

  “It all happened so fast.” She shook her head. “It was just an instinctive reaction. I’d grabbed for my phone after losing my radio, thinking I could call you, which would have been impossible, but her bag was hanging beside me, so I just dropped it inside.”

  “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “Me too,” she said. “So now what?”

  “I talked Michaels into letting us spend the night on the island so you can rest.”

  She nodded. “I’ll do anything as long as a hot shower and a meal are involved.”

  “All of that’s arranged,” he said, noting the fatigue in her eyes. “I booked us a couple rooms not far from here. Michaels just wants an update from us, though I’m sure he’ll have a pile of paperwork waiting when we get back.”

  “But at least we got them before they got away.”

  He reached out and squeezed her hand. It was shaking. “You are cold.”

  “I’m not the only one who got soaking wet. Thank you for saving me.”

  “Of course. That’s what partners are for.”

  He pulled his hand away, unable to dismiss the currents simmering beneath the surface. No matter how much he’d trained to handle days like today, separating his emotions was proving impossible when it came to Madison.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said, standing up. “And thanks for talking Michaels into letting us take the slow way back. A flight out of here might have been faster, but I need a chance to catch my breath.”

  Jonas pulled the keys for the loaner car from the sheriff’s office out of his pocket as they headed toward the parking lot. “Are you up for a short detour before we head to the hotel?”

  “I think so. What did you have in mind?”

  He shot her a grin. “Hop in and I’ll show you.”

  The sun was sinking toward the horizon when they arrived at Lime Kiln Point, a rocky outcropping on the western shore of the island. From the information he’d read online, the rugged coastline was one of the best places in the world to view wild orcas and other whale pods, as well as porpoises, river otters, and bald eagles.

  “I remembered you saying that this had been your favorite place to come with your father,” he said, breathing in the smell of saltwater and wet cedar as they exited the car and headed for the trail. “I thought you might want to see it again.”

  “Wow. This place is even more beautiful than I remember. And it brings back so many memories.” She zipped up her coat and her smile widened. “Thank you.”

  They walked the short trail through towering trees and passed the vintage lighthouse before reaching the rocky bluff overlooking Haro Strait. A few families sat at picnic tables, hoping to spot a whale, while kayakers paddled off the shoreline.

  “To the west is Vancouver Island,” Madison said, pointing toward the water. “And to the south you can see the silhouettes of the Olympic Mountains.”

  “You were right. This place is incredible.” He scanned the blue waves for a spray of water as they sat down on one of the rocks, hoping to catch at least a glimpse of one of the whales. But more importantly, hoping he could muster up the courage to say what he needed to say to her.

  He didn’t have to touch her to feel her proximity to him. “I didn’t bring you here just for the scenery. I need to talk to you about something.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Okay.”

  “I’m sorry about the kiss,” he said finally. “I was out of line, and that never should have happened. I don’t have an excuse, but seeing you out in the water . . . I thought I was going to lose you.” He paused. “I don’t want it to come between us.”

  “You . . .” She lowered her gaze. “You just took me off guard.”

  “I thought you were dead.”

  “I know,” she said, looking into his eyes. “But I’m here and I’m okay. It’s over.”

  “I’m not sure you understand.” He fumbled over his words, trying to get across his meaning. “It was like the day you were shot. I remember forcing my way into your house. I saw you lying on the kitchen floor, and I was so afraid I’d lost you.”

  Madison blew out a slow breath, trying to calm her frazzled nerves. She’d tried not to allow anything romantic toward him to develop. He was her partner. The person she vented with when she was frustrated with a case and needed a solution. But even she hadn’t missed the familiar feelings that had been slowly settling in between them lately.

  “Another close call with death wasn’t exactly in my game plan for this trip, but it’s over,” she said, “and I’m okay. We’re okay.”

  “Are we?”

  She glanced up at him again, not sure what he was trying to say. “What do you mean?”

  He looked down at his hands. “I never meant to feel this way, but after you were shot, I found myself coming by and checking on you a couple nights a week.” He paused for a moment. “At first, I saw our Friday night dinners together as just something between friends—”

  Her breath caught in her lungs. “And now?”

  “One day suddenly it wasn’t.”

  An eagle flew overhead as Madison worked to sort through what he was saying. Hearing his words had put the situation out in the open to a place neither of them could ignore. There was no question of the pull she felt toward him. She trusted him completely and knew he always had her back. He knew how to make her laugh and was always there for her. But falling in love again? That was something she’d tried to avoid thinking about by simply not allowing it to come into the equation.

  But love wasn’t a math problem to be solved, or a case to be unraveled. It was two people, pulled toward each other.

  “I’m guessing you don’t feel the same way,” he said, breaking through her thoughts.

  She looked up at him and studied his face, his words a statement rather than a question. “I don’t know.”

  His shoulders drooped. “I’ve always respected you. You’re good at what you do and have always impressed me, even from the first time we met back at the shoot house in Nashville. You’re the best partner I have ever worked with. But that kiss . . .”

  She sat still next to him, waiting for him to continue while her own thoughts wrestled inside her.

  He shoved his hands into his pockets. “It took me off guard, seeing that car sinking into the water. Knowing you were inside. Then finally realizing you were okay.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to figure out what to say.

  “What do you feel, Madison? About me. About us. Or is it just me who’s conflicted?”

  Tangled emotions swirled tighter. How was she supposed to answer that question when she’d not allowed her heart to go there? When it had seemed easier to keep her emotions at arm’s length instead of exploring what could be between them? Because that place, a place of loving and losing, wasn’t where she wanted to be. It made her feel vulnerable and exposed, a
nd that was terrifying.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s been too easy to convince myself that I don’t need to fall in love again.” She swallowed hard, trying to string enough words together so that she made sense. “I’m so afraid of losing my heart to someone, and then losing that person.”

  Someone like you.

  “What if you took fear out of the equation?” he asked. “None of us have any guarantees of what is ahead but letting that stop our heart from feeling—we have a choice.”

  She clasped her fingers together. She faced fear every day in her job and chose to move forward anyway. Why was it different when it came to love?

  “Have you even thought about it?” he asked. “About falling in love again?”

  “I’ve thought more about trying to protect my heart. If I don’t love again, I can’t become vulnerable.”

  Her words sounded raw, but they were honest.

  “Maybe I’m pushing too hard. Stepping where I shouldn’t—”

  “No.” She read the worried look on his face as her gaze swept his profile. Her sister had called him drop-dead gorgeous with dreamy eyes, and she didn’t exactly disagree. She looked away, trying to pull her unsteady thoughts back together. “It’s been five years. Danielle keeps telling me I should be open to a new love in my life.”

  “If you’re not, that’s okay.”

  “The thought of stepping out in faith and opening my heart terrifies me. I need time to process things.”

  “Okay.”

  She couldn’t say she’d never thought about what might happen with Jonas if she decided to crack open the barrier around her heart. But every time those thoughts had started to germinate, she’d shoved them away. If she never let them take root, she’d never have to worry about another shattered heart.

  A boat sped past them on the rough strait, catching her attention. This area was beautiful. Weathered. Rugged. Unpredictable. In the short time she and Jonas had worked together, she’d come to both respect and rely on him when life became unpredictable. He had, in fact, become a constant in her life. A voice of reason, and an anchor that kept her grounded when she couldn’t make sense of what was going on around her. The bottom line was if she ever did open her heart again, Jonas would be someone she could see herself taking that journey with. But was that something she was ready for? What about the need for closure on Luke’s death?

  Maybe the more important question was what if that closure never came? Because what if in the process of looking for it, she missed what was right in front of her?

  “I don’t know if I can untangle what I’m feeling,” she said finally. “Before I was shot, I remember feeling like I was almost to the place where I could let Luke go and move on. I still felt a strong desire to know who’d killed him, but I’d also come to the realization that I might never know, and that was okay. Because it had to be okay. There could be no going back and changing things. No do-overs or replays. I had to consciously make the decision to go on with my life, even if all the loose ends were never wrapped up in a tidy ball at the end.”

  Wind whipped around them, sending shivers through her and almost negating the warmth from the setting sun as she fought to push back the emotion and order her thoughts.

  “Then someone showed up at my house and stole that sense of security from me. Ever since then, I’ve found myself slipping into that space I tried to avoid for so long. The panic and the fear . . . things I believed I’d almost finally conquered were suddenly back.”

  “We haven’t stopped looking, and we won’t,” he said. “Not until we find whoever is behind his death.”

  Madison caught the intensity in his voice. “I know, but all I have is a bunch of dead ends.” She struggled to put her thoughts into words. “I’m no closer now than when Luke was killed. How’s that possible? But closure . . . I know I might never get what I’ve been looking for, but it’s easier to talk about it than it is to actually do it.” Madison waved her hand, suddenly feeling guilty. “I’m sorry. You’ve focused so much on me these last few hours, but you’ve been through a lot this week too.”

  “My situation’s a little different. Felicia and I were never even engaged, and she walked out on me a long time ago. We didn’t have anything near the history you and Luke had.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Madison shook her head. “It still hurts, and just because my pain is different, it doesn’t diminish yours.”

  “Maybe that’s part of what draws me to you. You have that ability to take on any challenge given you and face it head-on, and yet there’s a vulnerability that lies under the surface. You push me to be a better person, Madison. That’s part of why I’m in love with you.”

  In love with her?

  She worked to fight back the growing fear. Maybe when all of this was over, when they found the person who shot her and Luke . . . But she knew that the right timing might never come, and she couldn’t expect him to simply wait for her to make up her mind.

  “Jonas . . .”

  The rounded head of an orca broke the surface of the water twenty feet from the shoreline. Seconds later, two more rose, their black dorsal fins trailing behind, before all three vanished.

  Her shoulder brushed against his. The beauty of the surroundings wasn’t enough to distract her from his nearness. A part of her wanted to throw her arms around him and tell him that she felt the same way. That she was ready to take a step forward together and see where that took them. The other part of her simply wanted to run.

  She caught the hesitation in his eyes before he looked away.

  “There’s something else I need to talk to you about. Michaels had some other news for me when I spoke with him earlier.”

  She zipped her fleece coat up higher, thankful for the change in subject. “Okay.”

  “I’ve been invited to interview with SOG.”

  “Wait a minute.” Her eyes widened. “The Marshals’ Special Operations Group?”

  “Yeah. It’s an idea I’ve toyed with for a while. If I successfully complete the training course, I’d return to my regular duties, leaving only when my team was called to deploy or for routine training sessions.”

  “Wow.” Her feelings of pride over his accomplishment trumped her own personal turmoil for the moment. “That’s fantastic, and a huge honor.”

  “Well, I’m not there yet. If I make it through the selection process, I’d be looking at a month of sixteen-plus-hour days training, and academic studies on top of that. If I decide to go, that is.”

  “What do you mean, if?” she said. “You’d be perfect for the assignment.”

  “Maybe, but my timing with you would really be off. I’d be gone for a while.”

  “I’ll still be here.”

  His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. He glanced at the message and frowned.

  “Is everything okay?”

  Jonas dropped his phone back into his pocket. “Let’s go get some dinner. There’s something we need to talk about.”

  Jonas had refused to share his news until they made it to the restaurant. Once they were seated, he looked at her and began. “I have a retired buddy who spent forty years on the police force. His name is Edward Langston. I didn’t want to get your hopes up, but he has a thing for cold cases. It’s something he does in his spare time, and he’s good at it. Really good. And as you can imagine, after forty years on the force, he has connections with everyone.”

  A memory surfaced in Madison’s mind. “You mentioned his name when you borrowed that file transcript from me a couple weeks ago.”

  “Yeah. I showed it to Edward, and he was immediately interested. He remembered hearing about the shooting when it happened, and for some reason Luke’s case stuck with him. He’d like to sit down and talk with you about it. He has some questions.”

  She pressed her hand against her chest, willing her heart to slow down. “He found something?”

  Jonas nodded. “He thinks he found a lead on your husband’s murder.”


  THIRTY

  Madison filled the coffeepot in her kitchen while trying to unravel what she was feeling. Despite the success in bringing down their fugitives, the past few days had been exhausting, both physically and emotionally. The one bright side was that all four of the fugitives were now being held without bail. The DA wouldn’t have any trouble putting them away for a very long time, along with Barton Wells and Adam Cain for their involvement. As soon as it was clear all the suspects had been arrested, they’d turned on each other like a ravenous pack of wolves.

  Jonas had suggested they postpone tonight’s scheduled meeting with Edward Langston if she didn’t feel up to it, but she’d insisted she was fine. Or at least as fine as she could be. She’d convinced herself of the same thing after Jonas had talked to her at Lime Kiln Point about how he felt about her. She’d thought that all she wanted was a friendship.

  Wasn’t it?

  The oven timer beeped, and Danielle rushed into the kitchen to check the cherry pie she’d made for tonight. Leave it to her sister to sweep in and pick up the slack even when she had her own family to take care of.

  “I can’t thank you enough for coming over and making me dinner, plus the pie,” Madison said, pulling out mugs for coffee and small plates for dessert. “You didn’t have to.”

  “It’s the least I could do after everything you just went through.” Danielle closed the oven door, then set the timer for three more minutes before turning back to Madison. “How are you feeling?”

  Madison turned on the coffeepot and leaned back against the counter. “About the fact that I almost drowned, or that we actually might have a lead on Luke’s killer?”

  “Either.” Danielle shrugged. “Both.”

  She met her sister’s worried gaze. “I’ll be fine. You can stop worrying about me.”