by Rebecca Deel
She watched citizens of Winston hurry by the shop on their way to their first appointments for the day, to work, or school, and thought about the conversation two years ago. Her cheeks burned even now thinking of her mother’s scorn.
“Lacey?”
She turned, lifted her chin as she stared into his eyes. “Mom laughed and said I wasn’t smart enough to be a doctor.”
Another hand squeeze. “She’s wrong.”
Such simple words, yet his belief in her ability to learn and persevere soothed some of the ragged edges of hurt her mother had inflicted. “Thank you.”
Jake finished the last bite of his sandwich. “You need a coffee refill before we go to your mother’s?”
Lacey grimaced. “I’ll pass.”
He chuckled and policed their trash. In the SUV, he said, “Which way?”
“Right at the next corner. Go six blocks, then turn left on Orlando Drive. Mom’s house is at the end of the street.”
Jake followed her directions without comment although he kept glancing in the mirrors.
She twisted to look out the back window and scowled. “Don’t they ever give up?”
“You have more than one cop keeping an eye on you?”
“Told you. Most of the men in town know my mother very well.”
“Including the police?”
“Especially the police. My mother may not be turning tricks, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t playing musical beds. She never figured out how to be herself without a man in her life. She feels incomplete and is sure she’s missing the man of her dreams.”
“Dangerous lifestyle.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Do you have a key to your mother’s house?”
“I do. Why?”
“Can’t exactly pick the lock with a cop watching every move.”
She burst into laughter. “I guess not. Puts a crimp in your style, doesn’t it?”
“If you only knew.”
More laughter, then, “Can you really pick a lock?”
“In a few seconds, depending on the lock.”
“Where did you learn to do that?”
He slid her a glance. “I was in the Army, Special Forces. I learned a lot of skills that aren’t legal.”
“You any good at these skills?”
“One of the best.”
Of course. Why would she think otherwise? There was something about Jake that spoke of quiet confidence and skill. “Were you in the same unit as Durango?”
“No. Durango is Delta Force. I’m a Ranger, like Ethan Blackhawk.”
Her mouth gaped. “The Otter Creek police chief was an Army Ranger?”
“That’s right. He’s still talked about in the Special Forces community, and he’s the first port of call for those who need help tracking suspects, fugitives, and missing people. He doesn’t take as many cases since he married Serena and especially since his son was born, but he never turns down a case involving children. Brent’s been known to tap him for his tracking skills as well.”
“I’ve heard Brent and the others talk about him. Why don’t you tell people that you’re a military hero, Jake?”
He snorted. “Because I’m not. I was a soldier and medic for eight years. I followed orders and patched up wounds.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. Adam and the others talk about how many people’s lives you’ve saved with your medical skills.”
“I was doing my job.”
“An important one.”
Jake parked in her mother’s driveway. “The job you will train for soon is an important one as well.”
“I don’t know how soon that will be. My savings account isn’t healthy enough to sign up for classes yet.”
The medic pointed a finger at her. “Fortress will help. Even if they don’t, you’ll be able to get a student loan. Once you start working as a doctor, you can repay the loans.”
There was no point in arguing with him. The problem was she couldn’t stop working full time. She couldn’t afford to pay her bills if she worked less than 40 hours a week. Even then, it was tight. How would she have time for classes, complete assignments, and study for tests? She needed terrific grades to have a chance to get into medical school. Hard to do that when she would be short on sleep and facing long work days.
She opened the door and hopped out. Jake met her on the walkway to the front door. As they approached the bright red door, the police cruiser pulled up behind them.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The burly policeman stalked after them, his face red.
Lacey looked over her shoulder. “Going into the house, Will. Got a problem with that?”
“Yeah, actually I do.” An ugly smile curved his mouth. “Unless you don’t mind spending some quality time in the Winston jail. Breaking and entering is against the law.” He slid a pointed glance at Jake before spearing her again with his glare.
Lacey grabbed her keys from her purse and found the key to her mother’s house. “Can’t be breaking and entering if I have a key.”
“You don’t have permission to be inside the house. It’s private property.” His right hand fondled the grip of his gun. “Do it, Lacey. I dare you. Nothing would make me happier than to arrest you. It’s no less than you deserve since you haven’t outgrown your criminal past.”
Beside her, Jake stilled. Figuring the medic would object to Will’s words and attitude, she wrapped her hand around his and squeezed. “Sorry to disappoint you, Will, but I’m not breaking and entering when I have a key and it’s my house.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. This is my house. My name is on the mortgage agreement and I’ve been paying the payments for years.”
CHAPTER NINE
Jake’s expression impassive despite shock ricocheting through his body. Lacey owned the house her mother lived in? No wonder she didn’t have enough money to start college. With her salary, her dollars must be stretched thin to cover her mother’s mortgage and Lacey’s rent plus her other bills.
Will Beckett sneered at Lacey. “You’re a liar, baby.” He reached for her. “You’re coming with me.”
Jake stepped between the cop and Lacey. “Hands off.”
“Get out of my way, Davenport. I’m taking her into custody until I confirm she’s blowing smoke, then I’ll arrest her and talk with the judge about losing her cell key.”
“That’s not the way it works. Confirm if she’s telling the truth. We’re going inside. You know where to find us. If you arrest Lacey, her lawyer will sue you and the Winston PD for false arrest and harassment.” A teeth-baring smile. “The lawyer is very good.”
The door opened behind him. Jake backed inside, his gaze on the red-faced cop. He locked the door as soon as Beckett stomped off the porch and stalked to the cruiser.
He turned, almost plowing into Lacey. Alert for a problem, Jake didn’t see anything out of place. In fact, the living room was tastefully decorated with a leather couch and throw pillows, a recliner he’d love to nap in, two end tables with lamps, a gorgeous coffee table. His mother would have been comfortable in this room. “What’s wrong?”
“The furniture.”
He looked at the room again, puzzled. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Where did she get the money for this?”
He stilled. “You don’t recognize the furniture?”
She swung around. “Three months ago, the living room was filled with thrift store bargains. You know, the typical ugly brown sofa, a lime green recliner, and a beat-up coffee table with condensation rings over the surface.”
“Is it possible someone gave her the furniture?”
“I doubt it. She doesn’t inspire that kind of favor in people.” Lacey drew in a careful breath. “We should look at the rest of the house before we search for clues to where Mom might have gone.”
“Let me check the house before you walk through.”
“Why?”
“In case some
one is hiding.” He also wanted to be sure Lacey didn’t stumble onto anything unpleasant without preparation. Doubtful a dead body was in the house. Didn’t mean that someone with nefarious intentions hadn’t left an ugly surprise for Lacey.
Although she looked skeptical, the coffee shop manager nodded.
“I won’t be long.” After Jake cleared the three bedrooms, two baths, and kitchen, he opened the door to the garage, turned on the light, and peered inside. Empty except for boxes stacked against the walls. A grease spot stained the center of the concrete floor where evidence indicated Yvonne normally parked her vehicle.
He started to close the door when he noticed another stain. Dread coiling in the pit of his stomach, he crossed the concrete expanse. Jake dropped to his haunches, opened his flashlight app, and focused the light on the stain. Rust colored.
Oh, man. He didn’t want to show Lacey this. He followed a trail of rust brown drops a few feet to where they abruptly ended. He ran scenarios through his mind, figured the most likely was the truth.
Returning to the kitchen, he found a plastic sandwich bag and retraced his steps to the garage. Jake unsheathed his knife and scraped a sample of blood off the floor and dumped it into the bag. He shoved the bag into his pocket and called Zane. “Need a favor.”
“Name it.”
“Do we have a lab we use in this area?”
“Hold.” A moment later, Zane said, “No lab. However, we have an operative in your vicinity. I’ll have him stop to pick up whatever you need analyzed.”
“Who’s the operative?”
“Cade Ramsey. What’s going on, Jake?”
“I’m standing in Yvonne Coleman’s garage, staring at a trail of blood that disappears at about the cargo area of an SUV. The amount of blood isn’t enough to be dangerous, but it does indicate to me Yvonne didn’t leave under her own steam.”
“Not what we wanted to hear.”
“Beckett followed us to Yvonne’s house and threatened to arrest Lacey for B & E. Lacey’s name is on the mortgage. She’s been paying to keep a roof over her mother’s head.”
“On her salary?” Zane whistled. “No wonder she asks Rowan for more shifts.”
“Tell Maddox I need to talk to him about Lacey.”
“Is she all right?”
“Lacey’s fine. She wants to go to med school to be a trauma surgeon.”
“She interested in working for us?”
“The idea intrigues her.”
“He’ll be expecting your call.”
“Thanks.”
“Jake, is it safe for me to look around?” Lacey called.
“I have to go, Z.”
“When you get a chance, check your email for info I sent on the Becketts.”
“Copy that.”
Jake returned to the living room where Lacey waited.
“Is everything okay?”
“The house is clear, but the garage isn’t.”
All color drained from Lacey’s face.
He mentally berated himself as he gripped her upper arms. “Sit.” In seconds, he nudged her down to the leather sofa. She obeyed his order without a protest which told him how upset she was. Hurrying to the kitchen, he checked the refrigerator for cold water and found only beer.
With a scowl, Jake filled a glass with cold water from the tap. He sat beside her and pressed the glass into her hand. When she’d consumed half, Jake set the glass on the coffee table and turned Lacey’s face toward his. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I found a trail of blood in the garage. The volume wasn’t enough to indicate a grievous wound. The injury indicates your mother didn’t leave of her own accord.”
“What has she gotten herself into?”
“We’ll find her.” He cupped her cheeks, brushing his thumbs gently over the velvety texture of her skin. His gaze dipped to her lips. If he moved just a fraction of an inch closer, he could taste her as he’d longed to do for months. The timing was lousy, though. He’d just confirmed her mother was in serious trouble. This wasn’t the time to capture the kiss he ached for. Soon, he hoped.
One last butterfly touch, and he dropped his hands. “Do you want to see what I found?” When she nodded, Jake led her to the garage.
Lacey stopped short in the doorway. “That’s the cleanest I’ve seen this garage in years.”
“Looks like she cleared space for her SUV.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and urged her toward the first blood drops. Crouching, he pointed at the rust-colored stains. “I think your mother was attacked as she approached her SUV. She fell here at the larger stain, then she was carried to the back of the SUV. That’s why the trail disappears there.”
“Is she dead?” she asked, her voice soft.
“Based on the evidence, she was alive when she left this garage.” Whether she was still alive was anyone’s guess. Given that she hadn’t been seen or heard from in days, the likelihood of finding her alive diminished with each passing day.
“Is there any chance to find her alive?”
He didn’t want to lie to her. “We need to move fast.”
“Let’s walk through the house.”
She went to the kitchen. “Mom keeps a notepad on the counter to write messages from her answering machine.” Lacey grabbed the pad of paper. “Blank.”
Jake studied the paper for a few seconds, then grabbed a pencil from a nearby coffee cup filled with writing implements. He used the side of the pencil lead to rub across the paper’s surface. Yvonne’s last markings on the pad showed up white against a field of gray. “Eleven o’clock, M. Any idea what that means?”
She shook her head, frowning. “I’ll keep trying to figure it out.”
“Let’s search the rest of the house. Tell me if you notice anything missing or out of place.”
They went to the master bedroom next. Lacey drew in a sharp breath. “New bedroom furniture, too? Where did she get the money for this?”
“Ask your mother when we find her. Look for anything out of the ordinary aside from new furniture.”
Jake stayed out of the way as she searched through the closet and under the bed. She went to the dresser, pulling out drawers, searching the contents. When Lacey turned to him, her expression made him straighten from the wall. “What’s wrong?”
“Mom was seeing someone.”
“How do you know?”
She gestured toward the dresser, her cheeks pink. “She buys new underwear when she gets involved with someone.”
“Since you haven’t been inside the house in months, how do you know this is new?”
The color in her cheeks deepened. “I priced new underwear for myself and had to mark this line off my list. It’s too expensive for my budget.”
But Yvonne Coleman didn’t have a problem spending all this money on herself and begging her daughter for more. “Did she do the same when she was working the streets?”
A snort. “You better believe it. That’s one thing she never skimps on. When I lived at home, I had to do the laundry. Mom insisted on special laundry detergent and hanging her delicates to dry.”
“We need to check the master bath and nightstands. Which do you want?”
“Bathroom.” She went into the bathroom and soon she was rummaging through the drawers in the vanity.
Jake turned his attention to the nightstands. He opened the drawer of the nearest one and riffled through the contents. The loose paper and condoms didn’t raise an eyebrow. The pile of cash did surprise him. He did a quick count and blew out a breath. No way Yvonne earned that much in tips from a dive.
Lacey returned to the bedroom. “Nothing in the bathroom that I didn’t expect. What about you?”
He turned, the stack of cash in his hand.
Her jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me? How much is this?”
“Ten thousand dollars.”
CHAPTER TEN
Lacey cupped trembling hands around the white coffee mug. Trail End, the diner where her mother worked, still hopped
at ten o’clock. Wouldn’t be long before the lunch crowd filled the shop.
Her gaze locked with Jake’s. “My mother didn’t make that much money in tips from this place.” One glance at the cracked red vinyl seats and booths, peeling black-and-white linoleum, faded paint, and blue-collar workers was enough to convince Lacey that Yvonne Coleman didn’t make a bundle with her salary or tips.
“No, she didn’t,” Jake agreed.
She leaned closer. “When Mom drinks, she blows through cash. At least I know she hasn’t fallen off the wagon.”
Loretta White, her mother’s friend, bustled to the table with a coffee carafe. “Refill, sugar?”
“Please. This coffee is much better than the sludge they serve at the coffee shop across the street.”
She snorted. “Been telling Dorothy, the owner of the coffee shop, that she needs to train her workers better. They aren’t bringing in near the profit they should because the brew they serve is so bad.”
“The place was busy earlier this morning despite the lousy joe,” Jake said.
“That’s because people stopped on the way to work, short on time, and didn’t want to fight the crowd in here.”
True enough. Lacey hadn’t wanted to deal with the crowd of neighbors and acquaintances herself. That’s why she’d suggested the coffee shop. Turned out to be a bad decision, one she wouldn’t repeat.
“When will you have a break, Loretta?”
The waitress peeked at the clock on the wall. “Fifteen minutes.”
“Would you join us on your break?”
“Sure. Been ages since I’ve had a chance to catch up with you.”
“Not much to tell. Work and more work. The update will take all of two minutes, maybe less. I wanted to talk to you about Mom.”
Sympathy filled the older woman’s gaze. “I won’t be much help, but I’ll be back in a few.”
Jake studied Lacey’s face. “What are you thinking?”
“Mom got in over her head and now she’s in deep trouble, the kind I may not be able to help with.”
“How long have you been paying for her house?”
She lifted her chin. “Since I started working a full-time job. I may not be able to live in the same house or town with her, but I still love Mom. I didn’t want her to end up without a roof over her head, and she can’t afford the payments on what she makes here.” Her lips quirked. “At least I didn’t think she could. Turns out the laugh is on me.”
