Colton's Secret Investigation

by Justine Davis

  “Oh. My mom’s not sick.”

  “That,” she said rather sourly, “is still up for debate.”

  Stefan managed not to let out a sharp laugh, but she was right; Leah had to be a certain kind of sick to just kick her son out of her life like this.

  “She just doesn’t want me.” The boy’s voice dropped to a pained whisper, but he still heard the words. “He doesn’t, either.”

  In the first moment after Sam said it, Stefan assumed his son had meant Leah’s fiancé. But then Daria flicked a glance at him, and he realized with a bit more of that roiling guilt that Sam had meant him.

  Daria didn’t, as he’d half expected, deny the boy’s words. Instead she said quietly, “You know how I felt, after a while, after my mom gave me up?”

  “How?”

  Sam’s voice was so tiny, so scared that Stefan’s stomach knotted.

  “I felt like nobody would ever want me. And that was the scariest time of my life.”

  “Yeah.” Stefan nearly pulled the car over, so strong was the urge to grab his son and hold him. But Daria, as usual, had gotten the boy talking better than he ever had, so he stifled the urge.

  “But Sam,” she said, “there’s a big difference between having to get used to a big change in your life, especially when it happens without warning, and not wanting that change.”

  “Huh?”

  “I’m saying when things change so much, so fast, it takes time to get used to it. That doesn’t mean you don’t want the change.”

  There was a moment of silence before Daria laughed lightly. “Too complex, huh? Okay, it would be like...if you got a dog without knowing you were getting one ahead of time. You’d need dog stuff, a bed, toys, a collar and leash, right?” At his nod, she went on to say, “And then all of a sudden you’d have someone else to worry about, to keep safe and protect, and you’d have to learn what he likes and doesn’t like, and he’d have to learn about you the same way.”

  “Oh. That’s a lot.”

  “Yes. And it would be confusing, but it wouldn’t mean you don’t want each other.”

  “Oh,” Sam repeated, and now he sounded thoughtful. And a lot less scared.

  And once more, Stefan found himself appreciating the amazing woman fate had partnered him with on this case. And denying the other thoughts that word partner kicked off in his head. It’s the proximity, that’s all. We have to work closely together—can’t avoid it. It’s natural, but controllable.

  He just wished he was more convinced of that last part.

  He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but the house they pulled up to wasn’t it. Of course, he’d grown up amid tall city buildings and nearby houses built on tiny lots. He should have realized that when Daria said they had lots of room, it meant...well, lots of room.

  Stefan also was a bit startled when Fiona Alvarez came to the door. He somehow hadn’t envisioned a petite, almost tiny woman with strawberry blonde hair and bright green eyes.

  He was also surprised when the first thing she did was cry out in exaggerated happiness, “Sam! My boys are so excited to meet you! Come on in.”

  Sam looked startled, too, but then shyly pleased. They stepped inside. Daria exchanged a hug with her friend, then introduced him to her.

  “We met online years ago,” Fiona explained. “And when Daria was thinking about moving, I pestered her unmercifully to come here.”

  “For which I will be forever thankful,” Daria said with a wide smile.

  “And which reminds me, Stefan, we should exchange phone numbers, just in case. That should guarantee we won’t need them.”

  He nodded and resisted even the thought of saying that she could just call or text Daria. Because it wasn’t like they were together 24/7. And that made him feel...he didn’t even have a word for how that made him feel.

  “Might as well keep the jacket on,” Fiona said to Sam. “Everybody’s already outside.” She stepped back and looked at the boy assessingly. “My, but you’re tall. It makes you look much older.”

  The boy looked pleased at that, too.

  “Slipper is just going to love you,” Fiona told him.

  “Slipper?”

  “Our dog. He’s named that because as a puppy he was always chewing on everyone’s slippers.”

  Sam’s eyes widened even more. “You have a dog?”

  “Oh, did I forget to mention that?” Daria said with a thoughtfulness exaggerated enough to tell Stefan she’d known exactly what she was doing.

  Sam was smiling so widely now Stefan barely recognized him as the same sullen, withdrawn child who had gotten off that airplane, tagged like a piece of luggage. He felt a jab of renewed anger that Leah had done that, hadn’t even cared enough to bring him here herself, but he quashed it. It was easier now, he realized, now that he’d seen the boy stirring out of that brittle shell since Daria had stepped in. He knew he hadn’t done nearly enough to stay in his son’s life, but he would make up for that now.

  While Fiona went to put on a jacket and snow boots, Stefan looked around the house. It was nicely furnished, but there were toys scattered about, and the big, cushy-looking sofa simply invited a kid to jump onto it. There was an air of comfort, warmth and...solidity, he thought.

  “I see what you mean,” he murmured to Daria.

  “It’s a very welcoming house,” she said. “To match the owners.”

  He nodded. He could see that. It wasn’t his taste, exactly, but then when it came down to it, neither was his place. That had been a decorator’s taste, or at least their idea of what a newly divorced guy should have. He had this vague memory now of the guy asking him about his son, and he’d brushed it off, saying he’d be going back to Illinois to visit, not the other way around, so not to worry about it.

  Talk about tempting fate...

  “Come on,” Fiona said. “Come see the fort and meet Miguel and the boys. And of course the dog.”

  Stefan was surprised anew when he stepped outside onto a covered patio with a large table, chairs and a couple of lounges still sitting outside. The explanation came with the heaters built in around the outer perimeter.

  “Miguel is always afraid I’m going to get cold, but I like sitting out here when it’s raining, even better when it’s snowing. My Irish blood is a lot thicker than his,” Fiona said.

  “Kind of like California and Illinois blood,” Daria teased.

  He only smiled, because he’d just spotted the rather impressive structure they were headed for in the large backyard. It was like a two-level tower, open on the bottom and closed in with a roof on top. It had a ladder, knotted ropes for climbing up and down, a slide out of one opening up top, swings and climbing bars on one side, and a large pit that he guessed was filled with sand when not covered with snow on the other side.

  Stefan looked down at his son, who was staring wide-eyed at the contraption. The man who was with the boys saw them, spoke to the kids, then headed their way. He was just under six feet, Stefan noted automatically, with black hair and dark eyes.

  “Miguel Alvarez,” he said, introducing himself as he pulled off a glove to shake hands. “Welcome to the zoo.”

  “That,” Stefan said, gesturing toward the fort, “is amazing.”

  “They like it, and it keeps them busy and tired,” the other man replied with a grin.

  “I’ll go get Sam started,” Fiona said, “while you get acquainted.”

  The boy went with her unhesitatingly, clearly as excited as Stefan had hoped about this.

  “He’ll have fun, I promise,” Alvarez assured him.

  “I’m pretty sure he will indeed,” Stefan said. “I sure would have as a kid.”

  “This is the whole family Saturday, so you picked a good time to call, Daria.”

  “Whole family?” Stefan asked, confused.

  “They have a s
ystem,” Daria explained. “The twins—who are inseparable, by the way—have Dad to themselves one Saturday a month, Casey gets him the next, and the next the whole family spends together.”

  “And the last?” Stefan asked.

  Alvarez’s grin widened. “Oh, that’s for the hot redhead and me,” he said with an exaggerated leer.

  Stefan smiled—there was no way not to—but inside he felt a sudden tug. They had it down, these people. And he realized what he had felt since stepping into their home was the same sort of total connectedness his parents had. They would make it, this couple. No one who stepped into their home could doubt the strength of their bond.

  And he wondered what that said about Daria, that these were the friends she valued most.

  You know what it says. That she’d want the same thing. And you already failed at it miserably.

  And once again he had to shake himself out of his thoughts, wondering why he couldn’t stop thinking about the woman who was his partner in this investigation only as an entirely different kind of partner.

  Chapter 13

  “Are you all right with leaving Sam here?” Daria asked as they got back in the car.

  “Fine. They seem like really good people.”

  “They are. The best. They had to fight to get to where they are now. His family didn’t approve.”

  He blinked. “Of her? What about her family?”

  “Welcomed him with open arms. And he used that to shame his own family into coming around, although I think she would have managed that herself, once they saw how much she adored their son.”

  “People,” Stefan said, “are strange.”

  “And wonderful,” she added. “Sometimes both at once.”

  He smiled at her. “That, too,” he agreed.

  “As long as there are those at least working toward wonderful, we should make sure they’re safe.”

  For a moment he just looked at her. Then, softly, he said, “Best definition I’ve ever heard. Wish DC thought that way. It should be in the job description.”

  It was a quiet moment of accord, something she could only think of as kinship. And an odd sort of quiet reigned in the car as he drove. Not the awkward sort of silence she’d experienced sometimes with him, but a companionable sort, and it was puzzling. She’d felt kinship with people she worked with before, and on difficult cases, but this was different somehow. This was...more.

  Because you’re attracted to him?

  Even as the words ran through her mind, she set her jaw. Fine, admit it. Who wouldn’t be? He is one fine-looking man, smart and with integrity, and that’s a powerful combination. What he also was was a man coping as best he could with a life turned upside down at the moment, a five-year-old son who didn’t want to be here, and just to add spice, he was eight years younger than her.

  And he has no idea who you really are. There’s always that. That would nip whatever this was in the bud.

  She’d always thought that if she ever really got involved with someone, she would have to tell them. Being secretive wasn’t really in her nature, but she’d learned early in her...other life that sometimes it was a requirement.

  As they drove, the silence in the car seemed to change. She knew it was only in her mind, that she was putting this pressure on herself, but suddenly she felt she had to say something, anything.

  “I sure hope this is enough for the judge,” she said abruptly. “All we have is that Curtis is older than Bianca was, has blue eyes like millions of other people and that he was there that night, in an area he normally shouldn’t have been. And regarding the other victims, that he was not at work or his time isn’t accounted for at the times of their disappearances.”

  “Maybe in a normal case it wouldn’t be, but this one passed normal a while back. Sure, I’d rather have had a run at Shruggs, see how he reacted, but unless we can find him quickly, I don’t think we should wait.”

  “There is that. And Trey said Judge Cruz is pretty current on the progress—or lack thereof—on this one. But he may really narrow it down,” she warned. “Like only things related to his whereabouts on the dates in question.”

  “Then we’ll just have to do our best, won’t we?” Stefan said, almost airily. “Who knows what we’ll come across in plain sight.”

  “Spoken like a true fed,” she remarked wryly.

  His gaze shot to her face. “Problem?”

  “Envy,” she said.

  “That’s all right, then,” he said with a grin.

  She started to roll her eyes but found herself laughing instead. She reached into her bag and pulled out the laptop, figuring she would start working on the forms for the judge. Stefan glanced at her.

  “Motion sickness not an issue, I gather?”

  She looked up. “Not usually, no. And you’re a smooth driver.”

  He smiled. “Thanks.” He hesitated, then said, “People tend to think I push to drive because I’m a control freak. But really it’s because passengering makes me queasy.”

  “And here I thought it was because you’re the guy.”

  He blinked. “Seriously? That’s what you thought?” Her straight face failed, and she laughed. And Daria was glad when he joined her. “Are you kidding?” he said. “I’ve heard about your range scores. You could probably outshoot me with a peashooter.”

  “I know that’s not true—you have to qualify just like we do.”

  “But there’s qualifying and then there’s excelling,” he said. “Now, you give me a long gun and we’ll talk.”

  “Good to know,” she retorted.

  They drove toward the address they had for Shruggs. Daria made a call to find out the nature of the neighborhood and any recent activities, suspicious or otherwise. The report she got indicated it was a very quiet subdivision, with only the occasional loud music or kid-generated mischief. Worst incident had been a house fire, but that had been determined to be from a faulty space heater.

  The area lived up to the billing. There was little activity, although there were signs of earlier playing in the snow, including a tiny snowman—there hadn’t been much accumulation here at this lower elevation—that made her smile, thinking of Sam’s snow head. All the houses seemed to be variations on a theme—tract homes trying to look like log cabins.

  When they reached Shruggs’s street, Stefan drove slowly. “Green roof,” he said as they neared the address.

  Daria spotted it quickly. “Got it.”

  They went by slowly, without stopping. As they did, she inputted the detailed description of the building any search warrant request required. She was a little surprised at the cozy-looking, log-style home with the green metal roof, set amid tall cottonwood trees. It was very...picturesque.

  “Looks like a freaking postcard,” Stefan muttered.

  “Exactly what I was thinking,” she concurred as she made a note about the mailbox sitting on a stone pillar out at the street, then the large spruce tree in the front yard and the bright red front door that looked a bit Christmassy with the green roof.

  “Wonder whose idea the door was?” Stefan mused aloud as he turned the car around and slid it in behind a large truck parked on the street that would hide it from view of the Shruggs house.

  “And again,” Daria said as he hit upon her thought. “Someone with a Christmas thing?”

  “Maybe. It could—”

  He stopped suddenly. Daria’s head came up. “What? See something? Or someone?”

  “I—no. Sorry. Nothing about this. It just hit me that next month I’ve got a five-year-old’s Christmas to deal with.”

  “Oh, my, lucky you!”

  His head turned and he stared at her. “Lucky?”

  “Of course. A child’s joy in Christmas is a precious thing. I’ll bet yours as a kid were special.”

  “Very. The best,” he said, thoughtfu
lly, as if memories were flooding him. “My mom saw to that.”

  “Ask her then. Tell her you want Sam to feel like she made you feel.”

  He stared at her for a moment. “Are you sure you’ve never met my mother? Because you sure know how to get to her.”

  Daria laughed. “Thank my adoptive mom for that.” The moment the words were out she froze. She never, ever brought up her adoptive family, and she couldn’t believe she’d done it now, with him.

  His gaze changed, as if he’d realized she’d never even mentioned them before, except when he’d done her that incredible favor and found out about her biological mother. “You’re still close?”

  “Yes. She’s impossibly busy, but we keep in close touch.”

  She said it rather briskly and went back to her notes. While she did so, Stefan pulled out his phone and put in a call to Detective Kastor about arranging someone to stake out the house while they pursued the warrant.

  “Well, that was easy,” he said when he hung up. “Liam was so hyped that we had an actual lead, I think he’ll come out and sit here himself if he has to.”

  “I don’t doubt that. He’s sharp, too. He put together the resemblance between Bianca and April Thomas before anyone else.”

  Stefan nodded. “I thought that, too. I think we’re safe turning it over to him or whoever he sends.” He looked back at the house. “Place sure is quiet.”

  She nodded. “Wonder if Curtis really is home sick?”

  Stefan sat looking at the house they were focused on. “I think a little recon is in order,” he murmured.

  “I could—”

  She stopped when he shook his head. “He knows who you are. I’ve never met him or been face-to-face with him.”

  “Good point.”

  “You have a cell number for him there, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. If all looks quiet, you can call it when I get close enough, see if I can hear it.”

  “All right,” she replied. “Got a story if he’s there and catches you?”

  “Me?” He gave her a look that was so innocent she almost laughed. “I’m just an accountant, checking out the neighborhood, looking for a house for me and my son where we can have an old-fashioned Christmas.”