by Brenna Lyons
Joe could see that it wasn’t a question. He shook his head.
“We have a witness,” Waters explained.
“Eric was visiting. He helped me get Kyla under cover.”
“Eric who?”
“Eric Johns. He’s an old Navy buddy of mine.”
“Anyone else?”
Joe shrugged. “Probably a dozen people knew where she was, but none of us would take the chance of her getting attacked by Harris again. So, we all helped her stay hidden.”
“Where?”
“Gram’s place. 125 Washington Road in Monroe.”
“What am I going to find there?”
“Our clothes and toiletries packed to move. We found out Harris knew where we were. We were trying to clear out before he attacked.”
“How? How did you find out?”
“It was a mess. Everyone was spying on everyone else. Gram had an inside man with Harris. I don’t know who it was. Blake was one of Harris’s men, who was a spy for Cole. Stacie Miller was one of ours, who was a spy for Cole. Howard was one of ours, who was a spy for Harris. You needed a team roster by the end.” Joe shook his head miserably.
“Both Cole and Brian agree that Stacie Miller shot one of Cole’s men. You’re saying she shot one of her own?” Waters asked.
“She defected in the heat of battle. I told you it was nuts. There were people killing other people everywhere you looked.”
“Who killed whom that you know of?”
“Stacie and Cole’s man killed each other. Harris killed Blake. Harris killed Howard. Howard killed Gram. The man Stacie killed— He killed Harris. In the crossfire, Simmons was killed. He was one of Cole’s.” Joe shrugged. “Beyond that, they were outside my sight and nothing Kyla or Harris talked about.”
Waters nodded. He was accepting all of this at face value. But why shouldn’t he? All the stories matched.
“What did you do for those six weeks?”
“Got Kyla healed.” Joe grimaced. “Just in time for Harris to grind her up again.”
“And?” Waters asked.
Joe blushed. “That’s private.”
“So, she was happy to be there?”
“Most of the time.”
Waters shot him an appraising look.
“It was stressful. Sometimes, she screamed and cried and slammed doors, but she knew what was at stake. She never once picked up that phone.”
“Why not?”
“Harris. He didn’t just threaten her. He threatened me and anyone else in his way.”
“When did you two get married? And how?”
“We didn’t have a license, couldn’t get one. We said our vows, and Bishop Brian witnessed for us.” Joe shrugged. “We didn’t know if there was any way we would ever get out alive, but we wanted to be together either way.”
“How did Harris capture you?”
“A gun to Kyla’s head works wonders. I’d do anything to keep her alive.”
“Even take a bullet for her?” Waters didn’t smile when he asked it.
Joe nodded. “I’d do it again.”
“How was the convent destroyed?”
“I don’t know.”
Waters nodded. “How did you get Kyla but Harris got her shirt?”
Joe shrugged again. “When Harris took off, Kyla was unconscious. I pulled off her shirt to clean her up and dressed her in my sweatshirt. I thought I grabbed all of her clothes, but I must have dropped the shirt. I guess he came back to wipe the place clean and grabbed the shirt for some reason.”
Waters nodded. “I guess that’s all for now. Thank you for your help.” He shook Joe’s hand and started to leave, then he turned back and tossed a small object to Joe. “Here. You’ll probably want this.”
Joe snatched up his wallet and searched through it for the folded sheets of paper. He sighed in relief.
Waters smiled. “Don’t worry. They’re still there.”
Joe furrowed his brow. “A test, Detective?” he asked.
“Don’t worry. You passed.” Waters smiled. “I know how she feels, and now I know how you feel, too. I think what you two have is very special. Guard it well.”
“Even if it means taking a bullet,” Joe told him.
* * *
Leo felt sure there was a piece missing, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. His conversation with Kyla yielded much the same answers, though she filled in the interaction between herself and Harris in the tunnels and at her apartment. Leo found a whole new respect for the young woman who’d attacked Harris twice and lived to tell about it.
At the appropriate places, Kyla admitted she was unconscious or dizzy and couldn’t tell him what happened. She knew Eric Johns, of course, but she hadn’t known he had helped Joe get her to Gram’s. Nor did Kyla know how she got from her shirt into Joe’s, though she’d theorized that Joe changed her.
Kyla remembered quite a few names. Some were the same ones Joe had overheard, and others he hadn’t: Timms, Cason, and Archbishop Jessup. Waters explained that they’d already sent a pair of officers to bring Jessup in, but he was dead in his office of an overdose. Kyla looked shocked at the prospect. Leo had to admit to himself that he hadn’t expected that response from her.
“How did you know Samantha Allen?”
Kyla startled. “God, it’s been years since anyone has called her that. I met Gram in high school. She was the nurse when I got my tonsils out. We bumped into each other from time to time.”
“Why didn’t you call the police when she told you someone was after you?”
“Why? I thought she was simply going senile. She was in her late sixties. It made her feel better to protect me, so I let her. Besides, once Joe and I got together, I became convinced she was simply coming up with an excuse to matchmake a little.” Kyla smiled. “She did pick the perfect man for me. Anyway, I thought she’d give it up after a few months, but it turned out she was right.” She shook her head. “What a shock that was.”
“So, you were free to leave Gram’s at any time?”
Kyla nodded. “When I came to that first night, we all talked. It was my decision to take them up on their offer of protection. I could walk away any time. I didn’t. Where would I go? Joe would have followed me anyway.” She smiled at the thought.
“So, no one would have stopped you?”
“Physically? No. We made one agreement. I had to take someone with me anytime I left, for my own protection, but I could go anywhere I wanted. I chose not to go far.”
“Why?”
“Harris. If someone saw me or Joe, the whole thing would be wasted.”
“How long did you plan on hiding out?”
Kyla blushed. “To tell you the truth, we never thought that far ahead. Gram did all the planning. She knew what was coming, and she’d arranged hideouts that would last us months. Years, maybe. Joe and I were too busy trying to stay alive and hidden for one more day without going crazy from the isolation.”
“Hideouts? Where?”
“I don’t know. We were packed to move to one when Harris attacked again.”
“Because you knew he was coming?”
Kyla nodded.
“Who was Gram’s spy with Harris? Do you know?”
“Howard.”
“But I thought Howard was Harris’s spy planted with you.” Leo was sure he was onto something, but Kyla stymied him again.
She nodded. “Gram thought he was on our side. She didn’t learn until it was too late that he was still Harris’s man. You see, it was easy for him. He set up for us to move on Sunday, based on information that Harris would attack on Monday. Then he told Harris to attack quietly on Saturday. You see how smooth that was? Harris was rather proud of it. He took me down, so he had me for a bargaining chip with Joe.” Kyla set her jaw and shook her head angrily.
Leo nodded. “I think I understand.” Once again, the stories fit after all. “Did someone at the convent mention some sort of explosives? Rigging a fire?”
“No, but
in all the confusion, anyone could have sabotaged anything. It was insane for quite a while.”
Leo could see that Kyla was tired. He’d spent much more time with her than with Joe, and she was in less condition to do it. He got ready to leave. “One more thing.”
“Yes?” she half-yawned.
“We did DNA tests.”
“I’m not the Keatings’ child. I know,” Kyla supplied.
Leo looked at her in surprise.
“I’ve done my screaming and crying about it already, Detective. It really doesn’t make a difference. I know that now.”
“Do you know what happened?” Leo asked with renewed interest.
Kyla sighed. “It was a mistake. Two baby girls were checking in on oxygen at the same time. When Gram realized it, the Parks’ baby, the one registered to them, which was actually the Keating baby, was dead. Gram had a set of dead parents matched with a dead baby that wasn’t theirs, but she also had a living couple holding an orphan that they didn’t know wasn’t theirs. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t break their hearts just to switch them back.
“It was probably a good thing, too. Well, for me anyway. Bishop Brian admitted how the Keatings’ baby really died at the convent. If the switch hadn’t occurred—” She shook her head.
Leo understood that one. One of those two children would have died. Maybe both, based on what he was told of the newborn “Kyla” Keating before her miraculous recovery.
“Is that why Gram was so concerned about you?” he asked.
“I’ll never know. She just was. I don’t know why.”
“Do you know what happened to the Parks?”
“Yes, they talked about it. Harris and the bishop, that is. The two of them, Howard, and another man— I can’t remember his name, but he’s dead now, killed them. Jessup ordered it.”
Leo nodded. Kyla was pale and shaking. She was having trouble keeping her eyes open, but she never begged off.
He headed for the door. “I’ll let you know if I need anything else.”
“Thank you again.”
“For what?” Leo asked.
“You saved my life.”
“Two men saved your life. One broke his arm and the other, his leg,” Leo reminded her.
Kyla smiled sleepily. “Yes, but I prefer to thank my husband in my own way,” she mumbled. She was already nodding off when he closed the door.
Halfway down the hall, Leo ran into Matthew Keating.
The other man reached out to shake his hand. His smile was warm and heartfelt. “Detective Waters, I can’t thank you enough.” Matthew looked at his arm in concern. “The explosion while you were carrying Kyla?” he asked.
Leo nodded. “It’ll heal a lot quicker than Joe and Kyla will.”
“You just came from her room?”
“Yes. She’s asleep. From what the doctors said, she’ll probably sleep a lot for the next few days.”
“At least she’s alive. I have you to thank for that.”
“Not just me. From what I understand, you have Joe and a small army to thank for most of the work.”
“I know what I saw.” Matthew smiled widely. “Thank you, anyway.”
“This seems to be the day for people thanking me for saving her.”
Matthew turned to walk down the hall with Leo. “Why don’t you point me to my son-in-law, since Kyla’s asleep?”
Leo noticed that his smile wavered.
“What is Joe like?” Matthew asked quietly. “I mean, I only met him that once.”
“But you liked him. I remember you telling me how great they were together, how you hoped he’d be the one. You weren’t wrong. I heard Kyla was upset when she didn’t have her ring.”
Matthew nodded.
“Joe was the same way. For him, it was some poetry and a drawing. Kyla’s work. He carried them in his wallet. They were beautiful. As soon as I handed him his wallet, he tore it apart to make sure they were still there.”
“They were made for Joe?”
Leo nodded. “Yes, they were.”
“Then, there’s no question that she loves him. Kyla doesn’t believe in writing a lie.”
“Did she tell you how they met?”
“Only that he lived in the neighborhood, and they ran into each other a few times and hit it off.” Matthew hesitated. “I take it that part wasn’t true?”
Leo shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. Gram knew Kyla was in danger and wanted to protect her, but Kyla thought it was a senile dream. To put Gram at ease, Kyla allowed her to hire Joe as her bodyguard. At some point, they fell in love. It was a sweet setup. His apartment overlooked hers, and her place was wired for sound. We checked. His story holds up, and she’s backing it.”
Matthew nodded. “That explains a lot.”
“Like?”
“Kyla told us she had been seeing him for several months but that it had recently turned serious, but she never told us she had been dating someone new at all until that moment.” Matthew smiled. “It was skirting the issue to say the least. I rather enjoy that she did something like that. She’s always been a little too straightforward. Tell you the truth or don’t answer you at all. You understand?”
Leo nodded. “I think I do. At any rate, I think you’re going to like Joe. No matter what secrets they started out with, he’s crazy about her. He flat out said he’d take another bullet for her. He gave up his weapons and risked being shot because there was a gun to her head. I don’t think there’s anything they wouldn’t do for each other. She ordered me to have the EMTs take him first. She’s quite tenacious, isn’t she?”
Matthew nodded. “That’s my girl. Well, I guess I better go meet my son-in-law.” That time, he smiled.
“Room three-forty-five. Good luck, Matt.”
Chapter Thirty-one
May 28th, afternoon
Joe’s door loomed ahead of Matthew. He approached the guard and showed his ID, then took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” the other man called.
Matthew pushed the door open. Joe lay on the bed with a cast to his hip. He was in traction and his leg seemed uncomfortably raised.
Joe had a few days growth of a beard, and he looked extremely tired. In the hospital bed, he looked much smaller than the last time Matthew saw him, but he was still a big man compared to Kyla.
Joe smiled. “Come in, Mr. Keating. How’s Kyla? They don’t tell me much, and it’s driving me crazy.”
Matthew took a seat next to the bed. “She looks like hell, and she misses you terribly, but good overall. She was upset when she woke up. She wanted to know how you were, and she wanted her ring back. They took it off while they worked on her.”
Joe nodded. “I guess it’s a little late to ask your blessing, but I hope you’ll be there when we have the real wedding.”
“Real?”
The young man shook his head. “Legal. The last one was real enough to us.”
Matthew nodded. Joe was being honest about it.
“So, I understand you organized a small army, complete with medical corps, on Kyla’s behalf.”
“No, Gram organized it. I just told them what to do.” Joe smiled, then his smile turned sad. “She—”
“Kyla told me. Gram was her best friend, and they killed her.”
Joe looked at him in surprise. “I’m stunned that she could talk about it. It was very traumatic for her.”
“For her?” Matthew wondered that Joe wasn’t more upset at seeing it.
“I wasn’t in the room. I heard the shots and thought—” Joe shook his head miserably. “I’m almost ashamed to admit I was relieved it was Gram and not—” He rubbed his eyes. “You have no idea how hard it was to hear that and not be able to go to her, to see that she was safe.”
Matthew nodded. “I think I understand what you mean.” He paused. “I won’t pry. You two are adults. I know you think you’ve been through everything, but marriage—”
“I have a pretty good idea what you m
ean. She has a temper. We both do. We’re stubborn and independent.” Joe smiled warmly. “We’ve seen it all, and none of it makes a difference. Somehow, we work it out. We’ve been more honest with each other in the last six weeks than most people ever are.” He shrugged. “Did Kyla tell you that she tried to convince me to leave?”
A stab of fear cut through Matthew. “No, she didn’t mention that.” He decided to see where it would go.
“It’s not what you think. She was afraid Harris would kill me. She loved me enough to try to push me away to keep me safe. Once she understood that I knew what I was signed on for and I wasn’t leaving because I loved her too much to see her face Harris alone, we became a great team. We fit. I can’t explain it, but we both feel it.”
“Like Kyla and Molly?” Matthew asked quietly.
Joe nodded. “Very much so.” He shook his head. “She is so special, so precious to me. I can’t understand why no guy ever realized that before.”
“She was waiting for you. She knew you were coming,” Matthew told him.
Joe nodded, and he saw the sheen of tears in the younger man’s eyes. Matthew stood and offered Joe his hand. As Joe’s hand folded in his own, Matthew spoke again.
“You have my blessing. I know you’ll be good to her. Let me know when the two of you set a date. A father only gets the chance to give a daughter to a soulmate once in her life. Whatever Kyla wants, I’ll make sure she has it. By the way, welcome to the family.”
Joe looked at him in surprise. “I’ll try to be worthy of it.”
Matthew tapped the cast, and it was his turn to fight off tears. “You already are,” he assured his son-in-law.
* * *
Kyla recognized Eric’s voice. “I told you. Just ask her,” he said in irritation.
She was moving to the door before she heard the officer’s answer. Her head swam, but she was determined to end this idiocy.
“You’re not on the list, you don’t get in,” the guard insisted.
Kyla straightened her robe and pulled the heavy door open.
The officer jumped. “Go back in. I’ll handle this,” he informed her.
Kyla regarded him coldly. “No, I will. No one consulted me on the guest list. Eric is always welcome.” She stretched a bandaged hand out to him.
