Emergency Response

by Susan Sleeman

  “Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Kerr.”

  She waved a hand. “Please, it’s Winnie. And no need to thank me. It’s the right thing to do. Something I hope my sons learn soon.”

  Noah didn’t know how to respond to that comment so he moved on. “One last thing before we go. Do you recognize the names Leland King and Ramon Flores?”

  “No, should I?”

  Noah shook his head. “How about the company LK Design? Is that familiar to you?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’ve seen their logos on ad boards they’ve created for Kerr Development, but again I’m not involved in the daily business so I know very little about the company.”

  Noah shared a quick look with Darcie. She clearly understood that this confirmed Kerr Development’s connection to LK Design. “That’s all the questions I have for you, Winnie. Is there anything you would like to ask me?”

  She sat up taller, but still looked frail. “Will you please keep me informed of anything you think I might need to know?”

  “Of course we will.” Darcie scooted closer to Winnie. “Now, tell me about everything you’ve been up to since my last visit.”

  Noah wanted to get Darcie back to the safety of the firehouse, and then delve deeper into the connection between LK Design and Kerr Development, but Darcie needed a chance to escape from the turmoil surrounding her and spend time with her friend. After all she’d been through, that was the least Noah could do for her.

  “If you’ll excuse me.” He held up his phone. “I’ll just step out into the foyer to make a few calls while the two of you catch up.”

  “Afraid of a little girl talk?” Winnie joked.

  “Nothing I fear more.” Noah chuckled.

  On the way to the door, he heard Winnie say, “I like your young man.”

  “He’s not my young man,” Darcie replied with a scowl in her voice.

  Noah’s good mood evaporated. He didn’t want to be Darcie’s guy, couldn’t be her guy, but it hurt to hear her say it. He dug out his phone and dialed Detective Wilson to request all of LK Design’s computer files for the forensic accountant to review. Before he could get out his request, Wilson took over the conversation.

  “I have bad news, I’m afraid,” he said. “We found King’s body this morning. A hiker discovered him in a ravine not far from his house.”

  Noah’s heart dropped. He’d expected King’s death, but having it made official lent even more credence to the fact that the list found near Darcie’s attack was indeed a hit list. “Cause of death?”

  “Strangled.”

  Like the attack on Darcie.

  Noah peered into Winnie’s sitting room, his gaze lingering on Darcie, where she was engrossed in her conversation with the older woman. For the first time since this had all begun, he saw her smile in earnest and realized how much he would have lost if he hadn’t been on his way to Pilar’s house the day of Darcie’s attack. She could have met with the same fate as King. Become a murder statistic. Her death reported as clinically as Wilson was now reporting King’s death.

  Worst of all, it could still happen. Especially knowing that King had been murdered. The stakes had been raised, and Noah had to be even more careful now.

  “You still there, Lockhart?” Wilson asked.

  Noah turned his attention back to the phone. “Do you have a time of death?”

  “ME’s initial assessment is five days, but you know how preliminary estimates change after the autopsy is performed.”

  “Which will be when?”

  “First thing in the morning.”

  “If the ME is right, King died the day before his sister reported him missing. Any solid forensics collected at the scene?”

  “A few items, but since he was found near a hiking trail, they may not lead anywhere.”

  Noah had processed enough scenes to know forensic evidence often led nowhere.

  Wilson blew out a frustrated breath. “I’ll give you a call as soon as the ME has a more accurate time of death and will let you know if we turn up any leads.”

  “Before you go, I wanted to ask if you’ve discovered any connection between King and Ramon Flores.”

  “Oh, yeah—the guy you mentioned yesterday. Nah. Haven’t turned anything up, but now that we’re dealing with a homicide, I can make the case a top priority.”

  Noah was glad to hear it. He explained his need for LK’s financial records but stopped short of telling him about the money laundering. “If you could upload the files to a cloud server I can retrieve them.”

  “Sorry. Due to all the recent hacking issues, our department has prohibited online access to any of our files outside of our network. Best I can do is transfer them to a flash drive and overnight that to you.”

  “That’ll have to do then,” Noah said, trying to hide his disappointment as he said goodbye and disconnected.

  So how did he proceed? When he got back to the firehouse, he could review Leland King’s case file and the LK Design client list. And then, he could spend the rest of the day trying to find any way to connect either LK Design or Kerr Development to the money laundering practiced by the Nuevo gang.

  Though he wanted to depart immediately, Darcie was still engaged in conversation, so he caught up on emails and messages until she joined him in the hallway.

  Winnie hobbled next to her and came straight to him. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Detective.”

  “Noah.” He offered his hand.

  Instead, she put an arm around his shoulder and whispered, “Darcie’s worth it, you know. Worth breaking through that armor.”

  Surprised and unable to form a response, he stared at the older woman.

  “If you need my help, come back and visit me anytime.” She patted his shoulder and chuckled before hugging Darcie then looking back up at him. “You keep my precious girl safe. You hear?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Noah replied to the slight woman who was tough as nails. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  Once they were in the car, he turned to Darcie. She stared ahead, a line of worry creasing her forehead as she twisted the ring on her pinkie. She was already upset. Hearing about King’s death would make that worse, but Noah had no choice. He’d ease into the topic of King.

  “It’s not hard to see why you’re so fond of Winnie,” he said.

  Her worry faded. “She keeps saying she won the lottery when we met, but really, I’m the one who’s blessed to have her in my life. If my mother and grandmother were half as loving as Winnie, my life would have been totally different.”

  “You really care about her.”

  Darcie tipped her head. “I never thought much about it, but yeah, I do. She really is like the mother I never had.”

  “What happened to your mother?”

  “Nothing. She’s alive and well. But we don’t talk much. She had specific expectations for my life, and I never met them. But Winnie?” A genuine smile claimed her lips, and the full force of her warmth, directed at him, sent his heart beating hard. “She’s so accepting. That’s why it’s especially hard to see her sons doing this to her.”

  “She doesn’t deserve it, that’s for sure.”

  “I hate to think about what Archer’s investigations of her sons might turn up. Even more, I hate to think about telling her about it.”

  Noah knew the feeling well, but he had to take the opening. “Speaking of difficult things, I talked to Wilson. Leland King was found strangled, his body dumped in the ravine near his house.”

  She gasped and clutched her chest. “That’s so horrible. I mean, I suspected it was coming, but...”

  “There’s no way to prepare someone to hear about death,” he said and knew he’d struck a nerve when she jerked back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about hearing about your daugh
ter. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “No, it’s not you. I’m just being overly sensitive. For some reason, this whole thing has brought back the loss of Haley in a way I thought was behind me.”

  Didn’t surprise him, but he was glad she was finally seeing that she still had issues to resolve. If she worked through them, she could be free to have relationships, children. A good thing for her.

  Not so good for you. Maybe take a clue from her and figure out your own life.

  “We should get going.” He cranked the engine and got them on the road. The drive was uneventful until he turned onto the street for the firehouse and the sound of a car squealing down the block had Noah slamming on his brakes while his awareness shifted into high alert.

  Darcie shot him a look. “You don’t think that’s them again, do you? The shooters?”

  “Maybe.” Searching the area, he pulled to the curb.

  Tat. Tat. Tat-tat-tat. A machine gun’s rapid fire broke through the neighborhood quiet.

  “Machine gun,” Noah mumbled.

  Darcie grabbed his good arm. “The firehouse. Could it be coming from there?”

  “Yes,” he admitted, though he wished it wasn’t true.

  “We have to get over there.”

  “No,” he said firmly as the gunfire escalated. “I won’t put you in the line of fire.”

  “But the team, Pilar and Isabel. They could need us.”

  “Pilar took Isabel to the doctor and shouldn’t be back yet.”

  “And the team?” Panic took her voice high. “What about the team?”

  Yeah, what about them? The brave men and women who might need him? His fellow law enforcement officers that he was letting fend for themselves? But he could do nothing for them without risking Darcie’s life. “They’re professionals. They can handle this.”

  “But still, they need us.” Her gaze darted around as if she was looking for a way to bail on him.

  He met her gaze and held it. “What can you do to help them that they can’t do for themselves?”

  “If they’re injured, I—”

  “You what? Will battle through flying bullets to tend to them?”

  “Yes.”

  He gently tapped her forehead. “Think with your brain, not your heart. If we pulled into the firehouse parking lot, it would distract your friends and that would put them in more danger.”

  “But we can’t just sit here.” She stared at him in disbelief. “We have to do something.”

  “We are doing something. We’re staying put.”

  She crossed her arms and sank down on the seat. If they weren’t in such danger, Noah would laugh. She acted all tough and said she wasn’t one to get involved with others and here she was willing to run through bullets for her team.

  He turned up the volume on his police radio and questioned the dispatcher about the incident. They reported that the FRS was pinned down in the firehouse by two shooters in a car fitting the same description of the one used in the earlier drive-by shooting.

  “It’s him,” Darcie cried out. “It really is him. He’s there. My friends are suffering and I’m not there to help them.”

  He met her gaze. “Don’t take this on yourself.”

  “But I—”

  “But nothing. You have done nothing wrong. It’s all on the shooters.”

  Sirens sounded in the distance, taking her attention and providing Noah with a slim sense of relief.

  “Backup’s on the way, Darcie. They’ll be fine,” he soothed, but his gut remained tied in a knot for his fellow officers. He’d come to like and respect all the members of FRS even more over the past few days. He hated the thought of anything happening to them.

  A responding officer reported the suspects fleeing in their car south on the very road where Noah had parked. If the shooter recognized Noah’s vehicle, he and Darcie would be sitting ducks. Odds were that they didn’t know the make of the new car Noah was driving, but odds hadn’t been in their favor thus far.

  He watched ahead, waiting. The car came charging toward them. Three men inside. Windows open. Noah continued to watch, hoping to make out a face, but they sped by too quickly. Still, it was good that they didn’t recognize Darcie or they would have fired on her again.

  She dug out her phone. “I’m calling Jake.”

  “No,” he said sharply to stop her. “Not until we hear an all-clear on my radio.”

  “You think there are others who might keep attacking the firehouse?”

  “No, but just in case, we can’t take their attention when they might still need it. Our need to know how they’re doing comes secondary to their safety.” He took her hands. Icy cold and clammy. “You know that, right? You’ve been in situations like this with the team?”

  “Yes, but I’ve always had Jake calling the shots. I can trust his instructions to always be right.”

  “And you don’t feel that way about my directions?” For a moment, he couldn’t think of anything except how much her words hurt. “You don’t trust me.”

  “I do, it’s just...” She shrugged and slipped her hands free. “I don’t know you as well as Jake. Our team has been through so much with him, and we’ve always come out the other side.”

  “And we haven’t been through tough situations? Your life has been threatened and I was there, right? By your side.” He firmly met her gaze. “And as long as you’re in danger, I’ll never walk away. Never.” Not like your ex. Not as I did with Ashley.

  “You will be there, won’t you?” she asked, as if for the first time she realized how committed he was to her safety.

  She lifted a hand and gentle fingers settled on his cheek like a kiss. “I trust you, Noah. I really do.”

  Even if he could come up with a response, the surge of emotions he felt when he looked into her eyes, liquid with emotion, made it hard to speak. The urge to sweep her into his arms was as tangible as the pull between them. He reached for her hand instead. Took it. Twined his fingers through hers. She pulled her gaze away to look at their hands.

  “Darcie,” he whispered, hoping she would look at him and he could find a way to talk about Evan. Tell her that he was falling for her and hope that she would understand his past.

  The all-clear came over his radio, and she jerked back. “We should go. They might need me.”

  “You’re right.” He shifted the car into gear and knew something had shifted between them, too.

  They’d forged a bond of trust and without words, they’d communicated an acceptance of the interest burning between them. Another step in bringing them closer together. The last thing either of them needed.

  FOURTEEN

  Darcie held her breath as Noah drove through the yellow crime-scene tape fluttering around the perimeter of the firehouse property. He’d said he wasn’t letting her out of the car in the street, so he’d gotten special permission to drive into the back lot that, though it hadn’t seen any action, officers had cordoned off. Several officers were standing duty there.

  He parked and turned to her. “Your attacker would be foolish to try anything with the extensive police presence, but stay close by my side, just in case.”

  Memories of the shooting at the precinct came rushing back and he didn’t have to tell her twice. She would gladly stay close to him. He got out, and she waited for him to open her door. The minute she exited, his arm went around her waist, drawing her tight against his hip. His posture was rigid, his expression closed, but his eyes were focused, and he stepped with purpose around the side of the building.

  Her first look at the firehouse brought a gasp to her lips. Cops swarmed over the area like a disturbed hill of angry fire ants. Bullet holes riddled the building. The shooters had literally sprayed the first-floor exterior from top to bottom, and bullet holes pep
pered the beautiful antique fire doors. Tears pricked at her eyes as she searched for her team. Jake stood outside along with Brady, who had his sniper rifle casually slung over his shoulder.

  She forgot all about Noah’s directions, broke free and ran to Jake. “Is everyone okay?”

  “Fine. I’m glad to see you’re okay, too.” He hugged her hard before setting her free. Jake was always the picture of professionalism whenever he was on duty. If he thought to hug her in front of the sheer volume of police officers in attendance, he had to be very unsettled and that raised her anxiety even more.

  “We should get you inside,” Noah chided her, along with a look that said I told you to stay close by.

  The anxiety she’d barely kept under control broke free. “Why? Because it’s so safe in there?” She gestured at the door. “Look at this. Anyone sitting in the family or game room would have died.” She shuddered and a dam of tears burst.

  Jake stepped forward, but Noah beat him to her side. He drew her into his arms, and she let him hold her. Right here in front of everyone. She didn’t care if she seemed like a weak, weepy female. She’d been choked, shot at, bombed and now they’d open fired on her friends, too. If that didn’t deserve a good cry, what did?

  Noah pulled back. “C’mon, honey. We’ll go inside and the rest of the team will join us soon, right, Jake?”

  “Right,” Jake replied.

  With a warm arm around her shoulders, Noah guided her through the chaos. Under normal circumstances, she’d shrug off his touch and take time to analyze that he’d just called her honey. But now, her entire focus needed to stay on the latest shooting.

  They stepped into the foyer and she cringed at the extensive damage to the place she’d called home for the last six years. “Why do they keep trying this whole drive-by thing over and over? Don’t they realize it’s not working?”

  “Gangs work on the dumb-luck theory. If they keep trying it, they figure that at some point they’re going to hit their target.”

  His comment struck like a knife to her chest and she jerked back.