by Janie Crouch
“And what were you going to do once I surrendered?”
“You were going to pay for them permanently, Wales. For the lies you told. For the years I lost.”
Zane glanced over at Jon, who looked as surprised as he did. For someone who’d always claimed his innocence about a crime eight years ago, Brodey had just confessed to a much bigger one.
“What are you doing, Brodey? Why are you telling me this? You know it’s just going to get you sent back to prison.”
“Maybe it’s worth it. Maybe seeing you pay for your sins is worth the risk of going back to prison.”
“You’ve been out of jail for eighteen months. Why did you decide to just come after me now?”
“Somebody made me see the light. A fellow I think you guys know. Name is Freihof. Damien Freihof.”
Brodey had their attention now.
“Freihof put you up to this? To trying to kill both me and Caroline?”
Brodey smiled. “Yep. Helped me to understand that you needed to pay for what you’d done. That I lost years of my life thanks to you.”
“But what about Caroline? She never did anything to you, Donald. Why take out some sort of misguided revenge on her?”
Brodey looked down for just a minute and shifted in his chair. Then he looked back up at Zane. “Did you know I had three kids when you put me in jail, Wales? They needed their daddy and they lost him. Because of you. Sometimes innocent people get hurt. Your girlfriend was like my children.”
“How did you know where Caroline would be yesterday?”
“I planted bugs in her house so I could listen to what you said.”
“We found those. But we never said anything about where Caroline would be staying.” Zane knew full well they wouldn’t have given that information away in their conversation, knowing someone was listening.
“Yeah, but you didn’t find the device I put in your truck. I could hear all your conversations there too. I knew you were using that other lady as bait to try to draw me out.”
Zane grimaced. They hadn’t even thought about a transmitting device in their vehicles. But they should have.
“So I followed you to the bank yesterday,” Brodey continued. “Then followed her from there instead of you.”
It was a smart plan and had almost worked. If Brodey had moved a little quicker. If he’d knocked Gareth Quinn a little harder on the head so the other man didn’t wake up so quickly and report the problem, Brodey would’ve gotten away with it.
Zane and Jon spent the next few hours questioning Brodey, trying to get as much information as they could about Damien Freihof. Brodey wouldn’t admit to anything that happened in Big Bend but gave fairly consistent answers to questions about yesterday’s attack.
Two days ago he’d broken into Caroline’s town house and planted the transmitting devices. He’d then immediately gone over to Zane’s house and trashed it. They’d missed catching him by only thirty minutes.
Brodey knew his best bet was to get Caroline alone. To kidnap her and draw Zane out. Realizing the info Zane and Caroline were providing in her town house was a trap, Brodey decided to use their own plan against them.
And Damien Freihof was at the heart of it all. Encouraging Brodey. They’d never met, but Freihof had spent the last two weeks by phone and video messaging convincing Brodey of the justice of taking Zane down. Brodey had agreed.
By midafternoon, Zane had done all the questioning he could. Brodey had written down his confession. His intent. Brodey would be going back to jail, probably for the rest of his life.
Zane and Jon filed the paperwork they needed, then went to Zane’s house to break the good news to Caroline and Lillian.
It wasn’t often in a law enforcement officer’s career where the bad just up and admitted to a crime, even signing a confession. Sure as hell made the case easier.
They explained everything while Caroline cooked a simple spaghetti dinner with salad.
“So it looks like Brodey will be going away for a long time,” Zane finished.
“Omega Sector still has to catch Freihof, but Brodey’s failure to kill you at least slows his plans considerably. It will take a lot of time and effort to convince someone else to take on the job of trying to kill you,” Jon said.
“Is that what you think this Freihof guy will do? Just keep trying to find people to convince to hurt us?” Caroline asked.
Jon shook his head. “Honestly, no. I think this is a game for Freihof, with rules. Rules that he establishes, but rules nonetheless. I think for each target he has one puppet—for lack of a better word—that he’s created and molded.”
“With Fitzy, that was Curtis Harper,” Lillian said.
Jon nodded. “Exactly. Freihof convinced Harper to kill SWAT member Ashton Fitzgerald. When that didn’t work, I think that part of the game was over. Freihof doesn’t seem to be going after the same people more than once.”
Zane looked over at Caroline, loving the relief that was evident on her face. He reached over and grabbed her hand.
“Until we arrest Freihof, none of us are completely safe, but probably the part of the game involving the two of you is over for him.”
“Thank goodness,” Caroline murmured under her breath. “I mean, I know that’s probably wrong of me to say, since if he’s finished with us, it means he’s just moving on to someone else.”
“Nothing wrong with being thankful that you’re out of a madman’s scope,” Lillian said around a bite of pasta. “And we’re going to do our damnedest to make sure Freihof doesn’t have the time or means to target someone else.”
Caroline smiled. The first real smile he’d seen from her since they were hiking in Big Bend, before all of this started. Zane squeezed her hand. “I’m going to have to take you out so you can finish your Big Bend hike.”
“Maybe in a few months. I’m itching to get back to work right now. Back to some sort of normal.”
Zane didn’t blame her. Caroline needed the parts of her life she had control over. Her job as a paramedic was a big aspect of that. “I’m sure the hospital won’t mind having you back a couple days early from vacation.”
“Speaking of, I’ve got to go back to all that wedding nonsense at Omega. It’s out of control.” Lillian sighed dramatically.
Jon smiled. “Excuse you, I happen to be a big part of that ‘wedding nonsense.’”
“I know. You’re almost as bad as Sherry.”
“Be sure to tell Sherry I can’t wait to see her,” Caroline said. “Just a few more days.”
“I will. It will be nice to have a drama-free weekend for a change.”
Chapter Eighteen
The first sight of a broken ankle at a bike accident the next day had Caroline feeling great. That probably made her a little weird, but she didn’t care. She was back at work, at a job she knew she was good at. She hated that the cyclist was in so much pain but loved having something to physically do with her hands. With her brain.
How she’d reacted when Donald Brodey broke into the safe house two days ago still stung. But Zane was right: she couldn’t let that paralyze her. Couldn’t let that stop her forward progress or growth. He’d talked about helping her with some situational awareness exercises and training where she could be caught off guard.
She smiled as she helped brace the young man’s foot in preparation to move him into the ambulance. Zane helping her improve these skills would make her more ready for anything that came her way. Any training that made her less of a victim, she was up for.
But more important, it meant that Zane wasn’t planning on running back to his little pocket of Corpus Christi after this was all over, never to be seen again. She didn’t know if he was going to continue to work for the police department—although everyone had to admit, he’d flowed right back in as if he�
��d never left—but he wasn’t going to disappear again.
She wasn’t exactly sure where that left them personally. Eventually they’d need to broach the subject. But right now, sleeping in his arms every night in the house he’d bought for them, the house he hadn’t been able to force himself to sell or even rent to someone else? It was enough for her.
They drove the cyclist back to the hospital and Caroline and Kimmie made a beeline for the coffee shop. They’d already been going for four hours in a twelve-hour shift, and you never knew when an emergency call would come in. So you took advantage of coffee breaks while you could.
“I don’t think you’ve stopped smiling all day,” Kimmie said as they paid for their brew, preferring the specialized coffee at the shop over the muck that often waited in the free areas of the hospital.
“I’m sorry. I’ll start frowning immediately.”
Kimmie smacked her lightly on the arm. “You know I think it’s great. Although I’m sure that guy with the broken ankle thought you were some sort of sadist—so happy about his pain.”
Caroline chuckled. “Yeah, that probably wasn’t sensitive.”
“I’m assuming your happiness has to do with the arrest of the guy who was trying to kill you.”
Caroline added sugar to her coffee. “It’s definitely a relief.”
Kimmie nudged her. “And don’t think it escaped my notice that Zane Wales dropped you off at work this morning.”
Caroline tried not to blush. “It was on his way, since he’s working at the police station.”
“And because you guys were making wild, passionate monkey love all last night, weren’t you? Gosh, he is so gorgeous, Caroline. Sigh. I want a super hunk like that.”
Out of the blue, Caroline pulled Kimmie in for a hug.
Kimmie hugged her back—as Caroline had no doubt she would—and laughed as they broke apart. “What was that for? We’ve been partners for nearly eighteen months and I don’t think we’ve ever hugged.”
Caroline had resented being partnered with Kimmie. She’d known Uncle Tim had done it because he’d deemed that, after the attack, Caroline needed to work with a woman. Someone nonthreatening and lighthearted. Caroline had tried to never let her resentment show to Kimmie; after all, it wasn’t Kimmie’s fault she was the most perky, sweet partner they could find. Tim had done what he’d thought was best for Caroline.
Ended up he’d been right. Kimmie was probably the best partner Caroline could’ve had for the past year and a half. Not because she wasn’t a man, but because she was hardworking, enthusiastic, and wanted to learn what Caroline had been ready to teach.
Caroline smiled. And Kimmie was always perky.
“You’re a great partner, Kimmie. And a good friend. I just wanted to hug you.”
Kimmie hugged her again quickly. “I just wanted to get another one in before you go back to non-hugging mode.” She pulled away and they walked down the hallway with their coffee.
They’d barely finished half their cups before they got the call. A warehouse fire down near the oil district. Multiple injuries, utter chaos. An all-hands call.
Caroline and Kimmie dumped their coffee and ran for the ambulance, pulling out of the hospital parking lot rapidly along with other ambulances. Fire and rescue vehicles would be joining them on-site.
As they pulled up to the location, Caroline could see it was worse than she’d thought.
She turned to Kimmie. “The fire chief will be calling out orders. It will be pretty chaotic, so just take it one patient at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed.”
Caroline had worked only one other fire like this, about five years ago. She’d gotten a little panicked and didn’t want the same thing to happen to Kimmie.
They jumped out of the ambulance and reported over to the fire chief, who was barking out orders. He pointed at Caroline and Kimmie.
“Office workers. Southeast corner.” He pointed in the general direction. “Smoke inhalation mostly. Evaluate, get the most severely injured to the main hospital. Gill, coordinate and see who needs to go to the local medical center if the main hospital ER can’t take them.”
It was a big job, to coordinate what patients would go where, but Caroline appreciated the trust the fire chief was putting in her. She was one of the most seasoned paramedics out here. She wouldn’t let him down.
“Let’s go, people.” The EMTs and paramedics—EMTs with more schooling—all followed after Caroline. She split them up into groups and soon everyone had a job to do caring for the injured.
Caroline spent the next six hours coordinating between hospitals and the EMTs, evaluating burn and smoke inhalation victims and getting them where they needed to be. This fire couldn’t have happened at a worse spot for casualties. A factory with hundreds of people inside had been affected.
Things were just starting to slow down enough for Caroline to eat a protein bar, something every paramedic kept stashed for situations just like this where a meal wasn’t possible. She washed it down with another bottle of water, although she’d been careful to keep herself hydrated throughout the day. She didn’t want to end up as someone needing medical attention rather than giving it.
When she had a short break, she grabbed her phone to text Zane.
Massive fire in oil section. Won’t be done for a while.
His response was almost immediate.
Be safe. Text me when you’re done.
She looked over at the firefighters. They seemed to be getting it under control. Most of the critical victims had been seen and escorted to hospitals and medical centers in the greater Corpus Christi area.
Caroline scoped out the scene. They’d done a good job here today. Loss of life had been minimal thanks to the work of the firefighters and EMTs.
“Hey, Caroline, somebody was looking for you. An EMT,” Kimmie said. Caroline had been split up from her partner for most of the day. She pointed to the far side of the building. “Around the corner there. Someone else told me, so I don’t know what it’s about. Sorry. Want me to go ask?”
Caroline grabbed a protein bar. “No, you stay here and eat this. Take five minutes. You’ve been working hard today. We all have. I’ll go see what’s needed.”
Kimmie smiled. “Thanks. Wanna hug?”
Caroline rolled her eyes, knowing the woman was kidding. “Yeah. It can be our new thing.”
She jogged over to the far side of the building. It was much quieter over there, away from the action. An EMT was crouched down near the back corner.
“Hey, is everything okay?” Caroline asked. “I heard you needed me.”
The woman glanced over her shoulder at Caroline. “Yeah, do you mind coming over here? I think you should see this.”
Caroline prayed it wasn’t a body, although she didn’t see how it could be in such a small space.
She squatted next to the woman and looked into the hole where she stared. Caroline didn’t see anything but dirt.
“What are we looking at?” she asked.
Caroline felt a prick at the back of her neck and swatted at whatever bug had bitten her. A few seconds later the woman stood. Caroline tried to stand too, but found herself dizzy.
“Whoa. I think I need to eat something besides a protein bar.” She looked back at the hole again. “I’m sorry. What did you want me to see here?”
The woman didn’t answer and Caroline turned to look at her again.
She was spinning.
The entire world was spinning.
This wasn’t low blood sugar from not eating enough. She’d been drugged.
Caroline looked at the woman again and realized she wasn’t really wearing an EMT uniform, just similar colors.
“Who are you?” Getting the words out were more difficult than they should be.
“I’m the p
erson who’s going to show the world what a liar you are, Caroline Gill. Finally show everyone what you’ve done and how my brother’s death was your fault.”
Caroline tried to stand again but couldn’t. She began to crawl away, but much more slowly than she wanted. Her muscles refused to work. She held on to consciousness for as long as she could, even knowing she was fighting a losing battle against whatever drug the woman had given her.
“My brother was a doctor, so I know a little about temporary paralytic drugs,” the woman said, inching her face closer to Caroline. “You should never have lied about him, Ms. Gill.”
Through the fuzziness in her mind Caroline realized who the woman was. She was the sister of Paul Trumpold, the man who viciously attacked and raped Caroline.
And she thought Caroline had made up the whole story.
She clawed through the dark to try to keep hold of consciousness, knowing this woman intended to harm her, but couldn’t do it. Her panic got even worse as she saw someone who looked just like Paul Trumpold standing behind her. As Caroline laid her face on the ground, the woman did the same, facing her.
“Don’t worry. We’ll talk soon.”
The vicious hatred in the woman’s eyes was the last thing Caroline saw before the darkness overtook her.
Chapter Nineteen
Zane sat back in the chair at his desk in the Corpus Christi Police Department. When he’d come back in this morning, instead of having to work in the conference room, since he had no desk assigned to him, he’d found his old desk back in place. His old chair at it and nameplate on the front.
Almost like he’d never left.
He would’ve thought there would’ve been some hard feelings, either about him returning or about him leaving in the first place. And maybe there was. But as a whole the department had banded together and welcomed him back into their midst.
Zane had to admit leaving again would be difficult. He missed detective work. Even now that they had found the person trying to hurt him and Caroline, he didn’t know if he could walk away. The people he worked with here were family. They understood what the attack on Caroline had cost him and supported him—then and now—the best way they could.
