Saving Grace (Serve and Protect Series)

by Wilson, Norah

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I think I can spare the time.”

  Damn, he’d hoped not to have to tell her about this. On the other hand, maybe it was just as well. If he really was a target for Viktor Landis’s thugs or some crackhead with a grudge, she could be caught in the crossfire. If she knew about the danger, it’d be easier to persuade her to lie low.

  Besides, he pretty much had to spill the story if he hoped to get her to go along with what he was going to suggest.

  “The mechanical trouble I had the other night?” She nodded that she remembered. “The garage thought there may have been some tampering.”

  “What kind of tampering?”

  “Removing all but one of the nuts on the left front wheel.”

  She sucked in her breath on a hiss. “Did the wheel come off?”

  “No. Tire blew before it could work its way off.”

  “So you called Tommy and Max to go over the truck?”

  Cripes, she could dredge up the police dog’s name when she couldn’t remember where she’d picked up that shitload of cash?

  “Ray, is that what happened?” she prompted.

  He gave himself a mental shake. “Yeah. Truck came up clean, but Tommy tossed the bags in the course of his search.”

  Her forehead puckered. “I don’t understand. You knew the money was in there and you didn’t forewarn me?”

  “No, I didn’t know. Tommy didn’t mention the cash. He just gave me a funny look and asked me if the bag was mine. I told him it was yours.”

  “You didn’t go see for yourself when he gave you that funny look?”

  He bristled at her tone of disbelief. “Dammit, Grace, I thought he was sifting through your skivvies.”

  Grace jumped up, her face flushing. “Yeah, well, that’s the other thing. I didn’t pack any.”

  “You didn’t pack any what?”

  “Nice underwear. Just the basic stuff.”

  The news loosened the fist clenching his heart, but as soon as he recognized his relief, a taunting voice rose up. So she had qualms about wearing the same lingerie for another man. So what?

  “That’s neither here nor there, is it?” he said, his voice gruff. “We need to make a decision about this money.”

  “What do you think we should do?”

  “How do you feel about taking it down to the Station and getting them to stash it in Evidence?”

  “Evidence? You think it’s dirty?”

  “I don’t know what to think.” He stood, shoving a hand through his hair.

  “Maybe he gave it to me.”

  Ray didn’t have to ask for clarification of who “he” was. “Maybe. But all we know for sure is that it’s a helluva lot of cash, and we can’t say where it came from. Factor in that Tommy knows about it. Tommy and probably the rest of the guys who were there this morning.”

  “You think we should turn it in? Explain my amnesia?”

  “It’s your decision. They’d give us a voucher so you could reclaim it when your memory comes back, if it was legally gotten.”

  “And if it’s ill-gotten?”

  She bit her lower lip as she waited for his reply.

  “Depends how it falls out.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It could work to your advantage. Or we could be digging you a hole a lawyer might have a hard time getting you out of. That’s why it has to be your decision.”

  She tortured her lower lip some more. “But in the circumstances, it would look better for you if we turn it in?”

  “Probably. But if it’s dirty‌—”

  “Ray, if I committed some kind of crime to get this money, I’d just as soon face the music.”

  Despite her assertion, she looked scared as a schoolgirl. Ray gave a curt nod, struggling to conceal his internal battle.

  Half of him admired her courage.

  The other half was offended, dammit.

  She actually thought he’d hand her over, complete with a big, fat ribbon tying up the case for the prosecution? Hell, if he thought for a minute she’d come by the money in some shady fashion, he’d sit on it until he figured something out.

  But the way he saw it, the money had to have come from lover-boy. There could be no other explanation. A token of his affection, or maybe just to reassure her as she left the security of her marriage. Frankly, he didn’t give a damn which it was. He just wanted a look at the bastard.

  When she’d left him, she’d refused to name the other man. Now, as long as her amnesia persisted, she couldn’t name him. By convincing her to lodge the money with Evidence, Ray figured he could pretty much count on meeting the S.O.B. sooner or later. Surely he’d come looking for a refund if he thought Grace had stiffed him.

  Plus he’d be able to banish the inevitable questions that must have arisen in Tommy Godsoe’s mind and the minds of the other guys.

  “Okay,” Grace said. “Let’s take it in.”

  Ray nodded.

  “Can we do it this afternoon? It makes me nervous having it here.”

  “Sure.” He grabbed an empty shaving kit from the closet. “Stuff the cash in this and I’ll call Quigg to set it up.”

  Grace started filling the kit, handling the bundles as though they carried some contagion, and Ray reached for the phone. Before he could lift the receiver from its cradle, the phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Razor, Tom Godsoe.”

  “Tommy.” Ray lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Ah, about this morning, what you saw in my truck‌—”

  “That’s why I’m calling, about this morning.”

  “I can explain the money.”

  “That’s good, buddy, cuz it looks like you’re gonna have to.”

  Ray’s pulse gave a kick. “What do you mean?”

  “Hell, I’m sorry, Razor, but I kinda told the guys.”

  Dammit. “And?”

  “And somebody blabbed to Creighton.”

  Ah, hell. Geoffrey Creighton. Not what he needed right now. But he could handle it. “It’s okay, Tommy.”

  “No, man, it ain’t okay.”

  “I can handle Creighton. He’s had a hard-on for me since his wife tried to stick her tongue down my....” Ray suddenly became aware Grace had zipped the bulging kit shut and was watching him. He picked up the phone and crossed the room. “Well, ever since that Christmas party.”

  “Creighton’s not the only one has a hard-on for you, Razor.”

  Ray’s heart took another leap. “What are you saying?”

  “IAD.”

  Internal Affairs. “Holy hell, Tommy, what’d you tell them?”

  “Hey, I mighta told the guys, but I’m no stinking rat. It musta been one of the others.”

  “Dammit.” Ray did a mental inventory‌—‌Davis, Mailer, Ketch, Isaacs.... “Okay, who do you like? Danny?”

  “Can we talk about this in person? Meet somewhere, maybe? I’m feeling a little squirrelly talking about it on the phone.”

  “Okay.” Grace had moved closer so she could read his face. He resisted the urge to turn away again. Balancing the phone on his hip, he asked, “Why don’t you come on over?”

  “How about some place more discreet? Some place we can just roll our windows down?”

  Jesus, Tommy really was spooked. Not only did he want an over-the-door conference, he wanted a clandestine one. Ray racked his brain for an appropriate site.

  “How about the parking lot of the new high school in thirty?” he suggested. He could almost hear Tommy weighing the merits of the location‌—‌it was damned near in the middle of the woods, at the end of a cul-de-sac. This being summer break, the school parking lot could be counted on to be deserted. Nothing at the top of that lonely hill but mosquitoes.

  “Okay, you got it. Thirty minutes,” Tommy agreed.

  Ray replaced the receiver.

  “What’s going on, Ray?”

  “Just a little wrinkle.” He carried the phone back to the night stand. “Tommy menti
oned that wad of cash to the guys, who mentioned it to some other guys, who mentioned it to Internal Affairs.”

  “Internal Affairs?” Grace sank down on the edge of the bed. “My God, you’re in trouble. This is all my fault.”

  “Trouble?” Ray rolled his shoulders, then lifted a hand to massage the back of his neck. “Nah, we’ll just explain.”

  “Explain what? That I don’t know where it came from?” Oh, God, please don’t make him pay for whatever it was I did. Bad enough to hurt him, but this‌—‌the job, his reputation....

  “Your memory will come back. We’ll just lodge the money with Evidence like we planned. In the meantime, I haven’t done anything to raise any eyebrows, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

  Grace wished she could share his confidence. “It sounded like you were arranging to meet Tommy.”

  “He wants to talk face-to-face.” He looked at his watch. “Speaking of which, we’d better get a move on. I told him we’d meet him in half an hour.”

  She jumped up, sudden tears stinging the backs of her eyes. She was so damned tired. Her self-concept battered by guilt and shame, she didn’t even know who she was anymore. And in the background, hovering just out of reach, was that white hum of almost-memory. It was like that name that eluded you, yet you knew it was right there, almost on the tip of your tongue.

  “This is all my fault. If I could just remember....”

  “You will.”

  She gazed at the carpet, blinked rapidly. What she’d give to go into his arms right now, until her world shrank to just the feel and smell of him.

  Then she felt his hand settle on her shoulder, warm but awkward, the way a man might comfort another man. She felt the burn of tears collecting again, congesting her nasal passages and tightening her throat. Lifting her gaze to his, she saw his eyes had softened, but there was still that distance.

  You put it there, she reminded herself brutally.

  Though her heart ached, she swallowed the neediness and straightened her spine. “If anything bad comes of this, I’ll never forgive myself.”

  He dropped his hand from her back. “Trust me, Grace, this isn’t anything I can’t handle.”

  “Then why’d you agree to meet Tommy?”

  “For his sake, not mine.” Ray went to the closet and retrieved a fresh shirt. “He feels bad for his part in this. Like I told you, there’s nothing IAD can nail me for.”

  She averted her eyes as he changed shirts, busying herself by running a brush through her hair. Though she thirsted to see him, she knew her gaze would be as unwelcome as her touch. By the time she turned back to him, he had strapped on his shoulder holster. Force of habit, she supposed, as she watched him retrieve his service weapon. Going to the station without it probably felt like going shirtless.

  “We ready?”

  “Ready,” she said, grabbing the overstuffed shaving kit before he could. Suddenly, she wished he hadn’t touched even one of the bundles. Despite his faith that he had nothing to fear from an internal investigation, she had a bad feeling about the money. A very bad feeling.

  Ray took his eyes off the road long enough to cast a sidelong glance at Grace. She sat with her head stiffly angled toward the passenger window, intent on the vegetation in the ditches.

  Not that he could blame her. The fifteen-minute trip had been accomplished in near-total silence, and not the comfortable kind. Maybe he should have tried to strike up some kind of conversation. Back there at the house, she’d looked for a moment like she might fly apart if he so much as breathed on her. She sure didn’t need the added strain of this awkwardness. Unfortunately, they seemed incapable of chitchat. It was either this silence or the heavy-duty stuff. Nothing in between.

  And if they got into a real conversation, he might ask the questions that never left his head, the ones he’d sworn not to let pass his lips. Why? What’d I do wrong? Where’d I lose you? Did you ever think of him when I held you? The questions that burned into his soul. The ones he didn’t think he could bear having answered, even if she could, or would, answer them.

  He turned into the school’s long sweeping driveway, spotting Tommy’s black Camaro immediately.

  “That’s Tommy’s car,” he told her.

  He parked the SUV far enough from the other vehicle so Grace wouldn’t have to hear everything Tommy said. No point feeding her anxiety.

  As he crossed the asphalt, he felt twitchy between the shoulder blades. Grace must be watching him.

  When Ray was still ten yards from the other car, the Camaro’s door swung open. Before Tommy could put both feet on the asphalt to climb out, the car’s rear window on the driver’s side exploded. Both men froze. Then two quick pa-ting, pa-tings, and two neat holes appeared in the car’s fender over the rear wheel well.

  Sniper! Unholstering his weapon, Ray hit the deck, but not before seeing the expression on Tommy’s face, a mixture of shock and accusation. Christ, he thinks I arranged this! A split-second later, Tommy hit the accelerator and shot off, his door swinging shut with the forward momentum.

  Another two or three bullets skipped off the asphalt a few feet away, sending fragments of blacktop flying. Rolling quickly to the left, Ray came up running, zigging and zagging. Behind him, he heard bullets whine off the pavement.

  “Ray!”

  Grace! Would she even know what was happening? The shooter was using a silencer. Would she understand what was unfolding?

  “Get out of here!” he shouted. “There’s a sniper in the school.”

  Another phut sound signaled another bullet digging into the asphalt, entirely too close to his feet. He took three more strides and dove behind a long, low cement planter, one of those commercial jobs the landscapers liked to fill. This time, the bullets made a completely different sound as they sent shards of cement scattering.

  Pressing himself close against the low architecture, he heard the Pathfinder’s engine kick to life. Thank God he’d left the keys in the ignition. And thank God he’d left it pointed toward the parking lot’s only exit. Presuming there was only one sniper, she should be able to get away. Just to make sure, he’d give her some cover.

  Using every inch of the planter to conceal himself, he searched for the suspect. There! Rooftop. He squeezed off a couple of rounds. It was a hard shot, shooting up like that, but he must have come close because the shooter pulled back.

  Ray heard the SUV’s tires squeal. Atta girl. Go Grace. Go now. Except when he glanced her way, he saw she’d pulled a U-turn and was barreling towards him. Christ, what was she thinking?

  A bullet pinged off the sidewalk close enough to send a shard of concrete slicing into his cheek like a hot knife. Swearing, he fired back twice. Then Grace was there, the back door on the driver’s side already opened for him. He rolled out onto the sidewalk and squeezed off three more rounds. Then, launching himself from his knees, he dove into the SUV’s back seat.

  “Go!” he shouted, but Grace didn’t need his instruction. She’d already popped the clutch. The vehicle lunged forward, throwing him against the back of the seat. Seconds later, she pulled another U-turn and sped out the driveway. Tires squealing in protest, she rounded the turn onto the broad avenue and shot off down the hill.

  Chapter 5

  GRACE’S HEART CRASHED AGAINST her ribs and her knuckles ached from gripping the steering wheel.

  “Okay, don’t slack off until we’re clear of this street.” Ray clambered into the front passenger seat. “We need to get out of here before the cops come.”

  She shot him an incredulous look. “Someone shot at you back there! I’d think you’d be glad to see them.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  New fear sliced into her. “What do you mean?” She glanced at him, and her heart took another bump when she saw him eject the spent clip from his gun and jam another one into place. “I thought we were going to go to the cops.”

  “Circumstances have changed.” He holstered his gun and fastened his seatb
elt.

  “Yeah, we’re in immediate danger now. Which is all the more reason to go in.”

  “Take this right coming up.”

  She obeyed automatically, and he guided her through another series of turns until she found herself on the approach to the Merrill Bridge.

  “I thought you just said we weren’t going in.”

  “We’re not. Stay on this street, then turn down King.”

  She did, but as they passed the police station, several cars, their lights flashing and sirens wailing, spilled out of the parking lot and sped north across the bridge. Grace fought down panic. Why was Ray avoiding the police?

  He reached to steady the wheel as the Pathfinder wandered too close to the right lane. “Careful.”

  Okay, Grace, focus. One thing at a time. She pulled up at the red light. “Okay, this might work better if I know where we’re going.”

  “The Crowne Plaza.”

  Not four minutes later, she turned into the hotel’s parking lot. Ray directed her to a spot in the center of the lot. She nosed the vehicle into the space and killed the engine. Exhaling, she released the wheel and rolled shoulders gone stiff with tension.

  “Okay, why aren’t we at the station right now?”

  “Because Tommy’s already there.”

  She blinked. “I should hope so. But what’s that got to do with anything?”

  “He thinks I tried to get him killed.”

  “No!”

  “I saw his face, Grace. Those bullets had to be meant for me, the way they came over my shoulder, but Tommy couldn’t tell that from where he sat. He thinks they were meant for him, that I set him up.”

  “But you could explain‌—”

  “I can guarantee he won’t be in a listening mood. At least not right away. Nor will anyone else, not with an internal investigation going on.”

  The damned money again. This was all her fault.... “Why are you so certain the shooter was after you? Maybe he was after Tommy.”

  “I’m the one who just had my vehicle sabotaged. I’m the one who’s been stepping on some nasty guys’ toes.”

  She chewed her lip a moment. “I still think you could explain what happened.”