Searching (PAVAD- FBI Romantic Suspense Book 18)

by Calle J. Brookes

  Max was a very proud daddy, who had often shared his daughter’s accomplishments with Jac. And begged her help with tutoring for that math two years in a row. Once a week, until recently, she’d have dinner with Max and Emery, and then she and Emery would hit the math book. They were making progress; it was just taking time. A mathematician Emery most certainly would never be, but she tried hard.

  Max had freely shared his daughter with Jac.

  Until the Kiss-That-Shouldn’t-Have Happened. She’d lost more than Max’s friendship after that moment. She’d lost Emery. Even if it had just been for a few months.

  That had been long enough for her.

  Well, she was going to fix that.

  Max had delivered the invitation to the Brynlock Fall Festival—made by Emery out of construction paper and ribbon and glitter, lots and lots of glitter—to her desk personally, three days after he’d slept in her guest room.

  He’d looked at her and asked quietly if she would attend. For Emery.

  There hadn’t been any hesitation when she’d made her promise.

  There never would be.

  Emery Jones was the child of her heart.

  No doubt, Emery’s father knew that.

  Things had changed between them again the night he’d crashed in her guest room. She just hadn’t had time to figure out how yet.

  Mostly, it was in the way he looked at her.

  She looked around for people she knew. Jac was never fully comfortable in a crowd of strangers.

  There were actually quite a few people she knew very well already in the multipurpose room. The first man she saw was her CCU team leader Sebastian Lorcan and his two brothers. They were identical, and very hard to overlook—even if they weren’t all around six-five and absolutely gorgeous. Sebastian’s niece and nephew attended Brynlock, though they were younger than Emery. There was an older nephew in the high school, too.

  Simon Brockman, the absolute love of Emery’s life. Max had flipped the first time Emery had said how hot Simon was. Jac had laughed for fifteen minutes after that.

  There were several children whose parents worked for PAVAD that attended Brynlock. Brynlock had excellent security. That was one of the important points for Max, too. His ex’s parents hadn’t been too happy when Pamela had given full custody to Max and had made threats when Emery was around five or so.

  Thankfully, the attorney Max had hired—that his ex-wife had helped him pay for—put Pamela’s parents straight. Emery hadn’t seen them since.

  Then she saw the man she was looking for. Max looked good. She’d always thought he looked good in jeans. He wore a Wildcats jersey. It was the same team their friend Ken had played for in his younger days.

  Max was stressed, though he had on what she had privately always thought of his don’t-worry-Emery face. He was speaking to the director.

  Neither man looked very happy at the moment. Jac headed across the floor.

  Speaking of...Ken and Leina Chalmers were right there behind the director and Max, with their four children. Ken held their toddler. Leina had their newborn in a carrier on her chest. Their two girls were bouncing around in front of them, ready to rush around the carnival at any moment. Jac smiled seeing the bright faces of kids she’d met many times before.

  Except for the newest.

  The baby boy had been born while Jac had been in Masterson. Jac wanted to hold him, if Leina was willing to share for a few minutes. Leina should be sitting down and resting—she’d just had the baby last week.

  Ken was hovering. Shannon, another agent on Jac’s computer forensic analysis team, was there, too. She made goofy faces at the Chalmers kids, then took the toddler from Ken, while her fiancé scooped up the younger girl. They didn’t have children yet, but she knew they were close to Leina and Ken’s. Invited by the girls to the carnival, probably.

  Families. There were families everywhere.

  She loved PAVAD. Loved how the people she worked with had formed bonds that went beyond biology.

  A smile escaped, not that she was trying to keep it back. PAVAD was a family all on its own.

  Emery saw her before she made it halfway there. The little girl started running—her philosophy was why walk when she could run—calling Jac’s name.

  Then Jac had her arms full of her favorite kid in the world.

  This was where she belonged, right here.

  12

  Paul Sturvin carried his daughter Ava in his arms as he and his wife, Rachel, and their elder daughter, Olivia, made their way through the crowd at Brynlock Academy’s Annual Fall Festival. He had been looking forward to this networking event for weeks. Rachel was getting more obstinate each and every day. He was going to have to find a way to deal with that. Before she ruined every opportunity he was creating for their family.

  There were men here he needed to see.

  He needed to build their trust.

  Brynlock was his creative ticket to getting that.

  He suspected his association with Brynlock was the main reason he’d been chosen for this little special assignment of his.

  Paul smiled at how easily his plans were coming together.

  He’d been the IT consultant for the PAVAD division of the FBI for two and a half months now. That was just his first step. He was busting his ass to make sure he did that job very, very well.

  He was giving PAVAD no excuse to dissolve his contract.

  He wouldn’t be slogging as a consultant for too much longer. If he made this work, he would be paid enough to never need to work again.

  The money that would bring…that was his ultimate goal. Paul wasn’t afraid to do what he had to do to make what he wanted happen. He would take that money and make even more for his family.

  So that his children would have a future.

  It would be nice to not have to worry about scraping by every month when the bills came due again. To not have to worry about the neighbors getting their mail with the past due notices by mistake. To have them looking at him and Rachel and their children and mocking them for their financial circumstances. That mere idea infuriated him.

  His children would have the best.

  Paul was adamant about that.

  Then Rachel wouldn’t look at him with that expression that told him he’d failed her.

  The fall festival was the biggest event at the small, exclusive private school he had chosen with deliberate care.

  He had been planning this day for weeks, right down to the clothing his daughters and his wife wore now. They looked like exactly what he wanted them to: an upwardly mobile, typical all-American family. Successful, well-groomed, attractive, and engaging.

  He had very exacting standards.

  Paul bit back a curse, seeing the throng of imbeciles blocking their way. Brynlock was supposed to be the best the city of St. Louis had to offer. Paul wasn’t exactly impressed with what he was seeing right now.

  It wasn’t living up to his standards. Educationally, it was spot-on, but…it wasn’t the educational tools he had chosen for his children that Paul was ultimately after.

  It was far more than that. It was the connections his daughters would make at Brynlock that mattered the most.

  He fully intended that both Olivia and Ava would marry into the wealthiest families at Brynlock as soon as they were of age to do so. Anyone who was anyone in the city competed for placement at the small private school. At one point, it had catered to upper-middle-class families, with heavy scholarship opportunities.

  Now…competition was so fierce to get in, the price of tuition was rising. Drastically. The middle class were being squeezed out—unless they were already grandfathered in at the previous price. It all had to do with that damned Davis Lucas and his family.

  Everyone wanted to send their kids where the billionaire’s family went. For the connection and the prestige.

  Paul understood that very, very well.

  He and Rachel had fortunately been locked in on the previous tuition rates. Or
they wouldn’t be here right now.

  This was where his daughters would do what he wished of them.

  They would not dare defy him. He would ensure they understood the importance of what he wanted from them.

  For them.

  He had expected to see those of high class walking around this place. Sophistication. The coolly wealthy as they deigned to condescend to something as quaint as a fall festival for their equally sophisticated children.

  He had had to miss last year’s festival when Olivia and Ava were ill with a virus that had increased Ava’s asthma complications, but this year…

  He had had such plans. This was disappointing. He’d spent all year thinking about this event, and the several other events Brynlock hosted each year.

  Connections were worth more than gold right now.

  Paul did his best to ensure that disappointment didn’t show as they walked further into the multipurpose room.

  He hadn’t expected this.

  Not this…upper-middle-class-family fun. That could be found anywhere. What separated Brynlock from the other dozens of private schools catering to white-collar families? He wasn’t seeing that now.

  Here, he and his family were just a part of the crowd. They didn’t stand out at all.

  That was not acceptable.

  Paul wanted the absolute best for his daughters. He’d scraped together enough for Olivia’s tuition to the elementary school, and Ava’s to the three times a week preschool on the same campus for damned good reason.

  They were his tickets to the life he had been working toward for years. The life Paul deserved.

  Every sacrifice he had ever made had been to ensure his current family had the very best. He would do better for them.

  Paul would not fail again.

  Their names would be ones that were remembered. They wouldn’t be shuttled off to strangers to be raised without a name.

  Both were bright girls, and if their mother followed his instructions for how they were to be raised, they would have brilliant futures ahead of them. Excellent educations, all the right friends and connections, remarkable marriages, outstanding careers. They would have it all.

  He would ensure that. It was what a father was supposed to do, after all.

  Paul would not fail as a father again.

  “There are her friends Lucy, Emery, and Ruthie,” Rachel said, motioning to a small crowd nearby. “With their families.”

  Paul studied the people closely. He’d made a point of knowing exactly who was in his daughter’s class at Brynlock, and who she chose to associate with.

  Lucy Lorcan was associated with the head of Lucas Technologies in some way, the wealthiest man in St. Louis. In the state; probably the region. Paul believed she was the man’s goddaughter or niece or something.

  Paul had been trying for years to get contracts with Lucas Tech, the leading developer of law enforcement technology around the world. A connection to Lucas Tech would had made him a very wealthy man. He didn’t need that now. At least not right away.

  He was being paid very well for his work with the FBI.

  The Brockman girl’s parents weren’t as wealthy, by any means, but they were both very prestigious names within the federal law enforcement community. Between the two of them, they had a list of impressive connections. And, he suspected, investments. The neighborhood where they lived wasn’t exactly cheap.

  Paul’s family attended the same church as the Brockmans. Their daughter was near in age to his own. He’d chosen it deliberately. He found the couple to be a bit reserved—the wife far more than the husband—but intelligent, cultured. Very well-connected.

  There were several business associates who attended services at the same church as well. Paul had planned his family’s life very, very carefully. Down to the smallest detail.

  He had needed those connections with Lucas Tech. He had needed the in with the director of PAVAD. His IT contract with the FBI was currently only temporary. He had wanted to make that a permanent part of his business plan.

  Soon. His contract expired at the end of January. That was fast approaching. His contract would be renewed when the time came. Paul had been reassured he had nothing to worry about.

  Everything he needed would be taken care of for him. All he had to do was funnel some information from PAVAD to a nifty little email on the dark net, a few times a week.

  He’d already received two payments from the men involved.

  Payments that had kept Ava and Olivia in Brynlock.

  In exchange, Paul would do a few little favors when he could. The money was just too good not to want more. It was going to turn everything around for his family. Erase the mistakes he’d made with his investments over the last several years. Fix everything. Make right everything he had ruined.

  They would have far more than Paul ever had.

  He was going to see to that. All he had to do was uphold his part of the bargain, without completely screwing things up for them all.

  But Rachel…she was more willful and intractable than he ever would have expected when he had met her years ago. He had yet to determine how to address that. He needed to. Before she screwed everything up, too.

  One reason he’d been singled out for this new project had been because of the connections Rachel had made at Brynlock. Paul hadn’t forgotten that.

  All he had to do was find a way to get the information they wanted without Rachel realizing what he was doing. Paul always had enjoyed challenges.

  “There’s Emery!” Olivia said excitedly. She pointed to a little strawberry-blond girl in the distance. Paul studied the child quickly. She was not someone he recognized.

  He looked at Rachel for clarification. His wife knew he had to give approval. She just rolled her pretty blue eyes at him. He hated when she looked at him like that, like he was being ridiculous. She knew that. “She’s a classroom helper in Olivia’s class once a week and is on the same basketball team. Star player, two or three years older than Li—Olivia. Emery Jones. Her father works for the FBI. Rather high up on the food chain, too. Max Jones.”

  Paul thought for a moment. He’d heard the name before. He vaguely recalled meeting a man by that name. A tall, brown-haired man a good eighty pounds heavier than Paul, and six inches taller, stood near the girl. He looked familiar.

  From the Complex Crimes Unit, Paul thought. “Dr. Maddox Jones?”

  “He goes by Max. He’s been at the school a few times.”

  The CCU. One of the departments his consulting company couldn’t go near at the PAVAD building. Paul was going to change that.

  “And her mother?” The little girl stood next to a classically beautiful woman with auburn hair and a perfect, slim feminine figure. She blew Rachel’s sleek blond soccer-mom presentation out of the water.

  She looked exactly like the type of woman he would expect to find at Brynlock Academy. Sleek, expensive, sophisticated. Graceful and beautiful.

  He was certain he knew the girl’s father. He looked like an ex-jock—big, muscled, shaggy, and brainless. Like half the men he’d seen in the FBI building.

  But the woman…if he had seen her before, he would remember.

  He would most certainly remember her.

  “That’s not her mom,” Olivia said. “That’s her aunt, I think. She calls her Jack, not Mommy.”

  “Jack? Odd name for a woman.” There was nothing masculine about the woman he was looking at. Far from it.

  “Her name is Jaclyn Jones. She’s a friend of mine,” Rachel said quietly. He shot her a look. She knew he wanted to know everyone she considered a friend. Who Rachel interacted with was just as important as those who the children did. He wouldn’t have her associating with just anyone. “A new one. We’ve met at the school a few times. She’s a connection of the family.”

  “Please, Daddy? Can I go play now?” Olivia begged, shooting him the smile that was identical to her mother’s.

  Paul studied his daughters quickly. Olivia was presentabl
e. Her clothing was still neat, her face was washed, and her blond hair had been groomed into two braids perfectly. She looked very pretty. Ava, however, needed her face cleaned once again, and her dark braid straightened. And there was a stain on her shirt.

  His younger daughter was a bit less meticulous than his older. Hopefully, that would correct itself as she aged. She was his star, after all. Far more than her sister could ever be. Ava was far more gifted than Olivia.

  Both of their children were physically beautiful, appealing children. He and Rachel ensured that was enhanced with meticulous grooming and the proper clothing. Even if Rachel had to spend hours hunting for that clothing second hand. She knew all the best places now. He considered it her duty as his children’s mother.

  “Can I go hang out with Emery, Daddy? She’s my best friend.”

  As the woman with the child turned, he nodded.

  He wanted to learn more about this aunt as well.

  And exactly what Rachel had told her. If she’d said anything that would cause trouble for Paul, if it got back to the other Jones from the CCU—that could jeopardize things significantly.

  That would have to be dealt with.

  Swiftly.

  13

  Max thought about the man’s words for a moment as the crowd swirled around him. The director of PAVAD had pulled him aside, telling him they needed to speak as soon as possible.

  This was not what Max had expected.

  He’d thought Ed had something to tell him about the Anderson case. They’d stalled on Andy’s murder two days into the investigation. All they had was encrypted data—that had been in an additional code—on the memory cards Max had found.

  Sixty-three pages of gibberish that no one had been able to make sense of yet. PAVAD was working on it now. It was going to take time.

  As the crowd swirled around them, he thought about what the man was saying. What it would mean for Emery. Everything he did had to be filtered through the window of what was best for his daughter. “It will still mean travel. I was hoping to eliminate a good portion of my time away from home. Having me gone has been a struggle for Emery lately.”