The McKays Box Set - To Kill For, Blood Sport, Hard Time & Gang Land

by A. J. Carella

  She could see from the fear on his face that he truly believed that, but it was hard to accept. “Jake, people don’t just get murdered in prison by the authorities. Are you sure you’re not just reading too much into it? It can’t be easy to be in there. Maybe you’ve just lost perspective a bit.”

  “No!” he shouted, making her jump. “No, Kat. I’m not imagining this. I really need you to believe me.”

  Kat looked into his eyes. She saw the desperation there and knew that whatever the truth of it, he truly believed it. Jake was many things, but a fantasist was not one of them and if he believed it, then she needed to believe it, too. At least until proven otherwise. She nodded. “Jake, I believe you. The question is, what do we do now?”

  Nine

  “You’d better have the back bedroom.” They’d decided that the first thing they needed to do was have a plan in case the police came back. They couldn’t take the chance that Jake would be found if they did.

  The back bedroom was no more than a box room, really, and hadn’t been used as a bedroom for years, even before she was born. It was in what used to be the servants’ quarters and the reason it was so perfect now was that there was a door in the room that led down to what used to be an old wine cellar. These days, the door was well hidden behind a large old armoire that was stored there, and she knew the police hadn’t found it during the last search as she’d checked and it hadn’t been moved. “We can move the armoire and if the police come back, you can quickly go into the cellar and we’ll push it back into place across the door. They’ll never find it.”

  They’d left Jamie downstairs making some lunch and it was just the two of them in the tiny room.

  “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this, Kat, and how sorry I am to have put you in this position.”

  Kat looked at him, taking in his thin frame and the hollowness of his cheeks. The eyes that had sparkled with mischief in the photos her sister used to send her now looked dull and lifeless, framed by dark circles. Reaching out, she put her hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Jake. We’ll work it out.” She tried to sound reassuring but she wasn’t sure herself quite how they were going to get out of this mess.

  “I don’t know about you, but after all this excitement, I’m starving.” She smiled brightly. “Let’s go and see what Jamie’s rustled up and then we can decide where we go from here.”

  “Sounds good. Whatever it is, it’ll be better than the stuff I’ve been eating for the past few months.”

  Closing the door behind, them they made their way down the corridor, back to the front of the house and the main stairs. The smells wafting up from the kitchen made Kat’s stomach growl before she’d even gotten to the bottom and her mouth was watering by the time she pushed open the kitchen door. Jamie had obviously taken one look at Jake and had the same thoughts she had as, sitting on the kitchen table was the biggest bowl of pasta she’d ever seen.

  “How many people are you planning on feeding?” Kat asked her, chuckling as she took her seat.

  “Funny. I just thought everyone would be hungry.” She eyed the bowl. “I might have overdone it a bit, though.”

  Jake walked over to Jamie and hugged her. “Thanks, sis, this is great.”

  Daniel had joined them and for the next hour, they avoided talking about why Jake was here. As Kat looked around the table at them all, she suddenly felt sad that it couldn’t be like this all the time. Watching Daniel, though, she was incredibly proud. He’d come a long way from the broken and scared boy he had been just a short while ago. That boy would never have sat at a table with a strange man and laughed and joked with him the way he was with Jake now. Yes, he was still shy when he first met someone but he was learning to trust again.

  She hadn’t told anyone, but a couple of days ago she’d had a call from the lady from Children’s Services. Living with Kat had only ever been a short term option for Daniel and she’d wanted to discuss the long term plan. They had several foster care providers who were able to take him in for the time being and he would be made available for adoption. She should have been expecting it, but somehow she’d shut her mind to it and the call came as a shock. She’d told her that she would call her back and, after a lot of thought, she’d contacted her again the next morning. She’d decided that she wanted to adopt Daniel permanently. Wanted him to be her son. The woman had been thrilled and didn’t seem to think it would be a problem, but Kat didn’t want to say anything to anyone just in case it couldn’t happen for some reason.

  Looking at him now, she couldn’t imagine him not being here and being part of this family, but she was risking everything by helping Jake. If anyone found out, she could lose her chance at adopting him. But she could no more turn her back on Jake than she could on Jamie, so she would just have to make sure that it worked.

  “That was great, Jamie, just what I needed. Thank you.” Kat smiled as she pushed her plate away. “Daniel, honey, why don’t you go and watch some TV?”

  “Grown up talk again?” he asked with a heavy sigh.

  “I’m sorry, yes. But we won’t be long, I promise.”

  “Okay.” He pushed his chair back and left the kitchen, leaving the three of them alone.

  “I’ve been thinking, running a few options through my head, and I think we need help.” She held her hand up as Jamie opened her mouth to speak. “Not from Finn, I’ve told you we can’t get him involved. But my old partner, Kyle, runs a P.I. company in Los Angeles and I know he would be happy to help if I asked him.”

  “You think he’d come all the way out here to help someone he’s never met?” Jake asked.

  “He wouldn’t be helping someone he’s never met, he’d be helping me.” She sighed. “I don’t think we have any choice. I have no idea what to do here. Yes, you’re out of the situation for now but you can’t hide out here forever. We can’t go directly to the prison because we don’t know who’s involved and we can’t go to the authorities because we just can’t run the risk of how they’re going to handle it.” She shrugged. “This is all I’ve got.”

  “What do you think, sis?” Jake asked Jamie, who had remained silent.

  “I think that after everything Kat did for me, and for Daniel, that we should trust her judgment. I say let’s give him a call.”

  Kat smiled her thanks to Jamie and waited for Jake’s answer.

  “Let’s get him on the phone.”

  Ten

  Stepping from the aircraft Kyle was met with drizzly rain that quickly dampened his shirt, making it stick to his skin. When he’d left L.A., it had been wall to wall sunshine and he hadn’t checked the weather forecast for his destination. Hurrying into the terminal, he cleared security before heading to the baggage reclaim area. He hated this part; his bag inevitably ended up being one of the last ones off the plane. This time, though, he was pleasantly surprised to find it was already circling by the time he arrived and, grabbing it, he quickly made his way to the exit.

  There was a throng of people waiting in arrivals and, scanning the faces, he spotted her at the same time she spotted him.

  “Kat, it’s so good to see you!” He put his bags down and hugged her before holding her at arm’s length and looking her over. “You look tired. I would have gotten here sooner but I had a couple of things that I just couldn’t leave for Tara to deal with.” It had been a couple of days since he’d gotten the phone call from Kat asking for his help. He knew she wouldn’t have called him if it wasn’t important, so he’d wrapped things up on his current job in L.A. and gotten here as quickly as he could.

  “I’m just glad you’re here. Thank you so much for coming.”

  “You didn’t say much on the phone. What’s wrong?”

  “Not here. We’ll talk in the car on the way. It’s at least an hour to Brecon Point so there’s plenty of time to fill you in.”

  “Okay, lead the way.” Kyle picked up his bags and followed her out of the airport.

  ***

  “So is Jake happy for
you to bring me in on this?”

  Kat had spent the last twenty minutes filling him in on what she knew so far. “He knows we used to be partners and that there’s no one else in the world I trust more. That’s good enough for him.” Kyle had left the LAPD before she did, following the murder of his wife. She’d been devastated at the time; he’d been the best partner she’d ever had, but she’d gotten over it and when he’d needed her help, she’d dropped everything to travel to England with him, putting her job on the line by doing it.

  “So, how are things? It’s been a while since you’ve called. I know Tara’s been worried about you.”

  Kat smiled. “Actually, things are great. Well, apart from what’s happening now, obviously. There’s somebody at home I can’t wait for you to meet.”

  “Apart from Jake and Jamie?” He’d heard all about them, but they’d never actually met.

  “Yes.” She grinned and told him all about Daniel.

  “Wow, Kat, why didn’t you tell me that all this stuff was happening?”

  “What could you do? Besides, the local police had it in hand.”

  Now it was Kyle’s turn to smile. “Yes, you must have mentioned a man called Finn about fifteen times since I got off the plane. Close, are you?”

  He chuckled when he saw the unmistakable rise in color in her cheeks. “You are!”

  “Not in the way you mean, no. At least, not anymore. So how is Tara?”

  He knew what she was doing, but he decided not to push. She would tell him about it when she was ready to. The rest of the drive was spent catching up and reminiscing about their days as partners and before he knew it, they were pulling up to the house.

  “Damn, Kat! This place is impressive!” He stepped out of the car and looked up at the house, taking in its size. “So this is where you grew up, huh?”

  “Yeah. It belongs to Jamie and Jake now.”

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this place when we worked together. Mind you, you didn’t tell me much about your past at all, did you?” He chuckled. “The mysterious Kat McKay.”

  “Yeah, well, my past wasn’t very interesting so there really wasn’t much to tell.”

  He had a feeling that wasn’t true but he knew he wouldn’t find out; he never had. “So come on, don’t keep me waiting, take me inside to meet everyone.” He grabbed his bags from the trunk.

  “Well, Jamie’s at work but Jake and Daniel are here. I thought it would be best if we tried to act as normal as possible and if Jamie stayed home it would look odd. She always works on Saturdays. Says it’s quiet and she can get more work done.”

  Kyle nodded his agreement. “Absolutely. The last thing you want to do is give anyone an excuse to come snooping round up here again.”

  Eleven

  Finn had mixed feelings as he put the phone down. It was official. He’d just received the news that he was now the new chief of police. Daniel’s case had been a baptism by fire and he hadn’t been sure if he’d be up to the job, but he had been. When Chief Finlay had had his heart attack and announced his retirement, he’d promised he would think about applying for the job and he had, and did. What swung it for him was the idea of a total stranger coming into the department and throwing their weight around. He hadn’t liked it when Callahan had done it. He knew he wouldn’t like it from someone else and there was no one else more experienced than him on the payroll.

  His hand itched to pick up the phone once more to call Kat and give her the news, but he stopped himself. It had surprised him how quickly he’d gotten used to having her around again after all those years with no contact and he couldn’t think of anyone he wanted to call more right at that moment. So why don’t you? Because seeing her agree to go out on a date with Callahan had thrown him and he needed to distance himself. No, he would tell her when he saw her next, but he wouldn’t go out of his way to do it.

  Pushing his chair away from his desk, he stood up. Better go tell the troops. It was shift change time so all of the deputies were in the squad room. All four of them. Now that he’d been promoted, he would need to look at hiring another deputy to fill the vacant spot. His mind was on this as he opened his office door and the sudden loud bang, so unexpected, nearly made his heart stop.

  “Congratulations!” they all shouted at the same time as the contents of several party poppers rained down on his head.

  “I see you’ve already heard.” He smiled broadly.

  “Yep, Chief Finlay gave us the heads up this morning.” Carter grinned at him.

  “I see. Good to know you all knew before I did!” He laughed. It was good to know that the team was pleased, though. It would be make the transition from deputy to chief much smoother.

  “So, Chief, you going to bring this department up to date? New cruisers? Our very own crime scene techs?” Carter grinned at him from where he sat, slouched at his desk.

  Finn sighed. He’d planned on talking to the chief about Carter when he came back to work. Guess he’s my problem now. “No, Carter, everything will stay just as it is. The budget hasn’t changed just because the chief has.” He would make some changes, but at the moment, with his limited manpower, there wasn’t much he could do.

  “I will spring for take-out, though. Who wants what?” he said to the approving claps from his team.

  Twelve

  “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m getting hungry.” It was early evening, and with driving to the airport to collect Kyle she’d completely forgotten to have lunch and now her stomach was reminding her.

  When they’d gotten back to the house, Kat had introduced him to everyone before showing him up to one of the guest rooms. They’d spent the last hour sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee and avoiding talking about the reason he was here, discussing everything from the weather to the state of the economy.

  “How about I go into town and pick up some Chinese food and then we can sit down and talk about what happens next?” Kat grabbed her keys from where they sat on the kitchen counter and headed for the door. “I’ll just grab some of everything.”

  “I’ll come with you.” Kyle hopped down from the stool next to the breakfast bar. “It would be good to see the town.”

  “No problem. Won’t be long,” she told the others as they left through the kitchen door.

  “So, are you going to give me a grand tour of the bustling metropolis that is Brecon Point?” Kyle grinned as he climbed into the passenger seat.

  “It may not be L.A. but it’s been pretty active since I arrived back in town.”

  “Are you missing it?”

  “What? L.A.?” Kat had recently been asking herself the very same question. “Honestly? No. I do miss the job, but weigh that against the fact that I had no life outside of it, moving back here was definitely the right thing to do.” She smiled as she thought of Daniel. “And look at what I’ve got now? A family. So no, I don’t miss it.”

  “So, what’s the story with you and this Finn guy?”

  Kat sighed. She knew that he was going to bring it up; he’d never been one to leave things alone. “We used to date when we were in high school. It looked like we might hook up again when we found Jamie, but it wasn’t meant to be.” There was a lot Kyle didn’t know about her past despite working as closely as they had together. She’d often thought about telling him about her son but knew that once she had, she wouldn’t be able to take it back and she hadn’t been prepared to take the chance that she might regret it someday.

  “Well, if you ask me, you still sound pretty fond of him.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t ask you, did I?” she snapped before she could stop herself. “Sorry.” She let out a long breath. “It’s just been a really stressful few days and the last thing I want to think about right now is my love life. Or lack of it.”

  “Fine, I’ll consider myself told.” He held up his hands. “But you know you can talk to me anytime, right?”

  “Yeh, I know. Thanks.”

  “Did I tell
you that Tara and I are trying for a baby?”

  Kat took her eyes off the road to look at him smiling stupidly at her. “No, you didn’t! Oh, Kyle, I’m so happy for you both. I can’t think of two people who would make better parents or who deserve it more.”

  “If that’s true, why are you crying?”

  She hadn’t realized she was. “I’m not crying,” she said as she blinked her eyes rapidly. “Well, not really crying. I’m just happy, that’s all.” And she was, she truly was, but it also brought her regrets over her son into sharp focus.

  “Good, because Tara has already decided she wants you to be a godmother eventually.”

  “Well, you tell Tara that I’d be honored.”

  Kat was glad they were just arriving in town because any more of this conversation and she would have to pull over at the side of the road in floods of tears. “We’re here.” She pulled the car to a stop outside the Chinese take-out.

  Thirteen

  It had finally stopped raining as Finn stepped out of the station and walked down the front steps. The air was still damp, though, and he was glad he’d grabbed his jacket. He chuckled to himself as he headed down the street. Why did I volunteer for this? Usually when someone got a promotion, other people did something nice for you, not the other way round.

  It was nice to have something to celebrate for a change. The joint investigation with the FBI into Daniel’s assault and the eventual discovery of the fight club ring involving children had been grueling, and the recovery of the children’s bodies emotionally devastating. On the positive side, they’d managed to rescue a lot of kids and Agent Callahan was working hard on trying to get them all reunited with their families. It was too late for Daniel’s family, though, but he’d found a good home with Kat and his future was looking up. He frowned as he thought of Kat. That was one situation that he just didn’t know how to handle. Daniel had brought them closer together after months of keeping her at arm’s length, but he didn’t know what their future held. After finding out that the woman he’d been dating had been involved with the fight club ring, and then seeing Kat agree to a date with Callahan, he wondered if he should just stay single.