by Tara Randel
* * *
“HE’S NOT ANSWERING,” Eloise told Chambers. By this time, Brandy had wandered over to the desk, inserting herself in the conversation.
“Just because she had her picture taken with Marcus King doesn’t mean they’re involved,” Brandy pointed out.
Eloise held up her hand. “There’s something...” She racked her brain to figure out what was nagging at her. When it wouldn’t come, she scanned the picture again, but it revealed nothing. Finally, she tapped through the timeline again until she came upon a shot of Stacy standing beside a car, keys in hand. Then it hit her. “Griffin.”
“Come again?” Chambers said.
“In the course of the investigation we’ve been trying to uncover who owns Griffin Enterprises. The day I talked to Stacy at Parson’s Auto Mall, she had a square key ring with an animal printed on it. I didn’t really focus on it at the time, but something’s been bugging me all along the investigation. Could the animal have been a mythical griffin?” She began to type into the search engine, hunting for any overlap between Griffin Enterprises and Marcus King. Finally, she located an address for the enterprise in an office building owned by King. “This has to be it.” She jumped up. “I need to get there now.”
Chamber nodded at Brandy. “Go with Archer. I’ll call for a warrant and send another team, as well,” he said as he hurried back to his office.
As they ran out of the station, Eloise tried calling Dante again. “No answer,” she muttered, hoping—but knowing otherwise deep in her gut—that he hadn’t taken matters into his own hands. “We need to notify Dante.”
Taking precious time they couldn’t really afford, Eloise drove back to the parking lot across from the dealership where they’d seen Greg and Stacy. Dante’s truck was gone. Betrayal, swift and hard, curled in her belly.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CLUTCHING A CLIPBOARD he’d commandeered from a desk in the office to use as a prop, Dante climbed the stairwell to the third floor. He opened the heavy door just a crack, peering down a dim hallway. Empty. Easing forward, he pressed against the wall as he cautiously moved from one glass office door to another.
At the fourth door, he managed a quick look inside. A few desks were scattered about the open, mostly empty room. Crossing the hallway, he ran past the door, backtracked and peered in from a different angle. There he saw Greg lingering in the doorway of another office. Who was he talking to?
He couldn’t risk moving inside, so he waited. He probably should have gone to the truck to retrieve his phone, but there was no way he’d risk losing sight of Greg. Not now, when they were close to learning important information. Greg ending up here at Griffin Enterprises, the company they’d been trying to find information on, was no coincidence. He couldn’t walk away. Yeah, Eloise would be rightfully angry if she tried calling him, but she’d understand why he had to make this move.
Doubt niggled the back of his neck. She had to understand, right?
Greg turned and walked into the large office space, another man behind him. Dante’s stomach lurched. Marcus King? Was he the ringleader?
It made sense. The guy had dealerships all over south Florida. Had he built his empire on stolen vehicles? Now that Dante put it together, it made an odd sort of sense. But where was the proof?
He didn’t have any.
But he wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to size up the current situation.
King disappeared, then rejoined Greg, handing him what looked like a stack of cash.
Tipping the bill of the ball cap down, Dante lowered his head as if reading a paper on the clipboard just as they looked his way.
“Can I help you?” came the cultured voice of King.
“I’m looking for...” Dante lifted the paper, lowered it, lifted it again. “Ah...there seems to be a mix-up.”
Greg walked forward, his face etched with suspicion. “Do I know you?”
Dante scrunched his forehead together. They hadn’t crossed paths directly, except for the one time he’d stopped by the garage at night. Shoot. Even though Dante had made himself scarce, Greg must have recognized him. “I don’t think so.”
He snapped his fingers. “Yeah. You work for Rico.”
“No, man—”
“Be quiet,” Greg all but spat at him. Dante dropped the board and held out his hands.
“Hey, guys, there’s been a mistake.”
“What do you really want?” King asked, his suave tone replaced by malice.
“See, here’s the thing. A friend of mine has been searching for Griffin Enterprises and, well...” He shrugged. “Here you are.”
“And, I’m afraid, there you go.” King nodded to Greg, who attempted to pull out his weapon. Taking advantage, Dante leaped forward, knocking Greg over. They fell and, as they tussled, Greg lost his grip on his gun. Dante knocked it out of the way, then wrangled Greg to his stomach to subdue him. He quickly glanced around the room.
Great. During the process of stopping Greg, he’d lost track of King. Quickly cuffing one of Greg’s hands, he dragged him into King’s office and locked the other cuff to a filing cabinet handle. It may not hold him long, but Dante hoped for enough time to intercept King. Adrenaline fueling him, he hightailed it out of there.
Racing to the ground floor, Dante ran outside. King had already jumped into a car, squealing as he raced to the parking lot exit. Dante bolted for his truck when suddenly King slammed the brakes. Dante stopped in his tracks as two cars angled before the exit, keeping King from tearing down the main road. He caught a brief glimpse of Eloise exiting one of the cars, weapon drawn, before King reversed, flooring the engine. Dante dove out of the way of the rapidly moving car, pulling his weapon as he rolled on the gritty asphalt. King crashed into a parked car and his dramatic escape ended before it had a chance to start.
Before long, chaos ensued. Amid shouts and multiple commands, Dante shouted for a uniformed officer to retrieve Greg. Chambers, to Dante’s surprise, had shown up, as well, on the phone barking orders for someone to hightail it to Rico’s garage. Eloise was also on the phone, talking about picking up Stacy. Dante hoped the news of King’s capture hadn’t reached the grapevine so they had time to pick up all the players.
After King and Greg were hauled off, some of the officers returned to their squad cars, leaving behind the crime scene unit. Dante knew it was time to face the music with Eloise.
She stood with Brandy, her hair still in a loose ponytail, her cheeks flushed a rosy pink. She’d never looked more beautiful. Or more ticked off. When Brandy noticed him, her brows rose.
“I’ll see you later,” the crime scene tech said, then sprinted into the building to join the investigation.
Dante stopped Eloise before she could speak. “I can explain.”
“Save it for your report.”
“Eloise, I didn’t ignore your request. I had an opportunity and took it.”
“Without all the pertinent details. That’s why you have a partner. And a phone.”
He felt his face heat.
“We had this. If you’d have waited, we could have apprehended King and Greg together.”
He tilted his head. “How...?”
“I found a connection between Stacy and King. Chambers called for a warrant in case we needed to seize any records. Because I wasted valuable time trying to find you, we almost missed our window of opportunity to pick up King. In your rush, he almost escaped.”
“I...”
“You jumped the gun again, Dante. Nearly lost us King because you always have to do things your way.”
“But in the end we got him. That’s all that matters.”
She stared at him, her eyes filled with pity. “You don’t even see it, do you?”
“See what?”
She shook her head. “You and I don’t stand a chance.”
* * *<
br />
FOUR DAYS LATER, Dante sat at the round table in Jasmine Matthews’s kitchen. He’d driven in last night, staying in the guest room of her condo as he tried to come up with a plan to fix the consequences he’d created by his impromptu actions.
“I messed up,” he said as his mother joined him.
She sat and waited.
Dante ran a hand through his hair. “I nearly blew another case.”
Thankfully, once all the players involved in the ring were rounded up, the connection to King was fully uncovered. Mostly because everyone was busy ratting each other out to get a deal. Officers had picked up Stacy before she learned they were onto her, the same with Rico, Mac and Ramsey. The teens stealing the cars were also brought in. The deeper they dug, the more King’s reach astounded them. He had multiple teams of people working for him, stealing cars and changing VINs so he could sell them at his new lots.
Dante should have been happy to close the case.
Except the ending was not what he’d envisioned.
After explaining events to his mother, he said, “Chambers called me into his office the next day. Put me on desk duty indefinitely. I’m sure he’s using me as an example and I don’t blame him.” He paused. “Worst of all, Eloise won’t talk to me.”
“And that bothers you the most?”
He rolled his shoulders. “Yeah.” He’d called her cell phone numerous times but it had gone right to voice mail. He hadn’t seen her at the station, or when he’d driven by her apartment. The depth of his mistake haunted him. Losing Eloise was a hundred times more painful. “We had a good partnership going. I blew it.”
“Which partnership? The job? Or personal?”
Dante met his mother’s perceptive gaze. “I’m in love with her, Mom, and I don’t know if I can make things right.”
“Well, it’s about time you’ve met a woman you’re serious about.”
Dante nearly laughed out loud. No “I’m sorry, son” or “It’ll be okay” speech. No, he only heard the “Fix it” tone in her voice.
“I knew we weren’t supposed to cross any lines, but when we started working together, the lines got blurry. For both of us. But then I took off on my own in the case, and that was the deal breaker.”
“Then come up with a deal she can live with.”
“Live with what?” his brother Dylan asked as he strode into the kitchen through the back door, bringing a blast of warm air with him.
“I messed up. Big-time.” Dante explained the events of the past few days again. “When Chambers suggested I take a few days off, I took it as a gift. If he had his way, I’d be suspended right now. Let’s face it, if I strike out a third time, I’m done.”
“So what’re you doing here?” Dylan asked.
“Figuring out what to do with my life.”
“He’s in love,” his mother couldn’t resist adding with an annoying twinkle in her eye. He adored his mother, but admitting he was in love with Eloise was a tactical mistake on his end.
Dylan straddled the chair across from him. “Love, huh? Got a plan?”
“Actually, I do.” The crazy idea had come to him before he drifted off to sleep the night before. He’d been considering it all morning. Was glad to have his mom and brother here to serve as a sounding board. “I’m thinking about quitting the force.”
His mother’s eyes went wide, her mouth forming an O.
Dylan reared back. “Come again?”
“Hear me out.” He paused, getting his thoughts in line. “The Matthews boys have always been in law enforcement. I followed in Dad’s footsteps, just like you and Deke and Derrick, but I realize now it’s not my true calling. While there is great satisfaction in upholding the law, I can’t say I wake up every morning excited to be on the job.”
“But what about the promotion?” his mother asked.
“I’ll admit, sometime during the operation I felt bad that we were even competing for the position. In the end, Eloise deserves it.”
A contemplative silence blanketed the kitchen until his mother spoke. “Then what do you want for your life?”
“I’ve always enjoyed working on cars. I’d like to start out with a little business restoring old vehicles, then grow it and turn it into a full-time enterprise.”
Dylan regarded him with those gray-blue eyes of his. It was all Dante could do not to squirm in his seat, reverting back to his younger-brother self who’d screwed up and had to pay the price.
“Like a specialized auto mechanic?” Dylan asked.
“In essence, yes. Restoring older cars is a hot market right now. I already have a few customers lined up and they have friends who have requested my services.” He glanced at his mother. “Dad instilled and nurtured my love for older-model cars. I think I’d be better suited working with my hands instead of making my superiors’ lives miserable.”
His mother’s eyes were blurry when she reached over to lay her hand on his. “Go with your heart, Dante. With your passion for restoring cars and for Eloise.”
The blare from the cell phone sitting on the counter kept him from thanking his mother for her love and insight. His mother rose, blushing as she read the caller ID. “It’s James. I’ll be right back.”
She tapped the screen and hurried from the room, her voice growing softer as she moved to another part of the condo.
Dylan met his gaze head-on. “I agree with Mom. Go after your dream, Dante.”
“You guys won’t be disappointed?”
“Never.” Dylan rested his elbows on the table. “You know as well as I do that if your head isn’t in the game, people get hurt. You’re a great undercover cop, but you don’t play well with others. That can cost something very dear to you.”
“Like my life.”
“Or the woman you love.”
Dylan had nearly lost a relationship with his girlfriend during an undercover operation taking place right under her nose. If anyone understood the cost of messing up, it was Dylan.
“I’d rather have Eloise in my life than bust criminals on a regular basis.”
“Then you know what you have to do?”
“Win her back.”
“It won’t be easy.”
He pictured Eloise’s smiling face and his confidence grew. “She’s worth it.”
Dylan pulled a white square from his pocket and proceeded to unfold it. “Speaking of Eloise, we owe her one.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She sent me information on James Tate. My source has been out of town, but she got ahold of an investigator who sent us a lead.”
Dante thought back to the night he’d included Eloise in the computer chat with his brothers. Even with Martha’s medical scare and the case coming to an end, she’d still taken the time to get them background information on their mother’s boyfriend. His chest squeezed so tight he could hardly breathe.
Dylan smoothed the creases and pushed the paper toward Dante.
“These are phone numbers,” he said after scanning the page.
“From Tate’s phone. See the yellow highlights?”
Dante looked closer. “I don’t recognize the area code.”
“North Georgia. He calls a number there regularly. The number belongs to a store called Blue Ridge Cottage located in the small town of Golden. The owner’s name is Serena Stanhope.”
“What’s the connection? Is he seeing another woman at the same time he’s dating Mom?”
“I don’t know yet. I did a quick Google search. She’s around our age.”
Dante frowned. “He’d better have a good reason for these calls.”
“I left a bunch of messages for Deke. He finally came off the Appalachian Trail and called me back. Since he’s closer than all of us, he’s going to check this woman out.”
Dante pushed the paper back to his
brother. “This guy better not hurt Mom.”
“My sentiment exactly. We have to be careful. She’s got radar when it comes to us digging behind her back.”
“I’m not sure how she does it, but she’s downright scary.”
“And happy. I don’t want—”
Their mother’s voiced floated down the hallway. Dylan grabbed the paper to refold it and stick it in his pocket. When Jasmine entered the kitchen, her sons were making small talk.
She stopped short. Narrowed her eyes. “What did I miss?”
“Dante agreed to get on bended knee and ask for Eloise’s forgiveness.”
A small grin curved Dante’s lips. At his brother’s words, hope began to fill him.
* * *
A SMALL CROWD had gathered in the city council room located in Palm Cove City Hall. Half of the crowd was there for the meeting scheduled to take place to discuss city business. The others, mostly police officers in uniform and their families, mingled in the back. They’d gathered this afternoon to watch two rookies be sworn in, as well as to see Eloise move up in rank to sergeant. Yes, she’d gotten the promotion.
“Try not to act nervous,” Brandy fussed. Even dressed in her uniform, Brandy was still able to pull off cute and fun. Eloise simply felt like her soul had been stomped on. Even the ceremony couldn’t lift her spirits.
After the undercover stage of the Marcus King case had concluded, Eloise couldn’t bring herself to talk to Dante. She was angry. Hurt, mostly, that he’d taken matters into his own hands without keeping her in the loop. She understood why he followed Greg; it was the manner in which he conducted himself that made her question everything between them.
Not that there was much to question. She was in love with him. Plain and simple.
But he knew how important it was to her that they complete the op together. If he’d easily gone off script on this case, what made her think he wouldn’t do the same in real life? It boiled down to trust and although it tore her heart in two, she realized she wasn’t sure she could trust him. And without trust, how did they build a relationship?
