Bound by Duty

by Valerie Hansen

  “Hmm, twenty-eight. I’d have guessed you were older. Sorry.”

  He had placed the box on her kitchen counter and was washing his hands at the sink. “Not a problem. Looking more mature helps in my job. Besides, there are plenty of miles on me.”

  “Hard ones?”

  Zoe was sponging off Freddy’s hands and prepping him for a messy meal, so she wasn’t watching Linc when she’d posed the question. He was glad. For an instant, he suspected his face had displayed some of the latent pain and grief he still carried. He’d told her about his father, which was more than she needed to know. He did not intend to brief her on the loss of his human friends or the subterfuge that had cost them their lives.

  “Relatively hard,” Linc said, working to keep his tone casual. “I did a tour overseas before coming back stateside and joining Security Forces.”

  “Did you work dogs over there?”

  He shook his head. “No, but their training impressed all of us. That’s why I applied to become a handler myself when I came home.”

  “You seem to be a natural,” Zoe told him as she lifted Freddy into his booster seat at the small table. “I used to have a dog when I was little.”

  Seeing her smile fade and hearing a telling sigh, Linc waited until she’d got drinks for all three of them and was seated before he sat down and continued that line of conversation. “My dad would never let me have a dog, so I mostly hung out with the ones in the neighborhood. Even when they disobeyed their owners, they usually listened to my commands. Labs were my favorite. What breed did you have?”

  “Trixie was just a little white mutt, but I loved her,” Zoe said without looking at Linc. Her somber mood caused him to reach out. She permitted him to lay his hand over hers where it rested on the table next to her paper plate, and he could feel a slight tremor. “She disappeared.”

  “You never found her? I’m sorry.”

  Although Zoe raised her chin and squared her shoulders, he could tell it was an effort for her. When she said, “I think my brother got rid of her because he was mad at me,” Linc was dumbstruck. His fingers tightened around hers and Zoe squeezed back. What could he possibly say to help her heal from a trauma like that? A child losing a beloved pet was bad enough. Suspecting that her own brother was behind it had to ache all the way to her core.

  Linc placed his other hand over their joined ones and simply waited. This was a truly amazing woman. She had been hurt and had suffered loss repeatedly, yet she’d insisted that there was something inside Boyd worth saving. Was that forgiveness or naïveté? Maybe it was both. And maybe she was relying on her Christian faith for the strength to not only face each day but to soothe the wounds of the past.

  He had been counseled to do the same. He knew it would help him cope. But he wasn’t ready to forgive the lies that had led to the loss of his friends in combat or the woman who had told them so convincingly. And that didn’t include his father’s betrayal of their family and the bevy of falsehoods that man had spewed.

  Zoe was a better Christian than he’d ever be, Linc ultimately concluded, meaning she was probably telling the truth about Boyd, too. The main reason he hated to admit that was because it meant he was further from apprehending the escapee than anyone had anticipated.

  And more innocents were probably going to die.

  Staring at their joined hands, Linc promised himself he would not let one of those victims be Zoe Sullivan.

  * * *

  During most of the meal, Zoe had concentrated on Freddy rather than pretending to be upbeat. She did manage to eat a little, but her appetite was nil. Neither she nor Linc had talked a lot, although he had made a few attempts at casual conversation. Freddy, on the other hand, was his usual loquacious self.

  “Don’t try to talk until you swallow, honey,” she prompted. “It’s not polite.”

  “Mmm.” His grin would have been edged with tomato sauce if she hadn’t been wiping his face frequently as he ate. “When can I play with the puppy?”

  “After we’re done,” she said. “And no feeding her from the table. Dogs don’t like pizza.”

  “Yes they do.” To prove his point, the boy leaned to one side and let Star lick his messy fingers.

  Linc stopped him firmly. “Don’t. Please. Working K-9s are not supposed to take food from anybody but their handlers. You need to help her keep the rules, okay?”

  “Okay.” Subdued, Freddy straightened while Zoe cleaned the hand that had been offered to Star. “I’m done. Can I play now?”

  “After we wash you with soap at the sink,” his mother said.

  Linc stood first. “I’ll take care of him for you. Finish your meal. You’ve hardly eaten a thing.”

  She didn’t argue. Excuses were unnecessary. The man was observant enough to tell she’d lost her appetite and to no doubt guess which part of their earlier conversation had caused it. Most of the time she was able to keep her unhappy past at bay, but once in a while, like today, it reared up and bit her hard enough to draw figurative blood all over again.

  Watching him scoop up a messy Freddy and hold him at arm’s length, Zoe was touched. Her son was giggling instead of fighting the cleanup and Linc was grinning as if he, too, was having fun. Soapy water splashed the counter and Freddy’s shirt, but Linc dried everything off before setting the boy on the floor and telling Star it was okay to play.

  When he resumed his seat at the table, Zoe took a bite of her now-cold pizza just to please him. “I’m really not hungry.”

  “Well, maybe you will be later. Want me to slip the leftovers into your fridge?”

  “Sure. That would be fine. Don’t bother wrapping them. They never last long enough to get stale.”

  Linc had put the pizza away and was straightening when she saw him pause and apparently listen to his earpiece. He touched the mic on his shoulder. “Copy. Did you take a report?”

  Again, he listened, making Zoe curious. It wasn’t until he had ended his one-sided conversation that she asked, “More trouble?”

  “Not about your brother, if that’s what you mean. Do you know Yvette Crenville? She’s the base nutritionist.”

  “I think I may have met her. Why?” Zoe held her breath, hoping he wasn’t going to cite more mayhem. “Is she okay?”

  “Yes. But she reported harassment, so I wondered if there might be any connection to your problems.”

  “Who bothered her?”

  “I suppose it won’t hurt to tell you since she says it’s already shown up on that unauthorized base blog we’ve been trying to silence.”

  “The one that claims to have all the inside info on Boyd and blames me for keeping his whereabouts a secret?”

  “Yeah, and insists your encounters with prowlers are fake and meant to distract us from tracking him. Whoever’s been writing it apparently keeps shutting down in one place and popping up in another before we can get a handle on the location. I suppose if the brass gave it high priority, they could stop it, but so far it’s proved fairly unimportant. It is bothersome, though.”

  “No kidding. What’s the story on Yvette?”

  “She says she’s afraid of one of the aircraft mechanics. Jim Ahern.”

  Zoe smiled slightly. “That guy may think he’s a priceless gift to all women, but he seems pretty harmless.”

  She had expected Linc to ease up and was taken aback when he frowned instead. “What’s wrong?”

  “Ahern was one of the only other people who visited your brother in prison. We checked him out thoroughly, but since his name has popped up again, maybe we need to keep a closer eye on him.” He sat down at the table opposite her, his eyes never leaving hers. “Remember I told you I found out from one of Boyd’s cell mates that he had a burner phone? A lifer named Johnny Motes. He told us that the calls Boyd had made sounded more businesslike than romantic, so we figured he was contacting cohorts on t
he outside.”

  “What makes you believe anything a convict says? He could have lied.”

  “Yes, he could have. But Motes was negotiating for a better pillow and five hundred bucks in his commissary account, so we figured he was probably on the up-and-up. If I hadn’t been so sure he was being truthful, I wouldn’t have come up with the five hundred myself.”

  “You paid it?”

  “It was that or not get the whole story. I thought it was worth taking the chance, and the air force didn’t agree.”

  “So, was my brother contacting Ahern? He’s here on base. He could easily have helped Boyd.”

  “True, but the unproven suspicions regarding Ahern are for petty crimes and vandalism. Besides, as you said, he’s a great mechanic. Why would he risk his air force career?”

  “Him?” She jumped to her feet. Anger had taken over. “What about me? I love the air force. I worked hard to get to where I am, and I intend to stay until retirement. Why would I do something that would cost me so much?”

  “Whoa. Calm down.” Speaking quietly, Linc joined her and reached for one of her hands.

  She jerked it away. “Why should I calm down? The whole base has been treating me like a leper ever since Boyd showed up and started doing his Red Rose Killer act here. You Security guys have made me the main focus of your investigation. All that does is convince everybody that I’m a part of his crimes.”

  “It isn’t just that. Really. Listen to me. My assignment may have started out as a normal surveillance of your activities but it has turned into more, at least for me.”

  Once again, he reached for her hand, and this time Zoe didn’t pull away. “Explain.”

  “It’s beginning to look as though you may be the target of some dirty tricks, okay?”

  “You mean like opening my apartment door and leaving it ajar?”

  “That and maybe the guy with the knife, not to mention your fake chauffeur this morning.”

  “Have they located him?”

  “No, but one of the cars had additional miles on it so we had it dusted for prints. It had been wiped down.”

  “Wonderful. Just like my apartment and that warehouse door. Why can’t crooks be as dumb in real life as they are on TV?”

  “They all make mistakes eventually. The trick is never giving up and following every lead.”

  Zoe couldn’t help being bummed. “I suppose nobody is looking for the redheaded shooting victim I saw.”

  “Not that I know of. Do you think that was a setup, too?”

  “It almost had to be to leave no clues. I’ve been over and over what happened that day and I still can’t figure out why anybody would want to stage a fake murder or would have known I was in that warehouse and in position to see it.”

  “We came to the same conclusion.”

  “Unless you weren’t the only one following me.”

  “Star never alerted.”

  “Yeah.” She sighed noisily and gestured around the room. “Like in here, this morning.”

  “Not exactly. She did seem to hit on trails, but they were pretty much all over the place.”

  “Could she have been mistaken?”

  Zoe felt his fingers tighten around hers and noticed a hardness in his gaze that indicated intensity she couldn’t explain until he said, “No. I think she was picking up the scent of somebody who had been walking around inside your apartment and had covered a lot of ground.” He paused, then added, “I suspect whoever has been in here may have been doing things to try to convince you you’re losing your mind.”

  “Gaslighting me? Why would they do that? Are you joking?”

  The somber way Linc shook his head told her otherwise. “No. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. I want you to start keeping track of every time you notice an anomaly. I don’t care how insignificant it is. Write it down along with the time of day and the date. We need to see if there’s a pattern.”

  Zoe would have pulled her hands free and gone to get a pen and paper right then if she hadn’t been so comforted by Linc’s touch. A few more seconds of drawing strength from him wouldn’t make any difference in the long run. Some of the instances of confusion were etched in her memory while more minor ones had been forgotten. They could start with her stronger memories and build from there.

  Raising her gaze to his, she was met by a softening of his green eyes and the promise of a smile. Her lower lip trembled, as did the hands he was grasping.

  “It’s going to be all right,” he told her.

  When he put it that way and looked at her with such gentle strength, she didn’t doubt him for a second.

  His lips were so close, his manner so inviting, she had to struggle to keep from rising on tiptoe and kissing him. Their clasped hands formed a barrier between them that was helping to keep them apart, until he released her and bent to close the distance.

  Zoe closed her eyes and gave in just as Linc apparently gained control of himself and pulled away. To her embarrassment, she almost staggered forward to kiss empty air.

  He caught her shoulders, righted and steadied her, then smiled sadly as if he’d read her mind. “Not a good idea, I’m afraid.”

  Moritfied beyond belief, she shook loose and denied everything with a quick reply. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  His laughter as she stomped away grated like spinning tires throwing up loose gravel.

  It wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t been right.

  NINE

  Star was napping on the sofa beside Freddy, but Linc was so uptight by the time Zoe finished relating all the questionable instances of the past few weeks he had to pace.

  Reaching the boundary of the small living room, he spun around to face her and pointed at the tablet on the kitchen table in front of her. “I can’t believe you didn’t bother to mention all this.”

  “Most of it could have been my imagination. You said yourself that I’ve been under a lot of stress.”

  “Forget that. Think. See yourself as the victim and assume all these things were done to unsettle you. Who would be that vindictive?”

  She huffed and arched both eyebrows. “Lately? There isn’t enough paper on this pad to list the names of all the people who seem to be upset with me. Ever since Boyd showed up at Canyon Air Force Base and my name was linked with his, I haven’t even had an invitation to go out for coffee.”

  “You’re exaggerating.”

  “I wish I were. I go to work, do my job, come home to Freddy, then do it all over again the next day. My social life is the pits.”

  “Unbelievable.”

  “Yeah?” She rolled her eyes. “Believe it, Colson. Sharing this pizza with you is the closest I’ve come to having company in weeks.” He heard her huff before she continued. “But at least that beats being hit on by airmen who think that just because I’m a single woman I must be ready for romance.”

  “There is the problem of crossing ranks being forbidden. Don’t they understand how much trouble you’d be in if you accepted dates with them?”

  Zoe chuckled. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t seem to bother them to try. I think it’s probably a challenge to see if their macho appeal is enough to get me to step over the line. Most of them are pitiful.”

  “Gotcha.” Linc rejoined her, sat with his elbows resting on the table and pulled the list to him. “I suppose there’s no way you can recall names, is there?”

  “Mostly, no. A lot of the offenders were my students of course, because I have the most one-on-one contact with those. I think a few even thought they could overturn my decisions to wash them out by romancing me. There were times when it was actually hard to keep a straight face.”

  “Maybe you’re selling yourself short,” he said quietly, watching her for clues to her innermost feelings. “There are lots of men on base who would
count themselves fortunate to get a date with you.”

  To his chagrin, she laughed. “I don’t see them lining up because I’m such a great catch. And that’s for the best. I already told you. I have no intention of getting involved. I have my job and Freddy. That’s plenty for a satisfying life.”

  “I’ve enjoyed being with you today. That’s not a bad thing, is it?”

  His ego took a jolt when she looked him straight in the eyes and said, “You’re here because you’re working. Nothing more, nothing less. When the job is over, you won’t give me or my son a second thought, and you know it.”

  Mentioning their “almost” kiss seemed inappropriate in view of her candid opinion. Besides, Linc began to wonder if the physical attraction between them was merely a result of proximity. After all, he was a normal man and Zoe was a beautiful woman. There was bound to be at least a little overt interest. He certainly couldn’t deny that he admired her. She was beyond strong willed and intelligent, not to mention she had integrity.

  Finally, he could admit he believed her when she insisted she’d had no recent contact with her nefarious brother. And he also believed that someone was trying to convince her she was mentally unbalanced. Given what she’d already weathered in life, he had to assume she was smart enough to discount such blatant maneuvering. Perhaps it was time to tell her so.

  Linc reached across the table the way he had when she’d needed comforting during their meal. Once again, Zoe let him touch her hand. “Look,” he said, “I know this is a rough time for you. And I don’t deny there’s tension when I’m working with you. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy your company, too. The more I learn, the more I trust you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. We’ll still be keeping an eye on you in case Boyd shows up, but I believe you when you say you had nothing to do with his escape or presence here.”

  Glistening unshed tears made her eyes sparkle. The urge to reach out with his free hand and cup her cheek was so intense Linc almost acted on it. He thought he’d regained his self-control until a solitary tear slid down her cheek.