Military Man

by Marie Ferrarella

  He rolled her suggestion over in his head. “You know, I think you might be helpful at that.”

  While he was good at reading people, at picking up signs, at least on an impersonal level, he wasn’t always good when it came to saying the right thing to get them talking. He supposed that was where his interpersonal skills could use a little upgrading. “What time do you get off?”

  “Five. Used to be six, but I think they feel there’s only so many hours a med student should be subjected to dead people.”

  If he were to guess what she did, working in the medical examiner’s office and performing autopsies would have been the last thing he would have selected. “I could see how that might get daunting. How does someone like you put up with it?”

  “The same way a person like you does,” she told him sweetly.

  An alarm went off. He’d treaded on her toes, he thought. She took her work, her place in the scheme of things, seriously. He could easily relate to that.

  “Sorry, no disrespect intended. It’s just that you’re so young.”

  What was she, Lucy thought, a handful of years younger than he was? She didn’t want him thinking of her as some adolescent barely out of her teens.

  “Nobody who has been told her mother died ‘in the line of duty’ is young.”

  Died in the line of duty. How familiar he was with that line. The military’s standard issue. It covered a whole myriad of incidents, from the obvious to the covert. He looked at her with interest. Had her mother been an operative?

  Curiosity nudged at him with more force than he was accustomed to. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  She smiled. “Because I didn’t tell you.”

  “Is that all you know?” he prodded as he finished his serving. “That your mother died in the line of duty?”

  She could tell by the way he said it that he found the line suspect. Or at least worthy of exploration.

  Lucy nodded, suppressing a sigh that had been with her ever since she’d been informed of her mother’s death. “That’s all they told my father.” She debated for a second, then decided to share something with him she hadn’t told anyone else. She wasn’t altogether sure why. “I don’t think he was ever privy to the full extent of what my mother did.” She thought back to conversations she’d had with him, both before and after her death. “He was proud of her, I know that, but I think it got to him at times. There were questions he couldn’t ask. Answers she couldn’t give him. She’d look at him with that patient way of hers and say, ‘John, you know I can’t talk about that.’”

  Lucy shook her head. That wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. That wasn’t the way it was going to be for her once she finally got married. “Husbands and wives shouldn’t have secrets from each other. Even if the government is involved.”

  Which is exactly why I never intend to get married, Collin said to himself. It wouldn’t be fair to either his wife or to him. And the strain of keeping his two lives separate would eventually tell on the marriage and break it apart. “What was your mother’s name?”

  She looked at him curiously. “Margaret,” she said slowly. “Margaret Hannigan Gatling.”

  He nodded at the information, the wheels in his head already spinning. He thought he knew whom to check with. “Can’t be too many of those around.”

  She didn’t understand. Where was he going with this? “Why do you ask?”

  “Maybe I can nose around a little, find some things out for you.” He saw the light come into her eyes. “Return the favor.”

  She’d wanted to know for almost ten years now what had ended her mother’s life. Specifically. “You could do that?”

  Collin had never been one to make promises he wasn’t a hundred percent sure he could keep. “I could try.”

  That was good enough for her. Lucy had a feeling that when Collin Jamison tried, he usually succeeded.

  The smile that came to her lips arrived there through no effort at all.

  Nine

  Collin flipped his cell phone closed just before he walked into the hotel restaurant. He was meeting Emmett for breakfast and to play a little catch-up.

  The investigation was not going all that well. The feeling in his gut that Jason was somewhere around rather than heading out for parts unknown was still very much there.

  He was going to need more time.

  To that end, he’d put in a call to his C.O., talking to the colonel personally rather than going through his assistant. He asked for another week of R&R. He knew that Colonel Eagleton was too sharp a man to be fooled by the reason for the request. The last time Collin had an extended period of rest and relaxation, he’d broken his leg while skiing during Christmas vacation, and had to stay off his feet for the longest two weeks of his life. He’d been thirteen at the time.

  Fortunately, Colonel Eagleton was sharp enough not to ask questions of a man who gave a hundred and ten percent of himself when he was on the job. Which was almost always.

  Wrapping his hand around the doorknob, Collin sighed just before walking through the double glass doors that led into the cheery restaurant located on the ground floor of his hotel. It’d been a week since he’d undertaken this, and still nothing.

  Well, not nothing, he amended, his mouth curving almost involuntarily. Spotting Emmett at the table, he nodded and made his way over.

  He had been spending a lot of time with Lucy. More time, actually, than he had been with Emmett, a fact that hadn’t been lost on his cousin, even though the latter seemed totally oblivious to anything beyond his crusade to bring Jason back in.

  As Collin pulled out the chair for himself, the waitress appeared, a carafe in her hand.

  “Coffee?”

  She looked at him as if she couldn’t imagine anyone saying no to the dark brew at this hour of the morning.

  Collin slid into the chair. “Please.”

  Once she’d filled the cup, he gave his order without bothering to look at the menu. They had eaten here every morning since his arrival. There was no reason to suspect that anything new had been added to the plastic-coated sheet.

  The waitress retreated, leaving a sunny smile in her wake.

  “So, how’s it going between you and the M.E.-in-training?” Emmett asked, coming out of his self-imposed silence.

  Collin looked at him in surprise. During the day their paths had taken them in separate directions. He’d mentioned Lucy to Emmett in passing once or twice. He’d expected the whole of their conversation this morning to be about the most recent leads to Jason’s whereabouts, not anything this personal.

  He raised the cup to his lips and took a sip of the hot brew. Whoever made the coffee this morning had outdone themselves, he thought. His whole system seemed to come awake with a jolt.

  “She’s planning on working in forensics, not the medical examiner’s office,” he corrected his cousin absently. He didn’t even have to look to know that Emmett’s eyes were still on him. “What?”

  The vague shrug gave nothing away. Neither did Emmett’s expression.

  “Nothing. Just can’t remember you ever being caught up with a woman before.” He paused significantly, then added, “Not since Paula.”

  The waitress had returned. He waited for her to leave the plate of three small pancakes, decorated with a piece of bacon on top, before replying.

  When he did, there was a slight frown on his lips. “She’s nothing like Paula, if that’s where you’re going.”

  The look on Emmett’s face told Collin that he wasn’t as convinced. “Same coloring, same bone structure.”

  Collin snorted, dismissing the analogy. “A mountain lion’s in the same general family as a house cat. Doesn’t make them alike.”

  Intrigued, needing to be diverted if only for a moment, Emmett cocked his head. “And which is the fledgling doctor—the mountain lion or the house cat?”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  Emmett continued to look at him as he ate. With an impatient shrug, Collin said, �
��Mountain lion.”

  Emmett put his own interpretation to the answer. “You saying she’s dangerous?”

  That hadn’t occurred to Collin. In his mind’s eye, he could see Lucy, the way her hands and whole body seemed to join in whatever she was saying. The woman was nothing if not animated.

  “No. Vibrant. Alive.”

  Emmett nodded to himself. “Always a good thing in a girlfriend.”

  The fork slid from Collin’s fingers. “Whoa, hold on there. How the hell did you make that jump?”

  To which Emmett merely smiled. It was the kind of smile a cat might have upon discovering that the white liquid in its dish wasn’t milk but cream. “You’re not the only one who notices things.”

  Collin snorted again, this time with feeling. “Well, if that’s how good you are, I’d say being up there alone in that mountain cabin has put you way off your game, cousin. There’s nothing between Lucy and me.” Emmett laughed. The solitary sound was so rare, it brought Collin up short. “Now what?”

  Emmett could only shake his head at his cousin. “You know, for an intelligent man, you can be very dumb sometimes.”

  Collin’s eyes narrowed slightly. He’d never reacted well to being analyzed, even by someone he felt close to. “Meaning what?”

  Emmett’s expression told Collin that he was surprised he even had to ask. “Meaning that even a blind man could see that there are sparks between the two of you.”

  Collin casually picked up his cup and finished his coffee. The waitress appeared almost immediately to refill it.

  He nodded his thanks, then looked at his cousin. “With you being the man, I’d say that description’s just about right. Blind.” He let the word sink in. “She’s twenty-six.” Lucy had confided that to him yesterday. He remembered thinking that seemed so young to him. “That’s just starting out in life, Emmett. I’m too worn out for her.”

  “Collin, you’re only thirty-five. For most men, that’s their prime.”

  Sinking his fork into the pancake stack for another helping, Collin shrugged off his cousin’s assessment. It wasn’t about numbers, it was about feelings.

  “I’ve been around too long in this game, seen too much. It changes a man, Emmett. You of all people should know that. Seeing what we have, it just siphons off hope about humanity.”

  That was part of what had sent him seeking a solitary life, Emmett thought. But he’d learned that life wasn’t something you ran from. It had a habit of coming and finding you.

  Besides, he didn’t want to see Collin ending up like him—even though he was the younger of the two.

  He drained his own cup, setting it down. Their waitress was busy with two new customers so there was no need to wait before delivering his assessment. “Then I’d say a dose of fresh, vibrant innocence is just what you need.”

  Collin laughed shortly. “You make her sound like a tonic.”

  Emmett appeared to roll that around in his head before answering. “Maybe she could be.” A vague hint of a smile appeared. “A cure for what ails you.”

  Their eyes met. Collin gave him a meaningful look. “Look to your own house, Emmett.”

  Emmett allowed a sigh to escape. If only he could. This pursuit was stalled and it was making him very antsy. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

  “I didn’t mean about Jason—” Just then, his cell phone went off. The opening notes of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” drifted between them. Collin held his hand up to Emmett, indicating that they weren’t through with their conversation. Flipping the cell phone open, he held it against his ear. “Jamison.”

  “Collin, the results from both DNA tests just came in.”

  He didn’t have to ask. It was Lucy. Even if she hadn’t mentioned the DNA tests, he recognized her voice even though she was whispering. The low and almost breathy voice undulated through his system. Making him alert. Making him very aware of all the responses that were simultaneously going on.

  It took him a second to realize that she had called him Collin rather than referred to him by his rank. Had her excitement taken the formality out of their relationship? Or was her guard down and his name just tumbled from her lips?

  He reminded himself that he wasn’t here to wonder about nuances and things like cause and effect when they pertained to anything other than finding Jason and bringing him in.

  Lucy, he mouthed to Emmett who’d raised a quizzical brow in his direction the moment he’d answered the cell phone.

  “Speak of the devil,” Emmett murmured just before he wiped his mouth with his napkin.

  Collin tried to ignore his cousin. Ignore, too, that there was a part of him that wished Emmett was right about his view of Lucy. But it was all in his cousin’s head. Vibrancy was just Lucy’s way. It didn’t have anything to do with him. The fact that he felt something, well, that wasn’t to be explored here, either. One thing at a time was the way he got things done.

  “Go ahead,” he urged Lucy. “Did you find out anything?”

  She gave him the negative news first. “The skin under the dead man’s nails doesn’t match your cousin’s DNA at all.”

  He was aware that she hadn’t lumped both tests together. That meant the other test had been positive. He just needed her to say it.

  “And?” he prodded.

  “And as for the second sample—” he could hear the smile in her voice, could almost see it on her face “—it’s a hundred percent positive.”

  He began moving the puzzle piece around in his head, looking for somewhere to fit it to its best advantage. “Then the dead man did scratch the other guard.”

  “Appears that way.”

  “Fantastic.” And then he paused, organizing his thoughts. “I guess you’d better give the results to the local police.”

  “Nope.”

  That was deliberately withholding evidence rather than just stalling for a few hours. He couldn’t allow her to get into trouble on his account. He’d feel too responsible. “Lucy, you have to—”

  She interrupted him. “They’ve been shut down. This case is now in the hands of the FBI. I can hold off for a few hours, say I got bogged down in paperwork and didn’t get a chance to look at the results until, oh, say noon. So you want me to do that? Will that buy you anything significant?”

  He paused. Neither he nor Emmett were after the glory of the case. They didn’t want the “kill” personally. All either of them cared about was bringing Jason to justice any way possible. For killing Christopher. And to keep him from killing Ryan.

  “No,” he told her firmly. “Don’t jeopardize yourself any more than you already have.”

  He heard the short intake of breath on the other end. Obviously he’d managed to tick her off. “I can take care of myself.”

  “I know you can.” He could feel Emmett watching him, listening to his half of the conversation. Collin shifted restlessly. “But you’re not going to wind up with a black mark on your records because of me.”

  The fact that he was being protective of her both made Lucy bristle and warmed her at the same time. She wished she’d had some kind of practice at this relationship thing. It was way too complex for her liking, scrambled too many things inside of her for that matter.

  “Too late for that,” she told him. “Once I bring this to the FBI’s attention, they’re going to want to know where I got the DNA samples to run against the blood and skin that were found under the dead driver’s nails.”

  “You could say that I brought them to you. That you thought I was one of the people assigned to the case. Takes the blame off you.”

  And puts it squarely on you, she thought. “I’ll handle it,” she told him again, firmly this time, then paused for a moment. She hesitated, then pushed straight ahead. “Are we still on for later? I’ve got half a day coming to me.”

  He’d been meaning to get back to where the prison van had gone off the side of the road to check out the area. But it wasn’t exactly an excursion for a woman.

&
nbsp; Still, he knew if he mentioned that, she would definitely get her back up. “All right, I’ll be by around noon.”

  She made a quick decision. “Good, that’ll give me enough time to bring this to Harley’s attention. He can bring it to the chief M.E. and it can go to the FBI from there. See you later.”

  The connection went dead before he could respond. He folded the phone and returned it to his pocket.

  “Well?” Emmett prodded.

  Collin shifted in his chair to face his cousin again. “The DNA under our dead man’s nails matches the DNA from the second guard.”

  “Who’s still locked away in some netherworld.” According to the reports, the man hadn’t regained consciousness even for a few moments. Emmett shook his head. “I keep thinking he might be the key to finding Jason. God knows nothing else is turning up any real leads.” He blew out a breath, trying not to let impatience get to him. “Just ones that lead nowhere.”

  Between the two of them, they had re-interviewed a host of people both from Jason’s former neighborhood and his place of work. No one who worked for Jason had had anything good to say about him. The man they’d known as Jason Wilkes had been driven and drove those around him relentlessly, feeling that what they did reflected on him. Nobody liked him. It was only to his superiors that he had shown a face devoid of a scowl.

  As for his neighbors, none of the people who lived around him on the block could remember his ever having struck up a conversation with them. Two or three remembered seeing him going somewhere with his wife, or the woman they’d all thought was his wife. There hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary there, either, except that everyone said that Melissa Wilkes had been a woman people noticed even in passing. Bright, vivacious, with an incredible figure, she dressed provocatively enough to make a dead man take notice.

  Right now she was the most voluptuous woman in the cemetery, Collin thought darkly.