Deadly Secret

by Tara Thomas

  “I’m fine,” she managed to say with a smile. The psychopath who had been strangely quiet for the last week. She wasn’t sure which made her more nervous: the plethora of notes he’d left in the beginning or not having anything sent to her in a week.

  “This isn’t funny, Janie,” Brent said, catching her eyes in the mirror.

  She turned around and captured his face in her hands and ran her fingers across the worry lines she found there. “I know it’s not. But I have to laugh or else I’ll be so scared I won’t be able to function.”

  “That’s why I wonder if it wouldn’t be best for us to stay home.”

  She shook her head. “He wins that way.”

  “But you’re alive.”

  “I don’t think there’s any place safer than a police department picnic.”

  “It’s at a public park.”

  “She invited us three hours ago. There’s no way anyone would have time to plan anything with that short a time frame.” At first, Janie wasn’t sure it was such a good idea, what with her being recently fired and all. But Alyssa had told her it wasn’t an official departmental event and to be honest, there were several people she wanted to see before heading to DC who would be there.

  Brent told her from the beginning that he didn’t want her to go. But Janie had been persistent. Soon she’d be moving to DC with Brent and a part of her needed this cookout for closure, as a way to say good-bye to what had been a major part of life for a long time.

  Brent knew this, though, and she wasn’t in the mood to rehash the same conversation for the tenth time.

  “You don’t have to go,” she said, inwardly hoping like hell that he didn’t decide to let her go alone.

  He looked almost angry when he replied. “Do you actually think I’m going to let you go by yourself?”

  “I need to do this,” she said. “I need to be able to go to DC having closed this chapter in my life.”

  He searched her eyes. “Okay,” he finally said. “But we don’t stay long and you never leave my sight.”

  She rose to her toes and gave him a quick kiss. “Thank you.”

  “I still don’t have a good feeling about this.”

  “What could possibly happen at a public police department?”

  * * *

  “You’re almost out of time,” The Gentleman said when he answered the phone. “I’m looking forward to sharing your girlfriend’s company in a week.”

  He took several deep breaths. He was close, so damn close. He couldn’t afford to let The Gentleman goad him into making a mistake.

  “It’s all going to plan,” he said. “Make no mistake about it: this time next week, Janie will be on a slab in the morgue.”

  Sooner than that if he’d played his cards right. Janie still thought she had a week left. He was going to make her wish he wouldn’t wait that long.

  * * *

  Three hours later, dusk was falling. The picnic had been fun and not awkward at all like Janie had feared. She’d announced her plan to move to DC and everyone seemed genuinely happy of her. Brent had been the recipient of many back slaps at that, and ended up wearing a big grin most of the night.

  They were standing around, talking. Janie looked over the group of colleagues she’d worked with for years and though she felt a little bittersweet about leaving, all she had to do was look at Brent and she knew she was looking at her future.

  He caught her staring and smiled before glancing down at his watch. He gave it a tap and she nodded. They’d stayed longer than they’d planned and she knew it was time to head home.

  She looked around for Alyssa. She wanted to thank her for inviting her.

  “I’m going to go tell Alyssa good-bye,” she told Brent, after finding her friend off to the side, talking with her partner.

  Brent nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, knowing he was only worried about her safety. Instead she held out her hand and waited for him to take it. “I’ll just be a minute.”

  “Brent!” Mac walked up to them. “I need to ask you a question really quick. Hey, you guys aren’t leaving yet, are you?”

  Brent looked caught between Mac and Janie. Janie decided to make the decision for him.

  “You two chat,” she said. “I’m going to go say bye to Alyssa, I’ll be back before you finish.”

  Brent hesitantly let her hand go and she turned toward Alyssa, not wanting to be away from Brent any longer than possible.

  She froze. She smelled it. The cologne. Hadn’t Mac said Alyssa’s partner gave it to him or gave him the name or something? Trying not to be obvious about what she was doing, she looked around. She knew her partner was here. She saw him not too long ago.

  She spotted him alone, not part of the crowd, but not entirely separate either. Brent was watching her, he might not like that she didn’t go straight to Alyssa, but he wouldn’t stop her.

  The off duty office flashed a friendly smile at her approach. “Hey, Janie. So sorry to see you leave Charleston.”

  “I bet you are. Traveling to Washington’s going to be a bitch for you, isn’t it?”

  She watched him carefully, but he revealed nothing when he spoke, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She took a step closer. “It’s over. I know where you were last weekend.”

  “In Atlanta, watching the Braves. My nephew turned sixteen.” He shrugged. “I don’t know why that’s any of your business though.”

  Her mouth dropped. “The Braves? Atlanta?”

  He looked at her as his she’d grown two horns and a beard. “Yeah. Look, I hate to cut this this short, but I need to go talk to Watson over there. He got in some evidence I want to expedite. See you around.”

  She didn’t say goodbye or watch him walk away. Instead she was running though everything she knew about the case, trying to pinpoint how she’d got it all wrong.

  Laughter boomed loudly. Turning to see who it was, she discovered it was Mac.

  Mac.

  Suddenly, it all made sense. She thought the man might be a police officer. However, with Alyssa as his girlfriend, he’d have access to everything. He’d know what was found as well as the next steps. No wonder he was always a one step ahead of everybody. He had the perfect setup for snooping.

  She motioned for Alyssa to join her. Her friend frowned, but told Mac something, and started walking.

  Alyssa made it to her. “Are you okay?”

  Janie kept her eye on Mac, not really sure how to bring it up. “I know this sounds weird, do you think—”

  She couldn’t get out what she was going to say because at that moment, an explosion ripped through the night.

  Everything was chaos. The world was filled with darkness and noise. She fell.

  Her ears buzzed. She wasn’t sure what had blown up. It had been close by. There was smoke everywhere. It burned her eyes and made her cough. It took her a few seconds, but she realized she’d been momentarily blinded by the explosion. She wondered if she’d passed out.

  Nothing seemed right. Where was everybody? Why couldn’t she hear anything?

  She tried to remember. God, it hurt to think. She rolled over and gravel dug into her knees. A groan escaped her throat. She didn’t know she’d been on the ground.

  “Brent,” she coughed out. But she couldn’t find anybody.

  Was Alyssa nearby?

  She struggled to sit up, but everything hurt and the odd buzz in her ears made her head ache even more. She slumped down, gathering her strength, when she became aware of a presence by her side.

  She held still, hoping they wouldn’t notice her and jerked when the presence touched her. That smell! Her throat seized in a moment of panic.

  * * *

  “Janie!” Brent looked around the increasingly frantic crowd. Where was she? He’d been watching her and then the explosion happened and now he had no idea where she was.

  He desperately wanted to ignore the thought that t
his was somehow related to the threats she’d been receiving, but it was too coincidental. It had to be related.

  Dread began to seep into his body. He’d known they shouldn’t have come to this party. Why had he agreed to come? He should have told her no. Tied her to the bed and kept her there for days.

  But no, she’d wanted to come and it was impossible for him to turn her down. Damn it. If anything happened to her … he shook his head, not even able to let his mind go there.

  Alyssa walked by, talking on her phone. He jogged over to her.

  “Alyssa!”

  She stopped and turned around. “Brent.” She frowned. “Where’s Janie?”

  The panic grew. He forced himself to speak as calmly as possible, “I was hoping she was with you or you knew where she was. Wasn’t she with you when the explosion occurred?”

  “Yes, she was with me and my partner. Who I can’t find, either. Wasn’t Mac with you?”

  Mac. Right. He’d forgotten about him. “Yes, but he had to grab something really quick. What happened, anyway?”

  “From what I’ve been told, it was a car bomb. Too soon to know whose car, though.”

  He didn’t care who the car belonged to. Who could possibly be concerned about a car when all signs pointed to the conclusion that whoever was behind the car was also the man they’d been hunting?

  “Oh, look.” Alyssa pointed to two people quite a distance away in a small clearing. “Mac and Janie are over there.”

  Brent breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I wonder how she got over there?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going to text Mac and tell them to stay there. It’s too smoky over here.”

  Brent nodded. Damn, that was close. Janie would be safe with Mac. He would stay with her and he knew about the threats.

  Still though, Brent wouldn’t feel completely at ease until he could touch her. “I’m going to head that way.”

  Alyssa nodded, talking once again on the phone. Brent took two steps toward the tree Janie was sitting in front of when Alyssa’s cry of distress made him stop. He turned to look at her. She was pale and her eyes were searching the area frantically.

  “Alyssa?” Brent asked.

  “Thanks,” she said to whomever she was talking to and hung up. She didn’t look pale now, she looked green. “Where’s Janie? We have to get her.”

  Brent looked toward where Janie had been moments ago, but now he didn’t see anything. Where could she be?

  “Where is she?” Alyssa asked again.

  He squinted, cursing because he still couldn’t get a visual on Janie. “She was with Mac, by that tree. I don’t see either one of them now.”

  “Oh no. Oh my God.”

  Brent took off toward the tree. “What’s wrong? What’s the problem?”

  “DNA is back on those boxes.”

  * * *

  “Shh. It’s okay,” the presence said, and she realized it was Mac.

  She tried to say his name, but her mouth was too dry and all she did was cough.

  “Don’t try to talk,” Mac said. “Come over here, it’s quieter and there’s not as much smoke.”

  She stood on legs that were too wobbly in her opinion. He led her to a tree stump and she clumsily sat down. She had to get away. Damn it. Why was she so weak?

  Looking around, she tried to find Brent, but all she saw in the direction they came from was a fireball. Mac handed her an open bottle of water and she gulped down half of it before she was able to talk.

  She wiped her mouth with her forearm. “What happened?”

  “A car bomb, from the looks of it.”

  “Was anyone hurt?” she asked.

  “No,” Mac said, but something flickered in his eyes.

  All at once, she felt very exposed. When she tried to stand, she fell to the ground.

  “Whoa!” Mac said, picking her up. “Easy. Where are you going?”

  Her mind felt muddled. What was happening to her?

  “Brent,” she managed to get out.

  “Let’s get you back on the tree stump,” he said, helping her to sit back down.

  She shook her head. It felt as if the fog that had been surrounding her had somehow seeped into her brain. Her thoughts were so fuzzy. “Brent,” she repeated.

  “I don’t think you’re in any condition to walk all the way back,” Mac said. “Come with me. I’ll help you.”

  How had she gotten so far away from the main crowd? Did Mac carry her that far? She squinted, as if that would clear her mind. Were those fire trucks she saw? Why was she so dizzy?

  The smell hit her as soon as Mac opened the door to the truck and just as quickly, her mind cleared. The cologne. She instinctively tried to back away, but her limbs wouldn’t cooperate. They were still jelly.

  “Inside, Janie.” He pushed her roughly on her back, tying her hands. That still wouldn’t work right. Then he shoved her onto her stomach into the backseat of the cab and slammed the door behind her.

  Why couldn’t she move her arms and legs? She rolled as best as she could and made it to her side and ice-cold fear kept her frozen in place. There on the floorboard was a generic white box. Exactly like the ones that kept being delivered to her.

  The front door of the truck opened and Mac got in. He looked over his shoulder at her, but she no longer saw Alyssa’s long-term boyfriend. In his place was her tormentor, her worst nightmare, and quite possibly her murderer.

  “I’m a little disappointed,” he said. “I didn’t think it’d be so easy. Maybe when we get to where we’re going you’ll have a bit more spunk.”

  He turned back around and started the truck, whistling.

  Janie forced herself to remain calm and not to give into the fear that threatened to consume her. She was a trained cop. She could handle this. The only other option was death.

  Read on for an excerpt from the next Sons of Broad novel

  BROKEN PROMISE

  Coming soon from St. Martin’s Paperbacks

  “Dance with me.”

  She jumped. She’d been so intent on watching the couple on the dance floor; she completely missed hearing Kipling walk up behind her.

  Without turning around, she replied, “No, that’s okay. I’m fine.” Because suddenly the thought of being that close to Kipling and having his arms around her, made her skin flush more.

  “It wasn’t a question.”

  She turned around to find him smiling and all but laughing at her. She decided to play along and raised an eyebrow. “Really? Don’t you know it’s not polite to go up and command a woman dance with you?”

  The hint of a smile teased his lips. “I thought you knew me well enough to know I’ve never been one to be called polite.”

  She couldn’t think of anything to say back so she stood there, feeling flustered. Damn Kipling Benedict. She should have left after the ceremony and not cared about being offensive.

  He took a step closer toward her. “I see you standing here, watching the couples dance and yet you’re not dancing. And I realize you didn’t come with a date and I don’t have a date.” He shrugged. “We might as well have a go.”

  “No thank you,” she said. “I don’t want to be anyone’s pity dance.”

  “Let’s get one thing straight, why don’t we.” He leaned down and spoke in a low voice she knew no one else heard. “I do very many things and I do them for all kinds of reasons, but I never do anything out of pity, especially when it comes to a beautiful woman.”

  * * *

  Her brain threatened to short circuit, she blinked. “Why would you…” She trailed off as his hand moved to stroke her shoulder.

  “We’ve both tried to ignore it, but we know there’s something between us.” His voice grew rougher. “Let’s give into it just for today. For one dance.”

  She looked toward the dancing couples, imagining his arms around her, and licked her lips, on the verge of saying yes. She shook her head. “It’s not appropriate. I’m involved in several cases t
hat have ties to your family.”

  “It’s one dance, Alyssa.” While he spoke, he still stroked her shoulder. The touch of his fingers made her want to feel his hands everywhere. “At my brother’s wedding. There’s nothing wrong with two single people enjoying themselves.”

  Why did she get the impression he was talking about more than a dance?

  She closed her eyes, but doing so did nothing to diminish the way his touch felt. She could get lost in his touch without even thinking twice. To agree to a dance would be one step down a path that offered nothing but heartache and trouble.

  “Yes,” she said anyway.

  His hand slipped off her shoulder and he held it out to her. God, she was actually doing this. She took the offered hand, noting how warm it was and she didn’t think she was imagining the strength it contained.

  He didn’t say anything as he led them to the dance floor. She stared at him, not looking to either side for fear of seeing the other wedding guests’ reaction. She didn’t realize how stiff and uncomfortable she must look until he whispered, “It’s not an execution, you know. A smile wouldn’t be remiss.”

  She smiled, but it felt fake. What didn’t feel fake was the way her body reacted when he slipped his arms around her. She lowered her head, hoping to keep to herself the fact that her skin flushed at such close contact with Kipling.

  “If I’d known you would feel so good in my arms, I’d have asked you to dance long before now,” he said.

  She tried to imagine them dancing at any of the previous times they’d been together. The image of them dancing while she arrested him made her chuckle with its ridiculousness.

  “There we go,” Kipling said. “Now people will think we’re having a good time instead of assuming I’m torturing you.”

  She pulled back to look at him and make a snappy comeback, but instead she found herself caught up in his eyes. They were the most mesmerizing color. A light brown that somehow appeared golden. How had she never noticed his eyes before and why did they seem so familiar?

  The corner of his mouth uplifted in half smile. “Cat got your tongue?”

  “What?”

  “You looked like you were going to say something, but then you stopped.”