Watch Your Back

by Karen Rose

‘Have they matched Westmoreland to a flight itinerary yet?’

  ‘They’re still working on it. But that Robinette tried to kill his parents would be motive for helping Henderson take him down.’

  ‘True enough. What’s the bad news?’

  ‘Robinette’s cigarette butt is missing.’

  Clay shot her a quick, surprised glance. ‘What? How?’

  ‘Nobody knows. It’s just not there. I suppose it could have just been lost, especially since I went on leave at that time and the case had been closed. I doubt the lab would have pitched it. Either it was deliberately removed from the evidence room or it got mislaid.’

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘I know. But I’m sure Robinette has plenty of DNA left for us to procure with less-than-honorable methods.’

  ‘And if that requires tooth extraction by blunt force?’

  ‘I said I’d hit him with the frying pan, didn’t I?’

  Clay chuckled. ‘You did. Although your cane seems to work pretty well, too.’ Never complacent, he glanced into the rearview mirror, pausing when something else caught his eye.

  Somebody was following them. Somebody in addition to the person that was supposed to be. Joseph had sent Deacon Novak to watch their backs until Clay got Stevie safely within the farm’s gates. Deacon’s red SUV was clearly noticeable two cars behind them.

  This new car was a small sedan. Hyundai, silver four-door, at least seven or eight years old.

  ‘What is it?’ Stevie asked, picking up on his changed mood.

  ‘We have a visitor. Do me a favor and stay down. Please?’

  She glared at him, but slunk down in her seat – while she drew her gun. ‘Far enough?’

  ‘No. Sao Paulo isn’t far enough, but it’ll have to do. Call Novak. Tell him to fall back a quarter-mile or so. We’re going to get off at this next exit in a hurry. Hopefully the Hyundai won’t be able to follow, but I want Deacon with us either way.’

  She did as he asked and he gauged the distance to the next exit. Waiting until the last moment, Clay yanked the car onto the exit ramp, earning him some blaring horns – and a look at the Hyundai’s back license plate as it zipped past, missing the exit. Novak’s red SUV took the exit at a more normal pace.

  ‘We lost him,’ Clay said, satisfied. ‘You can sit up now.’

  With a little wince she did so. ‘Did you get the license plate?’

  If he told her, she’d feel obligated to track down the driver and Clay wanted her out of the game. Safe. At least until she was a hundred percent healed. And he wanted her to have this time with Cordelia, unconflicted by all the things she ‘should be doing’.

  So he lied. ‘Not enough of it to be useful. You winced a second ago. Are you all right?’

  Stevie shot him a sharp look that said his abrupt topic change hadn’t fooled her. ‘My shoulder hit the car door when we took the exit. I’ll be fine. How far are we from the farm?’

  ‘Twenty minutes. Put your seat back and rest.’

  Another sharp look. ‘I’m not a flower, Clay. I don’t need you to protect me.’

  ‘I know,’ he said quietly. ‘But I need to protect you. I hate seeing you hurt.’

  ‘I hate seeing you hurt, too. But what if I manage to get this leg working again so that I get my old job back? What if I’m on active duty? Will you be able to deal with that?’

  ‘I’ve dealt with it for the last two years.’ He glanced at her, found her eyes narrowed in concern. ‘I would never ask you not to be a cop, Stevie. It’s who you are.’

  Her face relaxed and he returned his gaze to the road.

  ‘Why aren’t you?’ she asked, genuine curiosity in her voice. ‘I mean, why isn’t it who you are anymore? What changed? Why did you leave DCPD?’

  He shrugged. ‘I’d served for years with Marines who would’ve died for me and I for them. I came back and immediately applied for the police academy. I’d been raised by a good, decent cop. Dad’s friends were good, decent cops. I knew there were bad apples out there, but never expected to work for one. Not right away.’

  ‘Your boss was corrupt?’

  He nodded once. ‘A real bastard. I couldn’t look the other way.’

  ‘So you left?’

  The words just like that didn’t leave her mouth, but he heard them anyway. ‘Not exactly.’

  ‘Then you went to IA?’

  ‘Not at first, but later I had to. Conversations with IA have a way of getting out and my dad was still on the force, coming up on retirement. My boss had made friends in high places and I didn’t want to ruin anything for my father. I put it off until I had proof.’

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘I followed my boss, got photographic proof that he was accepting bribes from businesses who were on the shady side. That wasn’t a surprise, because that’s what I knew he was doing. I was surprised to find him working with a local drug dealer. The pictures, in addition to the time and place for a major drug deal, got IA’s attention. My boss got caught. Did a little time.’

  ‘And then you quit?’

  ‘Not at first. No clean cop wants dirty cops around, but nobody really trusts you after you’ve been talking to IA.’

  ‘I know about that,’ she murmured and he sighed.

  ‘I know you do. But I stuck it out – until another dirty cop stepped in to fill the void my boss had left. As a patrol cop, I couldn’t do anything to stop the corruption and I didn’t know who was trustworthy. And nobody trusted me. At that point I didn’t have anyone to watch my back and it got dicey a few times. So I quit and went into the private sector. I’ve got rich clients, but I take on a helluva lot of ones that can’t pay, too.’ He heard the defensiveness in his voice. ‘That’s all.’

  ‘You chose your battles,’ she said quietly. ‘You’re able to achieve a similar goal now as you did wearing a uniform. To serve and protect. There’s nothing wrong with that.’

  He exhaled, unaware he’d been so tense until that moment. Unaware he’d been so afraid of her response. ‘Thank you,’ he said and from the corner of his eye, saw her smile sadly.

  ‘You might even have chosen the wiser path,’ she murmured.

  He frowned. ‘I never said that.’

  ‘I know. But we are going to see my daughter who I’ve hidden away for her own safety and we did just have to exit the highway in a less than safe fashion because I’m being followed. Again. So whether you said it or not, doesn’t change the facts.’

  He opened his mouth to reply, but she shifted her body so that she stared out the window, deep in thought. He let her think in peace, saying no more until they arrived at Daphne’s farm.

  Stopping to check in with the agents Joseph had stationed at the property entrance, Clay drove up the private drive, briefly veering off the paved road to get around the area marked off with crime scene tape, a grim reminder of the two agents who’d lost their lives the night before. There was more crime scene tape in the trees bordering the fence where Alec had fired on the shooter, most likely Robinette.

  ‘Two agents,’ Stevie murmured. ‘Gone.’

  ‘I know,’ Clay murmured back. ‘Alec and Ethan would have been next.’

  And then Robinette would have tried to get through the gate. To Cordelia. He didn’t say it out loud. He didn’t have to. It was written all over Stevie’s face.

  She straightened in her seat, lifting her chin. ‘But they weren’t and neither was Cordelia. She’s fine because everyone did their jobs and because you planned this security very well.’

  Warmth spread in his chest, dispelling the ice that had started to form at the thought of what might have happened. Reaching through the window, he punched a code into a keypad, then drove through the gate when it opened for him. Agent Novak remained outside, parking diagonally across the drive as he had at the beach house.

  Clay stopped in front of the barn and turned off the engine, taking in the grounds, the new cameras. The splashes of yellow from the daffodils that still bloomed. It seemed like the
y should have died long ago, that it had been weeks since he’d seen them.

  That it had been only three days seemed impossible. ‘This is it.’

  Stevie looked around, nodding. ‘Gates, fence, cameras, private drive. It’s as well-protected as you said it would be.’ She got out of the vehicle and drew a deep breath. And listened.

  ‘What do you hear?’ Clay asked her.

  ‘Nothing.’ She turned to smile at him. ‘It’s quiet and peaceful.’

  And then a shriek shattered the quiet. ‘Mama!’ Cordelia came running out of the barn as fast as her legs would carry her and threw her arms around Stevie’s waist, nearly knocking her over. ‘I told them to tell you that you didn’t need to come, but I was wrong. I wanted you here.’

  Stevie lifted her chin. ‘What’s this? Uncle Joseph never told me you said that.’

  ‘I told him that I was fine.’ Her lip quivered. ‘But I wasn’t, really,’ she confessed.

  Stevie’s eyes shattered and the breath she drew was ragged. ‘Oh, baby. I didn’t know.’

  ‘I know, Mama.’ Cordelia hugged her. ‘Then Aunt Emma told Uncle Grayson to bring Grandpa and Grandma and Aunt Izzy back here. He did, early this morning before he went to court, but I still wished you were here.’ Cordelia’s face broke into a sunny smile. ‘Now you are!’

  Stevie smiled back at her, smoothing Cordelia’s disheveled hair off her forehead. ‘I’m here. Not all night, because I have to work later, but we have several hours, okay?’

  ‘Okay. Come on.’ She tugged Stevie’s hand. ‘I want to show you Gracie. She’s mine.’

  ‘Yours? Really?’ Stevie allowed herself to be led toward the barn.

  ‘Really. Miss Maggie said if you said it was okay, I could have her. For my own.’

  ‘That’s something we’ll need to talk about, honey. A horse is a big responsibility.’

  ‘That means no.’

  ‘No, it means we’ll talk. Show me this horse. I can’t wait to meet her.’

  Clay watched them walk away, then turned toward the house to talk to Alec and Ethan, only to find them coming down the hill to meet him.

  Ethan looked calm. Unrushed. It was a good sign.

  But Alec . . . Clay had expected the boy who’d become like his own son to have his head high, his shoulders back. Last night he’d done what none of them had managed to do – he’d actually hit Robinette with a bullet. Alec had stopped him. Momentarily, yes, but he had stopped him. But Alec didn’t look proud. He looked angry.

  Angry, but unharmed. Breathing a quiet prayer of thanks, Clay wrapped his arms around Alec’s shoulders and squeezed hard. ‘You’re okay,’ he said quietly, as he stepped back, searching Alec’s face.

  ‘Yeah,’ Alec muttered. ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘He’s been playing Monday morning quarterback with himself all day,’ Ethan said mildly.

  Clay met Alec’s eyes. ‘Which part are you replaying?’

  ‘All of it.’ Alec rolled his eyes. ‘But mostly the part where I was aiming for the bastard’s heart and hit his arm.’

  ‘The bastard was moving,’ Clay pointed out. ‘We’ve only practiced with stationary targets. We’ll train with moving targets in the future. You’ll figure it out.’

  ‘I hope I never have to again,’ Alec whispered. He closed his eyes. ‘God. That was . . .’

  ‘Terrifying?’ Clay supplied, as kindly as he could. ‘The first time I went out on patrol, my hands were shaking. After the bullets stopped flying, I was sick. A bunch of us were.’

  ‘I would have puked,’ Ethan said, ‘if I’d had anything in my gut to throw up. I was so nervous, knowing we were going out to actually fight, that I hadn’t been able to eat.’

  Alec’s eyes flew open and he looked from Clay to Ethan and from the look on the boy’s face, Clay thought Alec might have been sick, too. ‘You’re serious?’ he asked.

  ‘Never more,’ Clay said. ‘There’s nothing heroic about the act of shooting someone, Alec. What was heroic is the consequence of your action. Cordelia is safe.’

  ‘And I’m standing here, breathing,’ Ethan added. ‘When I said thanks, I meant it.’

  Alec’s cheeks darkened as embarrassed pride finally crept into his eyes. ‘You’re welcome.’

  Ethan’s mouth curved sympathetically. ‘And when that poor pizza delivery guy stops hyperventilating, he’ll thank you, too.’

  ‘I want all the details about last night,’ Clay said. ‘I want to know how the security systems functioned down to the nth degree. But later. First I have a plate for you to run.’ He gave Alec the license plate from the Hyundai. ‘He was following us on the highway. I think he’d been there from the time we’d left the city.’

  ‘Did your Fed tail get this info?’ Ethan asked with a frown.

  Clay was certain the Fed had, mainly because Novak hadn’t called him to ask for it. ‘Probably. Novak’s got a sharp eye. I didn’t want to discuss it with him in front of Stevie, because she doesn’t know I have the plate, but I’ll make sure he knows.’

  ‘I’ll get on it right now,’ Alec said, running back up the hill to the house.

  When the boy was gone, Ethan turned to Clay with raised brows. ‘So, where is she? I’m supposed to meet her and take notes or Dana says I can’t come home. She says she’s been waiting too many years to meet the woman who drags you out of your rut.’

  ‘I’m not in a rut,’ Clay protested. ‘Not anymore.’

  ‘And we’re glad.’ Ethan clapped his hands once. ‘So, she’s in the barn with her daughter? Cute kid, by the way. Thinks you’re Superman.’

  Clay felt his cheeks heat much like Alec’s had. ‘It doesn’t take much to impress her.’

  ‘Uh-huh. What do you plan to do with that plate information, once Alec digs it up?’

  Clay started for the barn, Ethan falling into step beside him. ‘Exactly what you think.’

  Ethan frowned. ‘Alone?’

  ‘Definitely not with you. I need you here. Protecting them. So, yes. I’m going alone.’

  ‘Fine. But I’m slapping a tracker under that SUV you’re driving. I want to know where you are, in case you get into trouble.’

  ‘That’s fair.’ Clay opened the barn door, found Izzy standing outside one of the stall doors, her eyes closed, her lips pursed hard. ‘Izzy?’

  Izzy looked up, startled at first. Then she smiled and walked to meet them and he could see that her eyes were shiny with unshed tears. ‘Clay.’ She reached up on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘For keeping her safe. For making this happen.’ She swallowed hard. ‘This is more than I hoped for.’

  ‘Me, too,’ he whispered back, then cleared his throat. ‘Where are your folks?’

  ‘Up at the house with Maggie and Emma, helping move storage boxes out of Maggie’s spare bedroom so that we can all stay here tonight. With Ethan, Alec, Paige, and Emma here, she didn’t have beds for everyone last night, which is why Mom and Dad and I went home and ended up missing all the excitement here.’

  ‘I offered to give them my bed,’ Ethan said, ‘but they said no, that nobody would sleep in “bags on the floor” on their account. I couldn’t make them stay.’

  Izzy gave Ethan a commiserating look. ‘It’s they way they are. You can’t argue with them.’

  Clay chuckled. ‘Stevie comes by her stubbornness honestly, then.’

  ‘That she does,’ Izzy said with a longsuffering sigh, then she smiled again, pointing to the stall where she’d been standing. ‘They’re in there. Go see.’

  Clay found Stevie and Cordelia together, brushing the horse called Gracie. Stevie was intense in her focus, just as she was with anything that mattered. Cordelia’s face was as bright with happiness as a star.

  They’re mine, he thought, his heart ready to burst. His to take care of. Protect. To love.

  Cordelia looked up at him. ‘Gracie likes Mama. See?’

  Clay smiled down at her. ‘I can see that. Stevie, I need to talk to you f
or a minute.’

  She gave the brush to Cordelia and stepped out of the stall and into his arms. ‘Be careful,’ she said, kissing his mouth hard, and above the sound of his pounding heart, he heard Cordelia giggle. ‘At least take Novak with you,’ Stevie added.

  The kiss had distracted him. ‘What?’

  ‘You’re going to check out the car whose license plate you “didn’t see”.’

  Beside him, Ethan snorted. ‘Busted, Slick.’

  Stevie pulled away to offer her hand to Ethan. ‘You must be Ethan. Thank you for coming to help. I appreciate it more than you’ll know.’

  ‘I think I know,’ Ethan said, shaking her hand. ‘Clay’s been there for me enough times. It was my turn. Plus, Alec did most of the work.’

  Stevie smiled. ‘So I heard.’ She turned back to Clay. ‘The license plate?’

  Clay sighed. ‘I didn’t think you’d believe me, but it was worth a try.’

  ‘I would’ve done the same thing. How long will you be gone?’

  ‘A few hours probably.’

  She kissed him again, to Cordelia’s delight. ‘I’ll be here when you get back. Don’t get yourself shot and I’ll try not to get stepped on or squashed.’

  ‘Mama,’ Cordelia chided when Stevie returned to the stall. ‘Gracie is gentle.’

  ‘I hear you and I believe you, Cordy, but she is really big.’

  Cordelia’s small voice wafted over the stall’s wall. ‘A dog isn’t nearly so big, Mama.’

  ‘No,’ came Stevie’s wry reply, ‘even one of Mr Tanner’s puppies, fully grown.’

  Outside the stall, Izzy beamed and Ethan gave Clay a single nod.

  Clay walked away with a smile on his face.

  Baltimore, Maryland, Tuesday, March 18, 3.15 P.M.

  Sam shut down his computer. The convenience store clerk killed by his father eight years ago left behind a daughter and a grandson. Their neighborhood wasn’t close to middle class, but it wasn’t the projects, either.

  The boy’s mother had a misdemeanor record for shoplifting – she’d stolen food from the very convenience store in which her mother had been murdered. The judge gave her community service in a food pantry. After that, her life and her son’s life had improved. Someone had given the woman a job. She, like Kayla Richards, had gone back to school. Now the boy’s mother was a dental hygienist and they seemed to be doing all right financially.