Harlequin Romantic Suspense January 2021

by Marie Ferrarella, Regan Black, Karen Whiddon

  “You don’t have to do that,” January began to tell him. She was perfectly capable of taking herself and Maya home.

  Oh no, he wasn’t about to get tangled up in that discussion. He was accompanying them to her home and that was the end of it.

  “Read my lips,” Sean told her, leaning into the social worker to get his point across as he slowly enunciated, “I am going to escort you home.”

  She nodded. “Okay, then,” she replied breezily, reversing direction. “You’re escorting me home.” January prided herself on knowing when to charge ahead and when to back off.

  Taking a notepad from her purse, she quickly wrote down her address for the detective, then handed him the piece of paper.

  * * *

  January pulled up in front of her town house and stopped her vehicle, turning off the ignition. She glanced up into her rearview mirror.

  Yup, the detective was still there. True to his word, he had followed her all the way home, staying right behind her.

  She got out of her car just as he pulled to a stop.

  January glanced toward the back seat. Stafford had managed to procure a child seat for Maya from the lost-and-found department at the police station. She was going to return the seat as soon as she bought one for her car. Right now, she had no idea how long the little girl was going to actually be staying with her.

  January considered herself to be a very good driver and she knew that, once upon a time, children just sat anywhere they wanted to in the car. However, accidents did happen no matter how safe a driver might be. She was not about to take any chances, even if there weren’t laws on the books about this. It was much better to be safe than sorry. Maya needed to be in a child seat that had seat belts holding it in place.

  Glancing at her, she saw that Maya looked as if she had fallen asleep in her seat. So, for now, January left her where she was and turned toward the detective as Sean approached her vehicle.

  “Well, this is it,” she told Sean, gesturing toward her town house. “I can take it from here.”

  Sean leaned over and glanced into the car. “She looks asleep.”

  “I think she is,” January confirmed. If Maya was, it might make things easier, at least for now, January reasoned.

  He put his hand on the passenger-side door. “I’ll carry her in for you.”

  She didn’t want him thinking of her as helpless. “I’m perfectly capable of carrying her in myself, Stafford,” she told him.

  “I’m sure you are,” Sean replied, not about to get into an argument with the woman over this. “Okay, you can carry her in if it makes you feel better—but you bring her into the house after I check everything out there and clear all the rooms.”

  January looked at him, surprised. What he was proposing sounded like something that was on one of those detective programs that were so popular on TV these days. “You’re kidding, right?” she asked, waiting for him to say “yes.”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?” Sean asked her pointedly.

  “To be honest, I really don’t know you well enough to be able to confirm that one way or another,” January told him.

  “Well, I’m not,” Sean answered. “If someone followed you to the police station, they might have wound up putting two and two together and whoever killed those three men could very well be waiting inside your town house.”

  She had a feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling her, but it was obvious that she wasn’t going to be able to force it out of him right now.

  “Are you determined to get me nervous?” January asked.

  “Not determined, no, but when dealing with something like this, it’s never a bad idea to be on your guard,” Sean told her.

  Her first instinct was to tell the detective that he was wasting his time and that he should just go home. But she had to admit after listening to Sean that there was a very small part of her that did entertain the possibility that maybe he was right. That maybe someone had broken into her town house and was waiting for her, for Maya, actually, to walk in so that any witness to the murders was eliminated.

  So it was for Maya’s sake that she agreed to have Sean go inside and clear each room, one by one.

  “Go ahead,” she told him, gesturing toward the town house. “Have at it.” With that, she handed him her house keys.

  Meanwhile, Maya had woken up. She instantly began to try to get out of her car seat. Seeing her struggle, January quickly unbuckled the little girl and, taking her into her arms, drew Maya out of the seat. Maya wiggled, as if she was trying to get down. January set her on the ground, thinking that the child would feel more in control of her situation if she could walk into the house under her own power.

  Sean waited, the house keys in his hand. Once January reached him, holding Maya by the hand, the detective unlocked the front door. After giving the keys back to January, he slowly drew his gun out, carefully keeping the muzzle pointed away in order not to frighten the little girl.

  “All right,” he told January. “I want you both to wait right inside the front door until I come back down for you.”

  “You’re actually going to go from one room to another?” January asked him. Part of her thought this was overkill, another part of her thought that perhaps this wasn’t enough of a precaution.

  “That’s what I intend to do,” Sean confirmed.

  “Be careful,” she warned. When he raised his brow in a silent question, January said, “I might have unintentionally left some things scattered around on the floor when I left this morning. I was going to come back and pack for the trip.”

  “I think I can avoid tripping over scattered luggage and shoes,” he told her with an amused smile. “You don’t have a dog that’s suddenly going to come charging out at me, do you?”

  “No, no dog,” she answered. “I would have loved to have one,” she confided, “but given my lifestyle, it wouldn’t have been fair to the dog. I wouldn’t be home all that much and I would never have the kind of time for it that the animal would deserve.”

  “You’re that dedicated, huh?” Sean asked as he began to head for the kitchen.

  “I don’t clock in nine-to-five if that’s what you mean,” she told him.

  “Yeah, I get that,” he told her, already putting distance between them as he began to search from one room to another. “We have that in common.”

  And then he was gone.

  Maya stared after him, then looked at January. Making sure she had January’s attention, Maya moved her pointer finger from side to side beneath her chin.

  “You want to know where he’s going?” January asked aloud, knowing Maya was reading her lips. She was a smart little girl, January thought. “He’s making sure the house is safe,” she told the child as she signed the same message to her.

  January felt she should try to make sure that the child had reinforcement and could more easily associate hand signs with spoken words.

  She was already thinking beyond tonight, focusing on the days that were to follow. Whether or not they found the girl’s parents, she felt that Maya was going to need to be introduced to the world—and she intended to help with that as much as she could.

  She hated the idea of Maya being helpless.

  CHAPTER 7

  January saw Maya looking around, her eyes opened extra wide as she appeared to try to take in the entire town house from her vantage point by the front door. January was afraid that the little girl might want to just run off and start to explore the place on her own, but instead, Maya remained at her side, her small fingers wrapped tightly around January’s hand.

  The little girl might not be impatient, but she definitely couldn’t say the same thing for herself, January thought.

  What she wanted to do was shout up the stairs to Stafford and get him to tell her how the process was going. But even she knew that shouting was
definitely not part of the deal. If she shouted, and there was someone on the premises, that would alert the intruder and even, possibly, put Stafford in danger.

  Still, there was no denying that she ached to ask the detective if he was done up there, and, if not, how much longer it was going to take until he was.

  Instead, January pressed her lips together to keep the words from escaping and sighed.

  Because she was learning to become more in tune with Maya, January was aware that the child had turned toward her.

  Maya drew her hand from hers and signed, “Where did he go?”

  By “he” January assumed the little girl was asking about Stafford. She signed, “He is upstairs, making sure everything is safe.”

  Maya’s furrowed brow vanished after a moment. The answer she’d been given seemed to satisfy the little girl. She took hold of January’s hand again, as if that was the position she felt she had to maintain until the detective returned.

  They didn’t have long to wait.

  “All clear,” Sean announced, coming back down the stairs. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here,” he told January. “And you are probably the neatest ‘messy’ person I have ever met,” he said, referring to the suitcase she had warned him not to trip over.

  Sean had found the suitcase standing on the bedroom floor, off to one side and waiting to be opened so that she could begin packing.

  “Thank you—I think,” January told him a little uncertainly.

  His job was officially done, but he could stay in the town house a little longer if it made her feel more secure. He offered as much to her.

  Turning around to face January, he said, “I can stick around for a while if you’d like.”

  She turned him down, just as he’d suspected she would. “Thanks, but we’ll be fine, Stafford. It’s late and I’d like to get her to bed. You know, try to approximate some semblance of a routine for Maya.” January glanced in Maya’s direction. “Kids appreciate routines.”

  “I’ll take your word for it. I never had any. Kids, I mean,” he added, in case she thought he was referring to having a routine. Those he’d had, one way or another, all of his life.

  Even now.

  Her eyes crinkled. “Neither have I, but I deal with kids all the time. You get to pick up things,” she confided, “even if you don’t really realize it.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Time to wrap this up, January thought. “I’ll walk you to the door,” she volunteered.

  “What’s your hurry? There’s the door.” Sean laughed, amused at the less-than-subtle attempt to get him to leave. “I know where the door is, January, but you should lock it after I leave.”

  She looked at the detective, pretending to widen her eyes. “Thank you. I would have never thought of doing that.”

  “Very funny,” he replied drolly, going and then stopping in the doorway. “I’ll be back in the morning, Ms. Colton.”

  The man just didn’t let up. “You don’t have to check on us,” January insisted.

  “I’m not checking on you,” he informed her. “I’m coming by to take a DNA sample from Maya. I’m going to see if it matches any family member in the database so that we can ultimately get a handle on who she is. Don’t forget, there’s going to be a police car patrolling the area. During the night, if you hear or see anything that makes you uneasy—anything at all—I want you to call 911. Better yet, here’s my card.” He took a card out of his pocket and pressed it into her hand. “Call me anytime. I’ll be here in a flash.”

  “Are you planning on sleeping at my doorstep in your car?” She meant it as a joke because of his “flash” comment, but he didn’t seem to take it that way.

  “Just call my number,” Sean instructed again. And then he glanced down at Maya who was still standing beside January, appearing a little lost and more than a little sleepy. “Tell her I’ll see her tomorrow morning,” he requested.

  January signed the message for Maya’s benefit. The little girl’s fingers immediately flew, responding to the promise from the man who had rescued her.

  “What did she say?” Sean asked, looking at January.

  “She said she would be right here, waiting for you,” January told him.

  Sean’s smile was warm in response. Somehow, Maya had managed to burrow her way into his heart in an incredibly short amount of time, he thought.

  The detective ran his hand fondly over her soft brown braids, his gesture telling her what he was still unable to on his own.

  “Okay, then,” he said, turning toward January. “I’ll be going,” he told her, although he felt a reluctance to do so. His eyes met January’s. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, then repeated pointedly, “Lock the door.”

  “Go, before I give in to my impulse and kick you in the shins,” January said, shutting the door behind him.

  The second she did, she heard his voice coming from behind the door. “I didn’t hear the lock click into place.”

  “Then you need to have your ears checked,” she informed him, raising her voice so he could hear her as she turned the lock.

  “Better,” Sean acknowledged as he left January’s doorstep.

  She gave it to the count of five, then turned toward Maya. She found the little girl watching her. There was a question in Maya’s expressive brown eyes. It didn’t take much for January to guess what was on Maya’s mind.

  “He’s gone home,” January signed to the little girl, then added, “He will be back in the morning.”

  Maya met the assurance with a wide smile followed by a sleepy yawn.

  “Okay, time to get you to bed, little one,” January said.

  When Maya raised and lowered her slender shoulders, January repeated what she had said, this time signing it to Maya. Maya’s hands made no response, but January could see that the little girl wasn’t about to fight it.

  Linking her fingers with Maya’s, January took her upstairs. Once she was on the landing, January signed, “I don’t have anything for a little girl to wear to bed, but I think that the top half of my two-piece sleepwear might work for you.” She offered Maya an encouraging smile. “We’ll give that a try.”

  Maya tilted her head, looking at her. It wasn’t hard to figure out what she wanted to know.

  January signed the last part of her statement to the girl, then took her by the hand again and led her into the bedroom.

  January rummaged through one of her dresser drawers, then another, looking for a particular set of nightclothes. Finally finding what she was looking for, January took the top portion of the outfit out and held it up in front of Maya.

  She was rewarded for her efforts with a beatific smile.

  You would have thought that that I was holding up Cinderella’s ball gown instead of a simple nightshirt top, January thought.

  Even so, the little girl looked at her with total, unabashed excitement bubbling wildly just beneath the surface.

  “I’d thought you might like it,” January told her, then signed the same thing.

  She was about to start helping Maya out of her clothes, which were really in pretty bad shape, especially considering the day she had been through.

  But she stopped herself in order to sign to the little girl.

  “May I help you put on this nightgown?” January asked her.

  January felt it was safer that way, since she had no way of knowing if the trauma that Maya had gone through in the warehouse had extended to a physical aspect, as well. The last thing January wanted to do was take a chance of further traumatizing her or bringing up any bad memories for her.

  To her relief, the little girl bobbed her head up and down, her eyes appearing to all but shine as she stared at what was, for January, just an ordinary, light pink nightshirt.

  With very careful movements, January took off th
e little girl’s dirty jeans and even dirtier T-shirt. She folded each and placed them on the floor beside the bed, leaving them visible as she went on to help Maya slip on the pink nightshirt.

  Maya seemed very pleased as she held out the garment from her body, looking down at it. She was even more pleased when she caught sight of herself in it in the wardrobe mirror. She approached the mirror with cautious steps, inspecting herself from all angles.

  Her eyes were smiling as she looked up at January. The next moment, she hugged the social worker’s arm, beaming at her from ear to ear.

  “Glad you like it,” January signed to her, then added, “You can keep that if you like. It’s yours.”

  Instead of hugging her arm again, Maya threw her arms around January’s waist, gleefully hugging as much of her as she could reach.

  January hugged her back. Any second now, she was going to cry, January thought, and she knew that would only confuse Maya. Struggling to regain control over herself, she released the little girl and took hold of her hand instead.

  In response to the obvious question in her eyes, January signed to Maya, “Let me take you to your room now.”

  “My room?” Maya signed back, her small face the picture of wonder and disbelief.

  January smiled as she nodded, then signed. “Yes, it’s the extra bedroom, but for now, you can think of it as your room.”

  With that, she led Maya to one of the two guest rooms in the town house. She chose the smaller of the two because that one was located next to her own bedroom instead of down the hall. She didn’t want to take a chance on being too far away from the child in case something came up, or Maya became frightened during the night for some reason.

  By the look on the little girl’s face as they entered the bedroom, in January’s estimation, Maya felt as if she had entered paradise.

  Pulling back the comforter, January helped the child into the double bed. Like her own bed, this one was made up with 1500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets and a super-soft comforter. To January there was nothing more important than soft sheets when it came to getting a good night’s sleep, and that went for her guests as well as for herself.