Wedding Takedown

by Geri Krotow

  “Among other things.” He reached over and squeezed her thigh. “Has it occurred to you that we’re not done yet, Kayla?”

  “It doesn’t matter what’s occurred to me, Rio. You’re still the investigating officer on Keith’s case, and we can’t get past the fact that we weren’t entirely up-front with each other when we got together. You didn’t tell me you worked undercover, and I didn’t tell you that I wasn’t interested in getting involved with someone in your kind of work.”

  “Maybe.” He wasn’t willing to tell her about Keith’s case being dropped. He’d been on his way to tell Keith when the call came in that she’d been shot at. Keith deserved to know he was free of the wrongful accusations first, and besides, it’d be his business whether he told his sister or not.

  “You think it’s Gloria, don’t you? You think she snuck around back and shot at me.” Kayla’s tone was rife with the stress of what she’d been through.

  “No, I don’t think that, not necessarily.” Shit. He needed to tell her more. “Look, Kayla, remember, we think there was a second person involved in the murder. There’s evidence that someone left the barn out the other side of the building from where you were.”

  “Then it could have been Gloria, especially if the man I heard was indeed Mickey. It makes sense with them having an affair. But why they’d kill Meredith, together, is what’s bothering me.”

  Rio sighed. “Kayla, you’re not on the SVPD. I asked you to keep your eyes and ears open, and I regret that now you’ve been drawn into it.”

  “If you’re right and if a second person was there, he or she could have doubled back and seen my van, as you said before. They’d both be after me whether or not I agreed to stay on with the wedding.” She looked out the windshield but he doubted she saw the rows and rows of neatly planted apple trees on both sides of the road that wound through the orchards like a ribbon. “It’s too neat, isn’t it? To think that Gloria and Mickey are both murderers. And Gloria seems too, too...” She trailed off and Rio risked a smirk.

  “Too high-strung?”

  “Exactly. I can’t see Gloria handling the stress of a murder conspiracy.”

  Kayla was getting tired, no doubt the crash after her adrenaline rush catching up to her. “The comedown from a situation as tense as what you’ve been through today can be a bitch, Kayla. If you need to close your eyes and catch a catnap until I get you home, please do.”

  “I’m okay. We’re stopping at the station first, right?”

  “Only for as long as it takes to file your report. Then you’re going to get some rest.”

  He failed to tell her exactly where she was getting some rest. There was no way he’d take her back to her place, not when her name was on a killer’s list somewhere.

  CHAPTER 14

  It was an Easter Sunday unlike any other Kayla had experienced. She woke up at Rio’s and didn’t have any last-minute deliveries to take care of. Within a half hour she was with Rio in his car.

  “Yes, I’m a little cranky. Wouldn’t you be if you’d been shot at yesterday and had to sleep in a strange bed without your own stuff? And to top it off, the Easter Bunny hasn’t brought me any chocolates.” Kayla pulled her sunglasses out of her tote and put them on as Rio drove the unmarked police vehicle.

  “It wasn’t a strange bed, not technically.” Rio tried to make her smile but she ignored him. “And I’m sorry about your Easter being ruined. Law enforcement works 24/7. You didn’t have anything planned with your brother or parents, did you?”

  “No, my parents are still out of town and Keith and I were going to wait until they were home to go out for a big brunch. It’s too crazy to try to get reservations at Hershey this weekend, anyhow. Thank you, by the way, for keeping your word. I slept so soundly and never worried about a thing all night.” She’d wished Rio was there to hold her, but they couldn’t afford to go there. Not with this case blowing up around them.

  “I’m not going to let anything else happen to you, Kayla.” She saw his fingers tighten on the steering wheel.

  “You always hold the steering wheel on the bottom. Why?”

  He looked surprised.

  “Where do you hold it?”

  “At ten and two o’clock. Like they taught us in driver’s ed.”

  He smiled. “You’re right. I forgot about that. When we go through police training and refresher defensive driving, we’re taught to hold it here.” He nodded at the four and eight o’clock positions his hands were at. “It gives me more control over the wheel. It’s not something that makes too much of a difference until you need to make a quick turn or J-turn.”

  “I hope I never have to pull any of that crazy stuff in my van.”

  She watched his jaw tighten and his spine go stiff as he drove. “What, Rio?”

  “On the subject of police maneuvers—where we’re going is kind of like a police department. But also very different in a lot of ways.” He hadn’t yet revealed to Kayla where they were headed.

  “Oh?”

  He remained silent and she sensed he was searching for words.

  “Spit it out, Rio. You won’t be yourself again until you do. First you tell me to get whatever information I can, then you’re angry with me because you think I snooped too much. Now you’re looking at me as if you’re taking me to prison or something. We’re not going to the county prison, are we?”

  “No, it’s not a prison. It’s an extra group of law-enforcement folks we work with when we need more help on a case. More often they work their own cases separately from SVPD and use folks like me on an as-needed basis to help with the man hours.”

  “What does any of this have to do with me?” It didn’t surprise her that a man like Rio had his fingers in so many different law-enforcement entities—he was a detective and he’d no doubt had loads of training to do his job.

  “You’ll see. You have to trust me on this.”

  Trust Rio.

  “The last time I trusted you we ended up naked.”

  He held up one hand as he kept his focus on the road.

  “You slept at my house, and that’s all you did. Slept. I know we didn’t plan what happened the other night. Maybe it was because of how abruptly we had to break things off. We ended up in bed together so quickly last year, and then Keith’s case happened and I had to break it off. I’m sorry about that, Kayla, but you didn’t want to pursue a relationship with me, either.”

  “No, I didn’t. I don’t. I mean, hell, I don’t know what I mean.”

  His hand was on hers, where it rested on her thigh, and he squeezed. “Let it go for now. We have to focus on keeping you safe. That’s why I’m taking you to the headquarters for the Trail Hikers.”

  “Trail Hikers?”

  As succinctly as possible he explained to her the role of the Trail Hikers, how even he didn’t know the full extent of their reach despite working with them for several months. That they were a supersecret government shadow agency that had carte blanche to work across all levels of law enforcement to achieve their mission objectives.

  “Usually Trail Hikers work on larger, international crimes that have stymied the FBI and CIA. But they also get involved in more local cases, like the True Believers and whatever they are doing in Silver Valley. To be fair, you have to understand that there is often so much more to any one case than I ever know. It’s how we keep everyone safe.”

  “The same way classified information is compartmentalized. My parents worked in embassies and with the military at times. I understand.”

  She felt his stare and met it. “It’s okay, Rio. I’m not going to wilt. I’ve lived in some pretty rough parts of the world.”

  “As a child, with your parents and State Department protection. This is different, Kayla. Anything could go wrong at any moment and you might be the only one there to fix it. I can’t be there every minute of the day for you.”

  “As much as you’re trying to be.” She didn’t elicit the dimple she wanted to see in his right cheek.
“Come on, Rio, lighten up. We’re both still here. And things like this happen all the time. We just happen to be involved in this one.”

  And she just happened to fear she was falling for Rio again.

  * * *

  He’d watched newbies come into Trail Hikers more than once, but this time was the most personal. Kayla entered the slick professional office building and spoke to the receptionist as a local small business owner, but she’d leave knowing she was going to become part of an elite group of government shadow operatives. While Kayla wouldn’t become a full-fledged agent, if she received even a fraction of the training he’d had, it would be enough to change her.

  Change was inevitable when you came up against the unrelenting evil that human beings were capable of.

  “Kayla, so nice to meet you. I’m Claudia.” Claudia shook Kayla’s hand before she pointed to the two seats in front of her polished executive desk. “Please, have a seat both of you. Hello, Rio.”

  “Claudia.”

  “Kayla, I’m sure Rio has given you a little information about the Trail Hikers and let you know we’d like you to come on board. I’m here to answer any questions you have, and then I’m going to turn you over to our instructors for three full days of training that will include weapons handling, starting tomorrow. Are you okay with this?”

  “Yes.” Kayla shot Rio a look that let him know to stay out of it.

  “Great. Welcome aboard, and let’s get down to some of the brass tacks of Trail Hikers.”

  Claudia’s informational talk lasted about a half hour, and although Rio had received the same talk with Bryce Campbell sitting next to him, he didn’t remember a whole lot of it. He’d been too anxious to get into the training. He wondered if Kayla felt the same.

  She constantly surprised him. When he’d fallen for her last year, he’d been drawn in by her sense of humor and her intelligence, yes, but mostly by her unstoppable sexiness. He was willing to admit he’d had shallow motives in that regard. Yet each time he’d been with her, she’d shown another facet of herself that made him realize she wasn’t going to be a temporary companion, not even a friend with benefits.

  Kayla was different.

  “If you’ll sign at the marked spots on these contracts, I’ll have our instructor escort you out. Do you have any questions for me?” Claudia must have said this spiel to dozens of agents—no one but Claudia knew the total number of persons involved with the Trail Hikers—but she looked as enthusiastic and solemn as she had when Rio had signed on.

  “No, none at the moment.” Kayla signed her name with a deftness that made it seem she’d always wanted to become a secret agent.

  Rio wanted the True Believers and their criminal ways taken out of town no matter what it took. But as he looked at Kayla’s bandaged ear, her scraped-up skin, and thought about how he’d feel if anything irreparable happened to her, doubt at the intelligence of allowing Kayla to get involved so deeply with the case shadowed his vision.

  * * *

  Kayla had never experienced anything like the following three days with the Trail Hikers training team. Luckily it was spring break and Jenny agreed to run the shop. They made their store hours shorter, blaming the upcoming wedding season. It was believable enough as the Charbonneau wedding was indeed consuming most of their hours and budget at the moment.

  Since Trail Hikers wasn’t going to be a permanent gig for Kayla, they’d given her an abbreviated version of the training. Enough to keep herself safe and help with the case, but not so much that she’d be overwhelmed with needless tactics and information.

  After she’d left Rio in Claudia’s office, she was taken to the most up-to-date gym she’d ever seen and given workout gear to change into. It was her exact size. She’d had to work around her bruises and ear abrasion, but the movement and self-defense classes were exhilarating when they weren’t humbling.

  At the end of the third day of her training, Wednesday, Rio was waiting as he had been each of the previous days to take her to his house. True to his word, he’d steered clear of her, allowing her time to rest and watch mindless television in the evenings while he worked on his laptop in the office off the family room.

  It was almost as if they were a real couple, except they weren’t having sex.

  “Ready to conquer the world?” he asked her as she slid onto the leather seat and buckled her belt.

  “Not quite. I wish I’d had this training before college, though. There were a few grabby dates I’d have liked to take down a time or two.”

  His expression froze and she reached to grab his forearm. “Oh, no, Rio, I was never assaulted. I was just trying to be funny. I’m sorry.”

  “No apology needed.” But judging by his unusually gruff tone, she’d overstepped. He was on overdrive with his need to protect her.

  “Yes, I do need to apologize. You’ve done so much for me. Maybe now that I’ve had some training you can relax a little bit?”

  “Never.”

  “What, don’t you trust me with a weapon?”

  “You’re probably a better shot than I am. That wouldn’t surprise me.”

  As he drove she noticed they weren’t taking the usual route to his house. “Where are we going?”

  “I thought I’d treat both of us to a nice meal before the shit hits the fan with the wedding.”

  “You really think it’s going to all come to the wedding itself?”

  He nodded. “Or the rehearsal dinner. If we’re lucky, whoever the second assailant is will be at the Friday function and we’ll be able to figure it all out then. That would keep the wedding intact.”

  “I can’t believe Cynthia and Charles are going to go through with it. It’s so obviously a political power move.”

  “The Charbonneau father-daughter duo is destined for political infamy.” He entered the expressway and headed south, towards Gettysburg.

  “Where is Gloria in all of this?”

  “She’s the odd one out. Tony picked her because she looked good on his arm.”

  “I don’t think they have the best of relationships, even apart from the affair. I’m surprised she stays with him.”

  “It’s about the money, honey. If he can keep her in the clothes and automobiles she loves, why would she leave him? Especially when she’s getting any extra attention she craves from Mickey.”

  “Mickey. I read the file on him.” A good part of her training had been time spent with the files pertaining to Meredith’s case that the Trail Hikers had procured. “He’s got quite the rap sheet. I’m surprised the mayor risked hiring him in the first place.”

  “They go way back. They both ran with the same crowd in New Jersey. Once the mayor got elected and Mickey was entrenched in his political staff, Tony knew he couldn’t just let him go, not without blowback.”

  “But why would Mickey get involved with Gloria? He and Cynthia seemed real chummy when I watched them talking in the street to one another.”

  “Cynthia is her father’s daughter. She can charm the pants off anyone, even though she’s pretty abrasive when she’s trying to get something she wants. Not that I think she wants Mickey’s pants off.” He grinned.

  Kayla groaned. “The thought of that is gross, Rio. Mickey’s twice her age.”

  “Judge Blackwell is even older. Worse, he’s a friend of mine and I haven’t been able to talk any sense into him about her. He’s one of those guys who is so damn smart except when it comes to women.”

  They remained silent and Kayla noticed how close they were to the Gettysburg battlefield.

  “Where on earth are we going? I don’t think spending time at the battlefield is going to help relax us.”

  “We’re not going to the battlefield. Have you ever eaten at the Colonial Restaurant?”

  “The one with the restaurant in the historical cellar? I love it! Keith and I took our parents there last Thanksgiving.”

  * * *

  The mention of Keith’s name made Rio stiffen. He knew Kayla saw his react
ion. It was time to come clean.

  “Kayla, about Keith...”

  “I know, Rio.”

  “You know what?” Always full of surprises, this woman.

  “Keith is the person I was talking to on the phone last night when you walked into the bedroom to get your clothes.” She’d been in bed, Rio’s bed, with her e-reader and about to fall asleep when Keith called. “I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done. He told me he’d be back at work today, with all charges dropped and nothing on his record.”

  “I didn’t do anything but my job.”

  “Don’t lie to me. You didn’t have to go meet with the Sneads, but you did.” He looked at her, surprised that she knew the name of the couple. “I read the files. Claudia told me to read anything that had to do with Silver Valley and the True Believers, in case I stumble upon a connection during the wedding. Also to help me find the other suspect, if we’re sure there’s one.”

  “Back to Mickey Ippolito. I think his affair with Gloria is a way to keep her in his control. So that she doesn’t screw over Tony, pardon the pun. A woman like Gloria can be dangerous when she’s not getting the attention she craves.”

  “I guess that makes sense.”

  “I think so. Now, has anything triggered a memory of the murder night for you?”

  “Don’t change the subject, Rio. We were talking about how wonderful a detective and public servant you are. Why didn’t you tell me you’d talked to the Sneads?”

  “It wasn’t my story to tell. Keith deserved to tell you first.”

  And he had. Her older brother’s voice had been as filled with gratitude for what Rio had accomplished as it was with excitement at returning to work.

  “That was nice of you. To let Keith tell me first.”

  “I aim to please. Sometimes.” They both laughed. He pulled into the front parking lot of the restaurant. It was housed in a beautiful building built before the Revolutionary War. “They’re busy tonight.” Rio drove through the packed lot until they found a spot behind the restaurant. When he opened her door, Kayla stood up and felt the muscles in her legs and shoulders twinge.