Executive Protection

by Jennifer Morey

  Avery shook her head, but exchanged a knowing look with Darcy. That was the crime he’d responded to, and what had kept him coming back.

  “Made me and my workers feel a lot safer,” Gracie said. “Saved my business, too. Customers came back and liked knowing an officer of the law was spending a good portion of his day here.”

  “It wasn’t that long.” Why was she making a special effort to boast for him?

  “All morning. Every morning.” Gracie turned to Avery. “He was here before the first worker arrived. Most times that was me.”

  “You just think it’s sexy to have a cop in your restaurant.”

  She hooted a laugh and patted his back. “It’s good to see you recover so quickly, Darcy.”

  So that’s what she’d been leading up to. He’d brought a beautiful woman into her diner in the dark hours of morning. He should have expected that.

  “You have yourself a fine man,” she said to Avery. “I’d hang on to him if I were you.” She winked at Darcy.

  While Avery looked bashful at that comment, he endured her not-so-subtle praise. They always talked when he came in. They were friends. Darcy leaned back against the bench seat in resignation.

  “You two enjoy.” Gracie left the table.

  “You’re well liked in this community,” Avery said.

  And he felt like asking if that would make her admit she loved him. He let her eat awhile, seeing that she was slow in doing so.

  After a while, she gave up. Putting her fork down, she leaned back like him. “What are we going to do about this?”

  “About what?” He knew, but he hedged anyway.

  “Us. Last night. This morning.” She flung her hand as she spoke.

  “Nothing. Live.”

  “We both just got divorced, Darcy. My husband cheated on me.”

  “My wife cheated on me.”

  “Exactly. We’re damaged.”

  “Why do we have to look at it that way?” Darcy sat forward. “Why can’t we look at the good in this?” The connection. The sex.

  She angled her head, uncertain but accepting his reasoning.

  “Do you enjoy being with me?” he asked.

  She blinked, their passion from last night reflecting briefly in her eyes. “Darcy...”

  “Do you? And not just the way we were last night. Do you genuinely like being with me?”

  She took a few seconds to consider his serious question. “Yes. You know I do.”

  Relief flooded through him. Then he wasn’t wrong about her, about them. “I enjoy being with you, too. So what do you want to do? Stop seeing each other?”

  “No.”

  “Are you sure?” He held her eyes in a demanding gaze. She had to tell him the truth. “I need you to be honest with me right now.”

  Another blink revealed her feelings. She feared what had sparked between them, but she truly did not want to stop seeing him. “Yes. I’m sure. But...” She averted her gaze.

  Somehow he had to reassure her.

  Darcy put his hand on top of hers where it rested by her glass of water. She looked at him again, turning her hand to entwine her fingers with his.

  “Even if this is just a Band-Aid that helps us both get past our divorces, I don’t see anything wrong with that. We hang out together, make each other feel good and live life. If it ends up that we decide to split, then we split. If it ends up we decide not to...we don’t.”

  “No pressure,” she said.

  “No pressure.” Would she place pressure on herself by resisting love? He had to make her face her fear.

  “I see us going on the way we are and falling more and more in love,” he said. “I see us getting married and having kids. And that’s something I never thought I’d say to any woman ever again.”

  Her hand tightened in his and she looked uncertainly at him, afraid of the intensity of what they had together.

  “I won’t tell you I love you until you’re ready,” he said. Just like she wasn’t ready to have sex until last night.

  She relaxed again. “Okay.”

  “Don’t be afraid.”

  She sighed and slipped her hand from his. “I’ll try.”

  Seeing her resistance linger, he wasn’t convinced. What could he do to make her trust him? Trust in them as a couple?

  Just then, his cell rang.

  “There goes that moment,” Avery muttered. She knew as much as he did what his ringing cell phone meant at this hour of night.

  “Jenkins.”

  “It’s me, Darcy.”

  “Thad?” He shared a perplexed look with Avery.

  “I think Wade Thomas had something to do with my mother’s shooting.”

  “What?” Darcy struggled to remove cash from his wallet. He always had a lot of cash on hand in case he had to pay and run.

  Avery took the wallet from him and removed the correct amount. He almost didn’t hear what Thad told him about the kidnapping of a young girl. She was behaving as though she were already his wife. And she didn’t even know it. He vowed to make her that, and he’d use love to his advantage.

  * * *

  Fifteen minutes later, Thad met him at Avery’s apartment. She had to get ready for work and his day was about to begin at the same time. While she went into the bedroom to change, Darcy headed for the kitchen, where Thad sat on an island stool.

  “You look tired. Coffee?” Darcy went into the kitchen.

  “Sure.” Thad explained in detail everything that had occurred.

  Darcy started the coffee brewing. “Why Wade Thomas?”

  He went to stand opposite of Thad at the island. “It’s a gut feeling. The way he keeps us off the investigation. The way he always finds out what we’re doing. It’s almost as though someone were keeping him informed.” Thad told him about the man taking pictures.

  Okay, that made sense. It explained how the chief could be keeping tabs on Thad, and even Darcy.

  Thad ran his fingers through his hair, elbows on the table. He knew the danger of implicating the chief of police. If they were wrong...

  “Why would he send someone to kidnap Sophie?” Darcy asked.

  “To stop me.”

  “He can order you to do that.” He already had. Maybe that’s why he’d taken it to the next level. He was getting worried Thad would find out too much—assuming Wade was behind any of this. It seemed like a stretch to Darcy. Until he recalled the pictures of Thad and Lucy returning Sophie.

  “Sophie means that much to you, huh?”

  “Don’t give me a hard time about that right now,” Thad snapped.

  Darcy held one hand up. “Hey. You know you’re thinking it, too.”

  Thad met his look and didn’t argue. He couldn’t. No one would have used that child against him if it hadn’t been obvious she was important to Thad.

  “You want to catch your mother’s shooter. I get that,” Darcy said. “But I think you should hang back. Be an observer for a while. See what the police get on Layne. Maybe he’ll feel like talking.”

  “He claims he doesn’t know who paid him.”

  Darcy could see Thad believed him. And he agreed it seemed as though the shooter wasn’t working alone. But the chief of police?

  Thad lowered his arms and met Darcy’s gaze. This was the most frustrating part of investigative work. The dead ends were growing more numerous and it seemed as if they’d never solve the case.

  “What do you want to do?” Darcy asked.

  “Talk to Wade.”

  That bold? He’d go straight to the chief and start asking questions? Darcy admired his smart friend. That wasn’t something Darcy would try. He’d take a more conservative approach, gather evidence first and then confront.

  “Be caref
ul,” Darcy said.

  “Careful about what?” Avery appeared, dressed in her uniform and tennis shoes. She leaned in for a kiss, and he held her head for a longer one than she’d have given, enough to get him by until he could see her again tonight.

  “I thought you didn’t have to work today.” He deliberately avoided answering her.

  “I had a message asking if I could cover for someone. I figured you’d be working today anyway.” She glanced at Thad.

  “I might be.”

  She kissed him again. “Thanks for breakfast.”

  He grinned because he knew she wasn’t talking about the diner or the food. “I’ll call you.”

  She gave him one more peck on the mouth. “Okay.”

  When she left, he noticed Thad looking at him as though he couldn’t believe what he’d seen. Love was surrounding him and it was beginning to have an effect on his friend. Good. It was about time. If there was one thing Thad needed, it was love, the kind that would never fade away. And it seemed to Darcy that love had found him, not just with Lucy, but a little girl named Sophie.

  * * *

  Thad knocked on Wade Thomas’s open office door. Wade looked up and his head jerked back a fraction. He hadn’t expected Thad to come see him. He waved for Thad to enter.

  Thad did.

  “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

  “Something’s come up.”

  The chief stared at him for a while, making his own deductions. “I thought we had an understanding.”

  Thad wasn’t supposed to be investigating his mother’s shooting. “That was before I rescued a seven-year-old girl from Layne Bridger.” He watched Wade’s face closely.

  Chief Thomas didn’t alter his expression. “Who?”

  “The girl’s foster dad. He kidnapped her and said someone paid him to in order to teach me some kind of a lesson.” He went into detail of all that had occurred.

  Wade revealed nothing of his emotions. “I take it this girl is someone special to you.”

  He was getting sick of everyone pointing that out. “She’s someone special to Lucy.”

  “The nurse.” Wade put down the pen he held. “Why are you in my office telling me this?”

  “You didn’t know about this?”

  “The kidnapping?” If he was acting he was good at it. “No. Must have been outside our jurisdiction.” Wade studied Thad, dissecting him, trying to figure out why he was here.

  “She was kidnapped because of my interest in my mother’s shooting,” Thad said.

  “You’re still nosing your way into that?”

  Thad gave no reply.

  Wade’s brow furrowed and he stood. Moving around the desk, he came to stand before him. “How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of it?”

  “Did you have anything to do with the kidnapping?” It was risky for Thad to ask that question. Darcy had known it, but he hadn’t tried to stop Thad. Like Thad, he knew it might be the only way to get answers.

  As he expected, Wade grew even angrier. “Are you accusing me of something, Winston?”

  “I’m asking you if you had anything to do with Sophie Cambridge’s kidnapping.”

  “Why would I have anything to do with that?”

  “You keep warning me to stay out of the investigation. How far will you go to see that I do?”

  “You’re crossing the line. I didn’t know about the kidnapping of a little girl until you walked in here and told me.”

  Wade seemed to be telling the truth. Either that, or he was a good liar.

  “Somebody really doesn’t want you sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong,” Wade said. “Have you received any other warnings?”

  “A phone call.”

  Wade studied him some more. Then he went over to his desk and wrote some names down. “You went against orders by continuing to look into the shooting,” Wade said, leaving the pen there. “But I’m going to overlook it.” He picked up his phone and pressed in a number. “Chief Thomas here. I need you to check some phone records.”

  Wade was going to help him? Thad hadn’t expected this. A guilty man wouldn’t try to help.

  Wade told whoever he’d called what Thad had told him, and then asked him to get the case information from the Pittsboro police.

  When he finished, he hung up the phone and looked at Thad. “I’m going to pass whatever I get on to the FBI. Can I count on you to stay out of this from here?”

  “If you let me know what you find out in Sophie’s kidnapping case, yes.”

  Wade nodded. “If anything else happens, let me know. Meanwhile, go back on leave, Winston. I don’t want to see your face around here until you’re ready to come back to work and do what I tell you.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And the next time you accuse me of anything as heinous as kidnapping a seven-year-old girl, I’ll fire you. Do we understand each other?”

  “Perfectly.” Thad left the office, still not sure he could eliminate Wade from his list of suspicious characters. What if Wade never shared the information?

  Chapter 12

  The night after rescuing Sophie, Lucy tucked the girl in and kissed her on her cheek. She was already drifting off to sleep. They’d read a book, and she could barely keep her eyes open. Brushing wayward strands of light brown hair from her face, she stood from the bed, so glad that Sophie was no longer under stress. She was content and safe.

  Turning the lamp off, Lucy left the room in the dim glow of a Tinker Bell night-light. Pausing at the door, she looked back at the sleeping girl and wondered for the hundredth time what she was going to do with her. She’d made arrangements to temporarily foster her, but what then?

  Making her way down to the informal sitting area, Lucy walked in to find Kate and Thad there. Kate was moving around on her own now. She didn’t need a home care nurse anymore, but had insisted Lucy stay anyway. She suspected there was another reason for that, and that reason was sitting on the white designer sofa in jeans and a gray thermal T-shirt. His golden-green hazel eyes went into a smolder when he saw her.

  “How is she?” Thad asked.

  “A lot better.” Lucy went to sit beside him, Kate occupying the adjacent chair.

  “That poor child,” Kate said. “She’s been through so much for such a young age.”

  Lucy met Thad’s look and wondered if he was as affected by the little girl as she was. He had a fierce protective streak when it came to Sophie. He cared for her. Lucy was sure of that. He hadn’t admitted it yet, though. Would he ever? Or would he stubbornly stick to his belief that marriage and kids weren’t his calling?

  “She sure is attached to you, Lucy,” Kate said.

  The observation only intensified Lucy’s conundrum.

  “You, too, Thad,” Kate added.

  Beside her, Thad turned stiffly to her without responding. Thad had periodically checked in on her and Sophie. He’d even watched a movie with them—most of it. And then his phobia had taken over and he’d had to leave. Lucy was okay with that. He took the family time in doses, each one bigger than the last.

  “He’s becoming a real dad.” Lucy couldn’t stop herself from teasing.

  “I’ve always said he’d make a good one,” Kate said.

  “I’m sitting right here,” Thad interjected.

  “Sophie adores you,” Kate told him. “The three of you would make a lovely family.”

  Lucy watched the observation bounce off Thad’s wall of indifference.

  “My mother and I were discussing the possibility that the gunman who’d tried to kill her may have been involved in Sophie’s kidnapping,” he said.

  “Go ahead, change the subject,” Lucy said, a little put off by his stubbornness.

  He smirked at her
and nothing more.

  “I’ve been briefed on the case,” Kate said. “No one suggested Wade Thomas has anything to do with it. He isn’t involved in the investigation any more than you are, Thad. And you yourself said you could find no connection between him and Cam Harmon. There’s nothing to indicate the two are friends or have met before.”

  Lucy wondered if Kate was being briefed about everything or if those informing her simply didn’t know any more than she and Thad. If Wade had hired Cam, he’d keep his association secret. But how likely would it be that Wade would go so far as to arrange for Kate’s assassination, or even be a part of it?

  “There’s nothing to indicate he has extreme political views, either,” Thad said.

  “The chief is just doing his job,” Kate insisted. “He was told to stay out of the investigation. He may have people who keep him apprised of developments, but he’s doing what he’s been told. This isn’t an ordinary attempted murder case. I recently announced my intention to run for president. Wouldn’t you make sure an attempted assassination investigation was controlled and that crucial information didn’t leak out?”

  “Maybe. But I wouldn’t turn away help.”

  “You would if you risked media coverage.”

  Thad sighed, hands entwined on his lap as he leaned forward. Kate had a valid point, but was she being too blithe?

  “Would the agents working the investigation tell you everything?” Thad asked.

  If there was foul play going on within law enforcement, they wouldn’t.

  “If they aren’t, somebody’s head is going to roll.” Kate could appear the most docile, unassuming woman, and then in an instant become the hard-hitting politician she was. “I’ll get someone I trust to take a closer look.”

  When Thad gave a nod, Lucy knew he was satisfied. Lucy, too. Kate wasn’t going to be blithe about this. She’d check every angle, and hopefully the results supported what she thought: that Chief Thomas was only doing what he was told.

  Thad leaned back against the sofa, more relaxed than he had been since Lucy had joined them.

  “Meanwhile, I want you to stop carrying on your own vigilante investigation,” Kate said.