The Enforcer

by HelenKay Dimon

  “The fact you have something like forty cuts all over you probably confused your brain into thinking you had other issues to deal with.”

  It was a miracle they weren’t both sliced and diced. If it hadn’t been for the back of the loveseat catching a good portion of the shards, they might both be in the hospital.

  They’d gotten lucky. He didn’t want to tempt fate a second time by offering her up as a target again. Anyone who wanted to get to her would need to go through him.

  Just the thought of how close she came . . . Jesus. He never wallowed in fear, but he sure as hell got a steady shock of it tonight. “She was standing in front of that window right before the shots were fired.”

  “You think the person’s aim sucks or that they missed on purpose?”

  “I’m trying to figure out why he escalated from threats to shooting.” After years of following her around and making her life miserable someone suddenly wanted her dead? It didn’t make sense. There had to be an intervening event that increased the attacker’s anger level into danger territory. Damned if he knew what it was.

  “She.”

  Matthias knew he missed something in the conversation. “What?”

  Garrett sighed. “This could be a she.”

  “Agreed.” Matthias didn’t know which “she” Garrett was thinking about, but tonight wasn’t the time to hash it out. “Tomorrow we go through everything. I want every photo and every document we have. The players, their families. Wren started on this Doug guy, but he had family and friends. Let’s find them. We uncover it all and start over again, specifically looking into the original murders while we watch for our stalker.”

  “This feels like my regular job.”

  Good, because Matthias needed Garrett working at top speed on this. “We wanted to draw this fucker out. Well, he’s out and he’s shooting, so it’s time we fire back.”

  “Do you think the bullet was meant for you or her?”

  “Doesn’t matter.” It didn’t because anyone aiming at her would now hit him. He’d guarantee that.

  The door opened and steam rolled out. Her hair was wet and she had a towel balanced on her shoulder. She wore those cute pajamas he liked to peel off her.

  He almost groaned out loud.

  “That was quick.” More like the shortest shower ever.

  “I couldn’t listen in on you two talking while the water was running.”

  “Impressive use of deductive reasoning. You should do this for a living.” Garrett smiled as he headed for the doorway to his room.

  “Dodge bullets? No thanks.”

  When Garrett started to shut the adjoining door, Matthias stopped him with a shake of his head then looked at Kayla. “We’ll leave the door open between the rooms. If you need either of us, you call out.”

  “Where are you going to be?”

  Matthias checked to make sure Garrett got the point, but he’d disappeared into the other room. “On the cot.”

  “You should take the bed.”

  “This isn’t up for discussion.” He honestly didn’t have the strength or the will to fight her on this.

  “You don’t need to be a martyr.”

  “I promise you, I’m not.” Matthias slipped off the stupid sling that had been holding his shoulder steady. The doctor wanted to put the arm in something more stable, but Matthias refused. Anything that slowed him down was a no-go right now.

  “I hate that you lied to me again.”

  Her words stopped him as he opened the drawer to get a change of clothes. “I never really lied to you.”

  “Not telling me facts is the same thing as lying.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and stared up at him.

  Not to him. There was a line. Admittedly a thin one, but he recognized it. “We can agree to disagree.”

  She leaned back with her palms balanced on the mattress behind her. “How can you be so stubborn even after all that’s happened tonight?”

  “A lifetime of practice.” No lying there.

  “Nick would have liked you.” She smiled as she seemed to disappear into her memories for a second. “He was funny and charming on the surface but much more complex underneath. Had this sort of simmering anger. After I met your mother, I decided she was the cause.”

  Part of him wanted to ask about Nick. Part of him wanted not to care.

  No part of him thought of Mary Patterson as his mother. “Don’t call her that.”

  “Isn’t she your mother?”

  He never really had one of those. After what he’d seen and the foster parents he’d survived, he never had the urge to find the woman who gave him up. He’d blocked her until she showed up looking for him. “She’s the woman who gave birth to me. Didn’t want me then, which I can understand. But doesn’t really want me now either, so I prefer to think of her as Mary.”

  “She creates a lot of collateral damage.”

  No fucking kidding. “You’re safe.”

  Kayla nodded. “So are you.”

  “You’re going to protect me?” No one had ever protected him. Not really. Not like this.

  “Count on it.”

  Chapter 21

  Kayla walked into Garrett’s room the next morning, slightly refreshed and a bit less likely to scream at anyone who came near her. Her nerves were still a jumbled mess. She could also use a few more hours of sleep. Checking on Matthias ten times during the night did nothing to help her get rest.

  But it was a new day and she was ready to handle both Matthias and Garrett, and whatever annoying we-laugh-at-danger plans they had for the morning. Well, she was until she saw that they’d changed Garrett’s area into some sort of makeshift control room. Garrett ran around while Matthias barked out orders with his arm in a sling.

  Where in the world did they get a whiteboard? There were names listed across the top and stacks of files. She saw the edges of photographs and something that looked like a map. It looks like they were just getting started, but this undertaking was no joke. They’d slipped into overdrive.

  She stopped right behind Matthias. “I hate to even ask what all of this is.”

  He didn’t jump or sound surprised. “We’re intel gathering.”

  Well, sure. That cleared up all her questions. “Should I be seeing this?”

  Matthias glanced over at her. Shot her one of those what’s-wrong-with-you frowns he did so well. “You see everything from now on.”

  That sounded like progress. She wasn’t quite ready to forgive and forget, but at least he’d stopped hiding things from her. Or she hoped that was true.

  She circled around the desk. Some of the newspaper clippings looked familiar. She saw two names on the sides of files—Steve and Jillian. The other two friends she’d lost. The ones without family members poking around in her life.

  A wave of sadness washed over her, threatening to plow her under. She shook off the memories and focused on the paperwork. She could handle papers.

  The men had gone quiet while she looked around but she could feel Matthias’s gaze on her. The man always stood by, on guard.

  Her gaze traveled over the disarray that seemed to be in some sort of filing system she didn’t understand. Garrett did. He dug through and took a note out of one stack and a photo out of another.

  Something pulled her attention away from the information in front of her. She kept looking around until she stared at the whiteboard again. She silently read the names in her head as she read across. The last column was the issue.

  Her heartbeat kicked up and panic gnawed at her gut. She glanced at Matthias and found him watching her. Studying her.

  “There’s a Doug section.” She somehow managed to keep her voice steady.

  Matthias’s expression stayed blank as he talked. “The police found cigarette butts with his DNA on them outside of your house the morning after the murders.”

  “It’s not a secret. He came over and smoked. We didn’t like it inside, so he did it outside.” He was also immature and jealous
. When she broke it off he acted like she wasn’t allowed to dump him or move on.

  They had all hated him. Nick and Steve banned him from the house. They did her dirty work because she told them how Doug followed her around between classes.

  “So, it wasn’t a smoking gun.” Garrett held up his hand as he shook his head. “Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood.”

  It didn’t work. Tension swirled around her.

  She grabbed for the nearest piece of paper. It listed the names and personal information of the slip renters at the marina. “What’s this?”

  Matthias hesitated before answering. “We’re checking everyone in the marina, including boat slip renters and regular customers of all the shops and the café. In fact, we’re waiting on more information right now. Some surveillance footage and videos from along the pier that might show us if anyone was lurking around or carrying a weapon.”

  This topic she could handle. The stalker. The here and now. “You think someone fired at us from a boat?”

  “From the bullet trajectory we’re looking for a building at about the same height as your apartment.” Matthias stepped over to stand beside her at the desk. He sifted through the top documents and dragged out a photograph of the pier taken from a boat that had to be some distance out on the water. It showed the entire waterfront.

  She picked it up and studied it, not sure what it showed. “I’ve never seen this.”

  “It’s for perspective and it shows the shooter likely was in one of these three buildings.” Matthias pointed out the other multistory buildings near her apartment.

  “Wow, okay.” She’d seen that sort of thing on television. Putting the forensic terms to real life proved far more interesting than she’d expected. She just wished they were analyzing someone else’s life.

  “You haven’t made me forget about the Doug question.”

  “There’s no story there.” She dropped the photo on the pile and moved away from Matthias. He had so many skills, and she wouldn’t doubt that human lie detector was one of them. She needed to stay far enough out of touching range not to find out.

  “Then let me figure out where he is and what happened to him,” he said.

  That’s exactly what she was afraid of. Enough of her past had come rearing up. She didn’t need to deal with the Doug chapter. Not any more than she already did every single day.

  Thinking maybe some facts would help, she spelled them out. “We were accused of being in on it together. Then people talked about love triangles and jealousy. We were hounded and had our personal lives ripped apart. He’s been questioned as much as I have. Is it any wonder that he dropped out of public view? I did.”

  “Not completely.” Matthias gestured toward the folders on the desk. “I was able to find you.”

  “Technically, I found you,” Garrett said without lifting his head or breaking his stride as he moved around the room, organizing his paperwork.

  “Either way, you’re looking in the wrong place. The answer is Mary.”

  Matthias shrugged. “Maybe.”

  The woman who hated her. Kayla was very clear on that point . . . and on the need to get out of there. Fresh air and a few hours of mindless work might flush out some of this extra energy. She expected to get questions about the so-called accidental shooting from well-meaning people around the café. It would take a good half hour to prepare herself for that.

  “And now I’m going to get ready for work. Looks like today is casual day because my uniforms are back at the apartment and, clearly, I need to stay away from there for a while.” She wasn’t sure she could ever go back. One incident she might be able to ignore. Two? Not likely.

  Before Matthias could pepper her with questions or ask anything else, she slipped away. Kept walking until she got into the bathroom in Matthias’s room. She finally exhaled when she leaned back against the closed door.

  She had the very real feeling Matthias wouldn’t stop until he knew everything. Then she was screwed.

  Matthias watched her leave. Hell, she practically ran. When the issue of Doug came up, her demeanor changed. She switched from self-confident and open to shut off. She wouldn’t listen to reason about him. Wouldn’t entertain any theories.

  If she was trying to convince him that Doug was innocent, she was doing a piss-poor job.

  Garrett looked up from shuffling papers. “You notice how she doesn’t want to talk about the actual murders?”

  “It’s hard to miss.” It was also all he could think about.

  He knew exactly what he’d do if someone killed the people he cared about. He’d track them down and exact revenge. The suffering came after and he owned that, but nothing would have stopped him from searching out the truth.

  This was more than loyalty or fond feelings for a first love. Doug could be the key to everything.

  Garrett looked into the next room then shut the door partway. When he returned to the center of his room, he leaned against the edge of the desk. “She separates out what’s happening now from what happened then. Doesn’t even seem interested in figuring out who killed her friends and turned her life upside down in the first place.”

  “Yep.” It was as if Garrett had read his mind. Matthias had been toying with the same doubts and confusion ever since Doug’s name came up. “That leaves us with three theories.”

  Garrett counted them out on his fingers. “She did it. She was in on it, or—”

  “She knows who did it.” That’s the only option that made sense. It had been spinning in Matthias’s mind and he couldn’t discount it.

  “Then why not sic us on that person?”

  “Good question.” He was right there. He’d made clear he could investigate or get Wren to do it. Between them, they’d test every theory. Hunt down every body.

  Garrett sighed. “Do you have any answer?”

  “No, but I will.”

  It was late in the afternoon before Lauren showed up at the café for her usual check-in. She’d been out with a group of businessmen. Now she stood outside, talking with Paul. Seemed to be giving him a lecture, which made Kayla smile.

  She needed one of those today. If one more business owner or tourist asked her about the shooting she’d scream. Like scream and not stop.

  She watched Garrett watching Lauren. That made Kayla smile, too.

  Grabbing the coffeepot, she made her way over to his table and refreshed his cup. At least he blended in today. Jeans and a casual shirt looked right on him. “How did you get stuck with guard duty?”

  If she didn’t know better she’d guess that Matthias was hiding from her. They’d had a rocky few days. Every time he talked, she basically left the room. It wasn’t all about him, but he couldn’t know that.

  “Matthias got a call and had to go to the police station.”

  She almost dropped the pot. It took two hands to save her from dumping it all over Garrett’s new outfit. “What? Why?”

  “Wren is working his magic to make sure this gets written off without your identity being divulged.”

  These men never stopped working. “He can do that?”

  Garrett barked out a laugh. “He’s freakishly good at his job. They both are.”

  “Since I’m alive today and not recuperating from a gunshot wound I appreciate Matthias’s skills.” Talk about an understatement. She felt a lot of things for Matthias—many of them unwanted but none that could be described as simple appreciation. She’d zoomed way past that days ago.

  “The guy is good. Wren uses Quint all the time for jobs.” Garrett usually engaged in sarcasm but his voice stayed steady. Even held a bit of awe in it.

  Clearly Garrett was impressed. So was she, but she didn’t have the details. Life was easier that way. She had enough to be angry about. “I don’t think I want to know.”

  Garrett peeked at her over the top of his mug as he took a sip. “I wouldn’t tell you if you did.”

  “Is it a good idea to send Matthias in to deal with people?” He wasn
’t exactly a master communicator. He’d turned out to be better at connecting than she’d first thought, but still.

  “No, but Wren has it under control.”

  “Wren . . . the same guy who was in here in a suit?” It was as if they had a secret club or something. “I’ll believe you.”

  Lauren picked that minute to storm into the café with Paul in tow. Kayla looked behind her and saw the ice cream guy from the truck parked around the corner walking away. Oh, great. Lauren had heard the shooting news.

  “What the hell happened?” Lauren called out before the door closed behind Paul.

  “Who’s the guy with Lauren?” Garrett whispered the question.

  Kayla barely heard it over the banging of pots in the kitchen. “The barfer.”

  “I really hope his mom named him that.”

  Lauren came to a stop right in front of Garrett’s table. “Where’s your—”

  “Her boyfriend?” Garrett glared at Lauren as he spoke. “Matthias will be back soon.” Some of the tension left Garrett’s face when he turned to Paul. “I’m Garrett, by the way.”

  “Paul. Hi.” That’s all Paul said, and even that was more than usual.

  He was a young twenty-something. Seemed shy. Always wore that baseball hat and barely made eye contact. Lauren said he had a super brain for numbers and worked really cheap. He also needed spending money and some experience. In other words, a typical student at nearby St. John’s. The same place Kayla had once thought she’d finish out her degree, but she guessed that was moot now.

  “He’s my assistant,” Lauren said.

  Garrett nodded. “So I’ve heard.”

  Lauren balanced her hands on the back of the chair. “What happened last night and where was Matthias?”

  “Some stray bullets from unruly party celebrations. We’re fine.” Kayla tried to keep her voice light and carefree but she suspected she failed when Paul threw her an odd look.