Harlequin Superromance May 2016 Box Set

by Janice Kay Johnson

  “You know our resources are limited. We deal with potential witnesses all the time. It’s rare for a perp to risk going back to silence someone.”

  “But he seems to have done just that.”

  “Or she got in the middle of a local gang shooting. You do have gangs?”

  “We have gangs,” he growled.

  “A face puts us a quantum leap ahead of where we were.” Novinski suddenly sounded a lot more cheerful.

  Bran was glad one of them was, especially since he knew she wasn’t going to like the next thing he had to say.

  “I don’t want to publish this.”

  “Why?”

  “First, because he’ll take off if he sees his face on the news. Right now, he’s here. I know he is. He has no idea we’re as close to getting him as we are.”

  “All right,” she said. “What else?”

  “This asshole is dangerous. What if he’s in a convenience store and sees his face on the front page of the newspaper right by the checkout stand? He turns around and the person behind him in line looks from the drawing to his face. You think he’s going to just walk out? Or is he going to kill everyone in there?”

  Novinski argued, but not very hard. They were dealing with a ruthless bastard. The risk was real, whether he was living in Bran’s county or somewhere else. Finally, she said, “I’m okay with giving it some time. If we don’t get anywhere, we may need to put this out there.”

  “Don’t do it without talking to me first.”

  She didn’t like being challenged, but, as he’d already noted, she didn’t have ego problems. “I’ll give you fair warning,” she conceded.

  He couldn’t ask for more. Bran only hoped like hell his caution didn’t tie their hands.

  * * *

  BRAN’S BED WAS huge and amazingly comfortable. She closed her eyes, remembering how it felt to have his big body wrapped around hers. Smiling, she fell into a deep, luxurious sleep.

  Abruptly, she came awake. Holding herself very still, Lina listened.

  Oh, God. Had she heard a key in the door? Because...she’d swear the entry door was opening and somebody was coming in. Bran hadn’t been gone that long. Why would he be back so soon?

  Heart pounding, she slipped out of bed, taking a second to pull on her elastic-waisted maternity pants. Bran might not have called out if he’d guessed she was sleeping...

  She tiptoed to where she could see down the short hall, through the living room to the entry, where somebody was indeed coming into the apartment. Only...it wasn’t Bran.

  Lina clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry. She was mostly looking at a substantial rear end and polyester-clad legs. She thought it was a woman backing in, pulling...something.

  Lina dashed to where she’d left her phone on the bedside stand and dialed Bran.

  He answered on the second ring. “What’s wrong?”

  “Somebody is here,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Inside.”

  “What?”

  “She had a key—”

  “Oh, hell,” he groaned. “I completely forgot. This is Tuesday. A woman comes in for a couple hours once a week to clean. Middle-aged, a little plump?”

  Oh, thank goodness. “Yes.” Lina tried not to sound shaky, although she felt it. “That seems about right. What’s her name? I’d better go introduce myself so I don’t scare her, too. Unless she knows I’m here?”

  “No, I didn’t think to tell her, either. Andrea Young. Damn, I’m sorry, Lina.”

  She reassured him and made a production of swinging the bedroom door farther open before she went out into the hall and said, “Hello?”

  The woman who had just plugged in a vacuum cleaner jumped, as startled as Lina had been. She might have just as good reason, too; letting herself into other people’s theoretically empty homes must be a little unnerving.

  Lina approached. “Bran forgot to tell me you were coming, and apparently to tell you he has a houseguest. I apologize for surprising you.”

  The woman, fortyish with many-times-dyed blond hair, smiled. “Well, we hardly ever talk. He mostly leaves notes and checks on the refrigerator. I’m Andrea Young.”

  “Lina Jurick.”

  “Would you rather I didn’t stay today?”

  She wouldn’t go back to sleep anyway, not with so much adrenaline flooding her bloodstream. “No, this is fine. I feel a little guilty lazing around while you clean, but I’ll just stay out of your way.”

  Lina went to the kitchen to survey possibilities for dinner, leaving Andrea to vacuum the living room, bedroom and Bran’s rather bare office, which Lina had yet to see him use. Then she retreated to the sofa while Andrea cleaned the kitchen, finally mopping. Bathroom next, then she dusted. Yes, even running her duster over Bran’s books.

  They barely exchanged a word, although the woman thanked Lina for holding the door for her when she left.

  After locking behind her, Lina leaned her back against it and wondered why she still felt so unsettled. It only took her a minute to understand. She had felt safe here, as if the locks on the door and the bar securing the sliding glass door made Bran’s apartment impregnable. But who else might have a key? He’d probably given Paige one, maybe friends. Zach? People were careless with their keys. Copies could be made so easily.

  Her faith in locks had just been shaken.

  * * *

  HARD AS IT was to focus on anything but the threat to Lina, Bran still had a job to do. He caught a break on an assault case he’d had to put on the back burner. Finally having a believable witness testimony, he took another detective along, per procedure, and made an arrest. Booking and his report took a good part of the afternoon. When he was done, he considered skipping out early, but instead swore under his breath and set to doing background searches to keep his promise to Zach.

  Zach had been determined to research Rob Greaver’s history himself. Most of the names of other neighbors’ boys from their childhood that he had passed on to Bran came up clean. A few had sounded only vaguely familiar, but others evoked memories, faces. One girl Bran had looked up only out of curiosity after searching for her brother, who now worked construction and lived in eastern Washington. The sister he remembered better. Zoe Tacher had become a physical therapist? Well, she’d been good with her hands and mouth, as half the boys who’d attended Clear Creek High School with her could attest. Bran grinned before moving on.

  Derek Brooks, now... Bran scanned his record, then deepened the search. Derek had been part of the neighborhood gang, but not a friend of Bran’s even though they were close in age.

  Good old Derek had been arrested twice, once for rape, once for statutory rape. The first time, he got off. His attorney had probably succeeded in persuading the jury that the sex had been consensual. He’d been twenty-six at that point, the girl...barely eighteen. After the second arrest, he wasn’t so lucky. He insisted the girl had said she was eighteen, when in fact she was only fifteen. By then, he was thirty-three. He served a ridiculously short term and got out no doubt to prey on other young women.

  Bran called the Bellingham PD and counted his blessings to find the arresting detective was still with the department and willing to talk to him. Detective Sanchez had to look up the case, but then said, “Oh, yeah, I remember that one. He up to his old tricks?”

  “This isn’t a current matter. His name actually came up regarding a very cold case.” He explained, having to admit his relationship to Sheila since they shared the same last name. “He lived about a block from us at the time. Neither of his arrests involved young girls, but he’d have only been thirteen when Sheila was killed. Seems like women his own age intimidate him. Maybe girls his age did, too, back then.”

  “I don’t know,” the detective said. “He may not be able to handle women his own age, but I will say the
girl could have passed for a college kid. Really buxom for a fifteen-year-old. Would he go for that if he preferred little girls?”

  Probably not. All Bran could do was thank him and cross Brooks off his list. As, so far, they’d eliminated every other possibility, with the exception of Rob Greaver. And Zach wouldn’t like to hear him say so, but Bran couldn’t help thinking they were jumping to some major conclusions there. There were a lot of reasons Mama Greaver might be proud of her daughter and not her son.

  His mood sour, Bran shut down his computer. He had to get going if he and Lina were to eat early enough for her to swim.

  Yes, once more he’d be driving her straight into the perfect location for an ambush. He was acutely aware that Lina was never more vulnerable than she was at the high school, where she’d already been attacked once. Tonight, at least, he’d have backup from Zach, who hadn’t even hesitated about agreeing to help.

  Having family still felt strange, Bran reflected. And, yeah, good, too.

  * * *

  ZACH WAS SHOCKED to find Tess had never learned how to swim. How had he not known? In part, he realized, because his days off this summer had been spent working on the house, not going rafting or to the nearest lake for a dip.

  “I can float on my back, but the idea of putting my face in the water gives me the creeps.” She had almost drowned when she was three. She admitted to remembering the terror, rather than what had actually happened, but her parents had told the story often. It involved a company potluck at a lakeshore park, and her mother and father each thinking the other was keeping an eye on her. Apparently she had ventured out onto a dock, watching the big kids splashing in the water. Nobody knew whether she’d jumped in or gotten too close to the edge.

  “You know how murky lake water can be. In my memory, it’s black. I’m sinking and I can’t breathe.”

  “God, I’m so sorry. Who pulled you out?”

  “Several kids saw me go in and my father came racing down the dock. One of the boys had managed to pull me to the ladder by the time he got there, though.” She shuddered, her expression unusually vulnerable. “I’ve tried taking lessons a couple times, but I always panic.”

  “Then forget tonight,” he said roughly.

  But, gutsy woman that she was, she refused. In swimming pools, she said, at least the water was clear and she could see the bottom. She could paddle around, and she liked hot tubs.

  Paddling was about what she did once they got there. He was a better swimmer than his brother, he discovered, but he took it easy so he could keep an eye on Tess. When Lina offered to give her a lesson, Tess accepted despite her deep fears.

  Relieved to see that the lesson was very basic, Zach hoisted himself out of the pool to join Bran in the hot tub, which they had to themselves. He groaned with pleasure as a jet of bubbling water hit a sore muscle in his lower back.

  Bran took advantage of the chance to tell him which names he’d run background checks on that day, and Zach managed to keep his mouth shut. It would have been easy to say, Really? You found the time?

  He knew the accusation would have been unfair anyway. No, his brother wasn’t as driven as he was to pursue this, but Zach regretted the scene he’d made last time this came up. Bran really was slammed right now, with the double murder at the bank, the rest of his caseload and the threat to Lina. And he’d been right—after twenty-five years, what did a few more days or weeks matter?

  Zach stood, craning his neck to see how the lesson was going and saw the two women’s backs. Lina appeared to be demonstrating a stroke, Tess watching carefully. Each wore a single, fat braid down her back.

  “How’s it going?” Bran asked lazily.

  “Looks okay.” He told Bran her story, which made his brother wince.

  “That would do it.” He watched Zach lay back and close his eyes. “You done anything about Greaver?”

  “Called. Left messages. He’s not returning them.”

  “Mama probably warned him about you.”

  Zach grunted. “I know where he works. I’ll lie in wait for him when he gets off.”

  “Monday?”

  It was one of Zach’s days off. “Yeah.”

  “I can come if you want.”

  Zach opened his eyes. “You’re serious?”

  Bran scowled. “Of course I’m serious. You know this guy isn’t going to be very happy to see you.”

  Zach grinned. “You’re worried about me.”

  A smile might have twitched one corner of Bran’s mouth. “In your dreams.”

  He sank lower again, utterly relaxed. Finally, he said, “Sure.”

  The next time he opened his eyes, it was to find a pregnant woman standing above him in a wet bathing suit. He couldn’t help thinking how he’d really like to see Tess carrying their baby.

  “Your wife wants you to come watch,” Lina said.

  “Really?” Zach levered himself out of the hot tub. Just as well; he’d been about to fall asleep. Some security he was proving to be. He followed Lina to the pool, where Tess was waiting.

  “Courage in action,” she told him, sounding flip to hide the fact that she was completely serious, he suspected. Lina, who had sat on the side of the pool, gave her a nod of encouragement. Tess took a deep breath, bent forward, put her face in the water—and lifted her feet off the bottom. She floated, unaided, for a count of ten or so before standing up again in a rush. Her eyes found his.

  He applauded, and realized Bran was beside him doing the same.

  Zach crouched, and waited until Tess came to the edge, looking up at him. “I have never, for a moment, doubted your courage,” he murmured, just for her.

  Her smile lit her face.

  * * *

  HEARING THE BABY’S heartbeat was the damnedest thing. It wasn’t as if Bran hadn’t believed she was in there; he’d felt her move. But he was mesmerized by that quick, light beat. It made him want to say, I’m here. When she was born, would she know his voice?

  She wouldn’t if Lina moved back into her apartment.

  It was all he could do to make himself take off the stethoscope, tearing his gaze from Lina’s stomach to meet her eyes. He had a bad feeling he looked as stupefied as he felt, but her smile was soft and understanding.

  “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “She’s really in there.”

  The doctor chuckled. “And we’re getting closer to when she needs to come out.”

  Childbirth terrified him. As a patrolman, he’d helped deliver a couple babies, and had nightmares about the experiences long afterward.

  He didn’t know what his face showed, but her hand found his. To reassure him? Or because she needed the connection?

  He couldn’t tell, because the doctor had whisked Lina’s shirt back down and was talking.

  “Everything looks good so far. Your blood pressure is about the same, which is a real positive. I’m glad you’re able to stay active. Swimming is an excellent choice, although you may find you have to give it up toward the end.”

  In other words, she might not be able to make it up to take a breath, not with a rock dragging her down. And, damn, Bran wished the doc had ordered Lina to change exercise plans now.

  “I’ve noticed I swim a little lower in the water,” Lina admitted.

  “Make an appointment on your way out,” the doctor added briskly. “I think we can safely go four weeks again.” She nodded at Bran. “Glad to see you here.”

  The door closed behind her. Bran let go of Lina’s hand to slip an arm behind her and help her sit up. When she turned her head to smile her thanks, her lips were only inches from his.

  He kissed her, feeling her inrush of breath. But then her lips softened and parted, and he deepened the kiss. Only briefly, because, damn, this wasn’t the p
lace, but his body was hardening at even so brief a taste. With a last nip on her lower lip, he straightened.

  Her dazed expression was an ego-booster. “I... What was that for?”

  “You were there,” he said, truthfully.

  “Oh.”

  He held open the exam room door and she slipped past him. While she made her next appointment, he went to get the car, pulling up directly in front of the clinic door. He didn’t see anything to alarm him, but hurried her into the Camaro anyway.

  During the drive, he kept an eye out for pursuit, but also on her since she appeared subdued. “Are you worried?” he asked, at last.

  “Worried?” She looked at him. “Well, of course I’m worried! Why else do you think I’m spending all day twiddling my thumbs in your apartment?”

  “Ah... I actually meant about the baby being born.” He gestured vaguely. “You know.”

  “Oh.” Her shoulders relaxed. “A little. I haven’t thought about it too much yet, I guess. I kind of hope they don’t show really explicit videos in the childbirth class.”

  “It’s pretty freaky-looking. When the head crowns.”

  Lina gaped at him.

  He told her about his experiences, not uncommon for patrol officers. “One woman hadn’t even noticed she was in labor until something like forty-five minutes before she gave birth. The baby just...fell out.”

  Into his partner’s hands, thank God, not his. Bran thought he might have been twenty-three or twenty-four then.

  “The other birth was during a blizzard. On the way to the hospital, the car went into a snowbank. Seems the wife was having a really bad contraction and the husband got distracted.”

  Bad, he thought belatedly, might not have been the best choice of words.

  Lina was silent until he pulled into his complex and put on the signal as they neared his assigned spot. “Now I’m glad I’m due in the spring instead of winter,” she said.

  He came to a stop, set the emergency brake and turned off the engine. Neither of them moved right away. “You won’t be alone,” he said.