Christmas Undercover

by Hope White

  She didn’t like lying to Will or the local authorities, but she wasn’t ready to go public, not until she spoke with her supervisor. Unfortunately Bonner wasn’t answering her calls. She wondered if it was a tough love thing, that he thought if he ignored her she’d get back to relaxing on a beach somewhere. Then she realized he wouldn’t recognize the new phone number. She’d been hesitant to leave a message regarding the situation, she wasn’t sure why. So she decided to keep trying until he picked up.

  The last thing she wanted was to blow her cover and expose herself as FBI to LaRouche and Harrington. They’d surely destroy evidence that could be used to build a case against them.

  Evidence. She felt in her pocket for her broken phone. She had to get it to a tech person and retrieve the recorded murder of David Price.

  “How do I find one of those?” she whispered to herself.

  Maybe she’d ask Will, since he seemed to know most everyone in town. Yes, she’d tell him she wanted to retrieve photos from her ruined phone.

  She sighed, eyeing Will’s commanding presence through the window as he spoke with Nate. She wanted to stop lying to Will, to the man who had continually offered support and encouragement. No man, besides her uncle, had ever done that for her. Most of the men she’d dated had seemed too self-absorbed, and the male agents at work were focused solely on their careers.

  There was no room in the FBI for weakness. She thought she’d covered hers pretty well with sheer grit and determination to nail criminals. Instead, Bonner criticized her for her tenacity, saying it had gotten her into trouble, that she saw crimes where there were none. He even insinuated she was overcompensating for something, like her small stature or even...

  A past failure.

  That seemed like a low blow, considering Bonner knew about her father’s death.

  She stepped away from the window and unzipped her backpack, still frustrated with herself for hiding when she felt the threat looming outside her room at the inn. She should have stood up for herself and taken the guy down. Any other FBI agent would have detained him for questioning.

  “Yeah, with bruised ribs and a sprained wrist?”

  The sound of footsteps echoed against the stairs. Putting distance between her and Will was getting more and more difficult, especially since she was staying in his wife’s art studio.

  That’s not the only reason, Sara.

  She felt herself opening up to him, allowing herself to be vulnerable for the first time since...

  Had she ever really been vulnerable to a man before?

  “It’s not a five-star hotel, but it’s pretty nice, huh?” Will said, stepping up to the top floor.

  “It’s charming.” She glanced at him. “But I don’t like putting you or your family in danger.”

  “You aren’t. This place is a few blocks from my house, and isn’t in my name, so no one will be able to make the connection between us.”

  “Who owns it?”

  “A couple that travels ten months out of the year. I’d agreed to maintain things around here in exchange for Megan’s use of the loft. I kept doing it, you know, as a favor.”

  Sara suspected it was more than that. She suspected he liked being around his wife’s former space.

  “The daybed isn’t bad,” he said. “Megan spent her share of nights here.” He looked away, as if he hadn’t meant to admit that.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “You two were having trouble?”

  “No, it wasn’t that...well, not initially. It was the cancer. She wanted to spend the last few months here with the caregiver so I could get used to raising the girls alone. At least that’s what she said.”

  “That must have been rough.”

  “Yeah, well, we had the loft cleaned out, so no cancer germs,” he joked. He closed his eyes and sighed. “I don’t know where that came from. I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t need to apologize. You’ve been through a lot, and you have a right to react any way you want.”

  “Yeah, but that made me sound like a heartless jerk.”

  “Not even on your worst day could anyone think of you as a heartless jerk.”

  Will snapped his gaze to hers. Sara felt her heartbeat tapping against her chest.

  Don’t do this, Sara. He’s a man still grieving for his wife, and you happen to be standing in her space.

  “Hopefully a room will open up at the resort in the next day or two and I can move over there.” She refocused on emptying her backpack of clothes and setting them on a wooden bench. “Oh, I meant to ask if you knew of a place in town where I could get my phone looked at?”

  “The new one?”

  “No, my original phone. It was damaged in the fall and I’d like to retrieve things from it, like pictures.”

  “I know a techie who could help.”

  “Great, thanks.”

  “Nate has assigned a police officer to keep watch.”

  “What about Spike, the one who Nate thought was looking after me?”

  “They found him wandering by the highway, disoriented, and took him to the hospital.”

  “Officer Petrellis did that to him?”

  “Nate suspects so, yes, and that Petrellis took Spike’s phone and was texting updates to Nate.”

  “Is Spike okay?”

  “He’ll be fine. He’s a tough kid who came on the force a few months ago. He’s probably wondering if that was such a good idea right about now.”

  “Did they track down Petrellis?”

  “No one was home when they checked his house. No car in the driveway, and the blinds were all closed. They’ve got a bulletin out on him. Anyway, a police officer should be arriving shortly to keep an eye on things here.”

  “I thought Nate didn’t have the resources, or are they worried I’ll flee the county?”

  “Nate is concerned about your safety.”

  She nodded, hoping the detective truly believed her.

  “Sara?”

  “I’m fine. You don’t have to stay.”

  “Okay, well...” He ran an anxious hand through thick chestnut hair. “There are fresh towels in the bathroom, and you bought toiletries at the store so you should be all set.”

  “Yep, looking forward to a good night’s sleep.”

  “Okay, well, until tomorrow.”

  “Will, you don’t have to—”

  “Don’t tell me not to check on you, Sara.”

  “You’re awfully determined.”

  “Sometimes not determined enough. I won’t make that mistake again.”

  She frowned, trying to figure out what he meant.

  “Have a good night,” he said in a firm voice. “The door automatically locks when I shut it. You can flip the deadbolt if you want, as well.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  With a nod, he went downstairs and shut the door with a click.

  She felt so alone in this strange place, a place where Will’s wife had withdrawn from the world, which was kind of what Sara felt as though she was doing.

  She could neither withdraw from the world, nor her current situation. There was a case to solve, two men to put away for murder, at the very least.

  She pulled out her newly purchased cell phone and called her boss, this time deciding to leave a message.

  “This is Agent Bonner. Leave a message.”

  “It’s Agent Vaughn. There’s been a development in the LHP case and I need to speak with you immediately. Here is my new number.” She rattled it off. “The suspected drug case is now first-degree murder. I witnessed LaRouche kill David Price.”

  She ended the call and stared at the phone. That should get him to call her back.

  Exhausti
on took hold, and she flopped down on the daybed. The echo of car doors slammed outside, and she figured the new surveillance officer had arrived.

  Sara took a deep breath and relaxed, knowing she’d think more clearly after a decent night’s sleep. She felt safe for now. No one knew where she was. LaRouche and Harrington couldn’t find her here.

  She sighed and drifted off to sleep.

  * * *

  Sara awoke with a start. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep, perhaps not long because it was still dark outside. She grabbed her phone. It was nearly ten.

  Then she heard what had awakened her: the creak of wooden floorboards. Someone was coming up the steps.

  Sara sat up, her heart racing. She’d left the desk lamp on, which she often did, so she wouldn’t be disoriented if she awakened. She searched the room for a closet, a place to hide.

  No, she wouldn’t keep hiding like a coward, a weak and fragile woman who didn’t belong in the field. But she needed a better position from which to defend herself.

  She noticed a rock candleholder on the desk across the room. She grabbed it and crouched beside a set of file cabinets.

  Her attacker was pretty smart to have eluded the police officer outside. Was Petrellis coming up the stairs? She bit her lower lip with worry, remembering he was at least six feet tall. Sure, she could call 911, only they wouldn’t get here in time to prevent the assault. They’d arrive after the fact, after she’d been taken, or beaten up, or worse.

  She focused on the sound. Silence rang in her ears. Was she was imagining things?

  No, she wouldn’t be swayed by her boss’s comment that, at times, her overzealousness bordered on irrational.

  Another creak of floorboards echoed across the loft.

  Focus, Sara. Breathe.

  Creak, creak.

  Now it sounded as though the creak was coming from the other side of the loft.

  The intruder was up here, with Sara. Coming closer.

  Closer.

  Weapon in hand, Sara waited...

  EIGHT

  Will had drifted off to sleep on the sofa when the phone awakened him.

  “Yeah?” he said.

  “Is Claire with you?” his mother-in-law said.

  “What?” He sat up.

  “Susanna can’t find her. She thinks she might have gone home.”

  The phone pressed to his ear, Will searched the house. The beds were neatly made. No Claire. “She’s not here. What happened?”

  “Claire got upset and Susanna thought she went into the bedroom, but now she can’t find her. One of the girls thought she heard her go out the back.”

  “I’ll go look for her. She shouldn’t be walking around at night.”

  “You’re preaching to the choir. That girl should be grounded for life.”

  “I’ll call when I find her.” He pocketed his phone, grabbed his house keys and headed outside, figuring he’d walk to Susanna’s house and hopefully run into his daughter making her way home.

  He tamped down the panic, knowing it was a senseless emotion, yet a natural one. What happened that upset Claire? She’d been moody lately, and he wondered if something was happening with her friends or at school, and she couldn’t bring herself to talk to Will about it. Listening and giving advice had always been Megan’s role.

  He walked a few blocks and automatically glanced to his right, across the park at the house with the upstairs loft that his wife, and now Sara, used as a refuge.

  A shriek echoed across the park.

  More lights popped on in the loft.

  And a little person sprinted out of the house, past the patrol car parked out front.

  Claire?

  He took off toward her. What was she doing at the loft? Unless...

  She missed her mom.

  And found a stranger in her mother’s space.

  That must have been confusing, not to mention frightening for his daughter.

  Will caught up to her on the lake path.

  “Daddy! Daddy!” she sobbed.

  Will whisked her into his arms. “Hey, baby girl. It’s okay. I’m here.”

  “There was a...ghost in the loft!”

  “No, honey, there’s no such thing as a ghost.”

  “I saw her!”

  She continued to sob against his shoulder and he debated taking her home, or going back to the loft to clear this up. A uniformed police officer headed toward them. The one thing Will did not want was for Sara’s protective detail to leave his post.

  Carrying Claire in his arms, Will headed toward the loft.

  “Where are we going?” Claire said.

  “To show you it wasn’t a ghost, then I’ll take you home. What were you doing at the loft anyway?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Claire Renee Rankin.”

  A few seconds passed, then she said, “I go there sometimes, that’s all.”

  “You go inside?”

  “Yeah. I found a secret way inside.”

  He approached the police officer and recognized Officer Ryan McBride, Bree’s cousin. “Hi, Ryan,” Will said.

  “I didn’t even see her until she came racing out of the house. Is she okay?”

  “Yeah, just scared. What about Sara?”

  They both turned to look at the house. Sara stood in the doorway on the first floor, gripping a blanket around her shoulders.

  “See, that’s the ghost!” Claire cried into Will’s shoulder.

  “No, honey. That’s Sara, a friend of mine,” Will said. “I’m sure she feels badly about scaring you. Let’s go talk to her.”

  Claire shook her head no.

  “Look, you weren’t supposed to be at the loft in the first place, were you?”

  She shook her head again.

  “Okay, then, let’s face the consequences of your actions and sort this out.” He nodded at Officer McBride and continued to the house.

  “Will, I’m so sorry. I thought it was an intruder,” Sara said, pulling the blanket tight around her shoulders with one hand.

  “Let’s go inside.”

  The three of them went upstairs. Will sat on a gray wingback chair and adjusted Claire on his lap. His little girl buried her face against his shoulder.

  Sara sat on the daybed across the room. “I’m so sorry,” she repeated.

  “So is Claire, aren’t you, baby girl?” Will said.

  “I’m not a baby anymore, Daddy.”

  “No? So you’re a big girl, and big girls can run off without telling anyone where they’re going?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “What happened, sweetheart?” he said, softening his voice.

  “Nothing.”

  “Claire?” he pushed.

  “We were making cookies.”

  “And...?”

  “Olivia wanted to make snicker doodles, and Marissa said, you mean snicker poodles.”

  “That upset you because...?”

  She leaned back and looked at him. “Those are Mommy’s special cookies.”

  “Right. And it made you miss your mom?”

  She buried her face against his neck. “It made me sad, so I went for a walk. Don’t be mad, Daddy.”

  “I’m not angry. I was worried. So was your grandmother, Mrs. Baker, and what about your little sister? Remember the buddy system? You’re never supposed to leave her alone.”

  “She was eating cookie dough. She didn’t care.”

  “Of course she did. As a matter of fact, I’d better call over there. First, let me introduce you to my friend, Miss Sara. She was hurt in a hiking accident and SAR rescued her. I offered to let her stay here.”

  “This is Mommy’s plac
e,” Claire’s muffled voice said.

  “I know, but Mommy’s not using it right now, and Miss Sara needs a place to sleep.” He shot a half smile across the room at Sara.

  Sara’s gaze was intent on the back of Claire’s head.

  “How about it?” Will said. “Can we show Miss Sara our gracious hospitality by letting her stay here for a few days?”

  “I guess.” Claire leaned back and looked at Will. “What happened to your face, Daddy?”

  “I had a hiking accident, too.”

  “Did they have to rescue you?”

  “No, I walked down on my own.”

  “You look like you were in a fight.”

  “Do I look like I won?” he teased.

  “Yeah.” Claire giggled.

  “Good answer,” he said. “Now, I’d better call your grandmother before she sends out the National Guard.” Will shifted Claire off his lap and made the call.

  * * *

  By holding the blanket loosely around her body, Sara managed to hide the fact that she was still trembling. The adrenaline rush hadn’t worn off from the past few minutes.

  Will’s daughter studied her with fascination and fear coloring her eyes. To think Sara had nearly conked the girl on the head with the rock candle.

  Yet she hadn’t because as Sara had been about to jump out of her hiding spot, the little girl had whispered, “Mommy, where are you?”

  Sara had put down her weapon and stepped out from behind the file cabinet. Unfortunately revealing herself had terrified little Claire.

  Mommy, where are you?

  Hadn’t Sara asked the same question a hundred times as a child? Wondering why her mom had had to go live at the hospital, and then why she’d never come home.

  Sara’s heart ached for Claire.

  “It’s fine. She’s fine,” Will said into the phone.

  Sara noticed how he inadvertently stroked Claire’s hair while speaking to his mother-in-law.

  Claire hadn’t taken her eyes off Sara.

  “I’m sorry if I frightened you,” Sara said.

  “Why were you hiding?”

  “I was scared.”

  “Of me?” Claire said, incredulously.

  “I didn’t know it was you,” Sara explained. “All I heard was someone coming up the steps.”