Christmas Cover-Up

by Eason, Lynette

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Dad.”

  “Hi, sweetie.”

  “She’s not warming up at all, is she?”

  His sigh echoed. “I’m working on her. At least she’s speaking to you.”

  “True.” It was only in the last few years that her mother had climbed far enough out of her depression to even interact with Katie. And every once in a while Katie thought she caught a glimpse of longing and love in her mother’s eyes. But before she could act on it, her mother shut it off and shut her out.

  It broke her heart. “I’m doing everything I can to make her love me, Dad. What else can I do?” Her voice cracked on the last word and she wanted to call the words back. “Never mind. You don’t have to answer that.”

  “Katie—” His voice wobbled and he cleared his throat. “Your mother loves you, honey. She loves you so much.”

  “No, I don’t think she does,” she whispered. “I think she hates me.”

  “Oh, baby...”

  “I’m sorry, Dad, I shouldn’t have brought it up. Forget it.” She took a deep breath. With an effort, she shoved aside the hurt, wondering if she’d ever get used to it. “Dad, I need to ask you something and I want a straight answer.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You asked me to drop Lucy’s case.”

  “Yes.” She heard his wariness, but appreciated he didn’t push the subject of her mother.

  “Why?” He sighed and didn’t answer. “Dad?” Katie prompted.

  “Because it’s dangerous,” he blurted. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. Please, Katie, don’t put yourself in any more danger.”

  Katie sat stunned. Hearing the worry in his voice nearly undid her as much as her mother’s coolness.

  “How do you know I’m in danger?”

  “Landing in the hospital isn’t enough? That fire was deliberately set. The police officer I talked to said you were shot at. You need to stop looking for Lucy.”

  “Dad, I don’t even know that the fire or anything else going on is related to looking for Lucy.” She suspected it, of course, but had no real evidence of it.

  “Well, I do,” he snapped.

  Katie paused. “You do? How?”

  A heavy sigh filtered through the line. “I...”

  “You what? Tell me.”

  “I got a phone call. Someone with a low voice told me to warn you to stop looking for Lucy—or he’d make sure I had another daughter disappear.”

  Katie sat frozen. Shock raced through her. “When was this?”

  “Right after the fire.”

  “That’s why you came to the hospital. To tell me to stop looking for Lucy.”

  “Yes.” She closed her eyes at his husky admission.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about the phone call?”

  “He said not to. Said he’d come after your mom and me if I said he called, so you can’t say anything.”

  As she absorbed the shock that someone related to Lucy’s kidnapping had contacted her parents, she said, “He probably didn’t want me to try and trace the call.”

  “Katie, please, drop it. Lucy’s gone. It’s not worth your life.”

  “Dad, this is the whole reason I became a detective.” She paused. “If I stop looking for her, he wins,” she whispered. And her mother would never forgive her. She had to find Lucy. “You really want that?”

  “Of course not,” he snapped. Katie bit her lip and waited. He finally said in a softer tone, “Of course I don’t want him to win, but honey, I can’t lose you, too.”

  Heart in her throat, Katie finished the call with her father with promises to be careful. For a moment she sat there, marveling. Her father loved her enough that he didn’t want her looking for Lucy if it put her in danger. She swallowed hard at the realization and wished her mother felt the same way.

  Clamping down on her emotions, she called Gregory and filled him in. “Will you try and trace the call and see if the officers on duty in that area will ride by my parents’ house more often?”

  “Sure.”

  “Thanks.”

  Phone calls finished, her mind in a jumble of thoughts, she was debating her next move when her stomach rumbled.

  Katie dialed one more number.

  “Hello?”

  “Do you have any leftovers? I’m starving.”

  Erica laughed. “Of course. I was just sitting here with Jordan talking about your case. We’d love for you to join us.”

  In the background, she heard Jordan’s low rumble. “Tell her I’ll come get her.”

  Erica started to repeat it, but Katie said, “I heard him. Let me talk to him a minute, please.”

  She waited while Erica passed the phone to Jordan. “Hey.”

  “Hey, you don’t need to come get me. I’ll get Cort to follow me.”

  He paused. “I suppose that would work. Or you could just let him drive you.”

  “No. I want my car.” She didn’t know why she did.

  “But Cort’s perfectly capable—”

  “I want my car, Jordan.” He went silent and remorse for snapping at the man who was only trying to help washed over her. “I’m sorry. It’s probably a control issue. Everything in my life is out of control. The least I can do is drive myself.” She hadn’t meant to be quite that blunt. Hadn’t even planned on using those words. But there it was. Some subconscious need to be in control had surfaced.

  A sigh reached her. “I get it. Just be careful. I’m calling Cort now.”

  Katie hung up and shrugged on her heavy coat, wincing at the pull in her shoulder and ignoring the various aches and pains she was going to have to live with for a while. She grabbed her weapon and keys and walked out the door.

  A light rain fell, and she wondered if it would cause problems on the road. The asphalt didn’t feel slick beneath her feet and the temperature hovered just above freezing. She’d be all right.

  Katie said, “He wants you to follow me.”

  Cort waved his phone at her. “I know. No problem.”

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I don’t mind.” Cort’s dark eyes twinkled at her. “You have him wrapped, my girl.”

  “What are talking about?”

  “You two’ll figure it out. Now go get in your car in case someone decides to play target practice with your head.”

  Katie smirked and climbed into her car. She set her phone in the cup holder and waited for Cort to pull behind her.

  With his headlights in her rearview mirror, she made her way out of the parking lot and turned left, staying in the right-hand lane. Cort pulled in behind her. Regret filled her that her search for Lucy had caused such disruption in so many lives. She flexed her fingers around the steering wheel and clicked her blinker to turn right even as she pressed the brake to slow for the approaching light.

  A car flashed past her then slowed. Her stomach clenched into a knot. She gripped the wheel tightly and kept her eyes on the guy. His brake lights winked at her just before she pulled up beside him.

  She turned right on red. Cort’s headlights disappeared for a brief moment, then were there again. Her phone rang. She glanced at the number on her caller ID. Jordan.

  Katie grabbed the phone. “Hello.”

  “Just checking on you.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Holcombe Street. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

  “All right. Cort still behind you?”

  She checked the mirror. Bright lights behind her about two car lengths back. “Right behind me.”

  “Be careful, Katie.”

  “I am. I’m going to check in with Gregory and get the latest on Mr. Young. I’ll see
you in a bit.”

  He hung up and she bit her lip. Her heart was doing things it shouldn’t be doing. Not for him. Jordan Gray was off-limits, but she couldn’t seem to keep her distance. He was exactly the kind of man she wanted. And his parents would probably never be able to accept her.

  And that was a big enough obstacle for her to put the brakes on her emotions. Shut them up tight and throw away the key.

  Or at least try.

  * * *

  Jordan’s phone rang. Cort. “What’s up?”

  “I lost her.”

  “What? I just talked to her. She said you were right behind her.”

  “I got cut off when she turned right on Holcombe. Some dude cut in front of me. By the time I got around him, she was gone. Which route would she take, left or right at Henry?”

  Jordan thought but didn’t know. “I have no idea which way she’d go. Let me call her and ask her where she is.”

  He hung up and punched in Katie’s number.

  Then groaned when it went to voice mail.

  TEN

  Katie ignored Jordan beeping in as she talked with her roommate on the phone.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot to tell you on Mr. Young. He had no defensive wounds, so he trusted whoever he let in his house. And that person took him by surprise and shot him execution style. He was killed sitting in his chair,” Mariah told her.

  “Yes, I knew that. Do you have a time of death?”

  “You said the house was cold when you entered due to the open doors, and that messes up my timeline. As best I can determine, he died the day of the wreck, but I can’t be a hundred percent sure. The shooting at the diner happened at one-oh-four p.m. He was at the hospital for a good wait.”

  “His neighbor saw him come home with his son. That was around five-thirty p.m.”

  “As far as I can tell, he was killed shortly after that.”

  “The killer was waiting for him,” she whispered. “But how did he get his information? How would the killer have known who it was?”

  “Maybe he got the license plate and got someone to figure it out.”

  “Or maybe when he raced off and lost the police chasing him, he circled back and watched everything.”

  “And followed the man to the hospital.”

  “And then home.”

  “It could’ve happened that way.”

  “Maybe.” Katie heard her phone beep again. “I’ve got to go. Thanks.”

  “See ya.”

  She glanced at the screen of her phone. Jordan. She’d missed him again. She smiled. It felt rather nice to have someone worry about her.

  Then she frowned. She just wished he didn’t have a reason to. She’d call him back as soon as she got on the straight road. He could wait sixty seconds.

  Katie turned off the main highway and took the road that would lead her to Erica’s home. Erica and Max had bought the property three months ago, shortly after they’d found Molly and brought her home. Max and Erica’s wedding was in a few weeks, and Katie couldn’t be happier for her friends.

  Max had decided to give his house to his sister, Lydia, whom he’d bought it for, anyway. Katie knew he was anxious for the wedding so he could move into the new place and he, Erica and Molly could be a family at last. She started to dial Jordan’s number when she noticed the lights behind her.

  Cort seemed to be following a little too close. She tapped her brakes. The road was getting slick, and he needed to back off a little.

  Cars passed her on the left going in the opposite direction. Streetlights were sparse and the darkness pressed in on her. She shivered and sent up a prayer for safety.

  Cort backed off for a few minutes, then he was right back on her tail. What was he doing? Was he trying to get her attention?

  She cleared the screen of Jordan’s number and started to punch in Cort’s when the device rang. Jordan. “Hello.”

  “Katie, Cort got cut off and lost you. Do you have anyone behind you?”

  A frisson of fear shot up her spine. Along with a surge of anger. “Yes, and he’s riding my bumper.”

  “Tell me where you are and I’ll call for backup.”

  “I’m on—”

  The car slammed into her bumper and she lost her grip on the phone. It flew to the floorboard. “I’m on Sunset!” She prayed the phone was still on. She didn’t dare lean over to retrieve it.

  Katie tightened her grip on the steering wheel as she glanced in her rearview mirror and tried to get a look at the face of the person following her. This was not happening again. Hadn’t her attacker learned his lesson the first time?

  Apparently not.

  Under one of the few street lamps, she caught a glimpse of the car. A late-model silver Mustang. It hung back and she slowed.

  The Mustang slowed more.

  Katie kept her foot on the brake and with her right hand made sure she could reach her weapon easily. She didn’t want to remove it from the back of her waistband lest it end up like her phone.

  She slowed until she was going twenty miles per hour. The Mustang stayed back. Then shot forward. Katie pressed the gas and the Mustang fell behind.

  “Why are you playing with me? Who are you?” she whispered to the image in her mirror. Headlights approached and the car zipped past on her left. Still she kept her eyes on the Mustang.

  Icy patches had formed on the road. With the additional rain and now below-freezing temperatures, the roads could be dangerous. She’d worked in this kind of weather for years and driving in it had ceased to bother her. Crime didn’t care what the weather was like, and she’d had to learn fast how to drive on the slick roads. However, she’d never had someone trying to kill her while she navigated them.

  Katie sped up again, praying she wouldn’t hit a sheet of black ice.

  The Mustang stayed right with her. Close enough not to lose her and far enough back not to be identified. Not that she would be able to see anything in this darkness.

  She shivered as the cool evening air blew through her cracked window. She couldn’t afford for the windows to fog up, so she’d lowered it slightly. December in the South. One year it would be in the eighties, the next, freezing. Apparently this was the year for the cold. She loved it.

  What she didn’t love was someone following her. Being a potential threat. The headlights fell farther and farther behind. Had he given up?

  Keeping her eyes on the rearview mirror, she took the turn that would take her to Erica’s house. Trees bordered her right and lined her left. Pastureland stretched behind a white picket fence.

  Secluded. Peaceful. Serene.

  Longing filled her. What would it be like to find that one person she would feel comfortable enough with to share her life?

  Jordan immediately popped into the forefront of her mind. Handsome, strong, quiet. Mysterious. A man with a past. A man that made her blood hum a little faster, and her heart twist with something she refused to acknowledge. Her jaw firmed. Stop thinking those kinds of thoughts. That’s not your life.

  She obeyed the mental order and pondered the strangeness of the Mustang, watching for it, wondering if she should turn around and go after it. She thought about stopping and retrieving her cell phone, but that would leave her vulnerable should her attacker still be back there.

  Which he was.

  Headlights zoomed up behind her. She pressed the gas pedal. And still they came closer. Katie took a deep breath, pictured the twists and curves to the road ahead of her. She came up with a plan just as the car behind her rammed into her once again.

  She jerked into the seat belt, tightened her fingers around the wheel and brought forth all of the defensive driving techniques she’d ever learned.

  Katie slammed on the brakes and spun the wheel to the le
ft. The vehicle came at her again and this time caught her on the driver’s side. She kept control, stayed on the road.

  Until she hit the patch of black ice that sent her spinning, crashing toward the trees lining the side of the road. The seat belt tightened; her head hit the window. Her car bounced off the first tree, careened into the second and came to a stop, nose down, against the third.

  Blackness threatened, her head throbbed. Nausea churned.

  Don’t pass out, don’t pass out.

  Katie took a deep breath, fought off the dizziness and encroaching darkness.

  Get out of the car. Now. Now.

  Night had fallen. A light drizzle dampened her broken windshield. Katie unhooked the seat belt and caught herself on the steering wheel. She pushed against the driver’s door with no results.

  Stuck. She’d have to get out the passenger side.

  With effort, ignoring the throbbing in her head and the nausea churning in her gut, she released the seat belt. She gave a quick glance in the rearview mirror. Saw the headlights at the top of the gently sloping hill.

  A shadow outlined by the lights.

  A shadow headed her way.

  * * *

  Jordan paced the length of Erica’s den. “Where is she? She was getting ready to tell me where she was and I got cut off. Why isn’t she answering her phone?” Max came in and Jordan filled him in. “I’m going to look for her.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  Jordan slipped into his jacket and followed Max out the door into the frigid, wet weather. The foreboding in his gut bothered him and he offered up a short prayer for Katie’s safety.

  ELEVEN

  With a grunt, Katie shifted. Ignoring her shoulder’s screaming protests, she’d managed to crawl over the armrest into the passenger seat and shove open the door. Her cell phone. Where was it? She turned back to the car and searched the passenger-side floorboard. Nothing. She glanced up. The shadow had disappeared. Her eyes darted from one side of the car to the other. Through the windows and behind her.

  Where had he gone?

  Leaves crunched, and she froze. Looking up, through the driver’s window, she could see his head and shoulders, moving closer, slowly, as though he was hesitant to approach the car but compelled to do so.