Armored Attraction

by Janie Crouch

  She couldn’t stop the tears. “It’s all very blurry to me, but the one thought I kept having was that I didn’t know how to tell you. I had miscarried our baby, Liam, from my own stupidity. I didn’t want to tell you. So the words you heard were probably true.”

  He shook his head, wiping a hand across his face again, wearily.

  “But I never meant I didn’t want to marry you,” Vanessa continued. “My dad knew that and deliberately misled you. Once I began to come around, to realize I hadn’t seen you, it was too late. It was days past when we were supposed to meet. My dad didn’t tell me you’d come by, or what he’d said, until much later.”

  They both sat looking at each other in silence. The past lay between them like a canyon.

  Vanessa finally spoke. “What my parents did was unforgivable. Once I found out, I walked away from them without looking back. But you had also walked away without looking back.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Liam felt as if he had been hit by a truck. The so-called facts that had shaped every detail of his life for the past eight years had just been proved false with one relatively brief conversation.

  He couldn’t sit on the bed any longer. Too much energy was coursing through him. He was still naked, so he grabbed his boxers from the floor and put them on.

  He wanted to punch a wall, to fight an unseen foe, to howl out his pain. For a barely twenty-year-old Vanessa who had lost their baby. For himself at twenty-two thinking the love of his life had left him cold.

  For all the years that had been lost. The pain both of them had lived through.

  “Why didn’t you tell me, Nessa?” he whispered, stopping his pacing. “Find me and make me understand?”

  “After I left my parents I looked for you, but you were gone. I called that phone number you’d given me with the DEA, but they said you were unavailable. I tracked down your buddies here on the island a few days later, like I told you, hoping you were still on the Outer Banks. They told me what you’d said.”

  “Vanessa Epperson will never be anything but a selfish, spoiled brat who doesn’t have it in her to care about another person.” Liam remembered what he’d said. And at the time he had meant every word.

  She shrugged. “That, combined with what had just happened, was too much for me. I pretty much shut down.”

  Liam walked over to the window and looked out. It was a terrible view of a parking lot and Dumpster, a testament of the modest rent of the apartment complex.

  “Not that it makes a difference now, but when you called the DEA, I was on a deep undercover operation in Chicago. They didn’t usually put someone so new under right away, but they’d needed someone young, rough around the edges and with nothing to lose, to go in immediate under pretty dire circumstances. I fit the bill to a tee.”

  He didn’t tell her that he’d nearly died in that mission. He’d stayed in deep cover for six months, and when the DEA made its move against the drug ring he’d infiltrated, there had been such a shoot-out that he’d ended up in the hospital with two gunshot wounds.

  He turned back to glance at her. “The DEA wouldn’t have provided any info about me to you, of course. They didn’t tell me of any messages.”

  “I didn’t leave one,” she whispered.

  “And you’ve been away from your family ever since? Even though I know they didn’t approve of me, I know you guys were so close.”

  She sat upright against the headboard of her bed and brought her knees to her chest under the sheet. She wrapped her arms around them. “I just couldn’t stay there. I couldn’t look at them the same ever again after that. I know the miscarriage wasn’t their fault, but I just couldn’t forgive them for chasing you away.”

  He pressed his forehead against the coolness of the window. “I should’ve come back to check on you. To fight for you. For us.”

  He hadn’t been able to because of his mission.

  But he wouldn’t have anyway, even if his job at the DEA hadn’t prohibited it. Because he’d always believed, deep inside, that the poor, orphaned kid—who’d been in trouble with the law—being raised by his grandmother, wasn’t good enough for Vanessa Epperson, Princess of the Outer Banks.

  Somewhere in his mind he’d always known it was just a matter of time before she figured it out, too. So when her parents had stood there and told him it had finally happened—that she’d come to her senses and realized he could never provide for her the way she would want to be provided for—it was just what he’d always expected.

  And while he’d never really believed those harsh things he’d said to his friends—he’d been so angry and hurt at the time—he had to admit he had wondered, worried, if she could live without the pampering she’d been so used to.

  How wrong he’d been. This tiny apartment—with a view of a Dumpster, for God’s sake—was proof of that. That piece of junk car she drove, another. She not only could live without it, she had been choosing to live without it of her own accord for nearly a decade.

  He shook his head. “I never should’ve said that to my friends. Whether I believed it or not, I never should have said it,” he said without looking at her.

  “I was spoiled.”

  Now he turned. “You were loved. Pampered, but not spoiled. You never thought of yourself as better than others or that your money entitled you to things other people couldn’t have.”

  Her arms were still wrapped around her knees as if she were trying to keep the pieces from flying apart. That look, that sadness he’d recognized the first day he’d seen her, was back. At least now he understood what it meant.

  She’d lost a child.

  They’d lost a child.

  Liam had no doubt it would’ve been loved—a little boy or girl. But having a child so early on would’ve changed the course of his life. He doubted he would be employed at Omega right now or would’ve shot so high in the ranks at the DEA.

  Liam would’ve given the career stuff up in a heartbeat to have had Vanessa—and their child—healthy and happy and with him.

  He was a man of action. A guy who got things done, often by any means necessary. It made him very effective at hostage rescue.

  But there was no action he could take now, nothing that could ever be done, that would erase the desperate sadness that sometimes crept into Vanessa’s eyes.

  Too many years had passed, and even though they had just spent the night wrapped in each other’s arms, the emotional chasm between them felt too large to ever be fully bridged.

  Liam could never make up for the time lost. He felt a heavy weight on his shoulders. What could he do?

  He, the man of action, couldn’t figure out any action to take.

  “Liam—”

  A pounding on the front door stopped them.

  Liam glanced at his watch. “Expecting anybody at seven o’clock on a Saturday morning?”

  “No. Definitely not.”

  Liam snatched up his weapon from where he’d set the holster on the chair in the living room last night before going in to apologize to her in the shower.

  He slipped on his jeans and she grabbed a robe. They walked to the front door. Vanessa cracked it open just the slightest bit.

  It was Tommy Webb.

  “Where’s Liam Goetz?” the man asked without any sort of greeting. “He needs to come down to the sheriff’s office to answer some questions.”

  Liam stuck his head in front of the crack so Webb could see him. “I’m right here. What do you want?” He kept his weapon down at his leg where the assistant sheriff wouldn’t notice it.

  “Someone saw the two of you together and recognized you. I understand you had quite the run-ins with the law when you lived here before. I have some questions for you.”

  “Fine,” Liam said. “I need a couple minutes to get dressed.�
�

  “Be warned, I have a man planted at the back of the complex, too. So don’t try to run.”

  Liam rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to jump from a second-story balcony to get away from you just because you have questions. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

  “Hurry up.”

  Liam shut the door.

  “What are we going to do?” Vanessa asked.

  “I’m going to go with him.”

  “What?”

  “He doesn’t know that I’m law enforcement. At a cursory glance, because of some of the undercover work I’ve done, my employment with Omega or the DEA doesn’t show up in a background check. I don’t work undercover anymore, so my info is in all law-enforcement networks, but you have to dig a little further to find it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “He wouldn’t be here like this if he knew I was law enforcement. He just thinks I’m a punk with a record who has shown up at a pretty inconvenient time.”

  Liam got dressed in fresh jeans and a black T-shirt.

  “Why does he want to question you if he’s the one involved with the trafficking ring?”

  Liam wasn’t sure about that. “I don’t know. Maybe my connection to you. To see if there are holes in our story about Karine.”

  He slipped on his tennis shoes and sat to tie them. “I’m going to text Derek and Joe. Stay here and don’t go anywhere with anyone except them. One of them will be here within fifteen minutes.”

  Her face was worried. He wished he could reassure her.

  “Should I call my dad and get him to send his lawyer?”

  Liam knew how much it cost her to ask that. He sent his text to Derek and walked over to stand right in front of her. He tucked her hair behind both ears on either side of her face and left his hands on her cheeks.

  “I’m going to be fine. This is actually a good thing,” he said. “It gives me a chance to size up Webb. He thinks he’s questioning me, but I’m going to be doing some delving of my own.”

  She nodded but didn’t look too convinced. He reached down and kissed her gently. “I wish I could stay with you. I don’t want to leave you now, especially not after our talk. Are you okay?”

  Webb knocked on the door again. “Let’s go, Goetz,” he called.

  Liam ignored him, all his focus on Vanessa.

  She nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just worried about you.”

  Liam’s phone chirped with a message from Derek. Joe was only five minutes from Vanessa’s apartment and would be there shortly.

  That reassured Liam. After the near-drowning episode, he was loath to leave her alone. He kissed her again.

  “Joe Matarazzo will be here any minute. He’s an Omega agent, too. One of the best. Don’t let him charm you into doing something stupid.”

  Vanessa raised one eyebrow. “I make no promises.”

  Liam chuckled and kissed her again. “I’ll let you know as soon as I’m out.”

  “Be careful. You don’t know who you can trust.”

  Liam turned and opened the door to Tommy Webb. He was very aware of that fact.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Webb started with the questions Liam had been expecting. How he knew Vanessa. His history with the police. Where he and Vanessa had been this week. If he knew anything about a teenage runaway sought for multiple crimes.

  Webb showed him the footage of the break-in turned murder. Looking at it, knowing it couldn’t possibly be Karine because she’d been with them on Tuesday night, Liam could easily see the setup.

  Long brown hair evident throughout the clip. A slightly blurred image of Karine’s face superimposed over whoever the person was in the video.

  But it was a damn good job, Liam had to admit.

  The questions took more than an hour. Webb would come at him from one angle and then another, hoping to catch Liam in a lie or a statement that contradicted what Vanessa had told them.

  It was nothing more than a fishing expedition. Webb didn’t have any real information about anything, partially because neither Liam nor Vanessa had done anything wrong.

  But part of it was something else. As though Webb really was trying to get to the bottom of something he didn’t quite understand. That he knew something was wrong but didn’t know what.

  Liam decided to take a chance.

  Up until now Liam had been playing the bored hard-ass when answering Webb’s questions—leaning back in his chair, focusing on his fingernails or an invisible spot on the leg of his jeans. But he stepped out of his role for a minute and really looked at the young assistant sheriff.

  Webb was startled by Liam’s sudden intensity as Liam leaned forward and put his weight on his forearms on the table between them.

  “Webb, why are we here at this ungodly hour on a Saturday morning?”

  Webb was taken aback by the question. “What do you mean? I’m trying to solve a murder. That’s my job, Goetz. I’m the assistant sheriff of—”

  Liam didn’t let him finish his tirade. “And has there been anything odd about this particular murder, Webb? Stuff that just isn’t adding up?”

  Liam realized he was taking a pretty big chance. But if his instincts were correct, then they’d been wrong and Webb wasn’t the person involved with the trafficking ring.

  Webb looked at Liam for a long moment. “What sort of stuff?”

  So the man was suspicious.

  Liam shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly. Things just not adding up the way you think they should.”

  “Do you know something I need to know about?”

  Liam turned and glanced at the two-way mirror behind him. He had no idea who was listening in on this conversation. Even if Webb wasn’t their guy, it was someone from this office, and that person could be listening. Liam couldn’t mention Karine or the girls.

  On the other hand, if Webb was what Liam thought he was—an overzealous cop with political ambitions trying to make a name for himself and get some publicity by solving a murder—he could be an excellent ally.

  “Webb, go see who’s in the observation room.”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  Webb shook his head but got up and left the interview room. A few moments later he was back.

  “There’s nobody in there,” Webb said. “It’s barely eight o’clock on a Saturday morning. Unless people have to be here, they’re at home.”

  When Webb sat, Liam leaned forward and spoke as softly as he could.

  “Somebody is going to figure out you have me here. I don’t know who, but whoever that person is, you need to watch him, Webb. Carefully.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Did someone tell you to bring me in for questioning?”

  “No. I figured out who you were and brought you in myself.”

  Liam leaned forward again. “Are you reporting directly to anyone about this case?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “Just answer.”

  Webb shrugged. “Nobody out of the ordinary. Just the sheriff.”

  “Is McBrien still the sheriff?”

  Webb nodded. “How do you know that?”

  “It’s not my first time in this room, remember?”

  “Yeah, I report to the sheriff—so what?”

  “Has anybody else taken an unusual interest in the case? Asked questions about it? Followed very closely? Maybe offered to help?”

  “This is a small place, Goetz. We don’t get many murders, so, yeah, a lot of people in the office have been interested. Everybody has. Look,” he continued, “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but it’s not going to work.”

  The man was confused, Liam knew, and irritated. Liam didn’t blame him f
or either feeling. But Liam was pretty sure that whoever was behind the trafficking ring was going to burst in here at any minute. They would be carefully monitoring who Webb brought in. If they were paranoid—and they would be—they would look further than the cursory glance Webb had given Liam’s record.

  Whether Liam was in town because of the human-trafficking ring or not, whoever was behind it would not want an active Omega Sector agent talking to the person they were using as their puppet.

  “Anything about the video strike you as odd, Webb? A burglar leaving her long brown hair—an easily identifying feature—down for everyone to see? The fact that the burglar didn’t turn and run when she could’ve easily made it to the door?”

  He had Webb’s full attention now. But Liam was running out of time and he knew it.

  “Something’s not right. I think you know that,” Liam whispered, leaning closer. “Don’t let it go.”

  “Who are you?” Webb asked just as softly.

  The door to the interview room opened and an older man walked in.

  “Goetz, it’s been quite a long time,” the man said. “Didn’t expect to see you here again.”

  Sheriff McBrien. Was he the one behind all this? Did he know that Liam was law enforcement?

  Webb looked surprised to see his boss. “Wasn’t expecting you this morning, Sheriff.”

  “Well, when I heard my old friend Goetz was here, I thought I would stop by. What are you doing back around these parts?”

  Liam still didn’t know what McBrien knew, so he kept to his original story.

  “I’m here visiting a friend.”

  “Vanessa Epperson?” McBrien asked.

  “Yeah, we’ve sort of reconnected.” Liam forced himself to relax in his chair. “You know, old flames and all that.”

  “It’s been quite a long time, hasn’t it?” McBrien cocked his head to the side. “Any particular reason why the flame has rekindled now?”

  Liam shrugged with practiced nonchalance. “She called me out of the blue. Women. Hell if I understand them.”

  “I brought in Mr. Goetz to corroborate Ms. Epperson’s story about her contact with the teenage runaway who may be our murder suspect.” Webb was obviously trying to impress his boss with his thoroughness.