Undercover with the Heiress

by Nan Dixon

  “Here?” Panic edged Nathan’s voice. “Are they in Savannah?”

  “We don’t know. That makes getting the day care ready a top priority. We can keep Issy in one place.”

  Nathan paced. “Maybe I should take the kids and Cheryl away.”

  And remove the FBI’s bait?

  “I’ll talk to my superior,” Kaden said, stalling, “but the best way to keep from worrying is to catch Bole. That will be easier if Issy is here.”

  “Let me know what he thinks.” Nathan rolled his shoulders. “But my number one concern is my family.”

  “Understood.”

  After they placed the walls, Kaden headed to his apartment. He stared at his phone, needing to call Roger.

  He was torn. Should he recommend Nathan take his family away? He might lose the chance of catching Bole and Salvez, but Issy would be safe.

  Until Bole came back.

  Better to tighten up security and capture the scumbags.

  He called Roger and caught him at the office. “Roger, any word on Bole?”

  “Nothing.”

  “The father wants to take the family out of town.”

  Roger swore. “What did you tell him?”

  “It would only delay capturing Bole.” Kaden rubbed his neck. “That it was better to use Issy to pull her out.”

  “Agreed.”

  “But I’d like backup.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. We’re shorthanded up here and the Atlanta police actually asked for our help on an upcoming raid.”

  Kaden rolled his shoulders, but the tension didn’t ease. “What about pulling in the Savannah office?”

  “No frigging way!”

  Kaden didn’t break the silence after Roger’s outburst.

  “Are you worried you’ll fail?” Roger asked. “Is this because of the twin boys you lost?”

  “No.” His failures were always waiting to slap him in the face.

  Any child under his care wasn’t safe. Hadn’t Josh slipped on the boat when they were at Granddad’s place? And today, Josh had almost pulled a wall down on top of himself.

  But the worst? His brother, Kaleb.

  He’d been told to watch his sweet, two-year-old brother, but for once they’d had a television and Kaden couldn’t be bothered. His brother had found a packet of what he now knew was heroin and eaten it. His fault.

  “Do you think I’ll fail? Do you want to replace me?” The kids were too much responsibility.

  He was good at saving people from drugs...in general. It was when things became personal. Now that he knew Issy and she was comfortable with him, would his presence cause her harm? He gritted his teeth hard enough that Roger probably heard the grinding.

  “I don’t want to replace you. Everyone knows you’re Nigel’s grandson. I’m worried about your lack of confidence. You’re one of my best agents.”

  “Thanks. But think about sending backup.” Kaden heaved out a sigh. “And send me anything new we have on the Salvez family.”

  “Will do.”

  Once he hung up, Kaden flipped through the cameras. A couple of guests sat in the garden. One of the staff hauled a tray over to Carleton House. Everything looked normal.

  He pushed away from the table he used as a desk. There should be more he could do. He wanted to crack this case. Down here surrounded by everything that was sweet and nice in life, he was losing his edge. When he checked the time, it was after six, and Courtney had transferred Issy’s care back to Nathan.

  Kaden could run to the gym and lift weights. Work out the frustration building inside him.

  The run along Oglethorpe was more a pedestrian dodge and weave. He finally cut up Bull to get to Broughton.

  The attendant had him sign in then handed him a locker key and a towel. “It’s quiet today.”

  “Good.” Kaden needed quiet.

  He worked his way through his routine, starting with hand weights and moving from there to legs and finally ending on the rowing machine. But his anxiety level didn’t decrease. It ramped up. Where were the promised endorphins?

  He headed back to his locker. Before he was next to the door, he heard the camera alert on his phone going off. Shit.

  He jammed the key in the locker and yanked his phone out. He typed in the password, holding his breath.

  Possible identification: Heather Bole. 45% probability.

  He hustled to the front door and tossed the key on the desk. Back on the street he ran, at the same time pulling up Nathan’s phone number. “I just had an alert Heather might be in the courtyard,” he gasped. “Camera outside the restaurant.”

  “Damn. My mother just called. A woman called the business number looking for me. She wanted to know where I lived,” Nathan said. “Mom didn’t give her any information and the woman wouldn’t leave a name or number. It’s got to be Heather.”

  Kaden sprinted down Bull, hoping people would see his desperation and clear a path. “The last place she saw you was the restaurant, right? When she dropped off Issy.”

  “Yes.” There was rustling on Nathan’s end of the conversation. “I don’t see her in the courtyard. Do you want me to go check?”

  Kaden turned left on Oglethorpe and hopped around a couple waiting at the crosswalk. Couldn’t people see he had to move? He sped up, swiping at the sweat stinging his eyes.

  “I’m a block away,” he gasped. “Go down the back way. Don’t let her know where you live. If she’s there, keep her talking.”

  All he had was his phone. His weapon was locked in his apartment. Heather wouldn’t expect a B and B guest to try to capture her, right? Surprise was always an advantage.

  He slapped his guest card against the reader and entered the back garden. Slowing, he pretended to scroll through his phone. But he was checking the B and B cameras.

  Guests sat at a courtyard table. Nathan stood by the restaurant door, scanning the area. Gray and Courtney walked out of the Carleton carriage house, probably heading over to Fitzgerald House and the alert buzzed for Courtney. Everything normal. No Heather.

  He swore. If he’d stayed at the B and B, he might have caught her. This might have been over. He met Nathan by the carriage house.

  “I couldn’t find her.” Nathan’s voice was low.

  “Let me check with the guests in the courtyard.” Kaden took a couple of calming breaths and headed over to the couple. “Excuse me.”

  They looked up.

  “I’m wondering if you saw a woman in the courtyard. We were supposed to meet here,” he lied.

  The woman frowned. “Let’s see, since we sat down I saw one of the staff head over to the other house.”

  “A woman peered into that building.” The man pointed behind his companion’s back at the carriage house restaurant.

  “Was she blond?” Kaden asked. The definition on the screen hadn’t picked up her hair color.

  “Maybe.” The man frowned. “She didn’t stay long.”

  “Thanks. I must have missed her. Oh. Do you know how much I missed her by?”

  “Ten, fifteen minutes?” He held up his drink. “Enough to drink half a glass of Abby’s great wine.”

  “Thanks.” He would check the street. Maybe she was hanging around the front of the B and B. But if she didn’t know Nathan lived here, why would she stick around?

  He headed back to Nathan. “Take the Fitzgerald House parking lot and north side of the building, I’ll take the Carleton House lot and the south.”

  “When she dropped off Issy,” Nathan said, “she left in a pickup with dark tinted windows.”

  They parted company. Kaden started for the parking lot. Each morning he ran the license plates of the cars parked in the lots. Maybe he needed to run them morning and night. He snapped pictures of
the plates. Then he worked his way around Carleton House and walked the remaining block back to Fitzgerald House, checking the vehicles parked in the street. He was grasping at straws.

  Nathan met him on the sidewalk. “Nothing. She must have called my mother after she left.”

  “It’s possible she’ll come back tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow’s Saturday.”

  He was so off his game. “Monday then.”

  Nathan pulled off his ball cap and shoved his hand through his hair. “I don’t want Heather anywhere near Issy.”

  “Neither do I. I’ll stick closer to Courtney and the kids on Monday. And all next week.” He would talk to Roger again about bringing in backup.

  Courtney needed to know what was going on, but Roger hadn’t given him the okay. At minimum, Nathan could warn her someone looking like Heather had been spotted at the B and B.

  He’d already made enough mistakes in Savannah. Time to get his head in the game and catch a drug dealer.

  * * *

  THE LOGISTICS OF opening her child care center crammed Courtney’s brain. Well, the Fitzgerald House center, but everyone assumed she was in charge. The Fitzgeralds were paying for all the equipment and construction, but she was responsible for the program, staff and collecting revenue. She was also back on the Fitzgerald payroll.

  Making one more note, she shut the laptop Gray had lent her. If she’d known she would be here this long, she’d have brought her own computer. It didn’t seem worthwhile to have Mother ship it down now. How much longer would she be banished to Savannah?

  Courtney waited for the resentment against her father to rear up and make her stomach ache. But there was...nothing. Everything was changing. No ache to return home swelled inside her. She had no desire to see the so-called friends who hadn’t contacted her. She’d been so busy researching all the Georgia regulations and figuring out how to comply with them, she hadn’t even talked to her mother for almost a week.

  “I’m going to grab some lunch,” Gray said. “Are you hungry?”

  Even her relationship with Gray had mellowed. “That would be great.”

  “They’re installing the last of the play equipment today.” Gray held the door and they headed into the courtyard.

  “Wonderful. I’ll check it out after lunch.” She touched her brother’s arm. “Thank you for putting up with me.”

  He stopped in the center of the walkway. “Putting up with you?”

  She swallowed. “I shouldn’t have come down here without asking.”

  “I’m glad you did.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “This has given us a...new beginning.”

  She bumped his chest, not concerned when he mussed her hair. “I think you’re right.”

  “Stay as long as you like.” He left his arm around her shoulder. “I like who you’ve become, brat.”

  “I wish we could have had this kind of relationship when you lived in Boston.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Maybe I wouldn’t have been such a—a bitch.”

  “I don’t know.” He chuckled. “You’re still pretty uppity.”

  She jammed an elbow into his gut. “And you aren’t?”

  They were laughing as they entered the Fitzgerald House kitchen. Abby looked over and her grin wasn’t just for Gray. It included Courtney. “Got any food for hungry workers, innkeeper?” Gray said.

  “Maybe.” Abby winked. “Depends on what kind of payment you have in mind.”

  Gray swept his wife off her feet and planted a kiss on Abby that had Courtney blushing.

  Would Kaden kiss her again tonight? Would it be the way Gray kissed Abby? As if the only thing in the world that mattered was being with her?

  Courtney hadn’t evoked those kind of emotions in men—ever. She was the untouchable woman. No one hungered for her. They wanted to conquer her. Once they had, they moved on. Or she did.

  But watching Gray and Abby, she wanted someone to want her like that just once in her life.

  “Get a room, you two,” she muttered and headed to the table where Abby had set out pasta salad and a tray of sandwiches.

  “We have one,” Gray quipped.

  “Eat your lunch.” Abby pushed him away. “I have to prep for tonight’s event.”

  “Where’s Cheryl?” Gray asked, grabbing a glass and combining lemonade and iced tea.

  “She’ll be back. Nathan wanted her to stop at the new house and make flooring decisions.”

  “Did she say anything about Heather possibly stopping at the B and B on Friday?” Gray sat across from Courtney and helped himself to food.

  “Heather? That’s Issy’s mother?” A chill ran through Courtney.

  Gray nodded. “Nathan told me.”

  Abby added, “Yesterday, a woman called Forester Construction, looking for Nathan. It might have been Heather.”

  Courtney bit her thumbnail. Shouldn’t someone have warned her? “Will she come back? I haven’t even thought about security in the center.”

  “Kaden helped with the restaurant security,” Abby said. “Ask him.”

  “Kaden?” Why would he know anything about security? “I guess I can do that.”

  She hadn’t seen Kaden since he’d asked her out. At least they would have something to talk about on their date tonight. Her stomach clenched a little. She didn’t know where they were going or how she should dress. Even with the cases of clothes she’d brought to Savannah, nothing ever seemed appropriate.

  “Thank you for lunch.” Courtney put her dishes in the dishwasher. “I’m going to check on the day care progress. Anything you want brought over there?”

  “No.” Abby brushed a hand on her shoulder. It was a gesture Courtney had seen her make dozens of times with her sisters. Never with her. “You’re welcome anytime.”

  Courtney rushed out the door, choking up but refusing to let a tear fall. How could one small touch from a sister-in-law she didn’t really like mean so much?

  But she liked Abby. Admired her. She felt dizzy. When had things changed?

  Next to a courtyard table, she leaned on her hands, her head dropping as she took deep breaths. She swiped at her eyes. She’d cried more in Savannah than in the last ten years of her life.

  No time to dwell on things she didn’t understand. Straightening her top over her shorts, she headed across the courtyard. Maybe she could find out where Kaden was taking her tonight. They hadn’t set a time and he hadn’t followed up. What if he’d changed his mind? What if he’d...

  She pressed the spot between her eyebrows. Geez—no other man ever made her worry like this.

  When she turned the corner, she spotted Kaden.

  He wore a T-shirt and his muscles bulged as he shook concrete from a wheelbarrow. She wasn’t attracted to gym rats. But Kaden... Oh, my. Her mouth watered. Leaning against the side of the carriage house, she watched. To be truthful, she ogled.

  “Hi, Courtney.” Bess waved.

  Courtney jumped. She hadn’t noticed there were other people here. “Hi.”

  Bess and another man worked the wet concrete around the legs of a small slide. Kaden moved the wheelbarrow over to the second leg. He nodded but kept working and the other man jammed a pole into the liquid mess.

  Courtney bit her lip, holding in her disappointment at Kaden’s tepid greeting. He was working on a Saturday. She should be noting everything Kaden and Bess had accomplished for the center instead of being worried about his lack of interest.

  In addition to the slide, they’d installed a small walkway, a tilted merry-go-round and a tunnel with cut-out windows. She grinned. The kids and she had picked out the bright colors: red, blue and yellow. It had been hard to convince Issy that pink wouldn’t work. Issy had been placated, because the girls’ bathroom would have a pink door.

  Bess pushe
d off the ground, stretching her back. “I’ve figured out how to give you a small garden for the kids to plant.”

  “Great.” Courtney ripped her gaze away from Kaden.

  “I thought we could attach low planters to the fencing.” Bess waved her over to the edge of the playground. “I’ve got some ideas on what veggies and herbs they could grow.”

  “I’ll take all the help I can get.” Courtney had never planted anything. “Can you ensure the beds are low enough so kids can reach them?”

  “If we use variable heights—” Bess pushed back her ponytail “—the shorter kids wouldn’t have to fight for space with the taller children.”

  “I like the way you think.”

  “I’ve drawn up some ideas.” Bess moved back to Kaden and the other worker. “After we anchor the table, let me show you.”

  “Thanks.” Courtney pointed to the entrance to the center. “I want to check out what’s happening inside.”

  Courtney pulled open the new glass door. Hmm, if they were planting, weeding and watering, the kids needed somewhere to wash their hands. They needed an outdoor faucet.

  Inside, the space was coming to life. The small reception area was framed in. A door led to a large group area and two classrooms branched off that. Large windows let in the light. Each classroom had a connected quiet area. Some had Sheetrock, some were only framed, but it all looked...hopeful.

  The exterior door opened and Kaden walked in. Everything buzzed inside her. Did he feel the change in the air, too?

  “Place is starting to look like something,” he said.

  She smiled. Couldn’t help it. “I can’t wait.”

  “Did you see the bathrooms?”

  “I haven’t gotten that far.” She headed through the large group area and down a narrow hall, skirting the handwashing station positioned outside the bathrooms. Her hand clasped her chest. It was really happening. “The toilets are in.”

  He chuckled, a deep rumbling noise. “I think you’re the only woman I know who gets teary-eyed over bathrooms.”

  “But look.” She grabbed his arm. “Everything is kid-size. And bright colors. And perfect.”

  “You’re really into this.” His cobalt gaze held hers, as if he was trying to peer inside her head.