Major Crimes

by Janie Crouch

  The only thing that had kept Hayley alive so far was that she didn’t know who that someone was. She’d been arrested before she could dig deep enough.

  But Hayley had the means of discovering who. As soon as she had free rein of a computer she would be able to access the electronic trapdoor she’d planted in the CET system before she was arrested.

  But once she accessed it, whoever was behind the scheme would know she knew. If they’d already found it, they might suspect her even now.

  Either way, she had to be ready to run if it came down to it.

  “I know there’s trouble you’re not telling me about, coz,” Ariel said softly. “I know that’s why you’ve been working so hard, not just so that I could go to Oxford.”

  She’d done her best to protect Ariel, but she should’ve known her cousin was too smart not to suspect something else was going on.

  “The less you know about it the better.”

  Ariel nodded. “I’m sure that’s true. But what about Cain? Whatever trouble you’re in, he can help. He has the resources.”

  “He was the person who arrested me in the first place.”

  Ariel’s lips tightened. “Trust me, I’m never going to forgive what he did, especially now that I know that he must have slept with you right before he arrested you, but I also know that he will help. He will protect you from whatever it is you’re afraid of. Especially if he knows about Mason.”

  Would he? Would Cain even believe her if she tried to explain? She wouldn’t know if her computer trap had worked unless she got online. And even once she did, there was no guarantee that it would still be there. She didn’t think it would’ve been discovered deep in the network where she’d placed it, but it was possible.

  There was no way Cain was just going to take her word that there had been more involved in her hacker case than he thought. He would think she was using him to gain access to a computer.

  So she would have to bide her time. Make sure there were no traces of her presence online while she did the consulting work for Cain. She would deal with the trapdoor and its ramifications once her parole was over and she had full access to computers again. And she’d be ready to take Mason and run if she needed to. Ariel would at least be across the ocean studying.

  And she would make sure Cain didn’t find out about Mason. At one time she would’ve given anything for their lives to be tied together with a child. But he’d made his choice, decided he didn’t want a permanent link with her, four years ago.

  Telling him about Mason would just complicate matters. And God knew everything was already complicated enough as it was.

  Chapter Eight

  Cain woke up on the couch with Hayley sprawled on top of him. Caught in that place between wakefulness and dreams, his mind sighed in contentment. It felt so good to hold her again.

  He stretched, shifting slightly, pulling her closer. His thigh slid between hers and his arms extended more tightly around her, one hand splayed on her hip, the other arm around her shoulders.

  Hayley stretched, too, rubbing against him, almost purring. Cain just pulled her closer.

  They’d always slept like this, as if they couldn’t get close enough in sleep, the way they always felt like they couldn’t get close enough when they were awake. Of course, there hadn’t been an abundance of opportunities to sleep all night together, first because of high school and parents, then because of the physical distance between them in college, and then because Hayley had gone...

  Cain’s eyes flew open, now completely aware of where he was and what was happening.

  But he couldn’t force himself to let go of Hayley.

  They’d worked well into the night after she returned yesterday evening. He sat next to her on the couch as she continued her search. He’d been even more diligent to make sure she wasn’t communicating with anyone else while doing this work.

  He knew, like she’d said, that she had just gone home when she’d left him yesterday. But that didn’t mean that someone couldn’t have met her there. Cain had made a mistake in not following her, surveilling her apartment, seeing what she was up to.

  He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  She’d made progress in her work here, he knew she had. Had pinpointed a pattern in how the Omega traitor was communicating. And although Hayley didn’t know what it meant, when she’d shown him the origin of the communications, Cain’s heart had taken a dive.

  It looked like the mole was someone inside the SWAT team at Omega sector. He prayed they were wrong. And he definitely wouldn’t make any accusations until they had proof. Hayley would find it soon.

  Somewhere around 4:00 a.m., when she’d started to nod off, he’d taken the laptop from her and laid it on the table. He planned for both of them to go to their separate rooms, separate beds, but hadn’t wanted to be forced to put that damn anklet back on her.

  But unless he planned to stay up all night guarding her, there was no way he could take the chance of letting her sneak by him while he slept.

  He leaned back on the couch, about to explain what needed to happen, when he heard her cute little snore. He didn’t have the heart to wake her up.

  Instead he had pulled Hayley down on the couch and tucked her into his side. Which at some point had obviously turned into entangled limbs and Hayley on top of him.

  But right now all Cain wanted to do was keep her pulled up against him. Let her body get the sleep it still obviously needed.

  He dozed, too, and it was midmorning when he awoke, Hayley still in his arms. He knew the second she woke up, too. Or, at least the second she realized exactly where she was lying.

  She went from soft and purring and snuggly to ramrod straight, pushing herself partway up with her hands on his chest so she could look into his eyes.

  “I fell asleep.” Her eyes were blinking rapidly as she tried to figure out exactly what was happening.

  “I noticed.”

  She tried to sit up, but their limbs were so tangled she couldn’t quite manage.

  “Are you going to let me go?”

  Cain tucked an arm under his head. “I haven’t decided.”

  His fingers splayed more widely on her hip and almost of their own accord began rubbing gentle circles.

  She eased her weight back down on top of him. “What are you doing?”

  “Do you remember this couch?”

  Oh, the trouble they had gotten into on this couch in high school.

  “I remember always having to keep an ear out for the front door opening,” she said. He could hear the smile in her voice. “And very quickly rearranging clothing.”

  His parents had come home more than once at an inopportune moment. “Yeah, they had impeccable timing, didn’t they?”

  Hayley lifted her head up to make some comment, but he kissed her before she could. It was almost like he couldn’t control his own body.

  Their kisses had always been wildly passionate and engulfing. This was no different. As soon as his lips touched hers, he used his arm around her hips to pull her more fully up against him. His other hand wrapped around the back of her neck.

  He kissed the side of her mouth, running his tongue over her lower lip, then drew back just a fraction of an inch before plunging back deep inside her hot, wet mouth. He felt her hands tangle into his hair, keeping him as close as he was keeping her.

  He tilted her head to the side, giving his lips access to her jaw, her throat. Heard her moan as he made his way down that feminine curve with gentle bites soothed by soft flicks of his tongue.

  A loud beeping noise—that wouldn’t quit, damn it—on the computer brought Cain back to his senses.

  “That’s the alarm from the algorithm I set up to run while I was offline to see if we could spot a specific pattern,” Hayley said against his lips.

  The words threw cold water
on his ardor. His hand on her nape now pulled her away rather than pulling her closer.

  “You did what?”

  Unease flared in her eyes. “It’s just a simple pattern recognition program I set up to run. Mostly for elimination purposes. There was no point in me doing it manually. This way was much quicker.”

  It made sense. Was reasonable. But what pissed Cain off was that he’d had no idea she’d done it. Had no idea she’d set up a program to run.

  “When did you do it?” He slid back from her.

  She sat up, pulling away. “I don’t know, a little while after we figured out the communication pattern I showed you last night. We agreed I needed to focus on where that pattern was occurring, so that’s what I did.”

  “But you didn’t tell me you set up a program to do it.”

  She shrugged. “I wasn’t trying to hide it from you. I didn’t plant the program within the Omega system if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s running right here on your laptop.”

  “That’s not the problem.”

  “Then what is the problem? I’m trying to do what you asked me to do in the most efficient way possible.” She flung her blond hair over her shoulder and slid even farther from him on the couch.

  “I just didn’t know what you were doing.”

  He’d sat by her the entire night and hadn’t recognized that she’d built the program to help her. If she could do that without him knowing, how much more difficult could it be for her to make contact with her hacker buddies without him knowing it?

  She arched her eyebrow. “I didn’t realize I needed to explain every step of what I was doing. I just thought we were trying to catch your killer as quickly as possible.”

  “And what else are you trying to sneak by me while you have access to a computer and I obviously have no idea what you’re doing?” Cain crossed his arms over his chest, watching her closely, looking for lies.

  Her eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t been doing anything. You’ve been peeking over my shoulder the whole time.”

  “Are you telling me I don’t need to?”

  “I’m telling you I’m doing the job you’re paying me to do.”

  “But we both know that it wouldn’t be difficult for you to squeeze in a little extra contact with someone else if I’m not watching. Hell, even if I am watching, as proven today.”

  Her lips flattened into a thin line. “I haven’t done a single thing that didn’t involve Omega Sector. Not one single thing.”

  “You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t believe you, given the obvious secrets you’ve been trying to keep.”

  Her face paled, and he knew he was definitely on the right track.

  “Damn it, Hayley, I don’t want you to get back in trouble. Didn’t you learn anything the first time?”

  Hayley stood up and walked toward the kitchen. “Yeah, I learned that the person I thought I could trust the most slept with me so he could make a big arrest to further his career.”

  He stood up. “That’s not true.”

  “You know what? It doesn’t matter.” She rubbed her hand against her forehead as if a headache was forming. “Let’s get something to eat and get back to work. My evil program has obviously discovered a pattern. Something that would’ve taken me days to find on my own.”

  Cain grimaced. She was right. They needed to focus. Their personal stuff could wait until they caught the traitor.

  “Fine.” He walked into the kitchen, started the coffeepot and made sandwiches.

  “You want me to bring the computer in here to work?”

  Cain grimaced. He obviously needed to watch her more closely while she was on it. He couldn’t do that while he was making brunch.

  “No. Just wait till after we eat.”

  His words were a blatant announcement of how much he didn’t trust her. He saw her small shoulders go rigid before giving a stiff nod.

  “Fine.” Tension radiated in the word. “I’ve got to leave at three o’clock for a few hours, so let’s hurry up and get this done.”

  She was leaving again? The evening yesterday and then the afternoon today? This was more than just time off to hang out with Ariel. He wanted to argue, demand to know where she was going, but knew she wouldn’t tell him. Arguing with Hayley now would just make things more difficult between them.

  And outside of using a computer or breaking any other conditions of her parole, she was free to do what she wanted. Cain couldn’t stop her.

  His fist clenched around the coffeepot handle. No, he couldn’t stop her if she was going off somewhere to meet one of her hacker cronies.

  He really couldn’t stop her if she was determined to slide back into that life. He could stop her now, but soon, probably in the next couple of weeks the way she was sorting through the data concerning the mole, Cain wouldn’t be here to harass her into making good choices. He didn’t want to believe that she wanted the life of a criminal. The Hayley he’d known—and loved—would never have wanted that.

  Maybe the Hayley he’d known in high school was well and truly gone. Something in his soul shattered at the thought.

  They never had a chance to talk about why she started hacking. Why she hadn’t stayed in college and gotten a real job afterward. Hayley had never been lazy, had never just wanted to take the easiest way.

  But Cain didn’t ask now. They just finished their meal in silence.

  Afterward she brought the computer to the kitchen table, obviously wanting distance from the couch. She explained everything she was doing without him having to ask. He appreciated it, but it took a lot of time. Slowed her down significantly.

  And at some point, when she was talking to him and still typing full speed at the same time, he realized the truth.

  “You don’t have to tell me what you’re doing,” he said. “I know that slows you down. Just do the work.”

  She relaxed just slightly. “You trust that I’m only working on the Omega Sector case?”

  Cain shook his head, feeling like a jerk, even though his words were the truth.

  “No. I’ve just realized that even while explaining something to me, you could still be slipping in or accessing something completely different if you wanted to. So trust is a moot point.”

  * * *

  WHEN SHE LEFT at three o’clock, he followed.

  He hadn’t given her a hard time about leaving, which worked out well seeing as they hadn’t really spoken except for work-related questions since their midmorning meal. She told him she would be back before nightfall and he just nodded.

  They both flinched again as he reconnected her ankle monitor.

  As soon as she walked out the door he went to the computer and turned on the tracking feature. Then got in his car with the computer.

  Maybe she was just going home again. If so, fine. But if anybody else showed up at her apartment he was going to know about it.

  He refused to give in to his thoughts earlier today that Hayley was beyond saving. She wasn’t. She may be on the road to trouble again, but damn it, not on his watch. Not this time. If she needed money he would help her. If she needed a job he would help her.

  She wasn’t on drugs; she didn’t have any elaborate lifestyle. How bad off could she really be?

  When the tracker showed her car had driven past her apartment his lips pursed. This didn’t change anything. Just made him more determined.

  When her car had stopped at what looked like a restaurant, Cain sped up. This was some sort of meeting. Anger clenched in his stomach. Fear that he wouldn’t be able to take care of Hayley, to get her out of whatever mess she was getting herself into, was closing in right behind the anger.

  As he arrived he saw it wasn’t a restaurant but the local fast-food ice-cream joint. He pulled his car to the far side of the parking lot and watched. Hayle
y hadn’t even gotten out of her car yet.

  Maybe he should go get her now. Stop whatever was about to happen before it could even start.

  He was opening his door when he saw another car pull up next to Hayley’s. Then watched, somewhat dumbfounded, as Ariel got out of the other car. She opened the back seat door, reached in and pulled out a little boy.

  Cain felt like the biggest jackass on the planet. Hayley was meeting her cousin and her—what? Nephew? Second cousin?—for a midafternoon ice-cream break.

  He scrubbed a hand over his face. He’d been so busy looking for nefarious reasons why Hayley would need money and be sneaking away that he hadn’t taken into consideration that she truly might have good reasons. Like helping her cousin, who’d obviously had a baby while Hayley was in prison, with living expenses. Hayley and Ariel had always been as close as sisters. Not being there for Ariel when she needed Hayley would’ve weighed heavily on Hayley. Maybe she was trying to make up for that now.

  The kid, who was two or maybe three years old, obviously loved both women. He gave Hayley a huge hug before she picked him up and they walked into the ice-cream place together. He watched them for a few more seconds with his binoculars.

  Cain wanted to join them. Wished he had the right to join them. Maybe if he hadn’t been such an ass to her today she would’ve invited him along.

  She wasn’t in trouble and in need of being rescued. She was just trying to rebuild her life after a pretty harsh blow.

  He watched them much longer than he should have, even knowing he looked like a creepy stalker. But Hayley’s face was so lit up and happy he couldn’t stop watching. It made him aware of how tense she was around him.

  He watched the kid bite a huge chunk out of the bottom of his cone and both women jump to grab napkins as ice cream started running out the bottom. Cain chuckled. He and his brother had done the same thing as kids, driving his parents crazy.

  The boy sucked the ice cream out of the bottom of his cone, then wiggled and squirmed as Hayley tried to wipe his face. He said something that obviously made her laugh.