Cold Truth: (Cold Harbor Book 2)

by Susan Sleeman

  “There’s something about the way I feel about you that I can’t wrap my head around.” He pressed his forehead against hers, the closeness nearly breaking him in two with a yearning for much more in his life. “When I’m with you, I have hope.”

  “Hope for what?” she whispered.

  “I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it. I just know I like it.” He lifted his head and slid his fingers into her silky hair. Looked into her eyes again and shifted his focus to her lips. Full, plump, kissable lips. He wanted to taste them again. He lowered his head. She raised hers. Her eyes closed, and her long lashes rested on her skin.

  He should stop before he misled her to believe he was available for more than a few kisses. But he didn’t want to stop. Couldn’t. Her draw was too powerful for him. He lowered his head. His lips inches from hers.

  A knock sounded on the door.

  Kiera jerked away and jumped from his lap.

  “Coop,” Eryn’s voice came from outside. “I figured out who has Kevin.”

  17

  Kiera ran to open the door. Her face was hot from the near kiss, and her heart beat like a conga drum. She honestly hated that Eryn had interrupted them, but what good would it do to kiss him again? She wouldn’t enter into a relationship with him. Neither of them was in a place for that.

  She took a cleansing breath and jerked open the door.

  “Who?” she demanded.

  Eryn cringed and clutched her laptop closer. “Mind if I come in and explain?”

  “Sorry.” Kiera stepped back to let Eryn enter.

  As Eryn passed, she squeezed Kiera’s shoulder, letting her know that she was forgiven for her outburst.

  Eryn sat next to Coop and opened her computer. “On a lark I opened the video feed of Kevin. It’s live again.”

  “Really? Show me.” Kiera took the seat next to Eryn.

  She started the video. Kevin was in a new location. His hands were handcuffed and connected to a chain running through an eyebolt on the floor. The wall behind him was paneled and a dresser sat in the corner.

  “A bedroom?” Kiera asked.

  “Likely, but that’s not what I wanted you to see,” Eryn said.

  “Then what?”

  “Keep watching.” A hand passed in front of the camera and the screen went black.

  Was Kevin’s abductor planning to harm him? Move him again? Or something even worse? Kiera’s heart refused to beat.

  “That’s the abductor’s hand,” Eryn said. “And I know his identity.”

  “But how could you know?” Kiera asked.

  “Fingerprints.”

  “You got fingerprints from that video shot?” Coop sounded impressed.

  “I didn’t, but one of my buddies at the Bureau did, and we ran it through AFIS.”

  “Automated Fingerprint Identification System,” Coop said before Kiera could ask. “It’s a database of prints. Holds criminals’ prints and others like law enforcement officers.”

  “And you got a name from this database?” Kiera held her breath.

  “Yes. Do you know—” Eryn looked down at her computer. “Haywood Pointer?”

  “Yes.” Kiera shot to her feet. “Yes. Kevin and I went to college with him.”

  “He’s the one who has Kevin.”

  “Is there any reason he might want to get back at Kevin?” Coop asked.

  “No…oh, no. No. It must be. But it can’t be.” She started pacing. “There’s no way Haywood—Hay, as we called him—could have known. None.”

  Coop stepped in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Take a deep breath and explain.”

  She took the breath he recommended. “Hay plagiarized his doctoral dissertation. Kevin figured it out and reported it. Anonymously. He called the department dean from the admission’s office to keep Hay from tracking the call back to Kevin. There’s no way Hay could have figured it out. Still, he kept telling anyone who would listen that he would get to the bottom of it. And he suspected it was a fellow student. He said someone who was jealous of his success lied about his dissertation.”

  Coop’s forehead furrowed. “How did Kevin get access to the phone in admissions without anyone knowing about it?”

  “I had a friend who worked there. She let us use the phone in a vacant office.”

  “If Pointer learned that he was outed by an anonymous call, he could have tried to get the call records for the dean’s office,” Eryn said. “Once he had those, he could have worked backward to figure this out.”

  Kiera let the idea settle in. “I suppose it’s possible, but it’s been three years since we graduated. Why wait until now to do something?”

  “That’s a good question,” Eryn said. “A quick background check should tell us what he’s been up to lately. And speaking of background checks, I finished Sasha’s, and there’s nothing of concern there.”

  “And the autopsy report?”

  “I haven’t been able to get an official copy, but I had a conversation with the medical examiner. He said if anyone died from a biotoxin, Blake would have been called in.”

  “So the family filed a frivolous suit against Kevin.”

  “Looks like it,” she said. “Hopefully Blake has gotten the official report along with Henry’s files by now.”

  “Not like he’ll share them with us,” Coop mumbled.

  “You know he can’t.” Eryn turned her attention to her computer.

  Kiera let the memories of Hay’s plagiarism play out in her brain. The confusing days. Days of worry, but knowing that they had to report him. And Kevin stepping up to do so. Her job was to support him and gather all the records in case they needed them.

  “I might be able to help,” she said. “I kept all the files from back then. Things like a record of the time and phone number of the location that Kevin had called from. Even kept a copy of Hay’s dissertation with proof of the plagiarism. Just in case, you know? I filed it away with my school stuff in my apartment. Would any of that help?”

  Coop nodded. “We need to review it. Eryn, you keep researching Pointer, and we’ll fly to Portland and grab the files.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kiera asked. “What if Hay calls while we’re in the air?”

  “No problem.” Coop grabbed his jacket. “You can forward your phone to Eryn, and she can relay any calls to us via radio.”

  Kiera looked at Eryn. “Then give me the forwarding number so we can get out of here.”

  Coop followed Kiera down the hallway to her apartment. He wished that Pointer had called during the flight to Portland, but he didn’t. The only call came from Eryn, telling them that Pointer had a prison record for manufacturing meth, shocking them all. He’d clearly let his plagiarizing troubles take him down, or maybe he’d been making meth even in college.

  Kiera opened her apartment door. The suspense of whether they had entered the right information on the website was nearly killing Coop, but still, he was looking forward to seeing Kiera’s apartment. He figured he could learn a lot about her by seeing her digs. He expected the place would be immaculate and organized. Maybe minimalist in design.

  “It’s good to be home even if it’s only for a few minutes.” She stepped inside and dropped her keys and coat on a small dining table. “The box is in my bedroom closet. Make yourself at home, and I’ll be right back.”

  After sitting in the chopper, Coop wanted to move around, plus he wanted to explore her apartment. Like he’d expected, she’d decorated it in a minimalist style that fit her. Her modern furniture was a surprise, though. He’d thought her taste would be traditional.

  A tall glass bookshelf served as a divider between the dining and living area. She’d strategically displayed art pieces and books on the sparkling shelves. She clearly had an eye for design—not surprising after seeing her family’s home.

  He imagined her visiting his cabin. She’d likely be appalled at the meager place without a single piece of decor in it. He was the true minimalist
. He got a chuckle out of that, but would she?

  He stepped to the shelf and ran his finger over the book spines, surprised to see she liked to read fiction, thrillers specifically. A large translucent vase sat on another shelf and served as the focal point of the room. The frosted orange color matched the accent pillows on the gray sofa. He started to move on, but something dark in the vase caught his attention. He picked it up to look inside.

  A six-inch cylindrical metal canister sat inside, and he fiddled with the vase until the canister tumbled out in his hand. Etched in the shiny metal were the words “Property of Oceanic Labs.”

  Say what? What was she doing with something from Oceanic Labs in her apartment?

  Coop’s heart started beating hard.

  Could this be a souvenir from one of her visits to her brother? He studied the canister that didn’t feel empty. He opened it to find white powder in a double-sealed bag.

  The toxin. Was this the missing toxin? Had she scammed him, pretending interest in him to blind him to her true colors?

  He recalled the video showing Kevin exiting the lab. He’d stowed the container in his jacket. Coop expected it was bigger than this one. But maybe he’d been wrong.

  He dialed Gage. “Do you have any idea of the type of container the stolen toxin was stored in?”

  “There was more than one. There’re metal. Shiny. They look kind of like a small metal thermos with lid.”

  “And it has ‘Property of Oceanic Labs’ engraved in the top?”

  “Yeah. How’d you know?”

  “Can you help me lift something down?” Kiera called out.

  “I’ll tell you about it when I get back.” Coop disconnected, quickly closed the can, and shoved it into his jacket pocket. He made sure the vase was put back in the exact location where he’d found it and started for the bedroom.

  Forget what you found. Pretend nothing happened.

  Right, like that was easy. The woman he’d come to care for—more than anyone in his life—had likely betrayed his trust. Not easy to forget that.

  He joined her in a room decorated with muted grays accented by warm colors. It felt warm and inviting, but he wouldn’t let that suck him in and forget the canister and all that it implied.

  She pointed at the top shelf. “It’s the white file box up there. I forgot I put it up so high. I could get a step stool, but I hoped you could reach it.” She smiled at him, a soft smile he’d only seen a few times since he’d known her, and his heart betrayed him by doing a somersault.

  He looked away and reached up to bring down the box.

  She took it and opened it on the bed. “Yeah, this is the right one.”

  “Then we should take off.”

  She watched him for a long moment, silence lingering. “You seem upset about something. Did you get a call from the team? Is something wrong? Is it Kevin?”

  Wrong? Yeah, there is. You lied to me.

  “No call. Everything’s fine. I just don’t want to waste any time.” The last part wasn’t a lie. He didn’t want to waste time getting the container to a lab to have the powder analyzed.

  He picked up the box and marched to the door. He heard her follow him and could almost feel her additional questions coming. He needed to get a grip and act more relaxed, or she would figure out something really was wrong.

  “Anything you want to grab while we’re here?” he asked, making sure to sound casual when his gut was in a tight knot.

  She peered into the living room, her attention pausing at each shelf before moving on. Was she thinking about how to grab the canister without him seeing her?

  She suddenly shook her head. “I’m sure Hannah will let me do laundry if I need to, so I’m good.”

  Right, like Kiera kept her laundry on those shelves.

  “Let’s get going,” he said and dreaded the hour flight where he would have to work double-time to keep her from getting wind of his suspicions.

  18

  As Coop sat in the conference room reviewing Kiera’s information with Eryn, the metal container in his pocket felt like it might burn his side. He needed to figure out what to do with it. He shouldn’t even be questioning his next move. His loyalty was to his team. Point blank. They had to come first. So why hadn’t he turned it over to Gage to get the powder analyzed?

  Simple. He was letting his feelings for Kiera stop him. And he felt like a real loser for doing so. A soldier never did anything to compromise a mission. He’d never done so in the past. Never! And wasn’t used to this feeling gnawing at his gut. But each time he started to get up to go see Gage, he couldn’t move.

  Was Kiera playing him? Did she trade on his attraction to him to get him to play along in a charade regarding her brother? Had Kevin’s abductor designed these clues to lead them on a wild goose chase and keep the team busy?

  But how? Each clue had taken planning and preparation. She and Kevin couldn’t have known that Blackwell would take on this investigation. Meant they couldn’t have planned ahead. Maybe the abductor had intended for the police to find Kevin. She might simply have decided to tell them about the calls and would pretend to solve the leads to string the police along.

  He glanced across the conference room table to where she stood next to Eryn. Their heads were bent over the box from Kiera’s apartment. The stress of the last few days was evident on Kiera’s face. She hadn’t slept well, leaving dark circles under her eyes.

  That she couldn’t fake. And what about the anguish she often displayed? Was she that good of an actress? Maybe all she had to do was imagine the arrest of her brother for the theft and she could call up the emotions. The simplest thing would be to ask her about it, but if she was in on the theft, he couldn’t let her know he was on to her.

  Argh. He just didn’t know what to do.

  Do your job.

  If her brother was innocent, the rest would work itself out. And if he wasn’t, but she was? Then he’d be putting the twin brother of the woman he’d come to care for behind bars, and she would likely never forgive him.

  Still, he had to do the right thing. He stood, feeling the canister shift. “I’m going to talk to Gage."

  Kiera’s phone rang from the table, and she jerked away. “It’s an unknown number. It has to be Hay.”

  “Answer on speaker,” Coop said, ignoring the canister for now. “And don’t let on that we know his identity.”

  She dropped into a chair and punched speakerphone. “Hello.”

  “You’re smarter than I expected, Kiera,” the scrambled voice came over the speaker. “I honestly didn’t think you’d get this close to figuring out the Henry clue.”

  “Close? I figured it out. Now release Kevin,” she demanded.

  “And end our game? My fun? No. Not yet.”

  “So give me the next clue.” She gritted her teeth.

  Coop suspected she was going to lose it. He sat next to her and tapped her hand to get her to look at him.

  “Cool it,” he mouthed.

  She nodded and took a long breath. “Please.”

  “Oh, so polite,” the voice said. “I like that, but honestly you didn’t complete the last clue I gave you.”

  “I don’t understand.” She sounded calm, but her gaze was darting around the room.

  “I thought you’d be more thorough in your search.”

  Search. What did he mean?

  She looked at Coop, and he shrugged.

  “What search? Do you mean the old law office?” she asked.

  “Ding. Ding. Ding.” He chuckled, but with the scrambled voice, it sounded more like a rumble.

  Kiera’s eyes narrowed. “You left a clue there?”

  “Come on now. I can’t do the work for you, and honestly I shouldn’t even give you another chance to get this right, but I’m having such fun.”

  “Okay, we’ll go back,” she said, her eyes holding confusion.

  “Maybe thinking about Henry’s law will help as you do so. As usual, you have twenty-four hours. Buh-
bye, Kiera.”

  She ended the call and shot Coop a look. “Didn’t you search the building?”

  “We did. Thoroughly.”

  “You must have missed something.” She came to her feet. “We have to get over there and look again. Maybe knowing it relates to Henry’s law will help.”

  “You should stay here.”

  She crossed her arms. “No. No way. I’m the one who will likely notice any connection to Henry’s law.”

  “This could be a trap to get you out in the open. Maybe to kill you.”

  “He’s had plenty of chances to try to kill me, and he hasn’t taken them.”

  “Are you forgetting about the ATV and drugs?”

  “No. But those happened days ago and might’ve been an accident.”

  “You don’t accidentally target someone with an ATV.”

  “He did veer off. Maybe he was trying to scare me. And he might not have known the cocaine was laced with something else.” She slipped into her jacket. “We’re wasting time arguing about this. I’m willing to risk going there.”

  “Please. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” He hated the way he was pleading with her when he shouldn’t even care about her.

  She lifted her chin. “Can’t you figure out a way to safely transport me to the building?”

  He wasn’t going to win this argument and time was ticking when they should be searching instead of standing here. “Take a seat, and I’ll call in the team.”

  “Fine, but no sitting around the table for hours and planning this time. I need you to hurry.”

  He held up a hand. “We’ll move the second we feel you’ll be safe and not a minute sooner.”

  She looked like she planned to argue with him, but nodded instead.

  “Let me make that call,” he said and stepped out of the room to let her think this was his reason for leaving.

  Sure, he had to make the call, and they needed to deploy soon. But first, he had to store the canister in his locker. When he returned later, he would turn it over to Gage. He didn’t like having to wait, but he had no other option right now. None at all.