Krista hated to see Cash fighting a lost cause when the guy was long gone.
She jogged down the steps and laid a hand on his arm. “He’s gone.”
“I know, but I…”
“I get that you want to go after him, but you’re clearly dizzy.”
He tried to stand unaided, then leaned against the tree. His eyes had lost their determination.
“You’re bleeding.” Krista tried to touch his head, but he backed away. “Let’s go sit down.”
He swept fingers across the injury and winced. “Not in the house. It’s a crime scene. We’ll sit in the car.”
“Okay.” She tried to help him to the vehicle.
He shrugged off her hand and made his way only to lean against the hood. He pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Jake and get an alert out.”
She nodded. “I’ll go get Opa.”
He was already climbing down the stairs and met her at the bottom.
“Cash says we shouldn’t go back inside yet. We’ll sit in the car until his team arrives.”
“I hope Darcie comes along.” He tipped his head at Cash. “Looks like Cash could use her attention.”
“I saw the creep hit him with your stein, but, of course, Cash won’t admit he needs to sit down. If we sit, maybe he will, too.” She escorted Opa to the car and got him settled in the back. She didn’t say anything to Cash but took her seat in the front. He didn’t join them.
“He’s stubborn,” Krista mumbled.
“As are you, my Liebchen.”
She cast Opa a stern look, and he chuckled. A few minutes later Cash dropped onto the front seat.
“Are you feeling less dizzy?” she asked.
“I’m fine.”
“I do not understand what is happening, Cash,” Opa said. “This person—maybe the bomber—has been here three times now. Once to steal away my Krista. The second like a mouse in the night, disturbing nothing. Third, like a whirling tornado, making a mess and trying to grab Krista again. What can he be after?”
Cash swiveled on the seat. He closed his eyes for a moment, likely because he was still dizzy and trying to regain his equilibrium. “With the way the house is trashed today, it tells us he’s desperate to retrieve something and he no longer cares if we know about it.”
“But what?” Krista asked. “I don’t have anything he could want.”
“And why has he tried to abduct her?”
“My guess, though you can never know what a creep like this wants, is that he thinks if he takes Krista he can force her to tell him where the thing he’s looking for is located.”
She looked at Cash. “Force. As in torture?”
He nodded and visions of the bomber taking control of her sent the blood draining from her face.
“Don’t worry.” Cash took her hand. “I won’t let him get to you.”
She appreciated his support and, honestly, she felt he was more than competent, but the man had almost grabbed her today. How would Cash stop such a thing in the future?
She heard the low rumble of a truck barreling down the driveway. Her pulse shot into overdrive as she swiveled to see the FRS coming to their rescue. A wave of relief over their arrival washed over her. An astounding change when she’d been so terrified to be interviewed by them at the stadium.
They climbed from the car to meet the squad, minus Archer, and the irony of Krista’s situation had her shaking her head. She still feared they’d turn on her as the detectives had in Toby’s investigation, but she’d come to rely on these men and women, too. And appreciate their strength and determination.
Darcie rushed up to Krista. “Are you okay? Cash told us the guy grabbed you.”
“I’m fine. It’s Cash you should be looking at. He was hit over the head with a heavy stein.”
Darcie turned to frown at Cash, who was leaning heavily on the hood. “You didn’t say anything about it when you called this in.”
“That’s because I’m fine.”
“C’mon.” Darcie grabbed his wrist as she might a wayward child. “I’ll decide if you’re fine or not.” She dragged him toward their truck.
“Cash’s gonna get an earful.” Brady smiled. “Glad I’m not the one who got hurt and didn’t tell her.”
Jake looked at Krista. “Have you had a chance to look through the house?”
“No. Cash wanted us to wait for forensics.”
Jake raised a brow but said nothing.
Krista’s apprehension skyrocketed. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Cash was right. We don’t want to contaminate the scene, but I suspect his real reason for staying outside is to keep you from spending more time than necessary in the mess he described on the phone.”
“Unfortunately, you’ll have to walk through the house to tell us if anything is missing,” Brady added, his tone warmer than it had been in the past.
“We’ll be by your side as you take a tour.” Skyler offered a rare smile. “You ready?”
“I am coming, too,” Opa said. “It is time I see just what type of man we are dealing with.”
*
At the door, Jake handed out booties to cover their shoes, and he snapped on a pair of latex gloves, as did Skyler. Krista put on her own booties, then helped Opa.
Skyler faced Krista and Opa. “You’ll want to pick things up and put them back where they belong, but please don’t touch anything until after Veronica clears them. Just try to make a running inventory in your mind as you go. Call out if you notice something missing. Okay?”
“We’ll do our best.” Krista linked her arm in Opa’s, and after the team members entered the house, she stepped over the threshold.
She’d caught a peek at the place earlier, but she’d been focused on Cash. Now she took a long look. The book she’d left on the table this morning lay on the floor next to the sheets Cash had slept in. Opa’s afghan pooled under his favorite chair, the cushion ripped free and flung across the room.
The full force of what this man was capable of hit her. What if they’d been home? The monster could have— No, she wouldn’t go there.
“We can do this, Liebchen,” Opa encouraged.
Forcing her shoulders back, she moved forward, Opa right by her side. “This reminds me of the other time,” he whispered.
Krista knew he meant after Toby’s murder, when Opa’s home had been turned upside down and vandalized with threatening graffiti, leading to an ugly confrontation with her neighbors. That had served as the final straw after months of accusations and had sent Krista running from Portland.
“At least there aren’t horrible messages painted on the walls this time,” she whispered back.
Opa spun to face her. “But this is different, is it not? This is not the work of neighbors who took their information from the television. Nothing has been leaked to the press in this investigation. These men and women who have stood by us are honorable, Liebchen. You can trust them.”
“Trust who?” Cash asked as he stepped through the door.
“I see Darcie has bandaged you up.” Krista quickly changed the subject.
“I didn’t need it. I let her put the dressing on, or she would never have released me.”
“I heard that.” Darcie came up behind him and flicked his shoulder. “If you didn’t already have a bump on your head I’d give you one.”
The team slipped into one of their silly moods, something Krista suspected they engaged in often to relieve the stress of their intense jobs. They really were an amazing group, as Opa had said. Could she trust them? She wanted to. Especially Cash.
Veronica entered the room carrying her large case. “Aha. I knew you guys goofed around on the job. Now I have proof.”
They groaned in unison, but it was followed by genuine smiles. Despite the situation, Krista felt herself smiling, too.
“You should do that more often,” Cash said, grabbing her attention again. He let his gaze linger, seeming as if he liked what he saw.
She
felt a blush creep up her neck.
“Not only is he a good man,” Opa announced not too quietly. “But he cares about you.”
“Yeah, he does,” Brady said, but didn’t sound happy about it.
Krista ignored everyone, including Opa, and continued through the family room inch by messy inch. A thorough search proved nothing was missing, so she moved on to the kitchen. Opa’s irreplaceable stoneware from Germany was shattered and mixed with his favorite coffee on the floor.
Her heart ached from the trouble she’d brought to his life, but she kept moving, sifting through the mess until there was nothing else to look at. She dreaded moving on to Opa’s room, where he’d already gone to assess the damage, but she wanted to help him if needed.
She found him, Bible in hand, his usual peaceful expression on his face. He looked up. “We will have a bit of work to do tonight.”
She went to him, hugged him close and held on for dear life. “I’m so sorry, Opa. I brought this mess into your life again.”
“There is no reason to be sorry.” He pushed back, his expression telling her he was taking this in stride like everything else. “You did not do this just like you did not kill Toby, and I will not have you feel any guilt.” He tipped her chin up. “Do you hear me, Liebchen? Do not feel bad. These are just possessions. As long as my Bible has survived and you are unharmed, I am fine.”
He stood up taller. “Now you go check your room and I will be with Cash in the family room.”
Feeling better, she went straight to her room. She dropped to the floor to look under the bed, where she’d returned the gun after the previous breakin.
The gun. It was gone.
Stunned, she sat back. Having a gun had given her a sense of security. Now her only form of protection was gone.
No. She had Cash. He would stand by them. If nothing else, he’d proved his trustworthiness in that area. But what if the intruder came back with the same gun and used it on Cash?
She couldn’t expose him to such danger. She had to tell him, but how? How did she explain that a potential kidnapper, likely a deadly bomber, was in possession of her gun and could harm others with it?
Taking her time to put off the inevitable, she finished searching her room, then went back to the family room and faced the team. She met their gazes and Opa’s squarely. “My gun is missing.”
Cash grimaced but said nothing.
Skyler frowned. “All we can do at this point is make sure it’s added to the stolen weapons database. Is there anything else missing?”
“Not that I can see, but I won’t know for sure until I put this place back together.”
“I did not notice anything, either,” Opa added.
“Then since we’re done here, we’ll get out of your way so you can clean up,” Skyler said. “Make sure you call me if you discover anything or if you happen to locate the gun.”
“Coming, Cash?” Brady asked pointedly.
“I’m staying.” Cash’s shoulders went up in a hard line. “They need me even more than before.”
Krista didn’t like the reason Cash had to stay, but she was glad he wasn’t leaving. He closed the door after his team and smiled, but the strain of the day hung in his eyes. “Why don’t we get the furniture turned over so Otto can sit down?”
Krista nodded. “And then I’ll work on his bedroom.”
“I am not invisible, you know,” Opa grumbled. “I can work on my own room if you will be so kind as to lift my mattress back onto the frame.”
“Sure.” Cash smiled sincerely this time.
They made quick work of putting his mattress back into position, and then Opa shooed them out of the room. They walked back to the family room in silence, and Cash stood at the entrance, surveying the mess as if he didn’t know where to start.
“The sofa is taking up a lot of space,” Krista said softly. “We should move it first.”
They each took an end and flipped it over. Something shiny dropped out, bounced on the floor and slid under the coffee table. Cash went to retrieve it while Krista moved on. She righted an end table and heard Cash mumble something under his breath.
“Did you say something?” she asked, turning to look at him.
Scowling, he pulled a latex glove from his pocket and reached under the table. A metal object lay in his palm, and he stared at it. He suddenly looked up at her, his expression stony.
“What is it?” Krista held her breath for more bad news.
He met her gaze, his eyes dark and angry. “Do you recognize this?”
She started at the shiny metal tube with a black cap at the end. “I have no idea what that is.”
He ground his teeth for a moment. “It’s a piece of a detonator. For a bomb. If you’re not involved with the bomber, why would you have something like this in your home?”
FIFTEEN
Krista watched Cash pace the floor. Back and forth. Back and forth. Part of her couldn’t believe after the time they’d spent together and the relationship that seemed to be developing between them—despite their best efforts to avoid it—that he could possibly think she was involved in the bombing.
The other part of her, the one who’d lived in a state of unease for years, had expected this kind of reaction all along. Her life had come full circle. The police believed her guilty of another crime she hadn’t committed. But the hurt was exponentially bigger coming from Cash. She had to get him to see she didn’t know about the detonator.
She clutched his arm, forcing him to stop and look at her. “I had nothing to do with this. Please believe me.”
“The evidence speaks for itself.” He held up the detonator. “This is very similar to the one used in the stadium bomb.”
“Similar but not an exact match?”
“Not exact, but come on, Krista. It’s a detonator for a bomb. Not a run of the mill item found in someone’s sofa.”
She let her gaze travel the room, looking for something, anything to explain her situation. “You said yourself that you think the bomber is the one who broke in here and is targeting me. Maybe he planted that thing under the sofa to discredit me. You know, so even if I identified him, no one will believe me.”
“You heard it fall out of the sofa, right?”
“Even better to make me look guilty. Put it inside the sofa and tip it over so it seems like it just happens to fall out.” She waited for him to agree but he simply stared at her. “It obviously was a good idea. It’s clearly working.”
Cash rolled down his glove to encase the detonator and shoved it in his pocket before looking at her. “What else can I think?”
“I don’t know—maybe that you’ve spent time with me the last few days. Gotten to know me and know I’d never do anything like this.”
He eyed her for a moment. “Or,” Cash said, his voice hard, “it could also be the more obvious answer. You could be the bomber’s accomplice or, worse, the actual bomber. Maybe you made the bomb in this very room and the detonator slipped into the sofa unnoticed.”
His comment sent her taking a step back in shock. “What about the attacks on me? This ransacking? Why would I do that? How could I do it? You’ve been with me the whole time.”
His confidence faltered for a moment but quickly returned. “For starters, you could have hired someone for the breakins to throw the investigation off track.” He fisted his hands, then released them and crossed his powerful arms as if he didn’t know what to do with himself. “Either way, I have to report finding this to Skyler. She’ll want to bring forensics back out here for a more detailed search for bomb-making supplies and residue to see if we can match anything to the stadium bomb.” He dug out his phone and started to walk away.
She grabbed his hand, threaded her fingers in his. “Please, don’t call her. They won’t find anything. I promise.”
He stared at her. “Give me a good reason not to tell her.”
Krista couldn’t tell him about her past. About why she feared being targeted for th
e crime as had happened with Toby. The last thing she could do after this discovery was to tell him how she’d never been cleared of another serious crime.
“One reason, Krista. Just one,” he pleaded, sounding desperate to believe her.
She couldn’t risk exposing her past. Looking away, she said, “I don’t have one.”
“I didn’t think so.” He pulled his hand free.
She clamped her mouth closed before she thought better of her decision and spilled her guts.
“Have a seat. Skyler and Veronica will be back here soon. You’d better hope they don’t find anything else.”
*
The front door opened and Skyler stepped inside with Veronica. Opa must have heard the car pull up because he wandered out of his room. He took one look at Krista and came to sit next to her. He scooped up her hand, and she explained the situation.
“My granddaughter is not a bomber,” he fired at Cash and Skyler, who were deep in discussion at the mouth of the hallway. “If you could possibly believe she is, Cash Dixon, you are not the man I thought you were.”
Skyler shook her head and went down the hall with Veronica. Cash opened his mouth to speak, then clamped it closed and started searching the family room. Tears at his continued belief in her guilt stung Krista’s eyes. She angrily swiped them away. Not anger at Cash, but anger at the situation. Maybe at God for allowing it and at herself for foolishly thinking she could rely on Cash.
“Don’t cry, Liebchen,” Opa said softly. “Everything will be okay.”
He continued offering words of encouragement, but she didn’t believe him. Couldn’t believe him. Not after what had happened with Toby.
And worse yet, although she knew pigs would fly before Cash would sit next to her, hold her hand, support her and come to her defense, she wanted him there. By her side. Defending her as he’d pretty much done since this all started.
“Let’s pray, Liebchen,” Opa offered.
Krista didn’t have the heart to say no, so she joined him by bowing her head. She listened to his heartfelt plea. Admired his complete trust in God. Felt herself wondering if this was just another of those situations where God was trying to get her attention.
Love Inspired Suspense May 2015 #2 Page 11
