Harlequin Romantic Suspense July 2021 Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  “It always amazes me how events in our childhoods form the people we become,” he replied.

  “And that’s definitely what drew me to psychology,” she replied.

  “Did you ever think about going into private practice?”

  “I considered it, but I really enjoy teaching. It’s very rewarding to think I’m educating young minds and maybe some of my students will go on to become good therapists or whatever.”

  He smiled at her. “I have the utmost respect for teachers.”

  “And I have the utmost respect for law enforcement,” she replied.

  For a long moment their gazes remained locked and Brad felt a surge of emotions fill him. It wasn’t just physical attraction. It was more than that. It was a desire to get to know her better, a need to protect her and do everything in his power to make her happy.

  It scared the hell out of him. It had been a very long time since he’d felt this kind of interest in a woman. And she was definitely the wrong woman for him to feel this way about.

  She broke the eye contact and he cleared his throat. “So, what dessert do you recommend?” he asked.

  “It depends on what you like. My favorite is the raspberry torte, but honestly you can’t go wrong with any of the desserts here,” she said.

  When the waitress arrived to clear their dinner dishes, he ordered two of the tortes and two cups of coffee. Once their desserts arrived, he felt the need to distance himself by taking the conversation back to the interview videos he’d played for her.

  “Have you had any more thoughts about Jared?” he asked.

  “I spent part of the afternoon going over my notes, and I stand by what I told you,” she replied.

  He hated that her eyes darkened. “So, maybe it’s time I take a different approach in the interview room. Be more friendly with the kid and try to build a relationship with him despite his parents’ presence. I’ve been playing bad cop and what you’re suggesting is that I need to play good cop.”

  She smiled. “Maybe honey is better than vinegar in this particular case. I have a feeling he’s been fairly lonely for most of his life. He had to have been to hook up with a friend like Leo.” She placed her napkin on top of the table. “Could you please excuse me for a minute?”

  “Of course.” He stood as she did and watched as she wove her way through the tables to disappear into a side alcove where the restrooms were located.

  He frowned thoughtfully and picked up his coffee cup. Maybe she was right. He was definitely not getting anywhere with Jared playing the tough cop. Still, he had to admit it hurt his ego just a little bit to realize it took an outsider to see things he and his team might have missed.

  He’d been the one conducting all the interviews with Jared and his parents, and there was no question that so far he’d felt as if he were spinning his wheels.

  Funny, it was much easier to think about a serial killer than to examine all the inappropriate emotions that Simone stirred inside him.

  Maybe the real problem was that he was just a lonely man and he would have reacted positively to any attractive woman he spent a little bit of time with. Once he finally got back home, maybe he needed to make more of an effort to have a little social time, to maybe pursue a dating life once again.

  He was about to take another drink of coffee when a commotion near the restrooms drew his attention. He was surprised to see Rob and Marilyn Garner, who had apparently just been seated at a table, and Simone.

  Simone looked like a deer in the headlights as Rob rose from his chair and pointed his finger in her face. “My son is innocent and you need to mind your business, you Colton bitch,” he yelled.

  Brad jumped out of his chair and hurried toward them. He didn’t hear what Simone said in return, but Rob took a step closer to her and his finger became a fist.

  “You’ve just stirred up a lot of trouble for yourself, missy,” Rob raged. “You’d better watch your back, you hear me?”

  Simone stumbled backward. Brad grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away. “You need to sit down right now, Mr. Garner,” he yelled at the obviously angry man, and then he quickly led Simone back to their table.

  She was visibly upset. Her face was ashen and her entire body trembled. “I...I came out of the restroom and saw them. I just asked them if they would sit down with me sometime and let me ask them a few questions. He...he just exploded.”

  Dammit, how had this happened and why in hell had she approached them in the first place? “Simone, you shouldn’t have talked to them.”

  “I... I just wanted to...” Her voice trailed off.

  “Simone, you need to stay away from those people. Rob Garner is a loose cannon and there’s no telling what he might do if he sees you as a potential threat to his son,” Brad said.

  Her cheeks finally began to refill with a touch of color. “I’m so embarrassed. I was just so...so shocked by his reaction.” She reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and he couldn’t help but notice that her hand still trembled.

  “I almost feel sorry for Jared growing up with that man,” she finally said.

  “Still, you shouldn’t have talked to them.”

  Before he could say anything else, Tatum Colton appeared beside their table. She placed a hand on Simone’s shoulder. “Simone, are you okay?” she asked worriedly.

  “I’m fine,” Simone replied, although her voice still held a slight tremor.

  Tatum frowned. “Some of the staff told me what just happened. I’m going to get security to ask the Garners to leave.”

  “Oh, please don’t do that, Tatum. It will just make another scene, and besides, Brad and I are finished, so we’ll be leaving,” Simone replied.

  “I didn’t even realize you were here. Why didn’t you tell me you were going to be here this evening?” Tatum asked. Her gaze shot to Brad and then back to Simone.

  “We were just having a...uh...consultation together.” Simone’s cheeks dusted with a blush. “But we’re ready to leave now. Right, Brad?”

  “Definitely,” he agreed. They had pretty much finished up with their dessert and coffee, and there was really no reason to linger any longer. Even if Simone had wanted to linger for another cup of coffee, which he was sure she didn’t, he would have wanted to get her out of here as soon as possible anyway.

  He wanted to get her as far away as possible from Rob Garner. He wanted to yell at her for speaking to them at all, for insinuating herself into a place where she didn’t belong. But she looked so shocked, so utterly vulnerable at the moment, the last thing he wanted to do was come down too hard on her.

  He paid their tab and then together they left the restaurant. They stepped out into the evening air and simply stood on the sidewalk away from the crowd waiting to get into the restaurant.

  She still appeared traumatized. Once again, she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and he noticed that her hand still trembled. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he finally asked. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to his side.

  She stayed there for a long moment and then stepped away from him. She nodded. “I’m all right, just still a little bit shaken up and shocked.”

  “Simone, you can’t try to talk to them again. It should be apparent to you now that Rob Garner is not the kind of man to mess with,” he replied. “I don’t want you to go anywhere near him again.”

  “I was very civil when I approached them. All I asked was if they’d be willing to sit down with me and have a short chat.”

  “I’m sure you were civil, but Rob Garner is not,” he replied. “And I know you want to help, but you need to step back now and leave it all up to us.”

  She released a deep sigh. “Oh, well, aside from that, it was a lovely evening and I really enjoyed having dinner with you.”

  “I enjoyed it, too,” he replied. “Can I
take you home?”

  “No, I’m fine to get home on my own,” she replied and offered him a beautiful smile. “Thank you again, Brad, and I hope you’ll keep me updated on the case.”

  “Of course I will.” He already wanted to see her again. Not as professionals meeting to discuss Jared Garner, but rather as a man and a woman getting to know each other better.

  And that was why he shouldn’t see her again. The timing and circumstances were all wrong for him to be distracted in a romance that ultimately would go nowhere.

  They said their goodbyes, and as he watched her walk away from him, he thought about how Rob Garner had yelled at her, basically threatening her life.

  It made Brad worry for her. He hoped she stayed as far away from Rob as possible. He wanted Rob to forget all about Simone. But the truth of the matter was he had no idea what Garner might do now that Simone was on his radar. And that scared the hell out of him.

  CHAPTER 4

  “I’m not sure my client is going to agree to this.” Roger Albright, Jared Garner’s lawyer, frowned at Brad. The two were seated in an interview room.

  Albright was a tall, dark-haired man who looked like big money in a three-piece suit that Brad knew cost more than Brad’s monthly salary. The man even smelled expensive. However, Brad found him incredibly arrogant and condescending.

  “Legally his parents don’t have to be in the room when I question your client. At nineteen years old, Jared is an adult,” Brad reminded the man. “I’ve been quite accommodating to your client by allowing them to sit in.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Albright said with cool disdain. “However, my client has told you he doesn’t intend to speak to you without them present in the room.”

  “As you know, we have another interview scheduled with Jared in an hour and I’m not going to allow his parents in the room. I’m not accommodating that request anymore going forward.”

  Albright raised one of his dark brows. “You do realize it’s possible Jared won’t cooperate without them there.”

  “He hasn’t cooperated with them in the room. I certainly hope you encourage your client to start to fully cooperate with us. At the very least he’s on the hook for kidnapping charges and he’s also going to be charged with four murders,” Brad said.

  Albright waved his hand dismissively. “All false charges. Jared has a solid alibi for the nights of the murders.”

  Brad nearly snorted in derision. Jared’s “alibi” was that he had been at a family function on the night the Colton men had been murdered, an alibi provided strictly by Rob and a handful of other family members, and one that was on very shaky grounds.

  “I just wanted to inform you that today his parents are not welcome when I speak to Jared,” Brad said.

  “I’ll let him know.” Albright rose from his chair. “And I’ll see you in an hour.”

  Brad remained seated at the table where he would soon be interrogating Jared. With Simone’s observations fresh in his mind, he hoped to break through to Jared in a way he hadn’t before.

  It had been three days since he’d seen Simone, three days since they’d had dinner and she had been threatened by Rob Garner. Brad had called her yesterday just to check in with her. The conversation had been brief, but he had been glad just to hear her voice and to know she was doing okay.

  He had a niggling worry about her. He had no idea if he should take the threats Rob had made to her in the restaurant seriously or not.

  When he’d spoken to her on the phone, he’d reminded her to stay as far away from the Garners as possible, but he wasn’t sure if she was taking his advice to heart or not. She was so desperate to get Jared and Leo sent to prison that he feared she wouldn’t take her personal safety seriously.

  However, he couldn’t entertain thoughts of Simone right now. He needed to study the notes he’d written for this particular interrogation with Jared. He hoped like hell the kid would cooperate without his parents present.

  There had been no more sightings of Leo. Brad had no idea how Leo was managing to exist off the grid. They had officers sitting on his parents’ home and they’d interviewed the few friends the kid had. Nobody had seen him or appeared to be helping him in any way.

  Somehow, someway, either his parents or Jared’s parents had to be funneling Leo money, but the police had yet to figure out how. The kid was considered armed and dangerous, and his photo was still being flashed on the news and on all the social media platforms.

  Forty minutes later Albright returned to the interview room. He greeted Brad once again and then sat in a chair just behind the one Jared would sit in.

  Five minutes later Jared was led into the room by an officer. Clad in a jailhouse-orange jumpsuit and with shackles on his ankles and wrists, he looked especially young and vulnerable. But four men were dead due to this kid and his friend. That was the bottom line.

  Once Jared was seated at the table, the officer unlocked Jared’s wrist shackles and then stepped out of the room.

  “Hi, Jared,” Brad said.

  “Why can’t my parents be here? You’ve pretty much always let them be in here before.” Jared’s gaze skittered around the room nervously.

  “We’ve been very good about granting your wish that they can occasionally be here when we talk to you, but today I just want to talk to you without them here,” Brad explained.

  Jared finally met his gaze. “I’ve already talked to you, like, a hundred times. I got nothing else to say.”

  “I just wanted to get to know you a little better, Jared,” Brad replied. “I’ve spoken to you a number of times, but I don’t feel like I’ve gotten to know the real Jared. For the most part, you seem like a good kid. How are you finding life in jail?”

  “The food sucks,” Jared said. “And the bed sucks,” he continued. “It’s totally boring. The time goes really slow. They won’t let me have my cell phone in here or anything.”

  “What do you like to do on your cell? Are you into any kinds of games on your phone?” Brad asked.

  “I like Zombie Island and House of Thunder.”

  Brad frowned. “I’m not familiar with those. Tell me what they’re about.”

  As Jared explained each of the games, Brad could tell he was starting to relax a bit. Brad was vaguely surprised to learn that in each of the games Jared identified with the “good” guys and tried to rid the environment of the bad people. So, what had happened that in real life he’d decided to be a bad guy? A murderer?

  “I know you also enjoyed playing mag-fed paintball,” Brad said when Jared had finished explaining the cell phone games he liked to play.

  “Yeah, Leo got me into that. It’s cool and we played whenever we got the chance.” Jared frowned. “My dad thought it was a stupid waste of time and money.”

  “I’ve noticed in our interviews that your father is pretty hard on you.”

  Jared’s nostrils thinned and his eyes narrowed. “Yeah, so what?”

  “I think maybe he’s hard on you sometimes when you don’t deserve it.”

  “My dad can be a real son of a bitch.” The words exploded out of him as if forced out by a tremendous pressure. He then clamped his mouth shut as if sorry he had said that much. He looked at the wall just over Brad’s head.

  “It’s okay, Jared. I get it. My dad was a real son of a bitch, too. Nothing I ever did pleased him. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t do anything to make him happy with me. I felt like he didn’t want me and he definitely didn’t love me.”

  Jared stared at Brad for several long moments. “For real?”

  “For real,” Brad replied and held Jared’s gaze. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Brad’s father had been a loving, supportive man until he had passed away five years ago. But Brad would gladly lie in this moment if it was a lie that moved them closer to the truth in the case.

  �
�Did your dad ever hit you?” Jared asked.

  “He punched me a few times when he thought I needed it. It was nothing for him to smack me upside the head or slam my back with his fist. Does your dad hit you?”

  Jared’s eyes turned an icy blue. “Yeah.”

  Albright cleared his throat as if to warn Jared. Jared turned around and glared at the man. “I can say what I want here. You’re my lawyer, not my father’s,” he said angrily.

  Jared then turned back to Brad. “Yeah, my old man hits me. He punches me whenever he feels like it and my mother calls me a loser and a poor excuse for a son. She tells me she should have aborted me.”

  Brad was shocked by what the kid was sharing about his parents, but he didn’t show it. “So, your friends must be really important to you as an escape from your home life,” Brad said.

  “I’m not stupid. I know you want me to talk about Leo.”

  Brad leaned forward. “I’m trying to understand your relationship with Leo. He’s not like you, Jared. I sense that you have a good heart and I’m not sure if Leo does.”

  Jared shrugged. “He’s been a good friend to me. He listens to me when I talk about my parents. He gets it and he gets me like nobody else ever has. He’s my best friend.”

  “That’s good that you found a friend like that. Where were the two of you planning on going?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Albright leaned forward. “Agent Howard, you’re traveling in dangerous territory.”

  Brad looked at Jared innocently. “I don’t know what’s dangerous about what I just asked. We all know you and Leo had bug-out bags ready to go when you were arrested, so we know the two of you were planning on taking off somewhere.”

  When the FBI had burst into Leo’s parents’ basement, where the two boys had their “hangout,” space, two bags were found. The bags had extra clothes, some cash and other items that the two boys might have needed for a life on the run.