Deadly Fallout

by Katie Reus

Sawyer didn’t respond, just opened the door. Instead of letting her go first, like she’d expected, he moved outside in front of her, using his body as a barrier as he scanned the relatively quiet street. Two women jogged by on the sidewalk, both with earbuds in as they pounded the pavement. Then an older, white-haired man walking a small dog with white-and-black fur strolled by carrying a Starbucks cup. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

  Sawyer must have agreed, because he gave an almost imperceptible nod before looking back at her. “First we’re going to get your car. I’m going to scan it for any tracking devices or…anything. Then you’re going to drive me to my truck, which is just a block from here—I couldn’t find a spot any closer. From there, I’m going to follow you home. Blue’s filled me in on what’s going on so I’d like to shadow you at your work today, see if that fucker shows up. He’s going to be notified of the restraining order, probably already has been so if he’s pissed enough, he’ll show up at your work. If we can document that, it’s a start.”

  His words made her chest tighten as she realized she had no choice but to face her new reality head on. She wouldn’t have an escort every day, but for now, she was glad to have someone on her side—someone trained—who had an idea how to tackle today. She still needed to make copies of her restraining order and give them out to everyone at work, but today suddenly seemed manageable with Sawyer by her side.

  “Thank you for doing this.”

  “I don’t need your thanks,” he said brusquely before turning toward the road and glancing both ways.

  Oh right, this was just a job for him. Well, job or not, she was still damn thankful for his presence.

  Chapter 4

  Sawyer parked his truck behind Zoe’s two-door car, automatically scanning the exterior of her house and neighbors’ homes. It was eight a.m. so some people were already leaving; parents with kids and others dressed in business attire. No one appeared out of the ordinary and no one looked like Braddock Klein.

  Blue had sent him a detailed file on Klein last night after Sawyer had more or less volunteered to shadow Zoe today. His friend had planned to use one of Mina’s security guys to trail Zoe, but Sawyer was having none of that. His training was officially over today and he started with his new team on Monday. They could put someone else on her then if necessary. But he wanted to look out for her now and over the weekend, and he wasn’t going to examine why too closely. He just knew he wanted her safe. He also knew that had nothing to do with a sense of duty because she was Vincent’s sister and everything to do with her specifically. The woman intrigued him.

  Shutting his door behind him, he met Zoe as she was getting out of her car. A breeze blew up and her curls bounced softly in the wind. An unbidden image of what it would feel like to run his fingers through her hair while she was naked and under him entered his mind, but he locked that down. He was on the job and her safety was more important than his fucking libido.

  “Did it seem as if anyone was following us?” she asked, an anxious frown creasing her brow.

  “Nope.” He was good at locating a single tail, but if someone was working with a full team or in tandem with a partner, then it became more difficult. Since Klein seemed to be a one-man stalker, Sawyer was almost certain they hadn’t been followed.

  “Thank God,” she muttered, glancing around nervously.

  Yeah, what Sawyer wouldn’t give to kick this guy’s ass. Seeing fear on Zoe’s face sliced at him. He’d spent most of his adult life fighting terrorists and when you got right down to it, they were nothing but psychotic bullies who wanted the world to see everything their way. Now everything about Zoe’s life was being affected by a bully with an ego. That brought out all his protective instincts whether he wanted it to or not. “You set your alarm yesterday, right?”

  She nodded and palmed her keys. “Yes, so if it’s off…” She trailed off, not needing to finish.

  After they entered her house, the insistent beep of her alarm sounded and he could see the tension leave her body as she pressed the code into the keypad. He locked the front door behind them then ordered her to stay put. Her eyes widened at his tone, but he didn’t have time to reassure her. He needed to sweep her house.

  Withdrawing his SIG, he held it at his side as he methodically swept each room. She had a three-bedroom, two-bath home in a higher end part of town and close to the practice she worked at. Her neighborhood had lake access, though her house wasn’t on the water and from the file Blue had given him, they had twenty-four-seven security driving around or sitting in the guard house he’d seen when they’d entered the subdivision. But it didn’t appear to be actually gated, something he hadn’t liked. He planned to ask her about that later.

  Once he was certain the house was secure he found Zoe standing in her foyer next to an oversized floor vase, her arms crossed over her chest. “House is secure.”

  “Thank you. And next time, if there is one, ask me to stay put, don’t order me around.”

  He’d taken plenty of orders in the Navy, but for the most part he’d given them, especially on missions. His instinct was to tell her that he’d just been doing his job, but he could stand to use some finesse, especially where Zoe was concerned. “My apologies.”

  She blinked, her arms dropping. “Really?”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “You want me to argue?”

  “No, I…it’s nice to be talking to a grownup, that’s all.” She gave him a real smile then, a megawatt one that lit up her face and it was all for him. The sight was a kick to his chest, stealing all the breath from his lungs. “I already showered so I just need to change then snag a cup of coffee. I have one of those one-cup machines so if you want, feel free to brew yourself a cup. Or we can just grab some at my work.”

  He nodded and started to respond when a sharp knock on her front door had him straightening. He turned, blocking her body with his as he reached for his weapon.

  “Miami PD, open the door,” a loud male voice said.

  Sawyer’s first instinct was that this was a trap. He moved to the peephole and peered through, aware of Zoe right behind him. There were three men, two wearing police uniforms and one man wearing a suit and tie. Two cruisers were parked at the curb out front. “Show some ID,” he demanded. Sawyer had no clue how devious Klein was and he wasn’t taking any chances with Zoe’s safety.

  The man in the suit straightened and faced the peephole directly. “Zoe, you in there? Answer me.” His tone was concerned.

  Zoe’s hand on Sawyer’s forearm made him look down. “It’s okay, that’s Carlito Duarte. He’s a detective with the police department.” She turned from him and unlocked the door. When she opened it, Sawyer knew immediately that whatever was going on, was bad.

  All three men looked grim, especially the detective. The man looked at Sawyer and assessed him before focusing on Zoe. “Zoe Hansen, I have a warrant for your arrest for the murder of Braddock Klein.”

  “What?” she gasped, reeling back a step.

  Klein was dead? Well that solved one of her problems, but this was just fucked up. Sawyer wanted to haul her back from the men, but knew he’d just make the situation a hell of a lot worse if he got in the way. Because this had to be a setup, no doubt about it.

  The detective with bronzed skin, gray eyes and a GQ thing going on, nodded. “You have the right to an attorney and I’m telling you to exercise that right and not say a fucking word. Got it?” he asked her, his expression tight. Sawyer could tell the man hated doing this part of his job with Zoe.

  Zoe’s expression was one of horror and shock. She looked up at Sawyer as if he could somehow fix the situation. And hell if he wasn’t going to try.

  “Don’t say a word,” he told her. “I’m calling Alex and your brother right now. Where are you taking her?” he asked, turning his attention to the detective.

  “Down to the station.”

  Sawyer nodded and looked at Zoe again as one of the officers stepped forward with handcuffs in his hand. Fuck, no. He d
idn’t want to let her go and it was clear the detective didn’t like this any better than she did. The sight of the cuffs made Zoe jerk with shock, but she didn’t try to resist.

  “Tell my brother to call our family lawyer and my mom,” she blurted. “And call Gerard Fernandez. He’s my boss. Alex has his information. I don’t know what’s going on, but he was with me before I went to Blue’s last night…” She trailed off as Duarte stilled the man in uniform with the restraints.

  “We’ll cuff her in the cruiser and her hands go in front,” he said quietly.

  Not much, but it was a small show of courtesy, telling Sawyer all he needed to know about the detective. “I’m following you right now and making those calls. You’re not going to jail so just stay quiet until your lawyer gets there, okay? I’m not kidding. Not one single word.”

  Swallowing hard, she nodded, her big brown eyes wide with fear as she let the officers escort her to the waiting police cruiser. What the hell was happening? If Klein had been murdered that was damn fast police work for them to have a suspect already. And there was no way in hell they’d have shown up on Zoe’s doorstep and actually arrested her without physical evidence. Sawyer had a decent understanding of civilian law, more so now because of his new job, and it was too soon for the police to be here without concrete proof. Something else was going on and Sawyer was damn sure going to find out what it was and make sure Zoe got out of this mess.

  The only silver lining in all this was that her stalker was no longer a problem.

  * * *

  “She’s going to be okay,” Sawyer said to Tanice Hansen, Zoe’s mom, who was pacing nervously at the far end of the rectangular, cheap wood table.

  They’d been taken to a quiet conference room at the police station, courtesy of Detective Duarte, whom Sawyer had recently discovered was friends with a lot of guys from Red Stone Security and had interacted with Zoe frequently when she’d worked at the hospital. Mina and Blue were both in different rooms being questioned by detectives to corroborate Zoe’s alibi. And Sawyer knew that Blue had already had the security feeds from his condo sent over to the police for analyzing.

  “I just can’t believe anyone would think she’d even be capable of taking a life. She took the Hippocratic Oath and that means something to my girl. And I still can’t believe she didn’t tell me about any of this.” A pop of anger sounded in the petite woman’s voice. She was the same height as Zoe with flawless, darker skin. She looked decades younger than Sawyer guessed she had to be. Right now worry was evident in every taut line of her body.

  “It’s normal in a situation like this to keep what happened private from those closest to her.” And Sawyer had already been in contact with Vincent who was currently on his way back to Miami.

  Tanice frowned and swiveled toward him, hands on her hips. “How is that normal to keep something so big from her mother?”

  “I’m just guessing, but Zoe probably felt ashamed, possibly embarrassed. She probably tried to think of all the different ways she could have seen this sooner, maybe prevented it from happening.” One of Sawyer’s guys had been stalked years ago and had been in a state of denial that it was happening to him, especially since it was another male doing the stalking. He figured Zoe had probably been in denial for a while too, made easier since Klein had been out of the country. It was a normal, human reaction.

  Tanice’s eyebrows furrowed together. “That makes no sense, she couldn’t have prevented some crazy from focusing on her.”

  “We know that and intellectually Zoe knows that. But self-blame is a common effect on stalking victims.” He was just impressed how well Zoe had been holding up.

  Losing her steam, Tanice pulled out a chair and collapsed into it. “You’d think that once your kids were out of the house and had families and lives of their own you could stop worrying. But you never do.” Her eyes started to well with tears, but she looked away from him, angrily swatting at the wetness. The action reminded him so much of Zoe.

  Realizing she didn’t want him to see her upset, he stood from his chair and headed for the door. “I’ll grab us some more drinks.” He’d had way too much coffee the past couple hours while they waited so he’d be grabbing water.

  “Thank you.”

  The door opened before he’d reached it. Zoe, Blue, Mina and Duarte stepped in. Zoe’s eyes were red-rimmed, but she also looked relieved. Okay, that was a good thing. As she rushed toward her mother who’d already jumped from her chair, Sawyer looked between Blue and the detective. Zoe’s attorney wasn’t with them, which surprised Sawyer. Maybe the guy was filling out paperwork or he wasn’t needed anymore.

  Duarte shut the door behind him so they all had privacy.

  “She’s free?” Sawyer asked, needing to hear the words.

  Duarte and Blue nodded at the same time. “Yes, thanks to a rock solid alibi,” Duarte said. “If she hadn’t stayed with you guys last night…” The man shook his head, his mouth still pulled into that grim line.

  Sawyer only knew the basics at this point. That Klein had been found dead at his home, his throat cut. Zoe’s fingerprint had been on the knife, but nowhere else at the scene. “So what happened?” he asked, not bothering to wait until he was alone with Blue. He figured Zoe’s mom needed details now too.

  “Someone called in an anonymous tip that Klein had been murdered late last night. They gave a description of a woman leaving his place who looked a lot like Zoe. Since she’d just filed a restraining order against him last night…well, Klein had powerful friends so there’s a push to get this solved. Since she was a viable suspect, the techs ran her prints from the hospital against the single print on the knife and it’s a match. Luckily there’s no DNA of hers at the scene and her alibi is airtight. And the single print is…interesting.”

  Sawyer didn’t respond, but he understood the man’s meaning. One single print and no DNA at a crime scene? Unlikely. Someone planted that print.

  “The time stamps on the security of her arriving at Alex and Mina’s and witness statements from both of them are hugely helpful. The State’s Attorney won’t be pursuing criminal charges and we’re now hunting for the real killer.”

  Sawyer had a lot of questions, like had they started looking for who’d called in that anonymous tip, but he wasn’t in law enforcement and Duarte likely wouldn’t tell him anyway. The important thing was, Zoe wasn’t a suspect. “So she’s free to go back to her life?”

  Duarte nodded at him, then looked at Zoe. “Yes, but someone planted that knife and called in a tip that someone who looked like you was seen leaving Klein’s residence. And since you can’t think of anyone other than the deceased who would have done something like that, the killer’s still out there. Framing you could have been an opportunity because Klein has enemies and you were an easy person to blame, or…his murder might have been an attempt to hurt you. You need to be careful.”

  “I will be,” Zoe said, her arm wrapped around her mother’s shoulders as she faced the detective.

  After speaking to Blue and Mina for a few more minutes, the detective left the room. Zoe was still talking quietly to her mom and Sawyer felt suddenly awkward. He didn’t want to leave Zoe but he knew she probably wanted to be with just her friends and family right now.

  Sawyer cleared his throat and looked at Zoe. “I spoke to your boss and he was really understanding, but you probably want to call him and let him know you’re okay.”

  “I will, thank you. Thank all of you,” she looked around the room, tears welling in her eyes. “This is all so awful, I just can’t…” She shook her head and wiped away the wetness tracking down her cheeks. Then she took a deep breath. “Dinner at my place tonight. All of you are invited. You too, Sawyer,” she said, giving him a watery smile.

  He just nodded as she continued.

  “I’m sure Vincent will be back by this afternoon so I’ll call—”

  “I’ll take care of calling your brother and sisters,” Tanice said firmly. “And I’ll make sure
they don’t hassle you for keeping us in the dark.” She gave her daughter a firm squeeze around her middle, never taking her arm from around her daughter.

  Zoe’s eyes widened. “You will?”

  “Yes. Sawyer explained why you felt the need to keep this a secret from us and I—” Her voice broke as she pulled Zoe into another hug, murmuring how thankful she was that Zoe was okay.

  As Zoe hugged her mom, she gave Sawyer a grateful smile over Tanice’s shoulder. The sight did strange things to his insides, just like when she’d given him that bright smile this morning. In that moment he realized just how easily he could fall for this woman if he wasn’t careful.

  Chapter 5

  Zoe slipped into her room and shut the door behind her with a quiet click. She twisted the lock in case someone tried to come in because right now she needed just a couple minutes to herself. Voices and music from the living room and her back porch were a steady hum of activity.

  She was so damn grateful to be here and surrounded by people she cared about and who cared about her in return, but today’s events were finally crashing in on her and mental exhaustion crept through her veins, weighing her down. That third glass of wine probably wasn’t helping her emotional state either.

  When she heard running water coming from her bathroom, she straightened, that familiar tension punching through her—until Sawyer walked out.

  He looked surprised, then almost sheepish to see her. He ran a big hand over his dark hair, his arm muscles flexing slightly with the movement. Her gaze trailed down the length of all those sinewy muscles. “There was a long line for your guest bathroom and I’ve had a couple beers. Figured I could sneak in here unnoticed and your mom said it’d be fine.”

  She stepped further into her room. It was weird having him in here, but she also kind of liked it and found herself thinking how good he’d look splayed out on her king sized bed. That thought was a jolt to her system. The man was gorgeous, but she hadn’t thought lusting after someone would even be on her radar right now. “After what you did today, you don’t have to apologize for anything, ever. My mom thinks you’re a saint. Whatever you did to keep her sane at the police station, thank you.” She sat on the end of her bed and fidgeted with the light blue and brown comforter. It still felt surreal that she’d been freaking arrested this morning and was now celebrating with friends and family since she was free and clear.