Lethal Intent

by Cara C. Putman

  Next thing she knew several police cars raced to the parking garage. The area began to swarm with activity, and one of the officers pulled her aside.

  “I need to stay with him.”

  The man’s eyes were kind and sad. “There’s nothing you can do, ma’am.”

  “Please. He’s my coworker. We were meeting here.”

  “You need to make way for the paramedics.” He guided her off the road and across the street from the garage to a green space next to Macy’s, where she collapsed on the grass. Her body trembled. Was it from adrenaline? She shook her head to clear her thoughts, but it didn’t work.

  The officer asked about what happened, and she told him. He took notes as she spoke. “I felt the impact. Then hurried to the edge. Saw a white SUV pulling away.” She sighed as she rubbed her chilled arms. “That’s all.” She shuddered at how close she’d been to learning whatever Justin saw in the files.

  The officer asked her a few more questions, then put away the notebook and pen. “Did he have a phone with him?”

  It blazed hot in her pocket and she tugged it free. “Here. It was on the ground when I found him.”

  “Why did you pick it up?”

  “I didn’t want anyone else to walk off with it.”

  He studied her a moment, then seemed to accept her words. “I’ll come check on you in a few minutes. Don’t go anywhere.”

  “I won’t.” She felt too weak to try.

  A minute later a paramedic draped a blanket around her shoulders, but it didn’t begin to cut through the cold that pierced her bones.

  The kind where she couldn’t feel her toes.

  A detective approached with a to-go cup of Starbucks, then veered off to talk to a uniformed officer.

  Caroline shuddered and clutched the blanket closer. Justin had brought her here because her office wasn’t safe. Praecursoria wasn’t safe.

  Well, now she wasn’t safe.

  Was whoever had crashed into Justin here now? Watching? Gauging whether she was a threat?

  What if she’d driven with Justin? Would she be lying on the ground next to him?

  Had that one small decision saved her life?

  The trembling intensified as the thought took hold. Simple choices could have terrible ramifications.

  All she’d wanted to do was find out why Anna sent her the flash drive. Decipher the files that made no sense to her. Files that someone else wanted hidden. With Anna in intensive care, Caroline had to turn to others. Now as she watched the paramedics pull a blanket over Justin’s body, she wondered. Was this her fault?

  The detective approached, and Caroline wasn’t sure whether he was friend or foe. The white SUV had looked like the security vehicle that patrolled the parking lot at work. People associated with Praecursoria were dying violent deaths. What was the name of the woman who had died right before Caroline started? Sarah? Was her death tied to the company? Before this moment, that thought would have been crazy. Now? It felt irresponsible not to consider the possibility. Caroline needed to be careful and extricate herself from the scene so she could get what she needed from her office tonight and then slip away. She had a tiny bit of personal leave accrued. It would have to be enough while she tried to sort things out.

  She shook her head at the craziness of the thought. She wasn’t in the middle of some suspense movie or book. She didn’t need to leave . . . did she?

  Maybe.

  But she needed the truth.

  That’s why she had snagged Justin’s phone when she saw it lying next to his body. She’d turned it over, but what if that was why the detective was walking her way now? She’d already told another one what she’d seen . . . nothing helpful. What more did they want?

  She couldn’t fabricate details.

  Her shoulders hitched toward her ears as the paramedics brought a gurney over, then stood next to it, in no hurry.

  She couldn’t let Justin’s death be in vain. And she couldn’t explain why that mattered to the police, when she wasn’t even sure what could have led to this violent death. But she knew beyond a reasonable doubt that her request was linked to what had happened here today.

  The question she couldn’t unravel to an answer was why.

  Why had her questions led here?

  She clutched the blanket tighter. She was cold.

  So very cold.

  * * *

  “Isn’t that your girlfriend?”

  Brandon glanced up with a start. He’d had his back to the door and the lodge’s big-screen TV as he made a cup of coffee in the kitchen. Jeff had come over to talk through the weekend activities and had turned on the TV in the background. Now he stood, stance wide, in front of the TV, arms crossed as an accident scene filled the screen.

  “Caroline?” What was she doing on TV?

  “As far as I know she’s your only special lady.”

  Brandon rolled his eyes. “Funny guy.”

  “You know it, but seriously, isn’t that her?”

  He studied the flashing emergency lights and uniformed men and women moving like loosely synchronized players in a drama. A woman sat on the ground near an ambulance, looking shell-shocked and frozen as she clutched a dark blanket like a cape. He frowned.

  “Wait. That looks like Caroline.”

  Jeff rolled his eyes. “Isn’t that what I just said?”

  Brandon didn’t bother to respond as he stood and snagged his keys and phone from the corner of the table. “Does that look like Tysons Corner?”

  “Yep, the Center. That’s also what the words at the bottom say.”

  “Thanks.” He hurried from the lodge and to his truck.

  The drive into Tysons seemed to drag. At this rate it was a fool’s errand. He should have stayed put and called. At a stoplight, he dialed her number but it went to voicemail. He tried not to speed as he prayed she was okay. If the ambulance took her somewhere, he might not connect with her for hours. Or she could be released and on her way home before he ever worked his way through traffic to her. However, the glimpse he’d caught indicated she was cold and scared, not injured. He’d have to trust that was the case.

  Then it hit him.

  Why was she at the mall in the middle of the day?

  While Caroline knew how to have a good time and could be the life of a gathering, she also worked with single-minded focus and determination. She wasn’t the type to step out for an extended break in the middle of the day. Not even for shopping.

  When he was almost to the mall, he called Jeff. “Any thoughts on which parking garage?”

  “Looks like the one closest to Macy’s. Have you reached her?”

  “She’s not answering her phone. Have to go.” He hung up and headed that direction.

  Yellow crime-scene tape flapped in the wind, and a patrol officer blocked the road with his vehicle. He waved Brandon to the parking lot on the right. Brandon rolled down his window and pointed to the left. “I’m here to pick up my friend.”

  The officer put his hand on his utility belt and frowned. “The garage is closed.”

  “She was waiting at one of the ambulances.” It hadn’t registered in the blip of an image on the TV that multiple emergency vehicles were on-site.

  “You still need to park over there. I’d recommend calling her to see if she’s ready to leave.”

  “Thanks.”

  The man nodded, then Brandon started winding through the ground lot. He picked a slot with a view of the scene and quickly spotted Caroline. As soon as he parked, he pulled out his phone and called again. She glanced around as if in a fog, then slowly pulled out her phone. “I saw you might need a ride.”

  “Brandon?” He watched her stand from the ambulance and look around. “Are you here?”

  “A few rows over. Can I come get you?”

  Her shoulders slumped beneath the blanket she still clutched with one hand. “Please.”

  So much meaning was infused in that word. He sat straighter in the truck’s cab and turned off th
e vehicle. “Be there in a minute.”

  He tried not to strut . . . too much . . . as he made his way across the parking lot and past the officer who still blocked the road. Caroline needed him, a fact he knew before she’d thought to ask.

  When she saw him she hurried toward him and fell against his chest. His arms circled her, pulling her closer. He needed this too, to know she was okay. She was so little, tucked into him in a way that made him think she wasn’t wearing her going-to-war, spiky-heeled shoes. There were twelve-year-olds at Almost Home who were taller, but none had the fight and passion that Caroline did.

  If he was fortunate, he and the house parents would help a few of the younger girls develop into her style of woman. The world would be better because of it.

  “You okay?”

  She shuddered at his words. “I don’t know.”

  It didn’t look like she was physically hurt, but the blanket acted like a cape to hide what was underneath. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

  “Only my heart.”

  He held her slightly away from him as he scanned her. “Then why are you still here? They need to get you to the hospital.”

  “Not physically.” She leaned back into him and wrapped her arms around him, the blanket loosening across her shoulders. “The victim was my colleague.”

  He blanched. “What happened?”

  “Last night I asked Justin to look at something for me, and today he wanted to meet me at Starbucks because he didn’t want to risk being overheard at work. He was hit and killed entering the garage. I heard and felt the impact.” She shuddered and squeezed even closer. Nothing separated them now, and he wanted it to be like this forever.

  “That must have been terrible.”

  “I was one of the first next to him. I tried to take a photo of the vehicle that hit him, but it’s too grainy. It won’t help anyone.”

  “The technology they use is amazing.”

  “On CSI, maybe. That’s not all real.”

  “But it’s cool.”

  She snort-laughed and pulled back, wiping the blanket over her face to dry her tears. “I suppose it is.” Her posture slumped and she shrank again.

  “You said his name was Justin?”

  “Yes. Justin Grant.” She glanced around. “Can you take me home?”

  “Sure. Do you need to check with anyone?”

  “I don’t think so. An officer took down my information.”

  “What about your car? Where is it?”

  Her gaze traveled to the parking garage. “It’s up a couple levels. I’ll get a lift here later to reclaim it. I want my home, comfy clothes, and some time.” Her phone rang from somewhere under the blanket, but she ignored it.

  “Do you need to get that?”

  “I’m not ready to tell anyone at work what happened to Justin. It will raise questions like why he was here and why I witnessed it. We both should have been at work.”

  He wanted to ask more questions, but he’d wait until he got her home, to a safe place where she could relax. He tugged at the blanket. “Should you give this back?”

  Caroline’s nose wrinkled as she released it. “I don’t want it.” Then she stopped. “I have to get my purse from my car.”

  “I’ll grab it for you.”

  “No way am I staying here.” She shuddered, and he wanted to wrap her back up in his arms.

  “Wait in my truck. You’ll be safe there.”

  “Okay.” Her voice was hesitant but her chin lifted.

  There was the strong woman he was used to seeing. He held out his hand, and hers slipped into his grasp where it belonged. “Let’s get you settled.”

  She pulled a small key ring from her pocket. “Here are the keys to the ’stang.”

  Nothing electronic or modern about the simple key that went with her hot rod. A smile slipped out at the thought of this slip of a woman driving a muscle car.

  After returning the blanket to a paramedic who was packing up in the back of the ambulance, Brandon led Caroline across the street to his truck. Once she was settled in it, he hightailed it to the other garage, approaching from the opposite side so he didn’t get stopped.

  It took a couple of laps to reach her distinctive Mustang. But when he searched the car, her purse was gone. He pulled out his phone and dialed her. “Caroline, it’s not here.”

  “What?” Her voice had the worn-out sound of someone who couldn’t handle much more on an overloaded plate.

  “Your purse. I checked everywhere. I can’t find it.” He stood and looked around the car. Still nothing. “Any chance you had it with you?”

  “No.” There was a moment of silence. “Maybe I left the car unlocked in those early moments. But I was sure . . .”

  “I had to unlock it. And you didn’t come back to it?”

  “No, I hurried down to see if Justin could be saved.”

  “That was the right decision. Look, I’ll bring the car over to the truck so you can look for yourself.”

  Nothing else seemed to be missing, but she’d know for sure.

  Chapter 28

  Caroline tried to steady her heartbeat with slow, steady breaths. She was safe in Brandon’s truck. No one would bother her here.

  But Justin had probably thought the same thing as he approached the parking garage.

  When she heard the rumble of her Mustang’s engine, she turned to find Brandon parking it next to the truck. She climbed out and gave the vehicle a cursory look to confirm it hadn’t been dinged.

  Then she climbed into the front seat and started feeling around for her purse. After a minute, she stood. “It’s not here.”

  A pulse of panic flashed through her.

  What was going on? Without the purse she didn’t have the flash drive. There was nothing to give to Dr. Ivy. And without Justin, she’d need to get those files from Brian.

  She felt the wave of panic building. Inhaling became more difficult with each moment.

  She couldn’t go home. Not with everything that was happening. Two suspicious deaths. And she was almost certain the driver of the white SUV had looked up and noted her presence at the garage. The thought was unsettling, especially when all she’d seen was a flash of a face under a navy ball cap. With her driver’s license, it wouldn’t take two minutes to figure out what the keys unlocked.

  Where was a paper bag? She was on the border of hyperventilating if she couldn’t calm her nerves, and she didn’t want Brandon to see her like that. As far as he was concerned, her deepest fears involved cupcakes collapsing rather than being in her home alone at night. He didn’t know about the way she kept every light on and then turned off those in the living areas only on the rare nights she felt settled.

  Those nights were too few. She glanced at the man next to her. “Can you take me somewhere to get a new lock for my apartment?”

  He understood right away. “Sure. I can even change it for you.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, giving him a Groucho Marx air. “I’ve got skills.”

  Oh yes, he did. He had enough confidence for a football team’s full defensive line, but she loved the way he tempered that with a deep care for those around him. “The way I’m trembling I shouldn’t drive.”

  “I’ve got you.”

  And she knew he did in so many ways beyond this moment.

  It took an hour to get a lock kit and reach her apartment. Her steps faltered as she tried to remember what condition it was in. She hadn’t planned to bring anyone home, so she hadn’t taken the five minutes to sweep the house for clutter before walking out the door.

  She hesitated before getting out of the car. “How do I get in?”

  “Call the super?”

  “Right.” The office would have a master key. In fact, they probably would have rekeyed the door for her. Her brain was a muddled mess. She dialed and then explained what had happened to the woman who answered. She promised to send someone over, and Caroline leaned her head against the headrest.

  “You okay?” Brandon’s v
oice penetrated her fog.

  “I will be. I just wish I could figure out the reason behind what happened to Justin.”

  “That’s for the police to determine. It could be an accident.” She opened her eyes in time to catch Brandon’s shrug. “Life is hard and unfair sometimes. Tragic accidents happen with no reason or explanation. This could be one of those.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so, at least not this time. There was something about his demeanor when he was in my office. Someone had been in my office and wiped a flash drive and the backup files on the cloud. Then Justin said someone searched his desk and took his paper printouts. He refused to say anything else inside Praecursoria.” She closed her eyes and imagined the scene again. “He was adamant he had something to tell me, but not there.”

  “Any way to figure out what he’d learned?”

  “I don’t know. It was related to the flash drive.” What had Anna uncovered, and was it somehow tied to Justin’s death? “I wish Judge Loren hadn’t died.”

  “What would that change?”

  “I would still be his clerk and wouldn’t be at Praecursoria. I wouldn’t have met Justin. Maybe he’d still be alive.”

  “That’s taking a lot of responsibility on your shoulders.”

  “What I do best.”

  * * *

  He wanted to tell her that wasn’t what he’d witnessed. What she did better than so many was bring people together. She connected them because she saw them. She had empathy that let her see to the heart of who they were, and in a way that showed her care.

  It was a rare trait.

  “So how do we figure out if there’s something that connects Anna’s and Justin’s accidents? Because I don’t think police will see them as anything more than coincidence.”

  She looked away. “Right now all I can think is that the files Anna gave me have something to do with it.” She paused. “Someone else at Praecursoria died right before I started. At the time it sounded like a tragedy, but I find two deaths in a couple of months suspect.”

  “Maybe.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Before he could continue, a man in jeans and a gray jacket walked toward the building.