All I Need Is You (22 page)

“Go find this fool, Tank. Find him and get him to talk. The sooner we can put this to rest, the better.”

TANK MARSHALL LOWERED his binoculars and then stashed them in the center console of his SUV. Timothy Banner was checked into the Ritz-Carlton. He snorted. Of course he was. Guys like him, with more money to spend than brains, tended to stay in flashy places. They liked to see and be seen. Tank preferred to see and remain invisible.
 

He’d just seen Banner and his mini-entourage walk into the hotel. Now he just had to follow and wait. So much of what he did involved patience. Not unlike his work as a sniper. He could watch. And wait. Then at the perfect moment, take his shot. He wasn’t taking any chances on screwing up this assignment.
 

Security wasn’t something he’d have thought would be a great fit, but Eli trusted his guys and gave them the leeway they needed to do their jobs. If he needed equipment, he got it. If he had a hunch, Eli trusted him to follow it.

So if his boss needed him to interview some wannabe politician, he could handle it.
 

He’d met Elliott Alexander at the gun range. They’d gotten to talking and before he knew what was happening, he’d had himself a job. He’d given ten years to Uncle Sam, and when he got out, he’d had a lot of plans for what he wanted to do. Travel. Spend more time with his family.
 

Nothing had worked out the way he’d planned.
 

His mom was still doing drugs and wouldn’t go into rehab. His little brother was in the midst of a deep depression and hadn’t left his apartment more than a handful of times that he knew of in the past year. His life was going to shit and there was nothing he could do about it. Except work.
 

The job was all he had some days.
 

He walked through the lobby, his shoes squeaking slightly on the marble floor. Banner and his entourage were about to get on the elevator. He sped up. A couple walked in front of him and he allowed them to get on the elevator first, keeping his head down. The couple exited at the fifth floor and the doors to the elevator slid closed, sealing him in the small space with Banner and his men.
 

He kept his eyes on the electronic counter which announced each floor. They didn’t seem to notice him. The doors opened with a subdued chime and he turned left, waiting until he heard the group exit and walk in the other direction. He waited a few moments, then turned around and followed.

The door to room 9804 was just closing. Tank glanced around to make sure nobody was in the hall before he knocked on the door.
 

“Yes.” The older man who answered the door resembled the pictures he’d found of Banner’s campaign manager, Robert Dooley. He looked Tank over from head to toe, his eyes lingering on his blue jeans. His mouth puckered like he’d just tasted something sour.
 

“Tank Marshall to see Mr. Banner. I sent him an e-mail message earlier today.”

The man’s expression got colder if it was at all possible. “Mr. Banner isn’t here.”

“Tell him it’s about Hope. I’m sure he’ll want to know, Mr. Dooley.”

The eyes widened a fraction at Tank’s use of his name. “A moment, please.” The door shut in his face.
 

Tank leaned against the doorframe and waited. He wondered if Old Sour Face was really going to deliver the message. Then he heard it. A raised voice and the sound of a scuffle.
 

A few minutes later, Sour Face was back and holding the door wide. “Mr. Banner will see you now.”

You bet your ass he will
, Tank thought.
Can’t have anyone finding out about the dirty laundry.

He was led to a living room that was bigger than Tank’s apartment and took a seat on the sofa. Someone with an eye for fine things would probably appreciate it more, but to Tank it just looked like the kind of stuff you weren’t supposed to actually sit on. He took a mental note of everything in the room. Eli would definitely ask. What did you see? Who was there? Thorough was his boss’s middle name. Usually, anyway. He’d been different lately. Distracted.
 

He wasn’t sure what had happened to his boss over the past few weeks, but he hadn’t expected to be going in alone. Eli was usually a pretty scary SOB, so it was a huge deal that he trusted Tank to handle this interview alone. But he’d seemed different lately. More open. More human. He supposed the right woman could do that to you.
 

He liked Kaylee, too. She was a nice girl. He liked the way she looked at Eli. So he really wanted to get this right for her sake, as well. If this guy was the one threatening her, then Tank wanted a part in taking him down.

“Mr. Marshall. I wasn’t expecting you.” Timothy Banner emerged from the bedroom connected to the suite. Tank stood.
 

“I know, but there are some things better said in person.”

Banner inclined his head and then sat on the couch across from him. “I agree. I just don’t know what more needs to be said. I don’t have contact with Kaylee or… our daughter.”

Interesting, Tank noted. He either didn’t think of Hope as his child or he was purposefully trying to distance himself from her in his mind. Tank decided to go with the direct approach. He was a pretty good judge of character and could usually tell when someone was lying. If Banner had nothing to do with the threats against Kay, hopefully he’d be able to tell so they could move on.
 

“There have been some developments recently. Someone has been threatening Kay. She received a package recently containing something stolen from her apartment.”

Banner leaned forward. “That’s terrible. Is she all right?”

Tank dipped his head slightly. “She’s fine.”

At Tank’s continued silence, Banner sat back with a knowing smile. “I’m beginning to see why you’re here. I have no reason to hurt Kay. Things ended badly between us and that was entirely my fault. I was going through some things. But I’d never want to hurt her.”

“I understand, Mr. Banner. I’m not here to cause trouble. On the contrary, I’m here to prevent it. All I want is to be assured that you mean Ms. Wilhelm no harm. With your move into politics, you have motive to want her silenced. Especially running as a conservative.”

“What I’m about to tell you isn’t public knowledge.” Banner stood, adjusting the lapels of his jacket. “I’m running as an independent, but my platform is a conservative one. So it’ll be something of a shock to some that I’m running as the first openly gay conservative.”
 

Tank leaned forward. “Say what now?”

Banner gave him a thin-lipped smile. “I’m not worried about my image. Not in the way you think. I never planned to hide that I’d fathered a child. People who are scandalized by sex outside of marriage aren’t going to vote for me anyway.”

“Huh.” Tank couldn’t think of anything else to say.
 

 
Banner took a seat on the couch across from Tank. “Look. I’m sorry for how things ended with Kaylee. But her mother made it clear when I signed away my parental rights that they didn’t want anything from me and would prefer it if I stayed away.”

“I see. That’s all I needed to know. Thank you for your time.” Tank rose and Banner stood, too.
 

“If you see Kay, would you tell her I’m sorry about the way things ended and that if she needs anything, feel free to call.”

Tank nodded but didn’t make any promises. He wasn’t sure how Eli was going to feel about this visit. It was good to know that Banner wasn’t a threat, but that conversation had just wiped out their best lead.

KAY WALKED BACK and forth across the floor of the small bedroom for what felt like the hundredth time, Hope whimpering softly in her arms. Tank and Matt had been at the house, clustered around the dining room table with Eli for most of the day. Even Carly had come by with stuff for Eli from the office. Tank had left for a few hours and then come back again. Every time she entered the room they’d stopped talking, so she could only assume they were talking about her case.
 

She hated being kept in the dark. She had the right to know if she was in danger or if they’d found new leads. But she already knew what Eli would say, that he was just trying to protect her. Ugh!
 

Save me from alpha males
, she thought.
 

Matt and Tank had finally retreated to their hotel around ten o’clock. Kay had hoped to finally get a little time alone with Eli, but Hope was refusing to settle down for the night.
 

Hope let out another whimper and rubbed her eyes with her fists.
 

“You are just determined to stay up so you won’t miss anything, huh?” Kay whispered.
 

They’d had a house full of people for the first time, and Hope wasn’t used to so much noise. She wasn’t either, come to think of it. She was an only child, and since it was just her and Hope, her apartment was usually quiet after nine o’clock in the evening. She’d assumed the baby was just cranky from being up late and being overexcited.

But the crying hadn’t stopped. Nothing Kay had tried so far had helped, between rocking her back and forth, singing to her, and rubbing her back. Kay wasn’t sure what to think. Each and every one of her daughter’s cries tore at her heart. Wasn’t she supposed to be able to know what was wrong? What if her daughter was ill and she couldn’t tell?

A soft knock sounded on the door before Eli’s head appeared. “Do you need some help?”

Kay wanted to say no. It was on the tip of her tongue. She didn’t really want Eli to see her looking like this, all frazzled and exhausted. But he must have seen something in her face that indicated just how close to the edge she was because he pushed the door open and came in.
 

Eli crossed the room and put his arms around her, enfolding Hope into the hug as well. Kay let out a sigh and relaxed back against his strong chest.
 

“You’ve been walking her for a long time. Let me try. You need a break, angel. Your arms have to be tired.” Eli’s lips brushed the shell of her ear.
 

Her arm muscles gave a slight twinge in agreement. She shifted Hope to the opposite hip. “It’s okay, you don’t have to. I think she’s just cranky from having so many unfamiliar faces around.”

Eli slid a hand between her and Hope, taking the baby into his arms as easily as if he was picking up a book. Hope curled against his chest immediately, snuggling her face into his shoulder.
 

Kay looked down at her clothes. She’d changed into a nightshirt before coming in to rock the baby. It was stained with drool on the shoulder and wrinkled in a million places from all the times Hope had grabbed it.
 

So much for romance
, she thought. The sleep-deprived mommy look was hardly sexy.

“I’ll just go make her a bottle. Maybe something warm will calm her down enough so she can sleep. She usually doesn’t take a bottle before bed, but I’m willing to try almost anything at this point.”

Kay walked down to the kitchen. She grabbed the baby formula from the pantry and added some distilled water from the refrigerator. She didn’t have a bottle warmer, so she heated it in the microwave, shaking it thoroughly afterward.
 

She tested the temperature on her inner arm, then shook the bottle again and did a second test just to be sure. On the way back to the room, she grabbed an extra baby blanket from the diaper bag. After she drank the bottle, Hope would need to be burped. It couldn’t hurt to have an additional barrier over her clothing in case she spit up.
 

In the hallway outside the room, she took a moment to pause, listening to the soft rumble of Eli’s deep voice through the door. Her feet were exhausted from walking the baby around, and she was so tired it was a wonder she hadn’t fallen asleep standing up. But at the very least, she knew she could take this last moment of calm because she trusted Eli had everything under control.