Carolina Rain (41 page)

“You make sense, to a point. But he’s only one man.”

“A very special man and you know that better than most.
True profilers see what the rest of us don’t
.
I knew that from the moment we met.
”

“Granted. What caused the change of heart?”

The man behind the desk laughed. “I won’t tell you what changed my mind, but I’ll tell you why. I need him alive to do what he does.”

“What are you saying?”

“Figure it out, agent. I’m done talking.”

“Just one more question. Why didn’t you run? You don’t really think you’re going to get away with this kind of thing
?
”

The slow smirk forming on his large face unnerved
Josh
.

“Get away with what, Agent? Where’s your proof of anything?”
He bent closer. “You have a disc that a crazy, dead man put together and some circumstantial information in classified files that the government will never allow to be used as evidence. You got nothing else,
MON
.”

“
We’ll see. Let’s get to
it.
”

Josh motioned to the four agents
,
and the
huge
man stood from behind the desk and put his hands behind his back.

“US Marshal Braxton Smythe,
you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and withholding evidence in twelve federal
murder
investigations.”

CHAPTER-55

Jen kissed him on the cheek, then did the same to Chloe.

“
G’n
ight you old fogies
.
I got school tomorrow, but
,
like
,
only twenty-nine more days.”

Manny stood up from the sofa and hugged her. “Not that you’re counting or anything.”

She giggled. “I’m counting all right. Then I’ll be off to college before you can blink.”

“Don’t
hurry that along any faster than
you need to
,” he joked
,
only
it didn’t really feel
all
that funny. His baby would be a college freshman in five months. That
felt
wrong on a thousand levels.

She laughed again and
skipp
ed down the hall toward her room. Manny was pretty sure she wouldn’t be sleeping
. I
nstead,
she’d be
texting, emailing, and talking on her phone half the night. Now that was something he was okay with. She’d earned the right to make her own decisions.

Chloe pinched his backside and then pulled him back to the sofa
,
right next to her.

“Still a great ass
,
for a man whose kid will be goin’ to college shortly.”

“Thanks
,
and that ain’t all I’ve got.”

“Really? Care for a little show and tell?”

Pulling her close, they kissed and there it was.
The
electricity that had been there from the day they’d said hello.

“You keep kissing me like that and I’ll have a heart attack, or something,” she said.

“
S
omething?”

“I might go into a kiss-induced coma.”

“Can’t have that until we’re done fooling around
.
”

“I see your point. Better get your pants off. It’ll be for a good cause.”

He laughed. “It would in
deed.”

They grew quiet, just sitting on the couch. In their home. With each other. Not in some damn hotel room trying to figure out what’s next or who killed who and eating bad food to boot. Just home, like they actually held some semblance of a family.

“That was good work yesterday.
I’m still shocked that Braxton’s
in jail
. I can’t believe he did what he did,” said Chloe.

“I’m still trying to get my mind around it
too
. But it all
followed, especially when you think about why he said he was in North Carolina.
It didn’t make total sense that he’d been sent in to snoop around in military affairs
.
”

Chloe nodded.
“You know, when I saw his picture on that screen
, m
y first thought was to kill him. It didn’t take a genius to see he was the one who tried to have you killed, twice.”

“That’s true. And from what Josh said, he would have kept trying except
that
something
had
changed
in Braxton’s personal agenda
. The next time, maybe we wouldn’t have been so lucky,” said Manny
.
“But let’s not worry about any of that now. Tomorrow,
or maybe next month,
okay? Besides, I want to focus on the task force
that’s
set to
begin
the testing on Anna Ruiz. It
’
s a week or two out, but I think she might hold a key no one else does regarding why serial killers do what they do.
I want to hear what she has to say.
”

She kissed him again. “At least I’ll have you here until then. Still, I feel bad for Sophie. She
had a special kinship with
Braxton.”

“True
, but she’ll recover. We all will
.
”

Braxton. Manny wanted to truly shake off what
the big man had
said
to Josh about
needing Manny
to do what he does.
What the hell did that mean?
It was time to f
ollow his own advice.
He wasn’t going to think about it.
Not now, not tonight.

“That’s not what Sophie says, ya know
,
”
continued
Chloe.

He refocused on his wife.
“
Sophie’s
’ usually right
. B
ut
maybe
not
here
. Speaking of her, did ya know her and Dean were going on an official date tonight?”

“Really? Where to?”

“Some cage fighting event in Grand Rapids. She thought it would be romantic.”

“That’s our Sophie. I sure hope Dean knows what he’s in for,” laughed Chloe.

“I think he does
. A
nd
, in his own way,
he’s ready for her.”

“Oh
,
and that’s not the only date going on tonight.”

“Do tell.”

“Mum and Gavin are having dinner and
going
to a hockey game.”

“Wow. I didn’t know about that one. Must be spring in Michigan.”

His wife moved closer, reaching for his hand, started to speak, then stopped.

“What?” he asked.

“Do you really think Mum is all right?”

“She
willingly
agreed to the psychological interviews, which was huge
. T
he blood tests showed no trace of the drugs
that Argyle had been playing with
in her system
. S
o
,
yes. I think she’s fine. Besides, Gavin will tell me if there’s something out of kilter. But there won’t be.”

“Of course, you’re right
.
I just worry.”

“I get that. So what else is on your mind?
”

“What do you mean?”

“
You tell me
.
”

Chloe didn’t answer. Instead she sat up and reached into her pocket and closed her hand around something, then leaned within six inches of his face. “I-I don’t know how to say this other than to say it.”

“That always works,” said Manny, feeling a little uneasy.

“Okay. Here it is. I’ve not
,
well
,
hit my period the last two months. I thought I was just stressed
and
I wanted to make sure
. . .
so I go
t
one of those kits.”

For one of the only times in his life, Manny’s brain stopped racing. He was totally focused on Chloe.
He had to be
.

“I was so nervous that the first thing I did was pee on my hand. I hit the target the next time and here is the result
. . .
D
ad.”

Standing
,
he ran his hand through his hair, walked to the end of the room and sprinted back, dropping to one knee. “You
’re
telling me you’re pregnant, right? I mean I get stuff, but I’m not sure what you’re
. . .
”

Chloe kissed him
. H
e stopped jabbering and felt the calm and the joy mingle together to speak to him like few things had.

“Yes, Special Agent, we’re going to have a little Williams,” she answered, her face radiant.

Over the years, he’d shed tears for lost victims and their families, including his own. He’d felt deeply and fought to keep control in the most difficult of times
. It was the only way he could do his job the way it needed to be done. B
ut all resistance, at least tonight
,
was gone. The tears flowed
,
and he’d be damned if he tried to stop them.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?
” he asked, regaining a bit of his poise.

“It
’s
soon enough, don’t ya think?”

“It
is
.”

“Manny. Are ya okay with it? We didn’t actually talk about kids.”

He kissed her again
,
then ran his hand over her stomach
. “Are you kidding? I couldn’t think of a better way to keep us young. I may do the happy dance again.
”

“
That makes
me
happy
. But
I’m worried about being a good mother, already,” she said
.

“You’ll be a great mother. The best.”

She hugged him again and then stood up. “I’m going to bed and you’d better come with me. I’ll be gettin’ fat soon
,
and you’ll wish you’d spent more
naked
hours
with me.”

Making love
,
talking about the future, and falling asleep with the mother of his unborn child was the best offer he’d had in years.
How could he turn that down?

********************************************************************

Manny’s cell phone rang
. It rang again
. H
e gr
oaned
, blinked,
and
then
quickly picked it up,
leaving
the bedroom without looking at
the screen. Once in the kitchen feeling more awake,
he looked down to see that Alex was calling
. One-thirty-two
in the morning.
H
e knew Alex would only call if it was important. Damn.
He hated these calls.

“Hey
,
Alex. Is everything all right?”

“Depends on your perspective
, I guess
.
Anyway,
I did what you asked and had that body exhumed.”

“Thanks, but could this wait until tomorrow
?
”

“I-I don’t think so.
I just got the email from the company who performed the exhumation and there was
a problem.”

Switching hands, Manny was
now
fully awake.

“What kind of problem?”

“The kind that makes this job just stupid.”

What are you telling me?”

“The body
is gone.”

Manny felt his pulse pound in his temples.

“What
did you say
?”

“You heard me. Argyle’s body is gone.”

Thank you for reading Carolina Rain . .
.much
appreciated!

Come talk to me at
[email protected]
I’d LOVE to hear from you
, as always
.