Cold Case Recruit (15 page)

“If you have to go to the bathroom, I’ll take you to the outhouse,” he said as though needing to redirect urges. “It’s behind the shed.”

More than gunmen could lurk out there. Wildlife posed a danger, too, except not in this storm. If she had to go, she’d hold it until morning.

“Yeah. Sure.” She went back into the living room and moved the coffee table out of the way so she could make the bed.

Brycen finished with the fire and reached for the sofa handle, pulling out the mattress before she did. She went to the trunk and retrieved the pillows, and he lifted out more blankets. There were sheets at the bottom, as well. Drury started with those.

Brycen stood on the other side of the mattress and tucked in the first sheet. Drury kept looking up at him, watching his manly hands smooth out the top sheet. He looked up at her and the connection zinged. Try as she might to minimize the symbolism of the bed between them, it loomed with the night.

She tossed the pillows at the head while he shook out a blanket over the mattress. She helped him straighten that and two more, all the while unable to calm her warm awareness of him. They finished with the bed, now a cozy nest ready for the night.

He stood across from her. Neither moved. She felt awkward and he must, too.

Picking up her book, she removed her boots and climbed into the bed, making a valiant attempt to read.

He went to the fire and poked the burning wood, even though it didn’t need stoking. He put another log on, bringing the fire to a rumble. When he could no longer use the fire as a distraction, he went to the bookshelf. Finding something, he sat on the recliner.

Outside, the wind whipped in a gust, almost shaking the cabin. But they were warm and safe and dry in this blessing of a cabin. In Brycen’s note to the owners, she really would have to add a thank-you. They might not have made it to the village in this storm, which had arrived much sooner than forecasted.

The gust died and a steady wind persisted. She heard snow hitting the windows. Drury managed to read a little, and that made her tired enough to drift off to sleep.

When she next woke, darkness engulfed the cabin. The fire had dwindled to glowing embers. Brycen must have put her book on the side table for her.

Turning her head, she saw him lying beside her. The covers came to his chest, his muscle-sculpted arms on top. His face angled toward her, lashes fanned under his eyes, chiseled cheeks sloping to jawline, lips resting closed and beckoning her for another kiss.

She told herself the chill made her snuggle deeper into the covers and move closer to him.

His eyes opened a sliver and without hesitation, his arm opened for her. She didn’t analyze why she positioned herself against him and put her head on his shoulder. The wind had eased. In fact, she didn’t hear any blowing or snow hitting the windows.

“Are you warm enough?” he asked in a sleepy, deep voice.

“I am now.” She lifted her head and met his equally sleepy eyes.

They stayed that way awhile, in the quiet, warmed by the chemistry they generated. Then Brycen lifted his hand and brushed her cheek. She closed her eyes briefly, overwhelmed with sensation and incredulous she could feel so much with just a touch. He moved and kissed her, softly, lightly. And then with growing ardor.

She slid her fingers into his thick black hair. This kiss could go on forever. She melted into the movement of his lips, meeting his leashed passion, savoring the promise of what would come. He didn’t rush. Like fine wine, he sipped, tasted and enjoyed each second.

Gliding her hand down from his hair, she reveled in the muscular contours of his shoulder and chest, resting there as he took the kiss to the next level, deeper, more urgent. He’d removed his shirt before coming to bed last night. He rolled farther onto his side and she lay on her back. Rising up a bit, lingering over her mouth, he looked into her eyes while they caught their breath amidst the wonder of such a light, loving sensation.

Then slowly he touched her mouth again. Airy tingles spread with just that. She had never felt so connected to anyone, not intimately. So intangible, so incredible, she flew away, out of her body and into a realm of aweinspiring buoyancy.

Again he took her gradually to the edge of control before ending the kiss. Reaching for the hem of her maroon, body-hugging cotton, polyester and spandex top, he pulled it up and over her head. She raised her arms and he tossed the garment aside. Pausing to admire her black bra embellished with lace, he got up onto his knees and unbuttoned his jeans.

“You do all the work,” she said. “I’ll watch.”

He grinned his approval and pushed down his jeans, sitting to slide them the rest of the way off.

The chill in the cabin didn’t bother her with the racing beat of her heart and the excitement of anticipation as he pulled the covers off her and unbuttoned her jeans. He knelt between her legs and looked up at her as he unzipped the jeans, his face close. He revealed her matching black lace cheeky panties and paused again.

“You’re full of surprises,” he murmured.

“Why? Because I wear sexy underwear?”

“Did you wear them for me?” His hot, light gray eyes lasered her.

She did on occasion wear sexy underwear, sometimes just for the heck of it, because it made her feel good. But lately she’d been wearing them every day. “Yes.”

He pulled her jeans down. Drury lifted her butt to accommodate him. He left her panties in place. Tossing the jeans aside, he removed her thermal socks to reveal her dark pink toenail polish.

“I didn’t think you were into such girly things,” he said, kissing the top of her foot and moving up her leg.

“I look like a boy?”

He chuckled low and deep as he kissed his way up her calf. “No. You’re a hot, sexy woman. I just didn’t think you painted your toenails and wore lingerie.” He stopped to look up at her. “I’m glad you do.”

She smiled as he resumed kissing his way up her leg.

“What surprises do you have for me?” she asked. He still had on his underwear.

“You’re going to have to wait and see.” He kissed her inner thigh and toyed with the hem of the panties. Moving up more, he kissed the lacy material, warm breath penetrating.

“As much as I like these, they have to go.” He slid the panties down, kissing her flesh before taking them off and dropping them onto the jeans.

He came down on his hands, looking at her. She shaved her hair there, leaving only a thin, close-cropped strip.

“Nice and tidy,” he said.

“It’s your turn.” She pointed with her index finger and gave it a playful twirl. “Off with them.” Never had intimacy been so easy. Natural. Playful as much as intense with passion.

He removed his underwear and now she had her chance to admire him. Clean-shaven and ache-worthy.

“All the ladies must love you,” she said.

Without returning her humor, he lowered himself down and kissed her. “You’re the only lady I want right now.”

Right now
.

She wouldn’t let the thought take root. Right now was enough for her.

He unfastened her bra and it went the way of the other pieces. As he kissed her again and his hands ran over her breasts, she forgot any reason why she shouldn’t allow this. How could she stop something so beautiful? Brycen had to feel it, too.

She gave in to yearning and felt his statuesque body from his shoulders to the tops of his thighs. She reveled in his weight on her and the first penetration. He moved slowly, touching her body as she touched his, looking into her eyes. Each treasured moment passed with care, not a second wasted. She felt, as he must, too, every sensation to its fullest.

When she could restrain no more, he finally took up a smooth rhythm, building force as sensation mounted, burning to the inevitable eruption.

It took Drury several seconds to float back down to the bed, the cabin, Brycen on top of her breathing beside her head. The real world.

The sound of a helicopter spared them any reflection, any thought on consequences.

Brycen climbed off the bed and dressed.

“How did he find us?” Drury asked, dressing on the other side of the bed.

He went to find his radio, digging it out of his jacket pocket. As he disconnected the wire, the sound of the pilot’s voice filled the cabin.

“Cage. You there? Over.”

“This is Cage. We’re in the cabin.”

“It’s about time you answered my damn calls. I’ve been looking for you for two hours now.”

He looked at Drury. “Sorry. I meant to radio you earlier.”

Luckily the pilot couldn’t see them or know what had transpired over the last two hours.

“There’s enough room for me to land.”

“Give us a few minutes.”

“Roger that.”

They’d dispensed of the formality of saying “Over.”

He helped Drury fold the blankets and left the sheets in a pile on the floor so the owners would know they’d been used. Brycen folded the mattress back in the sofa and replaced the cushions. When Drury had the living room tidied, and books back on the shelf, she met Brycen in the kitchen, where he’d put away the pan and tied a trash bag and put it by the door. He took out a business card and used a pen from a kitchen drawer. After he wrote an explanation on how to get reimbursed for the window, Drury wrote a thank-you note.

Leaving the card on the table, she left the cabin ahead of Brycen, who carried the trash bag to the waiting helicopter. Once inside, Drury found she couldn’t meet his eyes. What had just transpired between them? She no longer felt a connection to Noah. And she didn’t feel safe with the feelings she had for Brycen.

Chapter 10

B
ack in Anchorage, Brycen drove Drury to pick up Junior. Sitting across from her on the long flight back had twisted him into knots. Last night had felt so great. He clicked with her so...mmm. No words could convey the passion in his mind. Looking at her, with her hair draped down over her breasts, long thighs in jeans and those stunning blue eyes looking at him with such intimacy, made his head swim. At first he’d responded in kind. How could he not? It had taken a while for the fantasy to wear off. But it had.

Then he’d started picturing the future.

He pulled to a stop in front of her parents’ house. “I think we should leave Junior here.”

She turned a surprised look toward him, her hand on the door handle. “No. He won’t like that. Besides, he isn’t any safer here than with us. If the people after us want to go after my family, too, they’ll find my parents and Junior.”

He couldn’t argue with her. And maybe he’d feel better taking on the responsibility of protecting them both. The three of them together just gave him a case of dread. A bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Making love with Drury had changed the dynamics for him. He could actually see himself hooking up with her. Practically that made no sense. What about his life in Chicago? Did he really want to leave that behind? Did he want to move back to Alaska? Drury had already said she wouldn’t leave. Her home was in Alaska. Both of Junior’s grandparents were there.

He didn’t want to move back to Alaska. Even if he did, he wouldn’t torment Kayla’s family any more than he had to.

Pulling up to Drury’s parents’ house, he followed her to the door.

Drury knocked and opened the door. “Weird. They usually see me drive up.”

Brycen heard Drury’s mother say, “Your mother is here, Junior. Let go of me!”

“Oh.” Drury rushed through the Victorian-style house, furnished with collectibles that revealed a long marriage and family in the same house for decades. No central color theme, just lots of memories made.

His parents had always kept up with the times. They never saved mementos. Only his school pictures were framed and set out on the bookshelf.

He waited in the living room, not comfortable with interfering in the drama unfolding down the hall.

“I don’t
want
to go anywhere with you!” Junior shouted.

“Junior...” Drury’s shocked tone drifted off.

“He kept asking where you were last night,” her mother said.

He’d felt they’d abandoned him. His reactions were getting worse, not better. During a time when he needed stability the most, when he’d begun to overcome a terrible tragedy, his mother kept leaving him. Now he feared she’d leave for good—just like his father.

“We were trapped in a snowstorm,” Drury said. “Now come on, you have to come with me.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Go with your mother, Junior. Your grandpa and I need to run some errands this afternoon.”

“I can go, too.”

He saw them as stable. His grandparents didn’t leave him.

“No. You have to go with your mother,” Madeline said.

“I don’t want to go with her!”

Now instead of pushing just Brycen away, he pushed his own mother, lashing out. But that lashing was really a cry for help.

“You’re only saying that because you’re mad at me for not coming to get you yesterday,” Drury said. “I’m sorry. If I could have come to get you, I would have. Now come on. Let’s go.” Her tone grew sterner with the last.

After a long silence, Drury appeared with Junior in tow. The boy’s angry eyes zeroed in on him.

“Hey, Junior.” Brycen tried for the light approach. “How about we swing by your Mom’s house and pick up your PlayStation? We can go up to my cabin and play a few.”

Drury gaped at him. He didn’t really know what he was doing. He just knew the child felt abandoned and lived in fear of being left by another parent. How terrible for him. He must never feel safe.

“Everything was okay until you showed up!” Junior yelled.

Everything had not been okay, not for the boy, but Junior didn’t see that.

“You’re not going to find whoever took my daddy.” With that, Junior stomped toward the door, one of his superheroes in his hand.

Drury stopped him as he wrestled the door handle.

She crouched. “I would never leave you anywhere. I swear.”

“Daddy didn’t want to go, either. Someone made him!”

“No, he didn’t, and someone did make him go, but Mommy isn’t Daddy and no one is going to take me away, not even Brycen.”

Junior looked up at him.

“That’s true,” he said. “Your mother won’t leave you. Even if she’s late or can’t call, she’ll come and get you. You have to trust me on that.”

Junior contemplated him and what he’d said awhile. “You promise?”

“I promise.” He stepped forward and ran his hand over the boy’s head. “Sorry for not bringing her home last night, kiddo. It won’t happen again.”

The boy’s anger eased. He stared up at him, some of the curiosity returning. Brycen felt a tug in his heart that reached all the way to his soul. He wanted to help Junior. He and Drury could tell him his mother wouldn’t leave the way his father did but the boy didn’t believe it. He had to start believing it.

Drury took his face with her fingers and moved his head to her. “Baby, nothing can ever take me away from you. I love you. I’ll make sure nothing happens to me, okay?”

After a bit, Junior nodded, although with uncertainty.

Brycen’s cell phone chimed and he saw it was the deputy director of the Alaska State Troopers he’d contacted about Carter.

“Cage.”

Drury said goodbye to her parents, giving them hugs. Brycen held up his hand in farewell.

Robert did the same and Madeline waved.

“Mr. Cage. Deputy Director Chandler,” the deputy said. “I received your report and found it very interesting, if not far-fetched. However, I did some digging and was able to corroborate some of your claims.”

Brycen left ahead of Drury. “Have you arrested Carter?”

Drury closed the door and followed him down the sidewalk.

“Well, now, there’s the rub. Carter’s gone missing.”

Brycen stopped walking. “Missing?”

Holding Junior’s hand, Drury stopped next to him, searching his face and listening to his side of the conversation. Junior stared up at Brycen, absorbing other details. Brycen winked at him as the deputy continued.

“We searched his home and bank accounts. He did have some suspicious deposits and we’ve confirmed the report on the Cummingses’ domestic violence call was forged. Additionally our IT records prove he worked on the report, even though he tried to delete any evidence of doing so.”

Carter had something significant to do with Noah’s murder. Brycen stopped walking down the driveway, seeing Drury put her son in his SUV.

“I need the original report,” Brycen said, walking toward the driver’s side of the SUV.

“So do I. And I’m counting on you to find it. When one of our own goes rogue, I don’t take it lightly. I’m not sure who I can trust around here anymore. I need you to expose what’s going on and make sure it stops with Carter.”

Brycen sat behind the wheel, feeling Drury watching him and now listening.

“Where was Carter last seen?” he asked.

“Here at the office. We think he left the building after you talked to him the last time. He knows you’ve got him. Good work, son.”

Brycen appreciated the vote of confidence, but he didn’t dwell on it. “You can say that when the case is closed.”

“I will. I’ve got a file here for you,” the deputy said. “It’s everything Carter recorded doing after Noah’s murder.”

“We’re on our way.”

“One more thing,” the deputy said. “Juanita Swanson came by asking for you. She said she won’t talk to anyone else.”

“I’ll give her a call. Thank you.”

He disconnected and started driving, his hands-free system switching to the speakers.

“Hello?” Juanita said.

“This is Detective Cage. I received a message you were trying to contact me. What can I help you with?” He looked in the rearview mirror and wondered if Junior should listen to this. Drury should, but her son?

“I have something for you. I can’t tell you how I got it. But it’s important.”

“What is it?” Why couldn’t she say how she obtained whatever she had in her possession?

“Not over the phone. Let’s meet somewhere safe.”

“Okay. The State Trooper Building in thirty minutes.”

“I’ll be there.”

*

The deputy took them into his office and handed Brycen the promised file. He opened it. Junior sat in one of the chairs before the deputy’s desk, arching his neck to look up at Brycen standing behind him and to his right. Drury leaned from where she stood on the other side of Junior’s back to see what was in there, and he angled the file to accommodate.

“There isn’t much,” the deputy said. “He responded to a few calls. Phone record is in there. I found it peculiar that he contacted that coffee shop several times. I’d expect him to do so right after the murder, but the calls are regular.”

Brycen looked up at the deputy and then searched for the phone records. He spotted the ones the deputy had highlighted. “Yes, that is peculiar.” Not wanting to share his thoughts on the coffee shop, he leaned over and shook the man’s hand. “Thank you for giving me a copy.”

“This isn’t a go-ahead to exclude this office from your investigation.”

“Of course not. I’ll brief you as we uncover things,” Brycen said.

“Weekly, if you can.”

“Weekly. I’ll call you. Do you have a card?”

The deputy handed him one. Junior took the card and gave it to Brycen so he didn’t have to lean farther.

“Thanks.”

Junior looked proud to be of help.

“If I’m not available here, call my mobile,” the deputy said. “I’ve got your contact information. I’ll know it’s you.”

Brycen nodded once. “All right, then.” Down to Junior, he said, “Time to go.”

Junior got up from the chair and walked behind his mother for the door. They were late meeting Juanita.

“Mr. Cage.”

He stopped and so did Drury and Junior, turning back to the deputy.

“I meant it when I said I don’t know who to trust here. Whatever Carter’s involved in, it’s got to be way over his head. Noah must have been onto something, and I suspect the coffee shop is somehow linked. Noah didn’t go there because he liked the ambience. He went there to investigate a lead. I’m sickened to think his partner may have been responsible for his death—or at least known something that could have spared it.” He glanced down at Junior as though regretting speaking so frankly.

Brycen put his hand on the boy’s shoulder as a show of support and nodded again. “My thinking exactly. This conversation stays among us.” To Junior, he said, “Agreed?”

Junior nodded as though his participation mattered greatly. If this made him feel important, what harm could come to them? Even if Junior bragged with other kids at school, chances were nothing adverse would come of it.

Now the deputy nodded, once to Brycen and then to Drury. “I’m sorry, ma’am.” And then to Junior. “Son.”

“It’s not your fault,” Drury said.

“I consider myself partially to blame for not seeing Carter Nichols for what he was a whole lot sooner.”

She gave him an appreciative smile and then steered Junior through the door.

Down in the main lobby, Brycen didn’t see Juanita. It had been forty-five minutes since he’d spoken with her.

Drury went to the woman behind the counter. “Has a woman been here asking for Brycen Cage?”

The woman shook her head. “No one’s come in since you arrived.”

Drury looked at Brycen and he sensed the same alarm. He went through the doors to the parking lot, searching. Juanita wasn’t there. She hadn’t made it to the State Trooper Building.

“Something must have happened,” Drury said.

“I know where she lives.”

“Did that bad man hurt her?” Junior asked.

“We should take him back to my parents’ house.”

“No!” Junior wailed from the back.

She glanced back. “This is an—”

“It’s okay,” Brycen interrupted. “I won’t let anything happen to him. I don’t want to leave him anywhere. We’ll just go and make sure Juanita is all right. You can wait in the car with him. If anything happens, drive away to safety.”

*

Drury waited with Junior in Brycen’s SUV. In the backseat, Junior made rocket sounds, blowing air through softly closed lips to create what must be an awesome rumble, flying his superhero high up into the sky. She loved seeing him like that, lost in a magical world where no one died.

Looking toward the house again, she began to get concerned. Several minutes had passed and still no sign of Brycen or Juanita. Just as she put her hand on the door handle to go check on him, he appeared with his cell phone to his ear, talking. Juanita didn’t come out with him. She hadn’t answered the door, either.

Lowering his phone after finishing the call, he walked toward the driver’s side and got in. When he turned to her and shook his head, she understood. Juanita was dead. Someone had murdered her.

“Whatever she had for us is gone,” he said.

That was what had taken him so long. He’d searched the house.

His cell rang and he answered. “Deputy. Thanks for calling back so soon. I’ve just been in Juanita Swanson’s house.” He looked into the rearview mirror at Junior.

He watched Brycen with intent curiosity.

“You’ll need a crime scene team,” Brycen said into the phone. “Get a ballistics expert.” After a few seconds where the deputy must have questioned him he said, “Yes, I’m afraid so. I also found footprints in the snow in the back, so be careful when you arrive. Someone broke in through the bathroom window. The shape of the heel and curve at the toe look like what the troopers wear. Might want to get a mold of a clear print.” He fell silent as the deputy spoke. “Let me know when the print analysis comes back.”

He disconnected the call and put his phone down.

“You can tell that from looking at a shoeprint?” she asked.

“I made mental note of everything Carter wore the last time we saw him.”