L.A.P.D. Special Investigations Series, Boxed Set: The Deceived, The Taken & The Silent (67 page)

Jordan’s lips thinned, but he nodded for her to go on.

God, she wasn’t sure she could.

“How was the last call different?” As he said the words, he sat beside her again and held her hands.

She knew he was trying to reassure her—and it worked. The comfort she felt in his touch nearly overwhelmed her. She didn’t want to go through this alone anymore…the uncertainty…the never-ending fear, old fears, new fears. Would it ever be over?

No. The answer settled deep within her. It would never be over. Not unless Frank DeMatta was dead or was in prison for life.

She swallowed, cleared her throat. “The first calls were silent, just breathing and then a hang up.”

“I’ve had some of those, too. One when we were together.”

“Does that mean something?”

“Maybe.” He gently pushed her hair from her eyes, brushed his fingers against her cheek. “But I don’t know what. Maybe someone wanted me, or you, to know he knew we were together. What was different about the last call?”

Her skin got clammy, her stomach turned and acid rose in her throat making her nauseous. “He s-said if—”

Before she got out the words, he pulled her into his arms and held her, almost as if he could transfer some of his strength to her. Wanting it to be so, she huddled against him. “He warned me to stay away from the police. He said my daughter’s life would be in danger if I didn’t.”

Laura heard footsteps and pulled from Jordan’s arms.

“Jordan. You’re back!” Caitlin ran into the room, came over and threw her arms around him.

“Hey, squirt!” He ruffled her hair and then sat back. “Are you having fun here?”

“Uh-huh.” Cait’s face beamed—until she looked at Laura. “Mom? What’s wrong? You look sad.”

Jordan nodded to Laura, then mouthed, “We’ll talk later.”

Laura pasted on a wobbly smile and touched her daughter’s cheek. “Nothing, sweetheart. Nothing’s wrong.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

JORDAN PACED THE
concrete floor in the garage while he punched in Luke’s number on his cell, praying for a connection. He’d fixed the door as best he could, taking a door from inside the house and replacing the broken one. It didn’t fit exactly right, but it served the purpose. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, but he was determined to get the whole story from Laura first. He couldn’t make a plan if he didn’t know what he was getting into.

Someone wanted her to stay away from the police… DeMatta’s man had given him a warning about her. The phone crackled. Bad reception. He clicked off and redialed.

What did Laura know that might be threatening to someone if the police knew? Based on her earlier reaction to his question, it had to involve her husband’s murder. What else could have such dire consequences? He’d thought from the moment he’d met Laura that she was withholding something. Now he was certain.

He was also certain she was doing it to protect her daughter.

And whoever was threatening Cait probably knew Laura and Cait were at the cabin and they couldn’t stay there any longer.

“Coltrane,” a gravelly voice finally answered after several rings.

“Luke. Glad I got you.”

“You back?”

“No. Who knew I was coming up here?”

“No one besides me. Why?”

“Laura’s cover’s blown. Someone knows and I need a backup plan.”

“My house is available if you need it.”

“Thanks. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, either.”

“You find out why she ran?”

“Some of it.”

“What can I do?”

“Check to see if the photo composite we did on this Nicholas guy produced anything. We’re heading back before it gets dark.”

“Sure thing.”

Jordan disconnected and went into the living room where Laura and Cait were watching a DVD. He motioned to Laura to follow him into the den.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, Cait. I need to talk to Jordan about something.”

“That means it’s private, doesn’t it?”

Laura gave a forced smile. “It does.”

When Laura came in, Jordan said, “Sit. Please.”

He closed the door. “We need to finish our conversation.”

She sat on the edge of the chair, as if ready to bolt at any second. He stood in front of her, but far enough away not to crowd her.

“If I’m going to help you, I need to know everything.”

She blinked. “The pictures I looked at were in the album over there. They’re nice family pictures.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

As if he hadn’t said a word, she asked, “Have you ever tried to find your biological mother?”

His stomach knotted. “No. Now, tell me what you’re so afraid of.”

“I told you about the threat.”

Nodding, he dropped into the chair directly across from her and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. He reached to take her hands, but she pulled back. “You didn’t tell me why you’re being threatened. What gives someone so much power over you?”

For a long moment she just sat there, fear and uncertainty battling in her eyes. “Power over me?”

“Yes. You’re hiding out because someone has threatened you. Threatened Cait. That’s power. You take that power away by telling the truth.”

She launched to her feet. “I told you the truth.”

“Yes, but not all of it. I can’t leave you here alone again. You know that. It’s time to stop letting this creep direct your life.”

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. She turned to look at him, realization in her face. “That’s what he’s doing, isn’t it. Directing my life.”

He remained silent.

After a few moments, her shoulders slumped and she said, “As much as I hate being a pawn, it doesn’t matter. If I say anything, I’ll truly be putting Cait’s life in danger. If something happened to her because of—” The words caught in her throat. “I just can’t do it.”

“Or maybe just the opposite would happen. Maybe we’d arrest the guy and you’d release yourself and Cait from his control.”

“‘Maybe’ isn’t good enough.”

“Maybe is life. Laura, there are no guarantees. What you’re doing doesn’t guarantee Cait’s safety. You’ve seen that already. So, forget about what happened to your husband. One day later, safely under witness protection, and he’d be alive today. I’ll do everything in my power to protect you and Cait. Whatever it takes, I’ll do it.”

She fell back into the chair and pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers. “You say that with a lot of certainty.”

“I have to be certain or I couldn’t do my job. And more important, I’m not about to put the people I care most about in danger.”

Her expression switched from one emotion to another as she struggled over what to do. Would anything change if she told him? Could he really protect them? She’d be a fool not to wonder all of those things. Because he did, too.

He knelt in front of her. “If you tell me what it is, I can’t guarantee the outcome, but I can guarantee that I’ll do everything in my power to keep you and Cait safe. And…I can guarantee nothing will change if you don’t give me the opportunity to find out what can be done. This isn’t the kind of life you envisioned for her, is it?”

Tears welled in her eyes. “No. Not at all.”

“I can help. Trust me, Laura.”

She wrenched away, paced some more. Finally she blurted, “Cait was in the house the night Eddie died. She saw a man there.”

Jordan felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. Had she said what he thought she did? He’d imagined she might have withheld some information about her ex’s gambling debts, or the names of people he owed money, someone she’d seen him with or…or something. Not that her child had been there during her father’s murder.

“Cait was there the night of the murder and you didn’t report it?”

Her head bobbed up and down.

“But if she was there—” He couldn’t believe what she was saying.

“She was staying overnight, but she didn’t see anything happen. She thought her father was sick and called me on the phone…and I went to get her. That’s when I discovered Eddie was…dead.”

“You withheld information?” He couldn’t disguise his shock. “It’s a criminal offense. How could you do that?”

Her face paled. “See…that’s exactly the response I thought I’d get if I told you. But the truth is, I—I thought if whoever killed Eddie knew Cait was in the house, he might think she saw him and come after her…th-that she’d end up like her father.”

“What exactly did she see?”

“She saw a man there earlier talking with Eddie.”

“Can she identify the person she saw?”

Laura hesitated, her arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t want her involved.”

“But,” he said incredulously, “she is involved. And if she can identify the man, we may be able to solve the case.” They might’ve solved it years ago, if they’d had this information.

She swung around, her expression hard. “I don’t give a damn about solving the case. I only care about my daughter. If they knew—”

He placed a hand on her arm. “But someone does know. He knows enough to be threatening you.”

She muffled a sob with her hand. “I—I thought we were okay…and the only way…anyone…would find out she was there was if I said something. And then…” Her shoulders began to shake, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Jordan felt her pain as if it were his own. He enveloped her in his arms, crushing her tight against him. He kissed her hand and her cheeks to dry her tears. “Shh. It’s okay. We’ll work it out.”

Suddenly she pulled back, nearly stumbled. “No, it’s not okay. Whoever has been calling me knows Cait was there. I can’t think of any other reason for the threats. He knows we’re here, too, and I can’t see any way to fix any of it.”

“There’s only one way to fix it—if Cait can identify the person at Eddie’s that night.”

Laura looked at him, her face chalk-white, eyes filled with trepidation. She fell into the chair again, boneless, as if all the energy had drained from her body.

“The thing is,” Jordan said, “if this person wanted to harm her, he’d have done it by now. But instead he’s telling you to back off. That means it has to be someone who doesn’t want to hurt you or Cait if he doesn’t have to. But I can tell you right now, when pushed to the wall, he will.”

The breath she took was so deep, he thought she might break down completely. Then, in a whisper, she said, “When we were at the funeral, Cait told me the man she saw at her father’s was standing across from us.”

“Someone you know?”

“Frank DeMatta.”

He caught his breath. He couldn’t believe she’d kept this from the police. If she’d told the truth, DeMatta would probably be on death row by now.

“But just because he was there doesn’t mean he—”

Yeah, right. He stuffed his hands into his pockets to contain his agitation, to make himself think clearly, not on emotion. It was true that being there wasn’t an indictment. At best it was circumstantial. They had no weapon, no other hard proof. “What did you tell Cait when she told you?”

“I said it couldn’t have been Mr. DeMatta because he’d been out of the country. I said she must’ve dreamed it. She never brought it up again. I can’t imagine she’d remember anything now.”

Even if she did remember, the testimony of a seven-year-old child, three years after the fact, would likely make her an unreliable witness. But it did clear up a lot of things. Damn. If the person Cait had seen was anyone other than DeMatta, Jordan would have no reservations about what to do. But knowing DeMatta had a mole in the department changed everything.

“We need to go back,” Jordan said, a plan developing. “It’s not safe here.”

“What about the threats?

“I’ll take care of it. Trust me.

***

The hum of the tires on the asphalt soothed Laura’s frazzled nerves. They’d left the snow behind and Cait slept soundly in the back seat with her earphones on. It would be another couple of hours before they reached L.A., during which she had to think of some way to keep her daughter safe. Her stomach churned along with her rampant thoughts.

Trust me, Jordan had said. But it wasn’t a matter of not trusting him, although she did have reason to doubt his truthfulness. It was a matter of not trusting anyone other than herself. Every time she’d gotten close to someone, put her faith in another person, she’d been betrayed.

The only people she truly trusted were Rose and Phoebe. Even though she’d made amends with her father, and he’d helped her through a tough time, in the end, he’d betrayed her, too. But she’d been so needy she made herself believe he really cared.

It wasn’t until years later when she was taking college psychology classes that she realized the truth about herself. She’d vowed then and there not to be bound by her own neediness ever again.

She glanced at Jordan, who was off in his own world. He’d been helpful beyond the call of duty, and though she didn’t want to care about him, it was too late. She didn’t want to love him, either…but she did.

Taking their relationship into the bedroom had been the biggest mistake of her life. They were poles apart; he from a wealthy cultured family, she a trailer-trash street kid who’d made more than her share of mistakes. She wasn’t the kind of woman he’d be proud to introduce to his family, so why fantasize? She’d found her place in the world, and she liked it just fine.

While she was studying him, he turned to look at her. “I have a plan,” he said, his voice low. “I think it’ll work.”

“Does it require my participation?”

“Not immediately. I’m going to take you to a friend’s house for a while until… When I’m done, I’m hoping it’ll be safe for you to go back home.”

“How long is a while?” Geez, she sounded like Cait now.

“I don’t know—as long as it takes.”

She glanced back at Cait who was awake now and listening to music again, but Laura still kept her voice to a whisper. “What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to shut down the Kolnikov case.”

“I’m not following. How will that solve anything?”

“The Kolnikov case is what brought me to you. And it’s obvious my presence in your life is a threat to the person who’s been stalking you. So, if I remove the threat…” He glanced over at her.

“But—”

“You said it started right after my first visit to the shelter. My guess is that this person is worried that if you know something, you might divulge what you know to me.”

“Why would anyone think I know anything? And if he did, why would he wait until now to do something about it?”

“My guess is he didn’t find it necessary before now. Things changed once I started questioning you about the Kolnikov case.”

“But the Kolnikov case doesn’t have anything to do with Eddie—” She turned to Jordan. “Or does it?”