The Agent's Redemption (Special Agents At The Altar 4) (15 page)

Chapter Seventeen

The way she stared into the camera as she vowed her love made Jared feel as if she was speaking directly to him. But that declaration wasn’t meant for him; it was meant for her sister’s killer. So that the Butcher wouldn’t suspect she was setting a trap for him.

Kyle Smith had suspected it was a trap. Was he the killer?

Jared cleared his throat and gestured at the television. “You were convincing,” he told her. His heart ached with longing. He wished she’d been speaking the truth, that she really loved him. But if she loved him, why had she kept their son from him?

Sure, he’d rejected her earlier declarations of love. He’d thought her feelings couldn’t be real then—not with everything else she’d been going through. When she hadn’t contacted him about Alex, she’d proved him right. Hadn’t she?

While he sat on the couch in front of the TV, she was in the kitchen, putting away the leftovers from the dinner she’d made. Alex was reading in his room. It was like they were already married; like they were already a family. He wished that were true, too.

She shrugged. “I don’t know if I was convincing enough.”

“I guess we’ll know soon.” Her dress fitting was scheduled in a couple of days. If the Butcher followed his previous pattern, that was when he would try to abduct her.

Try
. That was all he would be allowed. An attempt. He wouldn’t take her as he had all those other women. Jared would make certain of that.

“I almost hope you’re right,” she remarked.

“About?”

“Kyle Smith,” she said. “I almost hope it’s him.”

“Harris Mowery’s wrong about you,” Jared said. “He’s convinced he’s the only suspect you’ll consider.”

She snorted derisively. “I’m not going to consider George a suspect.” She pointed at the television. “But Kyle Smith...” She shuddered. “It was like he was using our relationship to justify Lexi’s murder.”

“I caught that, too,” he said. But it had been hard to focus on anything but Becca’s declaration of love. “I’m still working on finding links between him and any of the victims.”

“But do serial killers have to have a link to their victims?” she asked. “Or do they just randomly choose them?”

“Usually there’s a link to one of the victims,” he said. “The first one.”

“Lexi...” She shook her head. “She didn’t know Kyle Smith.” She stepped away from the kitchen to join him near the couch. But she didn’t sit down beside him; she didn’t touch him. She didn’t act like a woman in love—even though she was back to sharing his bed. “It must be Harris Mowery.”

“Or it could be George Droski...”

She shook her head. “Not a chance.”

“Or maybe there was a victim before Lexi...”

Her blue eyes widened with shock. “Do you think so?”

“I haven’t found another death that matches the Butcher’s MO,” he admitted. “But there are a lot of missing persons cases.”

“So, maybe, like Lexi, his first victim was never found?”

“It’s something I’m looking into—if Kyle Smith knew someone who disappeared before Lexi.”

She drew closer to him now and knelt before where he sat on the couch. She slid her palm over the side of his face and said, “I’m sorry.”

She’d already apologized—several times—over not telling him about Alex. “Why?”

“I hope you never think I doubted how hard you’ve worked on this case,” she said. “I hope you know how much I appreciate how hard you’ve worked.”

He had worked hard. Maybe that was one of the reasons he’d rejected her declaration of love six years ago—because he’d wanted to focus on finding her sister’s killer. He’d known she needed that more than she’d needed him.

And he’d denied how much he needed her. He leaned over so that his lips touched hers, sliding back and forth in a gentle kiss.

Her breath escaped in a wistful sigh.

He would have deepened the kiss, but the doorbell rang—like it had the other night.

She tensed. “Who would ring the bell?”

She knew that the signal was a phone call to announce an intruder or a visitor. Jared reached for his weapon, and she sprang to her feet and headed to their son’s bedroom—to protect him.

Jared needed to protect them both. His weapon in his hand, he approached the door. And like the night they’d found the bloody veil, he opened the door to another ominous present. But there wasn’t just one—there was a pile of them.

* * *

“W
HERE
DID
THEY
come from?” Rebecca asked as she saw the assortment of different-sized boxes wrapped in shiny paper. “Did someone sneak them up here?”

Jared shook his head. “No, they were delivered to the front desk.”

“Then you’ll be able to get a description of who dropped them off,” she said and expelled a breath of relief. “You’ll be able to find him.” And stop him.

Jared sighed, too, but with resignation. “These were all deliveries. The presents were mailed here.”

“From where?”

He glanced down at the boxes he’d taken from the doorman who’d brought them up from the lobby. He’d dropped them at the door when the guard had grabbed and frisked him. “Several different places.”

“But we’re not registered. We haven’t even sent out invitations to this wedding.” Because it wasn’t real. “So why would anyone send us gifts?”

He shrugged but opened one of the cards attached to a present. “To Rebecca Drummond, you’ve been through so much with losing your sister. You truly deserve your happiness.”

She took the card he held out and read the signature. “I don’t know this person.”

“But maybe she thinks she knows you—from the news coverage,” he said. “Maybe Kyle Smith gave out your address again.”

Or they’d tracked her down through him. Kyle had given out his name, too. But she looked at all the boxes and shivered. What if the gifts weren’t as innocuous as the card? What if they contained other macabre gifts like the bloodied veil?

Despite her telling him to stay in his room, Alex’s door creaked open, and then he bounded into the room with a shout of excitement. “Look at all the presents! It’s not my birthday, though. Or Christmas...”

He looked up at his father. “It’s not Mommy’s birthday, either. Is it yours?”

Jared shook his head. “Nope, my birthday is in April.”

“Then why are there so many presents?”

Jared looked at Rebecca now. “With the news coverage, he’s bound to find out...”

“Find out what?” Alex asked.

Jared was right. They couldn’t keep him reading or playing in his room all the time. He went to school. He would eventually overhear something.

She drew in a deep breath and turned toward their son. “People think your father and I are getting married.”

His blue eyes brightened and a big smile creased his little face. “That’s—”

“But we’re not really getting married,” she hastened to add. “We’re only letting people think that we are.”

“Why?” he asked. But she suspected it was more than his natural inquisitiveness that had him asking questions.

“Because it’s going to help catch the bad guy who took away your aunt Lexi,” she said. “Remember how I said I was going to help? This is how I’m helping.”

“No,” he said. “I meant why aren’t you getting married for real?”

Pain clutched her heart. She wished the wedding would be real. She wanted it to be real. “You know that not all mommies and daddies are married.”

He had friends with divorced parents.

He nodded. “But those mommies and daddies don’t love each other anymore.”

And he thought they did? Maybe he’d overheard the television replaying the impromptu interview she’d given Kyle Smith.

She opened her mouth but she had no words. She couldn’t deny her feelings for Jared. She did love him. And she wouldn’t lie to her son.

“We have to catch this bad guy before we can do anything else,” Jared spoke for her.

Alex nodded as if he completely understood.

Rebecca wished that she did. Was Jared implying that something could happen after the bad guy was caught? That he might actually propose then? Or was he only putting off Alex’s inevitable disappointment?

She had a feeling that she would be even more disappointed than their son.

His eyes still bright with excitement, he moved closer to the presents Jared had piled onto the coffee table. He asked, “Are these gifts real?”

Nerves fluttered in her stomach as she remembered finding that veil stained dark brown with old blood—with Lexi’s blood. What else of Lexi could be inside those boxes? Her body had never been found.

“Alex,” she cautioned as she reached for him. “You really shouldn’t touch them.”

“So they’re not real...” Alex uttered a soft little sigh of disappointment.

“We’re not sure what they are,” Jared said. “We need to get them checked out before anyone opens them.”

“How?” Alex asked.

“I’m going to have an agent pick them up and bring them down to the Bureau,” Jared said. “They’ll x-ray them there.”

The little boy giggled. “Like Mommy x-rays people to check for broken bones?”

Jared smiled. “Yes, like that.”

“When is the agent coming?” she asked.

“He’ll be here soon,” Jared assured her.

Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief. She would be glad when the presents were gone.

Alex stepped a little closer to the coffee table. “That one’s so pretty,” he mused. And as he pointed, the small brightly wrapped present, piled on the others, toppled down onto the floor.

As it had the other night, the cover fell off the box and the contents spilled out. The box was too small for anything too gruesome or frightening.

But, like the veil, Rebecca immediately recognized the sapphire-and-pearl earrings that bounced across the hardwood. Her hands shaking, she leaned over to pick them up.

“That present was real, Mommy,” Alex said. “And they’re pretty.”

And like Lexi, Rebecca had thought they were gone forever. That she would never see them again...

“There’s a note, Mommy,” Alex said as he reached down for the box.

“No,” Jared told him, then softened his sharp tone and continued, “don’t touch that. We might need to check it for fingerprints.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, fingerprints...but Mommy is touching the earrings. Won’t she mess up the fingerprints?”

“Yeah,” Jared said. “Let me talk to Mommy alone a minute while you pick out a bedtime story in your room.”

Her son brushed past her on his way to his bedroom. But she couldn’t take her gaze from the jewelry cradled in her palm. She was aware, though, that Jared moved, that he leaned down and picked up the note he’d told their son not to touch.

“What does it say?” she asked him.

Instead of answering her question, Jared asked one of his own, “What are they? You must recognize them or you wouldn’t be staring at them like that.”

She shivered. “They were Lexi’s something blue...” Their grandmother had given them to her.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have brought the gifts inside the apartment. I should have had the agent pick them up from the front desk.”

She curled her fingers protectively around the earrings. She wouldn’t have wanted anyone else touching her family heirloom.

“What does the note say?” she asked again.

He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “Becca...”

She wanted to lean into the warmth and strength of his hand. Or turn and burrow into his arms, seeking comfort and protection. But Jared had warned her that the fake engagement would put her in more danger, and she’d ignored his advice. She’d told him she could handle it. So she stiffened her spine and prepared to handle it.

“I already know it’s another threat,” she said. That was all she received lately—either through phone calls or dressing room visits or cruel
gifts
. “Just read it to me.”

He sighed but he recited the words he must have memorized since he didn’t even look at the note. “Something borrowed. Something blue...”

He hesitated. And she knew there was more to it than that.

“Jared...”

“Don’t go through with the wedding,” he continued, “or you’ll be dead, too.”

Chapter Eighteen

He found her in his bed. But she wasn’t sleeping. She jumped when he pushed the door fully open and stepped into his bedroom. “It’s just me,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d still be awake.”

He wasn’t sure if he would find her in his bed, either. He’d had to invite her every night—after they tucked their son into his bed. But Jared had left before Alex’s bedtime.

“What did you find out?” she asked.

“The other boxes held just gifts,” Jared assured her.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “Maybe I should have opened them because I would recognize anything that belonged to Lexi.”

“If it had belonged to Lexi,” he said, “there would have been some not-so-cryptic note included. There were no more notes like that one.”

She expelled a shaky little breath.

“One note was more than enough,” he said. It had shaken her. And it had shaken him, too. “More than enough to convince you that I’m right—that it’s too dangerous to go through with this fake wedding.”

She shook her head. “I was getting threats before we even got
engaged
. Someone grabbed me before we got
engaged
.”

“But let you go because you weren’t engaged,” he pointed out. “That dress fitting is coming up in a couple of days. We need to call this off.” Because he couldn’t risk losing her.

“I still won’t be safe,” she said, her voice vibrating deep in her throat, but not with fear—with anger. “I won’t be safe and neither will any engaged woman in the country until the Butcher is stopped.”

He couldn’t argue with her. For one, he was too damn tired. So tired that he stripped off his clothes and climbed into bed with her. And for another, she was right; nobody was safe until the Butcher was caught.

So he drew her against him and held her. He could keep her safe here—in his arms. He wished she could stay there forever, pressed tightly against his heart that filled with love for her. But he couldn’t tell her of that love now; he could barely acknowledge the feelings himself. He had to focus instead on protecting her.

“We’ll find another way to catch him,” Jared said, “without putting your life at risk.”

She settled against his chest with a soft sigh. But he knew it wasn’t resignation. She wouldn’t give up, which she confirmed when she said, “He’s gone free too long. He’s hurt too many people. This is the fastest way to catch him.”

And the fastest way for Jared and Alex to lose her. He tightened his arms around her. He wouldn’t let her go. “Then I’ll protect you,” he promised. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

For their son’s sake but mostly for his.

Now her breath shuddered out in a sigh of relief that caressed his chest. Then her lips slid over his skin.

And he wasn’t tired any longer as his pulse began to race and his heart hammer. He tipped up her chin and kissed her with all the passion burning inside him. While he didn’t want to tell her how he felt about her, he set out to show her. He made love to her tenderly and slowly—kissing and caressing every inch of her silky skin.

She moaned and writhed and cried out as pleasure overwhelmed her. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted to give her more. He made love to her with his fingers and his mouth and his tongue.

But she wanted more. She reached down and wrapped her hand around him, stroking him to madness. His control snapped, and he thrust inside her—into her heat and warmth. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arched into his every thrust. They moved in perfect rhythm. And together, staring deeply into each other’s eyes, they came apart—their sanity and hearts lost as they found ecstasy.

The words filled his throat then—the declaration of love he wanted to give her. He had to give her...

But it would only complicate things further, and they were already complicated enough. So he swallowed his words and settled her against his chest again, against his heart, and wrapped his arms tightly and protectively around her.

And he hoped he could keep the promise he’d made her—that he could make sure nothing happened to her. He had to keep her safe.

* * *

R
EBECCA
AWOKE
ALONE
the next morning. Maybe Jared was only in the kitchen or playing with Alex. But the apartment felt emptier than that. It felt like he was gone.

She felt like he was gone—because there was an emptiness in her, too. He’d promised to protect her, so there was probably a guard or two at the door. Or maybe one of his friends, a special agent, ready to follow her wherever she wanted to go. She had no doubt that Jared was trying to keep his promise to protect her—by finding the killer before she was in any danger.

But then he could be putting himself in danger. He’d interviewed so many suspects that he must have talked to the killer—more than once. If the Butcher suspected he was getting close, he might stop Jared before Jared could stop him.

Despite the warmth of the bed, she shivered. Then a phone rang, and she jumped. Maybe it was Jared, though, so she grabbed up her cell from the bedside table. “Hello?”

And her heart sank at that ominous hesitation. But after a few seconds, it wasn’t the raspy voice that spoke to her. It was a familiar one. “Becca?”

“George?” She hadn’t heard from her childhood friend in years. Six to be exact. He’d called and expressed his concern for her when Lexi had disappeared. How could Jared have ever suspected him? “Is everything all right?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I think so...”

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“An FBI agent called me a couple of days ago,” he said. “He wants me to come to the Chicago office for an interview. Do you know if I’m actually considered a suspect?”

“George, I don’t know.” Could Jared really consider him a suspect?

“It’s the agent—the one I’ve heard on the news that you’re engaged to,” he said with an emotional crack in his voice. He was hurt.

Kyle Smith had made sure that news report had gone national—she wasn’t even sure where George lived since he’d moved away from their hometown in Ohio.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“I didn’t know if you were the one who mentioned my name to Agent Bell...”

“It wasn’t me,” she assured him. “I don’t believe you had anything to do with Lexi’s murder. I know you would never hurt her.”

“I would never hurt her,” he agreed.

“It was Harris Mowery,” she said. “He’s the one who told Jared about you.”

“Mowery?” He cursed. “Of course it was him.”

Jared most definitely had interviewed the killer—when he’d interviewed Mowery. “I know it’s him,” she said. “He was the one who hurt her.”

“He’s the reason Lexi’s gone,” George said. “I’m sorry, Becca...”

She shivered again—at his strange apology. “Why, George?”

“I shouldn’t have called you.”

“I’m not sure why you did,” she admitted. She hadn’t heard from him in six years. “You don’t have any reason to be concerned about Jared interviewing you.”

Or did he?

“It’s just strange,” he said, “being questioned in her disappearance, especially after all this time.”

“Jared is just being thorough,” she said. “He won’t arrest anyone without evidence.” No matter how much she’d wanted him to put Harris Mowery behind bars for the rest of his miserable life.

Instead, the man was engaged—going to get married—probably going to have children. He was doing all the things he’d robbed Lexi of when he’d taken her life.

“I know,” George said. “It’s just strange. But I really called for another reason.”

“What’s that?” Rebecca asked.

“Aren’t congratulations in order?”

She’d known George too long to lie to him. So she said nothing.

“You are getting married, right?” he asked. “That’s what all the news reports are saying.”

She didn’t know if she would actually make it to the altar or not. Jared had promised to protect her, not marry her. But she needed to say something, so she repeated what she’d told Kyle Smith. “I love Jared Bell very much.”

“You must,” George said, “since you’re risking your life to marry him.”

She sucked in a breath of shock at his comment.

“I’m sorry, Becca,” he said. “I’m just repeating what that slimy reporter’s been saying—that that sick killer will probably go after you.”

“I’ll be safe,” she assured him and herself. Chief Lynch had promised her, and now so had Jared.

“I hope so,” George said. “I really wish you all the best, Becca.”

“Thanks,” she said. But she wasn’t sure what else to say to him beyond, “Goodbye.” She ended the call with an uneasy feeling twisting her stomach into knots.

George’s call had been strange. She doubted he’d called to offer his congratulations. Was he really worried about Jared interviewing him?

Why?

She couldn’t believe he had anything to do with Lexi’s death. He’d been like a brother to them. Maybe that was why he’d called—because he was genuinely concerned for her safety.

So was Jared.

He didn’t understand that she wasn’t just doing this for Lexi and the Butcher’s other victims and potential victims. She was doing this for him, too. He needed to catch the one killer who eluded him. The Butcher was his white whale—the one who’d hurt his otherwise spotless career, the one who caused Jared great guilt with every new victim the killer claimed.

She had to do this. For him...

That was how much she loved him.

The phone rang again, and she breathed a sigh of relief. It had to be him. “Yes?” she answered it.

But there was that ominous pause. And then that raspy voice asked, “Are you getting the message yet? Have you canceled the wedding?”

She tensed, but instead of fear, anger coursed through her. She was done playing the victim to this monster—done with the sick games. “Absolutely not.”

“Then you’re going to die.”

The line clicked dead...like she would soon be if the caller’s ominous prediction came true.