Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 (24 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Natalie

Sleep deprivation with a newborn while getting through a triple burial the day before was just shitty.

Natalie tried to think of some other kind of descriptor as she yawned at her desk but she just couldn’t. Starling had been with them for a little more than two weeks. They’d buried her entire family with no other answers as to why she was left in the hospital in the first place.

Running on fumes didn’t come close as her eyes crossed, looking at a spreadsheet she was supposed to be filling out.

Not being able to think of what she was supposed to be filling out or which report she needed to pull up to get the data was probably going to be a problem at some point. She rubbed her eyes and stood up to stretch.

If she stayed sitting any longer, she was seriously going to be wearing the indentations of her keyboard on her face. A yawn nearly cracked her jaw in half and she shook her head before grabbing her empty coffee mug to head to the break room.

“Mind if I walk with you?” a sexy male voice asked from behind her. Campbell joined her and palmed her backside.

“How could I refuse such a nice greeting?”

He smiled and took her coffee mug so he could hold her hand. “Tired?”

“Like a zombie.”

“Me too.”

They stepped into the break room and he immediately made her a cup of coffee and doctored it up with cream and sugar. Then he made himself one, black, of course.

“You don’t look like death. You look sexy.” She took a sip of her coffee and groaned. “And you make killer coffee.”

“Why thank you, and the only reason my coffee is better than yours is because you didn’t have to make it. It’s some kind of rule that anyone else’s coffee is better.”

“Mmmm,” she praised as she took another sip. “Greta still have Starling?”

“As of a couple minutes ago, yes. She’s so enamored with her. Doesn’t want to put her down. None of the girls do. No wonder she’s fussy at night and just wants to be held. Less than three weeks old and she’s already spoiled.” He talked a big game but the look on his face said he was totally all right with that.

“Softie.”

He smiled. “Not denying it. She’s the cutest little girl I’ve ever seen.” He took another drink and then it faltered.

“Uh oh. What’s that look for?”

“Braden was here against last night.”

“Again? That makes what four or five times?”

“Five. Same thing as always. Snooping around after hours. Tries the door, not in a mean way but like he’s just testing it to see if he can get in. Never leaves anything. No note or anything else, and then he just walks away.”

The front door opened and Natalie could hear some kind of conversation happening at the front counter.

“The number’s even on the door, not like you can’t get it off the internet on our site either, much less he could get my number if he doesn’t have it already. It’s just so odd.”

“Agreed. Wyatt’s coming over in a few. Said he had something to discuss with us.”

“Yes I do.”

They both turned and there stood Wyatt in the doorway holding a manila envelope.

Natalie set her coffee on the table and went to give him a hug.

He hugged her back and nodded to Campbell.

“Coffee?” Campbell asked him.

“Sure. Whatever you got with a packet of sweetener in it. Gotta be better than the sludge they have in the precinct. That shit can stand up and walk to my office to get in my cup without me even having to leave my desk.”

“That sounds like it could have its advantages,” Natalie told him.

“Trust me, any advantages are grossly outweighed by the liquid eating through my gut at a fast clip.”

“Noted,” Natalie agreed as she grabbed her cup and Campbell handed Wyatt his.

“We gonna talk in here?” Wyatt asked before he took his first sip.

“No, let’s go back in the conference room so we know we won’t be disturbed.” Natalie glanced at her watch. “Starling’s going to be hungry in less than a half an hour. That gonna give you enough time to fill us in?”

“Should be more than enough actually.”

They moved down the hall to the conference room. Campbell shut the door and then they all got seated. “Braden was here again last night.”

Wyatt’s eyes narrowed at that little piece of news. “That’s part of what I wanted to talk to you guys about. Since the kiddie porn stuff could be FBI territory I was obligated to tell them what was going on.”

“That sounds like a jurisdictional nightmare ready and waiting.”

“Not so much actually. I have a buddy, Coletrane, in the Buffalo field office. Good guy. Owed me a favor. I ran the case past him and got a profile back this morning.”

Natalie offered up her helpful dose of thoughts in one word. “Ugh.”

Campbell laughed and Wyatt made a face. “Why ugh?”

“The FBI has my information now. What other response to that is there than ugh?”

Wyatt shrugged. “I’m sure everyone over the age of fourteen has an FBI file these days. So this is nothing special.” He grinned. “Relatively speaking of course.”

Natalie rolled her eyes and she was pretty certain Campbell growled at her.

His face was devoid of all emotion when she glanced at him though so she thought she was just hearing things.

Taking another sip of coffee, she leaned a bit forward with her elbows on the table. “Okay, I’m over the whiney portion of the meeting and ready to move on. What did your FBI guy have to say?”

“It’s someone with a personal grudge against you. Real or figment of their delusional imagination remains to be seen. More than likely a family member or lover. Someone you would be close to. Intelligent. Persistent and probably well off too.”

“Why well off?” Campbell asked a second before Natalie was about to voice the same question.

“Some of the programming in the file of pictures. Not cheap to say the least. Sound like anyone familiar?”

Only one face popped up in her mind. “Braden.”

Wyatt nodded. “My thoughts exactly. And we found his name somewhere else in the file and his initials in a couple more places.”

“Son of a bitch,” Campbell cursed. “So what can you do about him?”

“With the data we’ve found and the profile a good match, my captain finally said I could go talk to him. Unofficially, of course. I’m gonna track him down, and do a bit of recon on him. He’s supposedly in the city, living in Manhattan, with several properties owned in the vicinity of the clinic. Imagine that. I’ll call and let you guys know how it goes as soon as I find him and have a little man-to-detective chat.”

“Anything about the encrypted stick?” Campbell asked as Wyatt finished his coffee.

He shook his head. “Nope. Still working on that one. High-level encryption on it though, which is super odd considering who had it.”

“And who is now dead,” Campbell reminded him.

“Agreed. With everything done on the PC clone and nothing more to be pulled off it, I’ve put Eric full time on cracking the stick. He’s already run his low-level stuff on it with no success.” He stood. “We’ll get there though. So hold tight. Keep changing up your schedule and maintain a low profile.”

“Will do,” Campbell answered for her.

Should have pissed her off.

Didn’t.

Made her feel…nice.

“Hey, Wyatt, I have a question on Wren.”

“Shoot.”

“What can I do with her stuff? I haven’t gone to her apartment yet since I wasn’t certain what was appropriate or not. The rent was paid through the end of the month so I didn’t have to rush. Most everything I’ll probably have picked up to donate to the women and children’s shelter if that’s all right with you and whatever investigation is still ongoing, but I’m sure there will be things that should go to Starling when she gets bigger.” A wave of anxiety washed through her but she pushed it back. “I just didn’t want to do anything until I had your go-ahead.”

“Very much appreciate it. I’ve thought about it as well. With nothing really to tie her to anything I haven’t been cleared to issue a warrant to search the property.” He smiled. A smile Natalie was glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of in a room with no windows. “But if the current owner of the property wanted to give me a key so I could take a look around and make sure it was safe for her to go deal with the deceased’s belongings, then who am I to say no to a friend?

Natalie stood, as did Campbell, and she led them out of the conference room. “Let’s head to my office before you have to go and I can get you the key. I’m sure Starling is about to need to eat too.”

As if she heard the word “eat”, Starling’s cry reached them as Natalie stepped into her office.

“Great timing for a small fry,” Wyatt commented.

“You can set a watch by that girl’s stomach,” Campbell agreed. He wore a proud smile too, which made Natalie equally parts happy and sad. She had some big decisions to make and she couldn’t keep putting them off. She had to put Starling’s best interest in the forefront, and stalling wasn’t going to make it any easier.

She grabbed the key out of her purse on the little flip-flop keychain Wren had it on. “Here you go. It’s the only one I have so don’t lose it.” She gave him her best stern face and he chuckled.

“I won’t lose it. I’ll bring it back in the next couple days when I’ve had a chance to pop over and take a look at things. Then you’ll be free to go through it all and do with it as you please.”

“Sounds good.”

“One more thing and I’ll be out of your hair.” He pulled something out of the envelope and handed it to Natalie.

Her stomach dropped and Campbell cursed. “What is this?” she asked, trying to keep her food down.

“Look familiar?”

She nodded and swallowed again. “It’s the grill. The grill on the vehicle that almost killed me the day Campbell pulled me out of the way.”

“You’re sure it’s the same one?”

“Positive. Looks like a bug. But the color of the vehicle isn’t right. The one that day was darker,” she added.

“Dark like this?” He handed over another picture.

“God.” Natalie’s stomach dropped again. “Is this…” She couldn’t get the words out. The twisted metal on the second picture horrified her. Tears threatened but she kept them at bay while Campbell pulled her into his side.

“That’s the vehicle Wren and family were in when they were hit?” Wyatt nodded.

“The reason the first picture was off in color is because I pulled the same make and model from the internet. I wanted you to see the grill since the vehicle in the accident was pretty much unrecognizable. Looks like we really may have found your bad guy.”

Natalie knew she should have felt happy or relieved or something other than the sadness welling inside her as Starling’s cry grew louder. “Starling,” she whispered. She sent up another prayer of thanks that the tiny infant hadn’t been in the car with them.

Crying baby sounds came closer and Natalie handed the pictures back to Wyatt, hands shaking. Talk about an adrenaline rush and not the good kind.

Wyatt moved toward the door. “That’s my cue to leave. We’re still working on this end and would appreciate you not sharing any details with anyone just yet. Need to wrap up a few loose ends before we close things up. Talk to you guys later and thanks for the coffee.”

“Adios,” Natalie mumbled at him as he headed down the hall and Greta appeared with a squalling Starling.

“Somebody’s hungry,” Greta announced and she handed the baby over to Campbell since he got there first.

“Thanks, Greta,” Natalie replied. “We’ll get her fed and down for a nap.” Natalie yawned. “I don’t even think the coffee’s gonna help me today. I’m beat.”

“Then why don’t you head home?” Greta asked. “It’s actually been a bit of a slow day. You’re still trying to get your schedule adjusted and we can all handle things here. Head out and I’ll call if we have anything come up we can’t handle.”

Natalie thought about it. She wrinkled her nose. “I feel bad leaving you guys here to deal with everything.” She walked over to the diaper bag and pulled out a bottle with a pre-filled amount of powdered formula in it. She grabbed a bottled water out of her desk, cracked it open, and filled the bottle. Handing it over to Campbell to shake up, she appreciated the ease in which they worked together.

“You know what one of the perks about owning a business is?” Greta asked her as she moved back over to her desk.

“What?”

“Owning the business.” With that Greta waggled her fingers at her and went back in the direction she came.

Campbell faced her as Starling nursed on the bottle and he sat on her couch and got comfy with the tiny bundle of sugar and spice. “She has a good point.”

“I know.”

“Uhh. I’m sorry. Did you just say she had a good point? Wow. I must be more tired than I thought I was. You, being the most stubborn person I know, surely wouldn’t agree with someone else just because they made sense.”

A week before, she’d have puffed up and given him a piece of her mind about the large amount of sarcasm that just fell from his mouth. Instead, she walked over and took a seat on the other end of the couch. Removing her shoes, she turned sideways and slid her feet beneath his leg to keep them warm. “I can be reasonable. Sometimes,” she added when he made a face at her.

“So what do you think? Feed the ravenous girl and then hightail it before you get covered up in work again?”

The picture he made feeding the tiny girl as she stared up at him with those blue eyes. Natalie could get lost in him so easily. Them. She could get lost in them.

“I’m tired. Hate conceding that but I am.”

He chuckled and adjusted Starling in his hold. “Why is that a bad thing?”

“Feels like a weakness.”

“You’re human, Natalie. Just like the rest of us mere mortals.”

“I know. I know. Leftovers from the Grant breeding program I’m sure. Takes awhile to kick it apparently.”

“Understood. Well, the little bottomless pit is almost done so get your last-minute stuff done so we can get out of here before rush hour. Or you could just fall asleep there and we could bunk in here tonight.”

“I’m just resting my eyes.”

“Is snoring a bonus?”

“Yes,” she said as she opened her eyes and stood to stretch.