Betrayal of the Dove (Men of Action) (14 page)

She sighed and shook her head. “I see it. I’ve just been trying to deal with it without making any waves. He’s a cop and he’s with the precinct that covers this stretch of town. I don’t want any trouble that I might not get an assist out of;” she knew cops and she knew they stuck together. “I figure he’ll get tired of pursuing me once he realizes I’m not into him.”

He snorted. “Yeah, like that’s going to happen. You’ve told him in a thousand subtle ways. You need to be direct.”

“Got it,” she said. “Now, back to you. Why did he question you?”

“He wanted to know if I had an alibi.”

“Are you kidding me? What the heck for? He thinks you’re doing it?”

He chuckled. “I think he just thought he was going to rattle me out of bed early this morning and scare me.” He shrugged. “It didn’t work on either account. Plus, he’s not even the detective on the case. He’s overstepping his authority.”

“I’m going to talk to him; that’s just not right.”

“Don’t bother.”

“Why not? Do you have an airtight alibi and you don’t think he can try to throw suspicion on you? Seriously, you’re not a bad guy and I won’t have him paint you as one. Gossip spreads, and I won’t have him tarnishing your reputation.”

He shook his head no. “The store in topic had the alarm go off at eleven last night and I was on conference with a former military commander. He’s still serving this country and we had a secure meeting that lasted well into the morning hours. He’s usually in Colorado, but he was in Hawaii for the past few weeks. I spent some time working out of there myself,” he nodded as if that explained everything crystal clear. “He can vouch for me if it comes to that. But I don’t want you to worry about me. Keep your distance from the man as much as possible.”

She nodded. Even though she wanted to defend him, she would honor his wishes. He clearly had a reason for wanting her to stay clear. “How long were you in Hawaii?”

“Not long,” he admitted with as few details as humanly possible.

“Were you stationed there, or something else?”

“That’s classified,” he said sternly. “Next question.”

His being stationed there wouldn’t be classified so clearly it was something else he was doing there. “Is my baby sister safe there or should I try to get one of my brothers to lock her in the attic and not let her leave?”

He threw his head back with a hearty laugh. She didn’t see anything funny about the question. She really wanted to know if there was something going on she should be worried about. When he settled down he looked at her and smiled. “I wouldn’t advise holding a person against their will. That’s a federal offense,” he grinned. “But yeah; I think she’ll be as safe there as she would just about anywhere else stateside.”

She nodded. “Thank you.” He couldn’t give her details about what had him in Hawaii, but at least he could give her enough to set her mind at ease—well, moderately at ease. She would always worry about Eve no matter how old she became.

“About our date tonight;” she smiled just thinking of the fact that she had labeled it a date when she couldn’t remember if he had. “Do you mind if I shower and change first?”

His eyes darkened in color, betraying his calm, cool and collected exterior look. She could tell he was anticipating their evening together just as much as she was. “Not at all,” his voice was low and completely male. That voice did things to her when it was singing out words like the G-string of a finely tuned century old cello. Now that it was inching towards a deep C-string vibration she was feeling those wicked sensations spread through her body deeper, stronger, harder. She felt her lips part as his eyes stared at her mouth as if he were envisioning what it would be like to kiss her right there. She felt her own breathing rapidly transition from normal to erratic with arousal.

“You don’t stop looking at me like that, Alyssa McGregor, and I’m going to come behind that case and take you right where you stand.”

“I…you’re looking at me,” she said incredulously.

“Honey, you’ve been staring me up and down as if I were standing here naked. You can do all kinds of things to a man with a look like that.”

“I was not,” she said as she felt the heat rush to her cheeks.

“Yes you were,” he smiled slyly. “And I promise you, next time I’m going to strip and let you see what you’re fantasizing about.” He winked at her before turning and going back into the security room; leaving her standing there with her mouth open and a shocked expression on her face. She laughed to herself, knowing she was blushing wildly.

“Oh gosh,” she said under her breath. “That man is going to be a handful.” The thought hit her like a freight train; she was ready to try to handle him too. Maybe Eve was right. Maybe now was the time for her to get over her last relationship disaster and open her heart to a romantic relationship again. Whether she was ready or not didn’t seem to matter because her heart had already convinced her brain that it was going to attach to the sexy man hiding out in her security room. Shane Maxwell. How could a man with a name like that not be delectably sinful?

She had a customer come in and she was in the process of ringing up the item when she heard his cell phone ring. That was the first time since he had been working for her that she had heard his phone ring during the day. When he started speaking she realized that she could hear his conversation clearly. She wasn’t trying to hear his conversation, she just did, and that told her that he could hear every conversation she had anywhere near the door. Suddenly she wondered if she and Eve had talked about anything she might not really want him to know. She stopped wondering about it the second she heard him say, “how did he die?” She knew then that something was wrong, and from the tone in his voice she could tell it was somebody close to him. She hoped it wasn’t family. She didn’t know much about his family, but she was relatively certain his parents were still alive because he had mentioned them before and it wasn’t a past tense reference…it also wasn’t a long conversation.

He opened the door to the security room. From the look on his face she could tell he knew his conversation had been audible from her position, which reassured her that all of her conversations had been too. “Do you need to leave?” She didn’t care that he hadn’t been working for her long; the death of somebody he knew was a viable excuse for taking some time off work. “If you do need to leave you can go, Shane. I’ll be fine here.”

He shook his head no. “The funeral isn’t set yet.”

“Okay, well whenever it is set feel free to take the time off. And if you need to take time away at some point today or tomorrow just to deal with it that’s fine too.” She wanted to ask who it was, but she wouldn’t pry. Shane was a very private man and she didn’t want to intrude on that privacy.

“He was a friend,” he said somberly. “We were both part of a team, highly secure team,” he said and that told her more than what he didn’t say. He was part of one of those elite, covert, highly secure top secret military units—probably like the one Thomas was preparing for before he nearly got himself killed on a mission. “The
Dove Team
,” he said absently as if he was talking more to himself than to her. “He was a good man.”

“I’m sorry, Shane. Why don’t you take the day off and just grieve the loss?”

“Because,” his shoulders stiffened. “I’ll need the time when I get more details on the bastard who killed him.”

She knew that tone and she understood those words; Shane was going for justice his way, not the court system way. “How was he murdered?”

“He was on vacation in Austin, Texas with his wife and kids when somebody gunned him down in the hotel parking lot. His wife had asked him to go out to get the baby’s play toy. Can you imagine how she feels right now?”

She could. She would feel the same regret and feelings of responsibility that his friend’s wife probably felt. She probably knew if she hadn’t asked him to go out to the car he would still be alive. “I hope she’s sitting with a counselor right now. Otherwise that’s going to eat at her until there’s nothing left but a shell of her former self.”

He nodded. “Thing is, he might have been killed in or out of that room, and if it had been inside she could have been killed with him. Twenty-eight year old kid,” he shook his head. “Survived Afghanistan only to come home and get gun downed in a parking lot of a Holiday Inn.”

“Was it a robbery?”

“No, doesn’t look that way. His wallet wasn’t taken. A witness thought he knew the man. She heard him say something like, what are you doing here; or why are you here…something like that, but she wasn’t positive. The only thing she was sure of was the man said, maybe you’ll find out if doves really can fly up to heaven. Sounds like an attack on our team.”

“Or maybe just one man,” she said because she didn’t want to think about somebody coming after Shane. He was retired military now and in her mind that provided some relative measure of safety for him.

“I’m not so sure about that. Another member of our team died not that long ago—car accident, or so they say. They’re going to reopen the investigation.”

“Well there’s a witness this time so maybe they’ll get the guy sooner rather than later,” she hoped.

“The witness is blind. She didn’t see anything; she just heard it. And since she was close enough for both parties to know she was there, I can only guess the guy who killed him noticed she wasn’t a real threat when he did it.”

“Security cameras; they’re all over hotels even in the parking lots.”

“I was on the phone with my former commanding officer and the guy made sure he wasn’t seen on camera. The light near Rick’s car was busted, the camera lens was busted, and a tree was conveniently blocking the one camera that should have been able to get a clear shot—that of course was the hotel’s fault for not keeping the tree groomed. So the bastard got a free and clear pass on murder, but I can promise you he won’t enjoy it for long.”

“Shane,” she patted his hand. “Go home, deal with this. I’ll be fine here; I promise.”

“No,” he said clearly. “I’ll await the details before I make a move. Rule number one,” he stated. “Know your enemy before you go on the hunt. Otherwise you’re just hunting blind and hunting blind will get you killed.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? Legally; it’s not…well, it’s just you could get in a lot of trouble.” At least she assumed he could since this wouldn’t be a hunt that was government sanctioned.

“Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six, Alyssa. Beyond that, I don’t care. He was a team member, they both were, and I’m not letting this go.”

She nodded. She understood because Thomas had felt the same way—and he hadn’t let it go. More than ten years of hunting Sabian and he had finally got his man; he had finally delivered justice. She understood them both, even if she wished neither man had to pick up their guns for yet another fight. “Well,” she looked at him seriously hoping he would be okay. “If you need an alibi you have one.”

He chuckled half heartedly given the pain etched on his face. “I wouldn’t want to drag you into this.”

“You’re not dragging; I’m offering.”

“That’s not really legal.” He looked at her before reaching his hand out and gently stroking the contours of her cheek with his finger.

“Actually, it is. You see when you’re not here I’m thinking about you anyway, and the question they usually ask is if the person was with you. In my head you are, so therefore I am not lying if I say you were with me.”