When She Wasn't Looking (21 page)

“He knocked on the door. And it’s a good thing he did because if I waited to find the phone it might have been too late. Remember that for next time you want to sneak off.”

Her shoulders fell. “I’m kind of hoping there won’t be a next time.”

“Me, too, but I know better.”

She nibbled on her bottom lip as she looked around the room. The place resembled military triage. Jonas counted heads and calculated that every officer in Aberdeen was in the room. More than a few of Walt’s sheriffs also wandered around.

Jonas hoped there wouldn’t be any crime in the county today.

“Where would I go?” She asked the question in a put-upon voice.

“With Walt.”

Her gaze shot to where the older man stood at the bookstore’s front door then back to Jonas again. “How am I safer with him? The guy hates me.”

“He’s the sheriff.”

“And?”

Jonas wasn’t in the mood to take on her police phobia, so he let the comment drop. “You’ll be out of Aberdeen and only Rich, Walt and I will know where you are.”

Jonas wanted to kick himself for not making this move sooner. Walt had offered, but he’d couched the suggestion in comments about Jonas’s private life and Jonas had gotten defensive. Everything got tangled up and confused. He’d let his ego get in the way and pushed off Walt’s concerns. Now Jonas knew that had been a mistake.

“And where will you be?” she asked.

“Getting information from Ellie and trying to track this attacker down. The town isn’t that big. Someone must have seen him. I just need a decent description. Once I have a sketch, I’ll send it to Walt for you to review.” That all required Jonas to not have Courtney by his side.

Whether he liked the outcome or not—and he didn’t—he needed his full concentration on this. Worrying about her sucked up most of his energy. While he’d be edgy with her at Walt’s place, at least Jonas could put every minute of every hour into ending this thing.

Then she could come back and they’d figure out the what-happens-next part. But he couldn’t get there until he walked through this.

“It’s the best way.” The words, ragged and raw, tore out of him.

If she chewed any harder on that lip, she’d draw blood. “Who is going to keep Ellie safe?”

“Rich volunteered.” Jonas found his first smile. “A little fast, I might add.”

Courtney looked around Jonas. He followed her gaze and saw Rich throw off the tube plugged into his arm and go to Ellie. When he sat next to her, she leaned in with her head on his shoulder.

Courtney’s mouth dropped open. “Those two? She never said anything.”

Jonas nodded. “Surprised me, too. I knew he found her attractive but didn’t know he’d made a move.”

Courtney put a hand on his jaw and brought his gaze back to her. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Jonas held her hand against his skin, letting her soft touch soothe him. “This is temporary. We catch this guy, drag him out of town, and then I think you mentioned something about naked wrestling.”

She chuckled. “I most certainly didn’t.”

“Huh, really? Well, think about it while you’re gone.”

“I’m going to try not to.”

“I expect you to miss me.” The words slipped out before he could stop them. They hung there, open and ready to crush him.

But the light in her face never dimmed. “Only if that will be a very mutual missing.”

He didn’t have to think about his answer. “It will.”

“Then we have a deal.”

“Good.”
Great, fantastic.
The words tripped on his tongue, but he shoved them back when Walt stepped up.

He clapped a hand against Jonas’s back as he stared at Courtney. “Are you ready to head out?”

“I know you don’t like me, but—”

Walt held up a hand. “I don’t have a problem with you.”

Jonas didn’t believe it but he appreciated the attempt to calm her nerves. “Thanks.”

Walt nodded. “Whatever it takes to end this, we’re going to do it.”

* * *

C
OURTNEY STEPPED
into Walt’s family room and frowned. She’d expected a rush of relief at being somewhere safe and away, but nothing came.

The place was nice enough, a low-slung ranch house outside of Aberdeen. Acres of open land surrounded the place. A forgotten swing hung from the tree just out front.

On the inside, heavy furniture, very dark and at least two decades old, filled the room. There were cabinets filled with tiny figurines and stuffed animals over the mantel. It was all very feminine. Collections gathered over time and stored with the utmost care.

Not exactly the decor she expected from a lifetime lawman.

She walked down the two steps into the sunken living room and went to the fireplace. The blue bear on the end wore a shirt stamped with the hospital logo. She traced her fingers over the letters then picked up the bear, letting her fingers squeeze into the fluffy softness.

“My wife was sick for a long time.”

Courtney jumped at Walt’s voice. He stood right behind her.

Jonas had filled her in on the general details, but seeing the loss in Walt’s sad eyes brought it all home. “I’m really sorry about your wife.”

“The disease ravaged her then lingered. She spent two years going in and out of the hospital, unable to walk and eventually unable to do anything for herself.”

Pain filled every word. Courtney recognized the slight tremor. Sometimes, lost in her own darkness, she forgot that others lived in a similar hell. Her heart twisted for him.

This man served as a father figure to Jonas. Walt meant something to the man she’d started to love, so he meant something to her, too.

“That must have been terrible.” Courtney rubbed a hand over Walt’s arm.

“A slow death is devastating in so many ways.”

She only knew about a calculated assault. The wounds left from that never healed. “I can imagine.”

“Emotionally and financially it ruins you.”

She didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say anything.

Walt’s entire body slumped as he dropped into a big leather chair in front of her. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this.”

“What?”

“You.” Walt took out his gun and balanced it on his lap.

“Me?”

“He was supposed to do a wellness check and leave.” Pain turned to anger with each word Walt uttered. “I never thought he’d get messed up in your life.”

The blood left her head. “What are you saying?”

“Jonas wasn’t supposed to be involved. I didn’t want him hurt, but I needed him to go in that first time.”

She tightened her hold on the stuffed bear. “You’re involved in all of this?”

“I was paid to deliver you. That was all this was ever supposed to be. Me getting you to the guy who wanted you.” Walt motioned for her to sit down across from him. “And I am going to do that now.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jonas forced his legs to move. Seeing Courtney walk away, glance over her shoulder and smile nearly dropped him to his knees. Emotions battled inside him and none of them were relief. That sensation didn’t come as he expected.

But he could only handle one issue right now, and this one would be tough to choke out. Admitting he was wrong was not one of Jonas’s skills.

He stepped up to Cade. “Now might be a good time to thank you.”

Cade stopped staring at the floor and looked up. The haze over his eyes hadn’t cleared, but this wasn’t confusion. Jonas knew the look. The other man was in deep-thinking mode. Jonas doubted Cade had even heard the apology.

“What is it? What’s in your head?” Jonas asked.

“Who came into the room after me?”

Jonas had no idea where Cade mentally wandered in the timeline. “What?”

“You said you saw me go in and out of Paul’s hospital room. Okay, that’s not a secret. I went in to talk with him. But who else walked in there?”

Jonas didn’t have an answer, but he wanted to see where the question went. “What are you thinking?”

“What’s going on?” Rich joined them.

Jonas took in the limp and the way his friend held his head and recognized the signs of a guy refusing to stay down. “Should you be up?”

Rich shrugged. “I am.”

Cade faced them both with his hands out, as if trying to convince them of something. “The guard was there and alive when I left Paul’s room. That leaves a small window for someone else to sneak in there.”

Jonas understood the obsession. Cade had lost a friend and wanted answers. He’d jumped into the investigation and had the determined look of a man who had no intention of getting out again until the mystery had been solved.

A kick of admiration hit Jonas. If Cade was in, so was the Aberdeen police force.

“It would have to be someone with access.” Cade nodded, clearly picking up speed on his theory. “Someone who could get by without any questions and who knew exactly when to get to the door because Stimpson would be gone, or knew Stimpson well enough to get in with permission.”

“That sounds like an inside job,” Rich said.

Cade snapped his fingers. “Who has the tape?”

“There are two. The official one and mine, and the county sheriff has them both.”

Cade’s eyes narrowed. “The guy who called me about Paul?”

“We only saw the tape up to the point where you came out of the room,” Rich explained.

The fact tickled in the back of Jonas’s brain. He’d been so quick to jump on Cade as a suspect, he never thought to ask more questions or insist on seeing every moment of that room for hours on each end. He saw Cade come out and then the empty doorway.

If the guard was there when Cade came out, why didn’t the tape show it? “The guard was still there,” he repeated.

Cade coughed. “I already said that. Several times, in fact.”

The pieces clicked together in Jonas’s mind. The timing fell into place. “If Stimpson had been outside of the room when Paul was killed he would have heard something.”

Rich leaned against the wall, likely to keep from falling down again. “Maybe Stimpson did it.”

Jonas shook his head. “Then why is he dead? No, it’s more likely Stimpson was a pawn. The guy was paid or was asked to look the other way.”

Jonas knew that had to be it. Stimpson’s role was minor at best. He could finger someone, tie a person to that room, and he died for it, but he didn’t do the killing.

“We need to see that tape,” Cade said.

Rich reached for his radio but he grabbed air because it wasn’t on his shoulder. “I’ll call Walt.”

Jonas grabbed his friend’s arm when he signaled to another officer. “Skip Walt. Use the landline and call hospital security. Tell the head of security to upload the duplicate copy and send it to your cell.”

“I have your video on my phone already.”

“Good. That one might give us a different angle. We’ll check out both.” Jonas looked at Rich and Cade. “I want this immediate and quiet.”

Rich frowned. “What’s with all the secrecy?”

“I don’t want anyone else touching the videos but us. The hospital one goes straight from security to us.”

“You’re including me?” Cade sounded stunned by the thought of being included.

Even ten minutes ago Jonas would have shut him out, but the guy proved to be an asset, and Jonas wasn’t one to throw up territorial barriers. He’d take all the help he could get, so long as he knew the motives behind it.

“You’re FBI, right?”

Rich continued to shake his head. Understanding washed over his face. “You think someone tampered with the hospital tape.”

Jonas didn’t want to think it because the arrow could point anywhere. Any person under his command could be dirty. Missing that, not being able to ferret out that disloyalty before it blew up played on every insecurity he possessed. The failure would once again be his alone.

“All I know is the tape went to the shot of the empty doorway, no Stimpson, after we saw Cade go in and out. I’m thinking that was planted there because it doesn’t match the unofficial version.” Jonas hitched his chin toward Ellie. “How’s she coming with her description?”

The question sidetracked Rich. “I’ll check.”

Cade waited until they were alone to talk again. “This could get ugly.”

Jonas nodded. “It already is.”

* * *

C
OURTNEY SAT ACROSS FROM
W
ALT
and watched him shift the gun from one hand to the other. “Tell me why.”

“I didn’t have a choice. The bills destroyed me.”

Her throat burned with the need to scream. All that potential wasted over dollars. “This was about money? Stimpson and Eckert are dead because of your need to pay a bill. You do realize that, right?”

Walt shook his head. “I didn’t have anything to do with those deaths.”

The man compartmentalized and ignored. She hated people who refused to take responsibility for their actions. Right now, she despised Walt for both what he was doing and how he had betrayed Jonas.

“You put me in danger. Worse, you risked Jonas’s life by bringing him into this. And all because of money?”

Walt pointed the gun at her. “I told you Jonas wasn’t supposed to be involved. He was supposed to knock on the door and plant the woman’s name. That’s it.”

She watched Walt put the facts into neat little boxes. It didn’t matter if they fit or not, if they were true or not; he grabbed onto his rationale to get through.

She wanted to rip the safety shield away. “You dropped Jonas right in the middle of it.
You
did that.”

But Walt was lost. He talked more to himself than to her. “He’d always been so practical. He follows my advice, except when it comes to you.”

Bile filled her mouth. “He’s a better police officer than you.”

“Oh, please.” Walt’s stern voice sounded more like a lecturing parent now. “He destroyed his career in Los Angeles. I’m the one who put him back together again.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He killed that drug-addicted kid. The press blamed Jonas, then he blew it all in a later case by hesitating when his partner needed him to shoot.”

Her heart ripped in two. Actually pulled apart and yanked until the rough edges jabbed at her. Jonas lived with so much and never said a word. “I thought you cared about him. That you viewed him as a son.”