Love Inspired Suspense March 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Protection Detail\Hidden Agenda\Broken Silence (11 page)

He eyed the children, all of them watching him with various levels of distrust.

“I'll be quick. I promise.”

“If you're not,” Cassie called as he walked outside. “I'm sure the kids will make me pay for it, and then
I
will have to make
you
pay.”

Her threat made him smile.

She was a funny lady. Smart, kind and firm enough to set the boundaries and hold tough to them. That was important in the job she did. Gavin knew it. His days with Mrs. Simons and her motley crew of foster kids had taught him just how important kindness and boundaries were.

Harland was already in his car by the time Gavin walked outside, Brooke standing near the open sedan door.

She turned as he approached, her muscles tense, her expression hard. “We may have a bigger problem than we think, Gavin. Remember Cassie's description of the perpetrator?”

“Average height. Blond hair. Blue eyes. Looked apathetic. Like he could take someone's life and not feel guilty about it?”

“The person I saw wasn't tall,” Harland said. “He was maybe five-foot-eight.”

“You're sure, Harland?” he asked, not because he didn't believe the congressman, but because he'd rather not believe they had two different perpetrators. That complicated things, opened the investigation up to more than just a disgruntled employee or unhappy constituent, made it likely that this wasn't about one person's vendetta but, rather, a team effort.

But, effort to what?

As far as Gavin knew, Harland didn't step on political toes. He was firm and a little stern, but he was well-liked by his constituents and respected across partisan lines. Michael might have made enemies in his job as an attorney, and if he were the only victim, Gavin might have thought that the attack was aimed at him, that Harland had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But Rosa was dead, too, and DC police were leaning toward murder.

“Of course, I'm sure,” Harland snapped, then sighed and ran a hand over his hair. “Sorry. I'm a little—”

“You don't have to apologize, and I'm not questioning your testimony. I'm just verifying it. We have two different descriptions. Either one of you is mistaken in what you saw, or we're dealing with two different perps.”

Harland frowned. “I know what I saw. I didn't see a face or hair color. I'm not even sure about body type. But, I've got a couple of new cherry trees in the backyard. They were all around seventy inches tall when the gardener planted them. The person who shot my son was at least a few inches shorter than that.”

Not good.

“We could be talking about two people, then. I'm going to have Cassie meet with a sketch artist. We can plug the sketch into the FBI's face recognition system. Once—if—we get an ID, we can bring him in. Maybe he'll have more to tell us about what happened.”

“I hope you're right.” Harland frowned. “You'll need a really good sketch artist. I might be able to pull some strings, get the FBI's top man to do the job. It could take a couple of days, but the wait might be worth it for the quality of the image.”

Gavin wasn't sure he wanted to wait, but he wasn't willing to turn down the offer, either. “Tell you what, Harland. You see what you can arrange. I'm going to talk to Margaret and the team, decide if we're willing to risk a couple of extra days.”

“We
will
have the kids and Cassie in a safe house,” Brooke pointed out. “That will buy us some time.”

Maybe. But Gavin wasn't counting on it.

He said goodbye to Harland and hurried back into the house. He'd need to speak with Cassie. Find out exactly how certain she was of the description she'd given.

* * *

Cassie needed to speak with Gavin.
Now.

She strode to the front door, ignoring Juan's loud wails, Destiny and Tommy's bickering and David's sniffles. She understood the need to move all the kids to a safer location. What she didn't understand was why it was taking so long to do it.

Of course, it had only been seven minutes since Gavin walked outside. The problem was, things were breaking down. Kids getting grumpy. Virginia was getting more nervous. Cassie...well, she was about ready to raid Destiny's candy stash. The one that was probably stuffed into Destiny's backpack.

Too many emotions. That was the problem.

Too many things completely out of everyone's control.

The kids were feeling it. Virginia was. Cassie was.

If they didn't leave soon, someone was going to have a complete breakdown, and Cassie was afraid it might be her.

She swung open the door, barreled out onto the porch and straight into Gavin's arms.

“Whoa!” He grabbed her waist, his fingers warm through the thin fabric of her T-shirt. “Where are you going?”

“To find you.”

“I told you that I'd be right back.”

“Right back means seconds. It doesn't mean—” she glanced at her watch “—seven and a half minutes.”

“Not that you were keeping track of the time or anything, right?” he asked, nudging her back inside to the crying and the whining and Virginia's wide-eyed fear.

“I was counting the nanoseconds,” she replied, and he grinned, his eyes warming, his face relaxing.

Destiny's mouth dropped open.

Every bit of Virginia's fear seemed to drop away.

Cassie was too jaded to be swayed by a charming smile.

Kane had had the warmest smile she'd ever seen. He'd had the softest eyes and the prettiest words.

She'd believed every lie he'd fed her, because she'd wanted to. She'd wanted to believe in always and forever, and that her dreams were as important as his.

She grabbed the last box of Tommy's stuffed animals and took Rachel's hand. “Everyone ready?”

There was a chorus of yeses and a one very loud no.

From Tommy. Of course.

“I'm sorry, buddy, but you're outvoted. Besides, this is going to be fun,” she said, hoping that she could make it that way so she wouldn't be lying. She made it a policy to be honest with the kids. Honest about their parents, their families, the likelihood that they would ever have the kind of families they all seemed to long for.

“Fun? What's fun about going into witness protection?” Virginia cried. “Do you know how often witnesses get found? Do you know the horrible kinds of deaths they—”

“You may have watched a few too many crime dramas, Virginia,” Gavin cut in. “You're not actually going into witness protection. You're just staying in a safe place until we find the person who wants—”

“Us dead,” Virginia moaned.

“You know what? How about we see if there are any snacks in the kitchen? Something that the kids might have when we get to our new location?” Brooke took Juan from Virginia's arms, snagged her hand and dragged her way from the group

Virginia responded, but they were already down the hall and Cassie couldn't hear what she said.

It was for the best.

She didn't want to know.

She had enough worries of her own without adding her assistant's to them.

“Ready?” Gavin took Kent and Axel by the hands. “Destiny, if you can hold on to Lila and Rachel, I think David can manage himself. What do you think, my man, want to open the door and lead the way out?” he asked, and David's posture straightened, his chin going up a couple of inches.

“Yes!” he responded.

They all walked out the door. Organized and easily as if Gavin had been around for years and knew exactly how to get everyone moving in the direction they needed to go.

That should have thrilled Cassie to pieces. She was tired, her head hurt and, quite honestly, she needed a break from the drama. The problem was, she didn't want to like Gavin. She didn't want to trust him.

First, because he was a police offer.

Second, because he was a man.

Obviously, she had a lot of baggage she needed to unpack, but she had kids to protect, and letting a guy like Gavin weasel his way into their lives wasn't the best way to do it.

They'd had enough hurts for a lifetime.

They didn't need more.

She needed
to tell
him that.

She needed to remind him of what it felt like to get hopes up and then have them dashed again. He'd been a foster kid. He understood.

Hopefully, he'd also understand exactly why she didn't want him playing up to the kids, making friends with them, convincing them that he might just be around forever.

He wouldn't be. Couldn't be. It was too much of a commitment for most people, too much time and energy and effort for sometimes minimal results.

She didn't mention it to him as he organized two other officers, helped get car seats from the van, then ushered each small group to the appropriate car. Brooke helped Virginia into her SUV and buckled Juan into the back. The cars took off one at a time and several minutes apart.

Cassie watched impatiently from the front seat of Gavin's SUV. Rachel, Destiny and Tommy were silent in the back. Gavin was silent in the driver's seat. Cassie had the absurd urge to speak into the silence.

They were leaving their home, going to some unknown location with people who were basically strangers for an unknown amount of time. She couldn't think of anything comforting to say about that, so she kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything at all.

TEN

T
hree days in a house that wasn't their own could have been a nightmare. Cassie had expected it to be a nightmare. So far things had gone fairly smoothly.

She cracked the last of a dozen eggs into a bowl, scrambled them up and poured them into a hot pan. Nothing fancy, but fancy wasn't what the kids wanted. They wanted home-cooked and satisfying.

A shadow moved across the window above the sink. Cassie didn't blink an eye. There'd been two Capitol K-9 officers assigned to the house since she, Virginia and the kids had arrived.

And there'd been Gavin.

He'd been there more than he'd been gone, spending nights on the couch in the living room or on the futon in the back room. The house was large, with plenty of space for all eight kids, Virginia and Cassie. It didn't seem that one more person should make it feel crowded, but every time Gavin was around, the house felt filled to the brim with people and noise and distractions.

That probably wasn't a bad thing.

Cassie hadn't been sleeping well. The kids were restless and out of sorts, and Virginia was jumping at shadows. Gavin had insisted the kids stay home from school, and that meant homeschooling all of them. Everyone was tense and a little anxious. Including Cassie. So distraction was what they all probably needed.

The problem was, Cassie didn't want the distraction to be a guy like Gavin.

She popped four pieces of bread into the toaster and yelled for the kids to come down for breakfast. She'd have preferred to let them sleep in, because she would love to have nursed a cup of coffee on the back porch. The farmhouse was in a rural community set far back from the road. If Cassie ignored the twelve-foot high fence that surrounded the property, she could almost imagine that it was a country getaway, a pretty vacation property that she and the kids were spending time in. It was quiet there, peaceful. When the kids were asleep. When they were awake, they enjoyed the huge yard, the dirt, the fruit trees that were still bare from winter.

Footsteps sounded in the hall that opened out from the kitchen. Not the quick light footsteps of one of the kids. Heavier footsteps mixed with the soft tap of dog paws on the hardwood floor.

Gavin. She knew it before he walked into the room, felt a couple of dozen butterflies jump to life in her stomach.

“Morning,” he said.

“Good morning,” she replied, making herself busy buttering toast so she didn't have to look at him. He looked great in the morning, his jaw dark with stubble, his eyes still heavy from sleep.

Not that she'd noticed. Much.

“What's on the agenda for today?” he asked, pouring coffee from the carafe and standing about a foot away, his hip resting against the edge of the counter. He was in uniform, Glory on-heel.

“Same thing we've done every day.” She placed slices of toast on plates, then slid four more pieces of toast into the toaster. The eggs were ready and she divvied them up onto the plates she'd already set on the counter. “Breakfast, school, playtime, chores.”

“You think you can get away for a couple of hours?”

The question was so unexpected, she turned to face him, looking straight into his gorgeous eyes. “Why?”

“The forensic sketch artist that Harland requested was able to get a red-eye out of Houston last night. He'll be in later this morning.”

“He's coming out to the house?”

“No. You're going to have to go to him.”

“I don't know.” She could hear the kids running down the stairs, knew they'd burst into the kitchen at any moment. They were as good an excuse as any for not taking a twenty-minute ride into DC with Gavin. “The kids are still unsettled. I hate to leave them when they're not feeling comfortable.”

“Not comfortable? Adam said they were outside for hours yesterday, screaming and hollering so loudly he wanted ear plugs and aspirin.”

“Sorry about that.” She laughed. “They
were
being obnoxiously loud. I didn't have the heart to tell them to settle down.” She'd loved seeing them relaxed and having fun, so she hadn't told them to quiet down.

“And will you admit that they were plenty comfortable?” he pressed, and she had no choice but to agree. The kids were antsy, but they didn't seem unhappy, and they didn't seem scared.

“I guess so.”

“We've got K-9 officers, protection dogs. Plenty of security. There's really no reason for you to stay here with them.”

“Virginia is still shaky. She's jumping at shadows. I can't leave her here.”

“Cassie.” He sighed. “Why don't you just be honest?”

“About?” she hedged, because the kids were running down the hall, and she hoped she wouldn't have time to hear what he had to say.

“You're uncomfortable around me.” He took two of the plates from the counter and set them at the table as Lila and David ran in.

“What would make you say that?” she asked, and he snorted, grabbing two more plates and sliding them down in front of Destiny and Kent.

“I don't know. Maybe the fact that you avoid me like the plague.”

“No, I don't.” But, he was right. She
did
try to stay out of rooms when he was in them. If he was outside she went in. If he was inside, and she could be outside, she did that too.

“You do.” He helped Axel into a chair, put a plate in front of him and handed him a fork, a napkin and a sippy cup that he filled with juice. Axel never ate without a drink in his hand. It was a strange little habit that Cassie hadn't quite figured out, but Gavin had noticed.

He noticed everything about everyone. He made sure everyone had his or her favorite food, favorite DVD, favorite books. He'd brought matchbox cars for Kent, a stuffed animal for Tommy, dolls for the two younger girls. He'd brought Destiny a cookbook and a bunch of ingredients and spent time discussing the best recipe for homemade bread.

He was that kind of guy, and as far as Cassie could tell the kids were really starting to like him.

Rachel padded into the kitchen, her nightgown dragging the floor, her hair sticking up in every direction. She smiled when she saw Gavin, then walked over to Cassie for a hug.

She was a sweet little girl, but whatever she'd seen the night of Michael Jeffries's murder was still sealed tight in her head. No matter how many times Cassie asked, Rachel refused to admit that she'd seen one of the boys leave his room.

As a matter of fact, all the kids were sticking to their original stories.

“Good morning!” Virginia sashayed into the kitchen, Juan on her hip. “Looks like you've been cooking, Cassie. I thought it was my turn.”

It had been, but Cassie had been awake, and she'd wanted something to occupy her mind. Otherwise, images of the gunman filled it, her heart would race, and her blood would run cold. “I was up. There was no sense in you having to get up too.”

“I'll take care of lunch, then,” she said as she grabbed one of the plates and sat at the table, Juan in her lap. He wasn't crying for his mother as much as he had been during the first couple of days after Rosa had died. It was good for him, but sad for the woman who'd given birth to him, loved him.

“I'm glad to hear that, Virginia,” Gavin said. “If you're taking care of lunch, Cassie won't have to rush to get back.”

“You're going somewhere?” Virginia asked, her gaze darting from Cassie to Gavin and back again.

“Unfortunately,” Cassie muttered. “I have to go meet with a forensic sketch artist. Gavin is going to take me into DC. Unless you'd rather I not go.” If Virginia didn't want Cassie to leave, maybe Gavin would bring the sketch artist out to them.

“Why wouldn't I want you to go?” Virginia looked genuinely puzzled.

“Things have been a little crazy lately. I don't want to leave you here with the kids if you're not feeling safe and secure.”

“It would be hard not to feel safe,” Virginia said. “There's a twelve-foot fence surrounding the property, guard dogs and police officers.”

“I was hoping you'd feel that way,” Gavin said, and Virginia blushed. “I think that settles it, Cassie. You're free to come to DC with me.”

“Wonderful,” she replied.

“Try not to sound too enthusiastic.” He filled her coffee cup, opened the fridge and took out the creamer, then poured a splash into the coffee. If he scooped a spoonful of sugar in...

He did, stirring it around three times like she always did.

“Here you go.” He handed it to her, and she took a sip. Strong and just a little sweet. Kind of like the man who'd poured it for her.

She frowned, staring into her coffee cup. “Thanks. What time do you want to leave?”

“How long will it take you to get ready?”

“Maybe thirty minutes.” She could actually do it more quickly, but Tommy hadn't come down for breakfast, and she had a feeling she was in for a struggle with him. He'd been grumpy and quiet since they'd left All Our Kids. It worried her, but the more she pushed him to open up to her, the more he sank into himself and refused to communicate. “I've got to wake Tommy up. Then, we can leave.”

“I can do that for you,” Virginia offered.

“It's okay. I have to go upstairs for my purse, anyway. Be back in a few minutes.” She hurried out of the room, anxious to get her things and go, to get the trip over with. She felt nervous about the sketch artist, afraid that she wouldn't be able to describe the person she'd seen well enough for the description to be translated into a drawing.

She was nervous about Gavin, too. About spending more time with him, about seeing things in him that she didn't want to see. Good things. Admirable things.

She scowled, taking the stairs two at a time. There were five bedrooms upstairs. The girls shared one, the boys shared one. She and Virginia had their own, and Juan had the tiny room at the end of the hall.

The door to the boys' room was closed, and Cassie knocked, waited a moment and opened the door.

“Tommy—” she began, but the room was empty. No one on either set of bunk beds. No one under them. She checked the closet. Empty.

Her heart thumped painfully as she looked in the girls' room, Juan's room, Virginia's room. “Tommy!” she called.

Had he gone outside?

She ran back downstairs. Gavin and Glory were waiting at the front door.

“Everything okay?” Gavin asked.

“I can't find Tommy.”

He frowned. “Where'd you look?”

“Every room upstairs. He's not there.”

“You looked under beds?”

“Yes.”

“Closets?”

“Gavin,” she snapped, impatient with the questions, terrified that Tommy had run away. “I looked. I didn't find him.” She sidled past him and opened the small coat closet that was on the wall next to the front door. Tommy's coat still hung there with the others. His shoes were on the little shoe rack beneath the coats.

She unlocked the door, would have walked outside, but Gavin touched her shoulder. “Do you really think he could have gone outside?”

“I—”

“We've got a state-of-the-art security system, Cassie, and it's on all night every night. If he opened a door or window, the alarm would have gone off. If he'd walked outside, Adam or Nicholas would have seen him.”

“Maybe. Tommy is wily.”

“Not wily enough to get past a Doberman pinscher or a Rottweiler.” His hand slid from her shoulder down her arm, rested on her wrist. “Did you forget Ace and Max were out there?”

She had, and remembering made her legs weak with relief. “Right. I forgot.” She let out a shaky laugh. “So, he's in the house somewhere. I'd better search upstairs a little more carefully.”

“You could.” He snagged Tommy's jacket from the closet without having to ask which one it was. “Or Glory could.”

“I forgot about that, too. I guess Virginia is rubbing off on me. I panicked before I thought.”

“You aren't even close to the kind of person who panics before she thinks.” He held the jacket out, letting Glory sniff the fabric. Her ears perked up, her dark brown eyes alert and interested.

“Go!” he commanded. “Find.”

Whether she smelled Tommy or heard him, Cassie didn't know, but the shepherd didn't hesitate. She padded up the stairs, stuck her head in the boys' room, reconsidered and walked farther down the hall.

She nosed Cassie's closed bedroom door, scratching at the wood. “Did you check in here?” Gavin asked as he opened the door.

“No. The kids know better than to go in my room.”

“And, they follow the rules all the time, huh?” He walked into the room behind Glory, and Cassie followed. Aside from Juan's room, it was the smallest. Ten by ten with a twin bed, a small dresser and one window that looked out over the backyard.

Glory padded to the closet, scratched the door and sat.

“Looks like we've found our mark,” Gavin said quietly.

Cassie opened the door. She'd only brought jeans, T-shirts, a dress, a couple of skirts and blouses, two pair of shoes, so there wasn't much in the closet. Or shouldn't have been. Tommy was there, huddled on the floor with six of his stuffed animals. He'd been crying, his face streaked with tears, his cheeks red.

She didn't try to get him to come out, just crawled in beside him and put an arm around his stiff shoulders. “Buddy, what in the world are you doing in here?”

“Nothing.” He sniffed, wiping at his nose with the sleeve of his superhero pajamas.

“Are you sad because we had to leave the other house?” she suggested. Tommy didn't usually cry, and seeing him so upset broke her heart.

He shook his head, pulled his knees up to his chin and laid his cheek against them.

“Are you sure?”

He didn't respond, so she did what she'd learned to do with kids like him. She didn't say anything, just sat beside him and waited.