Chapter Nine
Ivy tried to force herself to focus. There was a lot going on at the Blue River sheriff’s office, but she couldn’t grasp it all. That probably had to do with the spent adrenaline that had left her exhausted.
Too bad the exhaustion hadn’t stopped the sound of the gunshots from echoing in her head. Or stopped the fear that was still racing through her. Mercy, she wanted that gone most of all, because at the moment most of those fears were for her son.
The gunman who’d fired those shots had gotten away. And it wasn’t as if no one had looked for him. Gabriel had sent out two deputies almost immediately, but by the time they’d arrived, there’d been no sign of him. That meant the man was out there, probably waiting to attack. Or worse, waiting to follow them to the safe house where Nathan was with Jameson and Jodi.
“How did the gunman even know we’d be on that stretch of the road?” she asked. It wasn’t the first time she’d wanted to know that, and Ivy didn’t direct the question at anyone in particular.
Theo, however, put away his phone after making his latest call and went to her. He skimmed his hand down her arm, probably a gesture to try to comfort her, but Ivy figured nothing much was going to soothe her right now.
“There are only two roads leading into Blue River,” Theo reminded her. “There could have been a gunman on both.”
Yes. And that meant there could have been another woman or hostage to force them into stopping. Or coerced. If so, Ivy hoped they found the person, and the thugs hadn’t done to him or her what they’d done to the woman they’d encountered. She couldn’t imagine that someone had volunteered to be shot as part of the plan to lure her out into the open.
“Jameson is on full alert,” Theo went on. “If anyone tries to get near the safe house, he’ll let us know.”
She didn’t doubt that. Didn’t doubt that her brother and Jodi would be vigilant. But this monster could still get to them.
“I just want to rush back to Nathan,” she said. Ivy cursed the tears that she was having to blink back. Tears weren’t going to help this, and they only put more stress on Theo because it was obvious he was concerned about her. Ivy quickly waved that off. “But I don’t want to lead the guy straight to Nathan, either.”
Theo nodded to let her know they were on the same page about that. Actually, they were on the same page about several things, and it wasn’t all related to the investigation. The attraction that kept rearing its head and the fact that they would do anything to protect their son.
“Any updates on the woman who was shot?” Ivy asked. Maybe if she talked about the investigation, she could get her mind off Nathan. “Or Wesley?”
Even though the agent was still in the building, he was in an interview room with Gabriel and Theo’s boss. Gabriel hadn’t wanted Theo to be part of that, maybe because he now had Theo on his suspect list. Even if he hadn’t been a suspect, though, it could still compromise things since Wesley and he were fellow agents.
“There’s nothing on Wesley,” Theo answered, “but whatever he’s telling Gabriel is a lie. I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“I know,” she assured him, and it wasn’t lip service. Theo wouldn’t do anything to harm Nathan and her. And no, that wasn’t the attraction talking. Now, though, she might have to convince Gabriel of Theo’s innocence—something she hadn’t tried to do ten years ago. That was a mistake she didn’t intend to make again.
“As for the woman, I just talked to a doctor at the hospital, and she’s still alive,” Theo went on. “That’s the good news. But she’d been heavily drugged, and one of the gunshot wounds is serious. She’s in surgery.”
Ivy already knew the woman hadn’t said anything in the cruiser on the drive to the hospital because she was unconscious through the entire trip. She also hadn’t moved at all when the medics had taken her away on a gurney. Of course, Theo, Cameron and Ivy hadn’t waited around to talk to the doctor. It was too dangerous. Instead, Theo had rushed them to the sheriff’s office, where they’d been for the past hour.
“The woman didn’t have an ID on her,” Theo went on, “so we’re not positive who she is. But she matches the description of a woman, Belinda Travers, who went missing the night before. From McKenzie’s club.”
That got Ivy’s attention. “She knew McKenzie?”
He lifted his shoulder. “It’s possible she just went into the bar, one of the hired guns saw her and decided to use her as bait.”
So she could be innocent in all of this. It sickened Ivy to think of how many people had been hurt—or could be hurt—and they didn’t know why or by who.
“They did a bug sweep of the sheriff’s office and the rest of the building while we were at the safe house,” Theo said a moment later. “And they found one.”
She could have sworn her heart skipped a couple of beats, and the panic came. It was so strong that she nearly bolted for the door so she could go after Nathan. Theo took hold of her arm and anchored her in place.
“It was by the dispatch desk,” he explained, “and it’s been removed.”
The dispatch desk was also Reception. That meant anyone who’d come into the building could have put it there. Heck, it could have been there for weeks or longer.
“Remember, we whispered whenever we talked about the safe house,” Theo reminded her.
Yes, they had. Maybe that had been enough to keep those thugs away from her son.
“Come on.” Theo still had hold of her, and he got her moving toward the hall. “We can go to the break room and maybe you can get some rest.”
Rest was out, but her legs suddenly felt too wobbly to stand. Maybe she could at least sit down and wait for news about when they could return to the safe house. However, they only made it a few steps down the hall when the interview room door opened, and Gabriel stepped out. Judging from her brother’s expression, things hadn’t gone well. She got further confirmation of that when Wesley and the other man came out.
Dwight Emory.
Even though Ivy hadn’t met the man, she knew this was Theo and Wesley’s boss. He didn’t look especially pleased, either, but then, one of his agents—Wesley—was accusing a fellow agent—Theo—of a crime.
“Well?” Theo prompted when no one said anything.
“We’re sorting it out,” Emory answered.
“We’re not close to sorting it out,” Wesley snarled. He nailed a glare to Theo. “How could you do this to me? We’ve been partners for years. Friends,” he amended. “At least I thought we were, and then you start asking questions. You’re treating me like a criminal.”
Theo huffed, and his hands went on his hips. “Seems to me you’re the one who said I wanted Ivy out of the way so I could get Nathan.”
“Don’t you?” Wesley challenged.
“No.” And Theo moved closer to her, sliding his arm around her waist. He probably did that because she wasn’t looking so steady, but it was also a signal to Wesley and Emory that the old baggage between them wasn’t as toxic as it had once been.
Ivy wasn’t sure when that’d happened exactly. Maybe around the time Theo had been trying to save her life.
Theo volleyed glances between Emory and Gabriel. “What kind of proof did Wesley produce to make an accusation like that against me?”
“A CI told me,” Wesley volunteered.
Ivy wasn’t sure who gave Wesley the flattest look, but Gabriel, Theo and even Emory weren’t jumping to embrace the so-called evidence.
“We’re trying to find the CI now,” Emory finally said. “If he confirms Wesley’s claim, then we’ll still have to consider the source.” Emory looked at her then. “As you can imagine, CIs aren’t always truthful, and this could be a situation of someone wanting to get back at Theo.”
“Yeah, Wesley could be doing that,” Theo insisted. “Because he might want to get suspicion off himself.”
Wesley howled out a protest, but Gabriel made a sound of agreement. “I got the security footage of McKenzie’s bar. It’s grainy and there are only a few good camera angles—”
“I didn’t go there to pay off anybody,” Wesley interrupted.
Ivy glanced at Theo to see if he knew what any of this was about, but he only shook his head. “What happened on that footage?” Theo asked Gabriel.
Her brother took a deep breath first. “When Wesley entered the bar, he took out an envelope from his jacket pocket. And, yeah, he was wearing a jacket despite the fact that it was ninety degrees outside. It gets grainy when Wesley goes to a booth in the corner, but it appears he gives the envelope to a known thug by the name of Nixon Vaughn.”
Oh, mercy. That wasn’t good, and Ivy immediately wondered if this Vaughn was a hired gun. Maybe the very one who’d attacked them today and shot that woman.
“He’s not on payroll for the DEA or any other agency,” Emory added.
Theo’s jaw was very tight when he turned to Wesley. “Did you pay off Vaughn?”
Wesley’s jaw wasn’t exactly relaxed, either. “Yes. Because you told me to.”
A burst of air left Theo’s mouth. “No, I didn’t. And what makes you think I did?”
“I got a text from you.” Wesley muttered some profanity under his breath. “You said to give Vaughn five hundred bucks, and that you’d pay me back. You said Vaughn had info about the threatening letters the Becketts had been getting. So I gave Vaughn the money, but he said he didn’t know anything about the Becketts.”
“The text came from a burner cell,” Emory provided.
“Theo uses burners all the time,” Wesley snapped.
As the daughter and sister of cops, Ivy knew what a burner was. It was a prepaid phone that couldn’t be traced. Theo probably did use them for his job, but in this case someone had used it to set him up.
To maybe set up Wesley, too.
But why would someone have done that?
Maybe the person hoped to get both Theo and Wesley thrown off the case. If so, it wasn’t working. Theo wasn’t going to let this go whether he was officially on the investigation or not, and she doubted Wesley would just walk away, either.
“Obviously, I need to look into this further,” Emory said. “But at this point, Wesley is going back to his office, and, Theo, the sheriff and I decided you should continue with protective custody for Ivy and her son.”
Emory hesitated before “her son,” as if he weren’t sure whether to include Theo in that parent label or not.
Theo thanked his boss, though it wasn’t a very enthusiastic one, and he shot Wesley a glare before he started with her toward the break room. Both Emory and Wesley walked away, but Gabriel stayed put.
“Your dad’s lawyer called first thing this morning,” Gabriel said, stopping Theo in his tracks. “August visited Travis and told him about Nathan. Travis asked if he could see him.”
“No,” Theo answered without giving even a moment’s thought. Then he shook his head, cursed. “Even if it were safe to take Nathan out, I don’t want him visiting a prison.”
Both Gabriel and Ivy added a sound of agreement, though they were in tricky territory here. Nathan was Travis’s only grandchild, but since Travis was also a convicted killer of her own parents, then Ivy didn’t want to give Travis the chance to say anything to the boy that could possibly upset him. Nathan had already been through enough, and she had told him only a few sketchy details about her folks’ deaths. She certainly hadn’t told him that his grandfather was a convicted murderer.
“The lawyer said he could set up a Skype call with all of you and Travis,” Gabriel added. “I told him if you were interested in that, you’d let him know. I didn’t tell him that hell might freeze over before that happened.”
Theo smiled, muttered a thanks. He turned to get her moving but then stopped again. “What about Jodi’s and your wedding? You were supposed to be getting married today.”
“Yeah.” Gabriel sounded and looked disappointed. “It’s still on hold. Jodi and I are okay with that.”
They no doubt were okay, but Ivy hated that their plans had been derailed because of some sick monster who wanted at least some of them dead. Of course, all the danger seemed to point to Theo, Nathan and her. At least Jodi didn’t seem to be in the path of a killer. After she had already survived not one but two attacks, Ivy didn’t want her soon-to-be sister-in-law to go through anything else like that.
Theo led her to the break room, such that it was. It had a microwave, small fridge and a beat-up leather sofa. Theo had her sit, got her a bottle of water from the fridge and then took out his phone. At first she thought he was going to make another of those calls to get updates on the investigation, but when he put it on speaker, she heard Jameson’s voice.
“How’s Nathan?” Theo immediately asked.
“Fine. Jodi and he are watching a movie. Are Ivy and you okay?”
Since Jameson knew about the attack, he was aware that they hadn’t been injured. Not physically, anyway. “I think Ivy will be a lot better if she can talk to Nathan.” And Theo handed her the phone.
Other than the initial call to the safe house after they’d arrived at the sheriff’s office, Ivy hadn’t considered talking to Nathan. She hadn’t wanted him to hear the fear in her voice, but the moment her son came onto the line, that fear vanished.
“Uncle Jameson taught me to play poker,” Nathan proudly announced.
“Kiddie poker,” Jameson corrected.
Ivy figured it was the real deal since her brother favored that particular game, and she honestly didn’t mind. Nathan sounded excited as if this were some kind a treat, and that was better than the alternative. Plus, he was getting to spend time with his uncle, something that Nathan hadn’t ever had a chance to do.
“Aunt Jodi can’t cook at all,” Nathan went on. “She burned the toast and cut her finger when she was trying to make a sandwich. But Uncle Jameson can make grilled cheese and popcorn.”
“Hey, I’m giving him some fruit, too,” Jameson called out.
“Yeah, fruit and chocolate milk,” Nathan concurred.
Again, her son sounded happy. “I miss you,” Ivy told him. “But maybe it won’t be long before Theo...your dad and I can come back.”
“Okay. Can you bring some pizza?”
Ivy had to smile. “I’ll try.” Even after all the food that was just mentioned, she wasn’t surprised that Nathan had pizza on the mind. It was his favorite. “See you soon, sweetheart.”
Even though she was so glad she’d been able to speak to Nathan, the moment she ended the call, Ivy felt the loss. She had spent so little time away from him that even this short while felt like an eternity.
“I’ve missed so much,” Theo said.
She looked at him, saw the loss on his face, too, but it was far worse than hers. After all, she’d had Nathan all these years that he hadn’t. It hadn’t been a decision to keep Nathan from Theo. At first, it’d been because of the rift between them and then because she couldn’t find him. But after seeing Theo’s raw expression, Ivy wished she’d done more.
Theo had indeed missed a lot.
She stood and went to him, and though it wasn’t a smart thing to do, she pulled him into her arms. At least that’s what she started to do, but Theo did some pulling of his own. Maybe it was the emotion of the moment or the fact that they’d just escaped death. Either way, it was as if he snapped. He dragged her to him.
And he kissed her.
It had been ten years since Theo’s mouth had been on hers, but the memories—and the feelings—came flooding back. Ivy hadn’t especially needed a kiss to remind her why Theo and she had been together in the first place, but the heat was just as hot as it had been back when they were teenagers.
He’d been the first boy to kiss her, and she had lost her virginity to him. And yes, there was still enough attraction there that she remembered exactly why that had happened. Theo had had her hormonal number then, and he still had it now.
She heard herself make a sound of pleasure, something she often did whenever she was around Theo, and the sound only increased when he deepened the kiss. He added some nice body pressure, too, with his chest moving right against her breasts. It didn’t take long for her body to recall just how good the pleasure could be. It also didn’t take long for Ivy to find herself wanting more.
Theo was obviously on that “more” page as well because he turned her, moving her so that her back was against the wall. He made the adjustment with her, still touching her with his body. Especially one part of him. In the maneuvering, his thigh ended up between her legs, and the pressure started to build there.
She broke the kiss so she could breathe, and when she pulled back a few inches, Ivy was staring right into his eyes. Those eyes had always had her number, too, and it didn’t seem to matter that ten years had passed, because her body was on fire. Still, she forced herself to remember they were in the break room where anyone could come walking in at any second. No way would Gabriel approve of such a thing, and she shouldn’t approve of it, either, since they had so many more important things they should be doing.
She repeated that last part to herself. It didn’t help. Every inch of her was still zinging from the kiss.
“I should say I’m sorry for that.” Theo’s voice was husky and deep, and it did nothing to cool her off. It also did nothing to make her want an apology from him or even regret that it’d happened.
But she should regret it.
There were still a lot of unsettled things between Theo and her. Added to that, someone was trying to kill them. The last thing she should have been doing was kissing him. Or wanting to kiss him again.
Which she did.
Ivy might have done just that, too, but the break room door opened, and Gabriel came in. Theo and she immediately stepped apart. She was certain they looked guilty, and equally certain that her brother was aware of what’d happened between them. And yes, Gabriel scowled in a way that only a big brother could manage when he believed his kid sister was making a mistake.
The same mistake she’d made a decade ago.
“I would offer to give you a moment,” Gabriel grumbled, sarcasm in his voice, “but this is important.”
That got her heart pumping. “Is Nathan okay?”
“This isn’t about Nathan. A courier just arrived with some very interesting things that you should take a look at.” He turned, headed back toward his office and said the rest from over his shoulder. “Cameron is calling Lacey now to get her in here. She’s in town, staying at the inn, so it shouldn’t take her long to get here. Once you see this, you’ll know why I might have to arrest her.”