Hunt Valley, Maryland,
Tuesday 14 June, 7.30 P.M.
‘Hey, baby.’ Frederick kissed the top of Taylor’s head when she let him in through Clay’s front door. ‘How’s your sister?’
‘Happy as a clam,’ Taylor reported. ‘Ford and I took her riding in the cart this morning and she loved it.’ She grinned. ‘She even held the reins for a little while.’ She smacked his arm lightly when he frowned at her. ‘Relax. It was with Gracie. She’s the best-trained horse here on the farm. I control her with verbal commands and Ford had a secondary set of training reins. Do you really think we’d do anything dangerous with Julie? With anyone here on the farm?’
Chastised, he shook his head. ‘Sorry. You’re right. Thank you for taking such good care of her.’ He looked around. ‘Where is she?’
‘In the kitchen with Cordelia and her aunt. Izzy’s making cookies with them.’ She gestured with her head toward the study. ‘Pops is waiting for you.’
She entered with him, taking one of the two leather chairs in front of Clay’s desk where her ‘bio-dad’ – her words, not his – sat studying his monitor, one hand absently patting the infant resting in the sling he wore strapped to his body. Something about the sight of the big man cradling the tiny baby made Frederick’s chest tight. He missed those days. Missed the times he’d cuddled his girls.
Someday he’d have grandchildren, but not any time soon. Both Taylor and Daisy had had their adolescence stolen from them by his naïvety and stupidity. They deserved the chance to live their lives before taking on the responsibility of families of their own.
Taylor cleared her throat meaningfully, making Clay look up. He motioned to the other chair. ‘Sit,’ he said distractedly to Frederick.
‘Please,’ Taylor inserted, as if rebuking a child.
Clay rolled his eyes. ‘Please,’ he repeated.
‘Am I in trouble?’ Frederick asked lightly.
Clay scrubbed his free hand down his face. ‘No. I’m just watching Stevie. She and Paige are calling on the elite.’ He pitched his voice to sound snooty.
‘Stevie’s wired for audio and video,’ Taylor explained. ‘She and Paige have gone to talk to the women from Patricia’s fund-raising group, trying to find out more about her husband and possibly the boy she was . . .’ Her forehead crinkled. ‘“Affair” sounds wrong. If he’s that young, it’s assault. But I’m not sure what to call it until we figure out who the kid is.’
‘Have they found anything so far?’
Clay rolled his eyes. ‘Only that most of these women have way too much time on their hands.’
‘Not fair,’ Taylor chided. ‘Several of them do amazing work for the community. But a few play a lot of tennis and get a lot of mani-pedis,’ she allowed.
‘What’s a mani-pedi?’ Frederick asked.
Clay cut Taylor off with a look when she started to explain. ‘That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about,’ he said.
Because Clay had asked him to come over as soon as he’d dropped Jamie off to see Phil.
‘Sorry if I made you wait,’ Frederick said. ‘Jamie finally got to sleep, so I wanted to let him rest before I had to wake him up to go back to the hospital.’
And then he’d stopped to check on Sally Brewster, who was just fine. He’d been extra worried about her after all the violence the night before.
Clay waved his hand. ‘That’s okay. That’s more important, actually. What I want to discuss will take a few days anyway.’ He nodded at Taylor. ‘Tell him. I can’t talk and watch Stevie at the same time.’
It was Taylor’s turn to roll her eyes. ‘Not like she’s a former cop, or that Paige is a world martial arts champion, or that both of them shoot as well as you do,’ she said sarcastically, earning her a faux glare from Clay.
‘Don’t be disrespectful,’ he said, and Taylor laughed.
‘Okay, Pops,’ she said cheerily, laughing again when Clay’s eyes narrowed. Every time Frederick heard her laugh, he knew he’d made the right call in selling his ranch in Northern California and moving his household to Maryland. ‘So,’ Taylor said, her expression growing serious. ‘Clay and Stevie are going to postpone the baby’s christening.’
He wanted to say no, don’t do that, but he didn’t, because he knew that Clay and Stevie were being prudent. So many of their friends were also friends of Thorne. Having the christening meant they’d all be in the same place at the same time, and Tavilla’s man had already proven he could get onto Clay’s property – in broad daylight.
‘It’d be like shooting fish in a barrel,’ he murmured.
‘Exactly,’ Clay said grimly.
‘But they don’t want Tavilla or any of his cohorts to know the christening is cancelled. Stevie’s taking the baby to Chicago. Clay’s old partner Ethan lives there with his wife. They can protect them there. They want the bad guys to come here. They want them to think that we are happy and helpless.’
Frederick nodded, liking the plan. ‘And the rest of the women and children?’
‘Are all being evacuated for the weekend, including Julie,’ Taylor said.
Clay looked up from the monitor, his expression fierce. ‘Tavilla is playing with Thorne and we’re caught in the crossfire. Chad Ingram is still fighting for his life. Sam is out of commission for several weeks, as is Phil, meaning both Ruby and Jamie are distracted, which is completely understandable. Hell, I’m distracted, which is completely understandable. I don’t want to worry about my wife and children getting shot at every time they leave the house. I don’t want you to have to worry that someone is going to get to Julie, or for JD to be constantly worried about Lucy and his kids. We can’t sustain this level of vigilance for that long.’
‘I think Thorne plans to offer himself up if it continues,’ Frederick said grimly. ‘Jamie’s terrified that he will.’
‘I thought the same thing,’ Clay said. ‘We can’t let him do that. It won’t matter anyway. Tavilla doesn’t seem to want Thorne. He wants to hurt Thorne.’
‘So all the women and children are shipping out. I like that.’ Frederick glanced at Taylor. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I’m going with them. I have to protect Julie, at least until they get there. Once they arrive, I can fly back. Apparently Ethan’s wife knows some nurses, volunteers at a local women’s shelter that she runs. They’ve offered to help out. I can be back by Saturday morning.’
‘I told her to stay up there,’ Clay said, and Frederick wondered if the man knew he’d wrapped one big hand around the baby he cradled against his chest. ‘She doesn’t listen to me. So I thought you could tell her.’
Frederick laughed at that. ‘You think she’ll listen to me? You must have a much higher opinion of me than you should.’
‘Told you,’ Taylor said smugly.
Clay shot her a real glare. ‘Brat.’
‘That’s fair,’ she allowed. ‘I’m still coming back. I’m one of your best shots. JD might be better than me, but only if he’s having a really good day.’
‘Brash brat,’ Clay amended.
‘Brash genes,’ she said with a smile, then reached over to grab Frederick’s hand. ‘And super-brash training.’
Because Frederick had trained her well. He’d had her practice both her shooting and martial arts every single day. She’d have earned a black belt had she trained in a traditional dojo. She was a fierce fighter, one he’d have been proud to have on his own team back in his army days. Except that she was Clay’s daughter too.
‘You should listen to your father,’ he said quietly, and meant it.
Clay gave him a grateful look, but Taylor just shook her head. ‘You know I love you both, and it gives me warm fuzzies that you get along so well, but just let it go. Both of you. What’s next?’ she asked, turning to Clay. ‘You said you don’t want to send out a blanket email canceling the christening because it could fall into the wrong hands, and Tavilla could get tipped off and then not come here at all. But assuming he does come here thinking we’re having a christening, how do we make sure other innocent people don’t show up and get hurt?’
‘We’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way and call people, one at a time. Most of the folks attending know Stevie was shot at. Most of them I trust implicitly. What we’re going to say is that she strained her old injury when I pushed her out of the way, and she doesn’t think she’s up to coping with all the guests at once. So we’re just going to have family and godparents attend this Saturday and we’ll throw a big bash later in the summer.’
‘Who are the godparents?’ Frederick asked.
‘Stevie’s sister is Mason’s godmother,’ Clay said. ‘And my friend Ethan is his godfather. Ethan and his wife had already planned to fly in tomorrow night. Ethan will still do that, then drive back with Stevie and the others. I trust him with my life. And, more importantly, with Stevie, Cordelia and Mason’s lives.’
Frederick frowned. ‘That seems dangerous too, though. They’ll be sitting ducks on the open road.’
Clay acknowledged his concern with a nod. ‘We’ve planned to do a vehicle switch. Leave in our own personal vehicles, drive to a covered garage, then transfer to other vans. JD and I will drive our personal vehicles away, playing decoy. Paige and I have added a few bodyguards to our staff in the last year. I’ve pulled them out of rotation and they’ll accompany the group. They’re fully vetted, all former cops or military. I trust them all. I’ve coordinated operations like this before.’
Clay might trust his staff, but Frederick didn’t know them. ‘I’ll go too.’
Clay shook his head. ‘I want to go as much as you do, but that’s kind of the point of the operation. We stay and take care of the investigation and drawing Tavilla’s men.’
Frederick drew a breath. ‘That has to be good enough for me then.’ He glanced at Taylor. ‘Where does Ford fit into all this?’
‘He’s helping us drive up there.’ She glanced at the wall clock, a small frown furrowing her brows. ‘Right now, he and Alec are with Thorne and Gwyn. He hasn’t checked back in almost an hour. I’m getting a little worried.’
Just then, all three of their phones buzzed at the same time. Not good, Frederick thought, his intuition confirmed when he looked at the screen. Well, shit. ‘Mine’s from Gwyn,’ he murmured.
‘Mine’s from Alec,’ Clay said.
Taylor sighed. ‘Ford. They’ve got another nasty-smelling corpse.’
Darian Hinman was dead. ‘One more link to Thorne’s past eliminated,’ Frederick said quietly. This was insane. ‘We’re definitely moving the kids out.’
‘Yeah.’ Clay’s body had tensed, but his hand on his son remained gentle. He took sheets of paper out of his printer. ‘I divvied the names up and wrote the script below. These are all the guests we need to cancel on, and what I want you to say. If anyone asks why I didn’t call myself, tell them that I will contact them as soon as I can.’
Frederick hesitated, then decided he’d be remiss not to take care of one detail before beginning. ‘Look, I want to warn Bernice Brown’s friend, Sally Brewster. She knows what happened to Phil, Sam and Agent Ingram last night. She knows to be careful, but I think she needs to know about this latest death.’
Taylor’s eyes widened. ‘Sally Brewster? The lady who tried to talk to Julie?’
‘Yes. I’ve spent some time with her.’ She’d come by the waiting room the night before and sat with him during her break, just holding his hand while they waited for word on Phil and the others. ‘She actually spoke with one of Tavilla’s men who was posing as a detective. What if Tavilla thinks she’s a loose thread too?’
Clay considered it, then nodded. ‘It’ll be on the news soon enough. Darian Hinman is a big fucking deal in the financial world, and it’s related to Thorne, so it’s going to be major headlines.’
Frederick started to text Sally, then recalled the spoofed number through which she’d been threatened to begin with. He dialed her number, hoping he wasn’t waking her. Her hours were all over the clock.
She answered on the second ring. ‘Frederick?’
‘Yes. I wanted to let you know that there’s been another death related to Thorne, this time to his past.’
‘Oh no. I’m so sorry.’
‘I am too.’ But only because this guy had information we needed. Knowing what he knew about Darian Hinman, he wasn’t going to mourn him. ‘I just wanted to make sure you were okay.’
‘I’m fine. My son is here with me. He’s a police officer, so I’m well guarded.’
Frederick heard voices in the background, then a man came on the line. ‘Mr Dawson, this is Ed Brewster, Sally’s son. I wanted to thank you for making sure that she got home safely after her shift. My sister and I appreciate it.’
‘It was the least I could do.’
‘Did you just tell her that someone else is dead?’
‘I did. Darian Hinman. He’s a corporate bigwig. But nineteen years ago, he was friends with the brother of the woman murdered on Sunday morning. Both are connected to my colleague Thomas Thorne.’
‘Thorne’s club was closed down for drugs.’ Ed Brewster sounded doubtful.
‘He’s being set up. We’re going to fight the charges. Look, don’t condemn him just yet. He’s a good man. And even if you don’t believe that, keep an eye on your mother. The people behind this don’t leave loose ends.’
There was a beat of hesitation on the other end, followed by a sigh. ‘I know.’
Frederick frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Mom told me about her conversation with the guy who tried to pump her for information. She said she gave him a fake address, but turns out it wasn’t fake.’
Dread pooled in Frederick’s gut. ‘Explain, please.’
‘The address she gave was a space at the trailer park. When she visited Bernice, that space was unoccupied. I checked.’
Frederick swallowed hard and looked up to see both Clay and Taylor staring at him. ‘What happened?’
‘Someone moved their trailer into the space. The vehicle was set on fire. The doors were blocked so the occupants couldn’t escape. It happened in a national park, so it was under park police jurisdiction. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t specifically checked. Two people died of smoke inhalation, a professor on sabbatical and her husband.’
Bile burned Frederick’s throat. ‘Dear God.’
‘I know. Give me your email address. I’ll send you a copy of the police report.’
‘Thank you,’ Frederick managed, and rattled off the address. ‘Can you take some time off to stay with your mother?’
‘I already did, as soon as I read that report. I made her take a leave of absence from the hospital too. They won’t get to her.’
‘Good.’ Frederick swallowed again. ‘If you leave town, I don’t expect you to contact me with your location, but I’d appreciate it if you could somehow let me know that she’s okay.’
‘Will do.’ Another hesitation. ‘Thank you again.’
‘You’re welcome.’ His phone pinged with the incoming email. ‘Thank you for this information. Your email just came through.’
‘Don’t open it,’ Clay barked.
‘Who’s there?’ Ed Brewster snapped.
‘My daughter and . . . my friend.’ He wasn’t in the mood to go through their oddball relationship at the moment.
‘Oh, you mean her other father. I helped my mom run her search. I know everything about you that she does.’
‘Wonderful,’ Frederick muttered.
Brewster chuckled. ‘I can tell you that she hasn’t blushed like this in twenty years. So when this is all over, you should come by and meet her children.’
‘Ed!’ Sally shouted.
Frederick felt his own cheeks heating and cleared his throat. ‘What she said.’
Brewster chuckled again. ‘I don’t beat around the bush. I also told her that contacting your daughter like that was really stupid and she’s lucky you were nice about it.’
‘I’m not ever telling you anything again!’ Sally said loudly, and that made Frederick smile.
‘Yeah, yeah, promises, promises,’ Brewster said good-naturedly. ‘Tell your daughter’s other father to run my attachment through whatever scrubber he uses. It’ll be safe. No viruses. I’d appreciate a heads-up on this case whenever you can.’
‘Same goes.’ They disconnected, and Frederick found Clay and Taylor staring at him open-mouthed. Wordlessly he handed Clay his phone.
‘I’m forwarding the message to my own email,’ Clay said. ‘I’ll run it through a scrubber.’
Frederick kept his eyes on the baby swaddled to Clay’s chest. Safe territory. Babies couldn’t judge. ‘That’s what her son said you should do.’ But he could feel Taylor’s gaze on him and risked a glance.
Her mouth had curved into a sly smile. ‘You like her!’ she crowed. ‘Sally Brewster. You really like her! You old charmer, you.’
He frowned at her. ‘I’m not old.’
She clapped her hands, much as Julie did when she was happy. ‘Awesome. It’s about fucking time.’
Frederick shifted his eyes back to the baby. ‘Stop.’
She snorted. ‘No way. This is too good. I’ve got to tell Daisy. But first I’ll tell Ford. He’ll tell his mom. Then everyone will know.’
He grabbed her arm, but gently. ‘No. Don’t. It’s . . . Just please don’t.’
She sobered abruptly. ‘Dad, you deserve to be happy. You at least deserve a date with a nice woman. If this woman is nice, we are all going be just fine.’
It wasn’t ‘everyone’ he was concerned with. It was himself. ‘Just . . . back off, baby. Please.’
Her mouth tightened into a flat line. ‘For now, okay. But I’m not letting this go. Sounds like her son isn’t against her seeing you, from what little I could eavesdrop. You get a little reprieve until all this shit quiets down, but I will bring it up again.’
She got up and kissed his cheek, went around the desk to kiss Clay’s, then leaned in to nuzzle the baby. ‘He’s going to need feeding soon. I’ve got some of Stevie’s expressed milk in the fridge downstairs. I’ll warm a bottle and bring it to you.’
‘Thanks, honey.’ When she was gone, Clay met Frederick’s eyes. ‘You brought her up,’ he said with a shrug. ‘Who she is is totally on you.’
Frederick laughed in spite of his agitation. ‘Who she is is awesome.’
Clay smiled. ‘That is a true statement.’ He sobered then, turning to his screen. ‘Brewster’s son was telling the truth too. No viruses.’ He scanned the police report with a sigh. ‘Goddammit.’ He cast a furtive glance at the baby. ‘I hope he can’t understand what I say yet. I’ve got to stop cursing. Just maybe not this week.’ He handed Frederick’s phone back to him. ‘The attachment is safe to open.’
Frederick read it, then echoed Clay’s sigh. ‘We need to pass this on to JD so that he can tell Hyatt.’
Clay lifted a brow. ‘Or we could tell Hyatt. Or Joseph.’
Frederick eyed him over the desk. ‘You can do it. I guess Joseph is okay, but I do not trust Hyatt.’
‘I don’t either,’ Clay admitted. ‘But Stevie does. I’ll call him. I’ve got to tell him not to come to the christening anyway. He’s on the guest list.’
Shaking his head, Frederick took his share of the guest names and headed off to another room to begin making calls.
Chevy Chase, Maryland,
Tuesday 14 June, 8.15 P.M.
‘What the actual fuck, Thorne?’
Thorne lifted his head from the table in the interrogation room where he’d been separated from Gwyn, Ford and Alec. JD Fitzpatrick had entered the small room – thankfully alone – and he was furious.
‘I don’t even know where to start with that question,’ Thorne said. ‘Give me a hint.’
JD dropped into one of the chairs with a heavy sigh. ‘Why didn’t you call me? I would have come with you.’
‘Because you ran yourself ragged all night and you needed to sleep. And when you woke up, you needed to stand watch over Lucy and my godson and Gwyn’s goddaughter.’ He pressed his fingers to his temples. ‘And because I didn’t expect to find any more dead bodies.’
JD’s expression relaxed at that. ‘I thought you didn’t trust me.’
Thorne laughed mirthlessly. ‘You’re just about the only cop I do trust. I don’t want you to get into trouble because we’re friends.’
JD smiled at that. ‘Aw, Thorne, I think you almost care.’
Thorne met his eyes. ‘I do care. And I care about Lucy. I love her like a sister and I don’t want to see her widowed. Or worse.’
Sobering, JD nodded. ‘I agree. Okay, so here’s what needs to happen now. Joseph spoke to me after Detective Rivera called him for reinforcements at Darian Hinman’s house.’
‘It was Hinman? The dead body?’
‘The ME will have to make the determination, but it appears so. Same height, weight and hair color. They’ll compare dental records, probably.’
Because the victim’s face was beaten past recognition. Just like Patricia’s. Just like the two Circus Freaks drug dealers found with their bodies stuffed with Sheidalin matchbooks.
Thorne hadn’t even had an opportunity to address that setup. Tavilla was keeping him hopping. And scared. ‘Was it just Hinman?’ He thought of that huge mansion. ‘Was anyone else found?’
‘No, just Hinman. He was single and had only a few household staff with key access. We’re working on figuring out where they are now and why no one noticed he was missing.’
That was a good question. A VP of a company couldn’t just not show up for work without raising flags. ‘What was stuffed in his body? Am I allowed to know?’
JD’s expression instantly smoothed out. Became unreadable. And Thorne knew the answer was not going to be good. ‘Actually, it was another medal,’ he said.
Thorne closed his eyes. ‘Darian was on that championship soccer team with us during our senior year. Please tell me it was his.’ But he knew it wasn’t going to be.
‘No.’
Thorne opened his eyes, met JD’s. ‘It was mine?’
JD nodded. ‘Afraid so. Or one that someone had engraved to look like yours.’
‘Which is why they’ve kept me separated from Gwyn and the others.’
Another nod. ‘And she is loaded for bear. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this upset.’
‘Am I finally under arrest?’ Thorne sucked in a breath. ‘Wait. Don’t tell me they sent you in to arrest me.’
‘No. I’m not here to arrest you. I’m here to take you and Gwyn home. Or wherever you’d like to go, as long as it’s not out of town. Joseph is collecting Ford and Alec as we speak.’ He stood up and held out a hand. ‘Come on, before Gwyn wears a trench in the floor of her interview room.’
Thorne didn’t move, just sat there staring up at JD. ‘Why am I not under arrest?’ he asked.
JD sat back down. ‘Because you, Thomas Thorne, are a lucky fucker. Rigor’s passed, so the ME put TOD somewhere before thirty-six hours ago.’
Thorne did the math. ‘Sometime before Monday morning. When I was either with everyone at Gwyn’s house or at Jamie and Phil’s with Gwyn. So I might have an alibi?’
‘Yes, but maybe something even better than that. Hinman’s security system has cameras inside and outside, all feeding to two DVRs. Only one DVR had been stolen. The other was hidden in a storage shed. Apparently, Mr Hinman had suspected his lovely young ex-wife of cheating on him, which would have triggered the prenup he’d made her sign. He’d known that she knew about the first DVR, so he’d had a second installed in the gardener’s shed. Rivera found it when he did his first search of the property.’
‘And he’s still alive, right? Rivera?’
JD looked startled. ‘Yeah, why?’
‘Because I want to thank him, and for that I have to allow myself to remember his name.’
JD chuckled. ‘Yeah, you can let yourself get attached. Anyway, Hinman was captured by the security camera leaving his house at eight forty Saturday night. At nine fifteen, all his household staff got a text from his phone telling them to clear out and not come back until next week.’
‘Spoofed?’
‘Not sure yet. Hinman’s phone hasn’t been found. They’re pulling his call log now, but it’ll take a little while.’
‘Didn’t the staff find that unusual?’
‘Not really. Rivera found Hinman’s butler’s name and number taped to the phone in the home office, so he knew who to call. The butler said that Hinman sometimes brought home “women who wore another man’s ring”, and when he did that, he wanted no witnesses. Saturday night, the camera caught his car pulling into his garage at eleven. A masked man, the same size as the guy Sam caught on your security camera, dumped the body where it was found tonight, then left on foot immediately afterward. No movement was seen after that, inside or outside the house.’
Comprehension dawned and relief shuddered through him. ‘He was killed during our poker game at my house on Saturday night.’
‘I think so. So your alibi is better than decent, which is why you’re not under arrest right now.’ JD stood up again. ‘Come on. Gwyn’s probably paced that trench so deep that she’s in the basement.’
Thorne found himself being tugged to his feet, his friend’s hands squeezing his shoulders hard. And his eyes stung. Irritated with himself, he looked away.
JD squeezed his shoulders once more before dropping his hands to his sides. ‘Ready?’
‘Yeah.’ He looked around, feeling like he was seeing the walls surrounding him for the first time. ‘This is the second time I’ve been in an interrogation room as a suspect. Can’t say I liked it any more the first time.’
JD grimaced sympathetically, then checked his phone and groaned, aggrieved. ‘Gwyn’s giving me hell. Can we please just spring you now?’
Thorne found himself smiling. ‘Yes.’
Gwyn was waiting for them in the lobby, pacing anxiously. Her face lit up when she saw them and she launched herself into his arms. He caught her easily, lifting her until her shoes dangled from the ends of her toes, shuddering out another relieved breath when she lowered her forehead to his.
‘Are you all right?’ she demanded in a hoarse whisper.
‘I’m fine. Let’s go home.’ To whose home, he didn’t care. As long as she was with him, it would be home enough for him.
‘Clay’s,’ she said in his ear. ‘They’ve called a meeting.’
He reared back, suddenly afraid. ‘What else has happened?’
She patted his cheeks lightly. Comfortingly. ‘No one is hurt. It’s just strategy. You should probably put me down now. People are beginning to stare.’
He glanced around, annoyed to see the occupants of the Montgomery County police department’s lobby gawking. He held her a few moments longer, just to be contrary, then carefully lowered her until her feet touched the floor. He took her hand, happy when she curled her fingers around his.
They were halfway to JD’s car when Thorne stopped in his tracks. ‘Wait. If the guy dumped Hinman’s body and immediately left, that means he didn’t get my medal from Hinman. His killer already had it.’
JD’s brows lifted. ‘I wondered how long it would take you to figure that out.’
Gwyn frowned, looking between them. ‘What did I miss?’
‘We’ll tell you in the car,’ JD said. ‘Come on. I want to get out of here before something else happens that I have to bail you two out of.’