Deadly Christmas Duty Read online

She nodded, but she was shaking and tears were sliding down her face, making trails between the soot and blood. He pulled her into his arms to try to calm her, and she leaned her petite frame into him. She’d had quite a scare, certainly a bigger one than anyone from Daytonville had ever experienced.

  “Was there anyone else inside?” she asked him in a small but concerned voice.

  “No. No one.”

  Besides the lack of people, her office had been the only one not dark, something he’d noticed when he’d entered the building only a few minutes earlier. Melinda Steele had been the only person working then...which meant she’d been the target of a bomber.

  * * *

  Melinda clasped her hands together, trying to stop the chill of fear that was inching up her neck. She’d nearly been killed, and would have been had Noah Cason not arrived in her office and intervened. She recalled the feeling of having her feet glued to the floor, unable to move to even save herself. But he’d taken charge of the situation and saved her life.

  She glanced up at him now, conversing with the police, probably describing the workings of the bomb to them in the hopes of identifying whoever was behind this attack. Her brain was having trouble grasping the fact that this bomb had been placed beneath her desk. It wasn’t a random incident. Its placement had been targeted and precise. After all, it was Saturday, when most government employees were at home, and the building was clear of everyone except for her...and Dawn. What a blessing her assistant had taken her lunch out of the office today.

  She needed to call Dawn. Her phone had been damaged beyond use when the explosion knocked it from her hand and tossed it to the ground. Melinda borrowed an officer’s cell phone and dialed Dawn’s number. The call went to voice mail, and Melinda left a message. “Hello, Dawn, it’s Melinda. There’s been an incident at the office. I found a bomb beneath my desk and it went off. I’m fine and no one else was hurt, but I wanted you to know before you arrived back here.”

  She disconnected the call, then realized she should have suggested Dawn not even return to the office. What was the point? They certainly wouldn’t be doing any work today. She didn’t know when they would be able to work again. The prosecutor’s office in Daytonville had essentially been shut down.

  As she watched the fires still burning, she realized all her files were lost, including Nikki’s. She could reorder the reports, but the physical evidence that had been stored in the prosecutor’s office was now certainly destroyed or at least compromised. Had that been the bomber’s intention all along? From the moment she’d seen the mass of wires and canisters, her first thought, her only thought, was that Sean had finally found her and her son. She was tired of running, tired of looking over her shoulder, and beyond ready to put her past behind her. Lord, when will this end? When will I finally be free of him?

  But she had to admit it was possible this bombing had nothing to do with her except in a prosecutorial role. Had someone tried to blow up the office in order to destroy evidence in their case? Latching on to that scenario comforted her. This had nothing to do with her past. She was certain of it. However, that didn’t stop the sudden desire she had to see her son, Ramey, and make sure he was okay. She wasn’t scheduled to pick him up until after 4:00 p.m., but she wasn’t certain she could wait that long.

  She pushed through the crowd and saw Chief Lyle Peterson. “I’d like to go home now,” she told him. She didn’t want Ramey to see her with dirt and soot all over her, and she’d have just enough time to shower and change first if she left now.

  “This is a crime scene, Melinda. You know that. I need you to stay put until we get your statement. I’ve already spoken to your friend over there. Now I need to hear your side of events.”

  “If you spoke to Noah, then you already know everything I do. Please, Chief. I need to clean up before I pick up Ramey at the Campbells’. I don’t want him to see me this way.”

  She and the chief weren’t always on the best of terms, but he wasn’t heartless, and she saw his compassion for her situation. He nodded, agreeing to let her go. “Fine, but I want you in my office ready to give a statement after you get Ramey.”

  She thanked him then headed for her car. Noah stopped her. “What are you doing?”

  She looked up at him. He was also covered in soot and dirt, but it looked surprisingly good on him, especially with his green eyes sparkling. “I need to get my son. I don’t want him to see me this way so I’m going home to change.”

  “That’s not a good idea. Someone just tried to kill you, Melinda.”

  “I’m sure he just wanted to delay or destroy the case, and he succeeded. I doubt I’m still in danger.”

  “You’ve got it all worked out in your head, don’t you, that it isn’t about you?”

  “Why would it be? I’m just a small-town prosecutor. I’m nobody.” She hated the hysterical sound of her voice, but she couldn’t stop it.

  His gaze was so intense as he stared at her that she was certain he knew that wasn’t the truth. He knew all about her husband and her secret past. “I don’t like to hear a woman, any woman, say they’re nobody. You are somebody, Melinda. You’re an important person to your son.”

  “Which is why I really want to get to him.”

  “Fine. I’ll go with you. Let’s take my car.” He turned and started walking away as she stared after him. Who was he to make decisions for her?

  “I don’t need a chaperone,” she insisted.

  “I think you just might. Besides, am I right in thinking my sister’s file was in that office, as well?” When she nodded, he continued. “All the information on her case is gone. You were her friend as well as the prosecuting attorney, and I’d stake my life that you know everything that was in that file. You’ve been over it time and time again, looking for some new piece of information that could break her case. That makes you my new best friend and my partner in finding her. Besides, your car isn’t actually operational.”

  She looked at her car, the blown-out windows and the water raining down on it from the fire hoses. He was right. She couldn’t drive it, and she didn’t have time to wait around for a cab if she wanted to clean up before she picked up Ramey.

  He opened the passenger’s door to his car, which she noticed he’d parked across the street. She reluctantly slipped inside. He was right. Despite her bravado, she was still scared. She’d convinced herself this bomb had nothing to do with her, but protecting Ramey still had to be her number-one priority. She would help Noah with his sister’s case and, in exchange, he would make sure her son was safe from harm. They needed one another. But as he got into the car and headed for her house, she blushed at how easily she’d given in to spending time with this handsome stranger.

  * * *

  He liked the look of Melinda’s house. It was a cottage-style home on a quiet cul-de-sac. The cozy porch and Christmas decorations on the lawn welcomed him, and as she unlocked the door, a large Labrador greeted her. She patted the dog’s head then motioned Noah inside. He grabbed his overnight bag from the trunk of his car and followed her. The dog seemed friendly, but he knew from experience that dogs were unpredictable. Thankfully, the Lab began rubbing on his leg. He scratched the dog’s ear then bent down and petted him, prompting a lick in the face.

  Melinda laughed then called off the dog. “Ranger, get down.”

  The dog did as he was told and hurried across the room to curl up in a doggie bed.

  She motioned toward the bathroom down the hall. “You can use this one. I’ll use the one in the master bedroom.” She disappeared into a back room and closed the door behind her.

  It felt good to wash the soot and grime from himself and change into clean clothes. It was like a renewing after the battle, and it always made him feel better. He only wished he could wash off the guilt and shame he felt over his sister’s disappearance the same way. His heart had broken when he’d received the news. He
should have been here watching out for her instead of halfway around the world.

  Again, the sting of failure pinched at him. Why, God? Why do You keep allowing such terrible things to happen? He’d been asking that question for most of his life and he still hadn’t received an answer.

  Once he was finished cleaning up, he waited for Melinda in the living room. A small Christmas tree stood in the corner, decorated with mostly handmade craft ornaments and strings of popcorn. Photographs lined the room of a little boy in different stages of growth, some taken with Melinda and many more without. This must be her son, Ramey. He couldn’t help noticing there were no pictures of a husband or father in any of these.

  “That’s Ramey when he was four years old,” she stated from behind him, referring to the photo he was staring at of her son with a soccer ball.

  “He’s a handsome boy. How old is he?”

  “Thank you. He’s six now.”

  “I notice there are no pictures of his father. Are you divorced?” That was the most likely reason a woman didn’t display photos.

  “Actually, I’m a widow. My husband died in a boating accident before Ramey was born.”

  That seemed odd. Widows generally had photographs of their husbands displayed, but Melinda didn’t have even one picture that he could see. Still, it wasn’t his business. “My condolences.”

  “Thank you. It was a long time ago.” She tugged a strand of hair behind her ear then glanced at the clock. “I told Susan Campbell I would pick up Ramey by four o’clock.”

  “We should go, then.” He led her outside and opened the passenger door for her. She directed him toward the Campbells’ home, where he parked at the curb. As she got out of the car, a blond boy rushed out the door and jumped into her outstretched arms.

  He enjoyed watching them together. There was no hesitation in the boy’s face or actions, nothing like he or Nikki had felt at seeing their folks. They’d never known what mood they would find their mother and father in from day to day, or what imagined slight they might have done to them. On a good day, the yelling and hitting would be minimal, but on a bad day... He pushed away those memories, preferring to focus instead on how happy this child seemed to be to see his mother.

  She walked to the door and spoke a few words with a woman—Susan Campbell, no doubt—who handed her a booster seat and a bag. She walked the boy to the car. “Ramey, I’d like you to meet Mr. Cason. He’s a friend who’s helping me with something. Can you say hello?”

  The boy grinned up at Noah, again his face open and welcoming. “Hi, Mr. Cason.”

  Noah knelt and shook the boy’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Ramey. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “Are you going to marry my mommy?”

  “Ramey!” Her face flushed and she shushed him. “Don’t ask things like that.”

  Noah found himself grinning at such an innocent exchange. “It’s okay. Your mom and I are friends, Ramey. That’s all.”

  The boy shrugged and accepted that, then crawled into the back seat of the car as Melinda set up his booster seat and buckled him in.

  “I’m sorry,” Melinda whispered once he was secured. “He shouldn’t be asking that. He’s just not used to seeing me with a man.”

  “No problem,” he assured her. He wasn’t insulted. In fact, he liked that she didn’t parade men in front of her son. He’d been captivated by her beauty from the moment she’d glanced up at him and he’d taken in her narrow face and delicate neck framed by her long, dark hair. But it was the smile that played on her face as she watched him that he’d noticed first. She was quick to smile, and he liked that. Now his opinion of her was growing just from this small exchange. She was a good mom, and that said a lot about her in his eyes.

  He stopped that line of thinking before it got out of hand. He couldn’t go down that road with Melinda. He’d been through too much, seen too much, to ever deserve a woman like her. What would anyone want with a washed-out Navy SEAL who’d gotten his teammates killed? He was glad Nikki had befriended her. They’d always dreamed of having a normal life, and it saddened him to know she never got that fairy-tale life she’d longed for. Instead, she’d married a man just like their father, and had paid the ultimate price for it.

  Noah had buried himself in work, first as a SEAL and now as an operator for the Security Operations Abroad, acting as covert security for CIA agents in the field. If he could remain busy, he could forget what a tragedy his home life had been, and the dreams of normalcy that never came true.

  * * *

  Melinda met with Chief Peterson later that evening and answered as many questions as she could about finding the backpack containing the device beneath her desk. All she knew for certain was that it hadn’t been there before she’d gone to meet her friend Robin for lunch.

  “How certain are you that it wasn’t under your desk before you left?” he asked her for what seemed like the fifth time.

  “Very certain,” she reiterated. “I told you that I dropped a pen earlier in the day and it rolled under the desk. I had to crawl under there to retrieve it. The backpack wasn’t there.”

  He jotted a note on his notepad. “What time was that?”

  “I’d been at the office for about two hours, so around 11:00 a.m. I left at noon and when I returned, I noticed my door was closed, but the latch wasn’t pulled all the way shut. Dawn usually closes and locks it if she leaves the office and I’m not there. I assumed she’d just forgotten or had been in a rush.”

  “So, Dawn was still at the office when you left it?”

  “Yes.”

  “But she was gone when you returned?”

  “That’s right.”

  He made another note then looked up at her. “Did she know where you were going or when you would return?”

  “I told her before I left that I would be back by one.” She didn’t usually have Saturdays kid-free unless she was working, so she’d taken a rare opportunity to meet her friend for an extended girls’ lunch. In fact, Robin had been persistent that Melinda take the time to meet her. At first, she’d worried her friend had bad news to share, but their lunch had been about catching up.

  “When was the last time you spoke to your assistant?”

  She was about to say right after the bombing, then she realized she’d only left a message. “My phone was damaged in the explosion so I borrowed a phone and left her a voice mail telling her what had happened.”

  “But you haven’t spoken to her since you left the office at eleven?”

  “That’s right. I thought she might call me on my house phone, but I haven’t been there for much time since it happened.”

  “How did she seem when you left her? Was she nervous? Anxious? Oddly quiet?”

  She saw where this line of questioning was going, and she didn’t like it one bit. Dawn was a sweet young woman with a bright future ahead of her. Plus, she’d been a great assistant and a friend. Melinda trusted her with her most sensitive materials. “She was fine. Her normal self.”

  “How often do you make her work on the weekends?”

  “When we have a big case coming up. The city won’t pay for extra help, but Dawn likes the overtime and they will approve that. Are you suggesting she was the one who placed the bomb in my office?”

  “Do you believe she’s capable of something like that?”

  “Absolutely not. Why would she do something that might put her out of a job?” She couldn’t believe they were trying to pin this on Dawn when there was a more likely suspect out there. “Why on earth would you suspect her?”

  “Calm down, Melinda. We’re not accusing anyone yet, only asking questions. We’re also looking at other suspects, such as people you’ve sent to prison. I have someone tracking down everyone you’ve prosecuted who was recently released. Do you have any enemies that you know of?”

  She shifted in
her chair, but hesitated in mentioning Sean. Everyone in town didn’t need to know her business. Besides, he was dead and had been for years. “None that I can think of,” she stated.

  “What about from before you came to Daytonville? Any old boyfriends who might have a grudge against you?”

  She shook her head. There had been no one since Sean. She couldn’t, she wouldn’t, subject her heart to falling in love again. She’d done so with Sean and had been burned by his abuse and betrayal. Instead of being happy when she’d discovered she was pregnant, he’d been furious and demanded she end the pregnancy. His insistence had forced her to make a choice, and she’d chosen to give her child life. In response, Sean had tried to murder them both. How could she ever trust another man again after that?

  The chief closed his notebook and stood, indicating the interview was over. “It’s a blessing no one was injured or killed, but this is still a very serious crime. If you think of anyone who comes to mind, let us know right away and we’ll look into him or her. In the meantime, we’ll pull the security tapes and continue canvassing the area.”

  “Thank you, Chief.” Melinda walked out of the interview room with a weary feeling growing inside her. Her entire world had been turned upside down today and she didn’t know which direction to turn. She’d known her job could have its dangers, but she’d never witnessed anything more than angry words hurled at her before today.

  She stepped into the waiting area and found Noah keeping Ramey occupied with a game of thumb wrestling. She watched Noah let the boy win and smiled as Ramey whooped with laughter.

  “Are you done?” Noah asked her, standing to greet her.

  “For now. I’m sure there will be more questions later but for now, I just want to go home.”

  He picked up Ramey, and they were about to walk out when she spotted her boss, District Attorney Jay McAllister, approach her. He was dressed casually in slacks and tennis shoes instead of his usual business suit and tie, but he looked tired and she imagined he had been pulled from his easygoing Saturday afternoon with his kids to the news of the bombing at his office.