Deadly Christmas Duty Read online

  She turned to Noah. “What should we do now?”

  He ran a hand over his face. “I don’t know. I guess we find a hotel and hunker down for the night.”

  “I doubt I’ll be able to sleep. I’m too keyed up.”

  “Me, too.” Suddenly, he turned to her. “We don’t have to stay here twiddling our thumbs. Why don’t we get out and look for your dog? If someone let him out, he may still be around the neighborhood. If we don’t find him tonight, we’ll check the shelters in the morning.”

  She liked that idea and nodded. It meant the world to her that he was thinking about something as simple as finding her dog.

  * * *

  Noah and Melinda drove around the neighborhood searching for Ranger. As they passed her house, she grimaced at the burned-out sections and the police tape surrounding her home. She’d lost everything. She wiped away a tear as she let down the window and called out Ranger’s name.

  Noah reached over and squeezed her hand. “We’ll find him. We won’t stop until we do.”

  That dog was the only thing she and Ramey had left. Noah believed someone had intentionally let him out of the fence, and it appeared he’d been right. But hopefully, that was all they’d done to him.

  Noah parked at the curb and Melinda got out. She wrapped her arms around her and could see her breath in the cold night air. Christmas lights hung down from where she’d placed them on her house, and her yard ornaments were trampled and broken from firefighters traipsing through her yard.

  Noah got out and walked around. “We can’t go in yet. Peterson said tomorrow morning. Maybe you’ll be able to salvage some things.”

  But she couldn’t salvage the memories she’d lost. The laughs and the tears they’d shed inside this home.

  “How could this happen?” she asked. She didn’t understand why this was happening to her. She’d always trusted in God to see her through difficult times, but she had to admit, she was struggling with this. Where was God in all of this? Where was God when she was losing everything she’d built?

  Noah wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. She was grateful he was here for her, more grateful than she cared to admit. She’d sworn never to depend on another man again. She should have learned her lesson with Sean. Men could not be trusted. But when she thought about pulling away from him, she found she didn’t want to. She’d only known him a short time, but she’d already become so dependent on him. It should have terrified her, but it excited her in a way she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

  “Thank you for being here with me,” she said, turning to him.

  “I’m glad I’m here. I only want to help.”

  “I know this isn’t what you signed up for. You came here searching for Nikki, not to get caught up in my mess.”

  He gave her a slight smile then touched her cheek, causing a shiver to rush through her. She glanced up at him, into his dark green eyes. Just looking at them made her feel better. His strength and strong presence was the only thing still holding her up...that and her need to be there for Ramey. He must be so scared, not knowing what was happening or what he’d lost in the fire. She shuddered, thinking what might have happened if he’d been home with her, and Noah pulled her to him.

  “I’m glad I’m here. I’d hate to think of you going through this all alone.”

  She touched his face, soaking in the roughness of his facial stubble and the masculine scent of his skin. She’d been alone for so long, but now, because of him, she was no longer on her own, no longer the one who had to be strong and make all the decisions and protect them. She leaned in to kiss him, surprising even herself that she wanted to.

  Suddenly, a sound behind him caught her attention. Melinda saw a figure approaching them. She screamed as the man lifted his arm, and she spotted something in his hand. He brought it down, striking Noah as he turned to face the man.

  The blow knocked Noah to his knees. The man swung the pipe again and sent Noah reeling. Melinda screamed and ran for the car, but the man grabbed her and pulled her back, shoving her to the ground as he turned back to Noah and pounded him again.

  She leaped to her feet and jumped on the man’s back, trying to pull him off Noah. He batted her away like a gnat and sent her reeling again to the ground.

  Melinda looked up at the man. The shadows hid his face, but he seemed familiar, and the familiarity stunned her. Was she really seeing who she thought she was seeing? She scuttled away as he turned back to Noah and punched him again. She ran into a neighbor’s yard and grabbed a baseball bat lying in the grass. She rushed at the man, who turned and grabbed the bat from her, sending her to the ground once again.

  Then another sound grabbed her attention—the sound of barking. She spun around and the familiar face of Ranger came racing toward her, his ears back and the wind whipping at his fur. He ran past her and jumped onto the attacker, growling and chomping down on the man. He howled and spun around, fighting off the animal as Ranger attacked. The man turned and ran, and Ranger took chase.

  Melinda hurried over to Noah. Blood was on his face and he groaned in pain.

  “Are you okay?” she asked him.

  “I will be. He caught me off guard.”

  “I know. Me, too.”

  Ranger turned and came running back, snuggling up to Melinda. She hugged the dog. He’d not only come back; he’d also saved them.

  “That’s some dog you’ve got there,” Noah stated.

  She patted him. “Yes, he is.”

  Noah crawled to his feet and leaned against the car. “Did you get a look at the guy who attacked us?”

  Her heart was still racing as she glanced down the street where he’d disappeared. “It was dark and the streetlights didn’t capture his face.” But she had seen him.

  Fear rippled through her. It couldn’t be him. It just couldn’t.

  Her husband was dead.

  He couldn’t have attacked them here tonight.

  * * *

  The blitz attack he’d just sustained was all the proof he needed that he was allowing himself to get entirely too close to Melinda. He’d been distracted and hadn’t noticed someone following them or staking out her house, waiting for her to return. However, the attacker had found them. Noah hadn’t seen it coming, and that was dangerous. He could have killed them both.

  As it was, Melinda was shaken. He could tell by the way she was sitting while waiting for the doctor to give him the all-clear on his injuries. It was nothing but cuts and stitches. He’d suffered plenty worse. She was still trembling with fear even an hour later, and she hadn’t let go of Ranger, who’d been given a special pass by the doctor in charge to remain with her while Noah was being treated.

  He pressed an ice pack against his eye and motioned toward Ranger. “He’s a hero.”

  She nodded and rubbed the dog’s coat. “Yes. Ramey will be happy he came home.”

  He stared at her. She was beautiful and he couldn’t deny his attraction to her, but he would have to learn to push that aside and focus on the matter at hand, namely, protecting her. He was embarrassed, even ashamed, that he’d let his feelings cloud his judgment.

  He’d messed up in Libya by hesitating, convincing the guys to wait until official approval for them to go to the embassy. He’d waited too long for that approval, approval that had never come, and because of him, people had died, including two men he’d called friends. Today he’d messed up again.

  His life was on a downhill spiral. He’d let down his team who’d depended on him, his sister and now a woman he could see himself falling for. He had to get a grip.

  From now on he was hands off, pushing his emotions to the back of his mind. He couldn’t focus on them, or on Melinda for anything except keeping her safe. An image had formed in his mind of his sister, beaten and murdered and lying in a slump in the woods somewhere. He kept trying to push it a
way, but he’d seen too much death. He knew what it looked like, and in his heart, he knew she was dead.

  He’d let her down, abandoned her when she’d needed him most. He couldn’t let that happen to Melinda and Ramey. They needed him to be his best, and that meant keeping his emotions compartmentalized. She was someone he was protecting and nothing more. She couldn’t be anything more if he wanted to keep her alive.

  Chief Peterson pulled back the curtain and stared at them both. “What happened?”

  “We were attacked outside Melinda’s house. He blindsided us.”

  “You didn’t see him? What were you doing?”

  He felt himself flush at the question. He’d been about to kiss her. That was why he hadn’t seen the attacker approach.

  “At least we know it wasn’t Wayne. He was still being questioned at the station.”

  Peterson was right. It hadn’t been Wayne who had attacked them. That didn’t change his opinion of the man, but that meant there was some unknown person out there targeting Melinda, for some reason they had yet to figure out.

  And that just made protecting her all that much harder.

  “Did either of you get a look at the guy?” Peterson asked.

  Noah nodded. “It was dark but I saw his face. I think I could identify him.”

  “Good. I’m going to have you work with a sketch artist.”

  He glanced at Melinda. “Don’t worry. We’ll find him.”

  Noah saw the fear reflected in her face, and every instinct inside him wanted to go to her and take her in his arms and comfort her. He couldn’t do that for her, but he could find the person behind all this and make him pay.

  “I’ll come by the precinct once I get Melinda settled at a hotel.”

  “I know you’d rather not leave her alone, so phone me once you get settled. I’ll send the artist to your hotel.”

  “I appreciate that, Chief. What about Wayne? What’s happening with him?”

  “Well, we’ve been questioning him for hours. He still insists his car was stolen, and we’ve got no evidence to prove otherwise. I’m going to have to release him. I was going to put an officer on detail to watch him, but after this, I’m not sure that’s necessary.”

  “He may not have been the one to attack us tonight, but that doesn’t mean he’s not involved. Did you ask him anything about Nikki’s disappearance?”

  “We did. His story hasn’t changed about the day she vanished, but when forensics examined his car, they found traces of blood in the trunk. I’m having them tested to see if they match Nikki’s blood type.”

  “Wasn’t his car checked previously?”

  “No. Nikki’s car was examined, but we had no reason to search Wayne’s vehicle. Now that it’s evidence in another crime, we discovered it while processing the car.”

  He’d always assumed, as he was sure everyone else had, that if Wayne had killed Nikki, he’d used her car to dispose of her body. Melinda had told him how much Wayne admired his car. Besides, Nikki’s car had been the one found abandoned...and the one the police had initially processed.

  He shook his head. Was Wayne that clever to have known they would have focused on her car only? He’d allowed the police in to search his home for evidence, but they hadn’t focused on his car. Had he fooled them all?

  Peterson leaned in. “Even if it turns out to be Nikki’s blood, he’d claim the car was stolen. He could claim whoever had it also took Nikki.”

  Noah glanced at him, surprised not by his comment but by the inflection of his tone. He’d been Wayne’s biggest supporter, but now he sounded as if he’d realized Wayne had been involved. “Have you changed your mind about his involvement in my sister’s case?”

  Peterson rubbed his face. “I don’t know. I’ve been listening to his answers. I had my investigators sprinkle in questions about Nikki. But he keeps repeating the same information word for word. Generally, people who are persistently questioned try to elaborate or provide additional details. They’re anxious to find out what happened. Wayne isn’t responding in that manner. You might have been right about me, Noah. My relationship with him might have influenced my judgment.”

  Noah appreciated him saying that, but he wasn’t interested in making him beat himself up. “There’s nothing wrong with standing up for someone you consider a friend. Let me know when you hear back on those blood results.”

  “I will. There’s something else, too. The autopsy report on Dawn came back. It looks like she died instantly, and we haven’t been able to find anything in her background or financials that would indicate she was involved. I believe she was probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  He glanced over at Melinda and could see she was glad to hear that. To think someone she cared about had betrayed her would have been an awful burden to bear.

  “Thanks for telling us,” Noah said. “I’ll let you know when we get to the hotel.”

  Noah was thankful when the doctors finished sewing him up and the nurse brought his discharge papers. It was already late, and he was looking forward to finding a hotel and crashing for the night. Though he still had to meet with the sketch artist before he could sleep.

  Melinda insisted on driving, even though Noah assured her he was fine. His head hurt, but the pain wasn’t severe, and he didn’t believe his coordination was impaired. But he finally relented and climbed into the passenger’s seat. He checked an app on his phone and found a local hotel that allowed pets.

  An hour later they were checked into the hotel on the south side of town. He’d managed to get adjoining rooms on the fourth floor, and he’d made sure to clear them beforehand. Ranger made himself at home, hopping onto the bed and stretching out.

  Noah laughed. “That’s some dog you’ve got there.”

  She laughed, too, and patted Ranger. “I’ll need to feed him. Who knows when the last time he ate was.”

  “I doubt they sell dog food in the gift shop. We’ll just have to order something from room service.”

  “That’s an expensive meal for a dog,” she protested, but Noah insisted.

  “He deserves it after what he did tonight, coming to our rescue.”

  She ended up ordering him French fries, and he wolfed them down in minutes.

  A knock at Noah’s door pulled him away from the dog’s antics. He took out his weapon then looked through the peephole to see a man he didn’t recognize. “Identify yourself,” Noah demanded.

  “My name is Carl Adams. Chief Peterson told me to come by for a sketch.”

  Noah put away his gun and opened the door, shaking Carl’s hand and apologizing for his brusqueness.

  “No problem,” Carl said easily. “You can’t be too careful these days, can you?”

  Noah pulled the door that separated the rooms closed so Melinda wouldn’t be disturbed. He hoped she would get some sleep, but after they were done and Carl produced a suitable sketch of the man who had attacked him, Noah opened the adjoining door and saw she was still awake. Only the dog was sleeping soundly.

  “Carl Adams just left,” Noah told her. “Do you know him?”

  She nodded. “He’s a local freelance artist. Chief Peterson uses him whenever he needs a sketch done.”

  “Well, he did a good job.” He handed her his phone, which contained a screenshot of the sketch he’d helped make with Adams. “That’s the face of the man who attacked us tonight. Do you recognize him?”

  She glanced at the photo, and he felt the change in her. Her face paled and her eyes widened in surprise. Every muscle in her body seemed to tense.

  “You do know him. Who is he?”

  She pushed the phone back to him and shook her head frantically. “No, it can’t be him. It can’t be.”

  “It can’t be who?”

  She stood and folded her arms, but he could see the fear racing through her. Whoev
er this was, she had a past with him. He stood and gripped her arms.

  “You know this man. Who is he?”

  “It can’t be him. It can’t be.”

  “Why can’t it be him?”

  “Because he’s dead!” She shouted the words, then clamped her hand over her mouth and began to shake as she sat on the edge of the bed.

  A sick feeling raced through him as he sat beside her. “Who is he, Melinda?”

  Terror flashed through her eyes as she looked at him, and when she spoke, she was obviously choking back sobs. “His name is Sean Steele. He was my husband.”

  FIVE

  Noah paced the floor between her bed and the TV.

  “What do you mean, he’s your husband? You told me your husband was dead.”

  “He is. I mean, he was.” She looked up at him, hoping for a little bit of understanding, but she couldn’t blame him for being shocked. “I thought he was, but this picture, this is him. I’m sure of it.”

  “What do you mean, you thought he was? What happened to him?”

  She hesitated, hating to delve into the details, but he deserved to know. “Well, he drowned, but they never found his body. He was legally declared dead six months ago.”

  “And now he’s back?”

  “It’s been seven years and there are some differences around the eyes, but yes, I’m sure that’s him.”

  She knew sketches from memory weren’t always reliable, but Noah had done a good job of pegging Sean. He was older, but it was him. She’d suspected as much during the attack, and had spent years looking over her shoulder, waiting for him to come after her, but in truth she hadn’t truly believed it. Not until now.

  Sean was alive.

  And if Sean was in town, he would know all about Ramey.

  She leaped to her feet and grabbed Noah’s hand. “Ramey. We have to go get him. If this is Sean, he’ll go after him.”

  “You think he would try to nab him?” He must have seen worse fear than that in her face. “He wouldn’t hurt his own child, would he?”