Dangerous Attraction Romantic Suspense Boxed Set (187 page)

Kate swallowed hard before responding. A flood of memories rushed into her mind and her heart began to thud. She sat down at the desk, feeling weak in the knees.

“Are you all right?” Ryan asked.

She nodded yes.

“Who are these people?” Porter asked again.

She raised her gaze to him. “Suzanne Henderson and her brother, Ethan.”

“How do you know them?” Patel inquired.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them. About ten years ago, I was in a car accident with their mother.”

“Is the mother okay?” asked Porter.

“No.” Kate paused, thinking back to that terrible day. “No, she died in the accident. As a matter of fact, it was ten years ago this month.”

“That’s too bad. I wonder, though, why would your sister write ‘Suki & guy’ on the sticky note and the file name?” Porter questioned.

“I don’t know,” Kate replied. She studied the photo again, concentrating on the faces. “She kind of looks like—”

“Looks like who?” Patel asked.

Kate’s eyes narrowed as she focused on her face. “You know, I think the girl is…” Kate’s eyes widened and she stopped breathing for a moment.

“Is who?” Ryan pressed.

“I think she’s Suki! I think Suzanne Henderson is Suki Gorman.”

“The roommate?” Patel asked.

“I thought there was something not quite right about that young woman,” Porter mentioned. “I checked her out, but I didn’t find anything. Probably because I had the wrong name.”

“That’s why Whitney wrote Suki on this picture file,” Kate said. “She figured out Suki was Suzanne.”

“Okay, but what about the guy?” Patel asked.

“Her brother, I guess. I don’t know. I haven’t seen her family since the accident.”

“Why would Whitney question the photo? There was something about this photo that obviously made her suspicious,” Porter mused, trying to think through Whitney’s motivation.

“Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh!” Kate hollered as she suddenly put two and two together.

“What’s the matter?” Ryan asked.

“There’s a guy that I think has been following me,” Kate said.

“The guy with the blue ball cap,” Ryan recalled.

“Yes, I think this may be him.”

“What? A fella’s been following you? How come you never said anything to us?” Porter asked, putting both his hands on his hips. “This could be important!”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t sure,” she apologized.

“What’s his full name again?” Detective Porter asked in an irritated tone, grabbing a pen and pad off the desk to write it down.

“Ethan Henderson,” she replied.

“We’ll check him out, see what his story is. Anything else you haven’t told us?” Porter questioned.

“No, I don’t think so,” Kate said.

“Why do you think Suki and her brother might want to hurt Whitney?” Patel asked.

“I don’t know. I remember that at the time of the accident, their family blamed me for their mom’s death. They were pretty angry, but that was a long time ago. Besides, I was the one driving, not Whitney. She was only fourteen then.”

“Sounds like we need to bring Suki in for questioning,” said Porter. “The press has been putting Whitney’s photo out there, trying to help us find her. Maybe they can make a connection to Suki and Ethan if we put their photos out there, too.”

“Can you do that?” Kate asked. “I mean, she’s not a suspect yet, is she?”

“All we have to do is tell a couple of TV stations we’re bringing someone in for questioning as a person of interest, and they’ll be clamoring outside the station with cameras,” Porter said. “We’ll make a couple of calls and put the word out. We just need to find Suki first so the press is alerted as to when we’re bringing her in.”

“I don’t think you should go back to the apartment until they have her in custody, Kate,” Ryan warned.

She was glad he’d come to the police station with her. It gave her some comfort to hear him being so protective of her.

“I agree,” said Porter. “Can you keep her with you, Ryan?”

“I think I can handle that,” Ryan replied. “I just need to check in with my office and see what’s going on there, and then I’m all hers.”

“Do you think Suki is at home?” Patel asked Kate.

“I don’t know. I haven’t been there since yesterday. Let me give her a call and see,” Kate offered.

“That’ll work,” Patel said.

Kate dialed Suki’s number and listened to it ringing.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Suki, this is Kate.”

“Hi, Kate,” Suki responded.

“I just wanted to let you know I’m back in town,” Kate said, glancing up at Ryan.

“I’ve been wondering what happened. What did you find out in Boise? Was it Whitney?”

“No, fortunately, it wasn’t her.”

“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that.”

“I’ll be coming back to the apartment a little later. Are you there now?” Kate asked.

“No, I was just leaving to go by my work for a little while, but I’ll be back this afternoon.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later, then,” Kate said, trying not to give anything away. She hung up her phone and stuck it in her pocket. “Suki’s on her way to work, she said.”

“Where does she work?” Porter asked.

“The Underground Tour. You know, that place that shows where the original Seattle streets use to be.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I know that place. I went there once,” Patel said.

“We’ll pick her up there,” Porter decided. “I’d like to be waiting for her when she comes out, no sense trying to track her down in the maze of the underground city. When does she get off?”

“I don’t think she’s actually going to be working today. It sounded like she just had to stop by there for some reason, like picking up her paycheck or something.”

“Maybe we can hurry and get there before she does. Then we can pick her up before she goes in,” Patel suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” agreed Porter. “We’d better get going if she’s already on her way.”

“Do you want us to wait here for you?” Ryan asked as the two detectives headed for the door.

“No, we don’t need you for now. You guys go do something for the rest of the day, away from the apartment, and we’ll call you when we know anything,” Detective Porter told them.

“Johnson!” Porter called to a young uniformed officer in the next room.

Officer Johnson sprinted into the squad room. “Yes, sir?”

“I need you to call the local TV stations and let their news directors know we’re bringing in a person of interest in the Whitney McAllister disappearance. Tell them they have about twenty minutes to get their crew over here and set up. I want them already in place when we bring her in.”

“Will do, sir.” Office Johnson hurried back to his desk to jump on his assignment.

“Kate, Ryan, don’t worry. We’ll call you when we know something,” Porter assured them. “Let’s go, Raj.”

* * *

Suki boarded the bus to Pioneer Square to check on Whitney one last time. Ethan assured her he would take care of Kate today. After that, they could get out of Seattle for good. She hoped she could find a way to let someone know where Whitney was, once she and her brother were safely out of the state.

She called her brother, as promised, when she knew for sure Kate was back in Seattle.

“Ethan, this is Suki. I just heard from Kate and she’s back in the city.”

“Did she say where she was?”

“No, but she said she’d meet me at the apartment later this afternoon.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m on a bus going to my work. I need to check on you-know-who,” Suki told him, keeping her voice down and looking around to make sure no one was listening.

“Call me when you’re on your way back to the apartment. I’ll meet you there. We’ll both be there when Kate comes back. I can take care of her then.”

“I don’t want to be there. I couldn’t stand it.”

“I’ll take her back to Whitney’s room. You won’t have to watch.”

“But, Ethan…”

“Hey! You said you wanted Kate to pay for what she did to Mom just as much as me. So stop your whining and let’s get this over with. Then we’ll grab our stuff and get out of this place.”

“All right. I’ll call you when I’m leaving to go back home.”

The bus reached the Pioneer Square stop and Suki got off. It pulled away, leaving Suki standing on the sidewalk. She put her gray scarf over her head and scurried across the street to the Underground Tour building, approaching the main entrance. Her mind was set on what she had to do, hoping to sneak in and out undetected one last time. As she reached out to put her hand on the door handle, two men stepped up to her.

“Suki?” Detective Porter said, coming up to her on her right side.

She stopped cold, recognizing his voice. She looked up at him, then over to Detective Patel, who was now on her left.

“Hello, Detectives,” she said, attempting to stay calm.

“We have more questions for you, so we’d like you to come with us,” Porter said.

“I have to go to work right now. Can’t I come down to the station and talk to you a little later?” Suki responded, trying to sound casual.

“I’m afraid not,” Porter said, taking hold of her arm and leading her to the black unmarked police car they left parked at the curb just around the corner.

“But, you don’t understand. I need to—”

“You need to what?” Porter cut her off in midsentence.

She couldn’t explain to him what she needed to do without giving herself away. “Never mind,” she relented. If they were only going to question her, she thought, she would be out of there in an hour or two and then she could check on Whitney.

Patel opened the door for her, helped her into the backseat, and then they whisked her away to the police station.

* * *

A frenzy of news reporters and TV cameras were waiting for them as they pulled up to the station. Parking in clear view of the cameras, Detective Patel pulled Suki out of the car. Both detectives escorted her at a snail’s pace through the flurry of cameras and microphones and the volley of questions being thrown their way.

“Is this woman under arrest?” one reporter called out.

“Did she kidnap Whitney McAllister?” another shouted.

“Have you found Whitney’s body?”

“Did this woman kill Whitney?”

The questions came in rapid fire, one building upon the other. As they approached the front door, the detectives turned and lingered for a few moments, letting the press get plenty of video and photos of Suki.

Once inside, Porter and Patel ushered her into one of the interrogation rooms and left her there alone, telling her they needed to go and gather the case file.

“Just cool your jets here and I’ll be right back,” Porter said, as he shut the door.

Sitting in the bare room, she nervously scratched her head, crossed her arms momentarily, then uncrossed them, spreading them out on the table.
What could they possibly have on me? And why did they need to bring me to the police station to ask me questions? They always came to the apartment before. Why the police station now.

The fluorescent lights were glaring, putting a strain on Suki’s eyes. The air in the room was warm and stuffy. She put her elbows on the table, propped her head on her hands, and closed her eyes to think.

Her thoughts went to Whitney, lying asleep on the filthy bed in total darkness. Without more sleeping pills, she’d eventually wake up. With her hands and feet tied to the bed and duct tape over her mouth, maybe she wouldn’t be able to make much noise, Suki hoped. But, if she started jerking the brass bed around, she could make enough racket to possibly draw the attention of a tour passing by.

Oh, why did I let Ethan talk me into this? She leaned forward, stretched her hands straight out on the table, and laid her head down on them. The police know something. They have to, or I wouldn’t be here. And if I can’t get back to the underground city to check on Whitney, she might give us away.

And what’s with all the press? They were snapping pictures and screaming out questions like I was being arrested or something. Oh, no! She sat up and buried her face in her hands. What if I am arrested and I can’t get out of here?

Scenario after scenario flashed through Suki’s mind and panic began to set in. For just an instant, she wanted to spill her guts and tell the cops everything—to save Whitney and save herself—but she soon pulled that thought back. She’d have to betray her brother, and there was no way she would do that. He wasn’t much, but he was all she had left.

Taking a slow and deep calming breath, she glanced around the room, wondering when the detective would be back. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes to give them relief from the glare.
I’ll wait
, she decided
, until I know what the police have. Maybe I’m making more of this than I need to
.

The door swung open and Detective Porter walked in. He dropped a manila folder down on the table with a
thud
and took a seat across the table from her.

“Sorry to take so long,” he said, opening the folder and leafing through the papers. She watched him with interest but did not reply.

“Miss Gorman, I need to know where you were the night Whitney McAllister went missing.”

“Me? Why, I was at home. I came home from work and Whitney wasn’t there. I told you all of this before. It should be in that report.”

“I want you to tell me again,” Detective Porter said, “from the beginning.”

“Whitney wasn’t there when I got home from work Saturday evening, so I assumed she went out with friends or had a date. When I woke up the next morning, she still was not home. I waited all day for her to come home, but she didn’t. I was worried. It wasn’t like her to stay out all night. And then to stay out all the next day without letting me know, that
really
wasn’t like her.”

“Go on,” Porter said.

“That’s when I called her sister in L.A., you know, Kate. She said she would call the police to report Whitney missing, but then she didn’t. She was told she couldn’t file a report yet because she hadn’t been missing for twenty-four hours. That’s what she told me, anyway. It’s all there in the report,” she said, pointing at the folder.

Porter folded his hands on top of the file.