Deadly Fallout (Red Stone Security Series Book 10) (5 page)

“I would deny this under torture because I love my brother, but… I’m betting it wasn’t completely unprovoked.”

Sawyer looked down at her as they reached one set of glass doors, his eyebrows drawing together. “He didn’t tell you what it was about?”

She shook her head. Vincent had seemed almost embarrassed by it and she hadn’t wanted to push. Not when he’d been dealing with so much back then.

Sawyer didn’t respond, just opened the door. Instead of letting her go first, like she’d expected, he moved outside in front of her, using his body as a barrier as he scanned the relatively quiet street. Two women jogged by on the sidewalk, both with earbuds in as they pounded the pavement. Then an older, white-haired man walking a small dog with white-and-black fur strolled by carrying a Starbucks cup. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Sawyer must have agreed, because he gave an almost imperceptible nod before looking back at her. “First we’re going to get your car. I’m going to scan it for any tracking devices or…anything. Then you’re going to drive me to my truck, which is just a block from here—I couldn’t find a spot any closer. From there, I’m going to follow you home. Blue’s filled me in on what’s going on so I’d like to shadow you at your work today, see if that fucker shows up. He’s going to be notified of the restraining order, probably already has been so if he’s pissed enough, he’ll show up at your work. If we can document that, it’s a start.”

His words made her chest tighten as she realized she had no choice but to face her new reality head on. She wouldn’t have an escort every day, but for now, she was glad to have someone on her side—someone trained—who had an idea how to tackle today. She still needed to make copies of her restraining order and give them out to everyone at work, but today suddenly seemed manageable with Sawyer by her side.

“Thank you for doing this.”

“I don’t need your thanks,” he said brusquely before turning toward the road and glancing both ways.

Oh right, this was just a job for him. Well, job or not, she was still damn thankful for his presence.

Chapter 4

Sawyer parked his truck behind Zoe’s two-door car, automatically scanning the exterior of her house and neighbors’ homes. It was eight a.m. so some people were already leaving; parents with kids and others dressed in business attire. No one appeared out of the ordinary and no one looked like Braddock Klein.

Blue had sent him a detailed file on Klein last night after Sawyer had more or less volunteered to shadow Zoe today. His friend had planned to use one of Mina’s security guys to trail Zoe, but Sawyer was having none of that. His training was officially over today and he started with his new team on Monday. They could put someone else on her then if necessary. But he wanted to look out for her now and over the weekend, and he wasn’t going to examine why too closely. He just knew he wanted her safe. He also knew that had nothing to do with a sense of duty because she was Vincent’s sister and everything to do with her specifically. The woman intrigued him.

Shutting his door behind him, he met Zoe as she was getting out of her car. A breeze blew up and her curls bounced softly in the wind. An unbidden image of what it would feel like to run his fingers through her hair while she was naked and under him entered his mind, but he locked that down. He was on the job and her safety was more important than his fucking libido.

“Did it seem as if anyone was following us?” she asked, an anxious frown creasing her brow.

“Nope.” He was good at locating a single tail, but if someone was working with a full team or in tandem with a partner, then it became more difficult. Since Klein seemed to be a one-man stalker, Sawyer was almost certain they hadn’t been followed.

“Thank God,” she muttered, glancing around nervously.

Yeah, what Sawyer wouldn’t give to kick this guy’s ass. Seeing fear on Zoe’s face sliced at him. He’d spent most of his adult life fighting terrorists and when you got right down to it, they were nothing but psychotic bullies who wanted the world to see everything their way. Now everything about Zoe’s life was being affected by a bully with an ego. That brought out all his protective instincts whether he wanted it to or not. “You set your alarm yesterday, right?”

She nodded and palmed her keys. “Yes, so if it’s off…” She trailed off, not needing to finish.

After they entered her house, the insistent beep of her alarm sounded and he could see the tension leave her body as she pressed the code into the keypad. He locked the front door behind them then ordered her to stay put. Her eyes widened at his tone, but he didn’t have time to reassure her. He needed to sweep her house.

Withdrawing his SIG, he held it at his side as he methodically swept each room. She had a three-bedroom, two-bath home in a higher end part of town and close to the practice she worked at. Her neighborhood had lake access, though her house wasn’t on the water and from the file Blue had given him, they had twenty-four-seven security driving around or sitting in the guard house he’d seen when they’d entered the subdivision. But it didn’t appear to be actually gated, something he hadn’t liked. He planned to ask her about that later.

Once he was certain the house was secure he found Zoe standing in her foyer next to an oversized floor vase, her arms crossed over her chest. “House is secure.”

“Thank you. And next time, if there is one,
ask
me to stay put, don’t order me around.”

He’d taken plenty of orders in the Navy, but for the most part he’d given them, especially on missions. His instinct was to tell her that he’d just been doing his job, but he could stand to use some finesse, especially where Zoe was concerned. “My apologies.”

She blinked, her arms dropping. “Really?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “You want me to argue?”

“No, I…it’s nice to be talking to a grownup, that’s all.” She gave him a real smile then, a megawatt one that lit up her face and it was all for him. The sight was a kick to his chest, stealing all the breath from his lungs. “I already showered so I just need to change then snag a cup of coffee. I have one of those one-cup machines so if you want, feel free to brew yourself a cup. Or we can just grab some at my work.”

He nodded and started to respond when a sharp knock on her front door had him straightening. He turned, blocking her body with his as he reached for his weapon.

“Miami PD, open the door,” a loud male voice said.

Sawyer’s first instinct was that this was a trap. He moved to the peephole and peered through, aware of Zoe right behind him. There were three men, two wearing police uniforms and one man wearing a suit and tie. Two cruisers were parked at the curb out front. “Show some ID,” he demanded. Sawyer had no clue how devious Klein was and he wasn’t taking any chances with Zoe’s safety.

The man in the suit straightened and faced the peephole directly. “Zoe, you in there? Answer me.” His tone was concerned.

Zoe’s hand on Sawyer’s forearm made him look down. “It’s okay, that’s Carlito Duarte. He’s a detective with the police department.” She turned from him and unlocked the door. When she opened it, Sawyer knew immediately that whatever was going on, was bad.

All three men looked grim, especially the detective. The man looked at Sawyer and assessed him before focusing on Zoe. “Zoe Hansen, I have a warrant for your arrest for the murder of Braddock Klein.”

“What?” she gasped, reeling back a step.

Klein was dead? Well that solved one of her problems, but this was just fucked up. Sawyer wanted to haul her back from the men, but knew he’d just make the situation a hell of a lot worse if he got in the way. Because this had to be a setup, no doubt about it.

The detective with bronzed skin, gray eyes and a GQ thing going on, nodded. “You have the right to an attorney and I’m telling you to exercise that right and not say a fucking word. Got it?” he asked her, his expression tight. Sawyer could tell the man hated doing this part of his job with Zoe.

Zoe’s expression was one of horror and shock. She looked up at Sawyer as if he could somehow fix the situation. And hell if he wasn’t going to try.

“Don’t say a word,” he told her. “I’m calling Alex and your brother right now. Where are you taking her?” he asked, turning his attention to the detective.

“Down to the station.”

Sawyer nodded and looked at Zoe again as one of the officers stepped forward with handcuffs in his hand.
Fuck, no
. He didn’t want to let her go and it was clear the detective didn’t like this any better than she did. The sight of the cuffs made Zoe jerk with shock, but she didn’t try to resist.

“Tell my brother to call our family lawyer and my mom,” she blurted. “And call Gerard Fernandez. He’s my boss. Alex has his information. I don’t know what’s going on, but he was with me before I went to Blue’s last night…” She trailed off as Duarte stilled the man in uniform with the restraints.

“We’ll cuff her in the cruiser and her hands go in front,” he said quietly.

Not much, but it was a small show of courtesy, telling Sawyer all he needed to know about the detective. “I’m following you right now and making those calls. You’re not going to jail so just stay quiet until your lawyer gets there, okay? I’m not kidding. Not one
single
word.”

Swallowing hard, she nodded, her big brown eyes wide with fear as she let the officers escort her to the waiting police cruiser. What the hell was happening? If Klein had been murdered that was damn fast police work for them to have a suspect already. And there was no way in hell they’d have shown up on Zoe’s doorstep and actually
arrested
her without physical evidence. Sawyer had a decent understanding of civilian law, more so now because of his new job, and it was too soon for the police to be here without concrete proof. Something else was going on and Sawyer was damn sure going to find out what it was and make sure Zoe got out of this mess.

The only silver lining in all this was that her stalker was no longer a problem.

* * *

“She’s going to be okay,” Sawyer said to Tanice Hansen, Zoe’s mom, who was pacing nervously at the far end of the rectangular, cheap wood table.

They’d been taken to a quiet conference room at the police station, courtesy of Detective Duarte, whom Sawyer had recently discovered was friends with a lot of guys from Red Stone Security and had interacted with Zoe frequently when she’d worked at the hospital. Mina and Blue were both in different rooms being questioned by detectives to corroborate Zoe’s alibi. And Sawyer knew that Blue had already had the security feeds from his condo sent over to the police for analyzing.

“I just can’t believe anyone would think she’d even be capable of taking a life. She took the Hippocratic Oath and that means something to my girl. And I still can’t believe she didn’t tell me about any of this.” A pop of anger sounded in the petite woman’s voice. She was the same height as Zoe with flawless, darker skin. She looked decades younger than Sawyer guessed she had to be. Right now worry was evident in every taut line of her body.

“It’s normal in a situation like this to keep what happened private from those closest to her.” And Sawyer had already been in contact with Vincent who was currently on his way back to Miami.

Tanice frowned and swiveled toward him, hands on her hips. “How is that normal to keep something so big from her mother?”

“I’m just guessing, but Zoe probably felt ashamed, possibly embarrassed. She probably tried to think of all the different ways she could have seen this sooner, maybe prevented it from happening.” One of Sawyer’s guys had been stalked years ago and had been in a state of denial that it was happening to him, especially since it was another male doing the stalking. He figured Zoe had probably been in denial for a while too, made easier since Klein had been out of the country. It was a normal, human reaction.

Tanice’s eyebrows furrowed together. “That makes no sense, she couldn’t have prevented some crazy from focusing on her.”

“We know that and intellectually Zoe knows that. But self-blame is a common effect on stalking victims.” He was just impressed how well Zoe had been holding up.

Losing her steam, Tanice pulled out a chair and collapsed into it. “You’d think that once your kids were out of the house and had families and lives of their own you could stop worrying. But you never do.” Her eyes started to well with tears, but she looked away from him, angrily swatting at the wetness. The action reminded him so much of Zoe.

Realizing she didn’t want him to see her upset, he stood from his chair and headed for the door. “I’ll grab us some more drinks.” He’d had way too much coffee the past couple hours while they waited so he’d be grabbing water.

“Thank you.”

The door opened before he’d reached it. Zoe, Blue, Mina and Duarte stepped in. Zoe’s eyes were red-rimmed, but she also looked relieved. Okay, that was a good thing. As she rushed toward her mother who’d already jumped from her chair, Sawyer looked between Blue and the detective. Zoe’s attorney wasn’t with them, which surprised Sawyer. Maybe the guy was filling out paperwork or he wasn’t needed anymore.

Duarte shut the door behind him so they all had privacy.

“She’s free?” Sawyer asked, needing to hear the words.

Duarte and Blue nodded at the same time. “Yes, thanks to a rock solid alibi,” Duarte said. “If she hadn’t stayed with you guys last night…” The man shook his head, his mouth still pulled into that grim line.