Embattled Hearts 1 (19 page)

Shannon didn’t know what had just happened, but she was shaken. Her arms were aching where the kid had grabbed her, and her heart was thudding in fear. She began to wonder if Jennings had been the one following her. His behavior was strange at best, and had escalated each time she saw him.

John rolled off the elevator and into her reception area.

Her blood chilled at the thought that somebody would come after them in daylight. And if they wanted to hurt her, they would hurt John. Yes, he was a smaller target in the chair, but he was definitely more vulnerable, having to deal with vehicles and handling doors as he entered and exited buildings. It would kill her if something happened to him.

Rubbing her back with his broad hand, John whispered that everything was going to be okay. Shannon appreciated the contact. Her emotions were at a boil.

Duncan stepped out of his office to see who was there. The looks on their faces must have been pretty grim.

“What happened?”

They filled him in on what had occurred. John tossed him the spike and urged her off his lap, then motioned her down for a kiss. “I’ll be back. I want to talk to the kid.”

Duncan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Are you okay?”

Shannon nodded and pushed him toward the elevator after John. “I’m fine. You probably need to be down there when they talk to him.”

Her boss watched her for a second, as if to reassure himself she was indeed good.

“Go! Preston is down there alone with that guy.”

With a final nod, the elevator doors closed behind them and they disappeared.

Shannon sank down into her office chair with a shudder. Hopefully they wouldn’t be gone long. She was as curious as anybody about why the kid kept showing up, but she knew her presence down there would probably not be conducive to him talking.

At loose ends, she walked into Duncan’s office to look out the window at the dark night. Preston’s Humvee was parked directly below the office, but the snowy street was quiet. Lights twinkled across the city, but she wished desperately she could see what was going on directly below her. Within ten minutes, a Denver PD squad car pulled up behind Preston’s truck, and the officer got out and headed for the front of the building.

Shannon stood watching the street as long as her tired feet could hold her, then she sank down into Duncan’s chair. She tucked her feet beneath her and shut her eyes, just for a moment.

J
ohn fought to calm the rage inside him. The kid, Jennings, wouldn’t say a word about why he was so into Shannon. Everything else he was very forthcoming with, but not about her. John had enough information in his head, though, that he should be able to track down the reason within a few hours. The cop had stepped in when John got too aggressive, and it had pissed him off to no end. The only thing Duncan could do was file trespassing charges against Jennings, and he hesitated to do that. Technically, the kid hadn’t done anything wrong, just waited to talk to Shannon. When that hadn’t gotten him anywhere, he’d changed the story to say he’d wanted to speak to Duncan about the progress with his therapy.

Jennings and Duncan had spoken for several minutes, then Jennings had been free to go, with a warning not to return to the LNF office building unless he’d made an appointment ahead of time. Something in his gaze, as it slid away, told John he would see Jennings again.

Without waiting for anybody else, he shoved toward the elevator. Shannon was upstairs alone, and that made him worry. The elevator doors opened immediately, and he rolled inside. Preston slipped in behind him and left Duncan to finish up with the cop. John was glad he didn’t have to deal with all the public relations bullshit. They’d be out of business in a minute if it were left up to him. There was one thing he did need to do, though.

“Thanks for getting to her as quick as you did.”

“No problem, Gunny.”

Shannon wasn’t in the outer office, and she didn’t respond when he called her name. Preston jogged down the hallway to the restrooms and John rolled for the break room. When he didn’t find her there, and Preston walked up the hallway shaking his head, John’s heart began to thud painfully and his throat began to ache. Had Jennings been a decoy while somebody else snuck in the back way and snatched her?

He found her curled up in the big office chair behind Duncan’s desk, her tiny feet tucked beneath her. Every muscle in John’s body quivered with tension he had no release for. She was safe, but he was having a reaction as if something had happened to her. As quietly as he could, he backed out of the office and pulled the door shut. Then he sat staring at the door as his body calmed.

“Did you find her?”

He nodded but didn’t turn around. “She’s asleep.”

Preston chuckled, and it was the first time John had ever heard the man do that. The sound was curious enough to make him turn around and look up at him in surprise.

“Gunny, you better let that poor girl sleep at night. She’s got a lot going on right now.”

John snorted, then chuckled, and it was exactly the release he needed. Preston had managed to hone in on the most lighthearted aspect of the night and spotlight it. “Hey, it’s been a while. What can I say? I’ve got catching up to do.”

He reached out and clasped hands with the big man. “You’re all right, Preston.”

Shannon stepped out of the office then, rumpled and bleary eyed. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, Shannon.” John reached out, and as naturally as breathing brought her down onto his lap. She pressed her lips to his, and wrapped her arms around him. She had to be the sweetest weight he’d ever carried. He rubbed her back up and down.

Shannon let him cuddle her for a minute, then pulled back to look him in the face. “So, what’s going on with Jennings?”

John shrugged lightly, trying to keep the anger off his face. “Nothing right now. He got a warning to stay away from the building unless he has an appointment.”

Pursing her lips, Shannon nodded once. “Did he say anything about me? Why he looks at me like I broke his toy? Any hints?”

“No.”

John wished he could wipe the dismay from her expression, but he didn’t know how. He continued to rub her back and just let her know he was there.

The elevator dinged and Duncan stepped off, just as grim faced. He forced a smile for Shannon, though. “Don’t worry, Shannon. Old Frank knows not to let him in the building now unless I let him know he’s coming ahead of time.”

“Thanks, Duncan.” She smiled at him and winked. “Maybe I’ll get some overtime into pay for all this security.”

John chuckled and let her slip off his lap. Duncan glared at her. “No, you won’t be working. Go into the lounge and chill out, both of you. We’ll order take-out while we decide what to do.”

They settled on Chinese. Again. John headed to his office to work on something. Shannon ordered while Preston flipped channels on the big flat-screen mounted to the wall. He settled on a show about sharks and the Great Barrier Reef. Shannon thought it was appropriate for the big ex-soldier, and sat on the couch catty-corner from his chair. “Have you ever been there?”

“No.”

Guess that was the end of that conversation. Restless, she rose and headed to John’s office.

Hunched over the computer, he didn’t even look up when she entered. Shannon thought he seemed excited. “What do you see?”

His dark eyes flicked to hers. “For shits and giggles, I had Preston mount a camera with an attached transmitter to the tree where we noticed the snow was brushed off the other day.”

“Did it record something?” She leaned over his shoulder to peer at the screen. Excitement sped up her heart as she followed the line of his finger. The video was in black and white, but it captured a lean figure as he knelt at the end of her driveway. Even her sharp eyes couldn’t see anything distinguishing about the person, although something seemed vaguely familiar. The camera was too far away to see their face, just a lean shape as they hunched over, packing the barbs in the snow. John tapped a couple of keys, and the camera zoomed in, but the image degraded too much to be visible.

“It’s not Mike. I actually had doubt about the prison keeping track of him. But it’s definitely not him. Too skinny.”

“Okay. Does the person look familiar at all?”

Shannon racked her brain trying to figure out who it was, but the video was too far away. “Not really.”

She must have sounded frustrated, because he turned enough to catch her gaze. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out. With any luck the camera will pick up a license plate or something.”

But it didn’t. The person stood and stepped out of view and the camera stopped recording. The next image was of Preston’s truck tire just before it pulled into the driveway.

John stopped the recording and pivoted to face her. “Obviously they didn’t see the camera, so we’ll leave it there for the time being and hope the guy slips up.”

Shannon ran her hand across her brow, so incredibly tired.

“Why don’t you go lie down on the bunk for a while. We’re probably going to be here for at least an hour or so.”

Too tired to argue, Shannon pressed a kiss to his forehead and turned away, but John stopped her with his hand on hers. He tilted his head up, and Shannon gladly rested her lips on his. She needed this closeness that was growing between them, and it make her incredibly happy that John seemed to need it too. “I just wish this was all done so we could concentrate on us.”

He squeezed her hand, then let her go. “I know.”

Surprisingly, she slept like a log for two hours on the lumpy futon. And when she woke, famished, Duncan microwaved the Chinese for her and sat with her while she ate it. She must have looked like she was searching for John. “He’s still on the computer.”

Shannon nodded. She’d assumed as much.

“We had a call back from Quillen at Denver PD.”

Shannon didn’t like the way Duncan was looking at her. “What did he find?”

“He sent over a clip of the footage, and it looks like the phone was placed in the booking room by a nurse. Reddish-blond hair, five-six. She was a PRN nurse by the name of Lisa Dixon.”

No
. “Lisa Dixon? Are you sure of that?”

Duncan nodded regretfully. “John says he recognized her, but you ought to go in and confirm it.”

She didn’t even realize she was running until she slammed through John’s office doorway. “Can I see the clip, please?”

John typed a couple of things and double-clicked on a file. The back of Lisa’s head flashed onto the screen. The strawberry blond was brightly distinctive in the dingy gray of the booking area. The view was obstructed, but it looked like she reached into her left pocket, pulled something out and placed it at the back of the booking counter, under a shelf.

Shannon was heartsick. She’d known Lisa for a year now, and thought she was a friend. They’d shopped together and grilled together, and they’d comforted each other over men. “There has to be some other explanation. She can’t be the one that did all those things.”

“No,” John agreed, “but she’s a lead we need to check out. I don’t think she did everything either, but we need to know more about her. Who is she involved with? What about her family?”

Shannon sank down to the chair across from his desk, and tried to get her mind in order. “The guy she dates is kind of off and on. I’ve never met him. I think they’ve been dating for almost a year.”

Disbelief still had her shaking her head. “What possible reason would she have to do anything to me? I’ve only ever been a friend to her.”

Nausea turned her stomach at the betrayal, but John reached out and squeezed her hand. “Let’s just wait and see. Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks.”

Shannon made a face at him. “Seriously?”

“Okay, I know it looks bad. We’ll get to the bottom of this, Shannon.”

Who would have ever thought that John Palmer would be encouraging her to look for the good in people?

“So, what’s the plan?”

John grinned at her, obviously pleased with her response. “Let’s go talk to Duncan.”

Between the four of them, it was decided that Preston would go out to the house, clear the driveway and scout the area. When Lisa got home, Shannon would ask her over to talk. John and Duncan would be inside the house, and Preston would watch from the outside.

Shannon didn’t like the plan at all. She felt like she hadn’t had long enough to think things out, and she was afraid she would flub something when they talked to her. John had given her a list of things to say and do.

“You’ll be fine, Shannon. We’ll be there as well. Are you worried about her hurting you?”

“No,” she gasped, horrified at the thought. “I think that’s the problem. She’s a nurse, and my friend. She wouldn’t hurt me for anything. These things that have been happening to me have been escalating, and I just don’t see her doing it.”

John looked skeptical, but he didn’t contradict her outright.

“We’ll take it slow, and be subtle,” Duncan promised.

Forty minutes later, they pulled into Shannon’s freshly cleared driveway. They had an hour before Lisa got home from her night shift at the hospital. Preston was nowhere to be seen, but she’d kind of expected that. He was probably watching them, though. They all piled out of Duncan’s extended cab truck and trooped up to her door. They had time to kill. Shannon fed and played with the kittens, and did a load of laundry. John ghosted after her, and it was almost as if he was afraid to let her out of his sight.