Love Inspired Suspense June 2014 Bundle 1 of 2: Undercover Marriage\Collateral Damage\Forgotten Past (46 page)

He stopped smiling when their eyes met. “Once we get to the house, we'll take a look at it,” he said almost to himself and moved closer. His hand threaded through her hair, bringing her still closer. He was going to kiss her. She couldn't think of anything she wanted more.

Close by, a car horn blared, and they jumped guiltily apart.

Faith's hand flew to cover her pounding heart and JT laughed sheepishly. “I think maybe we'd better try to stay focused on what we're doing. We don't want to escape the person chasing you only to have a car hit us in a parking lot. Come on, I could use some coffee.”

The bell above the diner's door jingled their arrival to the handful of patrons and staff. No one seemed particularly interested in them. The sign by the register said, “Seat Yourself,” so they did. JT took her arm and directed her to the back of the diner where no one else sat. He waited for her to slide into the booth and then he scooted in next to her, facing the door with the windows revealing the entire parking lot and the highway to their left. They could see anyone coming or going into the place.

“Can I get you two some coffee?” a pencil-thin waitress with a pile of orange hair on top of her head asked. She had to be sixty at least.

“Yes.” JT glanced at Faith who nodded. “Make it two.”

The waitress brought two cups overfilled and sloshing with coffee. “Cream? Sugar?”

“Both,” JT said. “And could we see a menu?” The waitress dumped sugar packets and creamers on the table and left.

Faith emptied two sugars and a creamer in her coffee, before stirring it to perfection. When the waitress returned she brought a couple of menus and waited for them to decide, tapping her pencil against her pad somewhat impatiently.

“What's good here?” JT seemed to be the only one speaking for them but she just couldn't come up with any words. Her thoughts were spinning in a dozen different directions.

“We're famous for our Western omelets.” She smacked her gum and grinned at them.

“Then make it two.” He closed the menu and handed them both back to the woman, who left them alone.

Faith could feel JT watching her. “No one could have predicted the murders or my attack.” JT's sleep-deprived, rough voice interrupted her tortured thoughts.

She took a sip of coffee. “
I
should have. With everything that's happened, I should have seen this outcome and never gotten you and Will involved.”

He covered her hand with his. “You didn't ask for any of this to happen—it just did. Don't start taking the blame for what you couldn't have any way of controlling. He's used your guilt against you in the past, and it's time to put the blame where it belongs. On him. When we catch him, he'll answer for his crimes.”

Their eyes met in a long, lingering look. Her heart melted. JT was such a good man. He'd been through so much in his own life yet he'd found a way to rise above his pain. Now he was going out on a limb to help her, and she owed him so much. He'd never once wavered in his belief in her innocence, even after the murders of those two officers. She so wanted to be the person he saw in her.

“You're just as much a victim as those two officers,” he told her with conviction. “You didn't deserve any of this.”

“I know that in my head, but in my heart, well, it's hard.”

“I realize that it is, but if we have any hope of getting through this I need you to be angry. Fight. Don't give in to the guilt.”

He was doing everything in his power to keep her safe. She needed to do her part and not give up.

“Here are your omelets. I hope you enjoy them. Let me know if I can get you anything else.” The waitress set their food in front of them and hurried to help another customer.

JT pointed to her plate. “Better eat up. We need to maintain our energy level so that we can keep fighting.” Faith's appetite had returned in full force, reminding her it had been hours since she'd last eaten. She polished off most of the omelet and toast. Two cups of coffee later, the caffeine caught up with her. She felt almost normal again.

“Ready?” JT took out his wallet and left money on the table. He rose to his feet and held out his hand to her.

“Yes.”

“Good. We're almost there. God willing, this'll all be over soon.”

He had no idea how much she hoped his words proved true.

* * *

JT pulled out of the parking lot and headed up the coastal highway. His phone rang and he answered it through the vehicle's hands-free speaker system.

It was Derek. “Where are you guys?”

“Almost to the house. We should be there in half an hour. What's going on there?” JT didn't miss the tension crackling in his colleague's tone.

“I've been keeping a close eye on the storm from here. The good news is, Tyler's been downgraded to a category 2 after all the damage it did on Hatton Island.”

“That's something anyway.” JT glanced over at Faith who was hanging on every word. “I think we need to go over the files as soon as possible before the weather deteriorates any further and disrupts cell service. Maybe we can do a conference call later this morning.”

“I'm on my way back to the office now to pick up some things just in case the roads become impassable. I'll meet Teddy over at my place and we'll give you a call in a little while. I know you both have to be dead on your feet, so try to get some sleep. Be careful, JT. This person is unstable and things have started to escalate beyond what any of us could have predicted. Who knows how it's going to end.”

Those ominous words stuck in JT's head.

Once he disconnected the call, Faith asked, “Do you think everyone will get off the island in time?”

“I'm pretty sure they will. We have an excellent team of first responders who help coordinate the evacuation and they anticipate just about every possible problem.” Faith accepted his answer and went back to watching the handful of fishing boats on the horizon.

The sun had inched up further in the sky by the time he turned onto the winding road leading to childhood friend Mark Steven's place. The house itself sat perched high on a rocky cliff, allowing spectacular views of the ocean while offering much-needed protection against most hurricanes.

The first unmarked police car with two plainclothes officers inside was parked a little ways down from the house, off the road and hidden slightly behind a clump of maple trees. JT waved as they passed. As he rounded the final bend in the road, the house spread out before him and he sighed in relief. For the first time since they'd left Hope Island, he felt safe.

JT pulled Will's truck into the garage at the side of the house and then turned to Faith. She had her eyes closed. She'd been fighting sleep for a while.

When the garage door closed behind them, she opened her eyes.

“Come on, let's get you inside,” he said gently before he grabbed their bags, and she followed him into the house. The pain in his side had continued to throb.

Faith noticed it as well. “Let me take a look at your side. You've been favoring it for a while.”

JT dropped their bags by the door. “I think that's a good idea. There are some extra bandages in my bag.”

She took out the bandages while JT unbuttoned his shirt and tried to ease it off. Every little move hurt like crazy. Faith set the supplies on the table and helped him get the shirt off the rest of the way.

Dried blood stained the outside of the bandage. It stuck to his side and he grimaced when she pulled it free.

She glanced up at him, worried. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, I'm fine. Just keep going,” he said through gritted teeth.

Once the bandage was off, the wound was red and ugly, but at least it had stopped bleeding.

“I need to clean it before we put the new bandage on.” She took the medicine the EMT had given them and gently dabbed it on the wound. JT winced. The stuff burned.

“I'm sorry, I know it hurts. I'm almost done.”

He clenched his jaw. “Just finish what you're doing.”

She taped the bandage in place and helped him put his shirt back on. “Thanks. It feels better.”

Her hands rested on the button she'd fastened. “You're welcome.” She was so close. If he leaned in just a bit he could kiss her.

JT cleared his throat and tried to do the same with his straying thoughts. He desperately needed to keep a clear head, but whenever he was with her, his thoughts scattered to the wind. The scriptures said there was a time for everything. Someday, with God's help, maybe there would be a time for them.

“I'm going to bring in the groceries and make some coffee. Want some?”

“No, thanks,” she murmured. “I'm bushed. I think I'll just go to bed.”

“I understand. Do you mind waiting here for a second? Let me scope the place out. Make sure everything's on the up-and-up.”

She stifled a yawn as he went around double-checking the doors and windows, verifying that the house was secure. Outside the window facing the ocean, the second unmarked car had parked behind Mark's storage building.

“Everything's good,” he told her once he went back to the living room. “Thanks to Will, we have plenty of police protection and even if the storm hits Whaler's Point, we're safe here.”

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. I don't know how I can ever repay you for what you're doing. What price can you put on getting your life back?”

His hands circled her arms, holding her in place. Their eyes met. She was thanking him, but she'd done just as much for him. She'd made him realize he wasn't dead, even though he'd simply been going through the motions of living since losing Emily. He didn't want to just try to get through each day anymore.

He leaned close and rested his head against hers. “You don't owe me, Faith. If anything, you've made me realize how precious life is. You've struggled to live every minute of the past two long years. It couldn't have been easy. You make me feel guilty that I've taken my life for granted. I don't want to anymore. I want to live every day without regrets.”

TEN

N
o matter how hard JT tried, sleep proved to be elusive. Although his body screamed for rest, his mind wouldn't shut down. He stared at the ceiling and replayed everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

By eight, he finally gave up, got out of bed, pulled out his laptop and set up shop in Mark's study. After going over the police report from the Jennings' murders for a while without coming across anything useful, JT went to the kitchen and made more coffee. It was just a little past nine in the morning and he needed to do something to clear his head. Making coffee filled that need. He'd poured his first cup when Faith walked in.

“Want some?” he asked.

“Mmm...yes.”

He chuckled at her enraptured expression and pointed to the table. “Sit.”

She took a sip from the mug of coffee he handed her. “Weren't you able to sleep?”

JT set down his cup. “Not really. I was tossing and turning mostly, so I finally gave up and started reviewing the police report. Teddy and Derek are going to call pretty soon to go over it with me.”

“Did you find out anything?”

He wanted to ease her mind but he didn't have anything solid yet, other than what Will had discussed with the detective from Austin and he wasn't quite ready to share that with her just yet. “Not yet. But I promise once we have a better handle on things, you and I will go over everything.”

She let out a sigh and accepted his answer with a nod.

“It's been a crazy few days and this is an amazing house. Mark is an excellent architect and he went all-out on the place. He also has a tremendous library with tons of books about the history of the area. Go have fun, explore the place, just don't leave the house without letting me know. Above all else, try not to be too concerned. Later today, I'd like to take you over to the local gun range and show you the proper way to shoot a weapon. Just to be safe,” he added when worry crept back into her expression. “I want you to be able to protect yourself if needed.”

He took his cup over to the sink. He'd just started rinsing it when his phone rang. “That'll be them now. I'll be in the study if you need anything.” He waited for her to respond before leaving.

JT shut the door to the study and answered the call. “Hey, guys.”

“Everything okay there? You sound a bit frazzled,” Derek said without bothering with pleasantries.

JT wondered when he'd gotten so bad at hiding his feelings. “We're fine. I just didn't get much sleep. Is there any news from Hope Island yet?”

“I spoke to Will a little earlier. The winds have really picked up and the pressure's falling rapidly. At last count, he said they were registering ten-foot waves near the shoreline. At least the streets are empty. Everyone has gotten safely off the island. That's some good news anyway,” Derek said.

“Yes it is. Well, I know you both are busy, so why don't we get started. I'm hoping three sets of fresh eyes on this will help us find something the Austin police didn't...” The beep of call waiting interrupted him. Will's ID popped up on the screen. “Hang on a second. Will's calling. I'll be right back.” JT clicked over. “I wasn't expecting to hear from you with everything you've got on your plate. How are things there?”

“I'm afraid the storm's just starting, but I wanted to call because I have some news. I located the doctor who treated Faith,” Will said in a low voice. “He's practicing in Georgia now. He remembered the details of the case quite well. He was very clear. He never prescribed anything other than some mild pain meds. He has no idea how his name got on the prescription.”

“Clearly, someone kept the prescription current.”

“Obviously. I'm working on getting a list of hospital personnel who might have worked that night. It's a long shot, but right now, I'll take a long shot. Let's hope the fingerprints from the SUV will solve our problem and give us a name. I've had my people go over every name on the trustee list. Everyone checked out. I think it's a dead end.”

Despite his disappointment, an idea occurred to JT. “Do you mind emailing me the list of names?”

“No. What do you have in mind?”

“I want to show the list to Faith. Maybe one of the names will be familiar to her.”

“It's worth a try and we don't really have much more to go on. I'll send it right away. I've left a message for Ben Jennings, but we keep missing each other. I suspect it has a lot to do with the hurricane.” He sighed. “Cell service is terrible right now. I was surprised I got through to you. Anyway, the minute I hear from him, I'll let you know. How's Faith holding up?”

“Okay for now, but I'm not sure how much more she can take.”

“Watch over her—and yourself. You're still a long way from being a hundred percent recovered.”

JT knew this only too well. Even doing the simplest of things constantly reminded him of his injuries.

“The minute the storm clears Hope Island, providing the causeway is passable, I'm going to the island to check for damage. I'll call you when I have news.”

“Great. Thanks, Will.”

When JT clicked back over, Teddy asked, “Anything new?” Teddy had a lot at stake as well. He and Brenda had lived on the island most of their lives.

“Not yet, but the hurricane's just getting started. I'm afraid it's going to be a long twenty-four hours for Will's team and they could use our prayers.”

“That's for sure.”

Switching gears, JT got down to business. “Let's get back to the police report. Anything jump out at the two of you?”

“Well, Derek and I were just saying, from everything we've seen so far, the cops weren't exactly sympathetic to what Faith went through,” Teddy began. “It's almost as if they believed she had something to do with the murders. And from what I've read of the report, it's shoddy at best and it's left me with a whole lot more questions than answers.”

JT remembered Will had told him about the innuendos he'd gotten from the police in Austin. “Like what? What do you mean specifically?”

“For starters, the part about the home invasions on the second page.” Teddy waited for both men to get to the page he indicated. “According to the cops, at the time of the murders there had been a rash of home invasions targeting several wealthy neighborhoods around the city. The perps took jewelry. Electronics. Anything they could fence quickly for easy money. Then there's the matter of the location. The Jennings home wasn't located in town like the others. They lived out in the country, quite some distance from town, in fact.”

“Faith mentioned a fire had been started to cover up the murders.” JT remembered thinking that was odd.

“Yes. With the exception of the one set at Faith's house recently, none of the other incidents included fire. They certainly never murdered anyone before. All the previous houses targeted were empty at the time,” Teddy told them.

“Well, according to what Faith told me, the Jennings weren't supposed to be home, but their plans changed at the last minute. Clearly, they surprised the intruders—assuming there was more than one—by returning early and they panicked. Things got out of hand.”

“Maybe.” Derek didn't sound convinced. “But both victims' bodies seem to indicate they'd been dead for at least an hour before the fire started, which was limited to the living room alone. They'd have had plenty of time to ransack the place and take whatever they wanted. And there were some very valuable items in plain sight, according to the detectives, and yet they didn't take anything.”

JT had to agree with Teddy. The home invasion theory didn't make sense, especially with everything else that had taken place in Faith's life since then. “Did the investigating detectives have any other theories? Any suspects?”

“From what I can see, the only person they ever really liked for the murders was Faith,” Teddy said reluctantly. “I know you don't want to hear this, JT, but we have to check out all aspects of the case. From what I could gather, something about her story didn't add up from the beginning. The fact she was the only one left alive sent up all sorts of red flags. But they didn't have enough evidence to move forward and they couldn't get her off her story.”

JT shook his head. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. “She's not involved.”

“For the record, I don't believe she is, either. I'm just telling you what I know. I'm going to do some more checking. I know Will is trying to reach the two detectives who worked the case originally, but he has his hands full. I'm going to call my friend from Austin and see if he can put me in touch with them.”

“That's a good idea. Do whatever you have to do. Hey, Derek, can you dig deeper into what was going on in Faith's life back then? Since she can't tell us anything about her past, you'll have to rely on whatever information you can find.”

“Sure thing, pal,” Derek said. “I'll let you know as soon as I discover anything.”

JT glanced at his watch and was surprised to find it was late afternoon. They'd been at it for most of the day. “I had no idea we'd been working so long. I really appreciate your help. I owe you both big-time.”

* * *

JT pulled into the empty parking lot of the Whaler's Point gun range and he and Faith went inside. The place was all but empty. No doubt, most would-be customers were preparing for a possible hurricane strike.

The lone attendant, a man who appeared to be in his late fifties, barely spared them a look when he told them to use whichever lane they wanted.

JT handed her headphones and goggles for protection then he took out his Glock, released the safety and handed it to her.

“Stand up straight, feet apart, and remember, whatever you do, you may only get one shot, so aim for the heart. Keep your arm steady and when you squeeze the trigger keep the movement smooth and easy. Don't jerk the gun. The only thing moving should be your trigger finger. Here, let me show you.”

JT moved behind her, his arms circling her waist, and her heart beat a crazy rhythm against her chest. He was inches away. Close enough for her to feel the heat from his body. His hands covered hers on the weapon.

His breath tickled her cheek when he spoke. “Aim for the heart and try not to jerk the gun when you fire it.” Was it just her imagination or was there a huskiness to his voice that hadn't been there before?

Faith turned slightly so that she could look into his eyes to be sure. She caught her breath as their eyes locked, their arms still suspended in midair. The gun in her hand was all but forgotten.

His blue eyes darkened with emotion. He moved slightly and then brushed his lips across hers. A deluge of emotions threatened to sweep her away and she closed her eyes.

The overhead intercom system squawked to life with an announcement that the range would be closing shortly in preparation for the upcoming storm.

Faith's eyes flew open and JT started to chuckle. Soon she couldn't help but join in. Before long, she was laughing so hard tears streamed down her face. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so carefree.

“Talk about bad timing,” JT murmured. “I think maybe that was a sign from above...literally. Let's try this again.”

This time he stepped back and let her do it on her own. Faith aimed the weapon while trying to remember all the things JT had just told her. She held her breath and pulled the Glock's trigger.

“Good. In fact, very good,” JT said, close behind her. She slowly lowered the gun. She'd never fired a weapon before. The thought of having to use it to defend her life scared the daylights out of her.

JT punched the button and brought the target to them. She'd hit the target dead-on.

“Nice shot. If I didn't know better, I'd say you've done this before. Why don't you fire off a few more rounds and then we'll call it a day.”

“I can't believe there's a gun range so close to Mark's house,” Faith told him as they left the building.

“This one's been here forever. When Mark and I were kids, our dads used to take us here.” JT tucked the Glock inside his jacket and hit the remote-entry button to unlock the truck. Once they were both seated inside, he made no move to leave the parking lot.

Faith could tell something was on his mind. “What is it?”

JT took something from his bag. “This is my spare weapon. I want you to keep it close to you at all times, even when we're in the house. Remember what I said. You may only get one shot. Make it count.”

Those words drove home the seriousness of the situation. “Okay.”

Satisfied by her answer, JT turned on the ignition. Before they could leave the parking lot, his phone chirped and he answered it. Faith heard only his half of the conversation, but it was enough to understand it wasn't good news.

“What about the hospital? Can you get permission to check their database? Good. Let me know the minute you have anything.”

“What happened?” she asked after the call ended.

JT put the truck in gear and they left the parking lot, merging into the light evening traffic. “That was Will. The results from the fingerprints came in. We couldn't find a match in IAFIS, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.”

Frustrated, she turned in her seat so she could better see him. “So what does that mean exactly?”

“It means whoever attacked me doesn't have a criminal record. His fingerprints aren't in the system.”

The small amount of happiness she'd felt earlier at spending time with JT evaporated. “In other words, we're back to square one.”

She couldn't believe it.

“Not necessarily. Will is getting authorization to check other databases like the one for all government and state employees. I suggested he try to get access to the hospital where you were treated. Most institutions such as hospitals require their employees to be fingerprinted.”