Person of Interest (7 page)

She pulled in a deep breath. “A few weeks after Paula’s death, Mason began making inappropriate comments around me. I ignored them at first and gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking he didn’t realize what he was saying. I wondered if I was overreacting and making more of his statements than I should have. Especially since he was the head of the CID office.”

“And those subtle and not-so-subtle comments continued for some time?”

She nodded, remembering her upset as Mason continued to taunt her. “I tried to ignore him, but that was difficult, to say the least. When things got too intense, I’d leave work, claiming I had an appointment or needed to see my company commander. As I mentioned earlier, he never said anything questionable when others could hear him.”

“Did he get the message?”

“I think it made him mad. He started following me after work. I was afraid to go home. Sometimes I’d drive through the German countryside to elude him.”

“But he must have had access to your address and knew where you lived.”

“My name and address were on the duty roster so, of course, he knew. A few times, I noticed a sedan parked outside my apartment. He drove a midsize four-door sedan at that time. I’m not sure of the exact make or model. If I saw his car, I’d keep the lights off and hoped he thought I wasn’t home.”

“Maybe it was another guy who was interested in you, someone you had dated?”

She shook her head. “I... I didn’t have time to date. I was taking college courses online that required extensive reading. My days were full between work and school.”

“Except you had the added worry of Mason.”

“That’s it exactly.” Maybe Everett did understand how she had felt. “Mason asked me to work late a number of times. I told him I couldn’t. One Sunday, he called and requested a certain file from the office. I made up an excuse. He became angry and said I needed to remember that he was the boss and insinuated he’d bring me up on some type of charge.”

“You should have registered a grievance.”

“I realize that now.” She glanced out the window, thinking of that dark time in her life that had overpowered her in Germany.

“Mason’s threats became more insistent,” she continued. “He’d phone in the middle of the night and hang up when I answered. At two different times, my tires were slashed. The
polizei
blamed it on vandals, but Mason always made a comment the next day at work that made me know he was involved. His taunts turned to threats. He said he’d make me regret rejecting him.”

She bit her lip and hesitated for a long moment, trying to find the words to explain her actions. “You probably think I was foolish not to have taken action against him, but it’s the way I had always reacted to problems. I packed my bag and left Detroit to get away from my overcontrolling mom and my bad home life. In my mind, it was safer to run away than to confront a difficult situation.”

She raked her hand through her hair and sighed. “Plus, I... I didn’t want anything negative on my military record, and I knew Mason could have hurt me both physically and militarily. The only way to guarantee my good name and my safety was to leave Germany and the military. At the time, I thought I was making the right decision.”

“You transferred back to the States and put in your paperwork to transition out of the military?”

“That’s right.”

“But you ended up at the same post to which Mason was eventually transferred.” Everett pursed his lips before he continued. “Some might think it was prearranged.”

The statement cut into her heart. She had shared the information with Everett to make him aware of who Mason really was.

Steeling her spine, she stood. “You can see it however you want, Everett, but I’m telling the truth.”

Sofia’s cry sounded from the nursery. Glad for a reason to escape the CID agent’s penetrating gaze, Natalie hurried to the bedroom and lifted the baby into her arms. As much as she wanted to soothe the infant, she also wanted to console her own troubled heart. Why wouldn’t Everett believe her and see Mason for who he really was?

* * *

Everett strode outside, trying to make sense of what Natalie had said. She seemed sincere, but, as much as he wanted to believe her, he needed evidence to substantiate her accusations against Mason.

Frustrated by his own inability to sort out the truth, he grabbed Natalie’s suitcases and the baby’s extra tote from her car and placed them in the rear of his SUV. Then he switched Sofia’s car seat for the trip to Atlanta.

Once the baby’s seat was securely installed, he moved both cars and parked his SUV in front of the cabin. His steps were heavy as he climbed the stairs to the porch. Opening the front door, he stopped short.

Natalie sat on the couch with the baby in her arms. Sofia hungrily sucked from a bottle. Her small hand clasped Natalie’s finger.

Not wanting to disrupt the serenity of the moment, he stood staring at the two of them as Natalie smiled down at the baby. The concern that had lined her face earlier had been replaced with a sweet joy that tugged at his heart. For too long, he’d ignored an inner yearning to have a woman in his life. This morning, the emptiness he had refused to acknowledge seemed all too real.

His parents were happily married. He’d grown up thinking he’d eventually find someone special. There had been one girl, but she wasn’t interested in a long-distance relationship nor the nomadic military life. After that he focused on his job and never allowed time for anything outside of the military.

Why would he feel a surge of longing now in the middle of an investigation? Even more disconcerting was his attraction toward the one person who had a very real connection to not only Tammy Yates’s death but also Denise Lang’s murder.

Everett had made a mistake once. He couldn’t accept or discard the information Natalie had provided without substantiating her statements.

He had to find out the truth about Natalie. He needed to find out the truth about Mason, also. Both their futures hung in the balance.

She glanced up, as if just realizing he was staring at her. The need for acceptance flashed from her eyes before she turned her gaze once again to the baby.

Hoping to bring his full attention back to the investigation, Everett wiped his feet on the entryway rug and closed the door behind him.

“Almost ready?” he asked a bit too briskly.

Natalie lifted the baby to her shoulder. “Sofia needs to be burped, then I’ll grab her things.”

“Stay where you are. I’ll get them.”

“Is something wrong?” She stared at him as he crossed the room to the nursery.

She must have heard the harshness in his voice. Instead of keeping his internal turmoil in check, he’d made his own frustration evident in the sharpness of his tone. Natalie didn’t deserve his gruffness.

“I’m just eager to get going.”

He couldn’t tell her about the mixed emotions that only served to pull him off task and away from the investigation to something much more personal. All too aware that Natalie’s nearness was playing havoc with his common sense, he entered the baby’s room and quickly placed Sofia’s things back in the diaper bag. Glancing into the living room, he watched Natalie carry the baby to the window and stare out into the gray dawn.

As if again feeling his gaze, she turned to stare at him, her eyes filled with question.

Grabbing the diaper bag, he returned to the living area and pointed to the door. “Let’s get going.”

She moved away from the window. Before she’d taken three steps, the crack of a gunshot sounded in the early-morning stillness.

The window shattered. Shards of glass flew like shrapnel through the air.

In one swoop, Everett covered Natalie and the infant with his body and pulled them to the floor.

She screamed. The baby cried.

He drew his weapon. “Stay down.”

Crawling to the window, he peered over the edge of the sill and searched for movement. Hampered by the faint morning light, he hurried back to her side. “I’ll check the grounds.”

“Be careful, Everett.”

He squeezed her hand and slipped out the kitchen door. Staying close to the side of the cabin, he stared at the expansive lawn and the lake beyond, then slowly and methodically, he circled the building, his eyes on the forest that edged the property. Every few steps, he stopped, narrowed his gaze and searched for anything out of the norm that would indicate a person hiding in the underbrush.

Even though he saw no one, the shooter could still be hiding nearby. Everett returned to the cabin and motioned Natalie, with the baby in her arms, toward the door.

“We’ve got to get out of here. I’ll step onto the porch first. Stay back until I signal you.”

She nodded and cradled Sofia close to her heart.

Everett inched open the cabin’s front door and stared at the gravel drive and surrounding tree cover. The shooter could be anywhere.

He pulled in a deep breath and counted to ten before he stepped onto the porch, gun raised and at the ready.

Turning his ear, he listened for any sound that might indicate movement. A squirrel scampered up a tree. Overhead, a crow cawed.

Moving swiftly, he opened the car’s rear door and waved Natalie forward. Then he stood guard with his gun extended while she and the baby raced from the cabin and climbed into the backseat of the SUV. She clicked the baby into the car seat and adjusted her own seat belt.

“No one’s following us,” Everett said as they left the gravel driveway and turned onto the narrow country road.

“It was Mason,” she insisted. “Frank told him where to find me.”

Everett had instructed Frank to keep information from the senior CID agent. Had he ignored the advice?

A heavy weight settled on his shoulders. If Natalie was telling the truth about Germany, then the shooter at the cabin could be the person who had killed Tammy Yates and Denise Lang. Just as Natalie had said, that person could be Mason.

SEVEN

N
atalie’s pulse throbbed, and her heart pounded at breakneck speed as the countryside flew past them. Everett’s gaze flicked between the road ahead and the rearview mirror. His hands gripped the steering wheel white-knuckled, which made her all too aware of the gravity of the situation. They were exposed and vulnerable.

Again, she glanced over her shoulder at the long stretch of empty roadway behind them. The rising sun hovered low on the horizon and bathed the world in a soft glow that should have brought comfort; instead, she felt a chilling need to run away from whatever and whoever was following them.

Could Denise’s boyfriend be the assailant? Would he have killed Denise and then driven to post to kill Tammy Yates? If so, what would be his motive?

Her insides turned to jelly as realization hit. There was only one way to explain both deaths. Natalie had thought of it before, but now she was even surer of the man tied to both crimes.

Mason!

Everything led back to him.

She shivered, not from the cold, but from fear that she would never be free from his evil manipulation.

“No one’s on our tail,” Everett assured her from the front of the car, as if he recognized her inner struggle.

“Maybe he followed you from post.” Natalie gave voice to a likely explanation of how Mason had tracked her down.

Another thought came to her.

What if the two CID agents were working together and Everett knew Mason was lying in wait until the perfect moment to strike.

She’d awakened once and heard something outside the cabin. Pulling back the curtain, she’d seen Everett staring at the lake. Had he left the house to talk to Mason and plan the morning strike?

Only one bullet had fired, and thankfully both she and the baby had stepped away from the window and the flying shards of glass in time. If the gunshot had been to scare her instead of doing harm, Mason could be playing with her, trying to assert his dominance and control.

Her hands trembled as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and stared at Everett. If only she could sort through the confusion that surrounded her. Right now, she wasn’t sure of anything except that someone was after her. Glancing down at Sofia, asleep in her car seat, a swell of determination and resolve filled her.

Whatever happened, she had to protect this precious little one from Mason, from Denise’s killer, and even from Everett, if need be. Bottom line, when it came to Sofia’s safety, she could trust no one.

Gazing out the window at the passing landscape, Natalie remembered words of scripture she’d heard from a street-corner preacher who had tried to bring faith to the chaos of her Detroit neighborhood.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

If only she could.

* * *

Everett’s worst nightmare had come true. Someone had fired a shot through the cabin window that could have struck Natalie and the baby. He hadn’t been vigilant enough to realize the danger. Instead, he’d slipped into a complacency that had almost gotten Natalie killed.

Needing to relay the information to the CID at Fort Rickman, he reached for his cell and punched Frank’s number. His longtime buddy answered on the second ring, sounding groggy with sleep.

“Morning, sunshine. Sorry I woke you.”

“What’s up, Rett?”

“Someone fired a shot through the cabin window this morning.”

“Anyone hurt?”

“Negative. We’re on the road, heading to Atlanta. So far no one’s following us.”

“Did you see the shooter?”

“No sign of him at all.”

“Strange, eh?”

“You’ve got that right.” Everett glanced at Natalie in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were wide, her face drawn. “Did you tell Mason where Natalie was staying?”

“Of course not. You wanted me to keep that close hold, which I did. Even if you hadn’t mentioned your concern, I wouldn’t have provided the information. Mason’s doing everything right, but he’s still the husband in what could be a domestic-violence death. I’m not sharing anything with him. Is that understood?”

“Glad we’re both on the same page. He needs to be questioned, and keep your eye on him. Check that he’s at the Lodge and hasn’t been wandering around a certain fishing cabin.”