The Reckoning (3 page)

“My spidey senses are tingling. I’ve got Lily, Claire, and John with me. We were going over wedding plans, so it has to be one of you two.” Emma’s strained voice was laced with concern.

“You must be losing your touch, Emma. Both of us are fine.”

Thompson glanced between the two conversations, and his eyes widened in alarm, his palm resting on the hilt of his revolver as he listened. Nothing out of the ordinary hit Mike; just a few onlookers lingered in the area. Hell, even Abby wasn’t in the condo with the blue stuff.

“Smartass, just be careful. You and Abby need to keep an eye on each other. The feeling hasn’t gone away.”

While none of his sisters had the gift of foresight, Emma’s gift had never been wrong before. If his sister thought one of them was in trouble, then one of them was in trouble. It was better to err on the side of caution than to wait around for a possible threat to attack.

“I think you’re done here, Abby. Where’s Sam?”

“He flew out to
Washington
this morning and will be home tomorrow. And since when do you get to tell me what to do? Lucky for
you
, I am done here.” Abby threw her hands in the air. “Why the hell do you think I’m outside talking to you in the first place?”

Mike noticed Thompson still standing alert. Mike was grateful that Thompson was on their side, another trained agent with a gun was a good thing to have on their side in times of trouble. He’d been a friend of Butch’s in years past, but leave it to his sisters to pick up all of the available strays in the area that needed matchmaking. Abby shook her head and grabbed her gear; leaving them standing there watching her walk toward her SUV
. Damn women
.

Thompson patted him on the back and pointed at Abby getting into her vehicle. “No denying she’s your sister, and it doesn’t look like she’s waiting around for you either.”

“Shit, Emma is going to kill me if I let her out of my sight.” Mike hurried and jumped into his SUV and followed his little sister back to the police station. Abby could take care of herself if it came down to it. He’d taught all of his sisters how to handle themselves in a fight. He’d been proud of Abby and all that she’d overcome to make a career for herself while she was raising her son, John. They hadn’t always had the easy road, but they’d trucked along just the same. When Mike’s mother and father had died, he’d had to step up to the plate and be the man of the house, and he’d done his job. Abby was proof of it. Truth be told, he was proud of all of his sisters and the women they’d turned out to be.

Mike parked his SUV next to Abby’s and walked her inside the precinct. “Did you chicken out when you saw
Elizabeth
at the hospital? Do I need to go smooth things over?”

“Nope, I’ve got it under control.” There were only a handful of people that seemed able to aggravate him and knew just what buttons to push; all of his sisters had mastered the skill long ago. It seemed the little doctor had just picked up the skill in the last two years. Fighting with her is half the fun and he wondered if she saw it the same way he did.

Mike left Abby when she walked into her lab, and he continued down the hall to his own office and plopped down in his leather chair. The precinct hadn’t changed much in the years he’d been employed there. There’d been a new coat of paint and a few new faces, but it was his second home, and he wouldn’t trade it. His white walls didn’t hold any family pictures, just the awards he’d been given and a frame holding his college degree. His computer, phone and a picture of his sisters were the only thing sitting on his clean desk. The more time he spent at work, the less time Claire had to play matchmaker. His sister couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to be alone; she’d also never had his gift to deal with.

Yep, he knew what was going on with her and Mrs. A, the unofficial matchmaker, but there wasn’t much he could do about it except stay busy and out of their way.

A tap on his door pulled him from his thoughts; he leaned back in his chair and studied the man in his doorway. Ted Harrington was the office’s resident IT guy; and one that didn’t come just to visit. Emma’s warning and Ted standing at his door, didn’t give Mike a fuzzy feeling. Mike didn’t have to read Ted’s mind, just his body language, told him that this visit wasn’t going to be a good one. Mike’s gut tightened. “What’s up, Ted? Are you looking for Abby?”

Ted nervously glanced down the hall. “No, she’s not on her way here, is she?” Ted glanced down the hall once more. “I need to talk to you about something I found.”

Mike regarded the computer genius with curiosity as he fidgeted from one foot to the other and tightened his grip on the file in his hands. Mike tipped his head toward the empty seat in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”

Whatever had the forensic IT guy nervous didn’t bode well, especially since he didn’t want Abby to hear about it yet.

Mike pushed away from his chair and walked to the door, pushing it closed, something he almost never did. He rounded his desk and sat back down in his chair. Resting his elbows on his desk, he waited and watched as Ted glanced down at his hands.

“Spill it,” Mike said. The fact that Ted was there to see him at all, told him whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good news. Ted never came in his office, he’d always confided in Abby.

“You know how you and Abby wanted me to pull the file on all of those children when Claire was threatened?”

Ted had been instrumental in figuring out that Andrew Pearson had been after Claire. The computer genius had pulled up the children of every convicted felon and acquaintance and aged them. They had figured it was a revenge of some sort, but who was behind it had been a mystery to all of them. Ted was a genius in all things techy, and it was probably because of him that Abby had found Andrew in time and helped to save Claire’s life. If anything, Mike owed this man his patience and friendship.

“Yeah.”

“Well, I wanted to be thorough, so even though you guys figured out it was Andrew behind the threats, I finished looking.”

Mike crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles tensed, and he ground his teeth. If Ted had found another threat, he didn’t know how he was going to tell the girls. They’d all been through so much in the last two years. “And?”

“Well…” Ted looked down at his shoes. “I don’t know how to tell you this.”

“Just say it. Whatever
it
is, just tell me.”

“Your dad was married before he met your mom.”

Mike threw his head back and laughed. There was no way that his father hadn’t mentioned something as important as that. “You must be confused.”

Ted stood and squared his shoulders, looking Mike in the eye. “I know this is a shock, but it’s true. She died giving birth.”

Mike leaned back in his chair. His thoughts were scrambled, trying to make sense of what this meant. His dad had never told them, any of them. Had he even told their mom?  Mike cleared his throat, “What happened to the baby?”

Ted held out a piece of paper that Mike took from his hand. “Her name was Lydia Bennett, and this is her death certificate.”

Mike’s heart plummeted. A sister he’d never knew about and would never have the opportunity to get to know. Mike hung his head as he scanned the document, blinking in disbelief. His heart clenched. How was he going to tell his sisters about this? Mike stood and extended his hand to Ted. “Thank you.”

“No Mike, You don’t understand, there’s more, and I think you need to sit so I can explain.”

“There’s more?” Mike slumped back into his chair.

“You know how you wanted me to age all of the children so you could see who you were dealing with?

Mike nodded.

“Well, the doctor that delivered the baby had been a stickler for keeping pictures of all of the births he performed. It took some work, but I got my hands on his picture of
Lydia
. A very live red-headed baby girl, and I aged her picture, running it through my database, and I got a hit.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I thought you said she was dead.” Mike’s voice boomed through the office.

Ted sat back down, clasping a file in his hand. “My program is set up to search the pictures of all public files and some not-so-public files. I put her aged picture through the program, just to be thorough. I wasn’t expecting to find anything, so when I printed the report, I was just as stunned as you.”

Ted handed him the file. “The birth certificate on the top belongs to one Lydia Stevens, born the same day. I don’t have all of her history, but her picture produced a hit along with an identification card from
Atkinson
College
.”

Mike grabbed his keys from his desk and stood.

“Where are you going?”

“To find her,” Mike said.

“You’re not going to be able to; she’s off the grid. I haven’t been able to track any of her movements, since college.”

Mike narrowed his eyes as he clutched the file. His blood pressure was rising through the roof; he could feel his face turning red. He closed his eyes and let out a breath, trying to rein in his control. He opened his eyes and again returned to his seat. “What do you mean she’s off the grid? And this time just tell me everything at once.”

Ted stayed in his office for a half an hour going over the details of what he thought had happened to
Lydia
. It seemed that her aunt had raised her as her own. She’d even kept the first name of
Lydia
but gave her own last name of Stevens. She’d grown up Lydia Stevens. Mike wondered if his dad had even known. He shook his head; there was no way in hell his dad had known. He would have fought the woman and kept his child. Mike glanced up at Ted. “Thank you for this.” He held up the file and shook it. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to any of my sisters until I find her.”

Mike sat in his office long after Ted left. He’d searched through the skimpy file that Ted had given him, looking for any clues on where he could start his search. He’d decided against telling his sisters until he found her or at least had something more to tell them. He’d have to keep his thoughts about something other than
Lydia
while he was at Claire’s tonight. Although he didn’t believe that Claire would read his mind; he wasn’t going to chance it.

Mike glanced up at the clock. “Damn, I’m going to be late.”

He locked the important file in his desk, grabbed his keys, and hurried home to get ready, arriving at
Elizabeth
’s house right on time.

****

Elizabeth
dropped her keys on the wooden table in the foyer and let out a breath. It had been a long day. She wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. The last thing she wanted was to get dressed up to go to Claire’s house, but she would because it was the right thing to do. Claire and her family had been nice to her since she’d moved here, possibly her only friends outside of work and she wouldn’t risk that even if she did have to ride with Mike. She’d been relieved to see the lights in the parking garage fixed when she’d come out; no doubt that Mike had his hand in getting them replaced. He’d proved her wrong. He wasn’t just a pretty face with a bad attitude. She giggled. He would have done it for any woman not just her. The security issues alone would have bugged him until it was fixed.

Elizabeth
pulled a beer from the fridge and walked to her closet. Pulling out a nice outfit, she laid it on her bed. She hurried through her shower, slapped on some makeup, and dried her long chestnut hair as she finished her beer. She needed something to calm her nerves being in closed quarters with Mike. She’d just finished dressing when she heard her doorbell ring.
Elizabeth
let out a breath and pulled the door open and turned to get her purse.

“Doc, you should always ask who it is before you open your front door, and come to think of it, I didn’t even hear you unlock it.” Mike had his big muscular arms crossed over his chest as he shook his head. “Didn’t your daddy ever tell you that there are bad men in the world?”

“Don’t you ever stop working, Bennett? I knew you were coming. Besides, the psychos in town
only
go after the Bennett women, which I’m not.”

“No you’re just going to have dinner with them. You may not be related, but have you ever heard of the word, association?
Elizabeth
, you should really be more cautious.”

Elizabeth
locked the door and grabbed Mike by the arm. “If I wanted a lecture, I’d call my dad. Let’s get this over with.”

Elizabeth
struggled like a schoolgirl with a crush. No, she wasn’t affected by the muscles straining beneath her palm or the way his jeans hung on his hips or his T-shirt stretched tight against his chest. No, this man didn’t affect her at all.
Elizabeth
lifted a hand to fan her face; nope not at all.

Elizabeth
climbed into the SUV, pulling the door closed behind her. Mike hopped in on his side. She’d been rude to Mike at the door. Her daddy did teach her better than that.
Elizabeth
tempted to put a smile on her face and start the evening over. “Thanks for getting the lights fixed.”