Kitabı oku: «Trail Of Evidence»

Dedicated to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank You for giving me the passion to write and to write for You.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Epigraph

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

ONE

Veterinarian Jonas Parker jerked from his slight doze and lay still in the recliner where he’d crashed only a few minutes earlier shortly after midnight. He’d spent the night treating a longtime client’s Doberman, who’d gotten hit by a car. A few lacerations and a couple of broken bones later, the dog now rested in the kennel at the office and Jonas had come home to get some much-needed rest. Only now he was hearing things. His ears honed in on the noises of his house and he frowned, wondering what had awakened him.

Silence echoed back at him.

Annoyance rushed through him. He’d just gotten relaxed enough to maybe fall asleep, and his house settling had disturbed him. He snorted. Earplugs might be a good investment. He closed his eyes and let out a low breath.

Crash.

Jonas shot into a sitting position as his blood pounded through his veins.

That wasn’t the house settling. Someone was in his house. Upstairs.

Felix! He had to get to Felix, his thirteen-year-old son. He froze, his thoughts scrambling. No. Wait. It was Saturday night. Felix was sleeping over at a friend’s. A flash of relief, then determination made his heart kick up speed.

Who was it? What did the intruder want? Money? Jewelry? Moving as silently as possible, Jonas rose from the recliner and stood, fingers clenching and unclenching at his sides.

A weapon.

He needed to be able to defend himself.

Where was his phone? He had to call for help. And get out.

The stairs creaked. He stopped at the edge of the room.

To get to either the front door or the back, he would have to go through the kitchen. Which meant passing the stairs.

While his adrenaline pounded, Jonas thought hard. His cell phone was on the kitchen counter. He didn’t have a landline.

Soft footfalls on the steps reached his ears as though someone didn’t want to make a lot of noise, but wasn’t very skilled at being quiet.

Jonas grabbed the nearest thing he could use as a weapon from the built-in shelf. Felix’s track meet trophy, his son’s pride and joy. Hefting it in his left hand, he decided to bolt for the kitchen, grab his phone from the counter and keep going out the back door. He’d avoid a confrontation if at all possible but he needed to get help on the way.

Grab the phone, get out and call for help. A good plan. He slipped past the bottom of the steps, praying the darkness hid him from whoever was on them. In the kitchen, moonlight filtering from the window over the sink illuminated the way.

The floor creaked behind him.

A hard hand centered itself in the middle of his back and a hard shove propelled him into the kitchen table. Jonas bounced, stumbled and crashed into the refrigerator. Felix’s trophy tumbled from his fingers. Fury boiled through him and he spun, striking out, praying to hit something. He landed a hard fist on his attacker’s face.

A hiss of surprise and a curse reached his ears.

Jonas managed to grab the trophy once more. Then the feel of something hard and cold against his left cheek froze him. “I have a son,” he whispered. “He needs me.”

“Give me the phone.”

“What phone?” Jonas clutched the trophy, his mind racing.

“Give me the phone!”

The weapon moved, slipping from his cheek. Jonas brought the base of the heavy trophy up and moved sideways at the same time. He connected with the attacker’s stomach, heard a whoosh, then the gun clattering on the floor. The man cursed, swept his hand out and grabbed the gun. Jonas swung the trophy once more, connected. The intruder gave a harsh cry and bolted for the door.

Jonas panted and rose to go after him. Then thought of his son and stopped.

He grabbed his cell phone from the counter and dialed 911.

* * *

Brooke Clark pushed the laptop away and rubbed her gritty eyes. One in the morning and she was on her laptop? She needed to be sensible and get some sleep. But her adrenaline was still high even though her eyes longed to shut.

She’d just walked in the door an hour ago from a crime scene where Mercy, her very skilled K-9 golden retriever, had done her job well. She’d recovered some key evidence in a bank robbery and once testing was done on the glove, Brooke knew the DNA would put the criminal away.

Unfortunately, sleep would have to wait. She groaned, settled into the recliner and decided to keep working on the case that had caused her and her team no end of frustration.

Congressman Harland Jeffries continued to pound home the fact that his son’s murder still wasn’t solved. Late one night two months ago, someone had killed Michael Jeffries. Michael wasn’t just the congressman’s son, but was also a well-respected lawyer. The congressman had come upon the scene, his son on the ground, shot, and the murderer standing over Michael’s body. The killer had turned the gun on the congressman and shot him, leaving him for dead. Only Harland hadn’t died. He’d lived to tell the story and demand justice for his son. Unfortunately, darkness had prevented the congressman from seeing the murderer’s face, so the hunt was still on to find the person responsible.

She and the other members of the Capitol K-9 team wouldn’t be granted rest until the case was solved. Brooke loved her job, but frustration built at the lack of progress when it came to finding answers. She flipped the page in the file. Rosa Gomez, Congressman Jeffries’s housekeeper, was also connected to the case. Shortly before the shooting, Rosa had been found dead at the base of the cliffs in President’s Park. “Which hasn’t been technically proved to be murder. It could have been an accident,” she told Mercy. The dog yawned, then gave a low whine and nudged against her hand. The animal’s affection made her smile and run her hand over Mercy’s silky soft ears.

Mercy, her sweet—and super smart—golden retriever. Highly trained, Mercy and Brooke were partners in the elite Capitol K-9 Unit based in Washington, DC. Mercy specialized in retrieving evidence. Brooke sighed. She wished there were some evidence to be retrieved in either Michael Jeffries’s murder or Rosa Gomez’s death. “It’s all right, girl. Just because I’m up doesn’t mean you have to lose out on a good night’s sleep.” Mercy heaved a sigh and settled at Brooke’s feet. Then rose to pad to the door and back.

“You’re restless, too, huh?” Brooke got up from the recliner and went to open the door for Mercy. The dog bounded into the fenced yard, and Brooke stared out into the dark night. She shivered at the chill. March was a cold month in DC, and Brooke hadn’t grabbed her coat. She watched Mercy sniff and weave in and out of the bushes lining the fence. The trees beyond offered a sense of privacy and security, one of the reasons Brooke had purchased the home.

She pulled the door shut behind her and sat on the cement steps, wrapping her arms around her middle. Maybe the cold would revive some of her dead brain cells. Her thoughts were like a dog with a bone. She couldn’t keep her mind from gnawing on the Jeffries case.

Harland Jeffries was about to push Gavin, her captain, over the edge. Gavin was a good man, a professional in every sense of the word. Brooke respected how he had managed to hold on to his temper when it came to the congressman’s incessant demands on Gavin’s time. She stood. “Mercy, come.”

The dog bounded over to her and sat at her feet, ears perked. Brooke gave those ears a good rub and let the dog back into the house. Poor Gavin. He was really torn. She knew he was between a rock and a hard place. He had a lot of respect for the congressman. Harland had been a mentor to Gavin, and Gavin loved the man like a father. It was tearing him up not to be able to give him some answers.

She forced herself to head to bed. She’d count sheep if she had to. Or review the case notes while snuggling under the warm down comforter. Maybe then she’d doze off.

And maybe pigs would start flying.

* * *

Jonas shut the door as the police officers headed toward their squad car. He appreciated the fast response to his 911 call, but the officers had basically checked out the scene, taken a few pictures of the dumped drawer in Felix’s room, then told him to be thankful he wasn’t hurt and nothing was missing. Oh, and to call if anything else happened.

Right.

He sighed and reached back to massage the area at the base of his skull. He needed a vacation. A stress-reducing getaway. But Felix was in school for another three weeks before his spring break.

Maybe then.

He trudged up the stairs to Felix’s room and took another look around. The drawer on the floor, the unmade bed, an unfinished 3-D puzzle of the capitol building. He sighed and picked up Felix’s favorite sweatshirt and tossed it across the footboard of the bed. A pair of jeans and a hoodie joined the sweatshirt.

His eyes caught on the picture on his son’s nightstand. Felix had been about two years old. He was laughing up at Shannon, his mother and Jonas’s ex-wife. It had been a happy time in his young life, Jonas’s life, too. Neither Felix nor Jonas had known the trouble that would come just a few short years away. Trouble brought on by Shannon and her commitment-phobic ways.

Jonas sighed, flipped off the light and headed to his own room. He crawled between the sheets, forcing his muscles to relax, his mind to drift into prayer. Until he remembered the crash he heard. The drawer to Felix’s nightstand had been yanked out and dumped. His heart thudded. The officers had come to the same conclusion he had. The intruder had already been in his house when he’d arrived home. Either the man hadn’t heard him come in and drop into the recliner—or he hadn’t cared and just continued his search.

Jonas debated whether to get up and clean up the drawer or wait until later.

It would wait. He drifted. Sleep beckoned.

At least until the strange beeping jerked him awake again.

Jonas sat straight up, his adrenaline spiking once more. Heart thundering in his chest, he grabbed the baseball bat he’d placed on the floor near his bed and swung his legs over the side. He stood and padded on bare feet to the door.

The faint beeping sounded again. Then all was silent.

Jonas’s fingers flexed around the bat. He grabbed his cell phone with his left hand and shoved it into the waistband of his knit shorts.

More beeping.

Jonas followed the sound into his son’s bedroom two doors down from his. He stood in the doorway and listened.

Nothing.

And then he heard it again. Louder this time. He was definitely closer.

Jonas flipped the light on and blinked against the sudden brightness. When his eyes adjusted, he dropped to his knees on the hardwood floors and scanned the area under Felix’s dresser. Finding nothing, he rose and moved to his son’s bedside table. The drawer still lay on its side. He grabbed the small flashlight and went to his knees once again.

Jonas flashed the light under the bed. The beeping sounded right next to his ear. He lifted the mattress, separating it from the box springs, and froze, puzzled. A cell phone? He snagged it and dropped the mattress back into place. Fingers curled around the phone, he lifted it up to study it. “Who does this belong to?” he muttered. One of Felix’s friends? But why would Felix have it hidden under his mattress? Had he stolen it?

Jonas snapped the light off and carried the phone into his bedroom. He flipped on the lamp and sank onto the bed, his eyes still on the device. Low battery. Hence the beeping.

He touched the screen to bring the phone to life. A picture stared back at him. A woman holding a baby. He frowned as recognition hit him. He knew that woman. He’d seen her on the news, hadn’t he? And in the papers. He got up and strode into the kitchen to grab the newspaper from the counter.

There. Right on the front page. Housekeeper for Congressman Harland Jeffries, Rosa Gomez had been found at the bottom of the cliffs in President’s Park approximately two months ago and the investigation continued to make front-page news as new evidence came to light. The Capitol K-9 Unit had been working the case and the story had stayed hot, the media constantly reminding everyone that this case hadn’t been solved yet.

And someone had just broken into his house looking for a phone. He stared at the device. Could he have been looking for this one?

His thoughts went immediately to Brooke Clark, a Capitol K-9 Unit team member who was working the case.

An officer and a beautiful woman. He pushed aside the personal thoughts and focused on what to do about this phone. Right now, he couldn’t worry about how Felix had gotten ahold of it, he had to turn it in.

And he knew just the person he wanted to give it to.

* * *

Brooke jerked out of the light sleep she’d managed to fall into sometime between her last sip of warm tea and a prayer for divine help in solving her case. She rolled to grab her phone from the end table. “’Lo?”

“I woke you up. I’m sorry.”

Sleep fled. She sat up. “Jonas Parker?” Her heart stuttered. Just saying his name brought back a flood of memories. Both wonderful and...painful. Along with boatloads of regret. The same feelings that rushed through her every time she saw or spoke to him. Which hadn’t been too long ago. Maybe a month? Amazing that she had no trouble pulling the memory of his voice from the depths of her tired mind. But then why would she? She often dreamed of him, their past times together. And they hadn’t even dated. Not once. She blinked. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re working the case about the congressman’s son’s death, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Michael Jeffries.” She cleared her throat. “You called me at four o’clock in the morning to ask that?”

“No, I called to tell you that I think I found something that you might need for your investigation.”

“What?”

“A phone with a picture of Rosa Gomez and her two-year-old son as the wallpaper.”

Fully awake now, Brooke swung her legs over the edge of the bed. At the foot of the bed, Mercy lifted her head and perked her ears. “Where did you find the phone?” she asked.

The fact that Rosa’s wallet and phone hadn’t been found with her body had raised a lot of questions. Like had her fall from the cliffs been an accident or murder? And if it had been an accident, where were the items? And if it had been murder, had the murderer stolen them?

Another question: Was Rosa’s death connected to the shooting of her boss, Congressman Jeffries, and the murder of his son? So far, they had few suspects, one being a senator’s daughter, Erin Eagleton. She’d disappeared the night of the murder and her starfish charm, engraved with her initials, had been found at the scene. Brooke was glad that Rosa’s child was now in the custody of his aunt, but so many questions remained. Maybe the phone Jonas had would answer some of them.

“Ah... Well, that’s the problem. And one of the reasons I called you.”

“Come on, Jonas, tell me.”

“I found the phone under my son’s mattress.”

TWO

Brooke threw the covers back, wide awake now. “You found it where?” Surely he hadn’t said—

“Under his mattress.”

He had said it.

“And that’s not all,” he continued. “Someone broke into my house tonight and demanded I give him ‘the phone.’ Of course I didn’t know what he was talking about at the time, but now I’m feeling quite sure he meant the one I’m holding.”

Brooke struggled to process everything. “Are you all right? Is Felix okay?” Pain shafted through her. She pushed it away. When she’d met him, Jonas was working as a vet at the K-9 dog training facility. He’d been divorced, with a young son. And he hadn’t made any secret of the fact that he found her attractive. She’d felt the same spark but had smothered it as best she could. Jonas had also never made any secret of the fact that he wanted a houseful of children.

Children she could never give him thanks to a hysterectomy at the age of eighteen. The car wreck that had killed her parents had also killed her dream of being a mother. She swallowed hard and pushed the thoughts away. She’d dealt with this, and she didn’t need to dwell on it or rehash it. What was done was done. She’d moved on. And so had Jonas. And yet—

Over the course of the past eight years, they’d run into each other, but had never exchanged more than a few pleasantries. She’d climbed the ladder in law enforcement and had landed her dream job with the Capitol K-9 Unit when it had been formed a few short years ago. For some reason tonight’s call stirred up old longings and questions about what might have been. And the guilt that she’d never explained why she’d run from him.

“Felix wasn’t here,” he said. “He’s spending the night with a friend.”

“But you weren’t hurt?” She blinked away the past.

“No, I managed to chase him off.”

Relief hit her. “Good for you.” She bit her lip. “All right. I’ll come over and get the phone.”

“Now?”

“I don’t want to take a chance on whoever you scared off coming back. We need to get that phone into the right hands so it doesn’t fall into the wrong ones.”

He paused. “I hadn’t thought about that. Bring your dog. Maybe she can pick up the intruder’s scent.”

Of course he knew about Mercy. Just like he knew she worked for the Capitol K-9 Unit. So. He’d been keeping up with her, too. Interesting. “She’ll be with me.” She glanced at the clock. “It should take me about ten to fifteen minutes to get there.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Brooke hung up, her mind spinning. Jonas Parker had called her. Jonas needed help and he’d called her. Just the thought of seeing him again on more than a passing basis made her palms sweat and her pulse beat a little faster.

Mercy whined and hopped to the floor where she sat, head cocked, ears lifted. Her tail thumped the floor as though to say, “I’m ready when you are.”

Brooke dressed in record time, popped a K-cup in her Keurig and pulled her travel mug down from the cabinet. Time for the strong stuff. While the coffee brewed, she gathered her bag and Mercy’s leash.

Ten minutes later, she was in her truck and headed for Jonas’s house. A fact that continued to make her blood hum and stir the memories of a time she’d tried to forget. She’d been a rookie with the DC police department’s K-9 unit and he’d been interning as a vet at the dog training facility. They’d crossed paths often enough to strike up a friendship. When Jonas had expressed an interest in being more than friends, she’d spooked and run, canceling out on a date at the last minute and then finding excuses not to see him alone again. She hadn’t handled it well, too caught up in her own insecurities and hurt to really consider how her actions would affect him. He’d been embarrassed and hurt and they’d parted ways.

And yet he’d called her about finding evidence in the case she and the Capitol K-9 team were working so hard on.

The pressure was on to find Michael Jeffries’s killer and Congressman Jeffries’s shooter—most likely the same person. Tension was thick, but Brooke had no doubts about her team. They were the best. They’d find the killer. She just hoped it would be before he struck again.

* * *

Jonas paced the den, his heart pounding, his palms slick. What was he thinking?

That he wanted to see Brooke Clark. Vaguely he wondered if he should feel guilty for being secretly glad he’d had a legitimate excuse to call her. Then he pushed the guilt away. His divorce had been final ten years ago. He’d mourned the loss of his marriage, but finally, with the help of a recovery group at his church, realized he’d done everything he could to keep his marriage together. The fact was, it had ended and it was time for him to move on.

Why his heart had settled on Brooke Clark was something that had him stumped. But she’d been the reason he’d sought out the recovery group in the first place. He’d needed someone to tell him it was all right for him to find companionship. Date again.

And then Brooked ditched him. She’d simply canceled their last date and had avoided him until he gave up trying to get in touch with her. And he’d never figured out why. Maybe it was time to get some answers. Even if they were ones he didn’t want to hear.

A car door slammed.

He tensed and went to the window to push aside the curtain so he could see out. As always, his heart did that funny little beat when he saw her. A petite woman in her early thirties with short black hair. She still looked the same. Slightly older, but not much. And definitely still beautiful.

Brooke. She was here. Her golden retriever, Mercy, leaped to the ground and shook herself, her brown eyes on Brooke, waiting for instructions. Jonas had followed her career and watched her climb the ranks in law enforcement. He was proud of her.

He opened the front door. Brooke looked up and caught his gaze and Jonas blinked. He hadn’t forgotten how blue her eyes were. On the contrary, he remembered every detail about her. But those eyes always rendered him speechless when first making contact. For a moment they just stood and stared. Then she smiled and walked toward him. “Hi, Jonas. Good to see you again.”

Jonas took a step and, in a bold move, wrapped her in a hug. Her scent surrounded him, old feelings rushed back. And she didn’t push him away. He took a deep breath. “It’s really good to see you, too, Brooke. Come on in.”

Brooke swept past him and he heard her give the dog a low command. Mercy sat. Jonas stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

She looked around. “So what happened?”

Jonas pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s a bit of a story. Would you like to go into the den and have a seat?”

“I’d rather not. Did the intruder leave anything behind? Touch anything that his scent would be on?”

So. It was going to be all business then. All right. He could take a hint. Jonas tightened his jaw then relaxed it. She was here to help, not socialize. The fact that she hadn’t pulled away from his embrace encouraged him. First things first. “I was in the recliner in the den when I heard a crash. It came from my son’s room. The intruder had pulled out one of the drawers from Felix’s nightstand. It was on the floor when I went in.”

“Then let’s start there.”

“Of course.” Jonas led her into Felix’s bedroom, once again giving thanks that his son hadn’t been home at the time of the break-in.

She focused in on the drawer on the floor. “I guess I don’t have to ask which drawer.”

“No. Guess not. I just left it alone. Once I decided to call you, I didn’t want to cover up any smells.” He paused. “I also hit the guy with Felix’s trophy so his scent may be on there, too.”

She shot him an admiring glace. “Good job. Okay, we’ll see what we can do.”

Jonas stepped back and let them go to work. He watched, marveling at the team, how well they worked together. “You’re very good at what you do, aren’t you?”

She turned. “We’re one of the best.” She said it in all sincerity, without a hint of boasting or pride. Just stated a fact. He liked that about her.

“You didn’t ask for my address.”

She blinked, then cleared her throat. “Excuse me?”

“You didn’t have to ask for my address. You already knew it.”

“I looked it up in the police database.”

“Of course.” Now he felt embarrassed. “For a moment there, it gave me hope.”

“Hope?”

“Hope that you’d thought about me. Hope that...I don’t know, that maybe we could be friends again.”

“We never stopped being friends.”

He shook his head. “Of course we did. Friends do stuff together, hang out, enjoy each other’s company. We went from friends to acquaintances that shared a nod of acknowledgement whenever we ran into each other. That’s not friendship.”

Brooke bit her lip and turned away. “This isn’t what I came over here for. Let me just do my job.”

Disappointment flooded him. He’d pushed too hard, too fast. He was coming across desperate and it wasn’t that; he just had questions. Questions that would have to wait. “No problem.”

Once she finished going through the house, she let Mercy out the door the intruder had exited. Mercy trotted down the street, nose alternating between the ground and the air. She stopped several houses down and sat.

Brooke called to her and Mercy hurried to her side. “She’s lost the scent. Most likely the guy had a car waiting right where Mercy sat down. He climbed in and off they went.”

He nodded. He’d expected as much. He handed her the phone. “The battery is at two percent. It won’t last much longer. There may be a charger in his room. I didn’t think to look.”

She studied it. “It’s fine. Chargers are easy to come by.” She looked up. “Did you find a wallet belonging to Rosa?”

“No. Just the phone.”

“I hate to ask this, but...” She looked uncomfortable.

“What?”

“Well, Rosa’s wallet was missing, too. Do you think Felix could have hurt Rosa to get her phone and wallet?”

Jonas stepped back, her words hurting more than if she’d slapped him. “What? No. Of course not.” He raked a hand through his hair, hating the flash of doubt that raced through him. He lifted his chin. “No. He’s a thirteen-year-old boy, he’s not perfect. And I mean he’s been getting in some trouble lately, but that’s just because he’s never gotten over his mother’s leaving, never truly accepted the fact that she would do that. He’d never hurt—kill—someone over a stupid phone.” Anger flared.

She held up a hand. “Just had to ask. And I didn’t necessarily mean that he killed her on purpose. It could have been an accident and he was too scared to tell anyone what happened.”

“No, no way. Absolutely not.” She nodded, her eyes on his. The anger fizzled as fast as it had flamed. “I understand why you might ask that, but no. It’s not possible. If something like that had happened, Felix would have come to me.” Wouldn’t he?