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  “You called Billy,” she rushed, forgoing any attempt at beating around the bush. “You voluntarily told him about everything. Why? Now your family is vulnerable.”

  His eyebrow rose and ice-blue eyes found hers.

  “If anything, hiding my family’s past has made us vulnerable. Something I will do my damnedest to make right.” His fist balled next to an open box on the desktop. “Telling the sheriff was the right thing to do.”

  A surge of insecurity pushed past Suzy’s lips before she could understand where it was coming from. “You didn’t trust me.”

  James gave her a questioning look. “I didn’t trust you with what?” he asked, head tilting slightly to the side.

  Suzy’s heart started to beat faster. Her stomach started to flutter. She didn’t understand what her body was trying to tell her mind. So she spoke without thought.

  “You didn’t trust me to see this through, to catch Gardner’s killer and save your nephew,” she said in a rush. “You decided you needed Billy’s help more than mine.”

  Her cheeks burned as soon as the words left her mouth. What was she talking about? Billy was her boss—her family—and here she was, hurt that James had gone over her head? It didn’t make sense. Suzy opened her mouth to try to take it back, try to cover up the feeling of vulnerability that must have shown on her face, but nothing came out.

  James’s expression turned sharp. He came around the desk and stopped close enough that she could smell his cologne. Or maybe it was his soap, still lingering across his skin. Waiting to pull her in.

  The heat in Suzy’s cheeks traveled south. Her heartbeat was all-out galloping.

  “Telling him was never about not trusting you,” James said, keeping his voice low. “I decided to do it because I didn’t want you to have to keep lying for me. For my family. I don’t want anyone else hurt because of me or mine. Especially not you.”

  The racing, the fluttering, the storm of emotions. They all slowed.

  “You told your secret so I wouldn’t have to lie to Billy.” She spelled it out, to make sure she understood. “But you don’t know me.”

  James’s frown smoothed out into a smirk. “I know enough.”

  The rush of emotions and thoughts inside of her abated.

  Her picture from earlier, of James as an island in the middle of the sea, shifted. Instead, she realized he was the man in the eye of the storm.

  And she’d just broken through the clouds.

  In two long steps, Suzy closed the space between them and, with less thought than it took to walk to him, she pressed her lips to his.

  James didn’t reciprocate as she moved into the kiss.

  She didn’t need him to.

  All she wanted to do in that moment was to show him how much she appreciated what he’d done. From saving her life to telling a truth that could hurt him so she wouldn’t have to tell a lie, he’d been more than good to a woman who had given him nothing but grief and suspicion throughout the past four months.

  Suzy might have felt more comfortable shooting out of the back of a truck than expressing her feelings, but right then, it was the best she could do.

  She ended the kiss as abruptly as she’d initiated it.

  The man was no longer smiling.

  “Sorry,” she said, taking a step back. “I just—”

  James slid his hand across the skin of her neck beneath her ear and then fisted it in her hair. He used the contact to pull her back to him. His other hand fastened on her hip, and she could feel the warmth of his hand through the thin fabric of her shirt.

  Where her kiss had been impulsive, his kiss was intense.

  Hot and powerful. Crushing and consuming.

  He deepened the kiss by parting her lips with his tongue. It was a shock she realized was pleasant. Her body reacted of its own accord and leaned up and against him, wanting more. Needing more. She gasped into him as he pressed against her. His body also wanted hers—another pleasant realization as she wound her arms around his neck. He wasn’t the only one who wanted to be closer.

  Yet, in the blink of an eye, James broke the kiss.

  And untangled himself.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, voice full of grit. “I can’t.”

  A different kind of heat roasted Suzy’s skin. Embarrassment? Disappointment? She didn’t have a chance to dissect the full body blush that he no doubt could see. Without another word, James Callahan left his own office.

  Suzy leaned on the desk. No matter the reasons behind either one of their moves, she couldn’t deny one thing.

  It had been one hell of a kiss.

  She inhaled long and deep and then let it out slow and steady. The open box on top of the desk caught her eye. Needing a distraction, she peered inside. Stacks of pictures created a mountain. They were old, definitely from a disposable camera. At first glance she could see they were scenes of several strangers doing what people normally did in pictures. Standing in front of a Christmas tree. At a park. Playing in the snow. Laughing by a pool.

  However, the one that sat on top of them all seemed to be the most important.

  It only showed two people, standing with their arms around each other and smiling for all they were worth.

  A teen and preteen.

  A big brother and his little brother.

  Gardner and James Callahan. Before life decided to show them how temperamental it could really be.

  * * *

  “WE MIGHT HAVE a lot of questions, but that’s good, because that means we also have a lot of pieces, too.”

  James, Suzy and Billy stood around the kitchen island with determination, purpose and mugs of coffee. Suzy had swept into the room just after Billy finished making a phone call and, after James quickly filled the sheriff in on some specifics he hadn’t had time to give on the phone, she was rallying their spirits.

  “And having a lot of pieces is better than having none,” she finished.

  It was a simple observation, but it did the trick. James felt himself stand straighter and puff out his chest. Yet maybe the boost had less to do with her narrative and more to do with what had just happened to them upstairs.

  Kissing Chief Deputy Suzanne Simmons was something he’d thought about, sure, but he hadn’t counted on the feelings that had attached themselves to the act. The urge, the want, the need. It was like he’d been put under a spell.

  He’d wanted more, and then he’d remembered why that was a bad idea.

  He would soon become a target, if he wasn’t already. Not only of Grayton McKenzie, but the general public. While Gardner had been a silent part of the criminal underworld in Alabama, there were still plenty of upstanding people who had known his name. Keeping his association from them and law enforcement had had a cost.

  One he didn’t want Suzy to pay.

  Now he needed to focus.

  And not on how the woman across from him had tasted.

  “Okay, so, let’s start making those pieces fit,” James said. His voice came out a little too low. He compensated by clearing his throat. Suzy’s eyebrow rose enough to let him know she’d noticed, but the sheriff started without hesitation.

  “Gardner leaves his son with his friend Hank, who may look big and bad but his record is clean save for a few drunken fights back in the eighties, and goes to meet you to tell you something. Presumably that he has a son and you have a nephew.” James nodded. “Lester McGibbon, a man who had no reason to kill, shoots Gardner in the warehouse.”

  “And then Lester shoots me,” Suzy said matter-of-factly. “And James shoots him and he’s declared dead on scene. His identity is kept under wraps for a week while the department and local PD try to get a hold on what might happen when the news of Gardner’s death hits the streets.”

  James motioned to Suzy and then himself. “We go to the hospital, and while you’re in
surgery, I call my family attorney for an alibi so no one will find out Gardner’s my brother.” James paused, needing to explain further. “He’s a good man and I tried not to lie to him, but I didn’t want to put Chelsea in any danger from the blowback of the news getting out. But I also didn’t know about the baby then. I would have done it differently had I known. My attorney chalks my going without him to look at a property up to my being impulsive and doesn’t question it further. Oh, and, by the way, I own the warehouse now, if that can help us at all.”

  Billy nodded. Suzy looked surprised but nodded, too.

  “For the next four months, I use every connection I have to try to figure out why Lester did what he did, until I come to the conclusion that he was hired to do it or maybe forced,” he continued. “That eventually leads me to the name of a man who deals in information, using less-than-legal methods.”

  “Sully the Butcher,” Billy said. While they’d been on the phone earlier, the sheriff had confirmed he knew of Sully, though he’d never had a reason to deal with him personally or professionally. Sully tended to stay north of Riker County and almost always under the radar.

  “He met with me yesterday morning and agreed to try to find out who had ordered the hit on Gardner, but without resorting to violence. I knew he could get to the seedier parts of the criminal outfit around here easier than I ever could. I figured it would be safer for everyone that way.” James shifted his gaze away from Suzy. While he had believed then what he said, a part of him now wondered if he’d gone to law enforcement in the first place instead, if he’d be sitting with his nephew right now.

  “And then one of Sully’s protégés shows up at the party last night with an address for you from his boss,” Suzy said, picking up where he left off. “Someone ambushes Sully and his men, wounding Sully in the process, and then we take the address and go to a house in the country. A house that you guess belonged to Gardner.”

  “Men show up, armed to the teeth, and are told to go find Hank and Gardner’s son,” Billy said, taking over. “James tracks down Hank at a bar he used to hear Gardner talk about, and you two have a chat with him. He identifies Grayton, tells you where the baby is, and we find out that his wife had fled with the boy. Two of Grayton’s men are found dead at the bar, one is in surgery now, and both Grayton and Hank are missing.”

  They shared looks with one another all around.

  That was it. The whole story. No more lies or omissions.

  “So, those are our pieces,” James said.

  “And there are some questions we need to answer before we can see that puzzle,” Suzy jumped in. She ticked off each one on her fingers. “Where did Patricia go? Did Hank and Grayton leave the bar together? How did Sully get Gardner’s address?” She hesitated before putting up her fourth finger. “And if Hank is with Grayton and knows who we are, what does that mean for us if he shares that information?”

  That question hung heavy in the air.

  Then crashed into the ground as someone screamed outside.

  Chapter Twelve

  James was the fastest. He’d bolted out of the kitchen before Suzy had time to step clear of the island. Billy was next. The aches from the night before came back with force as she followed, but she pushed through them.

  A woman had screamed.

  Had Patricia learned about James already and come to deliver the baby? Had she been followed? Were Grayton and his men on the front lawn, guns up and high as they stood next to the garden beds?

  The possibilities had her breathing ratcheted up higher than when she’d been shooting out of the back of a pickup truck.

  Was the baby out there, too? Right in the middle of harm’s way?

  Suzy shut down all lines of what if the moment she ran through the front door.

  There were no droves of men with guns pointed at them. Nor were there any babies caught defenseless between them. Instead, there was only Queso, standing with his hands straight up in the air, a cigarette hanging limp between his lips, James’s and Billy’s guns both pointed at him and a girl clutching her purse to her chest.

  “Chelsea?” James asked, clearly surprised. He wasn’t the only one.

  “What in God’s name is going on around here?” she shrieked. “Why do you have a gun?”

  James holstered the object in question. Suzy followed suit. Billy stayed firm in his stance.

  “Why did you scream?” James replied, matching her volume.

  She pointed to Queso, who wasn’t moving an inch. “I dropped my phone and bent down to get it, and then saw this guy just staring!”

  James turned so fast on Queso that it was nearly comical.

  “You were staring at my sister while she was bending over?” he asked, volume still high.

  The poor boy tried to sound tough, but his words lost their edge around the butt of his cigarette.

  “No way, Padre! I was going crazy inside, so I wanted to take a smoke break.” He pointed at Chelsea, hands still in the air. “It ain’t my fault she didn’t hear me walk up. I wasn’t checking her out, just trying to figure out who she was!”

  James’s anger wasn’t appeased so easily. Suzy walked over to his side and touched his elbow lightly. Then she nodded to Billy. He lowered his gun.

  “This is just another reason not to smoke,” she said, reaching out and taking the cigarette from his mouth. He made a face like he was going to complain, but she gave him a look she often used on Justin when he needed to think before he spoke. Suzy went to the sidewalk and ground it out. “Come clean this up and get back inside,” she said. “I’ve got some more questions for you.” No one complained at the order, and although Queso looked like he wanted to, the boy dropped his arms and complied.

  Not before casting a dirty look at Chelsea, though. She returned it in kind.

  “What are you doing here?” James said, rounding back to her when Queso was inside. “Why aren’t you at school?”

  “You told me not to come home!”

  James waved his arms around wildly. “So you came home?”

  The girl nodded with fervor. “Of course I did! You’ve never told me not to come home, so I figured something was wrong!”

  “That makes no sense, Chels,” he shot back.

  “Well, I was right, wasn’t I?” She pointed to Billy and Suzy. “Unless you’re always ready with backup to come out, guns blazing, and I’ve just missed it all these years.”

  James dragged a hand down his face.

  “I’m going to go ahead and try to find out as much as I can about Patricia.” Billy jumped in, looking at Suzy. “Tell me if your talk with Queso brings anything new up. I’ll put Matt and the captain on the rest. Keep your phone on you and let me know.” He reached out to shake James’s hand, then tipped his hat to Chelsea. “Take care.”

  Billy paused at Suzy’s side. “I’m going to arrange for a unit to keep an eye on the estate entrance,” he said, voice low so the others couldn’t hear. “Still, stay on alert.”

  “Yessir.”

  They watched as Billy got into his Bronco. It wasn’t until his engine turned over that Chelsea’s confusion soured into concern.

  “What’s happening, James? What’s wrong?”

  James let out a sigh. He glanced at Suzy. She knew what he was feeling. While Chelsea was his little sister, she was also like his daughter, in a way. The age difference plus the fact that he’d raised her made him a man caught between brotherly affection and paternal love. He wanted to protect her, but now he had to figure out how to do that. It was something Suzy couldn’t help him with. Especially since she had no clue if Chelsea knew who Gardner Todd even was.

  Suzy’s heart clenched for the man who had rejected her not fifteen minutes before.

  It was an odd sensation. One she decided not to dwell on.

  “Why don’t we go inside first,” she suggested. “It�
�s a little too hot out here for my tastes.” Suzy smiled and held out her hand. “My name’s Suzy. We’ve never formally met.”

  Recognition flared instantly behind Chelsea’s baby blues. Seeing the two Callahans standing next to each other, Suzy couldn’t deny the resemblance between them. They had matching dark hair—although Chelsea’s was more styled than James’s was—and clear blue eyes, and they even shared the same chin. Suzy had seen a picture or two of their mother in the house and saw that the female Callahan had inherited the matriarch’s petite stature. If there was any of their father in her, Suzy wouldn’t know. She hadn’t noticed any pictures of him in the house.

  Chelsea was staring at her intently. “As in Chief Deputy Simmons?”

  Suzy was surprised but nodded.

  “In the flesh.”

  A small smile picked up the corner of Chelsea’s lips. Her gaze flitted to her brother, then zipped back.

  “I’m glad to see you out and about.” Her gaze jumped down for a second to Suzy’s chest. Then her smile widened. “James has told me a lot about you.”

  It was Suzy’s turn to smile. “Hopefully all good things.”

  “Are you saying there are bad things about you I should know?” James chimed in. It was his way of trying to lighten the mood, she knew, but it still sent a thrill through her.

  She shouldn’t have kissed him. Not with everything going on. Not without knowing if the chemistry between them was something James Callahan could have with anyone he wanted.

  Suzy knew that the kiss had been a mistake.

  He knew that, too.

  But knowing something was true and accepting it as such were two completely different things.

  * * *

  THREE HOURS PASSED and no one had learned a thing.

  Well, except for Chelsea. She’d found out she was an aunt and that her nephew was still missing. Apart from that, everyone attempting to find him had come up with nothing but dead ends. But not for lack of trying.