Badge of Honor (6 page)

S
arah froze.

“Pull over,” Nick was telling her. “I think you'd better give me a little more to go on when I approach the officers with questions. You sure she didn't know the guy who confronted her? Just how far did this confrontation go?”

“I can't…”

“I'm your training officer. You'd better rethink your evaluation of ‘can't,' because I
can't
be here with you off duty without a very good explanation. So you'd better make it good. Now.”

Sarah slapped the palm of her hand against the steering wheel. She'd promised herself she wouldn't get involved in the investigation. She'd promised Nick she wouldn't hurt him, and that was a promise she had every intention of keeping. “My sister was the most recent assault victim,” she said in a whisper.

Nick didn't say anything, but she'd been around enough officers to have a pretty good guess what he was wishing he could say.

She hated the silence. The not knowing. Not being able to dig for answers. “What if he found where she lives? What if that's why the police are here?”

Without answering, Nick opened the door and got out. “Don't you dare keep something that critical from me again. You wait here,” he growled, “And I mean don't get out of this car until I say so!” He slammed the door and jogged ahead to question their fellow officers.

She couldn't believe this was happening—again. She wanted nothing more than to just back off and let the officers do their jobs.

What was it about her that couldn't walk away and let someone else be in charge? Sarah hadn't meant to get involved with her sister's case. Why was it always she who exposed the missing link in her superiors' cases?

Something in her gut told her she had happened upon information now that could change the course of the investigation, but how was she going to trust that information to anyone else?

The online community might not have anything to do with Beth's assault, she mentally argued. Out of thirty thousand students on campus, less than a tenth of them had listings on the Coedspace Web site.

On the other hand, finding Beth's name on Coedspace might be the break that they needed….

What would Sarah do if he'd found her sister again?

God, how could You let this happen to Beth? Why?

Sarah hadn't talked to God in years, and it probably wasn't a great way to get back in His good graces to challenge His authority. Still, Beth had devoted her life to Him. Where was He when she'd needed Him most?

Sarah had tried her sister's cell phone so many times, she wondered if she needed to refresh the phone's memory. She entered the number again, hoping this time Beth would answer.

Sarah couldn't believe something else had happened. Criminals weren't generally the brightest candles in the box, but it wasn't uncommon for them to come back to watch their crime be discovered. She looked around, hoping he'd returned, though attacking at the victim's home wasn't this perp's pattern.

Maybe it was a copycatter? Or just a coincidence? Gangs had been tagging their territories lately.

Blood pulsed through her temples.

Sarah hit the send button again. Tired of leaving the same frantic message, she simply hung up when the voice mail message started.

Or was this suspect really targeting specific women?

She thought back to the last time she and Beth had talked. It had been two days since Sarah had reached her, not a machine, and about a day since she'd received a message back. Long enough to file a missing person report…

Sarah wanted to believe this was simply a case of a stubborn sister trying to assert her independence, not that Beth was in danger. The flashing lights ahead of her said otherwise.

She watched Nick talk to the officer on duty. Eyeing his uniform shirt and Kevlar vest at her feet, she found her mind wandering to his situation. He was one of the best-looking eligible bachelors on the force. She couldn't believe some woman hadn't caught him yet….

Sarah wondered if her sister had a key to the house hidden anywhere. She pressed Send again, trying to pull her attention away from her forbidden attraction.

No answer.

Nick turned and looked in her direction, then disappeared into the alley next to Beth's house.

That wasn't good. What was in the alley?

Please don't let it be Beth. Please, God, take care of my little sister.

Sarah dialed again, hoping it wouldn't be one of the officers who answered. The call immediately went to voice mail.

The next one she made had to be to her parents. She had to let them know something was wrong.

She half expected an ambulance to pull up at any moment. If they'd found her sister…

Nick reappeared out of the shadows of the night and shook his head, then started walking toward her.

From the look on his face, she could tell he wasn't bearing good news. He walked up to her door, not his own. Another bad sign.

“They need to talk to you.”

She shook her head. “What is it?” It was nearly two in the morning and this wasn't the kind of adrenaline rush she was used to. She hadn't been to sleep in almost twenty hours. Her body wanted to shut down, but her brain wasn't about to let her. Not until she found her sister. She felt nauseous. “Nick? What's happened?”

“Park the car, and I'll go with you.”

She did so and jumped out. “What happened? Tell me!”

“A car's been vandalized.” He stepped closer and put his hand on her shoulder.

“The car? You're going through all this over her car? I don't think so. What really happened? Is it Beth?”

“They got a call reporting a barking dog and gunshots. When the police arrived, they found…signs of a struggle…. The crime scene investigations unit is on their way, to determine whether it's even human blood. Does your sister or one of her neighbors have a dog?”

Sarah shrugged, noting her shoulder didn't move much since she was tucked tightly against Nick. “Beth doesn't, and I don't remember whether a neighbor did or not.” She stopped and looked into his eyes, searching for the truth. “Just tell me, so I can be prepared. Is there a body?”

“No,” he said. “That's the good news. Which is better than the bad news, isn't it? They need you to see if the car out back of the house is your sister's.”

Suddenly her mind went blank, and she found it difficult to breathe, let alone walk. “They can't identify it by the license plates?”

“No, they're gone.” Nick looked into her eyes, and she could see his fear. Feel his sympathy. “Do you have a key to your sister's house?”

She shook her head. “Not anymore, and she's still not answering her phone. But you didn't hear a phone ring, right?”

He took hold of her shoulders. “No, we didn't hear a phone. But don't panic, Sarah. We're going to get to the bottom of this.”

“What if someone took—”

“Don't assume anything, Sarah,” Nick said gently. “I know how tough that is right now, but we have to pray that she's okay.” He patted her shoulder and gave her a tender hug.

Sarah swallowed hard, willing back the tears she wanted so badly to shed.

Nick led her to the officer in the alley. He'd been one of the instructors during her classroom training.

“Hi, Sarah,” Jeremy said. “We just missed you at the precinct, I guess. They said you'd left. We got a call for gunshots and a barking dog at 1:37 a.m. Apparently dispatch put a watch on your sister's address after a report a few days ago. We haven't gotten details on that call yet.”

“You won't,” Sarah said, suddenly missing the security of Nick's embrace. How had she not noticed when he'd slipped his arm away? She shivered now as she looked at the vehicle.

The car had a broken side window, scratched paint and a side mirror hanging by a wire. The tires had been slashed. This was not her sister's car. Was it? “It's a…confidential case,” she said, trying to put out of her mind that this was a personal issue, too.

She needed to turn off the emotions, keep her cool. She took a deep breath. Then another. “I found out tonight that she listed her real address at an online community, so this might be related.”

“We need you to verify if it's her vehicle….” The officer shone his flashlight on the economy car.

Sarah covered her mouth with her fingers as she studied it. The sedan was pale blue like Beth's, but something was wrong….

When she stepped closer, Nick put his hand out to stop her. “It's evidence….”

“Blood, you mean. I do know how to approach a crime scene, Sergeant.” She motioned for a flash light, and Jeremy Logan handed it over without a word. Maintaining a wide berth, Sarah walked around the car and looked into the backseat.

Placing some distance between herself and her training officer probably wasn't a bad idea, either.

“It's different when it may involve family,” he said gently as she walked past him. “Is it your sister's?”

“It looks just like it, but she had a stuffed animal in the back window. A lamb. It was her reminder that God went wherever she went.”

“We found a stuffed animal a few feet down the alley. It looks like someone or something was dragged out of here. Officer Matthews is following the trail. Garrett…Nick's brother.”

Sarah shook her head. “And we have no idea if it was my sister….” The men were looking at her as if she might faint at any moment.

“When was the last time you talked to your sister?” Jeremy asked.

“I spoke to her on the phone about forty-nine hours ago. She left a message at one-thirty yesterday morning, when I was writing reports.”

“That's pretty precise,” he said suspiciously.

“I just calculated how long it had been as I was waiting in the car. I was trying to figure out if it's been long enough to file a missing person report.”

Sergeant Logan looked at her, puzzled. “And did you?”

“No. Not yet. After her incident, Beth didn't want to talk or think about it. I was the only person whom she'd told, so I brought back those memories to her, I guess. I wanted to give her space, but I…” She looked at the car again, then took a deep breath. “I shouldn't have pushed her so hard to talk about it. I pushed her away. I went by her house about eight yesterday morning to try to talk to her, but she wasn't home. She hasn't answered any of my phone calls all day today. I checked her house before my shift, and she wasn't in.”

“Is that unusual for your sister?” Sergeant Logan asked. “To just go away without…”

Sarah nodded. “She normally tells me if she goes anywhere for any length of time. I moved here to be closer to my sister and brother. Until I went to Washington to work with the FBI, we were all very close.”

“We tried ringing her doorbell, but no one answered. Do you have a key so we can make sure the house is okay?”

“No, but I'm good at picking locks. Unless you'd rather…” she said, looking at Jeremy.

He handed her his pick set. “Be my guest. And where are your parents? Could she have gone to see them? Have they talked to her today?”

The three of them walked up to the house. “No, they're in Montana.” Sarah made quick work of unlocking the door, as Jeremy held the flashlight. “I don't know if they have talked to her.”

After a rapid inspection revealed no one was home, Sarah glanced over to Nick as she left the house for the officers to investigate. “I guess it's time I call them, see if they can reach her. Beth didn't want them to know what happened, but I can't keep it quiet any longer. I can't get her to call me, and now her voice mail is full, I guess. It's not even picking up anymore.”

“Give me her number. I'll try to reach her,” Nick said.

“No,” Sarah said hesitantly. “If she hears an unfamiliar man's voice, it may freak her out, and she won't call back. Let me try my mom and dad first.” She pulled out her cell phone from the belt clip and dialed, wondering how she could explain calling at three-thirty in the morning, a week after the incident. She didn't want to worry them, but it was well past time to worry, in her estimation.

She couldn't deal with this alone. She'd crumble for sure. She'd already made a mess of her job, her relationship with her training officer. She'd probably already killed her career hopes.

She needed someone to lean on.

She found her parents' number on the contact list and hit Send.

Just as her father answered, Sarah heard a voice over Sergeant Logan's radio. “We have the body of the victim. It's a dog….”

N
ick thought Sarah was going to collapse when his brother said the word
body.
Instead, she took a deep breath and walked outside.

“Dad, it's Sarah. Have you or Mom talked to Beth recently?”

Nick couldn't hear her father's response, but it clearly wasn't what Sarah wanted to hear. Her shoulders drooped and she started trying to gloss over the urgency of the situation. Finally, she gave up and told her dad the truth. It was painful to watch. Even worse that Nick could do nothing to help.

“Beth was attacked after class last week, but she was okay.”

Nick could only imagine what a father would be thinking and asking, and he wished he were in a position to be there for her.

“I'm not sugar-coating it, Dad. She wasn't…” Sarah couldn't even say the word. When she regained her composure, she continued. “Really. Students came out of the building, which scared the assailant off….”

Her father was apparently fully awake now. Nick could hear his deep voice from ten feet away.

“It wasn't my place to tell you,” she said softly, as if she could calm him down. “I'm trying to help her, but she does have a mind of her own. I can't watch her twenty-four hours a day. Yes, I'm still on the job.”

He could hear voices, but couldn't make out the words. “No, I can't work on the case. Don't even ask that.”

Nick could imagine the tension Sarah was feeling now. When his sister had been the target of a drug dealer's revenge, it wasn't easy for any of them to give Kira her independence back. It took a strong woman like his sister to stand up not only to their father, but to Nick and his two brothers—all police officers—when the going got tough.

Nick had only a fleeting minute to question what kind of woman Sarah Roberts was when she replied to something her father said.

“That was Beth's choice, Dad. She didn't want to talk to anyone…” She paused while he responded. “No, I have not changed my opinion, the situation has changed. If you'll let me explain…”

Nick hated this part of the job. Especially when family had to be told bad news over the phone.

“She hasn't answered my calls, my voice messages, nothing. Tonight, I came to check on her….” Sarah paused again, and the spunky former FBI agent turned street cop showed her feminine side.

She started sobbing, then turned and walked down the street, toward her SUV.

Alone.

Nick fought the urge to follow her and offer his support. But he couldn't afford to take the chance of showing feelings for his trainee.

She got inside and lowered her head to the steering wheel.

God, put Your arms around her. Help her to understand why I can't.

Before anything was misunderstood, complicating his career any further, Nick called the shift supervisor and explained the situation, how he'd ended up coming here with his trainee.

“I'll see if one of the female counselors could meet you there to talk to Roberts,” his superior offered.

“I'm not necessarily saying she needs someone to talk to as much as someone to act in an official capacity should the situation take a turn for the worst. We still don't know where her sister is.” In the background, Nick could hear dispatch calling in.

“Just a minute,” the shift supervisor said, then put Nick on hold. Seconds later, he heard dispatch over Sergeant Logan's radio request backup for a gang related shooting of an officer on the other side of town. Nick was thankful that Garrett was here working this case, and that their older brother was vacationing in the mountains with his family this week.

“Nick, we've got an urgent situation. I'll need to call you back. I know you'll handle Roberts professionally. We don't want to lose either of you,” the supervisor said.

Nick put his phone in his pocket and made the difficult decision to stay with his trainee as long as necessary. If she weren't an attractive single female, this wouldn't be an issue. Therefore, he would treat her like any other officer.

The Crime Scene Investigators showed up, talked to Jeremy and drove off. Nick wasn't surprised. An officer-involved shooting was a lot more important than a vandalized car and a murdered dog. He leaned against his brother's patrol car, knowing Garrett was tied up several blocks away, and waited for Sarah to finish her call, repeating “I'm not on duty” over and over to keep himself out of the way of the investigation.

A few minutes later, Sarah approached, appearing emotionally drained. “Sorry that took so long,” she said, finding it difficult to look him in the eye. “Anything new?”

“Not a problem. There's been an officer-involved shooting across town, so the CSI unit was sent over to that scene.”

“Oh, is everyone okay?”

“I don't know yet.” He'd been so worried about her, he hadn't even asked. “What did you find out?”

“You didn't hear?” She took a deep breath, shaking her head. She leaned a hip against the police cruiser, and Nick fully realized his trainee's beauty and vulnerability. She had as much of a commanding presence out of uniform as she did when tucked into that Kevlar vest and blue uniform, but inside, she was one hundred percent woman.

It wasn't the kind of thing he should notice. And at the same time, he couldn't deny he liked what he saw. He was relieved to see she wasn't as tough as she led her fellow officers to believe. Now that he realized the problem, he could put his guard up and figure out how to keep his own interest under lock and key.

Sarah continued talking, her voice oddly unsteady. “Nothing really. Mom and Dad spoke to her last weekend. They said she had a busy week, so they didn't expect to hear from her until tomorrow night or so. I called my brother, too. He's on his way from Denver, to stay here and wait with me. I want to run home and check my messages, then come back here to meet him. Do you think you could catch a ride back to the station?” she asked with her typical confidence.

“I'm coming with you,” he said matter-of-factly. Nick told himself that he had to, until they found her sister. He expected her to argue, but for some reason she seemed relieved. “Too much is going on tonight. I don't want you to be alone.” He felt like that gawky sophomore again, stuttering as he talked to the cute senior girl. “How are you doing, Sarah?” He started to put his arm around her, but caught himself. They stood on the front lawn waiting for the officers to finish searching the house.

Sarah wrapped her arms across her chest and rubbed her bare arms. “I know I shouldn't jump to conclusions, but this just doesn't look like she is involved. I think she's off having a great time somewhere and will get back and act like nothing's happened. And more than that, she'll think we're crazy to have been concerned.” Sarah's lips twitched, and he was glad she was able to maintain a sense of humor despite all she was going through.

As Nick glanced at Sarah, a twinkle of moonlight caught his eyes. He didn't acknowledge the attraction. “Well, while your sister's car being vandalized doesn't appear to have anything to do with her incident the other night, it's not a good coincidence, either. Does she disappear often?”

“Beth is the youngest. She's something of a crusader. That she's settled down enough to finish her master's degree is somewhat puzzling, except I think she also sees going on for her Ph.D. as a way to avoid buckling down to get a real job. I just barely think I've figured her out, and then something like this happens and she throws me way off course. She's driving me insane. If she were a criminal, a profiler would lose his job trying to predict what she'd do.” Sarah gave him a subtle look of amusement. “I just wanted her to talk to a professional counselor.”

Nick laughed at Sarah's assessment of her younger sister. He hoped it all turned out well so she wouldn't look back at this and regret taking it lightly.

“I need to go get my bag and plug my phone in to charge. If she hasn't called back by now, another few minutes won't hurt to be without it.”

As Sarah went back to her car, Nick returned to the porch to join Jeremy Logan.

“Is she going to be okay?” Logan asked.

Nick wasn't totally sure he understood why, but his gut told him she was more than all right, that she was more in charge of the situation than any of the rest of them. “Yeah, she'll be fine.”

“Man, this is a little freaky. This, then a gang member shooting at Sergeant Mitchell…It's not a good night,” Logan said. “Do you know what her sister's other case was about?”

“She told me a little. It's Sarah's call how much to share. We definitely need to keep an eye on the house for a few days. It seems pretty unlikely that the two incidences are not connected, but then again, it doesn't appear that the house has been touched. Why?” Nick studied the surrounding houses, concerned that this area had never been targeted by gangs before.

“This looks a lot like the gang initiations we've seen this month. It could be a coincidence. Her sister isn't in a gang, is she?”

Nick shook his head. “I doubt it. She's in graduate school. Maybe it's a warning. Did you find anything inside?”

“No signs of an intruder in the house, but the stuffed animal out of the car doesn't quite fit with gang activities, either. We'll report it to the detective, see what they can figure out.” Jeremy glanced down the street, to see that Sarah had gotten into her car. “Where's she going?”

Nick felt a sudden panic. She wouldn't take off, would she? But she merely pulled forward and parked in front of her sister's house, restoring his confidence in her. “She wants to stay here and wait for her brother. I'm going to wait with her until he arrives. We'll call you if there's any concern.”

Jeremy nodded as Sarah joined them at the front door. “Sounds good. We'll get things outside cleaned up and get back on the road.”

After a quick look around the outside of the house, worry returned to Sarah's face. “It makes no sense, Nick. The house hasn't been touched, but the damage to the car seems too personal
not
to be connected. And why is there no indication of where she is?”

Nick motioned for her to go inside first then closed the door and made sure it was locked. “Does your sister have a boyfriend? Maybe she feels safer with him around….”

Her eyes opened wide and she shook her head. “Oh, no. Not Beth. She wouldn't spend the night at his place. They met at church. I think they're both leaders of the youth group. Beth is, anyway. She takes her vow of abstinence very seriously. That's part of why I'm so concerned about what happened the other night. Even though she was spared the worst, the assault was an attack on something that she held dear.” Sarah paced the main floor, studying every detail intently.

“How's she dealing with it?”

Sarah hesitated to answer. “She's denying any reaction. I'm worried about how she'll handle it when she realizes what could have happened. I want to get her to talk to a good assault counselor, before someone tries to convince her that
she
did something to deserve this.” Sarah's voice became softer and harder to hear.

She was speaking like someone who knew what her sister was going through. Nick wasn't sure how to respond. “Did anyone in our department say something like that?”

She looked up in confusion; her attention had been somewhere else. “What?”

He wanted to change the question, but didn't. He wanted to take this tiny woman with more spunk than most officers and hold her, comfort her.

He couldn't.

He shouldn't.

He had to find a way to turn off the personal feelings he was discovering for this petite spitfire.

He repeated the question.

“I don't know. She won't talk to me. She won't let me talk to her….” Sarah's voice trembled. Tears stung her eyes, and she fought to cover the fact.

“It's happened to you, hasn't it?”

She turned away. “I didn't say that.”

“Not directly, but you sound as if you know what she's going through. Or did you handle serial crimes at the FBI?”

“No, and no. A roommate in college was raped, while I was across the hall sleeping. I'll never forget hearing her scream, seeing the rapist disappear back through that window. I was so terrified, I did everything wrong, ruined the investigation. I vowed I'd never do that again.”

“Forgive me for jumping to the wrong conclusion.” He couldn't imagine how helpless Sarah must have felt. It was no wonder she wanted to help her sister now. “I'm sorry, Sarah.”

He forced his mind to the situation at hand.

“Beth is a youth counselor, encouraging abstinence. Avoiding temptation. She wouldn't stay at Steve's house, even after this. She didn't want to tell our parents, so I'm positive she wouldn't tell her fiancé, either. That concerns me.”

“Do you think that's pertinent to the case?” He felt his investigative instincts kick in.