Dangerous to Her (10 page)

Chapter 11

S
he’d shut down. Of course she had. He hadn’t expected anything else.

As soon as he’d mentioned the name Tony, she’d stopped talking, except to tell him to bring her to the hospital. Now, as they sat in the waiting room for news about Linda, he decided he’d had enough. Placing himself directly in front of her, he held out a cup of vending machine coffee.

She glanced up, her face pale and her eyes dazed, staring at the cup as if she didn’t know what it was. Sighing, Dom kneeled down in front of her. He took one of her hands and wrapped her fingers around the cup, knowing the lukewarm coffee would do little to alleviate her shock.

“Have they told you anything?” she asked in the same ghostly whisper she’d used back at his truck.

“Not yet.” He raised a hand and brushed the backs of his fingers against her cheek. Once more, he was struck by a feeling of rightness. When he talked to her, when he touched her, he felt calm. The restlessness that flowed through his veins seemed to subside. He wanted to bask in it, but now wasn’t the time. She pulled away from his touch. The rejection stung just as much as it had before. “Don’t you think it’s time we talked, Mattie? If I’m going to help Linda, I need to know if this attack was personal.”

She averted her eyes, but he nudged her chin up, refusing to let her hide. “She and your brother are dating?”

Biting her lip, she shook her head. “Thirsty,” she murmured. He straightened and settled into the seat next to her. With a trembling hand, she raised the cup to her mouth and took a sip. “They used to date. A few years ago. But Tony didn’t do this. He couldn’t have.”

He didn’t bother telling her that anyone was capable of violence. That even seventy-year-old women had been found guilty of serial murder. She wouldn’t listen to that, and it certainly wouldn’t get her to open up to him. “I’ve never met your brother, but from the little you’ve told me, I’m sure he wouldn’t. But I need to know why Linda said his name when she’d just been attacked. Have they talked recently?”

“No. I just saw Tony yesterday. He was over at my house, watching Jordan.”

She gasped and all the color drained from her face. The hand holding her coffee jerked, spilling its contents on both his legs and hers. She didn’t even notice. Fear had darkened her eyes until the brown orbs dominated her pale face. Dropping the cup on the floor, she dug into her purse.

Dom winced, knowing instantly she was looking for her cell phone. She was afraid now. Afraid for her daughter. If she was wrong, she’d regret it later, but if she was right…

He deliberately kept his voice gentle. Soothing. “Where is Jordan now?”

“At a friend’s.” She dialed a number, her breaths panicked. “Janet, this is Mattie Nolan, Jordan’s mom. I was just checking in—” Her features and her shoulders relaxed. “Oh, a Disney movie? And they had pizza for dinner. That’s great. Yes, I can hear them in the background.” She glanced at Dom quickly before looking away. “I know we talked about you taking Jordan to school in the morning and I wanted to make sure that still works. A friend of mine is in the hospital and I’m not sure what’s going to happen. Yes. Thank you. I appreciate it.” Another glance at Dom. “Janet, I’m going to pick her up from school. Until then, if—if anyone else comes to your house for her, don’t let them leave with her. And would you call me immediately on my cell number? Thank you.”

She shut her phone and stared at him, refusing to meet Dom’s eyes.

“Mattie—”

Her head snapped up, her eyes fierce. “I don’t think he did this. But she’s my daughter. I have to protect her no matter what.”

Dom reached out and covered her hand, which still gripped the cell phone with whitened knuckles. The trembling he hadn’t seen before tickled his palm.

“It’s okay, Mattie. I understand. You’re a good mother.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” she whispered.

“I know you care about Linda. That you wouldn’t let any of us stop you from checking on her. I know you care about your brother, but that some small part of you, as much as you don’t want to, has reason to doubt him.” Unfortunately, Dom couldn’t stop pushing until he learned the reason for himself.

“Yes, but—”

“There are no buts. Once we get news about Linda, I can go check on Jordan—”

“No!”

He jerked at her vehement refusal, but she quickly shook her head. “She’s perfectly fine with Janet and the school won’t let her leave with anyone but me unless I call first. You need to concentrate on finding out what happened to Linda. You may not know this, but her apartment was broken into—”

“Mattie—” he began, but before he could continue a man dressed in light blue scrubs walked into the room.

He pulled down his surgical mask. “Deputy Jeffries?”

With one last piercing look at Mattie, Dom turned to the doctor. “Yes?”

“Ms. Delaney has been stabilized, but she hasn’t regained consciousness yet.”

Mattie stepped forward. “Is that normal?”

“You are?”

“This is Ms. Delaney’s friend, Mattie Nolan.”

The doctor looked at him oddly. “May I talk freely in front of her?”

Dom ran his fingers through his hair. “Yes, of course. You’re free to tell her about the patient’s condition.”

The doctor nodded. “I’m afraid it’s too soon to tell. She suffered internal bleeding, and the pressure on her brain made things tricky. Right now all we can do is wait.”

Dom jolted when Mattie reached out, took his hand, and squeezed it tightly. The doctor noticed, but she seemed completely unaware of her actions. The small gesture made his chest tighten. He squeezed her hand back.

“You mean she might never wake up?” Mattie asked.

“I didn’t say that. Just that it’s too soon to tell. I suggest you go home for now.”

“I’m not going home until I see her.”

The doctor arched a brow. “I’m sorry, but visiting hours are over.”

A mutinous expression took over Mattie’s face. In college, it would have been impossible to find anyone with a sunnier disposition. She’d always been a force to reckon with when crossed, however. If the doctor refused to let her see Linda, they’d be here all night. “Can you make an exception?” Dom asked, although his tone indicated he expected his request to be granted. “I promise we’ll be quick. It’s been a difficult night for Ms. Nolan and I’m sure she’ll rest easier if she can just see her friend.”

The doctor hesitated, then sighed. “The guard is outside her door as you requested, Deputy. I assume you’ll be accompanying Ms. Nolan?”

He squeezed her hand again when she stiffened, automatically putting the worst spin on the doctor’s comment. “Yes.”

“Then I’ll give you five minutes. Please don’t make me regret my decision by staying longer or trying to rouse the patient to ask her questions.”

“Thanks, doc.”

They followed him down several hallways to Linda’s room, Mattie muttering all the way. “Do you think that doctor could have been more suspicious? As if I could have done that to Linda. Not to mention the fact that I was with you when it happened—” She stopped speaking so abruptly he knew she’d finally remembered their kiss.

“Yes,” he agreed lightly. “You definitely were a little distracted, too.”

She smiled tightly as they reached the correct room. Hands on her hips, she managed to look down her little nose at him. “I wasn’t that distracted.”

Dominic nodded at Deputy O’Neil before looking down at her. “That’s too bad,” he responded softly. “Because I definitely was.” He gave himself a moment to enjoy the way her eyes widened and her lips parted before he motioned Mattie toward the room. “Go on,” he said. “I’ll be right here.” A small smile stretched his lips when she continued to stare at him. “Five minutes, you hear? I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Even as he watched her open the door and slip silently inside, Dom let out a deep breath and raked his hand through his hair. One thing was for sure. He was already in trouble.

Ten minutes later, as Dominic drove Mattie home, she laid her head back on the seat, closed her eyes, and tried to block the image of Linda’s still, bruised face. Even when she managed to do so, however, all she felt was guilt. Yes, her brother had acted uncharacteristically when he’d been hooked on the drugs. However, he’d never done anything to warrant Mattie’s fear that he might harm Jordan.

The flash of panic had been brief, she tried telling herself. Just a few minutes. But in the end it didn’t matter how brief her thoughts had been.

For those few minutes, she’d considered the possibility that Tony had hurt Linda and that he might actually pose a threat to Jordan. What did that say about her? What did that say about the world she lived in?

“You aren’t different from anyone else, Mattie, so stop beating yourself up.”

The husky baritone of Dominic’s words penetrated her self-castigation. She raised her head and stared at his profile. His features were set in grim lines but he didn’t take his eyes off the road in front of them.

“You don’t understand,” she began, but he didn’t let her finish.

“Of course I do. You love your brother and you believe in him, but you aren’t willing to take any chances, not when it comes to your daughter. That doesn’t make you a bad sister, it makes you a smart mother.”

“Maybe in your world it does, but in mine…” She shook her head. “Besides,” she said, unable to verbalize her own disloyalty, “there are a lot of Tonys in the world. Lots, I’m sure, that Linda has prosecuted.”

With a sudden jerk of the wheel, Dominic pulled the truck to the curb. A couple of teenagers walking a dog stared at them even as they continued to walk past. He turned to her, his eyes fiery enough that she instinctively flinched back. The calm mask he almost always wore was gone, replaced by a heat and intensity that was as captivating as it was scary.

“Yes, that’s possible. But sometimes things aren’t so complicated. Sometimes things are exactly what they first appear to be. And it appears you have reason to believe that your brother might be capable of assaulting an ex-girlfriend. I need to know why.”

“So you can throw him against a table like you did Dusty?” she shot back, even as she knew she was being unfair. He’d just been doing his job then. What really bothered her was the realization that all this emotion, all this passion, was still about his job rather than her. He didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned about his actions with Dusty.

“No, so I can confirm whether Linda said his name as an identification or as a warning.”

“A warning?” she parroted. Confusion warred with mistrust. “Why would Linda—?”

“You tell me, Mattie.”

She opened her mouth but she didn’t know what he was talking about. Was he saying Linda had wanted to warn Tony that he was in danger, or that she’d wanted to warn others about Tony? Did it really matter? Either way, all roads would lead back to the one mistake Tony was struggling so hard to overcome. She wasn’t saying anything that might ruin that for him.

Despite his drug history, Tony had managed to avoid the law. He’d never been arrested. Never even been questioned. For all she knew, Dominic had mentioned a warning for the sole purpose of throwing her off and making her talk.

At her stubborn silence, Dominic let out an impatient breath. “Fine. You don’t want to talk about him? We have much more important things to talk about anyway. Why don’t you tell me about Jordan?”

Apparently, hostile protectiveness was becoming a natural response for her. She thrust out her chin and practically dared him to push her further. “Why?”

“Because you freak out whenever I mention her,” he said quietly.

She had to force herself not to wilt. “I don’t freak out, but you seem to mention her a lot. Why are you so curious about her?”

“Because she’s yours. And I wish she could have been ours.”

Shock slammed into her like a knockout punch. For a moment, she could only stare at him while trying to keep her expression clear of longing. Then guilt. Then anger. The anger wasn’t easy to suppress. How dare he say that to her? When Jordan had spent most of her life without a father—the father that would have been hers if only Dom had loved Mattie enough to stay with her.

But he hadn’t.

He’d loved the idea of being a cop more than he’d loved her. If he’d ever loved her at all.

“You made your choice a long time ago, Dom. Leave me and my daughter alone. Please.”

“I’m sorry,” he said after several tense minutes had passed. “I know I shouldn’t have said that. I guess I never thought you could hate me so much that you couldn’t even tell me about your daughter.”

His quiet words snuffed the anger out of her. She saw the regret on his face. Imagined that regret would magnify a thousand fold if he knew the truth. But she had no intention of telling him the truth. Ever. Dom was an upstanding public servant who hadn’t even known his child existed. He could make a claim that would be hard for any judge to ignore.

She wasn’t taking that chance.

Still, she thought. What harm would it do to tell him a little about Jordan?

He reached to shift the truck into Drive, but froze when Mattie began talking. “Jordan’s innocent, even for her age. She sees only the goodness in people and she’s stunned when anyone hurts another, especially when kids tease each other or are mean to animals.”

“How old is she?”

She almost panicked, but managed to say, “She’s nine. John and I… Well, part of the reason we got married so quickly after you and I—I mean, he and I… I got pregnant.” There. It was the truth, even if it was designed to misdirect him.

His mouth twisted. “And we were always so careful about using protection.”

She turned and stared straight ahead, wondering if she was imagining the hurt in his voice. Yes, they’d always used protection, but her body had found a way to work around that.

He sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make that sound like an accusation. So Jordan… You were saying she’s sensitive?”

Mattie hesitated, then cleared her throat. “Extremely so. But she’s not shy or quiet either. She’s loud—far louder than most of her classmates—and adventurous. Again, more than other girls her age. She’s why I tried that rock-climbing class, and she wants to kayak next.”