GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (32 page)

“
My apologies
, Miss Sweeney
.
I should have identified myself right away. T
h
is
is
Detective Holt.”

Beth instantly relaxed
.
“Hello, Detective, how can I help you?”

“Miss Sweeney, one of my officers picked up a man trying to break into your office this morning
.
He’s being detained and I need you to come down to the station this morning to sign a complaint.”

“Was it Roger Stockton?”

“I’d rather discuss it when you’re here, Miss Sweeney
.
When do you think you can make it?”

“We can probably be there around seven, if that’s okay.”

“
I’ll see you then.”

“Thank you, Detective.”
 

Beth
disconnected the call
and dropped
down
on the
edge
of the bed
.
A knot beg
a
n to form in her stomach
.
If
Stockton was
caught trying to break into her office, he probably
planned on setting
it on fire
. O
r plant a bomb like he’d done to Vic’s car
.

Ambushed by a
wave of nausea
, she felt the color drain from her face a
s
the blood raced to the aid of her frantically beating heart.
When Sam
emerged from
the bathroom,
he
was alarmed to find
Beth doubled over
,
clutching
her stomach.

“Anne, honey, what’s wrong
?”
He
rushed to bed and
sat
next to
her, his face lined with anxiety.

“They got him, Sam
.
” Drawing in a ragged breath, she sat up,
grateful for the strong arm that curled around her waist and pulled her to his side. “Detective Holt called.
They caught
Stockton
trying to break into the office.”

“Why are you so upset
?
That’s great news.”

“Detective Holt wants me to come down to the station to press charges
.
I just don’t want to face Stockton after all he’s done.”

Sam hugged her to him
.
“It’s going to be fine, honey
.
I’ll be right there with you
.
I guess this means you won’t need to send Vic away after all.”

“No, I’m going to send him anyway
.
After what he’s been through, he deserves the vacation.
”
Beth glanced at the clock
.
“Let me take a quick shower so we’re not late for breakfast.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, just feeling a little queasy.”
 

Beth rose on legs that felt suspiciously like limp spaghetti and made her way to the bathroom
.
She closed the door
,
lean
ing
against it for a moment before
crossing the room to
turn the shower on
.
Her
stomach rolled
dangerously
and she found herself hovering over the toilet bowl, throwing up everything she’d eaten the day before
.
She was g
lad
the rush of water from the shower drowned
out
the sound
of her retching; it
spared
her
the embarrassment of
having
Sam know what a wimp she was about the whole thing.

Once she stepped
beneath
the soothing
hot
water,
Beth
began to feel almost human again and wished she had more time to linger
.
Ten minutes later, she scurried into
the
bedroom, ignoring the silly grin on Sam’s face as he watched her get dressed.
By the time they got to the kitchen, Maggie was ready to serve breakfast.

“It looks wonderful,” Sam said, planting a kiss on Maggie’s cheek.

Beth eyed the huge array of food and wondered how Sam could keep such a hard body when he ate
as
he did
.
She watched him spear four pancakes,
and
then ladle a pile of scrambled eggs onto his plate
.
He plucked six pieces of bacon and two pieces of toast
and
poured thick, maple syrup over the whole mess
.
Beth stared at the oozing liquid and felt her stomach lurch
.

C
lamp
ing
her hand over her mouth
, she
bolted from the room
and made
a mad dash for the downstairs bathroom
.
She was certain she’d tossed up everything in her stomach on her earlier visit to the toilet bowl, but apparently there were a few items remaining
.
When she was sure it was over,
Beth
splashed water over her face and leaned against the sink, still feeling dizzy.
 

Sam tapped on the door and stuck his head in
.
“Are you okay, honey
?
Maybe you should see a doctor.”

“It’s just nerves
,” she smiled thinly
.
“
I feel awful that Maggie made
so much
food when I don’t think I’ll be able to eat anything
.
Go ahead and finish your breakfast
.
I’ll be there in a minute
.
Maybe I can keep down some toast.”

“If you’re sure
…
”

“I’m fine, really.”

Beth waited for a few minutes to make sure she wasn’t going to be sick again
and
then returned to the kitchen
.
Two anxious faces greeted her.
 

"Would you two stop worrying so much
?
I told you, it’s just nerves.”
 

She took a piece of toast and nibbled on it as proof she wasn’t going to die on them
,
although she
was careful to keep her gaze off Sam’s plate
.
Even the smell of coffee was repugnant to her this morning, so she opted for milk instead. Somehow Beth managed to
down the toast and was just polish
ing
off the glass of milk when
Sam pushed his chair back from the table.

“Are you ready, honey?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

Beth nodded and
took the hand he extended,
thank
ing
Maggie for the breakfast
before they headed out
.
“I’ll be happy when this is all over with and things get back to normal.”

Sam glanced down at her, still concerned about the
pallor
of her skin
.
“Are you feeling better now?”

“A little
.
I think the toast helped
.
I feel like such a weakling getting so worked up over this
.
I just hope I don’t have to see him face to face.”

Sam
gave her hand a gentle squeeze
.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, honey.”

“I’m glad you’re here, Sam
.
I’m not sure I could do it without you.”

“I’ll always be here for you, Anne
.
You won’t
ever
have to face anything alone again.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                      *
**

“Thank you for coming down so
quickly
, Miss Sweeney
,” Detective Holt said as they followed him down a long hallway. “W
e’ve put
the suspect
in a
lineup
and
hope you’ll be able to identify him
. 
I’ve got one of my investigators trying to
establish
a link between the fire at your house, the car bombing, and the attempted break
-
in at your office
.
We’ve interrogate
d
the suspect briefly, but he
’s
den
ying
everything.
”

Detective Holt
stopped and opened a door
leading into a dimly lit room. He stood to one side to allow Beth to enter. She took a few hesitant steps, coming to a full stop in the doorway when she spied the huge window that spanned the greater part of one wall. The room on the other side was clearly visible, although it was empty at the moment.

“He won’t be able to see me, will he
?”
Beth asked nervously.
 

“No, Miss Sweeney, this is a
two
-
way mirror
.
You can see them, but they can’t see you.
”

Once she and Sam were inside the room, t
he detective pressed an intercom button and instructed his officers to bring the men in.
Beth leaned into Sam, grateful for the sense of security
his nearness
afforded
her
.
Her
nerves were stretched about as far as they would go when the men
finally
started filing in. The air
in her lungs became nonexistent when her eyes zeroed in on
the man holding a card
imprinted
with the number four
.

It couldn’t be him
, she told herself. Her overwrought mind was playing tricks on her, that’s all it was. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping…praying that when she opened them again, she would find a complete stranger standing there.
With her heart hammering in her chest, Beth slowly opened her eyes again. A silent scream echoed inside her head
as she struggled to control her erratic emotions, but after the events of
the past few days, it was simply too much.
Her knees started to buckle and she would have collapsed in heap at Sam’s feet if
he
hadn’t picked up on her distress and tightened his hold on her
.

“Number four,” she said hoarsely
.
“I was responsible for sending him to prison five years ago
.
His name is Stephen DeBay.
”

She looked up at Sam and tried to speak, but a dark cloud had begun to swirl around her and she couldn’t seem to stay focused
.
“
Sam
,” she whispered
feebly as
the world faded to black.

“Anne
?
Honey, wake up.”
 

Sam
 
was calling out to her
.
She wanted to go to him, to ease the
anxiety she heard in his
voice, but
how could she when
her eyelids
were
so heavy
she couldn’t seem to lift them
?
He was close
though; close
enough
to catch
the musky
,
masculine scent of his skin
. Beth fought her way out
of
the darkness, focusing all of
her
energy on following the sound of his voice until the fog gradually began to clear.

She was conscious of being held in Sam’s arms and
the warmth of his body
as he
crad
l
ed
her to his chest
.
More than anything, she wished she could stay just as she was; safe and warm, cocooned in Sam’s protective embrace.
If it hadn’t been for his obvious distress
,
Beth
would have surrendered to
the
desire to snuggle closer and
let herself
sink back into the darkness.
Finally, her eyelids fluttered open, albeit reluctantly.

“Sam,” she whispered.

“You scared me, honey.
”
Tenderly, h
e brushed a stray
strand of
hair from her forehead
.
“How do you feel?”

“A little light
-
headed.
”
A slow tremble began to work its way through her body as t
he shock of seeing Stephen
DeBay
’s face in the lineup came back to her. “It was Stephen,” she choked.

“I know, sweetheart
.
It’s okay now
;
they’ve taken him back to his cell.”

“All this time I was so sure it was Roger Stockton
. It never even occurred to me that it might be Stephen
.”

“He
was released from
prison
six months
ago,
” Detective Holt told
them
. “It’s unfortunate that he didn’t use his time in prison to reflect on his own shortcomings rather than laying the blame on you and seeking revenge.
Do you think you’re up to pressing charges
, Miss Sweeney
?
If we can hold him for attempted breaking and entering, it might buy us enough time to pin the arson and attempted murder on him
as well
.”

“Hell, no, she’s not up to
it
,”
Sam
barked. “Can’t you see s
he’s not in any condition to be filling out forms right now
?
”

“
It’s
okay, Sam
.
I’d rather get it over with.”

His
grim
expression softened
.
“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure
.
I
just
want to
get it
over
so we can go collect Vic from the hospital.”

Sam
lowered her
to her feet but kept his arm firmly around her
waist
.
They followed Detective Holt to his office where Beth was handed s
everal
forms to complete
.
While she was filling them out, Sam and Detective Holt left the office
.
She could hear their muffled voices right outside the door, but couldn’t make out what they were saying
.
A few minutes later, her head snapped up when
she heard Sam’s voice raised in anger
.

She only caught snippets of the heated discussion outside, but gathered from what she heard that they were limited on how long they could hold Stephen
.
It was only after
Sam’s voice dipped
a couple of octaves that
Beth
became
concerned
.
It
was the same tone he’d used with Evan Drake the night of the dinner party.

After she’d
signed and dated the forms
, Beth
leaned back in the chair
with a weary sigh
.
Stephen DeBay
.
It seemed impossible that he
was capable of doing all
those
horrible
things to her
.
Yes,
stealing from his employer
was a stupid thing to do
because
he’d served time
in prison for it, but he was
not
a stupid man
.
Beth
simply
couldn’t fathom
why, after regaining his
freedom
, he would
turn around and
do something that could get him another twenty years
.

Stephen had used her
ruthlessly and without remorse
, but he hadn’t threatened or
attempted to
blame
to
her
at
any time before or after the trial
.
So why now
?
Maybe he’d grown bitter about it while he was in prison,
irrationally blaming
the person responsible for bringing him down
.
The pieces of the puzzle were
slowly coming together, although she couldn’t shake the feeling there was more to the emerging picture than met the eye.
She was still trying
to
pinpoint
what it was when Sam stormed into the room, his
expression dark and brooding
.
Detective Hol
t
was
a few seconds behind him and
didn’t look any happier.

“Is something wrong
?”
She glanced from one to the other.

“They can only hold him until Monday morning,” Sam said grimly
.
“He’ll have to report to his parole officer, but if he makes bail, he’ll be out before noon.”

“Unless we can get evidence on him for the other crimes before then,” Detective Holt added.

Sam turned on the detective with an angry scowl
.
“And if you can’t
?
He knows his number
is
up
.
He’s got nothing to lose.
There won’t be any more games and you know it, Holt
.
He’ll go straight for Anne.”

“I know you’re upset, Mr. Travis
…
”

“Upset doesn’t even begin to cover it,” he growled
.
“You do what you have to, Holt, but I want that man kept behind bars until you can prove one way or another
whether
he was responsible for the fire and the car bomb
.
If you have to dig up twenty year old parking tickets, you damn well better do it.
”
Sam helped Anne from the chair
.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he said tenderly, “let’s get you out of here.”

Beth tried not to think about what would happen if Stephen got out of jail on Monday, but in the back of her mind she couldn’t help agreeing with Sam
.
The games were over and
once he was free, Stephen
would do what he came here to do
.
By the time they got to the hospital
,
Beth was a nervous wreck
.
She was more scared now than she’d been when they didn’t know who was doing all those horrible things
.

How long would it take the police to come up with the evidence they needed
?
As they pulled into the hospital parking lot, Beth glanced at Sam’s face
.
His jaw was set determinedly, his features hard and fierce
.
She knew he would
call in every favor owed to him and
use
every
possible
resource to keep Stephen behind bars
.
Beth felt the tension begin to ease
.
Sam would do whatever it took to keep her safe.

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        *
**

Vic cheered her up with his crazy quips and light
-
hearted banter
.
Even Sam seemed in a better mood after they’d picked Vic up and took him to his house to pack
.
Actually, Vic sat on his bed issuing orders to Beth and Sam until he was sure they’d packed everything he
would
need for a two
-
week stay in the Florida Keys
.
They’d
driven to the airport and eaten lunch while they waited for his plane to start boarding
.
She and Sam had stayed until his plane was safely in the air before heading back to town.

“Just drop me off at the office and come back for me when you get off work,” Beth told him as they left the airport.

“Are you sure you’re up to it?”

“While he’s behind bars, I’ll be fine
.
Ask me again on Monday and I may give you a different answer.”

“You said you were responsible for putting DeBay in prison
.
What did he do?”

Beth turned her head to stare out the side window
.
“He was selling company technology to a competitor.”

“How did you catch him?”

“I uncovered an e-mail he thought he’d erased,” she said evenly.

Sam was silent for a moment
.
“What is it you’re not telling me, Anne?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You had a pretty powerful
response
when you saw him
.
It seemed extreme
,
even considering how anxious you were before we got there.”

“It was just the shock of seeing him when I was expecting to see Roger Stockton.”

“Is that the story you’re sticking to?”

Beth turned
 
and looked at Sam
.
“Any other story would just cause more pain.”

“For you or me, Anne?”

“You,” she said softly.
 

Sam had a good idea why Stephen DeBay
caused such a harsh
response
in her
.
“That first night we made love, you told me there
had
been
only
one man
other than
me
.
It was DeBay, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.
”

“Did you love him?”

“I thought I did.”

A
sharp stab of jealousy
skewered his heart
.
Regardless of the fact it happened long before they met, t
he thought of any other man holding her, making love to her, drove him crazy
.
“But
…now
you don’t
believe
it was love?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because if it had been you, if I discovered you
had
done something that
c
ould put you behind bars, I
would
have done
anything
to get you out of it
.
If I had to steal, lie
,
or
destroy the evidence
to keep you from going to prison, I
would,
and not think twice about it
.
Even if it meant the end of my career as an investigator,
I never would have turned you in, Sam
.
It didn’t take me five minutes to hand Stephen’s name to the company CEO
,
and then I walked away.”