Harlequin Intrigue, Box Set 2 of 2 (20 page)
Read Harlequin Intrigue, Box Set 2 of 2 Online
Authors: Julie Miller
“Soon, Miss Rinaldi.” He turned his attention to Tyler. “Would you like to go over and sit with your mother?”
“Yes, please.”
“When she's done working. She's proven more loyal to her loved ones than my family has been to me.” Leland looked around the room, perhaps seeing the movement of SWAT cops taking position outside the windows. “Did you find the information I was looking for, Miss Rinaldi? Has my beloved Beverly betrayed me?”
Katie looked at the incriminating evidence she'd pulled off Dr. Eisenbach's computer records. The notations Leland Asher had asked her to find were right there.
Francisco Dona, aka John Smith, is alive. Can use him to eliminate threats and provide surveillance to ensure jobs are completed as ordered in exchange for keeping his identity from Leland.
Matt Asher's hatred for his uncle can be used to my advantage. String him along with promise of helping him take over the business. He can do the dirty work and I can reap the profit. (I've earned it.)
Stephen March, Hillary Wells, Doug Price and many moreâtheir names were all there. The psychologist had counseled all of them, forced them to do her bidding, first to please Lelandâto become an indispensable ally with hopes of eventually becoming his wife or business partnerâand later to eliminate Leland himself when his promises of power and position turned out to be lies.
But once Katie gave Leland the information he wanted, the bullets would start to fly. And Tylerâher son, her angelâwould be caught in the crossfire.
“Miss Rinaldi. My time is running short. I'm sure your compatriots are closing in on my position and lining up kill shots even as we speak. Is the information there? Did my love betray me?”
Beverly wept in her bonds, begging to make amends. “Leland, please.”
“Miss Rinaldi?”
Katie pointed to her face, silently telling Tyler not to look anywhere else, to hold fast to the love in his mother's eyes.
“Miss Rinaldi?”
“Yes. It's all here. Beverly and Matt have betrayed you.”
“Thank you.”
Without missing a beat, Leland shoved Tyler toward Katie. Beverly screamed as he turned and fired a bullet right into the middle of her forehead.
Katie lunged for her son and wrapped him in her arms, dragging him beneath the sturdy walnut desk as a pair of smoke grenades crashed through the side windows, filling the room with a stinging gas.
“Close your eyes, Tyler. Hold tight to me.” Oh, thank God, thank God. But Leland still had a gun. A lot of people still had guns.
“No!” Leland shouted in a rage. “Shoot me! Shoot me!”
“Drop your weapon, Asher!” That was Trent. His voice was muffled by the mask he wore, but there was no mistaking the deadly authority in his tone.
“Drop it!” Max was in the room, too.
“This one's dead,” Olivia announced, moving away from Dr. Eisenbach's slumped body.
Jim Parker was there. Even Lieutenant Rafferty-Taylor had a bead on the man her team had finally brought down. “Drop it, Mr. Asher. You're surrounded. We have oxygen masks. You do not.”
“No! You have to shoot me!”
Katie hugged her body around Tyler's as tightly as she could when she felt the barrel of Asher's recently fired gun singe the nape of her neck. “Don't hurt my son!”
Leland yanked on the collar of her blouse to pull her from beneath the desk. But six feet five inches of defensive tackle slammed into the older man and flattened him on the floor.
“It's over, Asher. You're done.” She could hear him kicking Leland's gun away and pulling the handcuffs from his belt. “Sunshine, you all right?”
“Yes.” The lieutenant helped her crawl out from under the desk and stand.
“Tyler?”
“I'm okay.” Katie hugged her son tightly to her chest, assuring her boss with a nod as Max, Olivia and Jim circled around the imported rug where Trent was handcuffing a winded Leland Asher. “Mom, my eyes hurt.”
“Keep them closed, sweetie. It's the cloud in the air. It's making Mr. Asher cry, too.”
Lieutenant Rafferty-Taylor radioed backup that it was clear to enter and that they'd need two extra oxygen masks.
“Is Trent okay, too?” Tyler asked, hugging his arms tightly around her waist.
Trent Dixon, Katie Rinaldi's best friend, the man she lovedâthe man who didn't yet know how much she loved himâhauled Leland Asher to his feet and handed him off to Max and Jim. He peeled off his gas mask as the smoke in the air began to dissipate. “Read him his rights and arrest him for everything in the book.”
Leland sneered at the much bigger man. “You're wasting your time, Detective. I told you I was dying. I was simply setting my affairs in order.”
Trent leaned in. “You don't get to take the easy way out, Asher. You just confessed to two murders, and I bet we can close out a dozen more because of the evidence Katie sent us. More important, you threatened the lives of the two most important people in the world to me. Now, whether you have a year or a month or they find a cure for cancer and you live to a ripe old age, you are spending the rest of your days in prison.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The cold case squad and their loved ones filled up an entire row of the theater. Ginny Rafferty-Taylor and her husband, Brett, flanked the son and daughter who sat between them. Katie suspected they had a young starlet in the making with their daughter sitting on the edge of her seat for the entire show.
Uncle Dwight slipped his handkerchief behind Tyler's cousin Jack and poked Aunt Maddie, who wept silent tears at every poignant moment of the show.
Jim Parker and his very pregnant wife, Natalie, sat on the aisle so she could sneak out to use the restroom at several private intermissions. He wore a red tie and she had on a green maternity dress, adding a festive color to the group who'd all come to see Tyler in his debut role onstage.
Reporter Gabe Knight nodded sagely at several of the show's classic scenes, all the while holding hands with his fiancée. Olivia Watson might be a tough chick on the outside, but she was all smiles and thumbs-up to Katie as Tyler uttered the last line of the play.
Even Max Krolikowski, as gruff and Scrooge-ish as they came, draped his arm around the shoulders of his wife, Rosie. He nodded at something she whispered in his ear and pressed a kiss to her curly red hair.
They'd all been focused so long on closing KCPD's unsolvable crimes that it seemed odd to see this group of friends coming together to celebrate the holiday and show their support for a brave little boy who'd nailed every line and entrance, and whose very life was the best present a mother could ever have. Katie was grateful for her family and friends. They'd had each other's backs and saved each other's lives.
And when Tyler came out with the other children to take his bow, they all rose as one and joined the applause with the rest of the audience.
But it was in the quiet moments backstage, after the others had gone home and Katie was stuck in the greenroom ironing costumes and ignoring Francis's blow-by-blow critique of their opening night performance, that she got the best present of all.
“Low clearance, buddy.”
Trent ducked through the greenroom door, carrying Tyler on his broad shoulders with the same joy and love that Ebenezer Scrooge had carried Tiny Tim through the streets of London on Christmas Day. Trent even shook Francis's hand and congratulated him on his performance, rendering the temperamental actor speechless for a few moments before he beat a hasty escape.
“You ready to go, sunshine?” Trent set Tyler on his feet and hurried him into the dressing room to retrieve his coat. “I promised this hot young actor that I'd take him out for ice cream if he stayed in character for the whole show.”
“And I did, Mom,” Tyler bragged, galloping back out to join them. “I'm getting a root-beer float.”
“Sounds a little chilly for a December night. Do you mind if I tag along with you for some hot chocolate?”
Trent leaned over the ironing board to steal a kiss. “Maybe it's me who should be asking if I can tag along and be part of the family celebration.”
Katie cupped the side of his jaw in her hand when he would have pulled away. She lost her heart in the depths of those dark gray eyes. “You will always be a part of this family, Trent. You saved our lives. You made my son feel safe and you helped me learn to not just trust, but to embrace what I feel.”
“And what do you feel, Katie Lee Rinaldi?”
“That I love you. That I've always loved you. I'm just sorry it took me so long to realize I'm
in
love with you, too.”
Trent took her hand and led her around the ironing board to pull her into his arms and claim her mouth with a kiss. “I'm in love with you, too, sunshine.”
Several seconds passed before Katie remembered they had an audience and pulled awayâbut only to welcome Tyler into the circle of this loving man's arms.
“Mom, you don't have to mail my letter to Santa. I already got what I wanted for Christmas.”
Trent agreed. “I think we all did.”
“I haven't said yes to your proposal yet.” She felt glaring eyes from above and below and laughed. “Yes. Of course, the answer is yes.”
* * * * *
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Intrigue story.
You crave excitement!
Harlequin Intrigue
stories deal in serious romantic suspense, keeping you on the edge of your seat as resourceful, true-to-life women and strong, fearless men fight for survival.
Enjoy six new stories from Harlequin Intrigue every month!
Connect with us on
Harlequin.com
for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Other ways to keep in touch:
Harlequin.com/newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com
ISBN-13: 9781460388341
Kansas City Confessions
Copyright © 2015 by Julie Miller
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ⢠are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
