Nowhere to Turn (6 page)

Adam stared at the trio who’d just stepped into his office. His sister had left ten minutes ago and he hadn’t quite recovered from her bombshell. He gave himself a mental shake and held out a hand. “Ron. It’s been awhile.”

Ron gave his hand a firm pump. “Couple of months since my last rescue.”

Summer came into the room. “Ron. I thought I heard your voice.” She gave him a quick hug, then turned her attention to the woman Adam couldn’t seem to take his eyes from. Long blonde hair and eyes the color of a chocolate mocha, she was breathtaking.

“Who are your friends?” Summer asked the question Adam had stuck in his throat.

“Meet Dani Harding and her son, Simon,” Ron said.

Dani and Summer exchanged greetings.

Dani Harding was undeniably a beautiful woman. However, Adam could see stress in her eyes. Her hands clutched a bag, and her son wore his backpack low on his back. The kid stared lasers at Adam, his distrust and suspicion speaking volumes. “I’m Adam Buchanan. Pleased to meet you.” He offered his hand to Dani, who took it after a brief hesitation.

“Thank you. You too.”

Adam let go of her soft hand and immediately missed her touch. He swallowed and wished he had time to mull over the spark of attraction he’d felt when he looked in her eyes. Eyes that made him want to know the woman behind them. Strange. Stunning, actually. He’d never reacted this way to a woman before.

He turned to Simon. “How are you?”

Simon simply leaned into his mother and kept up that unnerving stare. Dani placed a hand on her son’s head and he transferred his look from Adam to his mother. She nodded.

Simon looked back at Adam. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

His words sounded odd. Almost as though he had an accent.

“Can I get you two anything? A coke? Something to eat?”

“I’ll take some food. What do you have?” Simon asked.

Adam realized the way to the kid’s heart was through his stomach. He looked at Summer and lifted a brow. She nodded.

Dani turned to Ron. “Why did you bring us here?”

“Because you need more help than a shelter can offer. You’re in a unique situation and these people specialize in that kind of thing. Especially Adam. It may be Sunday, but I knew exactly where he’d be.” He snickered.

Adam scoffed. “Don’t act like you have some special powers of knowing. You told me you were coming, remember?”

Ron waved a hand. “A minor detail.”

Summer shifted and backed toward the door. “I’m going to go check on Riley.” She looked at Dani. “Riley’s my five-month-old daughter.”

“How sweet. You’re fortunate that you get to bring her to work with you.”

“I am.” Summer nodded toward Adam. “You’re in good hands, I promise. I’ll get Simon’s drink and some crackers. Be right back.”

At her departure, Adam found his footing. These people were
in trouble. He could deal with that much better than the riptide of attraction for the pretty woman. “I read the email you sent, but why don’t you fill in the details?”

Ron motioned for Dani to sit. “Come on, tell him your story. He’ll listen and help, I promise. Give him a chance.”

Dani didn’t look like she believed Ron, but took the seat anyway. Simon planted himself on the floor, his back against the wall, eyes darting between his mother and the men.

Ron backed toward the door. “I’ve got to go, but you tell him.” And then he was gone.

Dani looked like she might be ready to bolt.

Adam sat back and tried to look as nonthreatening as possible. “Tell me.”

She exchanged a look with Simon. The child nodded. Dani nodded. She took a deep breath. “Yesterday morning someone tried to kill me. I was at a friend’s house and he shot at me.”

Adam sat up straight, all pretense of relaxing gone. “Shot at you?”

“Yes.”

“What about your friend?”

“She’d gone after her dog who’d gotten loose, she wasn’t in the house. Thank goodness.”

“So why would someone shoot at you?”

“I don’t know that he meant to.” Adam knew his confusion was reflected on his face. She sighed. “Like I said, I was at a friend’s house. He found me there. I’m really not sure if he was after me or mistook me for my friend.”

Summer delivered Simon’s goodies, then disappeared again.

Adam picked up where he’d left off. “Who would want to kill your friend?”

“I have no idea. No one. I don’t think. Maybe he got the wrong house all the way around.”

“Possibly.” He held up a finger and she paused. “What’s your friend’s name and address?”

Dani told him and he picked up the phone. “Hold on a sec.” He dialed David’s number. “Hey, I need you to run a background check on Jenny Cartee.” He provided the information Dani had given him. He hung up. “David will get back to me after he checks her out.” He spun his pen between his fingers. “So the person may not have been after you.”

“Right. But—”

When she hesitated, he pushed. “But?”

“My husband was killed about six months ago,” she blurted.

He remembered the email and nodded, brow creasing. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“I am too. Not sorry that I’m free of him, but how it all came about.”

So the marriage hadn’t been a good one.

“When Ron came to the rescue, I was actually running from my brother-in-law, Stuart Harding. Stuart rammed my car because I didn’t anticipate how close he was when I slammed on the brakes. Anyway, Ron rescued me and my son and brought us here.”

“Why not go to the cops?”

She let out such a weary sigh. “Stuart
is
the cops. He’s an FBI agent.”

Adam blinked and leaned forward. “Okay then. Now I’m getting a better picture of why you’re here.”

“Exactly. If I made a complaint, as soon as Stuart flashed his badge, it would be hands off for them. Whether they believed me or not.” Bitterness glinted at him. “Trust me, I’ve learned that the hard way.”

“Depends on the cop,” Adam said, “but I understand your concern about needing to trust the right one.”

“Kurt, my husband, was an evil man.” Dani shifted and narrowed
her eyes. “He was evil and also corrupt. No one saw that side of him, though. Ever. Just me.”

Adam leaned forward. “A dirty cop?”

She shot a look at her son. Adam realized he’d almost forgotten the kid was there. He looked back at Dani. “Should he wait outside while you tell me this?”

“No. He’s not under any false illusions about who his father is. Was.” Grief pinched her face and she moved hands, making different shapes with her fingers. He blinked. Looked at Simon. The kid responded in kind.

Adam blinked. “He’s deaf?”

“Yes.”

“I know most of the alphabet and a few words. What’s he saying?”

“That he doesn’t want to leave, he’s staying right here. That he knows his dad was a bad guy—” Her voice choked. “And that everyone is better off with his father dead.” She lifted watery eyes to his. “He wants to know if you’ll put his uncle in jail so he and I will finally be safe.”

Adam’s heart jolted at the pain on mother’s and son’s faces. He picked up a pen. “Let’s see what we can do about that.” Her hesitation told him she wasn’t finished. “What is it?”

“I . . . saw something eight months ago. Something that has plagued me ever since and I need to tell someone about it or go crazy. Only I wasn’t sure who to trust, who to tell, but I think you’re the right person.”

Adam lifted a brow. “Okay. What did you see?”

“A murder.”

Dani stared at the man who had his complete attention centered on her. She squirmed. She’d never had that before. At least not in a good way. Her father had died before she knew him and her mother had never dated or remarried.

Which was probably one reason Dani had been so susceptible to Kurt’s smarmy charms.

Adam stilled. “You saw a murder?”

“About two months before Kurt was killed.”

“And you never reported it.”

She glanced at Simon. He was now bent over the electronic video game Stuart had given him as a gift shortly after Kurt’s death. “No. Kurt knew I saw what happened, but no one else did.” She shuddered at the memory of his ballistic rage once everyone had left the house.

“How was he involved?”

She rubbed her eyes, taking a moment. “Let me start at the beginning.”

“Good idea.”

“I married Kurt when I was nineteen. I got pregnant on our
honeymoon. Kurt was thrilled. When Simon was born, he was Kurt’s trophy, his son, his legacy. Until it became obvious that little boys don’t always do exactly what their father says.” She slid another glance at her son and tried to make sure she had her face angled away from him. He wasn’t paying any attention to her, totally engrossed in his game. How he’d longed for the Nintendo 3DS. Kurt had refused his every request, saying that he had a Wii, he should be happy with that. And Kurt only agreed to the Wii because it kept Simon out of his hair and occupied when he was home.

She pulled herself back. “After Simon was born, Kurt was gone for long stretches of time. At first, I missed him, but then he started with the verbal abuse, then one day things escalated and he hit me. I was stunned. I think Kurt was too. Then it became a regular thing. When Simon was five, he tried to intervene and help me.” Tears welled and she blinked them away. “Kurt knocked him into the wall and he hit his head. I managed to call 911. An ambulance and police arrived. Simon was unconscious. I rode to the hospital with him and filed a report with the officers who followed.”

“If you filed a domestic abuse report, Kurt should have spent some time in jail.”

She snorted. “Not when you’re an FBI agent and the apple of your boss’s eye. Strings were pulled, the charges were dropped, and—” she pulled in a deep breath—“Kurt said that if I ever said another word about his abuse and threatened to leave, he would kill Simon and make me watch.” Dani cleared her throat to loosen the tightness. “When Simon woke up, we discovered he was deaf. I was furious—and consumed with guilt. When Simon was released from the hospital, a nurse tried to help me leave Kurt, but he found us and broke two of Simon’s fingers, saying next time it would be his neck.” Her lips trembled. “The nurse was
found dead two days later. Her death was ruled a suicide and I never ran again. Until the day of Kurt’s death.”

The pen snapped under the pressure of Adam’s fingers. He jerked and tossed it in the trash, realizing he’d been so caught up in her story, he hadn’t written a word. People like Kurt were why his services were necessary and it sickened him. But Kurt was dead and someone was still threatening Dani and Simon.

“You think he killed the nurse?”

“I don’t know.” Dani pressed the tips of her fingers to her lips and he could tell she was having a hard time getting the words out. “I don’t know for sure, but I . . . I think so. Anyone who offered to help me would be in danger if Kurt found out, so I didn’t dare do anything that might cause someone else’s death.”

Adam drew in a deep breath. “Who did you see killed?”

Simon’s bent head reassured Adam he wasn’t listening.

“A man who had crossed Kurt and whoever else was working with him. I didn’t know his name at the time, but then his body was found and the newspaper said it was a man by the name of Trennan Eisenberg. He had some connection with organized crime and the FBI was all over it, of course. Only they never found who killed him because my husband and others working with him covered up the evidence.”

“What evidence?”

“The evidence in my house, the fact that they were even there. The fact that they knew Mr. Eisenberg and were associated with him. I’m sure if there was a paper or electronic trail, they erased it.” She shrugged. “I don’t know what all the cover-up entailed, I just know they did it.” She swallowed hard. “I started eavesdropping whenever I could. I figured the more I knew, the more I’d be able to protect myself and Simon.”

“And did you learn anything more?”

“No, not really.” She fiddled with the strap on her purse.

“And no one else knew you’d seen this.”

“Right. At least I don’t think so.”

“Is there something else?”

“About a month ago, Simon and I left for a short weekend to go to the beach with Jenny.”

“The Jenny Cartee that David is checking up on?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. What happened?”

“When we got home, my house felt . . . strange.” Adam lifted a brow and she sighed. “I know it sounds crazy and maybe it is. But it felt like someone had been there. It even smelled different. I found some dirt on the carpet on the stairs that I would have sworn wasn’t there when I left.” She shrugged. “It bothered me for a while, but nothing else happened so I just let it go.”

“And then yesterday happened.”

“Yes.”

“And you think the two things are related?”

“I have no idea. I’m just trying to tell you everything so you can piece it together. If there’s anything to piece together.”

He nodded. “That’s good.” When he finished writing, he looked up. “And then there’s your brother-in-law. The man Ron pulled away from you today. Do you think he’s the one that shot at you?”

“I can’t believe he’d follow me to a friend’s house and try to kill me, but he’d just been at my house not too long before everything happened, so it’s hard not to think—” She shrugged again and looked away.

“Tell me more about him.”

Adam listened as she explained her brother-in-law’s obsession. She shuddered. “He’s as bad as Kurt and I just want him to leave us alone.”

Adam leaned back, his blood still boiling at all she’d suffered over the last twelve years. And she still wasn’t free to live her life like any other normal person. “First, I think we need to make sure you and Simon are safe. That’s our priority.”

“Okay.”

“I think what we’ll do is set up round-the-clock protection for you at your house. You’ll have someone with you wherever you go.”

“You mean like a bodyguard?” She wrinkled her nose.

“Yes, something like that. We’re not a bodyguard service, but we’ve all trained to do that kind of work should we need to do it. I’m just trying to think of the least invasive way of keeping you safe.”

When David and Summer decided to set up Operation Refuge, they went to the governor to get her support. When they presented their reasons for establishing the company, the governor decided to back it. It had taken awhile, but they’d gone against the norms and been granted all the powers bestowed upon any other law enforcement agency. Not only did they have permits to carry weapons and were licensed to investigate and provide protection, they also had arrest powers and the authority to submit evidence to state labs. The attorney general even threw in his support. With state and federal liaisons, they had all of the tools—and more—that they needed.

She took in a deep breath. “All right. We could do that. But for how long? I mean, all Stuart has to do is wait for you to leave.”

“True, but it may be that every time he comes over and you have someone with you and you’re telling him to leave you alone, he’ll be more open to the fact that you seriously don’t want to see him.”

“Do you think it’ll work?”

“It has before.”

She looked uncertain. “I guess we can try it.”

“All right. Hold on a second.” He picked up the phone.

Summer answered. “What can I do for you?”

“I’ve got a previous engagement for tonight. David’s busy and I need someone to do some protection duty for Dani and her son.”

“All right, let me check.”

“What about Tabitha or Isaac? Or maybe Janessa?” If he couldn’t have David, the six-foot-two-inch Janessa Glenn would be the next best thing. Her rich ebony skin would blend in with the night. Her self-defense skills would give him much comfort in knowing she could fight whatever came her way.

“Janessa’s available. I’ll call her.”

“Thanks.” He hung up. “Janessa is going to be with you tonight. We’ll take shifts for the next week to see how things progress. We’ll see how determined Stuart is and do our best to persuade him that he needs to leave you alone.”

She nodded, still not looking convinced. And frankly Adam wasn’t either. If it came down to it, he would make Dani and Simon disappear. He was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to that. “All right then.” He picked up his keys and looked at Dani. “I’ll take you home and make sure you’re settled. Janessa will meet us there. Let’s go.”