Shield of Refuge (5 page)

“Why don't you go sleep for a while now. We can get the rest of the cabinet shelves filled,” CiCi said. “It looks like you have almost everything done for us. Once the coffee finishes brewing, we're about set. Then when Sean arrives to help Andrea, I'll make the deliveries.”

There was a knock on the alley door.

“That's probably Rachelle,” she said, taking a step toward the door. “The coffee is made, the cinnamon raisin loaves are cooling on the racks, but need to be sliced and bagged.” She looked out the peephole and reached for the doorknob, then froze.

Amber opened the door, surprised to see Garrett's brother, Nick, still in uniform. Another officer was sitting in a separate car. “Morning, Ms. Scott. I'm Sergeant Nick Matthews….”

“Hi,” she said tentatively, wondering why he was addressing her so formally after meeting at the hospital. “Is your brother okay?”

He looked at her oddly. “As far as I know, he's doing fine. Why?”

“Well, you're here, for one thing, and you sounded so official. Am I under arrest for something?”

He laughed. “No, sorry, the introduction is just a formality. We've been patrolling a little more by your shop through the night, and I noticed that you have some company. Since a white sedan showed up sometime in the last hour, I thought we'd better check on you.”

Amber leaned just far enough out the door to see the white car. “It's here?”

“There's no one inside it, but we thought there was a chance that the guy may have noticed your van and placed you here….”

She glanced at Nick. “That's similar to the car I saw last night, but it's not as nice.” She quickly stepped back inside her shop. “My employees just arrived. Do you want to see if it belongs to either of them?”

“That would probably be a good idea.”

As Nick stepped inside, Amber worried that he was going to take her in to the station because of her old charges. Though her lawyer had assured her years ago that her record had been cleared, doubt still plagued her. “This is Andrea and CiCi.”

As Sergeant Matthews questioned her employees, Amber studied him closer. Nick was taller and stockier than his brother, but it was Garrett's intriguing gray eyes that really caught her attention. He and Garrett had similar mannerisms, but that was where the resemblance ended. It was too bad she had such an aversion to police officers.

“Ms. Scott?”

She tore her mind from Garrett Matthews, and the temptation she had to ask Nick more questions about his brother. “Yes?”

“Lieutenant Chavez asked me to remind you to go by the precinct sometime today to look at mug shots and see if you can identify the suspect. If you do that, you'll need to talk to M. J. Daniels, our artist. She works from noon to five today. I figure we should get a description of the man you saw while it's fresh on your mind, just in case something does come of the case.”

Realizing her nap was out of the question, she said, “Okay, so you never found the girl?”

He shook his head. “No sign of anyone fitting that description yet…. It's only been twelve hours, but if no one makes a report, our hands are tied.”

Amber wrapped her arms around her body, feeling a chill of the cool autumn air at the reminder. “And the car in the alley?”

“Belongs to your employee, Andrea.”

“Oh, I missed that, I guess….”
While I was dreaming about your brother.
“Thanks for checking in with us, Nick.” Just then Rachelle pulled into the alley and approached very slowly. Nick got into the squad car and drove away.

She motioned her friend to pull up to the door, and waited to carry the boxes of costume accessories inside. “If it's slow this morning, you could price these and hang them up out front.” Amber slipped the apron over her head, tossed it into the laundry hamper and ran up to change her clothes, then returned to finish telling her employees what needed to be done. “It seems like I'll be gone most of the day, so don't hesitate to call if you have questions.” She wished she could stay home and hide in bed, but that was out of the question. Especially with a vehicle to replace.

“Where do you want me to put them? You're running out of space…” she heard CiCi say as she stepped out of the bakery, determined to get her life straightened out. She didn't have time to deal with insurance companies and police officers. Especially the one officer she couldn't seem to forget.

A
fter Amber picked up the rental car, she drove to the Victorian Inn to pick up the plastic cake plates and see if anyone else knew anything about the girl who drove the yellow SUV.

She went from one business to the next, hoping someone would have seen something. “Do you know who drives the yellow SUV that's parked out there?”

“I've never seen it before. Who are you again?” People looked at her like she was crazy. The more she tried to explain, the crazier it sounded.

“I witnessed an incident outside here. I'm hoping someone else could help identify the victim. Do you have a tall, thin college-age woman who works here? She might have come in around five-thirty yesterday.”

“No, we don't employ college students.”

She had the same types of responses at every stop. Not one mentioned that the police had talked to them.

Unfortunately no one had seen or heard anything, and no one seemed interested or overly concerned.

She went from there to the police station and asked for Officer Matthews. She needed to find out why no one had questioned local shop owners and their staff.

“He's off today.” The uniformed officer behind the front desk looked like he was still in high school—fresh military haircut, clean-shaven face.

She didn't figure she'd have any luck, but asked anyway. “Do you know when he'll be back on duty?”

“I'm sorry, we can't give out that information.”

Amber looked around, uneasy being here. “Can I speak with Officer Chavez? He was the officer who took my report last night.”

“He's not on duty now, but if you'd like to leave your name and phone number, I'll give him your message.”

 

Two days later Garrett waited impatiently to talk to the chief. His supervisor had called to check on him earlier in the day and had broken the news that he would be required to take a few more days off.

His soon-to-be sister-in-law, Sarah Roberts, walked by. “Sorry to hear about the accident, Garrett. How're you feeling?”

“I'm fine,” he replied, careful about what he said. He wanted to stay on duty, but he knew from Nick and his narcotics officer brother, Kent, that the chief didn't like to be pushed with his back to a wall. “It's amazing what a difference a day makes. Yesterday I woke with a headache. Today it's gone. I feel great.”

Sarah looked at him suspiciously. “It's only been two days, Garrett….”

The officer assigned to the front desk interrupted them, much to Garrett's relief. “Officer Matthews?”

“Yeah,” Garrett responded, eager to stop Sarah from saying that the pain hadn't even reached its peak yet.

“There's a woman here to see you.”

“Me?” Garrett glanced at the chief's secretary, then to Sarah. “Did she say what she needs?”

“Just said she needs to see you. She's come in here the past two days asking to speak to you. I don't know that she'll take no for an answer again.”

“I'll be down in a few minutes,” Garrett said, hoping the chief would be available quickly. “Sarah, I'll see you at Mom and Dad's tomorrow for Sunday dinner. It'll be the first time in a long time we've all been off at the same meal.”

“That's not to be taken for granted, then, is it? I'll see you later, Garrett. Take it easy,” Sarah said.

He looked at the secretary, and she seemed to know his silent plea.

“He's still on the phone, Officer Matthews. I'll let him know that you're waiting to see him if you want to take care of your other business.”

He glanced at the red light on her phone and nodded. He may as well find out who was so desperate to talk to him. Though he was positive it was Amber. “I'll be right back.”

“I'm sure you will be,” the secretary said with a smile.

He stepped through the door to the lobby, and immediately recognized the woman who had thrown a major kink in his plans. “Hello, Ms. Scott.”

Worry lines dissipated from her face and he realized she was every bit as pretty as he'd remembered. She jumped to her feet. “Hi. You're okay,” she said softly. “I was getting worried when they said you were off duty for a while. I hope it's nothing serious.”

“Who told you that?”

“Your brother. He and his girlfriend stopped by the shop this morning to talk about a wedding cake and to make sure I'm doing okay.”

Figures,
Garrett thought. “And are you?”

“I'm just fine. That's what I needed to find out about you.”

“Good,” he said awkwardly. “I'm hoping to come back to work soon. I'm more than ready.”

She smiled, her full lips quirked to one side. “That's such a relief. I know you're probably busy, but I wanted to see if they ever found the car, or if the girl…I can't get any information from anyone else. Nick said it sometimes takes days for people to report someone missing. I'm just sure…”

He shook his head, wishing it was easier to ignore the sincere concern in her brilliant blue eyes. “I haven't heard anything about the case since I'm on mandatory leave.”
Thanks to you.
He tried not to think it. Tried not to blame her.

He tried not to think of her, period. He had to get his career back on track as soon as possible. He had to get back in the game if he stood a chance of getting hired with the Drug Enforcement Administration or the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He'd made it past the first cut for both.

“I keep trying not to think about it, but once I get something in my head, I can't get it out until I've done everything I can to solve it.”

“It's not your problem, though.”

“It is when I'm the witness. And from the responses I received from the people who work near the Victorian Inn, I'm the only one who saw anything. My parents think I'm a little too driven. Giving up isn't easy for me. And I keep seeing that poor woman….” She looked at him with her big blue eyes. His heart skipped a beat.

He didn't want to acknowledge the paradoxical feelings toward this woman and the guilt she was likely experiencing. She felt responsible. She wanted to help.

How could he resent her and her following up on her concerns? She'd been following her convictions to help. Her convictions were no different than his reasons for going into law enforcement. Her intentions to help a victim of a crime were from the heart. He had to respect that, if nothing else.

“If it were my sister, I wouldn't want anyone to walk away without trying to help her…” she said, her voice softening. “Someone is missing her, I just know they are. Why aren't the police looking for her?”

That was all he needed to melt his resolve. He and his family had felt the same way when his sister had needed protection. Just like Kira, Amber wasn't going to give up. And she was right. They couldn't ignore a credible witness. “How do you know they aren't?”

“How do you know they
are?
”

He didn't, but her assumption that they weren't doing anything stopped him cold. This wasn't the place to argue with a witness. He wanted nothing more than to defend the department, but he had nothing to go on.

“I'm waiting to talk to the Chief of Police. I'll see what I can find out.” He felt his pockets for something to write with, then looked around for a piece of paper, finding none. He hadn't come prepared to work. His notebook was in his locker, two floors down. He glanced at her, wondering if she had any clue how difficult it was to concentrate with her around. “I presume your contact information is in the accident report.”

She got a look of panic on her face. “Ummm, I'm sure it is, I mean, I gave it to the officer that night.” Amber Scott reached into the massive purse hanging from her shoulder. “Here, I'll make it easy for you,” she said, handing him a business card with balloons and wedding bells on it.

“Parties Galore? I'm not familiar with it.”

“It's the new name for my grandmother's bakery, It was Candy and Confections…in Old Town….”

“Oh, sure. Mom used to get cakes from there all the time…” Realizing he'd practically insulted her grandmother's business. “For our birthday parties,” he said, digging a deeper hole for himself to get out of. She waited silently, not about to give him an easy out. “Birthday parties are pretty low-key these days….”

“I could fix that, if you'd like,” she said with a smirk. “I am a party planner.”

Garrett felt his skin warm up, and hoped it wasn't obvious how embarrassed he was. He held up the card. “A party planner, when you're not a private investigator, huh?”

Amber shot him a coy smile. “I'll have to see how this case pans out. A side business might be fun.” She smiled, completely knocking him off balance.

The officer at the front window interrupted, his voice squawking through the speaker in the bulletproof glass. “Garrett, the chief is available now….”

“Call me,” she said simply and turned to leave.

“Yeah, I will. You be careful,” he said awkwardly, making a beeline up the stairs, trying to run from the unwelcome feelings he was fighting.

His plans for the future left no room for complications. Women fit into the complication category. Amber Scott fit into the women category.

He was in trouble.

Amber Scott had already thrown a monkey wrench into his chances of joining the FBI or DEA. He didn't need to make matters worse by getting emotionally involved with her, too.

He needed to find answers to her suspicions right away so he could focus on his goals. Until then, he wasn't going to be able to concentrate on anything but her. Her safety. That was all he needed to concern himself with.

He'd find some logical explanation for what she saw that night. She'd be happy. He'd get on with his life and he'd be happy, too. He made a beeline for the chief's office.

“Garrett,” Chief Thomas said a minute later, offering his hand.

Garrett knew it was going to hurt like crazy to shake the chief's hand, but a man had to do what it took to get back to work.
No pain, no gain.
He wasn't about to sit out of the action because of a stiff neck.

He grasped the chief's hand firmly, steeling himself.

Chief Thomas shook his hand vigorously, then glanced at him suspiciously. “I wish I had more officers determined to get back to work like you are, Garrett.” He motioned him into his office and let the door close behind them. “You're not going to do me much good out on the streets with less than one hundred percent mobility.”

He'd failed again. “It's not that bad,” Garrett said lamely. Seeing the look of contempt in the chief's eyes, he dropped Plan A and moved on to Plan B. “I could help in the office or on the investigation, then.”

“What investigation? Your accident…?”

“The police impersonator, the missing girl—this isn't the first…” Garrett said, as if it were the only investigation they had in the department. “What do we have on it so far?”

“Not much. You focus on that shoulder, Matthews.”

“My shoulders and neck and everything else are fine, sir.”

The chief shook his head. “Even
my
hands are tied on this one, Garrett. No one has been reported missing. The car hasn't turned up….”

Garrett suspected as much. The case was essentially closed. “I believe Ms. Scott, Chief. She hasn't changed the details, her story makes sense. This isn't the first report we've had of suspicions police impersonators. They
have
to be tied to each other. Has any warning been issued to the public?”

“The mayor won't allow it. He feels we've just gained some of the community's confidence again after the rapist was caught. Asking an open-ended question about a missing girl is opening Pandora's box. And he doesn't want to cast any more shadows over the police department by bringing up a police impersonator. It's not going to happen.”

Garrett thought about Plan C. He hadn't thought he'd need Plan C. “So we're just dropping the case?”

The chief pulled a folder from the stack on his desk and opened it up, silently studying it. “I know you're looking to move into a new career, Garrett, and I think you have an outstanding chance of being hired with any one of the federal agencies.”

Garrett felt a “but” coming. “Yes, sir, I have. Thank you for your vote of confidence, but at this point, that's nothing more than a pipedream. I have time on my hands, and I need to find this creep.”

“I'm not going to let you back out on the streets before your neck has a chance to heal. You need to be one hundred percent ready when the DEA or FBI call you to test.”

Garrett's mind wandered. He hadn't thought of how he'd test with a sore neck and shoulder. It was hurting more than yesterday and far more than he'd hoped it would be by today. He had been applying ice bags and heat alternately so he'd have no medications in his system. Maybe he'd look into some other treatments to speed things along.