Loving Baby

James stiffened, then nodded.

“In the last few years he’d call me occasionally to talk. Nothing devious or anything. Just about how I was doing and checking up on our sister, Chelsea, mostly. Honestly, I think he regretted not having a relationship with her, but as you’ve pointed out, he was in with the worst kind of crowd. And he knew it. He never tried to come around while I raised her, and I never invited him to.”

“Until four months ago,” Suzy offered.

“He called and I knew something was off. He said there was something he had to talk to me about. In person. Something important.” James tightened his grip on the steering wheel. His knuckles turned white. A muscle in his jaw twitched. “By the time I got there...well, you know.”

Suzy fidgeted in her seat. “So you have no idea what he wanted to tell you?”

He shook his head. “I have no idea what he wanted or why he chose to meet there. Or who wanted him dead. I might not be in law enforcement, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard about his reputation. If someone wanted him dead, it was a bold move. One not many would make. Especially not Lester McGibbon. At least, not on his own.”

Suzy and Matt had already agreed on that point. Nothing in Lester’s history suggested he would go from white-collar crime to taking on Gardner. Someone either bold or stupid had ordered the hit and gotten the man to do it.

“You think what Gardner wanted to talk to you about was related to his death,” she guessed.

James reduced the truck’s speed and leaned forward to get a better look ahead.

“When the Alabama Boogeyman has a secret for you and then gets shot three times before he can tell?”

“It’s hard not to connect the two,” she admitted.

“Damn hard.”

He motioned out the windshield, but Suzy was already pulling out her gun. The country road was funneling them toward a house in the distance. Not a farmhouse—it was too small, and there was nothing else around the property that suggested the owners dealt with animals or crops—but something more quaint. One lone exterior light hung over the front door. There were no cars around.

“You’ve never been to this house?” she asked, already knowing the answer. In profile, she could see the way his brows pinched together. Along with her, he was seeing the house for the first time.

“I’ve never been here,” he confirmed. “I didn’t even know there were houses this far out here.”

Bates Hill might have been a small town, but its country land ran for a good chunk of miles. As far as Suzy could recall, she hadn’t been out here, either. Which meant she needed to be on her A game.

As easy as it had been to not trust James during the last four months, she couldn’t help but believe that he believed the tip he’d gotten was genuine.

Suzy took the safety off her weapon.

James didn’t stop in front of the house. Instead, he drove a circle around it and parked facing the road they’d come from. No one stirred inside.

“Ready, Chief Deputy Simmons?” There was a hint of excitement in his voice. It matched the small dose of adrenaline building in her. The danger of the unknown. The promise of getting justice. All in a day’s work.

“Yes, but at the first sign of trouble I’m calling in the cavalry. Got it?”

James snickered. “I wouldn’t have thought otherwise.”

They got out of the truck and fell into a surprisingly comfortable rhythm. James led the way to the door and knocked, and when no one answered, he stepped to the side. He tried the doorknob. It turned, but he didn’t open the door. Instead, he gave Suzy a look that made pride for her job swell in her chest. She pushed her shoulders back, brought her gun up, and looked ahead and nodded. James opened the door wide and waited as Suzy pushed in first, gun ready.

“Riker County Sheriff’s Department!” she yelled, quick on her feet.

No one yelled or jumped out, but Suzy didn’t slow. She went through the living area as soon as James turned on the light. No sign of anyone. She moved to the one bedroom and the attached bathroom, flipping on the rest of the lights as she went.

“It’s clear,” she called after checking the closets. She holstered her gun and went back to the living room. “Anything you recognize?”

The room was small and open to the kitchen. A modest furniture set centered the room while a bookshelf took up half the wall near the front door. James stood in front of it, scanning the books and odds and ends it housed.

“I don’t know,” he answered after moving to the next shelf. “Nothing so far. No pictures or anything that I think would constitute a secret worth killing to protect.” He reached over and pulled out a book. “Unless someone really didn’t like Romeo and Juliet.”

Suzy walked to a chest against the wall and opened it. It contained a few handwoven blankets and a shoe box. Carefully she lifted the small box out.

“Do you think this is where he lived?” she had to ask, taking the lid off. “Gardner, I mean. Did he ever tell you where he stayed?” The box was filled with blank envelopes and a pen.

“That’s just another question I never asked. Though I assumed he had a place north of Birmingham. Definitely not here.”

“Maybe this place is the secret.”

Suzy placed the box to the side and pulled the blankets out. She tossed them onto the couch.

“A secret about what?” James asked, his focus still on the bookcase. “That whoever stayed here liked isolation and Shakespeare?” Suzy could hear the frustration in his voice.

“Your source could have been pulling your leg,” she pointed out.

He turned and their eyes met. Blue glass. Sharp and clear. “You saw Queso. Do you think he was lying?”

“I think he was scared and confused,” she admitted. “He might have misinterpreted what he saw or was simply given the wrong information on purpose.”

James didn’t agree. He didn’t even have to shake his head to get that point across. He squared his shoulders defensively. “My source wouldn’t do that.”

He didn’t elaborate past that, and Suzy didn’t push. He stalked past her into the bedroom.

James might have told her one of his secrets, but he certainly had more up his tailored sleeves. Maybe jumping into his truck without a second thought hadn’t been her best move. Answers be damned.

They spent the next several minutes in silence, both working their rooms. Suzy checked the side tables, went back over the bookcase and started pulling out kitchen cabinets and drawers. Whoever lived in the house had either left in a hurry or hadn’t been there in a while. Almost everything was cleaned out of the kitchen.

Almost being the operative word.

“James!”

“Suzy!”

Suzy jumped and turned as they spoke at the same time. James walked into the living room, holding a cloth in his hand.

“I would say ‘jinx,’ but I don’t think it works like that,” he said. The joke didn’t hold any humor. James’s expression was blank. “I found this in the dresser. It was hung up between the drawers.”

He held the cloth up. Only it wasn’t just a cloth.

It was a small onesie. One with a rubber ducky sewn in the middle.

Suzy’s heart began to race. She stepped to the side to show what she’d found.

“It was at the back of the cabinet. I almost didn’t see it.”