Читать книгу Deep Undercover - Lenora Worth - Страница 15

Off in the distance and after a long delay, the fireworks finally started. The areas on both sides of the river were now being heavily patrolled by the NYPD and several other law enforcement personnel from various agencies. But thankfully no other devices had been found along the river or in any of the parks, and most of the people on both sides were never aware that they’d searched for bombs. The fireworks barge had been cleared. The show would go on, but the search for the suspect would intensify. Reporters hovered near the cordoned-off areas, wanting the scoop. A few brave people stood behind the police lines, determined to see the fireworks now that the area had technically been cleared. But most of the people who’d been crammed into this area had either gone home or moved to another safer location.

Not a good situation, Brianne thought as they walked the perimeters that had been marked with police tape. The bomb fragments were being gathered, piece by piece, by the bomb squad and so far no other explosive devices had been found. The lab would go over every shred to find clues or markers. No word on the suspect they’d seen earlier.

Random? Or deliberate? She hoped they’d find the suspect somewhere in the city.

Brianne still shuddered each time she thought about the device that had exploded less than two hours ago in the haze of the coming dusk. If Stella and Tommy hadn’t alerted...

But that was the job. Taking care of this city. New trainee Stella had done her part and she’d been rewarded with her treat, which involved a ball and a few minutes of playtime, followed by a doggie treat. They’d have more playtime when they got home. Aggravated that she’d let the suspect get by her, Brianne looked up and found Gavin and Tommy heading toward her. Glad that they were still alive, she tried not to think about how Gavin made her feel.

“What a night,” he said, fatigue darkening his eyes.

“And it’s not over,” she replied. “We don’t leave until everyone else does.”

“Could be a while.”

Brianne had not been happy to be partnered with this man. He had a reputation around headquarters for being an overly ambitious hothead. But she had to admit that today he’d been professional and courageous. And caring. He’d personally made sure the elderly couple that had been nearest to the explosion had both been checked over by the paramedics and cleared. Then he’d seen to it that they had an escort home, not a taxi but a cruiser.

Now Brianne wondered if a big teddy bear hid behind that gruff, fierce exterior. Gavin was good-looking in a don’t-mess-with-me way, his hair a rich tousled brown, his eyes almost black, his attitude tough and untouchable. Maybe she’d misjudged her coworker, but then her last boyfriend had explained to her that she needed to work on her trust issues.

Even though she’d caught him cheating with her now-ex-best friend. Yeah, she had a few trust issues. But more than that, her determination and ambition matched that of the man walking with her right now. And that meant no love life. Too messy.

“You might need some downtime later tonight,” he said. “It’s always rough when things get this heavy.”

Whirling to face him, Brianne scoffed. “You don’t think I have the mettle to handle this, Gavin?”

“I didn’t say that,” he replied, clearly confused. “We had an intense situation, but you handled it like a pro.”

Anger gaining strength, she glared up at him. “I am a pro. I haven’t gotten my official graduation certificate yet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do the job.”

“I said all of that wrong,” he replied, looking adorably sheepish. “You’re tough, Bree. We can all see that. You work harder than any of us in training and on the streets.”

“You mean, for a woman, right?”

“I hadn’t noticed,” he retorted, with a trace of a smile.

“Are you laughing at me, Sutherland?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Now you’re calling me ma’am?”

“Look, I’m headed for coffee and something to eat once we’re off duty. I’m bushed and I’m starving and my adrenaline has about run its course. You’re welcome to come with.” Checking his watch, he added, “Our shift should have ended an hour ago.”

Feeling contrite and a bit embarrassed, Brianne again wondered about Gavin Sutherland. She hesitated for her own reasons, but he took it the wrong way.

“Okay, I get it,” he said, walking ahead of her. “You obviously don’t want to hang around with a piranha like me.”

“You don’t look that dangerous,” she said, catching up with him. “I don’t think of you in that way.”

No, right now she thought of him in a whole new way. Something that had more teeth than any old scary fish. Mentally doing a shakedown, she pushed all of that away for now. Her adrenaline had drained away, too.

“Then what do you think of me?”

His question caught her off guard. She’d noticed him. It would be hard for any woman to skip right over a man like him. But she knew better than to get involved with a coworker, especially since he was right. She’d worked hard in training and on the job to show everyone she meant business. She’d taken on the task of training Stella to make some points, but now she loved the dog with all of her heart and she planned to make Stella the best bomb-detection dog in this city. Stella had done a good job today, so Brianne knew her gut instincts had been spot on.

“Can’t even say it?”

Holding tight to Stella, Brianne shot him another glare and got her mind back on the conversation. “Yes, I can say it. I don’t know you that well, but I think you were given a bum rap. You might want to get promoted, but you wouldn’t kill anyone to make that happen. You’re too loyal to the department for that and besides, you have a solid alibi for when Jordan disappeared.”

Giving her an uncertain frown that made his eyebrows shift up, he said, “Thank you, I think.”

He took off and followed Tommy, his whole body on alert. Maybe the man just needed a friend.

“Look,” she said, tired but still full of enough tension to know that this man made her pulse beat a little faster. “It’s been a long hot day and I’m going home when I’m done. Then we get right back to it tomorrow.”

He didn’t argue with her. “Yep. I need to find some food and then I’m going to go over my report one more time. We have to keep looking for the man in the plaid hat.”

“Because he could strike again,” she replied, her eyes holding his.

Gavin nodded. “Yes, I have a bad feeling this might only be the beginning.”

* * *

The next morning, Griffin’s Diner was hopping as usual. People still enjoying what was left of the Fourth of July weekend were lined up at the double French doors of the quaint brick building located on a bustling corner near 94th Street in Queens.

Brianne had walked the couple blocks over from the K-9 Command Unit in search of some good coffee and a nice shady spot on the patio.

The old red bricks of the restaurant had mellowed to a deep burgundy over the years. Brianne remembered coming here with her parents as a child and seeing the pictures on the wall of fallen officers, one of them a brother to the owner, Louis Griffin. Most of the K-9s in service now had been named after those who’d died while on duty, including Gavin’s partner, Tommy, named after Officer Tommy McNeill.

The diner had been in the Griffin family for generations and easygoing baseball fanatic Louis “Lou” Griffin was a fixture in the place, along with his blunt-talking wife, Barbara, who had a no-nonsense attitude and took care of everything from bookkeeping to settling down unruly customers. Their daughter, Violet, a friend of Brianne’s, worked with them when she wasn’t at her regular job as a ticket agent at the airport. They’d lost their five-year-old son to meningitis nearly twenty years ago. She often wondered if that’s why they all poured so much love into this old building.

Brianne moved around to the right corner where an alfresco area lined with potted dish gardens led to the private space designated for the NYPD and the K-9 team’s four-legged partners. She opened one of the matching French doors there, smiling at the etched plaque over the door—The Dog House, Reserved for New York’s Finest.

She headed inside to see if Violet was working and get that big cup of coffee but stopped when she heard her name.

“Hey, Bree.”

Turning, she saw Gavin approaching, Tommy moving ahead.

Holding the door, she tried to hide her surprise. “What are you doing here?”

He pointed to where a big red umbrella cast a shade over one of the square metal tables near a side street. “I never ate last night. I’m going to order a big breakfast.” Then he lifted his chin. “Grab your coffee and meet me back out here. It’s cloudy and not too hot yet. Lou’s got the rotating fan going already.”

“Outside it is, then,” she replied, again noticing her good-looking coworker while she wondered why she’d stopped here today, of all mornings. Unless someone else showed up, they had the whole patio to themselves. Not that she minded. More like too intimate. Brianne wanted to keep things light and professional. But...a chance meeting over coffee, coworkers did that, right?

When she came back with a to-go cup, Gavin didn’t dare hold out her chair, even though he looked as if he might. They both sat down at the same time, facing toward the street, their partners curling up at their feet to wait for water and a special treat from Lou.

“So how ya doing?” he asked, his attitude more relaxed and laid back today.

“Peachy,” she replied. “Slept like a rock.”

“I never know if you’re being sarcastic or serious,” he replied, smiling over at her.

“And I’ll never tell you which.”

She hadn’t slept much at all. She kept reliving the moment when that bomb had exploded. But she’d made notes each time she remembered something and she aimed to get back to work. Like right now.

Barbara came out with a coffee pot. “Anyone hungry?” She refilled Gavin’s mug, her question causing Brianne’s stomach to growl loudly. “What else can I bring you guys?”

“Pancakes,” they both said, laughing.

“Pancakes it is,” she said, taking her pen out from behind her ear, loose strands of curling brown hair with gray edging escaping her bun. “How ’bout some bacon with that?”

“None for me,” Brianne said. “I hadn’t planned on staying.”

“Double stack,” Gavin replied to Barbara.

Brianne shook her head and smiled up at Barb. “Hey, is Violet here this morning?”

“Not yet,” Barb said with a smile. “But she’s due to stop by any minute now. We’re going to talk wedding plans. Have you seen her ring?”

“I have,” Brianne replied. “She and Zach seem so happy.”

“They are—finally,” Barb said. “Took them all of their lives living next to each other and then almost getting killed by some drug dealer to figure it out.”

When Barbara walked away, Gavin looked over at Brianne. “Zach needed someone in his life right now. It’s been tough on all of the Jameson brothers, losing Jordan.”

“I agree,” Brianne said, remembering Jordan’s funeral and how his brothers had stood so solemn and strong. “Now if we could just find his killer.”

“Yeah, I want that, too.” Gavin looked down, probably remembering being heavily questioned about Jordan’s death since the whole unit knew he’d been bitter about not being promoted to chief. But she didn’t broach that subject. He’d been cleared, and that was good enough for her.

He didn’t offer up any explanations. Instead, he switched gears. “So you like pancakes, but you don’t eat meat?”

“I do but...bacon is addictive. I try to pace myself.”

“And why are you in such a hurry to get away from me?”

“I’m not,” she said, thinking she needed to do just that. “I came by to get some coffee and chat with my friend. But I remembered some things about last night so I jotted notes to add to my official report. I wasn’t planning on hanging around for a big breakfast. I want to do a search and see if I can get a match on that bomber.”

He took a sip of his coffee and did the cop scan that came naturally. Trucks whizzed by, vehicles honked, people hurried down the sidewalks. A typical day in the city. “I figured you’d head right to headquarters this morning.”

“I went over my report early this morning,” she said, nodding. “And I have lots of questions, but I needed some of Barbara’s strong coffee first.”

“What kind of questions?” he asked. “I have a few of my own but we’ll need to see what the lab’s found, too.”

“That guy in the plaid hat. Gavin, he walked right past us.”

“Yeah, I know. Taunting the police? Daring us to see him?”

She took a long drink of coffee. “I did some research online. No other recent reports of bomb threats or bomb scares, but there does seem to be a rash of small explosions all over the city lately.”

Gavin tensed up and turned wary. “Such as?”

“In buildings, parking garages, things like that. They’ve all been explained away as accidents. A boiler explosion here, a garage fire there, several construction fires. But no bomb threats or actual bombs—except possibly at one particular site.” She paused. “A site that you and Tommy worked, Gavin. Williamsburg. A boiler exploded in the basement. Why were you called in?”

He didn’t flinch, and he didn’t look away. “I heard the call on the radio. I happened to be nearby so I went.”

“What did you find?”

He looked away this time. She’d read the report. Possible incendiary device. Unsubstantiated. Not enough evidence.

“Gavin, what do you know about that explosion?”

Giving her a confused stare, he asked, “What are you getting at?”

“Nothing. Because I have nothing. But I’m concerned we might start seeing more bombings in the parks or in other big crowded events. Maybe even in buildings. I don’t want that to happen but if it does, we’ll need to be prepared for a serial bomber.”

His expression changed, turning serious and standoffish.

“You think I’m crazy?” she asked, her fingers drumming the table and causing both Stella and Tommy to glance up. That or she’d stepped on his sensitive toes by taking some initiative?

“No. But, Bree, we have bomb threats all the time. It’s part of living in New York and most of them are never reported to the public. We handle things to keep everyone safe. This could have been a prank by someone bored and looking for blood or...we could have a terrorist toying with us. We need to be prepared, yes, but we also have to be careful.”

“I’m going to be careful,” she said. “But I’m also going to find out what I can about this bomber.”

When he looked away again, she beamed in on him like a laser pen. “You know something already, don’t you, Gavin?”

He shook his head. “I’m not good with words or explaining things. You’ve seen me blurt out my feelings right in front of everyone.”

“Yeah, I have. But now you’re clammed-up and this has to be about last night. You need to fill me in. So start talking.”

Gavin took a sip of black coffee, completely unaware of her inner turmoil. But he did seem to have some of his own. “You were a pro yesterday.”

Oh, so now he tried to put a spin on this and build up her confidence? “I let the suspect get away.”

“No, you didn’t. He slipped away with a crowd of people, oldest trick in the book.”

“I want to find him.”

“I do, too,” Gavin said. “And believe it or not, I agree with you. We could wind up having a serial bomber on our hands. And yes, he could be the man who walked right past us yesterday.”

“But you weren’t going to tell me that because...?”

He looked directly at her now. “I have to sort things out in my mind and make sure I’m right before I jump to conclusions.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“It’s not like that.”

She shouldn’t have been disappointed. This job could be competitive at times and she had to stay one step ahead. She’d given herself a good pep talk on the way over here, so she squelched any mixed messages she might have scrambled in her brain and gave him her I’m-all-in smile. “Then what is it like, Gavin?”

She drank her coffee while she waited, too many questions popping in her head while sweat popped out along her spine.

“I don’t know yet. But if you listen to me and let me explain, we might be able to crack this case together,” he said, his tone pure business, his gaze steady on her face.

So he did have a plan and he did know more than he’d let on. “How can I help?”

“By pretending to be my wife,” he said.

And he was dead serious.