Love Inspired Suspense June 2021--Box Set 1 of 2, page 6
She was sure he meant it as an offhand comment. But Poppy felt her back stiffen just the same.
“A bride accused of being pregnant with another man’s child,” Maya pointed out.
“Thankfully that brings us to our second break in the case, which is something far more tangible than romantic intrigue,” Lorenza added. “Do you want to fill them in, Maya?”
Maya nodded. “Sarge and I found an expensive gold watch belonging to our best man, Jared, at the bottom of the cliff where Ariel was pushed,” she said.
Will whistled under his breath. “Well done, Sarge.”
Poppy heard Maya’s Malinois partner woof off-screen as if in agreement.
“The watch was a gift to him from Lance,” Maya added. “He says he lost it.”
“But Tala is running forensics on it to see if there’s any evidence he was the one who pushed Ariel,” Eli added.
And if anyone could find an evidentiary needle in a haystack, forensic scientist Tala Ekho could.
Poppy and Will filled the team in on the poaching case so far, including Johnny’s death and Ripley’s forcible confinement. Lorenza suggested they reinterview Ripley and also her brother tomorrow, with a special focus on the possible ex-boyfriend angle, and see if any other patrons of the unlicensed “watering hole” had heard anything about the blue bears or poaching. Eli said he’d run a search online for any information he could find out about the sale of the animals.
“One more question,” Lorenza said, fixing her eyes on Poppy and Will. “Do you think Johnny told the poacher that he’d tipped Lex off to their plans before he killed him?”
“Yes,” Will said automatically.
“No,” Poppy declared, just as fast, their voices speaking over each other.
“Interesting,” Lorenza said. She leaned back in her chair and looked at the two of them a long moment. She nodded to Will. “Why do you say yes?”
“Looks like death was pretty quick and painless,” Will explained. He glanced at Poppy almost apologetically. “There was no sign of serious injuries or that he was really hurt in any way. Which to me implies he cooperated and told them everything they wanted to know.”
Lorenza nodded slowly over steepled fingers. Then she gestured at Poppy. “And why do you think Johnny didn’t give Lex up?”
Because I just do.
“Hard to explain,” Poppy admitted. “But Lex is the kind of man who instills loyalty among those who care about him. Despite their problems, Johnny told me that he loved Lex like a brother and would be willing to take a bullet for him. And to be honest, I believed him. Johnny risked his life to tell Lex about the poachers when he could’ve just protected himself and kept quiet about it. That has to mean something.”
Did it? Or was that just wishful thinking on her part? She pressed her lips together and prayed for wisdom.
“Considering the number of tranquilizer dart traps in the house, and how peacefully Johnny seemed slumped in the chair, I think we should look for evidence that Johnny was tranquilized and out cold when he was killed,” she added. Then she glanced at Will. “Although I admit that wouldn’t be conclusive either way about which one of us is right.”
“It’s also possible his kidnapper was interrupted or in a hurry,” Will offered, “or that he had some other kind of personal connection to him. We can’t jump to conclusions. My hunch could very well be wrong.”
“As could mine,” Poppy admitted.
A Bible verse from Proverbs 27 sprung suddenly to her mind about how one friend sharpens another like iron sharpens iron. Once again, she found herself thanking God for her team and how working with them strengthened her and made her a better person. Living in a place like Gustavus, cut off from the world, might work for some, but she couldn’t imagine ever making that choice. And not just because it would mean giving up being part of the Alaska state trooper’s K-9 unit.
After the team said their goodbyes, Poppy took Stormy for a run. Will had offered to come with her if she’d feel more comfortable with company. And she appreciated it, just like she’d appreciated the fact he hadn’t pried into her past with Lex. But Scout couldn’t begin to keep up with Stormy’s speed, and truth was she needed time alone to think. Her footsteps pounded beneath her in a slow and steady jog, with Stormy by her side, the dog grinning at her at intervals as if she was encouraging Poppy to go faster. Every now and then, when the coast was clear of vehicles and homes, Poppy would give her permission to run and then watch as Stormy galloped off into the distance at full tilt, before always inevitably coming right back to her side like a boomerang. If there was a limit to Stormy’s seemingly boundless energy, she hadn’t found it yet.
Poppy had always enjoyed running, especially at the end of a long workday. She and Lex used to run together at night, and each said exercising together had somehow pushed them to be faster and train harder. Running alone had also helped a lot in those days after Lex had broken her heart. It had given her a way to work through the pain of losing him, pray and cry alone when no one was around to witness it and get her life back on track. And she’d rebuilt her life so much better than she could’ve ever imagined. First Lorenza had welcomed her into the incredible K-9 team. Then Stormy had tumbled into her orbit like a gigantic, overgrown puppy, so eager to learn and diligent in her training. She couldn’t have asked for a better partner.
Thank You, Lord, for the team meeting tonight. It felt good to be reminded of who I am, where I belong and all You’ve given me. Help us stop those poachers before the second bear cub is captured and the first bear cub is sold. And please bring Johnny’s killer to justice.
She hadn’t even realized how far she’d run until she saw the beautiful wooden frame of Gillian’s bed-and-breakfast looming ahead of her in the darkness. A light was on in the upper floor, over the covered porch, glowing like a lighthouse in the darkness. Instinctively she looked up and saw Lex, silhouetted against the gentle light of what looked like blue-and-white star-shaped wall lamps. She watched as he scooped little Danny up into his arms and spun him around, before cradling the toddler to his chest. It looked like they were laughing.
Poppy looked away as an old familiar ache filled her chest. She’d always been the kind of person who made plans and set goals—and the one dashed dream that had hurt most of all was when Lex had decided he didn’t want to have a family with her. She’d always longed to be a wife and mother every bit as strongly as she’d desired her career. And while she didn’t resent Lex his happiness, it hurt to be reminded that he’d rejected her and created that family with someone else. Thick drops of rain brushed her skin and thunder rumbled, warning her of the storm that was to come. She stopped and glanced at her watch, surprised to realize it was already eight. Stormy whined softly as if asking to keep going.
“I don’t have another sprint in me,” Poppy told the dog. “But if you want one last run before we turn around, go for it. I’ll wait here for you.”
She ran her hand over Stormy’s head, then patted her side. The K-9 woofed and bounded off into the darkness. Poppy sat down on a stump, with her back against a fence post and Lex’s window out of view. She had pushed herself too far and now would have a long walk back in the rain for her troubles, along with sharing an underwhelming motel room with a huge and soaking-wet shaggy dog.
Lord, help me focus on the task ahead of me and keep my own broken heart from getting in the way.
A motion drew her attention to the bushes at her right. For a moment, she thought it was a wild animal or even her own partner trying to sneak up on her playfully.
She stood slowly and saw the figure of a man half-hidden in the darkness, his masked face staring up at the same window where Lex and his son now stood. The light of a cell phone camera glowed in his hand.
He was filming them.
“Hey!” she shouted, leaping from behind the relative coverage of the bushes, her hand instinctively reaching for the weapon she’d left locked in her motel room. “Stop!”
The masked man turned toward her and snarled. He pocketed the phone, then a knife glinted in his grasp. He leaped at her.
SIX
The sound of a crash outside yanked Lex’s attention to the window.
“Bear, Daddy?” Danny asked cheerfully. “Fox?”
He had yet to convince his small son that the parade of wild animals that tried to take up residence in their backyard, including moose, caribou and plain old raccoons, wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
“Probably,” Lex said, keeping his voice light, despite the warning chill that nudged his spine. He set the boy back down on his bed and raised the toddler safety rails. “I’m going to go check on the animal and come right back to read you a story. Can you pick one out for me?”
“Uh-huh.” The toddler nodded enthusiastically.
Lex brushed a kiss over the boy’s head and turned. His mother was standing in the doorway. Worry filled her eyes, and he knew without needing to ask she’d heard the noise, too.
“Stay here with him,” he said softly. “I’m going to check it out.”
He ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time and praying with each step. He burst outside, the house’s motion sensor lights flickering on to greet him. Light washed over the lawn to the edges of the road and then he saw them. Two figures were rolling and fighting on the ground, locked in a battle for dominance. A thin masked figure in camouflage was on top, trying in vain to stab the other as she dodged his blows and kicked back furiously.
His heart stopped. It was Poppy. Lex pelted across the grass toward them. The masked figure turned and Poppy struck, catching her attacker hard in the jaw with both feet. He flew back and scrambled down the road into the darkness.
“Poppy!” Lex reached her side, his arms stretched out for her as she grabbed hold of them and pulled herself up. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“He...he was spying on you and your son.”
Her words came out in short, breathless gasps.
An engine sounded, cutting off their words, and he looked up to see a dark van peeling away with the masked figure at the wheel.
For a moment he felt Poppy almost wilt into his arms as if her legs had crumpled beneath her. Then she stepped back and tossed her hair out around her shoulders.
Footsteps sounded like something galloping toward them through the darkness. Instinctively, Lex took a farther step back and raised his hands palm up as Stormy burst through the trees.
“Stormy,” Poppy called. “At ease. Everything’s okay.”
The wolfhound skidded to a stop at Poppy’s feet, dropping into a sit. She looked up at Lex, her large tail thumping the ground and her jaw hanging open in a wide grin. So, no hard feelings, then.
“What are you both doing here?” he asked.
“Just getting some exercise before bed,” Poppy said. “Didn’t realize how far we’d come when we’d hit the bed-and-breakfast. Turns out Gustavus is a pretty small town.” She ran her hand over the dog’s head. “I stopped to turn around and let Stormy get in a final sprint off-leash when I saw the masked man in fatigues watching you and Danny through the window. I think he was filming you or maybe taking pictures.”
The chill that had brushed Lex’s spine when he’d heard the noise outside grew colder. First Gillian had seen someone watching Danny over the fence, now this. He reached out for Poppy, somehow wanting the comfort of her hand, but she stepped away from his touch, leaving him unsure if she even noticed.
“Well, I’m glad really you’re here,” he said. As if on cue, the intermittent drops of rain that had been falling around them broke through the clouds into a full-fledged deluge. He waved his hand toward the house. “Come on. I’ve got to finish putting Danny to bed, then we can talk and I’ll drive you back.”
Her chin rose. “It’s okay, we can walk.”
Yup, Poppy could walk for over half an hour, alone, at night, through the pouring rain, right after battling a masked stranger. Wouldn’t surprise him in the slightest if she did.
“I don’t doubt you can,” he said. “But I’d feel better if you didn’t. We need to talk, you need to contact your partner and I’d rather get out of the rain.”
He started toward the house, thankful when she and Stormy followed.
“Yeah, you’re right,” she said. “We should debrief, and we didn’t really get much of a chance to talk as the scene wrapped up at Johnny’s house. I thought we’d wait until tomorrow, but under the circumstances, we should probably do it sooner than later.”
“Absolutely,” he replied. “We should talk.”
But there was more to it than that. Part of him also just wanted to protect her, to have her close and know she was safe. Was that wrong? They crossed the yard and entered the house. He closed the front door, and for the first time he could remember since moving to Gustavus, he locked it behind him.
“I’ve got a fire going in the fireplace,” he added. “Feel free to sit and dry off a bit. All of the sweatshirts hanging on the pegs by the door are clean if you want to borrow one and change into something dry. And you’re welcome to join Danny and me upstairs for story time, if you want.”
“Thank you,” Poppy said, and as she met his eyes something seemed to hover unspoken in the air between them.
Looking back on his time with her, Lex had never quite been able to believe that someone as beautiful, smart and all around incredible as her had ever been in his life. Now here she was, standing just two feet inside the threshold of his own home, somehow even more amazing in every way than he’d allowed himself to remember. While he had no idea where they even belonged in each other’s lives, Poppy had been the one person he’d been close to who he’d never felt needed him. Sure, she might’ve loved him every bit as fiercely as he’d loved her, but he’d never doubted that she’d do just fine without him. And she had.
“Make yourself comfortable,” he told her. “My home is yours.”
Suddenly, it was like he was struck by the full weight of just how much he’d missed her. He longed to gather her close and hold her against his chest as he promised to care for and protect her.
And then he wanted to raise her face to his and kiss her lips.
Instead, he wrenched his gaze away from hers and headed up the stairs to his son, as the weight of everything he’d lost beat down against his heart.
* * *
Poppy stood and watched as Lex disappeared up the stairs to the second floor. Part of her wanted to follow him. Instead, she turned and walked into the large living area to her right and paced the space a moment to settle her mind before calling Will. The bed-and-breakfast was an open concept, with huge wood-beamed ceilings. Several smaller living areas were set off by clusters of couches, soft chairs and low tables, with shelves that Lex had made from reclaimed wood that she recognized from his old apartment in Anchorage. A wide kitchen lay to the right of the room, separated from the living area by a marble-topped island and a wooden dining table set for six that looked like it could be expanded to sit double that. Behind the kitchen led a hallway to what seemed to be several guest rooms and a second staircase by the side door leading back upstairs. Framed cross-stitched Bible verses and pictures of Lex, Gillian and little Danny were everywhere.
At some point, Stormy stopped following her, and when Poppy returned to the main living area she found her K-9 partner stretched out in front of a fireplace. The same tiny calico kitten she’d seen in the window earlier now weaved in and out between the wolfhound’s giant paws as if looking for a place to settle. Stormy looked up at Poppy under shaggy brows.
“Looks like you’ve made a friend,” she said. The kitten curled up beside Stormy’s snout and closed its eyes with a purr far louder than Poppy would’ve imagined a tiny ball of fluff that small could’ve mustered. She laughed softly.
“And good for you,” she told the kitten, “for being so brave and gutsy to befriend someone a hundred times your size. I like you.”
Even if she was feeling anything but brave herself when it came to her own relationship with Lex. She untied her damp sweatshirt from around her waist and rubbed it over her head like a towel. She glanced at herself in the wood-framed mirror over the mantel. Her own wide eyes stared back at her, looking twice as large as usual in her pale face. The youthful flush on her cheeks and unfamiliar fluttering in her chest seemed to belong to a woman who’d lived half the years and heartaches she had. She pulled a dark green zip-up sweatshirt from the pegs by the door, put it on and zipped it up. The achingly familiar scent of Lex filled her senses.
She called Will and he answered on the first ring.
“Everything okay?” he asked. “You’ve been gone awhile.”
After Poppy quickly filled him in on the details of what had happened, he blew out a hard breath.
“Gotta say I’m getting tired of being in a place this far away from law enforcement backup,” he said. “I’ll make a preliminary report to the team, and you can fill in more details when you’re back at your laptop. You want me to come pick you up?”
“Probably in a bit,” she replied. “I need to talk to Lex first. He’s busy putting his son to bed.”
“Call anytime,” Will said. “I don’t mind if you wake me up.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“And hey,” he added. “I’m really sorry if I came down too hard on your point of view or anything in the team meeting earlier.”
“Don’t be and you didn’t,” she said. “I really like that we have different opinions. It makes us both better at our jobs.”
“Okay, good.” Will sighed. “I also felt kind of bad about that offhand comment I made about there being easier ways to get out of a wedding than killing someone. I mean, I had my heart broken once by someone I loved and I know it’s no joking matter. I might not be the biggest on opening up about personal stuff, but if you need a friend you can always talk to me.”
