“I talked to a woman once,” Violet said, her voice shaky, her arm on her father’s shoulder. “She was persistent and maybe a little threatening. Do you think they’d resort to this kind of harassment? Are my parents in danger?”
Barb and Lou patted her on the arm. “Honey, we’re fine,” Lou said over and over.
Gavin needed to consider that angle, but he didn’t have the answer right now. “I think it could have been for Bree and me, but we can’t be sure.” He thanked her for the information.
Assuring her that her parents were okay, he promised to alert Violet’s fiancé, Zach—a fellow K-9 officer—just in case. “We’ll keep watch, either way.”
“Thanks,” Gavin said to Barbara after she’d handed them both a to-go box of fresh food since they hadn’t finished their breakfasts. “I’m going back to headquarters.”
“Same here,” Brianne said. “I drove but I have a clean uniform in my locker.”
“I came here first, too, and found a parking place around the corner.”
Her brow scrunched. “I’ll see you back at the station”
“Okay. Watch your back.”
Before they left to go their separate ways, she turned to Gavin. “I don’t know why I’m saying this but...I really do want to hear more about your case, Gavin.”
“I thought you were against it.”
“No, I just like to do things by the book. If you need my help, that’s fine. But...we clear it with Noah, understand? Let him know you need me on the case and explain why.”
“I don’t know—”
“You’re already on their radar. If you’ve been cleared to work on this, that’s cool. I need to get clearance, too. We can’t be too careful, considering.”
“What do you want me to do, Brianne? I took this case and then Jordy died and...I made a mess of things. I need something to focus on.”
“We do have something to focus on—finding Chief Jameson’s killer and searching for the Fourth of July bomber.”
“I want to find the Tick, too. I’ve just got a hunch that they could be one and the same. And now this. It could all be tied together, especially if they’ve decided to target Lou, too.”
“I want to find that bomber we saw in the park. I don’t like this place being shot up, and Lou could be a target now. But we continue to do it by the book or...I’ll never work with you again.”
She turned and marched off, her shoulders straight, her hair still trying to escape the messy bun she’d managed to fix.
Gavin watched her head to her SUV across the way. He checked the windows of buildings around the area. Had he made a big mistake by telling her what he’d been up to? Now he had to consider someone had just shot at this building. Who? Why?
Lou had been upfront about someone wanting to buy him out, but what if he had been pressured way more than any of them knew?
Hurrying to his vehicle, Gavin got caught up in a traffic jam caused by construction. While he sat there waiting for the workers to finish their task, Gavin thought about his grandmother, Irene. She’d died five years ago, leaving him her home and a modest savings account. His grandmother had raised him after his mother, Phyllis, had given birth out of wedlock. Phyllis, still a teenager, had run away when he’d been only a month old and hadn’t come back. Irene, who’d become a widow at an early age, had cared for him and sent him to college, all the while working as a nurse her entire life. She’d only been retired a year or so when her health turned bad.
He’d never had to prove himself to Granny Irene. She loved him with a tough love but he knew he could always count on her. His grandmother lived by faith and she’d planted that seed in his heart. He didn’t talk about his faith much, but he tried hard to live up to Irene’s strong belief system.
Checking on Tommy in the back, Gavin said, “Hey, boy. We should have walked back to work, huh?”
Tommy woofed his agreement and did a circle inside the kennel. Always ready to roll.
At least he had a solid house with a small yard for Tommy. Small but intact, the two-story wooden row house had a narrow front porch. It belonged to him, no matter how many real estate agents told him he could make a fortune flipping it and selling it.
Maybe that also had something to do with how this particular case bothered him. His grandfather had been a fairly successful businessman and had bought the house, built in the 1940s, for a modest price over fifty years ago.
After his grandfather’s death in a traffic accident, his grandmother had raised his wayward mother there. He’d never sell, even if Valley Stream was now a coveted area. But the place stayed in a continuous state of remodeling and updating. It had a nice backyard for Tommy and room enough for the both of them and his rarely-there roommate. That’s all Gavin needed.
Or so he’d thought until Brianne had come into his life. Working with her now and then over the last few weeks, helping her to train Stella and getting to know her better had only made him more aware of her. The woman had a sweet heart behind a solid wall of feminine steel.
Holding her there after the shooting this morning, he’d felt something powerful and true, the kind of emotions a man hides inside his heart. Gavin didn’t know how to deal with all the possibilities swirling inside his head. He needed to keep a professional attitude regarding Brianne Hayes.
Now he’d put her in a bad position.
He had to trust her. He needed a partner to help him crack this case. A female who could pose as his rich wife so they could attend open houses and get information on properties without looking suspicious. Brianne had the backbone and the nerves to pull off a high-risk undercover job, but he wondered now if he should put her in the line of fire.
Neither of them had been trained to do this kind of work. Noah had cautioned him against pursuing this, but Gavin wasn’t giving up just yet. If those bullets had been meant to scare him, they had not succeeded. A new determination made him want to do his job.
Fifteen minutes later, traffic started moving again and Gavin drove to headquarters, parked, then opened the back to let Tommy out of the vehicle. Together they headed for the indoor practice area like they’d done a thousand times before. As he gave Tommy some playtime, he wondered what Bree was doing. He didn’t see her or Stella in the training arena. A few minutes later, his phone buzzed.
Brianne.
She’d said she wanted to know more and that she wanted to help him. Did Brianne Hayes really care at all?
He hit Accept and waited to see, torn between needing her help and wanting to protect her.
“Gavin, meet me in the small conference room upstairs,” she said, her words breathless. “We got a call from the FBI. We might have a lead on the Fourth of July bomber.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Gavin put away his phone and forgot about his damp uniform.
He wanted to see if they’d found the man in the park.
Because he felt pretty sure the man who’d placed bombs in the East River Park could also be the same bomber who’d been setting off small explosions for the past few months. First thing, he’d report his suspicions to Noah. This case had taken another turn and since several law enforcement agencies were involved, he wanted full transparency. No mistakes.
They might have found the elusive man everyone on the streets called the Tick. The man knew they’d seen him last night. If the Tick had reported seeing them to whoever was paying him, then Gavin felt sure he’d been made and the Tick’s boss had sent someone to rattle him this morning.
Did