Dead End Read online

  Wyatt pulled away from the curb in front of Theresa and Emily’s house. He used the car’s Bluetooth to call his old partner. It rang twice, and the man picked up.

  “Well, well, well. Wyatt Ames.” The tone of Karl Frank’s voice echoed loud and clear through the car speakers. Not happy and not prepared to let Wyatt get away with not talking about it.

  He was a career police detective, and they’d been good friends. Once. They still could be, but both were far too stubborn to make the first move. This was just business.

  “Don’t give me that,” Wyatt said. “It’s not like you’ve called me either.”

  “A man won’t, when his partner of six years quits his life just to go be a big shot with the marshals.”

  Instead of a retort, Wyatt explained the so-far pretty long story of Theresa and Emily.

  “So you’re here? In Portland?”

  “I need a patrol car on regular drive-bys of their house. Keep an eye out.”

  “Done,” Karl said. “But you’re here, and not in that Podunk little town?”

  “Yes.” Wyatt sighed, trying to ignore Nina’s staring at him like he had two heads as she listened to the conversation. “We’re here in Portland.”

  “We?”

  “Karl.” Wyatt saw Nina’s lips twitch out of the corner of his eye. “Fine. The woman I told you about, Nina. She’s here with me.”

  “Great. I’ll call Tashi. Dinner’s at six. Don’t bring anything, or she’ll get mad.”

  He hung up.

  Nina erupted into giggles. She groaned and circled her arm around her waist, but kept laughing. “That was hilarious.”

  Wyatt felt the noise of displeasure all the way down in his throat. “Karl is...”

  “Yeah, I noticed that.” Nina smiled. “I guess we’re going to dinner before we go back home?”

  “Actually, I was thinking we could interview Ronnie before the end of the day.”

  Nina motioned to the digital dash clock with one finger. “It’s already four.”

  “I guess maybe we could get a couple of hotel rooms tonight and see if we can interview Ronnie tomorrow? I’ll call her next.”

  Nina nodded, her lips still curled up. “We don’t have fresh clothes or toothbrushes.”

  “This is a city. They have stores. And I don’t know why you think this is so funny.”

  “It strikes me that maybe this Karl guy, your old partner, might be a lot like Parker, your current partner. You think that’s a coincidence?”

  Wyatt glanced at her, one eyebrow raised. “That I get partner after partner who thinks he’s the boss and he knows what’s right?”

  Nina shrugged, all innocence. “Maybe.”

  “I don’t know what to say about that. It’s not like I attract a certain kind of partner. They’re assigned.”

  Nina shifted gently in her seat so she faced him more. “What made you quit the police force and join the marshals?”

  Wyatt pulled up at the stoplight. “Technically it wasn’t quitting. I still hold the rank of detective, since it was a transfer. First they attached me to the team, then when I was sworn in as a marshal they assigned me to Parker as partner. That was four years ago.”

  “And you like being a marshal better than being a cop?” She hesitated, so he waited for her to finish. “Sienna said your father was a cop.”

  “I also have a cousin who’s an FBI agent. That’s who gave us the tip about Theresa and Emily’s case.” He paused, but she was probably still waiting for an actual answer to his question. “Yes, I like it better. It’s simpler, in a weird way. We already know they’re guilty, we just have to bring them in.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Why should it be complicated? The investigation’s been done. All we have to do is bring them in to face justice.”

  Wyatt found the drive-through to a coffeehouse he’d visited regularly on his beat as an officer in the Portland police department. Hopefully their joe was still good, because he needed a serious jolt of caffeine if he was going to face Karl and Tashi for dinner.

  They were going to ask questions, and Wyatt didn’t know if he had the answers. At least not ones that wouldn’t birth a whole lot more questions. He’d moved on, and in the process—unfortunately—that meant leaving them behind. They’d been his best friends, but too much had happened. Wyatt had needed the distance and the headspace to deal with bad case after bad case that had left him burned out.

  The marshals’ service had been a breath of fresh air at a time he desperately needed to breathe.

  He turned to Nina. “Coffee?”

  “Yes.” She sounded as desperate as he felt. Wyatt took the turn smiling.

  Nina’s phone buzzed. She jumped almost clear out of her seat, flipped the phone over and stared at it. After a few seconds she tapped the screen and read the message.

  “Everything okay?” Maybe a relaxing dinner with friends would be good. For her, at least. It would get her mind off Mr. Thomas’s reach.

  She exhaled. “Yeah, it’s just Sienna checking in. I’ll call her later.” She tapped out a message in response. “I keep thinking it’ll be him, messaging me again.” She pressed her lips together for a second. “Every time it vibrates it reminds me of that message outside the courthouse.”

  Wyatt pulled up outside the coffeehouse. “I didn’t know how to tell you this before, and I’ll preface it by saying this was Sienna and Parker’s grand idea and I was against it.”

  Nina frowned.

  “You don’t need to worry about messages from Mr. Thomas because Sienna cloned your phone while you were in the hospital. She’s seeing everything you see.”

  “You didn’t say anything.” Nina paused. “Is this because I didn’t tell you straightaway about the first text? I was nearly run over! I wasn’t thinking, except that I’d nearly died. I actually forgot about it until you showed me in the hospital.”

  “I’m not trying to punish you for forgetting. I said I was against the idea to clone your phone. That was all Sienna.”

  Nina’s gaze didn’t move from him. “I thought I told you.”

  “I remember you looking at your phone. What I’m saying, very badly apparently, is that you’re not alone in this.” He sighed. “Let’s just go get that coffee.”

  * * *

  Nina stood in the doorway facing a slender Asian woman with a wide smile. “Thank you for inviting us, Tashi.”

  The woman made a pfft sound with her lips. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Wyatt stepped forward. “Tashi.” She grabbed him and hugged his diaphragm with her fingers locked behind his back until he grunted. “I see nothing has changed.”

  He’d briefed Nina over coffee on Tashi and Karl Frank while they wandered through a superstore for a change of clothes and toiletries. The couple had been married six years, no kids—though not for lack of trying.

  Tashi leaned back and laughed what could only be described as a cackle. Nina smiled. He’d briefed her on that, too. “Come in, come in. Why are you standing in the doorway?”

  Karl stepped into the hall. “You heard the woman.”

  Wyatt stiffened. When Karl strode over they grabbed hands and did that “man hug” thing, which involved a lot of backslapping that made Nina wince.

  “Long time.” Karl surveyed Wyatt’s face. His former partner was older, but on top of it Karl had that air of someone who had seen too much, who knew too much. “Probably not long enough, far as you’re concerned.”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  Karl motioned to Nina with a tilt of his chin. “And you brought a friend.” A pleasantness dropped over him like he’d shrugged on a coat. It put her immediately at ease. “Nina?”

  She nodded and shook his hand. They had to see the awkwardness
between her and Wyatt. But why was that her fault? It turned out they’d both been keeping things from the other. Though apparently all of it was enough to make him...switch off. Or whatever had happened. She didn’t understand it.

  She understood covert operations, not people’s emotions.

  “Come and sit at the table.” Tashi waved them in. “I made your favorite.”

  Wyatt’s favorite turned out to be chicken and roasted potatoes. Dinner was more enjoyable once Nina relaxed a bit. These were Wyatt’s friends, and she didn’t want to make him look bad or be embarrassed. She went at it like this was a CIA operation—only the mission was to be the woman she wanted to be. A funny, chatty, at-home woman about to start teaching college economics in a few weeks.

  And it worked. At least until Karl said, “So, Wyatt. Have you spoken to your dad lately?”

  Wyatt halted his fork two inches from his open mouth. He looked like he was about to growl. Tashi, who’d previously been smiling at Nina, turned to both of them and sighed.

  “Guess that’s a no.” Karl shoved in a forkful of broccoli and chewed with an unashamed smile on his face.

  Wyatt set his fork down, sat back and folded his arms. “We can’t have one meal without you bringing it up, can we?”

  Nina glanced between them. They were entering uncharted territory—that much was clear. Too bad she had no idea what this was about other than the fact that Wyatt had ignored his father’s call earlier.

  Karl lifted his hands. “Who’s bringing it up? I’m just saying...”

  “What?”

  Tashi had evidently had enough, because she said, “He wants to see you.” Karl’s face whipped around to his wife, but she waved him off. “What? He does.”

  Karl’s eyes narrowed. “You spoke to him?”

  “He was at church on Wednesday night.” Tashi stared at her husband, dead straight, no backing down.

  “When I was working,” Karl said. “And you didn’t tell me?”

  “It’s not a secret, it just wasn’t notable.” Tashi folded her arms, much like Wyatt. “I saw him across the room. When I was getting coffee he did the same—”

  “Ambush,” Wyatt muttered under his breath.

  “That wasn’t it.” Tashi sighed again. “He asked how I was.” She shot her husband a look. “How you are. He also expressed an interest in Wyatt’s well-being. I asked how he is, and he said, ‘Better.’ So there.” She stood. “I’m going to refill the iced tea.”

  Tashi strode from the room. Karl’s gaze moved to Wyatt, and Nina felt like the odd man out at the interplay among three people who clearly cared about one another, but weren’t all that sure how to show it.

  Despite what it might mean that Wyatt’s father wanted to talk to him—and Wyatt’s reaction to that news—Nina figured it was likely the same issue that existed between the two of them.

  For so long it had been only Nina and Sienna. To give and receive love had been simple, their being friends for so long and understanding each other so deeply. Now she struggled over how to navigate that with additional people. She’d never been required to care about anyone but Sienna before. Emotions, sympathy, empathy. None were particularly helpful to a spy who had to complete the mission at all costs. It felt strange that she even wanted to learn how to care about him—to feel more than attraction.

  Would he reciprocate? Did she want to try if there was a possibility he might brush off her emotions? That would be a disaster, and not the first time someone she wanted to get in a relationship with had responded with a resounding no.

  Not that she was there with Wyatt. Yet, at least. There was still way too much going on with Mr. Thomas, and now Emily and Theresa. She prayed they would be safe, that Mr. Thomas wasn’t watching closely so soon after he’d been in her apartment.

  Wyatt touched her shoulder, a gentle smile on his face. Or was that relief? “You look exhausted. Let’s head to that hotel.”

  “Hotel?” Tashi set the iced tea on the table. “No way. Both of you can stay here.”

  “Tash—”

  “Don’t you argue with me, Wyatt Ames. I’ll tell your girl about the time when you were a beat cop and you tried to—”

  Wyatt shot up out of his chair. “Okay, we’ll stay.”

  Tashi sat, a satisfied smile on her face. “She gets the guest room, you get the couch.”

  Wyatt squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll get our bags.”

  Nina nodded.

  As soon as he was out of earshot, Tashi leaned across the table. “Okay, so maybe he seems a bit like a joker, a player even. But he’s not. I know that man, and it’s all fluff on the surface, no big deal. But Wyatt feels deeper than nearly everyone I know, or have ever met. When he loves, he loves so strong that when it goes bad it almost destroys him, so now he runs from it like he’s trying to guard his heart. We don’t have long, so I can’t go into detail, but trust me on this. It’s all shallow on the surface, but it’s to protect himself from getting hurt. But for the woman who teaches him how to believe in love—” she pointed at the door “—that man will give everything he has to make it forever, and the best she will ever know.”

  Nina heard his boot steps approach the open front door. “And you think that’s me?”

  Tashi sat back. “I think it could be.”

  Out the corner of her eye, Karl glanced between them. “I’m sorry, are you talking about Wyatt?”

  “What about me?” He strode into the room.

  “Nothing.” Tashi shook her head, the picture of innocence. “Just girl talk.”

  Nina smiled. Tashi’s warning, or advice, or whatever it was, had poured over her like a fountain. Nina needed a week just to process it all, but Wyatt was right there.

  The man Tashi had known wasn’t the man Nina met after her abduction. She’d heard stories of his dating history, but that was all old news. In the months since they had met he’d been...subdued. She didn’t think it was because of her, not when it was probably more about his father.

  Nina stood. “Thank you so much for dinner. It was amazing.”

  A smile curled up the corners of Tashi’s elegant mouth.

  Wyatt handed over her purse. “This was beeping in the hall.”

  Nina rummaged and pulled out her phone. It was a new text, from the... “Baltimore public library,” she breathed.

  Wyatt tapped the screen, his shoulder right beside her. The message loaded, an image. A photo of the very preteen they’d met just that morning, along with the words Emily was never as sweet as my Little Mouse.

  SEVEN

  “He’s outside her house. We have to go.”

  Wyatt stared into Nina’s earnest eyes and knew she was right. But Mr. Thomas was fixated on her, and Nina was disregarding that because she had to check on Emily. Wyatt figured that “mission ready” attitude was part of her—and probably also a coping mechanism.

  Karl paced his living room and barked orders into his phone the way he did when he was trying to downplay his fear.

  He touched Nina’s shoulder. “Karl and I will go. Stay here with Tashi.”

  Karl hung up. “The unit outside isn’t responding, so they’re sending another. They’ll arrive on scene before us, but we can meet them there.”

  “Nina—” She had to be mad he didn’t want her there. But when Wyatt glanced at her, she bit her lip.

  “Go. Make sure Emily is fine.”

  He looked at Tashi, but pointed at Nina. “She stays here.”

  Tashi grinned, but nodded. The woman was ex-military, and now a nurse. But that more distant part of her past hadn’t come up in conversation. Nina likely figured if she was going to try something she had to get past a nurse. Not a soldier.

  Wyatt returned Tashi’s nod.

  Outside Karl clicked the locks on his car and
they got in. Karl pulled out of the driveway, a grin on his face. “Just like old times.”

  “Just drive.” Wyatt looked out the window at familiar streets that flickered past as Karl tore across town. “Dinner was probably a mistake.”

  “You don’t have to worry. Tashi will take care of her, you know that.”

  Wyatt flipped his phone over and over on his knee. “This girl is twelve, and the guy is a suspect in a series of murders.”

  Karl shot him a look. “Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t have brought that up, about your dad. You probably haven’t told your friend Nina about any of that. But—if you don’t mind me saying—”

  “Like it’d stop you if I did mind.”

  “Anyway, I’m just saying if this is what your reaction is, maybe there’s something still there. I’m guessing you haven’t been back home.” Karl paused long enough to assess Wyatt’s face. “We were partners for years. I know you, Wyatt. You couldn’t deal with that last case. You couldn’t deal with what happened to your dad. And you ran.”

  Wyatt lifted his phone. So what if he’d found a job that suited him way better, even if his new partner was almost an exact copy of his old partner. It had to be some kind of comeuppance, payback for something he’d done.

  “I have to make a call.”

  Karl snorted. “Sure you do. Running.”

  Wyatt ignored and dialed. Two rings and Parker picked up.

  “Sienna saw the message. I ran a trace, and the phone it originated from is on. We pinged the closest cell tower. It’s in Juneau, Alaska.”

  Wyatt blinked at the bright lights of an oncoming car. “What?”

  “That’s what it says. Are you at Theresa and Emily’s house yet?”

  “Two streets away. How is he in Alaska and also taking pictures of Emily in Portland?”

  “Good question,” Parker said. “But that’s what the techs tell me.” He paused. “So how was dinner?”

  Wyatt’s stomach churned. He really shouldn’t have checked in earlier and told Parker what they’d be doing that night, but he’d figured Sienna would worry about her friend if he didn’t.