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But although she felt a pang of guilt at the idea of stealing the information for him, she wouldn’t let it stop her. In the end, it wasn’t much of a choice. Connor was the only thing she cared about. She would do anything to get him back. “Then what?”
“I’ll tell you after you have the files. Do what I ask, Ms. Garvey. I mean it. Or Santa won’t be coming to your house this Christmas.”
Chapter Four
“So you’ll do it? You’ll call the lieutenant and tell him you took Connor from the mall?” Megan held her breath. Doug had reacted to the news just the way she’d thought he would. A lot of blustering about Ty’s role, a lot of blaming. But in the end, he’d been just as worried about the ransom call as she was. She just needed to know that he’d hold up his end—she needed to hear him swear it—before she went out to talk to Lieutenant Wheeling.
“And then what happens? I take the blame for this? I get arrested?”
“I’ll back you up. I’ll tell them it was a misunderstanding, that we’ve worked everything out.” She wasn’t sure if that would be enough to protect him, but she hoped it would at least convince him to go along.
“And I’m supposed to stick my neck out and trust you to explain things?”
“I will explain things.”
“Right. If I had a more devious mind, I might think you and Davis set this up. That he faked the kidnapping so you could trap me with some kind of kidnapping charge and take full custody.”
She closed her eyes. She’d only needed Doug to come through for her twice in all their time together, after Connor was born and now. He’d failed her the first time. She had to make sure he came through for her now. “I will make sure you don’t get in trouble for this, Doug. I promise. But I need you to do this. Connor needs you to do this. Please.”
“I suppose.”
She recognized the smug tone in his voice. She could picture him right now in her mind’s eye, all inflated and self-important. The strange thing was, she didn’t care. She’d tell him anything he wanted to hear, just as long as he came through on his end. The only person she cared about was her son. “Thank you. You’ll call him now?”
“Yes.”
“You have his phone number?”
“He’s called me a dozen times in the past hour, I swear. All I have to do is call him back.”
“Thank you.”
“I want you to remember this, Megan.”
“Don’t you worry. I will.” She ended the call. She was still shaking, but at least she felt like she had a plan, a plan that was underway.
She’d wait for Doug to make his call, then give the lieutenant all the reassurances he needed from her end. He had no reason not to believe her. It would all go smoothly. It had to.
“Was that Doug?”
Ty’s voice jolted along her nerves like an electric shock. She’d been so focused on convincing Doug to call Lieutenant Wheeling and then doing her own explaining that she’d almost forgotten she also had to lie to Ty. “Yes. He promised to call your lieutenant back right away.”
Ty nodded. “Does he know anything?”
“Yes. He has Connor. That was him at the mall.” She tried to give him a relieved smile, but she wasn’t sure she remembered what that felt like. “So everything is okay.”
“Really?”
What did that mean? That he didn’t buy it? “Yes. He saw you with him at the store, and, well, he got jealous. He called me to let me know everything’s okay. Everything’s over.”
She expected him to look relieved. Something. But his expression didn’t change. “You have to tell Lieutenant Wheeling. But I have to warn you everything is not likely to be over instantly.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re going to have to investigate what happened. Make sure Connor is okay.”
“Why? There’s no need for it.”
“That’s good. I’m glad. But we have to confirm that fact in order to close the investigation.”
“But I’m telling you that he’s safe.”
Ty held up his hands.
Megan’s mind raced. If the police went after Doug for the story they’d concocted, he’d tell them the truth for sure. It would all be over. She couldn’t let that happen. “You can’t do anything if I don’t cooperate.”
“The department has an obligation to check on Connor’s welfare.”
“You can’t charge Doug with anything for taking his own son.”
“If he has Connor and the boy is all right, there shouldn’t be any problem.”
“So what happens now?”
“We tell Leo. He’ll take it from there.”
And judging by the squareness of the man, she’d be willing to bet he’d follow procedure to a T. Which probably meant she didn’t have much time before the police would know Doug didn’t have Connor at all. She had to head this off, or at least buy some time until she could give the kidnapper what he wanted and get her son back.
She stepped toward Ty and laid a hand on his arm. “I don’t want the police to harass Doug. He’s Connor’s father. I have to deal with him. Something like this…he’ll blame me. He’ll make things miserable for me, just because he can.”
She wasn’t sure if she could convince the lieutenant and the other officers out in her living room, but maybe she could appeal to Ty. He wanted to help her. If she could convince him, maybe he’d convince his lieutenant. “Things are fine between me and Doug right now. I don’t want to ruin that balance.”
“He took your son without telling you. That doesn’t seem fine to me.”
“He was upset when he saw I let Connor go shopping with you. I think he felt like you were trying to take his place with his son. But I talked to him. Now he understands that’s not true. I also talked to Connor. Everything is fine. Can’t this whole thing just be over?”
“It’s not that simple, Meg.”
“Can we try to make it that simple?”
He didn’t answer.
Seconds stretched, one after another until Megan thought she might fall to her knees and beg. She couldn’t let things unfold this way.
“All right.”
Ty’s answer was so low, at first Megan thought she might have imagined it. “Did you say yes?”
“I’ll talk to Leo.”
“Doug said he’d return the Lieutenant’s calls.”
“Good. He’d better do that. The sooner, the better.”
“He will.”
Ty stepped toward the hall, then paused. He turned back to face her, lines digging into his forehead and bracketing his mouth. “Who called earlier? Right when I left you?”
Megan had been ready with the story she’d cooked up with Doug, but she wasn’t prepared for this. Ty must have heard her cell phone ring as she closed Connor’s bedroom door. “It was…it was Doug.”
Ty watched her carefully. “That’s a coincidence. You were about to call him.”
He might have been just making a casual observation, but Megan didn’t think so. More likely, he suspected she was lying. A jitter seized her stomach. “A coincidence. Yes, it was. At least everything worked out. Connor is safe, and everything is fine.”
“Glad to hear Connor is okay. That’s the important part.” Again he started to leave, then caught himself. This time when he returned his gaze to hers, his eyes held something softer. Sadder. “I don’t understand why you’re still protecting Doug.”
She wished she could tell him the truth. That this wasn’t about protecting Doug at all but protecting Connor. She wished she could trust that if Ty knew the real situation, he would stick by her. But wishing didn’t change anything. He was a cop, and she was about to become a criminal. That was the way things were.
It was up to her to get her baby back, to make him safe. She was on her own.
TY DIDN’T BELIEVE MEGAN’S story. Not for a second. The entire time she’d been talking, her eyelashes had fluttered and her cheeks had flushed a delicate shade of pink. When she’d related the part about how Doug had seen the error of his jealous ways, her eyes had shifted to the side, as if she found something fascinating near his left ear. She was about as good at lying as the teenagers he discovered throwing toilet paper into the trees outside the high school last Halloween.
The thing that had him confused was why.
Had Doug threatened to hurt his own little boy? Told Megan he wouldn’t let her see him again if she got him in trouble with police? As much as Ty despised Doug, he couldn’t see him hurting his own son. He knew it happened all the time, parents abusing their children, using them as weapons against one another. But Doug? And no matter what Doug would or wouldn’t do, Ty could never imagine Megan leaving her son with a man who would threaten him.
He rubbed a hand over his face and walked into her living room. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the thought of Megan getting back together again with Doug jabbed at him. Stupid. It was none of his business what Megan decided to do with her life. If she was protecting Doug out of some desire to have him return to her and Connor, who was he to say anything about it?
Ty had had his chance. He’d made his choice, just as Megan had made hers. His feelings now had more to do with the self-centered fantasies he’d been entertaining since he’d learned she was back in Lake Hubbard. Fantasies that she’d realized her mistake, that she’d come here for him. Fantasies that he could undo the damage he’d done when he’d left her all those years ago.
Left her just when she needed him most.
When he’d stepped out of the living room to check up on Megan, it had been filled with officers. The mayor had already gone, but Baker and two other guys had stayed, drinking Megan’s coffee and waiting for word that someone had seen Connor. Now only Leo remained, standing in the kitchenette, a cell phone to his ear. A few overheard words, and Ty knew why the others had gone.
“You understand I’m going to walk in the next room and check with her on all this right now.” A pause stretched as Ty imagined Doug explaining.
Ty turned away. So Doug had come through on his promise. Megan should be happy to know that her faith in him was rewarded. And when Leo got off the phone, Ty would put in a few words, just as he’d promised.
Whether he liked it or not, the rest was none of his business.
Ty contented himself with staring at the cute little tree Megan had decorated and listened to the hum of Leo’s even voice. The decorations, the apartment, it was all so Megan. Nothing fancy, but everything well thought out, designed all on her own, and nearly pulsing with love. It reminded him of Christmases back when he was a kid. More holiday joy than presents. His dad doting on him. And he and his school-teacher mom spending every day of their long school breaks doing something fun.
Finally the lieutenant clapped his phone shut and glanced up at him. “You’ve heard?”
Ty pulled his gaze from a construction paper cutout of a three-year-old’s interpretation of Santa Claus and faced his lieutenant. “Megan told me. So what’s going to happen to good old Doug?”
“Not sure yet. But if Ms. Garvey is as okay with it as Burke seems to think, we’re not inclined to pursue this. I’ll have to talk to the chief, of course. But custody situations are sticky at best, and if neither one has a problem, I sure don’t. We’ll cross our t’s and dot our i’s, of course. Check up on the child. But we don’t have the manpower to spend a lot of time on something that seems to be resolved.”
What could he say? He already knew how Megan would answer Leo’s questions. He arched his brows. “I noticed the place cleared out pretty quickly.”
Leo frowned and looked past Ty and out the window. “Big accident on County H. And the snow has just started.”
“Do they need extra help?” Apparently Megan didn’t need him here. At least if he could help with the storm they were supposed to get tonight, he’d feel useful.
Leo leveled him with a serious look. “We need to talk.”
Ty didn’t like the sound of that. He waited for Leo to go on, not wanting to encourage him.
The lieutenant rubbed his chin, the chaffing sound of stubble giving away the lateness of the hour. “I talked to the chief.”
Ty braced himself. “And?”
“We’re putting you on suspension, Ty, and we’re going to investigate exactly what happened today.”
The news clanged in his ears. “So I’m going to be investigated, and Burke is in the clear. The justice of that is staggering.”
“It’s not losing the boy that we’re worried about. The media will have a field day with that, I suspect. But I could tell just by watching the video that none of it was your fault.”
“Thank God for small favors.”
Leo shot him a hard look. “Trying to pass off a personal shopping trip as an official department program, on the other hand, that was stupid.”
Ty nodded. He wanted to blame Doug Burke, but deep down he realized it had little to do with him. Ty had made the choice to misrepresent his shopping trip all on his own. For that, he supposed he deserved what he got. “How long?”
“Not sure. A few days. The media is going to be all over this. The chief wants to be ahead of it. The mayor agrees.”
And here good old Evan had just looked him in the eye and shook his hand. The guy had always been smooth, even in high school. Apparently his step into politics had completed the package. “Next time I see Blankenship, remind me to thank him.”
“Ty…”
He held up his hands. “I know. I know.” Truth was, he understood Blankenship, Leo and the chief were just trying to protect the city and the department. But he felt a little hung out to dry. Even if he had caused it himself.
And he still couldn’t shake the sense that this whole situation was not quite right.
MEGAN PULLED ON THE BLUE POLO shirt with Brilliance Cleaning emblazoned over the left breast and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Her hands shook as she stretched the elastic hair band, and it took three tries for her to finally bind it tight enough so that wisps wouldn’t escape in the first three seconds. She’d never been nervous about going to work before. Of course, she’d never planned to break all sorts of laws and betray her employer and his clients before, either.
She still couldn’t believe any of this was real. Connor kidnapped. The ransom call. Her lying to police, to Ty. And soon she could add theft to the list. But as much as she didn’t want to believe what she was about to do was real, it was. And as much as she didn’t want to think about the possible ramifications of breaking the law this way, she knew she would be willing to do much worse if it meant getting her son back safe.
She pulled on her coat and gloves, grabbed her bag and left the apartment, locking the door behind her. As she walked through the hall and down the steps, she couldn’t help but remember taking this path with Connor every day on her way to drop him off with Mrs. Halverson in 1B while she cleaned. Last night, he’d been whining about wanting to wear shorts instead of his warm, fuzzy pajamas, and she’d been a little abrupt with him. When she got him home, safe and sound, she’d let him wear whatever he pleased. Never again would she waste time on petty arguments.
When she got him home…
She pushed out the door. Snow floated down in big flakes, clouds of it bright in the glow of the streetlights. An inch or maybe two had already fallen, coating the formerly clear sidewalks and streets and adding depth to the several inches that blanketed everywhere else.
She trudged to her car, cleared off the windows and drove out of the parking lot. The streets were slick, and for the first time, she had to force her mind off Connor and focus on driving. But as soon as she turned onto the quiet side street that led to Keating Security, she went back to wondering if her little boy had eaten dinner. Was he scared? Did he believe he would ever see her again?
The company’s parking lot was dark and empty, just a few streetlights to highlight the falling snow. The security systems Keating Security placed in businesses around the area were electronically monitored, making it unnecessary for an employee to watch them full-time. The building was always empty when Megan showed up to clean.
She pushed her own door open and climbed out, snugging the collar of her coat tight around her neck. There was nothing quieter than the world in the midst of a night snowstorm, and the intense hush gave her a chill that had little to do with the weather.
