Sworn to Protect, page 8
She glanced down and saw him jogging toward the stairs to the deck, Rusty on heel beside him.
“What are you doing out here? Noah said you were in the house, waiting for him to return.”
He hurried up the stairs, but she didn’t stand to greet him. She was still clutching the phone, her throat so tight with terror, she didn’t dare try to speak.
She was afraid that if she did, she would start screaming and never stop.
“Katie?” he said again, dropping down beside her and taking the phone from her hand. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, because she couldn’t get the words out. Couldn’t tell him the threat Martin had made. The thought of a madman kidnapping her child made her feel physically ill.
“Come on. Let’s get you inside.” He helped her to her feet and ushered her into the apartment.
“Sit. Before you pass out.” He held her arm as she lowered herself to the couch. Then, he patted the cushion beside her.
“Place,” he said, and Rusty jumped up and settled his warm head on her knee.
Tony set the phone on the end table and disappeared for a few minutes, returning with the guest-room comforter in his arms. He wrapped it around her shoulders, then bent so he could look into her eyes. “Tell me what happened. I’ll take care of it.”
If anyone else had said it, she would have brushed it off, but she was looking into the darkest eyes she had ever seen, reading sincerity and concern in them, and she knew that, if he could, he really would take care of things.
“I’m probably overreacting,” she finally managed to say, because she thought she probably was.
There were dozens of firefighters and police officers on the property. Martin wouldn’t be able to get to her. But, it wasn’t what could happen now that had her terrified. It was the future—the unborn baby who would make an entrance into a world where Martin was wandering free.
“You aren’t the kind of person who overreacts to things.”
“I didn’t used to be. The pregnancy has changed me.”
“Don’t do that, Katie,” he said, wrapping the comforter tighter around her shoulders, his fingers skimming the sides of her neck. She could imagine—if she let herself—leaning into his warmth, allowing herself to find comfort in his arms. Just the thought made her heart ache with guilt and sadness.
She had loved Jordan.
She didn’t expect to ever love anyone else.
She certainly had no intention of filling the empty spot he had left with his best friend.
“Don’t do what?” she murmured, focusing her attention on Rusty. That was easier than looking into Tony’s eyes.
“Downplay your experience. You’re levelheaded and smart. Pregnancy hasn’t changed that. If you’re worried, then I have every reason to think I should be, too.”
“I’m not...” She stopped herself. She was worried, and Tony was right. She had never been the kind of person to blow things out of proportion or make mountains out of molehills. Being in foster care had forced her to be resilient, to take each day as it came and to hold her emotions in check. “Okay, I am worried. Martin called.”
“Your home phone?”
“My cell.”
“You gave him your number?”
“No, but it’s in the church directory.”
“We’ll try to trace the call. If he called from a landline, that should be easy. If it’s a disposable cell phone, it will be a lot more difficult.”
“I’m sure it was a cell phone. Unless he broke into a house somewhere nearby.”
“Nearby?”
“He said he could see me. He even told me to go back inside because it was too chilly to be out without a coat.”
His eyes flashed, his jaw tightening. Unlike Jordan who had had a perpetual smile, Tony tended to look gruff and a little unapproachable. “Stay here. I’m going to talk to Noah.”
“There’s something else, Tony,” she said as he opened the front door.
“Go ahead.”
“He said that if I didn’t cooperate, he would take my baby and leave me behind.” Her voice broke on the words, the fear she had finally gotten under control threatening to escape again.
“He’s not going to get the baby. He’s not going to get you. We’re going to keep constant watch and make sure of that.” He stepped out of the apartment, into the hallway, signaling for Rusty to stay.
The Lab settled down next to Katie again.
She patted his head, her heart still beating too rapidly, her stomach hollow with anxiety.
She wanted to believe that things would work out.
She really did.
But, her track record for losing people she loved was high, and she didn’t think she could count on anything other than things happening exactly how they were going to.
Outside, people were still calling out to each other. Men. Women. All of them working as a team.
Inside, though, it was just Katie and a dog that belonged to someone else.
Loneliness wasn’t a state of being; it was a disease, and it could destroy a person if allowed to.
She wouldn’t allow it.
She had a life to live and dozens of years of memories to make with the child she and Jordan had created together.
She wouldn’t let Martin take that from her.
She wouldn’t let him destroy the one thing she still had.
She touched her belly as the baby kicked and squirmed.
“Don’t worry, sweetie,” she said. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
* * *
The K-9 unit fanned out across the neighborhood, searching yards, outbuildings and vehicles for Martin. If what Katie had said was correct—and Tony had no reason to doubt it—the escaped murderer was close enough to see the Jameson house, to see what Katie had been wearing and to know exactly where law enforcement was. That put him at a decided advantage.
But, the K-9 unit had dogs and manpower on its side, and Tony had no intention of sitting idle while the rest of the K-9 team hunted for the very dangerous and deluded man.
Despite his shoulder injury and orders to take a few days off, he had teamed up with Officer Reed Branson and his bloodhound, Jessie. Reed had used a pillow taken from Martin’s room at the mental hospital after he had escaped as a scent article, allowing Jessie to sniff it until she knew exactly what trail she should be following.
“Where’s Rusty?” Reed asked.
“Staying with Katie for now,” Tony explained. “Rusty will alert Katie to any danger faster than she would be able to notice anything on her own. I feel better with that safeguard.”
Reed nodded, and they got to work.
Nose to the ground, Jessie followed the fence line and made her way into a neighbor’s yard. She stayed there for several minutes, nosing a large rosebush that sat close to the neighbor’s house. The earth beneath it was obviously disturbed, recent rain making it soft enough for footprints to be left in the soil.
Tony flashed his light on the area, his heart jumping when he saw a clear footprint between the house and the bush. “He must have been here for a while,” he said. “The print is deep.”
“Agreed. And, look at this.” Reed pointed to what looked like blood on one of the branches.
“Not a smart idea to hide in a rosebush.”
“Not smart, but it gave him a great view of the street and the side of the Jameson house. He may have been hoping Katie would return home alone. Or, with someone who wouldn’t be able to help if he made another attempt at kidnapping her.” He put in a call for the evidence team, then set a flag near the rosebush. “Martin is smart, but his delusions are causing him to make mistakes. His mistakes are our opportunities.”
“Agreed,” Tony said, standing back as Jessie began following the scent trail again. Nose to the ground, ears brushing grass and fallen leaves, she covered ground quickly with her long, muscular body. Like most bloodhounds, Jessie didn’t give up on a scent once she had it. She moved quickly as she followed it across the neighbor’s yard and out into the street where Tony had confronted Martin. She stopped there, circling a few times before she found the scent again.
She trotted along the road in the direction Tony knew Martin’s vehicle had gone. “Do you think she’s catching scent from his car?” he asked.
Reed shrugged. “It’s possible. She’s got a great nose, and the scent is fresh. She’ll lose it if he’s gone too far, though.”
“He didn’t. I blew out one of his tires.”
“Yeah. I thought I heard that over the radio. You think he abandoned the car and circled back?”
“I can’t think of any other way he would have been able to see Katie.”
“He really is making mistakes. This neighborhood is crawling with police. There is no way he’s going to escape the dragnet we’ve set for him.”
“He’s escaped the other ones. The subway station isn’t that far from here. All he has to do is make it there, and he’s gone,” Tony pointed out.
“All we have to do is stop him,” Reed responded, picking up speed as Jessie barreled around the corner of a street three blocks from the Jameson place. She trotted across a lawn and up a driveway that led to the back of a three-level house that had been turned into apartments. Like many in the neighborhood, it had a small paved area in the back for tenant vehicles.
Tony spotted the car immediately, parked bumper-to-bumper with a sporty Toyota. Its back tire was missing, its rim was bent and its back window was shattered.
Jessie made a beeline for it, baying loudly as she jumped up against the side of the car to look inside.
“Off,” Reed commanded, and the bloodhound fell back, taking her place beside Reed as he pulled his firearm and moved in.
Tony moved in tandem with him, easing toward the car, watching for any sign that Martin was still there.
The area was still and quiet but for the muted sound of traffic that drifted between the old houses. The air was tinged with smoke. It was still early, and lights were on in neighboring properties—a television was visible through the open curtains of the next-door neighbor’s house. People were in their homes, going about their evening rituals, unaware that a deranged killer had been feet away and might still be close by.
Tony reached the car and glanced inside, knowing before he checked that Martin wasn’t there. A jacket was lying on the front seat, with a flip phone sitting on top of it.
“I would venture a guess that that’s the phone he used,” Reed muttered, his tone reflecting the frustration the K-9 unit had been feeling for nearly a month. Martin had murdered their chief, been captured and somehow escaped. The fact that he was still free was both frustrating and infuriating.
“He must have parked the car and walked to an area where he could observe the Jamesons’ house, then returned after he made the call. He left the jacket purposely,” Tony added. “To draw the dogs here.”
“And left the phone to let us know he was one step ahead,” Reed added. “But, leaving the jacket was another mistake. We can use it to get Jessie started again. She can track him from here.”
“I have a feeling she’ll scent-track straight to the subway station.”
“I do, too, but Martin seems to be getting more delusional and less rational. It’s possible he’s staying close.” Reed snapped a photo of the car’s interior, called for the evidence team and set another flag. Then, he lifted the jacket with gloved hands and held it for Jessie to sniff.
When she had the scent, he placed it back in the car and gave the signal for her to search.
She took off, racing through the backyards of several houses before darting across a driveway and out into the road. She had the scent, and it was a strong one. Whether or not they would reach Martin before he escaped Rego Park remained to be seen, but Tony had never been a quitter. From the time he was young, he had gone after what he wanted with single-minded determination.
Right now, what he wanted—all he wanted—was to apprehend Martin Fisher before he had a chance to go after Katie again.
SEVEN
The walls were closing in, and there wasn’t a whole lot Katie could do about it. In the week since Martin had set fire to the shed and called her cell phone, she had been housebound, as requested by the K-9 Command Unit, her brothers-in-law, Ivy, Alexander and Tony. The Jamesons had refused to stay at the hotel once they knew the house was sound and that Katie had insisted on staying. Everyone who knew anything about the case had begged her to stay inside, where she could be guarded and protected.
She hadn’t needed convincing.
She would do anything to protect her unborn child. Even stay inside for long days and long nights.
Now, though, she was restless, pacing the living room, the shades drawn, the door locked and bolted, her overnight bag sitting next to it.
Just in case.
She had kept her appointment with Dr. Ritter the previous day. Accompanied by Noah, Zach and their dogs, she had arrived at the medical center and departed from it without incident.
She had felt watched, though; the skin on the back of her neck had tingled as she maneuvered her ungainly body into Noah’s SUV. Martin had called a few minutes after they’d pulled out of the parking lot.
You are glowing, my love. Carrying our child suits you, he had said. What did Dr. Ritter think? Will the baby be coming soon?
She had been terrified.
Just like she was every time her phone rang.
She had tried to keep him on the phone, stretching the conversation out in the hopes that it could be traced. When he abruptly disconnected, she had felt drained.
The K-9 unit had converged on the clinic, combing the area for signs that Martin had been there. They had found nothing except a scent trail that had led from the clinic to a queue of taxis waiting in front of a hotel.
As far as Katie knew, they still had not found the taxi driver who had given Martin a ride.
She sighed as she walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. It was nearly midnight. She wasn’t hungry, but she felt restless and lonely and a little afraid.
Even knowing there were two armed police officers watching the house and that her brothers-in-law were in the apartment above her couldn’t ease her worry and fear. Martin had threatened to take the baby. No matter how many times she told herself he would never have the opportunity, no matter how many people reassured her, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he would make good on his threat.
She was trying to give everything over to God. She really was, but it was difficult to trust that He wouldn’t let anything happen to the baby when He had allowed something terrible to happen to her parents and to Jordan.
It’s all part of God’s plan. You just have to have faith.
How many well-meaning people had said that to her?
And, how many times had she stopped herself from telling them that her faith had not saved her parents and it had not saved her husband, and she had no reason to believe it would save her child?
God’s plans and His ways were a mystery she couldn’t solve. She knew He was good. She knew He had her best interest at heart. She knew she could count on Him to guide her steps. But, she did not know if He would spare her baby, if He would keep Martin away or if He would give her the peaceful life she so desperately craved.
The home.
The family.
The future she had prayed for.
Her phone rang, her pulse jumped and the baby shifted as the sudden spurt of adrenaline hit. The stress couldn’t be good for either of them, and she tried to calm her breathing and slow her heart rate as she glanced at the caller ID.
It was an unknown number, but she knew who was calling.
It was nearly midnight. Everyone else she knew was either asleep or working. Even if they weren’t, they would assume she was tucked in bed, resting for the upcoming birth.
“Hello?” she said, bracing herself for the smooth, slimy voice of the man she had grown to despise.
“Tell him to leave!” Martin screamed, his rage palpable.
“What are you talking about? There’s no one here,” she responded, taking out a cell phone Noah had provided and then hitting the quick-dial function to contact the precinct and let the dispatcher know Martin was on the phone.
“You know who I’m talking about, Katie. Don’t play dumb.”
“No. I don’t.” The baby twisted and squirmed, obviously as distressed by the conversation as Katie.
“Knight. He is trying to steal you from me the same way Jordan did. I don’t want to murder someone else. I’m a peaceful guy. One who just wants to marry the love of his life, raise a family and enjoy the beautiful things God has provided for him.”
“Tony isn’t trying to steal me—” Katie attempted to say, but Martin started ranting, his words filled with bitter fury.
“And, if anyone tries, the same thing will happen to him that happened to Jordan. You tell Knight that, you hear me? Tell him!” He disconnected.
She was so shocked, she stood where she was, phone still pressed to her ear, heart hammering against her ribs.
She had known he was mentally ill. She had.
But, she had not known just how deep his delusions went.
She finally disconnected and shoved the phone into the pocket of the suit jacket she had put on a few hours ago. The pinstriped blue suit was one of the few items of Jordan’s clothing she had kept. He had worn it the night he had proposed, and she had not been able to let it go.
She lifted the second cell phone to her ear and spoke to the dispatcher for the first time since she had made the call.
“Were you able to trace it?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“We have a ping from the cell phone that originated the call,” the dispatcher replied. “I’ve already contacted the chief. He’s gathering a team. Stay where you are until he contacts you.”
