A Cop in Her Stocking Read online

  “Can I come in?”

  The detective stepped to the side and motioned him inside.

  The house smelled like baking cookies, and children’s voices jabbered from the direction of a warmly lit kitchen. “Making sugar cookies. Want one?”

  Normally Ty would make some quip about the fact that Baker happened to be baking, but not tonight. “No, thanks. Can we talk?”

  Baker led him into the front room, barely big enough to house the giant Christmas tree dancing with lights that he’d noticed from the street. “What is it?”

  “That shooting you mentioned yesterday. I read a little about it in the paper. You said it looked like suicide?”

  “Yeah. Autopsy’s scheduled for tomorrow.” He narrowed his eyes on Ty, his stare every bit as piercing as Leo’s. “What about it?”

  “Derek Ernst. He was a security guard at the mall. A technician, worked on the security cameras.”

  “Yeah.”

  “He was there when Megan Garvey’s son was kidnapped.”

  “Leo mentioned that.”

  “Don’t you think that’s strange? That he was working security when a kid was kidnapped in the morning and dead by nightfall?”

  “I think he had a bad day.”

  “Or he was involved.”

  “Now you lost me, Ty. Ms. Garvey’s ex-husband took the kid. She’s fine with it. It’s all over. There’s nothing for Ernst to be involved in.”

  Apparently they still hadn’t caught up to Doug. Ty bit the inside of his cheek. He wanted to tell Baker everything. He needed to. It would change the way he looked at his whole shooting case. But he’d promised Megan he wouldn’t. At least not until he could convince her to give him the okay.

  He reviewed the article’s few details in his memory. “He was found in his car?”

  Baker nodded. “About a half mile from his house out on Quarry Road. Shot himself in the head with an untraceable gun. Snowplow almost ran into him.”

  “An untraceable gun?”

  “One of those loose ends. He has a gun registered to him, yet he used one he must have bought off the street.”

  “Have you taken a look around his house?”

  “A little bit.”

  On the drive over, he’d even pondered the possibility that Ernst might have been keeping Connor. He wasn’t sure how to ask Baker if there were signs of a little boy in the house without him wondering where the question had come from. “And?”

  “No suicide note, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

  Baker’s vague answers weren’t helpful at all. But what did he expect when he was limited to asking vague questions? “What kind of loose ends are you wrestling with?”

  “You trying for a promotion to detective, Davis? Hate to put a damper on your ambitions, but from what I hear, you’re not in great shape at the moment. The suspension. The media mess. ‘Wannabe Santa.’”

  So Baker had heard. It was only a matter of time before Megan did, too. He had to find a way to tell her. And soon.

  Ty pushed the thought out of his mind for the moment and focused on the matter at hand. “Just give me an idea of what the case looks like. Maybe I can help. As you pointed out, I have a lot of extra time on my hands lately.”

  He got a smile out of Baker for that one. “Let’s just say we’re having trouble coming up with a reason for him to do it. Mother said he was happy. Got a raise recently. He dumped his high school girlfriend a little while back, a Corrine Blaska, but now he was going out with someone new. Leo says he seemed pretty full of himself yesterday in the security office.”

  Ty had to agree. Although he had trouble wrapping his mind around a guy like that having not one but two women interested in him. Sometimes there really was no justice. Of course, Ty had experienced that problem himself. It had been a lot of fun, but when it came down to anything more, he had only really been interested in one woman. “Mind if I take a look around Ernst’s house? Maybe something will stand out.”

  Baker tilted his head to the side. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Like I said, I have a lot of time to fill. Sometimes a pair of fresh eyes makes a big difference.”

  Baker continued with the wary look. “You’re serious?”

  “It won’t take long.” Ty glanced at his watch, confirming it was still fairly early.

  “You expect me to drive out there with you now?”

  Ty shrugged a single shoulder in an attempt to look like he could take or leave the suggestion. “What? You worried it’s past your bedtime?”

  “I’m worried you’re becoming a pain in the ass.”

  “Oh, come on, Baker.”

  “Clear it with the chief and Leo, and I’ll be happy to show you around…tomorrow.” Baker glanced back toward the kitchen where the voices and laughter were now mixed with the strains of Christmas music. “I gotta go.”

  Ty’s mind raced. Ernst’s death was the only break he and Megan had. He needed to follow it up. It was just a question of how far he was willing to go, and he already knew that answer. “Yeah, guess I’d better go, too.”

  Baker nailed him with another pointed stare. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  Ty tried to smooth all expression from his face. “I don’t have a clue what you mean.”

  “You know, you’re on thin ice after that Shop with a Cop thing you pulled.”

  How could he forget? “Don’t worry about me.”

  “It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s my case, if there is a case.”

  “You have nothing to worry about then.”

  Baker looked at him out of the side of his eye. “Why is it that lately when you say don’t worry, I feel the need to start worrying?”

  “You’re having sugar withdrawal?” Ty scooped the air in front of Baker with his hands, as if pushing him into the hall. “Now go back to your Christmas cookies. You’re wasting away before my eyes.”

  “Daddy?” a voice called from the kitchen.

  Baker let loose a heavy sigh. “Be there in a second.”

  He stepped out into the hall and led Ty to the front door. Yanking it open, he stood to the side to let him pass. “Don’t touch anything.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I mean it. Not one thing.”

  “Yes, Dad. Merry Christmas.”

  IT WASN’T HARD FOR MEGAN to spot exactly which Lake Pass home belonged to Derek Ernst. Christmas lights glowed red and green, blue and white, and every color of the rainbow on either side of the street, but for the house at 1498 Hillside. There, the only decoration visible was yellow police tape stretched across the span of the garage door and barring the front entrance.

  Ty parked the car down the block, and he and Megan walked back to the scene. The night was quiet in a certain kind of hush only a thick blanket of snow could produce. The moon hung fat and round in the sky, making the snow glow blue, almost bright as day. Ice crunched under their boots.

  They hiked around to the side of the house, the fresh, knee-deep snow sucking at their boots. Megan could feel it slip inside, packing cold around her calf and ankle until her skin was numb. She shivered, and her breath fogged in the air.

  Ty paused beside the garage window and peered inside. Megan craned her neck, trying to see. The pane was filthy with spider droppings and cobwebs. Beyond that, all she could make out was darkness.

  Ty glanced at Megan. “Garage window locks are often terrible, especially on old windows like these.”

  “You’re going to break in?”

  “I’m going to try.”

  A tremor started up in her chest at the thought. God, she was bad at criminal type stuff. “You’re sure?”

  “This from a woman who tried to steal files from a security company?”

  “You have a point.”

  “Just don’t touch anything. I promised.” He thumped the heel of his hand against the
frame of the top sash. “As long as the window isn’t painted shut, it can be pretty easy.” He slid the bottom sash up.

  Megan nodded and made note that if she ever could afford a house again, she would install new locks on all garage windows.

  Ty scanned the window frame for a moment before turning back to Megan once again. “I don’t think I can fit. If I boost you through, you can let me in the back door.” He leaned down and cupped his hands in front of her.

  She stepped into his palms and gripped the window’s edge. Ducking, she let him boost her inside. Sticky spiderwebs clung to her cheeks and hat. A cluster of round little egg sacs dangled in front of her eyes.

  She lowered herself down to the concrete floor and did her best to wipe off the debris. At least it was winter. No spiders or other creepy crawlies would be alive this time of year. She could take comfort in that.

  The garage was piled with boxes on one end, a collection of old yard equipment that looked like it hadn’t seen use in eons and a car-sized space in the middle. The place smelled like old motor oil. Kitty litter crunched under her boots.

  She shuffled to a door she hoped would lead inside, half feeling her way in the darkness. The knob turned under her hand, and she stepped onto a vinyl floor.

  The house itself smelled musty, as if it hadn’t gotten a good cleaning in a long while. Megan stifled the urge to sneeze. The back door. Where was it?

  She wished she could turn on a light, but she didn’t dare. She tiptoed through a kitchen in desperate need of cleaning, let alone complete renovation. Moonlight streamed through a sliding patio door on the other side of a pass-through counter. A wide-shouldered shadow blocked the span of glass. She unlocked the door and slid it wide.

  Ty knocked the snow off his boots and stepped inside.

  “Where do we start?” Megan asked, peering down a narrow and dark hall.

  “Why are you whispering?”

  “I don’t know. I guess because we’re not supposed to be here.” She kept her voice low despite his teasing. She was uncomfortable with this whole situation. She just hoped it didn’t end as badly as her criminal exploits at Keating Security had. “What are we looking for?”

  “I have no idea. I’m hoping we’ll know it when we see it. But if anything looks familiar to you, speak up. Any connection to Connor. Any connection to anyone you know.”

  Okay. She could do that. She turned away from the window and they headed into the dark house.

  Not eager to face the long, dark hall, Megan ducked into the living room first. Moonlight streamed through the window, making the room so bright she didn’t need to switch on the light. A single strand of twinkle lights was strung over the top of the picture window peering out at the street. The room was nearly empty except for an old couch, a lamp and a flat screen TV.

  “Derek Ernst certainly lived like a bachelor,” Ty noted.

  Megan had to agree. Not that all bachelors lived that way. Ty was a bachelor, too. But Ernst’s house was far from the warm, masculine surroundings of Ty’s. This place held the bare, aimless look of a man who had yet to figure out who he was. Maybe the rest of his personality was packed away in the boxes she’d seen in the garage. “This place doesn’t look like a girlfriend is around much.”

  “Maybe they hang out at her place.”

  She supposed it was possible. No woman in her right mind would want to spend much time here.

  That impression was only strengthened by a look at the first bedroom. A queen bed dominated the space, a mattress, box spring and plain metal frame. The sheets and blankets were twisted in a lump on the mattress. An orange crate lay on its side next to the bed, an alarm clock balanced on top.

  Megan couldn’t imagine a woman in this room, either. “You sure he has a new girlfriend?”

  Ty shrugged. “I have to say, I can’t see anything that says he committed suicide, but I don’t see any reason for him not to, either.”

  The next bedroom was a stark contrast to the rest of the house. Even in the light from outside, Megan knew they’d finally found the room in which Derek Ernst spent his time. “May the real Derek Ernst please stand up.”

  Ty switched on the light. The room smelled clean, the furniture dust free and carpet vacuumed so recently, it still held tracks. Movie posters covered the walls, their subjects running the gamut from Star Trek to Star Wars. A computer desk stretched along one wall, filled with cutting-edge hardware.

  Ty nodded. “This is the guy I met in the mall, all right.”

  Megan gave the computer a once-over. It was running, the monitor merely in sleep mode. “Does touching something include bumping that mouse?”

  “Pull on your gloves.”

  She did. The monitor flicked on. A photograph of a naked woman smiled from the screen.

  Ty leaned toward the monitor. His eyes narrowed on the woman, but they didn’t hold sexual interest. He looked more as though he’d seen a ghost.

  Megan held her breath. “What is it?”

  He glanced up from the photo and focused on Megan, his eyes intense as a cloudless sky. “I know her.”

  “You…how?”

  He was about to answer when a faint voice trembled from the hall. “Who are you? And what are you doing here?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tiny and with the straight up and down body of a boy, the woman standing in the doorway to Derek Ernst’s home office looked about as threatening as a wisp of cloud.

  Until Megan focused on her eyes.

  They glistened, each iris nearly as black as the pupil. Red rimmed, and intense enough to be lethal.

  Or crazy.

  The woman raised her hand. In her fist, she held a gun. “Who are you? What are you doing to Derek’s things?”

  Megan’s throat went dry. Her pulse thundered in her ears. Here she’d been afraid the police would find them. That Ty would get in trouble. It had never occurred to her that they might be walking into real danger of the life-threatening kind.

  “Put the gun down, ma’am.” Ty’s voice rang steady and commanding.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m Officer Ty Davis. This is Megan Garvey.”

  She stared at them. Her gun hand started to shake, the barrel bobbing. “Officer? You’re police?”

  “I am. Now put the gun down.”

  “You’re here…why? Did you find out more about Derek?”

  “I know you’ve had a rough day. I’m sorry for your loss. But things are only going to get worse unless you set the gun on the floor. Now.”

  The woman looked at her hand. Her eyes grew wide, as if she was shocked to see what her fingers held.

  “Set it on the floor.”

  Tears stuck in her lashes and spilled down her cheeks. She folded into a crouch and set the weapon on the carpet. Slowly she opened her fingers, as if she half expected the thing to scamper away.

  “Stand up now. Leave it there.”

  She did. Her shoulders started to shake, like a volcano of sobs about to explode.

  Megan knew the feeling. Her whole body quaked. Now that the gun lay harmless on the floor, her knees wanted to buckle. She pressed her thigh against the desk, bracing herself.

  Ty closed in on the gun. “Take a step backward, into the hall.”

  As the woman retreated, Ty knelt down and picked up the weapon. He hit a button and a cartridge slid out of the handle. He pulled the top of the gun back, looked inside, then gave the barrel a sweep with his finger, as if making sure he could trust his eyes. “Unloaded.”

  “I…I didn’t want to hurt anybody.”

  “Did it occur to you that you might be more likely to get shot if you go around pointing a gun at people? Whether the damn thing is loaded or not?”

  “I didn’t know you were a cop.” Tears coursed down her cheeks. Judging from the red rims of her eyes, this wasn’t the first time in the past few hours.

  Megan doubted anything Ty was saying was getting through to the woman at all. At least she didn’t seem cr
azy. She seemed broken.

  “Where did you get the gun?” Ty asked.

  She stared at him for a second, as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

  “The gun,” he repeated. “Whose is it? Yours?”

  Finally the woman shook her head. “It’s Derek’s. It was in the closet.”

  “Derek’s?” Ty’s brows shot upward. “Does he have several guns?”

  She shook her head. “Just one.”

  Megan tried to remember what Ty had told her about Derek Ernst’s death and what she’d read in the newspaper. She was pretty sure Derek shot himself. Was it with his own gun? She thought so.

  She looked up at Ty. “So whose gun is this?”

  “It’s Derek’s,” the woman said again.

  “You’re sure about that?”

  She squinted at the weapon in Ty’s gloved hand. “I…It looks like his gun.”

  “Are you…friends with Mr. Ernst?” Ty asked.

  The woman nodded. “I’m his girl…I mean, was his girlfriend. We…we broke up.”

  “You and he were high school sweethearts?” Ty prodded. “You’re Corrine?”

  “Yes.”

  Ty nodded.

  Baker must have mentioned the girlfriend’s name, although Ty hadn’t mentioned it to Megan. “If the two of you broke up, why exactly are you here?”

  She held up a fob. A single silver key reflected the overhead light. “He gave it to me. He never asked for it back.”

  Ty gave her a tell-the-truth look that Megan could swear cops must practice in their bathroom mirrors.

  “Okay, I had it copied.” Corrine stuffed the key chain back in her pocket and swiped at her cheeks with the backs of trembling hands. “But I didn’t use it before tonight. I swear. I had to come here. That’s all. I just…”

  “You wanted to feel close to him?” Megan supplied.

  Corrine nodded.

  Ty shot Megan a look clearly asking her to stop providing answers.

  She pressed her lips together. She couldn’t help it. Now that her panic at the sight of the gun had begun to subside, she was starting to feel sorry for the woman.

  “When did you get here?”