A Cop in Her Stocking Page 4

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.

  Was someone watching her?

  She squinted into the night, but she could make out nothing but shadow and swirling white. Still, it could be possible the kidnapper was keeping tabs on her, making sure she followed through with his orders.

  She hurried to the door. Still glancing around her, she stomped her feet free of snow, unlocked the glass door and slipped into the vestibule, closing and locking the door behind her. The alarm beeped its countdown. She punched the security code into the number pad to turn it off.

  She wished she could engage the alarm while inside, but unfortunately that wasn’t how this system was designed. Once the alarm was engaged, so were the interior motion sensors. One step and she’d set off an alarm herself. She’d just have to rely on the dead bolt on the door and get her business done quickly.

  She opened the interior door and escaped into the halls, away from the glass exposing her to anyone who might be watching from the parking lot or street. Reaching the janitor’s closet, she leaned on the door frame and let a breath shudder from her chest.

  Her knees felt weak, and she had to concentrate to keep them from wobbling. The client files must be kept on secure servers that weren’t linked to the internet, to prevent hacking. Otherwise, the kidnapper probably could have broken into the system remotely, and he’d have no need for her to use the access her job cleaning the building afforded her.

  She hung the backpack vacuum on the handle of the garbage cart and pulled a cleaning kit off the shelf, as if she was going about her normal work routine. The chances of her being interrupted weren’t good, but she wanted to be prepared just in case. As far as she knew, no one at Keating Security knew her background in computer systems. Why would they? As long as she was bonded, they had no reason to distrust her. Of course, Gary Burke knew. A second cousin of Doug’s, he’d been charitable enough to give her a job with Brilliance Cleaning when her career had tanked in the middle of a tough economy. But he had contracts of his own to service. He rarely ever checked up on her. Either way, as long as she had the cleaning equipment handy, no one would think twice about finding her in one of the offices that housed the secure network.

  It took her three offices to find a computer linked to the internal server. Situated in the corner of the building, the room felt uncomfortably exposed. Windows stretched along two walls, one peering out on the parking lot, the other on the adjacent wooded park. Again that feeling that someone was watching prickled over her skin. She moved to the side of one window and peered out.

  Darkness stared back at her punctuated by white flakes swirling in the streetlights along the parking area’s edge. She saw no vehicles, no movement. The forest side showed nothing but the skeletal shadows of trees barely visible through the snow.

  The creepy feeling was probably caused by her guilty conscience. She shivered and closed both sets of blinds anyway. She had to keep herself together. Find what she needed fast and get out.

  Pulling a dusting wand from her kit for cover, she sat down at the desk, turned on the computer and focused on the monitor.

  Password. She needed a password.

  Her heart thumped so loud at first she thought it was heavy footsteps coming down the hall. She opened the desk drawer. Whether the company liked it or not, employees often kept their passwords written down and in easily accessed areas. With so many passwords for work programs and websites accessed at home, no one could keep all of them locked in their memories.

  Sure enough, a small card was taped to the drawer’s steel bottom, a collection of random letters and numbers printed on the card. She entered it onto the keyboard and a list of the company’s clients popped up on the screen. She was in.

  So far, so good.

  She pulled out of her pocket a flash drive she’d brought from home and plugged it into a USB port. Now all she had to do was download the files for each client. She read over the names as she copied the list onto the drive.

  A low rumble seemed to shake the building.

  Her pulse jumped. She thrust up from the chair and stepped to the window. Splitting the blinds slightly with her fingers, she peered outside.

  The yellow lights of a snowplow stuttered through the falling snow. It grumbled down the street and around a corner.

  She let the blinds fall back into place, closed her eyes for a moment and focused on calming her racing pulse.

  She made a horrible crook.

  She sucked in a shaky breath and sat back down in front of the monitor. She had to focus on Connor, on getting him home safe, protecting her son. That’s all she could let herself think about.

  The client list was the easy part. She had no idea how long copying the actual specifications on each client’s security system would take. She was only cleared to be in the building for a window of four hours, and if she hoped to cover her tracks, she needed to do at least a passable job of cleaning before her time ran out.

  Another rumble came from outside.

  Glancing out the corner of her eye in hopes that the sound was nothing but another snowplow, she clicked on the first client on the list, a pharmaceutical company. She directed the file to download to her flash drive.

  The monitor went dark.

  A surge of panic slammed through her. She clicked again, and the loud buzz of an alarm split the air.

  Chapter Five

  Ty had just stepped onto the snow-covered lawn of Keating Security when an alarm broke the white-blanketed stillness.

  What the hell?

  He slogged as fast as he could toward the building, wading through almost knee-deep snow. He’d followed Megan because he’d been worried about her. He’d left his sports car on the other side of a wooded park because he hadn’t wanted her to know he was watching.

  Could someone else have followed Megan, too? Had that person gotten into the building, seeking to harm her?

  He broke through the deep powder and quickened his pace, racing across the parking lot, past Megan’s car, up the walk to the front door. He yanked the handle.

  It didn’t budge.

  He needed something heavy and hard. He ran back to Megan’s car and tried the door. No luck. Remembering her old habit of locking her keys in the car, he slipped off his glove and skimmed his hand along the bottom edge of the front bumper. His fingers hit a small magnetic key box, and he pulled it free.

  He slipped the key out and opened the ancient car’s trunk. Peeling back the carpet, he focused on the spare tire…and the tire iron clamped beside it.

  He pulled on his glove, grabbed the tire iron and returned to the entrance, testing the heft of the tool in his hand. He gave the glass a good rap at the level of the handle.

  The alarm continued to blare, its hard buzz covering the sound of breaking glass. Cracks spiderwebbed across the window, the pieces at first sticking together. A few more raps, and he had punched out a hole.

  He stuck a hand through. Feeling along the metal frame, he located the dead bolt lock, flicked it open and pushed through the door.

  The alarm was louder inside the building. Its shriek blared through his head and lodged somewhere in the fillings of his back teeth. He took the hall leading to the office where he’d last spotted Megan through the trees, before she’d closed the blinds.

  If an intruder had set off the alarm, he had no time to lose. Police would arrive eventually, but with the weather and resulting car wrecks and other emergencies, he couldn’t be sure how soon they’d be able to make it.

  He checked around the corner before stepping into the next hall. What he wouldn’t give to have his gun, but he’d left his extra locked in the glove compartment of his car, and he didn’t dare take the time to go back and get it. Armed with only a tire iron, he didn’t relish running into whomever had set off the alarm. The tool was heavy enough to do some damage, but even so, it would be worthless against even a .22. He had to find Megan. He had to get her the hell out of here.

  He burst into the office he’d noted from outsi
de.

  Megan was still there. But instead of cleaning, or trying to turn off an alarm or just about anything he expected, she was sitting in front of a computer screen, frantically tapping the keyboard. She jolted and stared at him with wide eyes. “Ty? What are you doing here?”

  What was he doing? What was she doing? “Someone set off an alarm.”

  “I know.”

  “I was worried about you. When I left your apartment today something seemed…wrong.”

  She looked back down at the computer screen. Her fingers commenced their rapid-fire typing.

  “Meg?”

  “Not now. The police are going to be here any minute. I have to get what I can.”

  Had she lost her mind? “I am the police, Meg.”

  “You have to let me do this.” She focused on him. “You have to help me.”

  “Do what? Help with what?” God knows, he’d help with whatever he could. “Tell me what is going on.”

  “I will. After. I’ll explain it all.”

  Bits and pieces sifted into Ty’s stunned mind. No one else was here? No one but Megan? “Who set off the alarm, Meg?”

  Totally ignoring him, she leaned toward the monitor. “This can’t happen. Damn, damn, damn.”

  “Did you set off the alarm?”

  She made a low keening noise in her throat. Words, a crying sound, he couldn’t tell among the din. After a second, she rocked back a little in her chair, her eyes still on the blank screen. “Honestly?”

  “Please.”

  “Yes. I set off the alarm. I missed an extra layer of security. I can’t believe I missed it. I can’t believe…” She leaned closer and started tapping again, as if she was willing the computer to do whatever it was she wanted.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’ll explain later.”

  He flattened his palm over her moving fingers. “You’ll explain now.”

  She looked up at him for the first time since he’d burst into the office. Desperation gleamed in her eyes. Tears streamed silently down her cheeks. “I’m trying to steal confidential client files. Specs on their security systems. But I haven’t gotten much. The security on each separate file…I didn’t expect that.”