Nate woke up several hours later, groggy and sleep-deprived, as he listened to mom and daughter in the kitchen. He dragged himself upright, feeling guilty for sleeping in when Melissa had been up just as late.
He quickly finished up in the bathroom, then followed his nose to the enticing scent of French toast in the kitchen.
“Good morning,” Melissa greeted him. She had her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, which somehow made her hazel eyes look bigger than usual. “You’re just in time for breakfast.”
“How long have you been up?” he asked, taking a seat beside Hailey at the table.
“About an hour,” she said as she served a platter stacked high with French toast.
“You should have woken me up.” She’d got only three hours of sleep, while he’d slept for four hours. “It was my turn to cook.”
“It’s not a problem. Besides, Hailey was hungry, so I needed to get something going.”
Bowing his head, he listened to Melissa’s quick prayer and Hailey’s inevitable “Dig in” before getting up to grab some coffee.
Caffeine helped blow some of the cobwebs out of his brain. He sat back down and helped himself to a couple of pieces of French toast.
“Can we play outside in the snow again, Mommy?” Hailey asked as she poured a liberal portion of maple syrup over her breakfast. “This time let’s make a snow fort!”
“I’m sure we can go out for a while,” Melissa agreed.
Nate dug into his meal with gusto, surprised at how hungry he was. Maybe it was because of the events of last night.
Or maybe it was Melissa’s cooking. He honestly wasn’t used to anyone cooking for him. Not that he could afford to become accustomed to the luxury. He knew that she was making meals for her daughter, not for him personally.
“Have you thought about what our next steps should be?” Melissa asked, interrupting his thoughts.
“I really need to get in touch with Jenna, make sure she’s doing okay,” he said between bites. “Then I’d like to see if we can pick anything up through the cameras and audio feeds.”
Melissa nodded. “Christmas is just four days away,” she said in a low voice. “I need to know if we’ll be spending the holiday here.”
He understood she wanted some sort of celebration for Hailey. “I’ll figure out something within the next twenty-four hours,” he promised.
Nate knew that they were getting close to having enough evidence to go to Griff. But he wanted as ironclad a case as possible, especially considering they intended to leverage some very serious allegations against several high-profile community leaders.
A daunting thought.
When he finished eating, he began clearing the table and stacking the dirty dishes in the sink to be washed. Melissa helped, once again adding a strange sort of intimacy as they performed the mundane task together.
He told himself that this wasn’t what it would be like to be married with a family. For one thing, he’d be going to work, sometimes on odd shifts.
Which made him wonder what she did to support herself. She must have left a job behind in South Carolina. Was it waiting for her? Or would she have to start over someplace new?
“Do you need my help for anything?” Melissa asked as they finished the dishes.
He flashed her a grin. “Looking to get out of building a snow fort?”
She grimaced. “Maybe. I’m not used to such cold weather.”
“Give me a few minutes to check my email and set up the computer cameras. If there’s nothing going on, I can play outside with Hailey for a while.”
“No need for you to do that,” she said, obviously backpedaling. “She’s my responsibility, and it’s probably better you stay inside to work since I can’t search the internet the way you can.”
He glanced over at her curiously. “I truly don’t mind. I’m sure we can spare an hour or so.”
She hesitated, then nodded. “All right.”
Nate went over to the kitchen table and opened up his laptop. The cameras were good, but he couldn’t validate the listening devices as the hour was still too early for any activity at the restaurant. He logged into his new email account, happy to see a message from Jenna.
I’m okay. The officers were suspicious, but I think I managed to convince them I was on their side. Hope you got everything you needed out of the house.
Nate was relieved she was all right. He quickly typed a response:
We have cameras and bugs planted inside the restaurant. Also found some interesting evidence. Let me know if you have time to meet today.
He sent the email, feeling better about being on the right track. Although he was sure Jenna wouldn’t be thrilled to find out that he’d taken potential evidence from the restaurant.
Deciding to cross that bridge later, he closed the laptop and headed over to put on his winter coat, hat and gloves. Hailey and Melissa were already outside, hard at work clearing an area in the snow for the fort.
Hailey was wearing snow pants and boots, but the adults didn’t have that luxury. When Melissa’s teeth started chattering, he sent her inside.
“I’ll hang with Hailey for a while,” he said, ignoring the cold dampness of his jeans.
“Thanks. But don’t stay out here too much longer,” she cautioned him.
“We won’t.”
Melissa disappeared inside the cabin, and he continued helping the little girl build her fort.
“Are you going to be my new daddy?” she asked.
He felt his jaw drop in shock, and struggled to come up with a good answer. “I think that’s something your mom needs to decide,” he finally said. “She has to find a man to fall in love with, and once she gets married again, then you’ll have a new dad.”
Hailey scrunched up her face. “Don’t you love my mommy?”
His heart lurched in his chest. “I care about your mom very much, Hailey. We’re good friends.”
The flash of disappointment in the little girl’s eyes stabbed deep. He wanted to make her feel better, but what could he say? Even if he voiced his true feelings for Melissa, he couldn’t give the child false hope that they’d all be one big happy family someday.
No matter how much he was beginning to like that idea.
* * *
Melissa hung her wet clothes near the heat vents in an effort to help them dry out. When she crossed back over to the window overlooking the front yard, she noticed that Hailey and Nate were deep in conversation.
This was what she was afraid of. Hailey was already bonding with Nate more than Melissa was comfortable with. What would happen when she and Hailey left to go back home? Sure, she could convince herself that her daughter would forget about Nate eventually, but in the meantime, Hailey would miss him.
And so would she.
Melissa gave herself a mental shake and told herself to stop thinking about Nate on a personal level. She was feeling close to him only because he was risking his life and his career to protect her. She’d probably feel the same sense of closeness and gratitude no matter who she was here with.
No, that wasn’t true either. For one thing, no one else would have done what Nate had for her and for Hailey. Plus, Nate had kissed her, rekindling the old feelings that she’d buried a long time ago.
She sank onto the sofa, her knees feeling weak. Was she crazy to fall for Nate? Hadn’t she done that already with disastrous results? Not that her leaving twelve years ago was his fault. But she’d meant what she’d said about not regretting the past. Her daughter was a precious gift.
Yet if Melissa were honest, she’d admit that she’d married Jeremy because he was a good, God-fearing man. Not because she was hopelessly in love with him. At the time, she’d believed the feelings she’d experienced with Nate were nothing but silly romantic fantasies.
Being here with him like this made her realize that her feelings for him weren’t childish at all.
Although they were definitely romantic.
Melissa leaped to her feet, uncomfortable with the direction of her thoughts. She didn’t have time to dwell on her feelings, romantic or otherwise. She strode into the kitchen and put on the teakettle to make hot chocolate for Hailey.
As the kettle warmed on the stovetop, she crossed over to open Nate’s laptop computer. There would be a lunch crowd trickling into the restaurant soon. And that meant the staff would be getting ready for their patrons.
She peered at the screen, knowing it wasn’t at all likely that she’d recognize anyone from when she’d worked there. But she was soon surprised to see Gayle Flannery, one of her fellow waitresses, making coffee in the large urns. The uniforms had changed over the years, and when Gayle turned around, Melissa could clearly see the silver manager pin on the older woman’s lapel.
Melissa sat back in her chair with a frown, wondering just how much Gayle knew about what was really going on at the restaurant now that she was in a manager role. Was the owner, Ralph Carter, keeping her in the dark? Or was she an active participant in the potential drug ring?
Thinking back, she remembered Gayle being a young woman who was attending college in the evening while working the day shift as a waitress. Had Gayle finished her degree? Or had she given up on school?
The front door opened, letting in a blast of cold air as Nate carried Hailey inside. A few seconds later, the tea kettle whistled loudly.
“Ready for some hot chocolate?” Melissa asked, rising to her feet and hurrying into the kitchen to take the kettle off the stove. “Nate, I can make more coffee if you’d prefer.”
“Hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows!” Hailey said, waving her arms eagerly.
“That sounds good to me, too,” Nate agreed.
“Let’s get you out of these wet things,” Melissa said, going over to her daughter.
Nate bent over to help at the same time she did, and their heads lightly bumped together.
“Oh, sorry,” he muttered, moving out of the way. He followed her example by taking off his damp clothes and spreading them around the heat vents that she hadn’t used.
He disappeared in the bedroom while she finished getting Hailey out of her winter clothes. After hanging Hailey’s wet things up, too, she poured her daughter a steaming mug of chocolate.
“Be careful,” she warned, setting the cup down on the table. “Let it cool off a minute.”
Nate returned a few minutes later wearing dry jeans and a navy blue sweatshirt that had SWAT emblazoned across his chest in white. He walked over and helped himself to a mug of hot chocolate, pouring one for her, too.
“Thanks.” Why did things suddenly feel so awkward between them?
He nodded and then took a seat behind the computer. “I see you’re already watching.”
She shrugged. “I recognized one of the employees. Gayle Flannery used to be a waitress on the day shift while I was there. Now she’s the manager.”
“Interesting.” Nate blew on his chocolate and then took a sip. “I wonder how many other employees are still there.”
“Probably not many,” she said, taking a seat next to him. She looked at the computer screen. Nate fiddled with the controls until they could see both cameras in a split screen format. She leaned forward with curiosity as customers entered the dining area. “Why can’t we hear anything?”
“I don’t have the volume on yet,” Nate said. “I’d rather wait until we have something in particular to listen in on.”
“Worried about invading people’s privacy?” she asked.
“Yeah, a bit. After all, this isn’t exactly an approved undercover operation.”
It took a minute for his words to sink in. “So you’re saying we can’t really use any of this information against them?”
“That’s correct. We can’t. All we can do is hope to get intel we can act upon.”
She tried to hide the sharp stab of disappointment. But then a familiar face caught her eye. “Look! Isn’t that your uncle?”
Nate’s expression hardened. “Yeah, that’s Tom. Seems like he’s at that restaurant quite a bit. After all, we saw his car there last evening, too.”
She felt bad for Nate. It couldn’t be easy suspecting your own flesh and blood of being a criminal. “Maybe they’re meeting so often because of me.”
He lifted a brow, the corner of his mouth kicking up in a crooked smile. “Yeah, because of both of us. It just occurred to me that Tom must realize by now we’re together.”
“Probably, although I guess we don’t know for sure what the Brookmont chief of police has told him.”
“We’re going to find out,” Nate said, gesturing to the computer screen. “Randall Joseph, aka Brookmont chief of police, just walked in.”
Melissa’s stomach knotted when she watched the two men greet each other with terse nods, neither one of them looking very happy. They walked over to their usual table, the one where she’d planted the listening device.
Nate enabled the microphone, but as the men began talking, Hailey interrupted. “Mommy, can we play a game?”
“How about you play your handheld computer game for a while instead?” she suggested, knowing it would be best to get Hailey out of Nate’s way. “Come on. Let’s sit in the living room.”
“Okay,” she agreed, scrambling down from her seat at the table.
Melissa couldn’t hear what was going on in the restaurant, but once she had Hailey settled on the corner of the sofa, she went back to glance over Nate’s shoulder. “Are you getting anything?”
“Not yet,” he said with a sigh. “They’re being very careful with what they’re saying.”
Melissa nodded, leaning forward so she could listen in, too.
“Why haven’t you found them yet?” the mayor asked in a low voice.
“We’re working on it,” the police chief replied. “We came close yesterday.”
“Close doesn’t count,” Tom muttered in a harsh tone. “We need to find them today. Top priority. Use more men if you need to.”
“That’s not as easy as it sounds,” the police chief argued. “Sooner or later someone’s going to start asking questions.”
The two men fell silent as their server approached, asking if they were ready to place their orders.
Melissa looked at Nate. “They’re obviously talking about us.”
“I know.” He scrubbed his hands over his face in a weary gesture. “It’s hard listening to them talk about hunting us down.”
She couldn’t stop from reaching over to put her hand on his. “I’m sorry,” she said helplessly. “I wish I’d been wrong about your uncle.”
Nate summoned a grim smile. “It’s not your fault. So we know they’re still looking for us, and we know that they’re using the restaurant as a drug drop. But we don’t know why they killed Alderman Keith Turner.”
“Don’t you think it’s probably because he found out about the drugs?” she asked. “It only seems logical.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Nate said, although he didn’t sound at all convinced. “But I still feel like there’s a piece of the puzzle missing. It’s possible Alderman Turner would have gone along with their drug trafficking.”
Nate opened a search engine and did more research on Alderman Kevin Turner. She listened to the conversation in the restaurant, but the men were simply ordering food.
A third man joined them. She recognized him as Ralph Carter, the restaurant owner, but still the conversation remained social.
“That’s three, so where’s the fourth guy?” Nate asked.
“I’m not sure,” Melissa said, unable to tear her gaze from the screen. It was so strange seeing these men sitting at the same table. They all looked a little older, but not terribly so. The police chief had put on about thirty pounds, but the other two men looked very much the same as they had twelve years ago.
“There’s a problem with our package,” Ralph Carter said. “We’re a little short on shrimp.”
The three men looked at each other for a long moment. “How is that possible?” Nate’s uncle asked.
“I think we have to assume the worst,” Ralph Carter said.
Melissa tugged on Nate’s arm. “They’re talking about the drugs you took from the freezer,” she whispered.
He nodded, his gaze focused on the scene at the restaurant.
“I wouldn’t have expected him to skim off the top. We pay well enough,” Nate’s uncle said with a dark scowl. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Ralph’s face got red. “Think I can’t count? Of course I’m sure. I just checked.”
“I’ll send a message,” the police chief said with an evil grin. “A message our deliveryman won’t forget.”
Her mouth dropped open in horror. “Oh, no! They’re going to do something to that man who placed the drugs in the freezer.”
Nate momentarily closed his eyes. “I didn’t expect them to discover the missing bag so soon.”
Melissa knew they needed the evidence, and she knew that anyone involved in dealing drugs had to be punished, but she wasn’t prepared for something like this. The leer on the chief of police’s face made her think he enjoyed teaching lessons.
A little too much.
These men had to be stopped and soon. Before more people died.