Oliver Kennedy signed an affidavit claiming he’d killed Copeland. The news was shocking, but in a way, it made sense. Aiden felt certain the sergeant had done the deed himself and was placing the blame on his shoulders.
He turned to Brady. “Get in touch with Strauss. We need intel on Kennedy. There must be someone he’s close to that was hurt by Emmitt Copeland. We figure that out, we find the link we need to get him arrested.”
“On it.” Brady stepped away, lifting his cell phone to his ear.
“The only one who is going to be arrested is you, Finnegan,” Parsons barked. Aiden eyed the superior officer. He had to give the guy credit for attempting to maintain control despite being cuffed. There was no sign of Parsons’s weapon. He was sure the feds refused to let the officer bring it inside.
He silently prayed for patience and wisdom as he stepped closer to Parsons. “Sir, take a moment to think this through. Why would I be risking my life and that of my family to protect Shelby and Eva Copeland if I had anything to do with killing her husband? Can’t you see that the same person who killed Emmitt has now come after them? And why would Kennedy come forward after all this time, if not to frame me for something he did?”
It seemed as if his words finally sunk into the sergeant major’s arrogant brain. “He claimed you paid him to keep silent but that he couldn’t take living a lie.”
“Trust me, you won’t find any financial transactions between me and Kennedy. But putting that falsehood aside, the bigger issue is the danger stalking Shelby and Eva. There’s a reason someone has targeted them.”
“Uncuff me,” Parsons demanded.
Donovan arched a brow. “First tell us who you talked to about this meeting. Was it Kennedy? Or someone else?”
“Kennedy and his pal, Sergeant Victor Morrison,” Parsons reluctantly admitted.
“Vic?” Aiden frowned. “He was there when Kennedy signed the affidavit about how I killed Copeland?”
“No, Kennedy came to me alone on that score,” Parsons said. “He came to me two days ago, and I had to discuss my next steps with my superior.”
“When did you talk to Kennedy and Morrison?” Aiden pressed.
“Late yesterday. I asked Kennedy to meet with me, and he was with Morrison. I didn’t go into detail, only mentioned that I was going to meet you here at the FBI offices to have you arrested.”
He nodded, taking that information into consideration. It was possible Morrison was involved, either as a shooter or in some other way, but it was Kennedy who’d come forward with the story of how Aiden had paid him to remain silent about his involvement in Emmitt Copeland’s death.
Glancing at Shelby, he was grateful to note she was staring daggers at Parsons. He knew she didn’t believe he was involved in her husband’s death.
No, his money was on Kennedy. Only now they had to prove it.
Donovan stepped forward and removed the cuffs from Parsons’s wrists. “You’re free to go, but I would ask you not to talk to anyone about this, including Kennedy and Morrison. Also know you will not be taking Staff Sergeant Finnegan with you. We plan to keep your weapon, too, until we have this misunderstanding worked out.”
Parsons looked as if he might argue, then he gave a curt nod. “I will wait to see what we learn from the investigation into Mitchell’s death before taking further action.” His senior officer pinned him with a narrow look. “Don’t leave the state, Finnegan. I’m not convinced you’re innocent in this.”
Ditto, Aiden thought while trying not to roll his eyes. This act was nothing more than Parsons attempting to save face, pretending there was the possibility that he was right while Aiden and the rest of them were wrong.
Fat chance. But he hadn’t gotten this far in the army without knowing when to speak up and when to shut up.
“Yes, sir.” He snapped a salute.
Parsons did the same, then turned away. When he reached the conference room door, he shot back over his shoulder, “I expect to be updated on your progress, Finnegan. And that goes for Strauss too. I’d like a report by the end of the day.”
Aiden didn’t bother to respond because that wasn’t going to happen. At least, not until they had hard-core facts to back up their suspicions.
The room fell silent after Parsons left.
“Well, that was interesting,” Shelby said on a sigh.
“Yeah, but at least we have a lead.” Aiden glanced at Brady. “What do you think? Is it time to head back to the safe house?”
Brady shrugged and turned to Donovan. “What do you think?”
“I think you should head back. I think it will take time for me to get more information from the guy higher up the chain of command over Parsons.” Donovan offered a rare smile. “I’m looking forward to rattling the army’s cage over this. In the meantime, this Oliver Kennedy sounds like a promising suspect. I’m sure your investigator can get more information on the guy than I can.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Brady grimaced. “I’m sorry for putting you in the hot seat with the army, boss.”
Donovan waved that away. “Don’t worry. The good news is that we both work for the federal government. My boss will argue with his boss, and it will all go nowhere fast.”
Typical government, Aiden thought. Then again, the snail’s pace could work to their advantage. Hopefully, they’d have this wrapped up before the two branches of the government could lob bricks at each other. “Then we’ll head back to the safe house.”
Eva peeked out from beneath the conference table. “Can we go swimming?”
Where had that come from? He glanced helplessly at Shelby who sighed and shrugged. Kids. Who knew how their tiny minds worked?
“Not today, but soon,” Aiden said. He planned to keep that promise. Once the danger was over and the army had Oliver Kennedy in jail, he could book another hotel room just so that Eva could go swimming. The little girl deserved at least that much.
“Not soon, now!” she insisted. It was all Aiden could do not to smile.
“Don’t argue, Eva,” Shelby warned in a stern voice. He imagined she used that same tone to keep peace in her fourth-grade classroom. “Gather up your farm animals and your dolly, okay?”
Eva pouted for a moment, then crawled back under the table. He could hear her talking to her animals, saying her mean mommy was making them go away. Glancing at Shelby, he was surprised to see she wasn’t upset by the comments.
“Better she plays out her anger with her toys than lashing out at people,” Shelby said by way of explanation. “At least, that’s what the child psychologist said after Emmitt’s death.”
He hadn’t known she’d taken Eva to counseling, although he could understand why. Even if the little girl didn’t really understand, Shelby had probably needed emotional support herself.
And that thought brought him right back to their current situation. One in which Emmitt’s buddy Oliver Kennedy had likely set up this plot to kill Shelby and her daughter.
He needed to understand the guy’s motive. If Kennedy had killed Emmitt, then why come back to eliminate Shelby? What harm could Emmitt’s widow do after two years?
There was key information missing here, and he hoped and prayed Heath Strauss would be able to find it.
“We’ll use the same caravan approach to getting back to the safe house,” Reed said, breaking into his thoughts. “Although we’re going to find another route to take, one that doesn’t include driving over train tracks.”
“Speaking of that, I should have called to get the Jeep towed,” Aiden said with a grimace.
“I took care of it,” Reed assured him. “I spoke to the officers on scene too. They’re perturbed we left but didn’t complain too much when I informed them we were at the FBI office.”
“Okay, thanks.” He owed his family big time. “What would I do without you, Clark?”
Reed chuckled at his using the nickname. Last month, when Reed was hiding out with his twin, Alanna, they’d started calling him Superman, which had gotten shortened to Clark, as in Clark Kent. Thankfully, Reed hadn’t seemed to mind. Maybe because that moniker was slightly better than how they called Bax Scala, Kyleigh’s husband, Penguin. A nickname that didn’t seem to bother Bax at all.
He and his brothers had agreed—privately of course—that they approved of the men their sisters had fallen for. Both Reed and Bax could take a joke without getting angry, and even more importantly, they treated their sisters very well. The love they shared was obvious to everyone around them.
The Finnegan brothers couldn’t ask for anything better than that.
“Ready to go?” Brady asked, eyeing Shelby and Eva.
“Yes.” Shelby looked a little harried after putting Eva’s winter coat on. She had the farm animals tucked in her own coat pockets and was carrying Eva’s dolly. “We’re ready.”
“I have to go to the bafroom,” Eva announced.
“This way, sweetie.” Shelby took her daughter by the hand to lead her outside the conference room to the restrooms. When they returned ten minutes later, Eva appeared ready to go. He hoped that meant swimming was on the back burner for a while.
Aiden knelt beside the little girl. “Can I carry you to the car?”
The little girl shyly nodded. He lifted her into his arms and followed the rest of the family toward the main entrance.
“Wait here,” Kyleigh directed. “Brady, you should come out with us and pull the SUV up closer to the door.”
“Sure thing.” Brady, Kyleigh, and Reed all headed outside, leaving Aiden and Shelby at the doorway.
“I can’t believe Oliver Kennedy tried to frame you for Emmitt’s death.” She looked up at him. “Do you really think Oliver killed him?”
“I do, yes. Using the story to cover up his own crime is the only thing that makes sense. Why else would he sign an affidavit to that effect?”
“Oliver was so nice to me after Emmitt’s death,” she said quietly. “Brought takeout meals for us on several occasions and offered to babysit Eva.” She swallowed hard, then added, “It’s difficult to imagine him doing all of that if he was the one to kill Emmitt in the first place.”
Sounded to Aiden as if the guy wanted Shelby for himself. Was that it? Was Oliver upset that he was the one who’d taken the role of guarding Shelby? But then why try to kill her?
Maybe the reason the shooter, a.k.a. Kennedy, kept missing was he wanted Shelby to come to him, seeking comfort. The way Parsons had wanted to arrest him would have given Kennedy the chance to step in to be near Shelby.
An intriguing theory, but one they were far from proving.
Brady drove his SUV up to the front door. Both Reed and Kyleigh jogged over to help offer protection as he escorted Shelby outside.
It didn’t take long to get situated in the SUV. Brady backed away from the building, then turned to head toward the road. Kyleigh and Reed jumped into their vehicle and quickly pulled out behind them.
As he buckled his seat belt, Aiden silently prayed the trip back to the safe house would be uneventful. Thankfully, Bill Parsons didn’t know anything about the place. Which meant the location was a secret from Kennedy too.
When Brady headed due west, he shot his brother a questioning look. “I know you mentioned an alternate route, but we need to go north at some point.”
“We will.” Brady shrugged. “Sit back and enjoy the scenery.”
Easier said than done. Eva was growing cranky, and glancing over his shoulder, he noticed Shelby was looking more and more frazzled too.
Brady broke into song, and thankfully that helped distract the little girl. They all sang along, even though Aiden had to fudge the words. He didn’t have a son like Brady and hadn’t been exposed to kid’s songs.
After thirty minutes of singing, Eva’s eyelids began to droop. The adults fell silent, hoping the little girl would take another nap.
Aiden wondered if Rhy was ready for this, considering Devon had just delivered their newborn daughter, Colleen. Which reminded him that they hadn’t heard from him in a while.
“I’d like to call Rhy, let him know our progress,” he said to Brady.
“Good idea, but don’t use the speaker.” Brady grinned. “Eva finally fell asleep.”
“No problem.” He quickly called his oldest brother. “How are Devon and the new baby doing?”
“They’re great.” Rhy sounded like a tired but proud father. “Colleen is the most beautiful baby in the world. I can’t wait for the rest of the family to meet her.”
“We want that too,” he agreed. Oddly, spending so much time with Shelby and Eva had made him acutely aware of how much Rhy and Tarin had given up to raise the youngest of the siblings. Including him. “I want to give you a brief update.”
“I’ve been thinking about you, Aiden,” Rhy said, a hint of regret in his tone. “I feel bad that I haven’t been able to help.”
“Brady, Reed, Kyleigh, Tarin, and Marc Callahan have us covered. Devon and Colleen need you more than we do.”
“Thanks. So what’s going on?”
Aiden gave his brother the latest news, including the bit about how Oliver Kennedy was trying to frame him for Emmitt Copeland’s murder. And how close he’d come to being arrested by Bill Parsons.
“I’m glad you have truth on your side,” Rhy said. “But I’d feel better knowing Kennedy is in custody.”
“We don’t have any evidence against him, at least not yet.” He hoped Strauss would find what they needed and soon. “The biggest issue is that we haven’t nailed down his motive for coming after Shelby. The only thing I can come up with is that these attacks were set up to force Shelby into being with Kenney. Especially if I’m out of the way.”
“That makes sense, sort of.” Rhy sighed. “You may need Tarin’s detective brain. I haven’t gotten much sleep, so mine is useless.”
He laughed. “Never useless, Rhy. Give your wife and daughter a kiss for us. We’ll be in touch once we get this wrapped up.”
“I like the way you’re thinking positive,” Rhy said. “Later, Aiden. Stay safe.”
“We will.” He lowered the phone, glancing at Brady. “What do you think? Should we call Tarin? He stayed to smooth things over with the Timberland Falls PD, and I assume from there he headed home. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind coming back.”
“I’m not opposed to more brain cells working on this, but Heath is the one with access to the army database. We know for sure this is related to Emmitt Copeland’s death.” Brady shrugged. “The perp has to be someone within the army or with army connections. I guess it’s possible Kennedy or the other guy, was it Morrison?”
“Yeah, Kennedy and Morrison. They were both at the funeral for Shelby’s father.”
“It could be that Kennedy wants Shelby for himself, but that doesn’t seem to be enough.” Brady shook his head. “Either one of them is directly involved, or they tipped off the real perp. Strauss should be able to dig further to find out what is motivating this guy to lash out at Shelby now.”
“Yeah, okay.” The motive was really bugging him. Aiden felt as if there was a giant hole in the puzzle, and the pieces that were left did not fit in any way shape or form.
What were they missing?
After driving for what seemed like an hour, Brady finally turned to head north. They were making a giant circle around the city to get back to the safe house, coming in from a completely opposite direction. He appreciated the extra precautions, but he was also anxious to talk to Heath.
They had to find something more to go on. They just had to!
Shelby and Eva deserved to be safe from harm.
The long car ride was making Shelby sleepy. She hadn’t gotten that much sleep last night, and the events of the day were wearing her down. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, so she leaned forward to get Aiden’s attention. “We might want to bring dinner with us,” she suggested. “I’m sure the guys didn’t bother to make anything.”
“Good point.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Anything in particular Eva would like?”
“We already had spaghetti, but she wouldn’t mind macaroni and cheese, or maybe hot dogs and burgers.” She shrugged. “Whatever is easier for the rest of you.”
“I’ll call in an order from our favorite Italian restaurant,” he offered. “They have great lasagna, mac and cheese, garlic bread, and salads.”
“That sounds wonderful.” She didn’t mind burgers, but hot dogs made her want to gag. Unfortunately, Eva loved them.
Most kids did for reasons unknown.
“Make sure you let Reed and Kyleigh know we’re making a detour,” Brady said.
“Will do.” She listened as Aiden placed the order, then called his sister. She was surprised he put it on speaker for her sake. “Kyleigh? We’re picking up dinner along the way.”
“That’s fine. There’s no sign of anyone following us,” she said. “Looks like smooth sailing now that Parsons is out of the picture.”
“Great. See you soon.” Aiden lowered his phone when it rang again. He once again put the call on speaker. “Heath, please tell me you have good news.”
“I wish I could, but honestly, I have not found anything to link Kennedy to these attacks on Shelby.” Heath sounded tired and frustrated. Shelby imagined the investigator had spent the last few hours glued to his computer screen.
She could tell Aiden wasn’t happy with that news. “What are we missing?” he asked. “Why would Oliver Kennedy try to frame me for Emmitt’s death? Especially if it was ruled an accident?”
“I don’t know. He has that one reprimand for sexual harassment. I was able to get the details on that, sounds relatively mild in the big scheme of things. Not that I’m taking it lightly,” Heath hastened to add. “Rude comments about how great Justine would look in a bikini aren’t appropriate. But he didn’t put hands on, which is probably why it was only a minor blip on his record.”
Shelby felt a twinge of sympathy for the pretty woman. Men could be so insensitive.
“Okay, thanks.” Aiden sighed. “Maybe it’s time to switch gears and go back to Bill Parsons. Or even Victor Morrison.”
“It could be someone within Parsons’s office too,” Heath said. “I mean, I know he has an administrative assistant, a woman by the name of Lorna Kline. She’s the one who contacted me when Parsons asked to meet with me about taking on the investigation into Mitchell’s death.”
Aiden abruptly straightened in his seat, glancing back at her for a quick second. “Lorna may have told someone else about the meeting at the FBI offices. Or maybe she’s even involved herself.”
“It seems odd that she’d want to kill Shelby, but it’s very possible she’s talking to someone she shouldn’t be.” The hint of exhaustion in Heath’s tone vanished. “I’ll dig into her a bit.”
“Great. By the way, we’re picking up lasagna for dinner.”
“I’m glad. Marc was just saying something about ordering out.”
“Tell him not to bother. We’ll be there soon.” Aiden disconnected from the call.
Shelby reached over to touch his shoulder. “There’s no way Lorna Kline is involved in this.”
He twisted in his seat to face her. “Do you know her?”
“She used to work for my dad but then was moved over to support Bill Parsons.” She frowned, thinking back to the offhand comment her father had made about the move. “I remember because there was someone new who answered my dad’s phone, and I asked him about it. There didn’t seem to be any animosity between them. So why would she have anything to do with this?”
“I’m not saying she does, but she could have said something without realizing the implication of letting that information out,” he said mildly.
“Most assistants know how to keep a secret,” she protested. “It’s part of being vetted to have access to classified information.
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound convinced.
Brady pulled into the parking lot of what appeared to be several large stores. The Italian restaurant was sandwiched between two big ones.
“Hold on,” Brady said as Aiden reached for the door. “Wait for Reed and Kyleigh.”
When Reed pulled up next to them, he signaled for Aiden to stay put.
“I’m not helpless,” Aiden muttered.
Brady ignored him.
Reed slid out and ran inside the restaurant. He emerged a few minutes later carrying a large white bag and grinning widely. Shelby could almost smell the tangy lasagna and garlic bread from here. Reed took a moment to store the food in the back seat before jumping back behind the wheel. Seconds later, they were back on the road.
“There’s no way Lorna is involved,” Shelby repeated. She didn’t want Aiden to waste time going down that road. “I keep thinking of how Oliver tried to befriend me after Emmitt’s death. Maybe there was something more driving him to be there for us. Like guilt.”
“That could be.” He glanced back at her. “But it can’t hurt to rule Lorna out anyway.”
“Mommy?” Eva woke up, rubbing her eyes with her fists. “I’m hungry.”
“We’re having macaroni and cheese for dinner.” Shelby injected enthusiasm into her tone. “Doesn’t that sound good?”
The little girl nodded and went back to playing with her farm animals. Shelby was anxious to get back to the safe house. The trip to the FBI office had been more than any of them had bargained for.
Fifteen minutes later, Brady turned onto the street where the place was located. Shelby noticed they were coming in from the opposite direction from before. Brady had taken so many turns that she’d been completely lost. Especially since she wasn’t familiar with this area.
It looked as if the sidewalk leading to the front door had been shoveled recently. Brady pulled into the driveway and killed the engine.
Shelby unlatched her seatbelt, then went to work on Eva’s car seat straps.
“We should wait for Reed and Kyleigh,” Brady said as Aiden pushed his door open. “They ended up a few car lengths back as rush-hour traffic picked up.”
“We’re fine,” Aiden said. “Marc is only a few feet away.”
He opened the back passenger door to pick up Eva. But now her daughter wasn’t having it. She twisted away, holding her arms out to Shelby. “Mommy.”
“Sorry. She gets clingy sometimes after her nap.” Shelby took the little girl in her arms and slid out the other door. A woman carrying a baby came rushing over from the driveway directly across the street. There was a blue SUV parked near the end of the driveway.
“Can you help me? I’m locked out of the house.” The dark-haired woman seemed frazzled, and Shelby could relate. Kids could be trying even when there wasn’t a crisis, like being locked out.
“Of course.” Shelby hurried toward the woman. “Oh, your little boy is so cute. How old is he?”
“He’s eighteen months old.” The dark-haired woman’s smile faded as she slipped her hand from her pocket revealing a small gun. Shelby sucked in a harsh breath when the woman aimed it at her chest. Aiden must have moved closer because the stranger said, “Stay back, Finnegan, or I’ll shoot!”
Shoot? Who was this woman? Shelby stared at her in horror, wondering what on earth was going on. They were both holding small, innocent children. What was she thinking? Especially pulling a gun on her?
But then the woman’s features clicked in her memory. She remembered seeing this woman’s face on the computer screen. It took a moment to place the name.
Jane Fordham. The woman who had gone dark eighteen months ago after going out on medical leave to have her baby.
“What do you want, Jane?” She pushed the question through her tight throat. “There’s no sense in shooting me here. Not with so many witnesses.”
“Stay back!” Jane’s eyes were wild, her entire demeanor seemed to be on the edge. “You deserve to die. I’m not giving up, not now. My son, Emmitt, should have the army benefits you and your brat are getting.”
The words sank deep. Her earlier suspicions were confirmed. The little boy in this woman’s arms was her husband’s son.