I’m not trying to downplay this good news,” the doctor said.
Connor had left cash on the table and driven Brie right to the hospital. Happier than he’d ever seen her, she’d jumped out of the car before he’d even cut off the engine. When he walked toward the family waiting room, he spotted Brie, Tory, Eliot, and his friend Sam all huddled around a doctor.
He moved in, so he was close enough to not miss anything, but not so close as to be intrusive. As the cop on the case, he needed to know Olvera’s status, but families had their right to privacy. And after Brie shot down his offer of—as she said—a just-right-now relationship, he felt like an intruder.
He didn’t like her description of his offer, although he hadn’t been able to argue that it defined almost exactly what he’d put out there. Problem was, he’d screwed up his pitch. He’d made it sound like a passing fling. That’s not what he meant, but he couldn’t put what he meant to words except he…
He wanted her.
“What I’m saying,” the doctor continued, “is that his waking up doesn’t mean things are perfect.”
“When can we see him?” Brie piped up. “Is he still conscious?”
“He’s in what we call a semiconscious state, or some call the very early response stage. He’s not following commands completely, but he is responding appropriately to different kinds of stimuli.”
“So, how long before you remove the tube and he can talk to us?” Brie asked.
“If he remains alert, we could remove it in the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours. But keep in mind, while this is a step forward, this is also where we’ll discover if any long-term issues are present.”
“But he recognized me,” Tory said.
“Right,” the doctor said. “But even if there’re no long-term effects, it could still take time before he’s functioning normally. And I know you’d like to stay with him, but he needs rest. I’ll tell the nurses to come get you if he becomes fully alert.”
The doctor walked off. The four of them stood around, holding on to each other and hope. Connor hung back. His phone dinged with a text from Mark. Rosaria had arrived at the hotel where they were housing her.
When he looked up, Brie walked over to him. Their eyes met.
“You don’t have to stay,” she said.
“Your car’s at the diner.”
“I can get an Uber.”
“Actually, I thought I’d hang around. And I just got a text from Mark: Rosaria’s here.”
“Can I see her tomorrow? I know she’s scared.”
“I’ll try to make it happen.”
She nodded. “I’ll call Agent Miles and see if he can dig into the older files. Can you text me the dates that Omen’s cases were dropped?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
She looked at Tory, inhaled, then smiled back at Connor. “He’s going to be okay. This is the first time…” Her voice shook. “The first time I’ve really believed it.” Her eyes brightened with emotion. Relief.
He pulled her toward him. She came, resting her head on his chest. Her soft weight melted against him. He put one arm around her.
Leaning down, he pressed his chin to the side of her head. Strands of her blond hair caught in his five o’clock shadow. “I’m glad he woke up,” he whispered, cherishing that she’d let him this close.
“Me too.” She drew away, as if she regretted the bit of trust she’d given. And just like that, he knew he wanted it. He wanted her trust. Wanted her. How could he earn it?
An hour later, while Brie and Tory were in visiting Carlos, Connor sat trying to make sense of the Omen file. Had Omen been an informant?
His phone rang. He recognized the number as Agent Hamilton’s with ICE. His contact person for Armand.
No more bad news, he thought before he answered. “Detective Pierce.”
“It appears our guy is heading back to Anniston.”
“You still have eyes on him?”
“Yeah. My guys did some digging on the other victims in the trafficking case.”
“And?”
“One of the victims worked for the strip club in Dallas that Armand has ties to. We’re really liking this guy for human trafficking. Do you have the prints back yet? I think we have enough to bring him in.”
“We’re told we’ll have them tomorrow. But let’s not bring him in until we can keep him. If he leaves the country, we’ll lose him for good.”
“We can keep him. Misuse of passport is a felony.”
“We don’t want to get him on just that.”
“Yeah, but while he’s locked up, we can tie him to the human trafficking case.”
He told Hamilton about Regina Berger and his suspicions she knew something.
“Find her,” Hamilton said.
“We’re working on it,” Connor said.
Connor felt someone sit beside him but didn’t look over. “Let’s get his prints back and regroup.”
Connor finished his call before glancing at the man who’d been Brie’s savior.
Eliot placed his palms on his knees and leaned forward. “I owe you an apology. I think I read you wrong, Detective Pierce.”
“How did you read me?” Connor asked.
“As an asshole.”
Connor grinned. “That’s okay. I had you pegged as one, too.”
Eliot nodded. “Maybe we were both right.”
“I have my moments.”
Eliot chuckled. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I did. You got information on Dillon Armand?”
Connor didn’t see any reason to lie. “It appears he’s headed back to Anniston.”
Eliot frowned. “Brie’s tougher than a lot of men I know. But I like knowing someone has her back.”
“I understand.” And Connor did.
“You’ll have someone at the club.”
“Definitely.”
He nodded. “Brie said you are leaning toward Bara being behind Olvera’s shooting.”
“Yeah.” Connor sensed Eliot had an opinion. “You know Agents Bara and Calvin?”
“I’ve met them. Can’t say I know them. But something’s bothering me.”
“What?”
“Why hasn’t Agent Calvin put Brie back on active duty? One of his agents is shot and on death’s door, and two of his other agents are under suspicion. And he isn’t begging Brie to come off leave?”
“Brie believes it’s because she told us about the FBI leak.”
“Which is more of a reason for him to want to crack this case. She’s a damn good agent, and that’s not me being biased. Agent Calvin knows this. By not bringing her back in, he’s handicapping the case. Why?”
* * *
Connor went back to his apartment, slept for three hours, then woke up thinking about Brie, the case, and his screwups. Her words rolled over him. The only way it could have ended worse was if you’d tossed a couple of hundred bucks on my bedside table.
Yeah, he’d screwed the pooch on that one.
Thinking about that fuckup led him to think about his others. He’d told himself that he’d been careful to sleep only with women who knew it wouldn’t lead anywhere. But did that make it right?
At three-thirty that morning, Connor grabbed a newspaper from an empty booth, dropped down at his table, and looked over at Flora. Studying him, she grabbed a pot of hot coffee and a cup and headed his way. Her dark eyes, which always seemed to carry pain, met his. What was she thinking? Did she hate him? Did she blame him? Did she know he’d give anything to bring her son back?
She set a coffee cup in front of him, then filled it with steaming hot java. “You really never sleep, do you?”
“Sure I do.”
“Hmm.” She dropped his creams on the table. “Same order?”
“Yup.”
Five minutes later, she placed a small pitcher of syrup on the table and refilled his coffee. Still holding the steaming pot in her hands, she lingered, looking nervous.
He met her dark, haunted eyes. “Everything okay?”
“Yes. I…I went to church yesterday, for the first time in a long time.”
He nodded, unsure how to respond.
“The sermon was good.”
He pulled his coffee closer but didn’t look away, wanting her to know he was listening.
“It was on forgiveness.”
He swallowed.
She continued, “The preacher said forgiveness is hard because sometimes the anger is all we can feel. It consumes us. He also said that as hard as it is to forgive others, it is even harder to forgive oneself.”
He inhaled. “Yeah, that is hard.”
“You should maybe go to church sometimes.”
“Maybe,” he said.
He watched her leave, trying to decipher what she meant. Had she forgiven him? Was she trying to forgive him? Was she saying he needed to forgive himself?
If he weren’t a coward, he’d call her back, ask her outright. Instead, he sat there, replaying her words. He recalled Brie saying he came here to punish himself. Part of him knew it might be true, but right now he also wondered if he didn’t come here for forgiveness. Not that he felt forgiven yet. But as Flora implied, forgiving yourself wasn’t easy.
I’d have done the same thing. Any person carrying a badge would have done the same thing. He heard Brie’s reassurance, and yeah, he knew it was true, but it didn’t change the fact that he’d killed Flora’s son.
The bell over the door rang and he glanced up. His breath caught.
Brie walked straight over to him. She wore jeans that fit her really well, and a pink shirt, with a jean jacket over it. She yanked off the jacket, hung it on the back of the chair, then dropped into the seat across from him. “I thought you might be here.”
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Agent Miles went through the old files. He called me about an hour ago.”
“And?”
“Agent Bara worked in the New Orleans FBI office before he moved to Baton Rouge. Miles was able to pull that file.”
“Yeah?” Connor asked.
“Kevin Omen, our hit man, was Agent Bara’s CI on a case there.”
Connor smiled. “Then we’ve got him.”
Brie shook her head. “It could still be considered circumstantial evidence.”
“Maybe, but having the connection between them will go a long way.”
“Yeah, but it feels…too easy. Why would he pick someone who he knew we could tie him to?”
“He didn’t plan on Omen getting caught.”
Flora walked up with his order. Eggs, bacon, and hash browns filled one plate, and his pancakes on a smaller plate. She set them down.
Brie smiled. “Hi, Flora.”
“Hello. So you don’t sleep either?”
“Sure I do,” she said.
“He says the same thing.” She gave Brie a half smile. He’d never gotten a smile from Flora himself. “You need something to eat or drink?”
“Coffee, please,” Brie said.
When she left, Brie unrolled her napkin from her silverware and helped herself to a bite of Connor’s eggs.
He watched and smiled. “Have all you want. I’ll share.” He pushed the plate to the middle of the table.
“Don’t you at all see it as too easy?” She grabbed a piece of bacon and took a bite.
He picked up his own fork and helped himself to the eggs. “Who else would he have gotten to do his dirty work? He knew the guy’s record, knew what he was capable of.”
She finished off the slice of bacon. “I guess you’re right.” She reached for the pitcher of syrup and poured a little over one side of his stacked pancakes. Then she grabbed her fork. “Mmm.” She licked her lips and pulled the plate closer. “Why is it that other people’s food always tastes better than your own?”
He smiled then focused on her doubts about Bara. “Okay, if Agent Bara didn’t do this, then it’s Agent Calvin. I thought you didn’t believe Calvin could do this?”
“I don’t. Or maybe I don’t want to. Seriously, I don’t want to believe either of them would.” She cut herself another bite of pancakes and dished it into her mouth. “But wanting and wishing can be a waste of time.”
Not so, he thought. He’d practically wished her here and she’d shown up. “We’ll bring Agent Bara in for questioning in the morning. This should be enough to get the warrant to search his hotel room. We might find the phone with the text messages to Omen.” He glanced up at the clock on the wall. “At six I’ll call Mark and see if he thinks we should go for a warrant before talking to Bara.” Fork in hand, he leaned back in his chair and watched her eat.
“What?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Nothing. I just…I like seeing you eat my food.” He leaned forward and took another bite of his hash browns.
She slid the half-eaten pancakes aside and grabbed a bottle of ketchup. “For the eggs?”
“Only on your half.” A grin pulled at his lips, and he was completely baffled by why he found this so enjoyable. But he did. Then again, maybe it was just having her here.
After dousing half of the eggs, she ate her portion quickly, then grabbed the syrup and emptied the rest of it on the pancakes. She looked up and caught him staring.
“I’ll pay for it.”
“I’m not complaining.”
She stuffed another forkful of pancakes into her mouth, then licked her lips.
He grinned.
Flora appeared and dropped off Brie’s coffee and creams.
“Thank you.” Brie added cream to her cup. When Flora left, Brie pointed her spoon at him. “It’s not your fault. And coming here is still wrong.”
He didn’t want to talk about that here. “Any news on Carlos?”
She licked a drop of syrup from her bottom lip. “I called before I came here. The nurse said his vitals are great and he opened his eyes a few more times.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah, it is.” She smiled.
Connor sipped his coffee, staring at her over the top. “Do you think Carlos knows who is behind his shooting?”
“Tory said he didn’t think Carlos knew who the leak was, but he could have figured it out on his way here.” She ate another bite of his pancakes. “What time do you think I can go see Rosaria?”
“I’ll check when I get to the office. I’ll have to go with you.” He probably could have gotten her in to see Rosaria on her own, but he wasn’t above using it as an excuse to spend time with her.
She nodded. “I go to work at four. So the earlier the better.”
“You may not need to go to the club.” He set his coffee down. “If the prints come back like we hope on Dillon Armand, ICE plans on arresting him.”
She frowned. “But we need evidence on the human trafficking case. And since he’s back here, I might be able to get something we could use. Can’t they give me just a few days?”
“ICE thinks they have enough leads to look into while holding him in custody for the false passport. Meanwhile, if I can find Regina Berger tomorrow, she might have something that links him with the trafficking.”
Reaching over, he stabbed a forkful of pancakes.
They sat there, eating in silence. Connor pierced the last bite of pancakes, but instead of bringing it to his lips, he held it to hers. She opened her mouth and took the offering. Slowly, he pulled the fork out from between her lips, finding it way sexier than it should be.
Their eyes met and held. A drop of syrup lingered on the corner of her mouth. Leaning over, he caught it with the pad of his finger, then brought it to his lips. As the sweetness touched his tongue, he ached to taste her. His mind took him back to her naked in bed and all the places his mouth had traveled. His jeans suddenly felt tighter.
She glanced away and picked up her coffee cup.
Several seconds passed before she looked up. “Can I be there tomorrow when you interview Bara?”
“I don’t know if that’s best. He considers you his peer, so he might be less likely to talk.”
She frowned but didn’t argue. He assumed it was because she knew he was right. Reaching for her purse, she said, “I should go.”
“Why? Stay. I like your company, Brie. I like you being here.”
“No, I…I’m sorry.” She snatched her coat off the chair.