Valerie Hansen - Explosive Secrets

His eyes never left her face as he asked, “I take it that’s your normal schedule. Are you a waitress?”

“No. I’m one of the short-order cooks. I’ve worked that shift for the past year.”

“How about neighbors? Any trouble with them lately?”

“No.”

“Boyfriends? Anybody you may have argued with?”

Hadn’t he heard a word she’d said? “I told you what the caller wanted. He knows—knew—my cousin, Arianna. That’s what this is all about. Everybody thinks she told me some secret, but she didn’t.”

Nodding, he seemed to be trying to stare right into her mind because his gaze was unwavering. “I’d like to believe you, but there’s a problem with that,” Jackson said.

“A problem? What?”

“I heard your cousin’s dying declaration with my own ears. She said, ‘Cousin. Code. Danger.’”

“Now you sound like Murke!” Nicki jumped to her feet and began to pace the small room. “Arianna and I were related, yes, but we weren’t close. Not anymore. There’s no reason for her to even mention me.”

“Does she have other cousins?”

Nicolette’s shoulders slumped and she shook her head slowly. “Only one that I know of. I have a half sister somewhere back East. Since even I don’t know where she is, I’m sure Arianna couldn’t have meant her.”

“So, that leaves you,” he said calmly.

“I know, I know.” She blinked back unshed tears, unwilling to let a stranger see how close she was to losing control of her emotions. That was another of the side effects of pregnancy, or so she had read, and she couldn’t believe how often she’d fought mood swings lately.

“We’ll need your half sister’s name.” He poised to write in a small notebook.

“Her maiden name was Mae Johnson. I heard she got married. I don’t know what her last name is now.”

“We’ll track her down, just in case.” He stood and pocketed the notebook and pen. “Are you sure there’s nothing else you’d like to tell me?”

“No! Nothing. I don’t know why nobody will believe I’m innocent.”

“It doesn’t matter what I do or don’t believe, Ms. Johnson. I’m just doing my job.”

“I know you are. Sorry.”

He nodded stiffly. “No problem. I’ll be glad to escort you to work if you want.”

Nicki almost told him to go away, to leave her alone and stop treating her as though she was lying. If she hadn’t still been so afraid she might have done so.

“Okay. I guess there’s no sense sitting home brooding,” she finally said with a muted sigh. “Besides, I can’t afford to make my boss mad. When I had to call in sick the other night after Murke came gunning for me, Lou told me it had better not happen again or I’d be fired.”

“In that case, we should get going. If you receive more strange calls or notice anything unusual, feel free to call us again. That’s what we’re here for.”

“Thanks.” She hesitated. “Would you mind walking me to my car and having the dog check it, too? Just in case.”

“Sure. Be glad to.”

Nicki grabbed her wallet off the end table and fisted her keys. They jingled, attracting the dog’s attention and making him pant and wag his tail.

“Looks like your partner is ready to go for a ride.”

“Titan is always ready for adventure.” Jackson stepped to the side while Nicki opened the apartment door.

She halted abruptly, staring at the floor. Someone had tucked a small, fresh flower arrangement in the doorway so that she couldn’t miss seeing it.

“Oh, how pretty. I love daisies.”

Jackson frowned. “I thought you said you didn’t have a boyfriend.”

“I don’t. Not since Bobby Lee got so mad and took off. Maybe he changed his mind.” She bent and reached for the flowers.

To her left, she saw Titan plop down into a sitting position so fast the movement was a blur.

Jackson shouted, “No!” and lunged for her.

Half bent over, Nicki was almost toppled. She recovered, managing to rescue the bouquet by clutching it to her chest.

Titan began to bark.

In what felt like one fluid movement, Jackson grabbed the flower arrangement from her, threw it inside the apartment, shoved her and the dog into the hall and slammed the door. Then he covered and shielded them both as best he could with his own body.

Moments later, a loud explosion shook the building and made Nicki’s ears sting as if they were being stabbed by needles. Stunned, she could hardly breathe.

The flowers! She could have been killed. So could her innocent baby. But they were safe! Thank you, Jesus.

As the officer slowly straightened and allowed her to move, she felt so light-headed she was afraid she might faint. If she hadn’t already been sitting on the floor she knew she would have been reeling.

Tears gathered and spilled down her cheeks. So utterly thankful she could not speak, she threw her arms around the dog’s neck, pressed her face into his fur and silently wept as the reality of her situation dawned. There would not always be a police officer at hand to rescue her at the last second, so what could she do? What should she do?

Nicki was at a loss to know. Death had stalked her, and she had once again triumphed. The question was, how many more narrow escapes could she hope to endure before some lurking, unnamed evil slipped through her meager defenses and succeeded in ending her life?

TWO

“It doesn’t make any sense for them to want to hurt her when they think she’s keeping secrets,” Jackson told Captain Slade McNeal as they stood apart from the other officers at the scene of the chaos. “If the gang wants the information Arianna gave her, they need to keep her alive and well.”

“Unless they knew you were with her and figured your dog would identify the device before it was touched.”

“Possibly.”

“How’s the woman doing?” Slade asked.

“She’s scared silly. Who wouldn’t be?” Jackson paused and raked his fingers through his short, dark hair. “I can’t believe how close we all came to buying the farm.”

“Yeah. It wasn’t a big explosion, but it sure made hash out of her apartment. I’m having the paramedics hold her in the ambulance until the ATF boys get here. They may have a few questions for Ms. Johnson, too.”

“Makes me wish we had our own bomb squad right here in Sagebrush.”

“Can’t afford it.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m just glad you hired me and Titan.” He sobered even more as he regarded his superior. “We’re all sorry about what motivated you.”

“Thanks. I still blame myself. If you’d been here then, my wife might have been warned in time, and Caleb would still have a mother.”

Chagrined, Jackson shook his head and thrust his hands into his pockets. “Don’t be so sure about that. I messed up on this one.”

“You saved the woman’s life. I’d hardly call that a failure.”

Jackson snorted derisively. “Tell that to Ms. Johnson when she gets a look at what’s left of her place. It’s a shambles. Every window is blown out, and the furniture looks like a wildcat on meth shredded it.”

“Yeah...but she’s still alive. If I were you, I’d remind her of that before I let her go up and look. The bedroom seems to have escaped damage, except for lots of plaster dust and smoke, so she will still have clothes and personal items to salvage.”

“I hope that helps. She has every right to be furious with me.”

“You’re too hard on yourself,” McNeal told him. “Why don’t you go see to your dog and check on Ms. Johnson while I wait for Boomer.”

“Right.” Hearing the familiar ATF agent’s nickname almost always made Jackson smile. Any guy with the initials TNT was a shoo-in for a bomb-investigating job. Timothy Nelson Taft was not only good at his job, he seemed to enjoy the good-natured teasing he usually received when people realized why he was called Boomer.