Lenora Worth - Deep Undercover

Gavin wondered about that. And he wondered if the people who seemed to be targeting Lou might also be after Gavin now, too. Did they know he’d been asking around? Did they assume he was snooping on Lou’s behalf?

“Can I get you anything else?” the older man asked, clearly rattled. Barbara came out and tried to tug them all inside, her face etched in worry.

They worked the scene in quiet and then went inside to interview the patrons and Lou and Barb. No one had anything new to add. Most of the diners had been cleared to leave.

“We’ve had a couple of real estate agents handing out cards and telling us how much we can get for the property,” Barb said. “We didn’t think anything of it and Lou politely told them we didn’t want to sell.”

“They weren’t polite,” Lou told them. “But you know how that goes. Firm and with greed glowing in their eyes. I threw their cards in the trash.”

He barely remembered what they looked like, so not much to go on there. “Violet was here the other day when a woman came by and handed me a card. She might be able to describe the woman better. I had people shouting for food so I hurried away.”

As if on cue, Violet showed up, pushing her way through the bystanders and the yellow police tape. Hugging her parents close, she turned to Gavin. “What happened?”

Gavin brought her up to speed. “Everyone is okay but I need to ask you some questions.”

“Sure,” she said, her dark hair caught up in a clip. “What’s up?”

“Look, no one was hurt but Lou says they’ve been approached by some pesky real estate brokers trying to get them to sell out. Lou thinks the bullets might have been a warning for you guys. Do you know anything about that?”

“I talked to a woman once,” Violet said, her voice shaky, her arm on her father’s shoulder. “She was persistent and maybe a little threatening. Do you think they’d resort to this kind of harassment? Are my parents in danger?”

Barb and Lou patted her on the arm. “Honey, we’re fine,” Lou said over and over.

Gavin needed to consider that angle, but he didn’t have the answer right now. “I think it could have been for Bree and me, but we can’t be sure.” He thanked her for the information.

Assuring her that her parents were okay, he promised to alert Violet’s fiancé, Zach—a fellow K-9 officer—just in case. “We’ll keep watch, either way.”

“Thanks,” Gavin said to Barbara after she’d handed them both a to-go box of fresh food since they hadn’t finished their breakfasts. “I’m going back to headquarters.”

“Same here,” Brianne said. “I drove but I have a clean uniform in my locker.”

“I came here first, too, and found a parking place around the corner.”

Her brow scrunched. “I’ll see you back at the station”

“Okay. Watch your back.”

Before they left to go their separate ways, she turned to Gavin. “I don’t know why I’m saying this but...I really do want to hear more about your case, Gavin.”

“I thought you were against it.”

“No, I just like to do things by the book. If you need my help, that’s fine. But...we clear it with Noah, understand? Let him know you need me on the case and explain why.”

“I don’t know—”

“You’re already on their radar. If you’ve been cleared to work on this, that’s cool. I need to get clearance, too. We can’t be too careful, considering.”

“What do you want me to do, Brianne? I took this case and then Jordy died and...I made a mess of things. I need something to focus on.”

“We do have something to focus on—finding Chief Jameson’s killer and searching for the Fourth of July bomber.”

“I want to find the Tick, too. I’ve just got a hunch that they could be one and the same. And now this. It could all be tied together, especially if they’ve decided to target Lou, too.”

“I want to find that bomber we saw in the park. I don’t like this place being shot up, and Lou could be a target now. But we continue to do it by the book or...I’ll never work with you again.”

She turned and marched off, her shoulders straight, her hair still trying to escape the messy bun she’d managed to fix.

Gavin watched her head to her SUV across the way. He checked the windows of buildings around the area. Had he made a big mistake by telling her what he’d been up to? Now he had to consider someone had just shot at this building. Who? Why?

Lou had been upfront about someone wanting to buy him out, but what if he had been pressured way more than any of them knew?

Hurrying to his vehicle, Gavin got caught up in a traffic jam caused by construction. While he sat there waiting for the workers to finish their task, Gavin thought about his grandmother, Irene. She’d died five years ago, leaving him her home and a modest savings account. His grandmother had raised him after his mother, Phyllis, had given birth out of wedlock. Phyllis, still a teenager, had run away when he’d been only a month old and hadn’t come back. Irene, who’d become a widow at an early age, had cared for him and sent him to college, all the while working as a nurse her entire life. She’d only been retired a year or so when her health turned bad.

He’d never had to prove himself to Granny Irene. She loved him with a tough love but he knew he could always count on her. His grandmother lived by faith and she’d planted that seed in his heart. He didn’t talk about his faith much, but he tried hard to live up to Irene’s strong belief system.

Checking on Tommy in the back, Gavin said, “Hey, boy. We should have walked back to work, huh?”

Tommy woofed his agreement and did a circle inside the kennel. Always ready to roll.

At least he had a solid house with a small yard for Tommy. Small but intact, the two-story wooden row house had a narrow front porch. It belonged to him, no matter how many real estate agents told him he could make a fortune flipping it and selling it.

Maybe that also had something to do with how this particular case bothered him. His grandfather had been a fairly successful businessman and had bought the house, built in the 1940s, for a modest price over fifty years ago.

After his grandfather’s death in a traffic accident, his grandmother had raised his wayward mother there. He’d never sell, even if Valley Stream was now a coveted area. But the place stayed in a continuous state of remodeling and updating. It had a nice backyard for Tommy and room enough for the both of them and his rarely-there roommate. That’s all Gavin needed.

Or so he’d thought until Brianne had come into his life. Working with her now and then over the last few weeks, helping her to train Stella and getting to know her better had only made him more aware of her. The woman had a sweet heart behind a solid wall of feminine steel.

Holding her there after the shooting this morning, he’d felt something powerful and true, the kind of emotions a man hides inside his heart. Gavin didn’t know how to deal with all the possibilities swirling inside his head. He needed to keep a professional attitude regarding Brianne Hayes.

Now he’d put her in a bad position.

He had to trust her. He needed a partner to help him crack this case. A female who could pose as his rich wife so they could attend open houses and get information on properties without looking suspicious. Brianne had the backbone and the nerves to pull off a high-risk undercover job, but he wondered now if he should put her in the line of fire.

Neither of them had been trained to do this kind of work. Noah had cautioned him against pursuing this, but Gavin wasn’t giving up just yet. If those bullets had been meant to scare him, they had not succeeded. A new determination made him want to do his job.