Ann Peterson - A Cop In Her Stocking

Whether he liked it or not, the rest was none of his business.

Ty contented himself with staring at the cute little tree Megan had decorated and listened to the hum of Leo’s even voice. The decorations, the apartment, it was all so Megan. Nothing fancy, but everything well thought out, designed all on her own, and nearly pulsing with love. It reminded him of Christmases back when he was a kid. More holiday joy than presents. His dad doting on him. And he and his school-teacher mom spending every day of their long school breaks doing something fun.

Finally the lieutenant clapped his phone shut and glanced up at him. “You’ve heard?”

Ty pulled his gaze from a construction paper cutout of a three-year-old’s interpretation of Santa Claus and faced his lieutenant. “Megan told me. So what’s going to happen to good old Doug?”

“Not sure yet. But if Ms. Garvey is as okay with it as Burke seems to think, we’re not inclined to pursue this. I’ll have to talk to the chief, of course. But custody situations are sticky at best, and if neither one has a problem, I sure don’t. We’ll cross our t’s and dot our i’s, of course. Check up on the child. But we don’t have the manpower to spend a lot of time on something that seems to be resolved.”

What could he say? He already knew how Megan would answer Leo’s questions. He arched his brows. “I noticed the place cleared out pretty quickly.”

Leo frowned and looked past Ty and out the window. “Big accident on County H. And the snow has just started.”

“Do they need extra help?” Apparently Megan didn’t need him here. At least if he could help with the storm they were supposed to get tonight, he’d feel useful.

Leo leveled him with a serious look. “We need to talk.”

Ty didn’t like the sound of that. He waited for Leo to go on, not wanting to encourage him.

The lieutenant rubbed his chin, the chaffing sound of stubble giving away the lateness of the hour. “I talked to the chief.”

Ty braced himself. “And?”

“We’re putting you on suspension, Ty, and we’re going to investigate exactly what happened today.”

The news clanged in his ears. “So I’m going to be investigated, and Burke is in the clear. The justice of that is staggering.”

“It’s not losing the boy that we’re worried about. The media will have a field day with that, I suspect. But I could tell just by watching the video that none of it was your fault.”

“Thank God for small favors.”

Leo shot him a hard look. “Trying to pass off a personal shopping trip as an official department program, on the other hand, that was stupid.”

Ty nodded. He wanted to blame Doug Burke, but deep down he realized it had little to do with him. Ty had made the choice to misrepresent his shopping trip all on his own. For that, he supposed he deserved what he got. “How long?”

“Not sure. A few days. The media is going to be all over this. The chief wants to be ahead of it. The mayor agrees.”

And here good old Evan had just looked him in the eye and shook his hand. The guy had always been smooth, even in high school. Apparently his step into politics had completed the package. “Next time I see Blankenship, remind me to thank him.”

“Ty…”

He held up his hands. “I know. I know.” Truth was, he understood Blankenship, Leo and the chief were just trying to protect the city and the department. But he felt a little hung out to dry. Even if he had caused it himself.

And he still couldn’t shake the sense that this whole situation was not quite right.

MEGAN PULLED ON THE BLUE POLO shirt with Brilliance Cleaning emblazoned over the left breast and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Her hands shook as she stretched the elastic hair band, and it took three tries for her to finally bind it tight enough so that wisps wouldn’t escape in the first three seconds. She’d never been nervous about going to work before. Of course, she’d never planned to break all sorts of laws and betray her employer and his clients before, either.

She still couldn’t believe any of this was real. Connor kidnapped. The ransom call. Her lying to police, to Ty. And soon she could add theft to the list. But as much as she didn’t want to believe what she was about to do was real, it was. And as much as she didn’t want to think about the possible ramifications of breaking the law this way, she knew she would be willing to do much worse if it meant getting her son back safe.

She pulled on her coat and gloves, grabbed her bag and left the apartment, locking the door behind her. As she walked through the hall and down the steps, she couldn’t help but remember taking this path with Connor every day on her way to drop him off with Mrs. Halverson in 1B while she cleaned. Last night, he’d been whining about wanting to wear shorts instead of his warm, fuzzy pajamas, and she’d been a little abrupt with him. When she got him home, safe and sound, she’d let him wear whatever he pleased. Never again would she waste time on petty arguments.

When she got him home…

She pushed out the door. Snow floated down in big flakes, clouds of it bright in the glow of the streetlights. An inch or maybe two had already fallen, coating the formerly clear sidewalks and streets and adding depth to the several inches that blanketed everywhere else.

She trudged to her car, cleared off the windows and drove out of the parking lot. The streets were slick, and for the first time, she had to force her mind off Connor and focus on driving. But as soon as she turned onto the quiet side street that led to Keating Security, she went back to wondering if her little boy had eaten dinner. Was he scared? Did he believe he would ever see her again?

The company’s parking lot was dark and empty, just a few streetlights to highlight the falling snow. The security systems Keating Security placed in businesses around the area were electronically monitored, making it unnecessary for an employee to watch them full-time. The building was always empty when Megan showed up to clean.

She pushed her own door open and climbed out, snugging the collar of her coat tight around her neck. There was nothing quieter than the world in the midst of a night snowstorm, and the intense hush gave her a chill that had little to do with the weather.

Was someone watching her?

She squinted into the night, but she could make out nothing but shadow and swirling white. Still, it could be possible the kidnapper was keeping tabs on her, making sure she followed through with his orders.

She hurried to the door. Still glancing around her, she stomped her feet free of snow, unlocked the glass door and slipped into the vestibule, closing and locking the door behind her. The alarm beeped its countdown. She punched the security code into the number pad to turn it off.

She wished she could engage the alarm while inside, but unfortunately that wasn’t how this system was designed. Once the alarm was engaged, so were the interior motion sensors. One step and she’d set off an alarm herself. She’d just have to rely on the dead bolt on the door and get her business done quickly.

She opened the interior door and escaped into the halls, away from the glass exposing her to anyone who might be watching from the parking lot or street. Reaching the janitor’s closet, she leaned on the door frame and let a breath shudder from her chest.

Her knees felt weak, and she had to concentrate to keep them from wobbling. The client files must be kept on secure servers that weren’t linked to the internet, to prevent hacking. Otherwise, the kidnapper probably could have broken into the system remotely, and he’d have no need for her to use the access her job cleaning the building afforded her.

She hung the backpack vacuum on the handle of the garbage cart and pulled a cleaning kit off the shelf, as if she was going about her normal work routine. The chances of her being interrupted weren’t good, but she wanted to be prepared just in case. As far as she knew, no one at Keating Security knew her background in computer systems. Why would they? As long as she was bonded, they had no reason to distrust her. Of course, Gary Burke knew. A second cousin of Doug’s, he’d been charitable enough to give her a job with Brilliance Cleaning when her career had tanked in the middle of a tough economy. But he had contracts of his own to service. He rarely ever checked up on her. Either way, as long as she had the cleaning equipment handy, no one would think twice about finding her in one of the offices that housed the secure network.