Seeking Justice Read online

  Ava did, of course. She and Logan didn’t always see eye to eye and they both had strong personalities. But…she hadn’t known Reed and Kaylee to argue very often. Kaylee was the very definition of laidback and mellow so she rarely lost her temper.

  “It was more than a spat. It was almost like they didn’t like each other.”

  Which was crazy. Kaylee and Reed were deeply in love. They’d gone through hell to be together.

  “Maybe she’s a little hormonal or something.”

  There were moments – like now – that Ava wanted to slap her husband’s forehead. Hard.

  “Did you actually just suggest that she’s PMSing? Seriously?”

  Logan had the good sense to take a step back. “I’m suggesting that maybe she’s not in a good mood and is tired. Maybe she should lie down or something. I am not suggesting that she’s overreacting. I’m suggesting that you’re overreacting. They’re married, they’re going to argue. That’s just the way it is.”

  Shaking her head, Ava rubbed at her temples where a headache was blooming. “The stupidity of men never ceases to amaze me, and no, I’m not hormonal, either. Idiot.”

  “I never said I wasn’t dumb.”

  Her husband had a goofy grin on his face. He was lucky he was so damn good-looking and sexy.

  “I’m just worried.”

  “Did you ever think that you’re worried about them, so you won’t have to worry about our situation?”

  Hmmm…that kind of made sense. “Since when did you become Sigmund Freud?”

  Chuckling, Logan dropped a kiss on her nose. “Since I heard Reed say the same thing to me two days ago. I was ranting about…shit, I don’t even remember now it was so fucking unimportant, but he said that perhaps I was upset because I didn’t want to face my own situation. Shit, you can tell he’s been in therapy.”

  “It’s not a bad thing. Therapy can be quite helpful.”

  “I’m not saying it’s not, but you can tell that he’s been in it.”

  “I think you’re full of bull.”

  “That’s my beautiful wife, always supporting my ego and making me feel like Superman.”

  “As if you need any help,” Ava snorted. “You have a king-sized ego and more than your share of self-esteem.”

  “That I do,” he readily agreed. “But if you’re so concerned I can try and get Reed to talk about it. There’s nothing two men love more than talking about their feelings and shit.”

  Ava had a vision of Logan and all of his friends sitting around talking about how much they loved their wives and lamenting their gray hair and crow’s feet.

  “I think that might not be a good idea. I hope that you’re right and I’m just overreacting.”

  While her friends were protecting her, she would be keeping an eye on them. Just in case.

  * * * *

  With Kaylee upstairs and everyone else out in the backyard, Logan, Reed and Jared slipped into the office to call Tanner and catch up with what was going on with tracking Wade. The last thing they’d heard was that Wade had been spotted in a small town outside of Cheyenne driving a blue Honda Accord. Stolen, of course. He’d already dumped the original vehicle he’d escaped in forty-eight hours ago.

  Logan sat behind the desk with Reed and Jared sitting in the leather chairs opposite. Tanner answered on the third ring.

  “Marks.”

  There was no emotion in Tanner’s voice, so Logan couldn’t tell if he was happy, sad, or something completely different.

  “Hey,” Logan greeted his friend. “We were hoping to get an update. Is this a bad time?”

  “Yes, but I can’t think of a better one. We’re in the process of regrouping and combing through the information that the tip line received.”

  Law enforcement officials had opened a tip line in hopes of putting pressure on Wade. Personally, Logan thought the idea sucked. Wade didn’t have the personality that would be bothered by a tip line and citizens keeping an eye out for him. If it did anything, it would make him more dangerous because he’d want lots of reports in the press.

  “Anything worth following?”

  “Lots of sightings but it’s hard to know which are good and which are garbage,” Tanner growled. “We have more information than we know what to do with. I think our best bet is a tip that Wade was seen in a black Chevy four-by-four about sixty miles from here. Our team is going to pursue that one. The other marshals will take different paths. We’ll get the son of a bitch. The good news is that he’s nowhere near you.”

  Yet.

  “We can’t relax,” Logan warned. “He could have one or more groupies working for him. We know he has admirers who would love his attention.”

  “And that’s why you have people all around. No one is going to get near you. Now I do have some other news. Dare had to return home. Both Rayne and Cherish came down with the stomach flu. Her sister is holding down the fort until he gets there but I told him to go home. We’re going to have to do this without him.”

  “Dare’s a good man and he’ll be missed. I hope his family recovers quickly.”

  They chatted a little more and then Tanner had to get back on the road with Seth, Griffin, and Jason. Logan hung up and leaned forward, propping his elbows on the desk.

  “So what do you think?”

  Scratching his chin, Jared gave them a huge grin. “I think that I’m glad that we’re here in this comfortable house and they’re on the road drinking bad coffee and crammed into an SUV twenty-four hours a day.”

  “I’ll second that,” Reed laughed. “They’re taking turns sleeping and they’re eating crappy food. At least we get to sleep in a bed at night.”

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Jared said, levering up from the chair. “You want to be out there on the road looking for Wade. That’s a terrible idea and you know it.”

  “I could make a good argument for being out there,” Logan replied. “I could help.”

  “You’re helping from here,” Reed said. “You’re the one that knows how Wade thinks.”

  “And no one is listening to me,” Logan snorted. “They set up that damn tip line even though I told them it was a bad idea. Wade won’t hesitate to kill anyone that recognizes him, and he won’t hesitate to kill to get his name in the news. He doesn’t care about human life at this point. People are expendable to him.”

  “Do you think that includes Marilyn Bartlett?” Jared asked, checking out the window. “Is he capable of having any feelings for her?”

  Marilyn Bartlett was the prison psychologist who had fallen under Wade’s spell and had helped him break out of prison. She’d even killed for him and was now on the run as well which left her at the mercy of Wade.

  And he didn’t have any mercy.

  “No,” Logan said bluntly. “She’s safe as long as he has a use for her. When he’s done… Well, let’s just say I hope she sees the writing on the wall soon and gets out of there. He would never think she’d leave him, so he wouldn’t put any safeguards around her. She could slip away at any time.”

  Reed seemed to ponder his words. “But he would stop her if he caught her.”

  “He’d kill her without a second thought,” Logan said grimly. “Not one regret. He doesn’t care. He might have at one point but he’s long past that now.”

  Reed tapped the oak desk. “The best place for you is right here with your family.”

  Restlessly, Logan stood and stretched. He’d been cooped up for far too long. He was used to being a hell of a lot more active. “I thought at the forty-eight hour mark we’d have him. I didn’t think it would go on this long. We all know that with every passing hour the chances of catching Wade grow smaller and smaller. Most fugitives are brought in quickly.”

  “As you’ve pointed out, Wade isn’t your average prison escapee,” Jared said. “He’s smart and devious as hell. He’ll do whatever it takes to evade capture.”

  Logan shook his head, his jaw tight with tension. “You know what the funny thin
g is? Way back I would have told you that Wade was just a soft, spoiled businessman that didn’t know shit about life. I could never have imagined…this. He didn’t seem like the type.”

  “He’s evolved,” Reed said. “Quickly. When he was killing before it changed him fundamentally, and then he escalated even more when he was inside. He learned what he needed to know.”

  “I believe that he’s been preparing for this since the day he was arrested.”

  Reed nodded. “I think you’re right. The fucker’s patient, I’ll give him that. We have to be even smarter and more patient. It’s been forty-eight hours but that’s nothing to Wade. Has he contacted you yet?”

  Logan pulled his phone from his pocket. “No, but my gut says that he will. He’ll want the attention and he’s definitely going to want to taunt me. Let me know that I haven’t caught him. He’ll probably also throw in a threat or two to my family. He wants to spook me, get me off my game.”

  “We’re not going to let him do that,” Jared said, his arms crossed over his chest and his expression serious. “Fuck him and his mind games. No one is going to get near this house.”

  “If he can’t get me here, he’ll do something else for the attention. If he stops being the number one story on the news that’s just going to piss him off. He needs to be the center of it all. He needs to be the star. If he thinks that he’s not, he’s going to kill someone. Maybe several someones, assuming he hasn’t already. He’d want the public scared. It would make him feel powerful.”

  “There might be a body out there that we haven’t found,” Reed said.

  Logan shook his head. “He’d want us to find the body sooner rather than later. He’d put it right in our path. Remember, the show is important. He’d want us to know what he’d done, and the theatrics are as much fun for him as the actual act of murder.”

  Maybe more. Wade got off on notoriety. He’d developed a taste for it and he wasn’t going to stop and lay low until the heat was off. He was smart, but he was also ruled by his compulsions and that made him foolhardy. Eventually he was going to do something stupid. Then they’d have him.

  The stupidest thing Wade could do is come after Logan but that was exactly what he was going to do. It was only a matter of time.

  I’ll be ready.

  Chapter Three

  Kaylee picked up a few of the scattered toys in the living room and placed them on the empty bookshelves. Logan was upstairs with the twins giving them their bath while she and Ava fixed their bedtime snack and straightened up after an active day.

  “I can read them their stories tonight if you want me to,” Kaylee offered, placing the last toy truck away. She didn’t want some poor unsuspecting person to patrol the house in the middle of the night and break their ankle.

  “They’d love that,” Ava replied, placing a few apples slices onto a plate along with some cubes of cheese. “They’re always talking about their Aunt Kaylee. You do the voices when you read the book, so they think you’re amazing, which of course you are. And not just because you do The Three Little Pigs.”

  “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down,” Kaylee recited, making her voice as low and growly as she could. She was playing the wolf, after all. “It’s fun to read to them.”

  “It is, although I have to admit I’m going to enjoy the break tonight,” Ava laughed. “I’ll let you decide if they get just one more story or not.”

  A lump formed in Kaylee’s throat and tears pricked the backs of her eyes at the thought of holding a child in her arms. He or she would look up at her with their big hazel eyes – just like Reed’s – and beg for another story. Or a drink of water. Anything so that they didn’t have to go to bed. Then she’d get to hold them a little while longer.

  But her arms were empty.

  “I’m happy to read to them,” Kaylee said through her tight throat. “They’re so cute and well-behaved.”

  “They are,” Ava agreed. “But they have their moments like any child.”

  “You’re good parents.”

  “We try but it isn’t easy.” Ava paused, and Kaylee knew what was coming next. There had been a question in the air all day. “Is everything okay between you and Reed? I sensed some tension when you arrived, and you’ve barely been in the same room. Logan said you two probably just had a tiff in the car and he’s probably right, but you know you can talk to me? About anything.”

  Kaylee wanted to talk to Ava. Truly, she did, but… It was too hard and painful. She didn’t want to see the sympathy in her friend’s eyes. She didn’t want anyone’s pity.

  “We are sort of arguing,” Kaylee finally said. It wasn’t a lie. These days they couldn’t agree on the color of the sky. “But I’m sure we’ll work it out. I appreciate the concern, though.”

  “If you want to talk about it–”

  “I don’t,” Kaylee replied quickly, cutting off Ava. She couldn’t think of a subject she wanted to discuss less. “I really don’t.”

  Her friend looked of two minds about responding but she nodded and smiled. “Just know that I’m here for you. Looks like the twins are ready for their snack and story.”

  Logan and Reed were coming down the stairs along with Brianna and Colt, both sparkling clean and in their pajamas. Brianna’s long hair was still damp and curling at the ends just like her mother’s. Every time Kaylee saw the children they seemed to look more like their parents.

  I can do this. I can get through this.

  Taking a deep breath despite her tight chest, Kaylee gave the children a dazzling grin and held out her arms for hugs. Brianna was the first to throw herself into her aunt’s arms and Kaylee breathed in deeply of that childhood scent – a mix of baby shampoo and fabric softener. Colt was next, and he giggled when Kaylee tickled his ribs, smacking a kiss against her cheek. Her chest closed around her heart making it difficult to breathe.

  Ignoring her internal tumult, she held up a couple of books. “How about this one? Or do you want the one with the dinosaurs?”

  “Dinosaurs!” Colt yelled at the top of his lungs, causing the adults to wince. “I want dinosaurs!”

  “Colt,” Ava said in a warning tone. “It’s Brianna’s turn to pick a story.”

  “The princess one first,” said the little girl. “Then the dinosaur.”

  To his credit, Colt gave in easily and the three of them cuddled on the couch, one on either side of Kaylee, leaning their sleepy heads on her arms. The others sat down as well, Logan and Ava on the loveseat and Reed on the armchair not that far away. His gaze was laser focused on Kaylee, making it difficult to do anything let alone read and animate a story, but somehow she managed to do it. The entire time they sat there he didn’t pull his eyes away from her, his expression inscrutable.

  She didn’t have to ask what he was thinking. She already knew. He was thinking about how much he’d like to have his own children. He wanted to read to them before bed and help with their bath. He wanted to carry them up to bed on his shoulders and then kiss them goodnight. He wanted to check closets for monsters and under the bed for the boogeyman.

  If he stayed with Kaylee, he wasn’t going to get to do any of that. He said he didn’t care but at moments like this… He showed just how much he did.

  * * * *

  If someone took Kaylee’s blood pressure right now it would break the machine. After thirty minutes of torture downstairs reading to Brianna and Colt, she wasn’t even close to finding any peace and serenity. She and Reed were sharing a room and a bed, something they hadn’t done in months.

  She’d hated her empty bed at home after he’d moved out, but she wasn’t ready to have him back in it, either. Growing used to it again was a recipe for disaster. She was supposed to be learning to live without him, but all she was finding out was that a world without Reed in it was gray and lifeless.

  Barely able to look at herself in the bathroom mirror, she tried to avoid her reflection but it seemed to mock her every movement. When she brushed her te
eth, when she washed her face, when she combed her hair. It was always there even when she was home. Maybe if only to remind her that she still existed and hadn’t faded away like a ghost.

  She’d put on weight in the last few years courtesy of all the hormones she’d been on. Pinching the muffin top around her waist it didn’t disappear when she scowled at it, stubbornly staying put. The doctor had assured her that the gain would only be temporary and that she would go back to the way she’d been before.

  Those had been his exact words. Except that she wasn’t. She was changed forever only no one seemed to see it.

  Those hormones. They’d played havoc with her body and emotions. Reed would come home to find her crying at commercials or screaming angry at some imagined slight. He’d been understanding and patient at first, but then less as time went on and her emotions spiraled further out of control. He’d started spending more evenings at work and less at home, leaving her alone with her thoughts far too often. She didn’t blame him. If she could have stepped out of her body and left she would have done it, too.

  Then there had been the nausea, the bloating, and the terrible headaches. And she’d done it gladly because it meant there was a chance. A small one, but she’d had hope.

  The hope was gone and now she had to figure out how to live her life. She had many years ahead of her and she couldn’t keep going on like this. Something had to change. But how? She was just so damn tired every day she could barely get out of bed. She’d grabbed at this chance to help out Ava and Logan because it gave her days purpose and she desperately needed that.

  Gathering all the scraps of courage she had, Kaylee pulled open the bathroom door and entered the attached bedroom. Reed was lounging on the bed watching the television on the wall, the remote in his hand. The sight made her smile, remembering how when they’d first got together she’d had to get used to how he liked to have control of the remote. She could have the thermostat, but he had to have the remote. If she wanted to make him antsy, all she had to do was hold it and flip aimlessly through the channels. It drove him crazy. Luckily, she wasn’t picky about what she watched most of the time.