Unexpected Trouble (The Unexpected Series Book 3) Read online

  Jeff was right, I did have a ton of comments, and I had barely scratched the surface when my mother arrived home. I watched the aide bring her halfway to the door and then wait for her to get inside.

  I was about to check on her when she stepped into the kitchen. “Something smells good.”

  “Chicken and pasta. How was your day?”

  Her lips puckered as she contemplated that. “I think it was a good day.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” She seemed to know who I was today, and we had small talk over dinner, and then she helped me clean up. She was heading up to her room to watch her favorite show when Heather rang the bell.

  “Come on in. What do you want to drink? Beer, wine, or tequila?”

  “Holy crap! Are you offering tequila? You only do that when shit has really gone off the rails.”

  I snorted and reached into the cabinet where I kept the bottle. “Oh, yeah. I’m offering tequila. Now, let me see if I can get this all correct. A few days ago, I ran into my high school sweetheart, who, by the way, is more gorgeous than he was at nineteen—if that is possible. Then I was held captive by two psychos, and luckily freed after about an hour.”

  I retrieved two shot glasses and set them on the counter with a bang. “Then I argued with my ex after I got offered a position and was then handcuffed—not in a good way—dragged to the police station and accused of being involved in the earlier robbery. But before that, I had a dead rat delivered to my house, from only God knows who. Then after the police station, I had incredible sex with my ex right here in the kitchen before we got into another massive fight.”

  Heather’s eyes were wide, and she shot a quick look around the kitchen as I continued. “Today I was fired from my job—or I quit—I’m not sure which one happened first, and then I lost the other position I’d been offered—probably because I’d had sex with my ex. Plus, Mom is changing daily, and I never know who is coming into my house each evening.”

  I poured tequila into the shot glass and pushed one toward her. Her mouth still hung open, but she lifted the glass to her lips, threw it back, and then set it down. “Start with the sex, and then you can explain everything else.”

  The doorbell rang again. “I swear to god, this house has become Grand Central Station.” I tossed back my shot and then went to answer the door. As I approached it, I hesitated. What if it was another delivery person and they brought me another rodent? I peered anxiously around the curtain and saw it was Greg.

  Without thought, I ripped open the door. “You have some nerve showing up here.”

  “Whoa, back down, tiger. I came over to explain and apologize.”

  I glared at him. “I’m not in the mood for this tonight, Greg. I’ve had a hell of a day.” I turned and walked away from the door and back to the kitchen. I heard the door close and his footsteps following. I poured myself another shot and threw it down the hatch before I glanced between Heather and Greg.

  “Greg, Heather. Heather, Greg.” I poured another shot as Heather leaned toward me, lowering her voice in a stage whisper.

  “Is this the ex?”

  “Yep,” I muttered.

  Heather turned and looked him up and down, and Greg shifted slightly as he if were uncomfortable with her scrutiny. He glanced at the counter, noting the shot glasses and tequila. “Hello, Heather. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your girls' night. I can hang out in the other room until you guys are done.”

  “Oh, no, please stay,” I told him and grinned. “Go ahead and apologize, might as well do it in front of Heather. It will save me from having to explain it to her later.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Gregory

  We all gathered in the conference room to discuss the op. Even though I wasn’t going, I was still part of the discussion. The private cargo plane that was transporting the supplies was next Saturday. It would leave on Monday. The travel time was going to be about thirty hours, with two stops for refueling and changing pilots. It should take two days to transport the supplies if everything was in place and working in their favor, a day there to make sure everything was okay and help unpack things, then another two days to return to the airport. The trip would finish with a commercial flight back to the US that would take them another thirty-six hours with layovers.

  If things went on schedule, they would be back in ten days.

  “You sure you don’t want to go, Greg? I can hang back here at the office,” Mike said.

  “Nope, I’m staying back.”

  “Just can’t trust yourself around her, can you?” Trevor joked.

  “She has nothing to do with this,” I replied as I leaned back in my seat and laced my fingers over my stomach.

  “She has everything to do with this,” Alex said, pointing a finger at me. “But I get it. If it wasn’t for having Lexi in my life, I might have been interested.”

  “I’m not seeing anyone,” Harv said with a wide grin.

  “Keep your fucking hands off of Maggie,” I growled, and everyone laughed.

  “Yeah, guys, keep your hands off her; he has already called dibs.” Trevor smirked my way.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means, you’ve already tapped that. Maggie told me all about it.”

  “She did not!” I spouted abruptly and then laughed.

  “Oh, yeah, she did!”

  The guys all busted my balls for a few minutes, and the more I tried to deny it, the harder they beat on me.

  Finally, Jake wrangled them back in. “Alright, guys, we all know she’s off the market, and Blaire over there can deny it all he wants. I will watch out for her.”

  The door opened, and Alice poked her head into the room. She was in a much better mood now, and I wondered if Jake had finally apologized to her. “Gregory, there is a detective here to speak with you.”

  Trevor started laughing. “You going to be arrested now?”

  “No, douchebag, I’m not,” I said as I got to my feet. “I’ll be right back.”

  In the entry, Det. Highmore was waiting, and we shook hands. “Do you have someplace that we can talk privately?”

  “Yeah, sure, come on this way. Alice, if they finish, let Alex know that I’m using his office for a few.”

  “You got it,” Alice called out cheerily. Damn, whatever Jake did for her must have been fantastic. She was like a different woman.

  I closed the door behind the detective and told him to have a seat as I rounded the desk. “What’s up? Did you guys catch Len?”

  “Not yet, but we discovered some rather disturbing news.”

  “Yeah, what’s that?”

  “Len and his cousin owed money to a cartel, quite a lot of money, and that robbery was a last-ditch effort to try to settle the debt.”

  “Damn, did Chuck tell you that?”

  He shook his head. “He had told us a little bit, but we put the pieces together after he was killed.”

  “Wait. What? Chuck’s dead?”

  “Yeah, the prison says it was suicide, but an inside source says there was a hit put on him.”

  “So they are looking for Len too, then, huh?”

  “It’s a little worse than that, Greg.”

  “What do you mean, it’s a little worse than that?”

  “They are going after all the hostages.”

  Every nerve in my spine prickled as I tensed. “What are you talking about?”

  “They are targeting all the witnesses. Five of them have already turned up dead.”

  “What? When?” My stomach dropped to my knees.

  “This morning, that’s why I’m here. At first, no one connected them, but I happened to walk into a discussion and saw a picture of one of the victims. I had interviewed him, and when I started digging, I realized they had all been in the coffee shop or the jewelry store.”

  “But how did they know? As far as I know, there hasn’t been much press on it. How do they know who was in there?”

  He frowned. “I
’m pretty sure they paid someone for that information. Right now, we are looking into everyone involved in the case and auditing the files to see how that information was accessed.”

  “You think it is someone in your department?”

  “Sadly, yes.”

  “So, what are you doing?”

  “Right now, we are letting everyone know to be very careful. If others get killed, we might be able to put the rest in a safe house.”

  “You’re going to wait for others to be killed before you do that?”

  “Let’s hope not, but yes. The bosses think that maybe they only knocked out a few to scare the others into not talking. I disagree, and that’s why I’m warning people.”

  “Shit.” I leaned back, rubbing my jaw as I mulled this over. “Hey, did anyone get any weird packages delivered?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know, why?”

  “Because Maggie had one delivered last night. No label, no return address. A nondescript guy came to the door, asked her name, handed her the box, and then left.”

  “When was this?”

  “Right before your boys showed up to bring her in.”

  “Why didn’t she tell me about that?”

  “Because when she came in, she didn’t have any idea what was in the box. Trevor and I opened it after she left.”

  He grew thoughtful. “Okay, I’ll have to have officers check with the others, go back and ask family members about the ones that are deceased.”

  “Alright, what do you want me to do?”

  “Keep Maggie safe. She’s the only one that can ID Len positively.”

  “Maggie is supposed to be going out of town in a week for about ten to fourteen days.”

  “What? No, she needs to stay in town, but stay safe. We have to have her ready to testify at a preliminary to make sure the charges stick. If she even thinks of leaving the area, we’d have to take her into protective custody.”

  “Can’t that wait until she’s back? Two weeks isn’t that long.”

  “Yeah, and what if she’s hurt while traveling?”

  “What if she’s killed here?”

  “Sounds like you need to keep her safe.”

  “I thought that was your job?”

  “Yeah, well, as I said, they aren’t convinced that the deaths are connected. They were all different, some at home, some out. One was a freak car accident, another drowned in a tub.”

  “What do I need to do?”

  “Keep her safe. You work security. You are probably better able to handle this than most cops with your background.”

  “And in the meantime, what is your police force going to do?”

  “Try to find Len and bring him in. See if he’ll give up the cartel members for a plea. If he doesn’t, we are going to need Maggie to put him behind bars. I’m going to need both of you around.”

  “Wait!” A thought occurred to me. “I think Len might already be dead.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because remember Len took photographs of all the ID’s of the people inside. Then there were the four of us that didn’t have ID’s, and we were put in the bathroom. Are those other three alive?”

  “I’d have to check to confirm, but I think so.”

  “I think the cartel might have his phone. If they do, then they have all the addresses of the people that were inside. It might not have been someone at your station.”

  “I’d like to believe that was how it was done. I’ll confirm that information; in the meantime, will you be able to watch Maggie?”

  I laughed. “She’s going to hate it, but she’s going to be stuck with me for a while. I’ll keep her safe. Keep me updated.”

  “You got it, Greg.”

  I showed him out and returned to the conference room. “Maggie’s not going.”

  “What?” Jake barked.

  “I said, Maggie is not going. There is something bigger going on than a dead rat being delivered. Several of the other witnesses are mysteriously dead. That dead rat last night, Trevor, might have been a warning.”

  “Shit, but wouldn’t it be better if she was out of the country?” Alex asked.

  I shook my head. “Yeah, probably, but he said that if she tries to leave the country, they will take her into protective custody. They need her to stay put to be able to ID Len when they find him. Although I have a feeling that he’s already dead.”

  I went on to explain to them my thoughts and what the detective had asked me to do. “So, Jake, you need to tell Maggie she can’t go, but don’t tell her why. If she knows what is going on, I’m not sure what she will do.”

  “And you’re going to be protecting her?” Harvey asked.

  “Yeah, I don’t think I have a choice in the matter,” I muttered.

  “You could go on the trip in my place, and I’ll watch Maggie,” Mike said, and I nailed him with a hard look.

  “Over my dead body!” I hissed his way, and everyone laughed.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Mike smirked.

  That’s why a few hours later, I was pulling up in front of Maggie’s house and carrying a backpack with me. I had a feeling that Maggie was going to balk at this, but I wasn’t going to give her much choice.

  She was in an Alice mood when she answered the door, and I wondered what the best way was to calm her down. I followed her back to the kitchen and found another woman sitting on a stool at the counter.

  “Greg, Heather. Heather, Greg,” Maggie said, and her friend leaned forward.

  “Is this the ex?”

  “Yep,” Maggie replied dryly.

  Her friend turned and checked me out. I needed to figure out how to talk to Maggie without her friend here, but I had a feeling that was going to be harder than it should be.

  “Hello, Heather. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your girls' night. I can hang out in the other room until you guys are done.”

  “Oh, no, please stay. Go ahead and apologize, might as well do it in front of Heather. It will save me from having to explain it to her later.”

  I glanced at her friend and then focused on Maggie as I shifted forward slightly and set my backpack on the counter. “Maggie, this is not something that your friend needs to be involved in. This is between us.”

  “She’s my best friend; I tell her everything.”

  “You always did like to share everything with your friends,” I retorted. “But for her safety, you need to keep this quiet.”

  Maggie laughed as she put the shot glass to her lips again. “Her safety? Why? You planning on breaking her heart too?”

  “Maggie, cut it out. This is not about us. This is about the incident and the rat.”

  “What did you find out?” She glanced at my backpack momentarily before she poured herself another shot.

  “We can talk about it after Heather leaves.”

  “I don’t want her to leave,” Maggie said. “It’s not good for the two of us to be alone together.”

  Yeah, no shit! “Heather, I’m sorry to butt in here, but I really do need to speak to Maggie, and it would be safer for you not to be around her right now.”

  Heather studied me and started to get off the stool. “Is she in danger?”

  “Yes.”

  Heather turned to Maggie. “I’m going to go. If he says you are in danger, then I am going to believe him. You can fill me in on everything next time.”

  “Heather, you don’t need to go,” Maggie said and glared at me.

  “Yeah, I think I might need to leave. I think you two have some things you need to discuss.”

  “Yeah, like how he talked Jake into not letting me go on this trip!” Maggie raised her voice, pulling her shoulders back. Damn, if that didn’t turn me on to see her spun up that way. I had always loved it when she fought back against me when I tried to push her into something.

  “I didn’t have anything to do with that, Mags.”

  “Bull—shit!” she yelled. “You had everything to do wi
th that.”

  Heather went around the counter and hugged Maggie. “Mags, maybe you should slow down on the shots. Listen to what he has to say, and call me later.”

  Maggie scowled at me over her shoulder the whole time. As Heather stepped away, she glanced at me. “Take care of her.”

  “I will, Heather.”

  I walked Heather to the door, and she paused before she stepped out. “Is she really in danger?”

  “Yes, very much so.”

  “Keep her safe, please.”

  “I will,” I told her again, and then Heather was gone.

  Maggie was pouring herself another shot when I stepped in, and before she could pick it up to drink it, I snagged it out of her reach and tossed it back. “No more alcohol. I need your head here.”

  “Why?” She rolled her eyes.

  “Maggie, your life is in jeopardy. Five other people who were in the café with us are dead. That rat was a warning that they are coming after you.”

  She stared at me, and I saw the words shifting through the alcohol haze that was trying to take over her mind. “What?”

  I hadn’t planned on telling her, but I realized that she needed to know the truth. I stepped closer. “Your life is in danger. Detective Highmore came to see me today; he wants me to stay with you and protect you.”

  “Stay?” she asked, and her gaze cut back to my backpack. “You mean to stay, as in sleep here?”

  “As in be beside you and make sure you are safe, Maggie.”

  Maggie practically jumped back a foot. “There is no way in hell that I am going to let you sleep in this house! Not after you just ruined my career!”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Maggie

  “Ruined your career? What the hell are you talking about, woman? I’m trying to save your life, not ruin your career. One has nothing to do with the other!”

  I lunged forward, grabbing his shirt and practically smashing my nose into his. “I’ll have you know that you did totally ruin my career. I quit my job at the paper! I was going to be working for your company, and now I’m banned from that! It’s all your fault!”