Thread Of Revenge. Elizabeth Goddard

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СКАЧАТЬ been waiting on a wheelchair for half an hour. I wouldn’t call that rushing.”

      “Why didn’t you call me? I would have come right back and lit a fire under them.”

      “Now that you’re here maybe you can alert the nurse so we can get out of here.”

      “I will. Just a second.” Her aunt dug around in her pocket. “Oh, I found that item you were looking for.”

      She handed it to Sadie, then left the room. Sadie lifted the small dolphin pendant up to examine it in the light.

      “What’s that?” Gage asked.

      “Proof that Karon was on that same boat that sank today.”

      * * *

      Gage stiffened. This could be an important piece of evidence.

      She held the silver pendant out. “It’s a dolphin. I gave it to her on her twenty-first birthday.”

      Scraping a hand through his hair, he paced the room. The nurse pushed a wheelchair through the door, Aunt Debby behind her.

      “All right. Your aunt tells me you’re ready to go home,” the nurse said.

      Sadie nodded.

      Gage couldn’t walk away from this. He’d been to the beach, met with the coroner and watched as Sean’s body was removed. Sean’s death had likely occurred two weeks after Karon’s, but that didn’t mean they weren’t related. And it was tied to the attempt on Sadie’s life somehow. His drug running investigation would normally take second place to a Coast Guard murder investigation, but his SAC wanted to know if the deaths were somehow tied to the drug runners. He could still assign Thompkins and not Gage. Since Gage had absolutely no intention of leaving Sadie without protection, he’d give Jim another call to press him.

      And if Jim gave him what he wanted—to work the investigation on Sadie’s attempted murder as it tied to Karon’s death, which would give him the opportunity to protect her, Gage had to be careful. Under no circumstances could he let himself crush on her again.

      An image flitted through his mind of them walking the beach together years ago. He’d been enamored with her, but all she talked about was the Coastie she was in love with. Gage had been able to get over her then. He’d moved on and found someone who returned his affection, and he allowed himself to fully, completely love. But that had left him heartbroken in the end.

      Lesson learned—love wasn’t for him.

      And carrying that lesson in his back pocket, no way would he have a thing for Sadie this time, no matter how much time they spent together. But his protective instincts had kicked into full throttle. He had to stick close enough for long enough to protect her and help her find the truth. He’d make a call to his SAC and hope for the best.

      All this he considered as he walked alongside Sadie as the nurse pushed her in the wheelchair down the hallway.

      “Sadie. I have a question about the dolphin pendant,” he said. “You woke up on a sinking boat and you thought to grab that?”

      “My cheek was pressed into the carpet. The pendant was there when I opened my eyes. It was small but I recognized it, so I grabbed it.”

      Gage tugged a latex glove from his pocket and held his palm out as she handed it over.

      “You think you’re going to find prints on that after what it’s been through?” Aunt Debby asked.

      He eyed her. “Has it been through the wash?”

      “Well, if you count the ocean...”

      “You never know. Maybe the tiniest fiber could be important, and it’s still there.” He stuck it in one of the small evidence bags he kept in his pocket. The sheriff’s department would take the lead on murder and attempted murder investigations, but the Coast Guard would conduct a parallel investigation of their own since a Coastie had been a victim, and they believed it could be tied to the drug runners. CGIS had jurisdiction over maritime drug smuggling. Gage hoped he could find the evidence he needed for jurisdiction. He would have to consider if he should turn this pendant over to Crowley or send it to be analyzed himself—that is, if he was assigned to the investigation. Otherwise, it would go to Thompkins.

      “Wow, you’re prepared, aren’t you?”

      “Always. In fact, I’m going to grab my vehicle and meet you at the exit.” He took off down the hallway and headed out the door. He jogged over to his SUV, holding the dolphin, proof, Sadie claimed, that Karon had been on that boat. It could be something. It could be nothing.

      Inside the vehicle, he called his SAC at the regional headquarters in Seattle as he maneuvered over to the hospital doors where Sadie and her aunt would soon exit.

      “Jim, glad I caught you.”

      “You’re just the man I was about to call.”

      “Oh?”

      “Both CGIS special agent Thompkins and the sheriff’s department investigated Karon Casings’s death. You likely already know that nothing led them to conclude her death had been foul play or that the Coast Guard had any jurisdiction, even if it had been. I’m reopening the investigation into Karon’s death.” Jim hesitated, then said, “Gage, I need fresh eyes on this. With what you’ve told me about Sadie Strand, if you dig into who put her on that boat to die, you might find a link to Karon’s death and to your drug runners. You and Thompkins can work it from different angles.”

      “I agree, sir. It has to be related.” Gage thought he heard something more in Jim’s words—some emotion he couldn’t quite pin down. Suspicion? “What if Karon and Sean had been on a boat? Maybe they ran into trouble out there. Sean was held against his will then shot and killed later so they washed up on shore at separate times.” How did all of this play into Sadie’s abduction and attempted murder?

      “It’s your job to figure it out. And Gage...”

      “Yes, sir?”

      “We need to wrap this up quickly. I don’t want another Coastie washing up onto the beach.” Anger infused Jim’s tone, but Gage knew it wasn’t directed at him.

      He ended the call, pleased on the one hand that he could stay close to Sadie, keep an eye out, as he investigated. But there was a downside to that—he’d have to stay close to Sadie.

      When he pulled around the circular hospital drive for pickup and drop-off, Sadie was just being wheeled out the door, her aunt Debby plodding faithfully behind her. He hopped out and went around to open the door for her.

      “What are you doing, Gage?” Debby asked. “I can take her home.”

      He assisted Sadie up into his SUV, soaking in her smile.

      “But we’re not going home, are we, Special Agent Sessions?” Her blue eyes shimmered with expectation.

      And her smile engaged his heart a little too much so he looked back at her aunt. “Debby, if it’s all right with you, Sadie and I have somewhere to go. But I’ll take you over to your car so you don’t have to walk.”

      “Nonsense. СКАЧАТЬ