Covert Justice. Lynn Huggins Blackburn

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      Her eyes fluttered closed. “That’s not going to be too difficult.”

      Within minutes, her soft snores blended with the beeping from the monitors. She’d never had much tolerance for Benadryl, and he had a feeling they’d pumped her full of it. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he was surprised to see the initials HZ pop up.

      He stepped from the room and caught the call. “Hello?”

      “How’s Caroline?” Heidi’s words came out clipped.

      “Stable. They want to watch her, but she should be able to go home in a few hours.”

      “Okay. Good.” The relief in her words surprised him. During the entire chaotic episode she’d been calm and composed. Even as she yelled for assistance, the words came out with authority, not panic.

      Had she been more worried than he’d realized?

      “I need to talk to her.”

      “What? Why?”

      “Because,” she said, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Three members of your family have experienced life-threatening catastrophes in the past thirty-six hours. Do you not think that’s a problem?”

      “Of course it’s a problem, but shouldn’t we call the police?”

      “My boss already has. They’ve turned it over to us.”

      That was fast. “Who is ‘us’?”

      “The FBI in general, my team in specific. My partner is on his way from DC, along with several other agents who are coming to provide round-the-clock protection for your family.”

      This could not be happening. It had to be a dream. He would wake up and his biggest problem would be a malfunctioning blower at the factory.

      “Do you think she’s up to talking to me?”

      “She’s asleep, and with the amount of Benadryl they gave her, I doubt that status will change anytime soon.” He pressed his head against the wall as another thought raced through his mind. “Oh, man. I need to tell Mom and Dad. And I need to call Caroline’s friend Stephanie to let her know what’s going on.”

      Then another, far greater fear threatened to choke him. “Maggie.”

      “I’m sorry? What?”

      “Maggie. I need to get her. She’s not safe. She’s—”

      “Blake.” A hand closed over his arm and it took him a second to realize that her voice hadn’t come through the phone. How had she snuck up on him?

      * * *

      Heidi squeezed Blake’s arm. Poor guy. He was handling this far better than she’d anticipated, but he looked like he was about to drop.

      “Maggie is fine.” She released his arm. “Two of the best agents I know are currently posing as repairmen. They are watching the front and back of your in-laws’ home. The windows and blinds are open enough for them to see Maggie and your in-laws. No one will get in there without going through my agents.”

      No need to tell him that if anything happened to a child, none of them would ever forgive themselves.

      “Why is this happening?”

      She didn’t think he’d meant to say that aloud, but it was a valid question. “I don’t know, but I will find out. It would help me if you could tell me everything you know about Caroline’s allergy. It looked like she reacted to something in her purse. Could she have purchased something with peanuts in it by accident?”

      “No. Caroline is supercautious. She special-orders those bars by the case. They are crazy expensive, made in a guaranteed nut-free production facility. She has one every day. She eats half in the morning and the other half in the afternoon.”

      “No allergies other than peanuts, right?”

      “No. She eats dairy, eggs, shellfish...no problem. She can even eat almonds or cashews. Wait a minute. How do you know that?”

      Oops. “It’s in her file.”

      Blake rubbed his eyes. “Awesome.”

      He needed sleep, but she couldn’t do anything about that. A small arrangement of chairs sat in a quiet corner and she nodded in their direction. “Let’s sit.”

      He didn’t argue. He collapsed into a chair and put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. “I can’t believe she didn’t have her EpiPen.”

      “Is she good about keeping it with her?”

      “Fanatical. She had a severe reaction when she was twelve. The pen was at the house and we were up at the waterfall behind the plant. Big company-wide fun day. She bit into a dessert and her throat closed up. We’ve always been thankful for the presence and quick thinking of one of our operators with a serious bee allergy. He had his pen in his pocket. I’ve never seen anyone move the way he did. Saved her life.”

      He blew out a breath and looked at her, frustration and confusion evident on his face. “Since then, she doesn’t go anywhere without it. She keeps one in her purse at all times, we have two in the plant medical supplies, and she carries one around in her pocket when she’s at home. You saw how fast it happened. If she had a serious reaction when she was alone...”

      Heidi could imagine. And the more Blake talked, the more certain she’d become that this had not been an accident.

      “Do people at the plant know about the allergy?”

      “Yeah. We don’t prohibit people from eating peanuts, but we do have a peanut-free break room and general allergy awareness as part of our new employee orientation. We have two people with peanut allergies, one with a bee allergy and another with an egg allergy.”

      He fiddled with his watch band. “Do you think it was Mark?”

      Oh, yeah. But she couldn’t prove it. “He’s at the top of my suspect list. Her allergy is well-known. Is it safe to assume her ‘half a bar at a time’ habit is common knowledge, as well?”

      “The guys tease her about it. Tell her it wouldn’t hurt her to finish the whole bar in one sitting.”

      “Who are these guys? Are you talking about people who work for you?”

      “You have to understand. There are two guys who have worked for HPI since before we were born and about fifteen of our employees have been with us since I was in elementary school. They’ve watched us grow up and they don’t have a problem telling Caroline she needs to eat more, or get a boyfriend, or take a vacation.”

      “Do they treat you the same way?”

      He laughed. “They tell me I need to lay off the Mountain Dew. And get remarried.”

      Remarried? Interesting.

      “Neither of those things are going to happen.”

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