The slap, slap, slap of gunshots exploded through the church. The organ music clashed on a toxic chord and went silent. Wood splintered and flew like shrapnel. A vase at the altar shattered. Flower petals and explosions of marble dust rained in the air.
Everybody down! Duff ordered, drawing the pistol from the small of his back. He dropped to one knee on the opposite side of the aisle and raised his weapon. Drop it!
Im calling SWAT. Keir ducked between two pews, pulling his phone from his jacket as he hugged his arms around Natalie Fensom and Millie Leighter.
Niall saw Gabe Knight slam his arms around Liv and pull her to the marble floor beneath his body. Guests shouted names of loved ones. A child cried out in fear, and a mother hastened to comfort him. Warnings not to panic, not to run, blended together with the screams and tromping footfalls of people doing just that.
Ive got no shot, Duff yelled, pushing to a crouching position as the shooter dropped his spent rifle and pulled his pistol. Niall heard Keirs succinct voice reporting to dispatch. With a nod from Katie that she was all right and assurance that her husband was circling around the outside aisle to get to her, Niall climbed to his knees to assess the casualties. He caught a glimpse of Duff and a couple of other officers zigzagging down the aisle through the next hail of bullets and charging out the back of the sanctuary. Get down and stay put!
Niall squeezed his fathers arm. He was okay. He glanced back at the minister crouched behind the pulpit. He hadnt been hit, either. The man in the balcony shouted no manifesto, made no threat. He emptied his gun into the sanctuary, grabbed his rifle and scrambled up the stairs toward the balcony exit. He was making a lot of noise and doing a lot of damage and generating a lot of terror. But despite the chaos, he wasnt hitting anyone. What kind of maniac set off this degree of panic without having a specific
Niall! His grandfathers cane clattered against the marble tiles. Niall was already peeling off his jacket and wadding it up to use as a compress as Thomas Watson cradled the eighty-year-old man in his arms and gently lowered him to the floor. Help me, son. Dads been shot.
Chapter One
Niall stepped off the elevator in his condominium building to the sound of a baby crying.
His dragging feet halted as the doors closed behind him, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled a deep, weary breath, pulled the phone from his ear and checked his watch. Two in the morning.
Great. Just great. He had nothing against babieshe knew many of them grew into very fine adults. But hed been awake going on twenty hours now, had been debriefed six ways to Sunday by cops and family and medical staff alike, hadnt even had a chance to change his ruined fancy clothes, and was already feeling sleep deprived by switching off his typical nocturnal work schedule to be there for Livs wedding. No way was he going to catch a couple hours of much-needed shut-eye before he headed back to the hospital later this morning.
He put the phone back to his ear and finished the conversation with Duff. You know we cant investigate this shooting personally. Theres a huge conflict of interest since the victim is family.
Then Im going to find out which detectives caught the case and make sure they keep us in the loop.
You do that. And Ill keep track of any evidence that comes through the lab.
Well find this guy. Duffs pronouncement was certain. Get some sleep, Niall.
You, too. Niall disconnected the call, knowing he couldnt comply with his older brothers directive.
But it wasnt the pitiful noise of the infants wails, nor the decibel level of distress that solid walls could only mute, that would keep him awake.
His brains refusal to let a question go unanswered was going to prevent his thoughts from quieting until he could solve the mystery of where that crying baby had come from and to whom the child belonged. As if the events of the daywith his grandfather lying in intensive care and an unidentified shooter on the loose in Kansas Citywerent enough to keep him from sleeping, now a desperately unhappy infant and Nialls own curiosity over the unexpected sound were probably going to eat up whatever downtime he had left tonight. Cursing that intellectual compulsion, Niall rolled his kinked-up neck muscles and started down the hallway.
Considering three of the six condos on this floor were empty, a retired couple in their seventies lived in one at the far end of the hall and Lucy McKane, who lived across the hall from his place, was a single like himself, the crying baby posed a definite mystery. Perhaps the Logans were babysitting one of the many grandchildren they liked to talk about. Either that or Lucy McKane had company tonight. Could she be watching a friends child? Dating a single dad whod brought along a young chaperone? Letting a well-kept secret finally reveal itself?
Although theyd shared several early-morning and late-night chats, he and Lucy had never gotten much beyond introductions and polite conversations about the weather and brands of detergent. Just because he hadnt seen a ring on her finger didnt mean she wasnt attached to someone. And even though he struggled with interpersonal relationships, he wasnt so clueless as to think she had to be married or seeing someone in order to get pregnant.
So the crying baby was most likely hers.
Good. Mystery solved. Niall pulled his keys from his pocket as he approached his door. Sleep might just happen.
Or not.
The flash of something red and shiny in the carpet stopped Niall in the hallway between their two doors. He stooped down to retrieve a minuscule shard of what looked like red glass. Another mystery? Didnt building maintenance vacuum out here five days a week? This was a recent deposit and too small to identify the source. A broken bottle? Stained glass? The baby wailed through the door off to his right, and Niall turned his head. He hadnt solved anything at all.
Forget the broken glass. Where and when did Lucy McKane get a baby?
Hed never seen her coming home from a date before, much less in the company of a man with a child. And he was certain he hadnt noticed a baby bump on her. Although she could have been hiding a pregnancy, either intentionally or not. He generally ran into her in the elevator when she was wearing bulky hand-knit sweaters or her winter coat, or in the gym downstairs, where she sported oversize T-shirts with one silly or motivational message or another. And then there were those late-night visits in the basement laundry room, where thered been clothes baskets and tables between them to mask her belly. Now that he thought about it, Lucy McKane wore a lot of loose-fitting clothes. Her fashion choices tended to emphasize her generous breasts and camouflage the rest of her figure. He supposed she could have been carrying a baby one of those late nights when theyd discussed fabric softener versus dryer sheets, and he simply hadnt realized it.
If that was the case, though, why hadnt he seen the child or heard it crying before tonight? The woman liked to talk. Wouldnt she have announced the arrival of her child?
Maybe hed rethink other options. It was the wee hours after Valentines Day. She could be watching the child for a friend out on an overnight date. But why hadnt Lucy gone out for Valentines Day? The woman was pretty in an unconventional kind of way, if one liked a cascade of dark curls that were rarely tamed, green eyes that were slightly almond shaped and the apple cheeks and a pert little nose that would make her look eternally young. She made friends easily enough, judging by her ability to draw even someone like him into random conversations. And she was certainly well-spokenat least when it came to washing clothes and inclement weather, gossip about the buildings residents and the news of the day. So why wasnt a woman like that taken? Where was her date?