Duty Bound Guardian

TWO

“You’re wrong,” Lana stated firmly. She struggled to sit up in the hospital bed.

Feeling the need to offer help, Adam adjusted the pillow behind her back. She flinched. A flash of fear lit her dark eyes. Startled by her skittishness, he drew back, his hands up, palms facing out. Ace, however, must have read his intentions of help as acceptance. The dog stretched until his nose could nudge her hand.

“Heel,” Adam commanded. Ace complied immediately.

Lana kept her gaze on the dog. “The break-in had nothing to do with me or my sister. The man wanted the arrow. I wasn’t even supposed to be working last night.”

Adam wasn’t convinced the two incidents weren’t related. There had to be a connection. One sister murdered and then a random attack on the other? Not likely. “Who did know you’d be at the museum after hours?”

She shrugged. “I suppose a few of the staff members. We’ve been so busy preparing the museum gala. I’d fallen behind on some of the details. I usually take my work home with me but with the rain and all, I decided to stay.”

“Then it’s feasible that someone took advantage of your decision to stay after hours and used the excuse of a theft to attack you.”

A visible tremor worked through her. “None of them would have any reason to hurt me.”

She may want him to believe her answer but the uncertainty wavering in her voice said otherwise. There had to be a connection they weren’t seeing. He made a mental note to check into the background of all the museum’s employees. “Even if that is true, someone knew you’d be there. One of the staff members could have inadvertently let it slip you were working late.”

She blew out a breath. “I suppose.”

“Did you know less than twenty-four hours after your sister’s death Congressman Jeffries’s son was murdered? And the congressman was shot, as well?” Adam watched the woman lying in the bed, searching her face for...he wasn’t sure what. Guilt?

Dark circles rimmed her worried eyes. Her long dark hair spilled over the white pillowcase, the stark contrast unsettling. The white bandage on her head was a reminder of the assault she’d suffered. The sudden urge to hurt whoever had injured her gripped him by the throat.

The strong reaction was so uncharacteristic of him that he took a step back as if somehow distancing himself from Lana would temper his response to her situation. Ace rose, sensing his tension.

She chewed on her bottom lip. “I’d heard that on the news, too. Did you find his killer?”

Interesting that she’d ask about Jeffries’s killer, but not her sister’s.

Did she know something? Had she been involved in her sister’s murder? She’d had an alibi for the time of death, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have arranged the whole thing.

However, he had looked into her finances at the time and there had been no large sums of money leaving her accounts or anything to suggest she’d paid out for a hit on her sister.

Yet, he couldn’t shake the nagging suspicion there was something going on with her, something she didn’t want him to know.

“Did you know Michael Jeffries?” Her sister had worked for the congressman’s family for nearly three years. Adam didn’t buy that Lana hadn’t known where her sister worked.

She moved her head to give a negative shake but then stopped, winced and said, “No.”

At least she was consistent. “You’ve never met Congressman Jeffries or his son?”

Anger flashed in her dark eyes. “Not Michael. I met the congressman when I came to the hospital to talk to Miss Danvers about Juan. Until then I’d never spoken to Congressman Jeffries before. I didn’t know Rosa worked for him until after her death. Why won’t you believe me?”

“I find it hard to imagine two sisters not talking to each for such a long period of time.”

He couldn’t go more than a day or two without talking to his older brother. Sure, there’d been years growing up where they’d fought like two caged animals.

But, family was family. Joe and his wife, Ruth, and their two girls lived on the other side of the Potomac. Close enough to visit often.

Adam enjoyed living near to them and would miss the Sunday night dinners and babysitting the girls so Joe and Ruth could have a date night if—when—his transfer to the Colorado Springs K-9 unit went through as Adam had requested. It would be hard leaving the elite K-9 team. They worked well together and he respected every member of the unit. And leaving Ace behind would tear his heart apart but his parents were getting on in years now and Adam felt the need to return home. To put down roots of his own.

“It’s not that strange. Families become estranged from one another all the time. Just because we shared the same blood didn’t make us friends.”

“True enough.” Though, personally, he wouldn’t let anything come between him and his brother. But it wasn’t his place to judge. “Do you know Erin Eagleton?”

“We’ve spoken on the phone regarding the Eagleton Foundation. They give generous donations to the museum. And we talked about the Golden Arrow. She was as excited by the artifact as I was, but I’ve never met her in person.” Her eyebrows dipped together. “Has she been found? I’d heard she was missing.”

He shook his head. Erin Eagleton was a senator’s daughter and the girlfriend of the victim. “She disappeared the night Michael was murdered.”

And a necklace with a starfish charm engraved on the back with the initials EE, along with a child’s blue mitten, had been found at the crime scene. They hadn’t released that tidbit of information yet. Did the presence of the necklace—determined to be Erin Eagleton’s—at Michael’s murder scene make Erin the murderer or another victim? At least they knew the child who’d dropped the mitten—even if they still didn’t know which child—was at a safe house with the rest of the foster kids from the All Our Kids home. None of the children would admit to having been near the congressman’s home—out of fear. But one of them likely had seen who had killed Michael Jeffries and shot his father, Congressman Harland Jeffries. Had Erin Eagleton been a witness? The perpetrator? A victim? Where was she?

Those questions plagued the Capitol K-9 Unit as they searched for Erin, grasping at any and all clues that might lead them to her and to Michael Jeffries’s murderer.

“When was the last time you spoke with Erin?” he asked, hoping this woman would have some useable clue to Erin’s whereabouts.

Lana frowned and appeared to be searching her memory. “Over a month ago.”

“What did you talk to Erin about?”

“Art. She and her family are patrons of the arts.” Lana’s voice took on an impatient edge. “The Eagletons have donated large sums of money to the museum. Erin Eagleton was the contact person for the Eagleton Foundation.”

“Do you always talk to donors?”

Her chin lifted. “Personal contact is important.”

“Were you aware that Erin Eagleton was Michael Jeffries’s girlfriend?”

“I’d heard that.” Puzzlement clouded her eyes. “What does any of this have to do with me? Or the attack at the museum?”

“Do you know where Erin is now?”

Lana let out an exasperated sigh. “We weren’t friends, Officer Donovan.” Her hand went to her throat. “You don’t think I had anything to do with her disappearance, do you?”

Adam didn’t like all the unknown variables. First Rosa Gomez’s suspicious death, then Congressman Jeffries’s son murdered by an unknown assassin and the congressman shot and left for dead. Michael’s girlfriend, Erin Eagleton, now missing. Lana and Rosa were sisters. Lana and Erin knew each other.

Now Lana had been attacked?

Another piece in the ever-expanding puzzle? Or coincidence?

Adam didn’t believe in coincidence. Yes, there were times life seemed random and out of control, but his faith in God gave him perspective. God was in control, but He allowed humans the free will to make choices.

Choices that affected others, like murder and theft.

Though Adam couldn’t see the big picture, God could and would reveal what needed to be known when the time was right. Until then Adam would work with the bits and pieces he had that collectively didn’t make sense. Yet.

Reserving judgment on Lana’s role in this mystery, he said, “You might know something that could help us find her.”

“I wish I did.” Concern shone in her eyes. Genuine? Or fake? “Erin seems like a nice person, but we only talked art. She’s very knowledgeable.”

Whether Erin was nice or not remained to be seen. If she had murdered her boyfriend and shot his father, then no, Adam wouldn’t categorize Erin as nice. But if she witnessed the murder and had been kidnapped by the unidentified assassin, then Erin could be in grave danger.

If not dead already.

He shifted his focus back to Lana. “Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt you?”

Her lips pursed. “Other than my ex-husband? No.”

The file Adam had on her said there had been domestic violence issues. He couldn’t abide men who abused women.

“Could the attacker have been your ex-husband?”

Her gaze jerked back to him. Her nose wrinkled up as she contemplated his question. “I don’t think so. This man was bulky, like a bodybuilder. Mark isn’t a bodybuilder. He prefers alcohol over exercise.”

Adam made a mental note to check on Mark’s whereabouts at the time of the break-in.

The door to the hospital room swung open and the doctor walked in. There was no mistaking the disapproval in the older man’s eyes behind his black-framed glasses. No doubt the good doctor still had his feathers ruffled from earlier when Adam had wanted to question Lana the moment she’d first awakened in the wee hours of the morning.

The doc had put the kibosh on Adam talking to her, telling Adam in no uncertain terms that his questions would have to wait until they knew Miss Gomez’s head injury hadn’t caused any permanent damage.

The doctor turned his attention to his patient. “How are you this morning?”

“I’m feeling better. Not even much of a headache,” Lana replied.

The smile she gave the doctor was warm, lighting up her whole face, and it belied the wincing Adam had witnessed a moment ago. His gaze narrowed. She apparently was accomplished at putting on a good front.

“Can I be discharged now?” Lana asked, in a hopeful voice.

The doctor moved so that he blocked Adam’s view of Lana. “Let me do my examination and then we can decide.” Throwing a glance over his shoulder, the doctor sent Adam a pointed look. “Do you mind?”

“I’ll be right outside,” Adam said for both the doctor and Lana’s sake. If what Adam suspected was true—that whoever killed Rosa Gomez was now targeting Lana—then he needed to know why. Lana may have useful information, even if she didn’t realize she did.

* * *

Lana breathed a sigh of relief when Adam disappeared out the door. There was something about the man that scraped at her nerves and set her senses on alert.

As the doctor did his exam, asking her all sorts of questions and taking her vitals, her mind grappled to come to grips with the officer’s suspicion that whoever killed her sister could now want her dead, as well.

It didn’t make sense. She and her sister had nothing in common. They barely knew each other. Rosa had cut Lana out of her life three years ago.

No. Adam was wrong. Whatever the intruder had been after last night had nothing to do with her or her sister. She still couldn’t believe the arrow hadn’t been stolen. Why go to the trouble of sneaking into the museum, breaking the glass display case, taking the arrow from its bed only to leave it behind?

She was glad he had left the artifact whatever his reason and the relief was so overwhelming she almost wept. She prayed the damage done wasn’t too extensive.

“Okay, young lady, I think you’re safe to go home, but I want you to take it easy. Lots of rest and plenty of water. You came in here with not only a nasty bonk on the head but you were dehydrated, as well.”

She grimaced. Now that she thought about it, she remembered she hadn’t eaten or drunk anything yesterday, except a cup of coffee. She tended to skip meals when she was working. “Yeah, I’ll try to do better.”

“No try. Do.”

She laughed, the motion sending a ball of pain ricocheting through her skull but she held her smile in place. “Okay, Doctor.”

He smiled. “I’ll have Cindy retrieve your clothes and initiate the discharge papers. Do you have someone to drive you home?”

Considering she didn’t own a car, she would have to call a friend to pick her up and take her to the home. Or she could take public transit, her normal mode of transportation. “I’ll figure it out. Thank you, Doctor Evans.”

With a nod, he left the room. Almost immediately Adam and his partner were striding back through the door. Dog and man moved as one unit with synchronized lethal grace. A daunting pair.

Her smile faded. “You have more questions?”

“I’m sure I will.”

She blew out a breath of frustration as Adam halted at the foot of her bed. Ace, however, came to her bedside and laid his nose next to her so she could pet him. She found the rhythmic motion soothing. Was that why the dog had come to her? To soothe her?

Adam frowned at the dog but didn’t reprimand him. “The doctor says you’ll be discharged within the hour. Ace and I will take you home.”

Hearing his name, Ace sat at attention, looking at his master.

“Ace,” she murmured. “That’s a fitting name.”

Something she couldn’t identify flickered in Adam’s eyes. “I thought so, too.”

Holding his gaze, she said, “I have a friend I can call to take me home.”

“Actually, if you’re up to it, I’d like to take you to the museum, then home,” he said. “I’d like you to verify there is nothing missing.”

Her heart gave a nervous thump. “Gladly.”

Despite her relief that nothing had been stolen, she couldn’t stop the shiver of anxiety from slithering down her spine. Because if the intruder’s intent had been to kill her...then he might come back to finish the job.

* * *

Adam drove through the midmorning DC traffic with Lana secured in the passenger seat. They were on their way to the museum. She hadn’t said much other than a polite thank-you when he opened the passenger door for her.

He slid a glance her way, liking her profile. She’d tied her long dark hair back in a low ponytail, which gave him a clear view of her straight nose, high cheekbones and the proud jut of her chin.

From this vantage, he couldn’t see the bandage but the bloodstains on the collar of her white blouse reminded him of the trauma she’d suffered.

He parked at an angle next to a patrol cruiser outside the entrance to the museum. After releasing Ace from the back, he escorted Lana inside. Ace walked between them.

A dozen or so uniformed patrol officers nodded in acknowledgement of a fellow law enforcement officer and gave Lana curious stares as she, Adam and Ace walked into the main lobby.

Adam had never visited this particular museum. He was immediately struck with the interesting way the wall art and the display cases were arranged, allowing a flowing progression through history. Solid white marble walls and matching floor provided a nondescript backdrop, which emphasized the colors of the artwork.

“Nice,” he said.

Lana caught his gaze. The beaming smile on her face full of pride made his heart jerk like the muscle had taken a direct hit from the business end of a Taser.

“We’ve worked really hard to make this a premier museum to rival the others in the city.” She touched his arm, the contact setting off a firestorm shooting up his arm beneath the thick cotton material of his uniform. She jerked her hand away as if she, too, had felt the current of electricity. Must be the static in the air from the spring storm.

She laced her fingers together in front of her. “If it were not for the Carroll family, this museum wouldn’t be here.”

“Carroll family?” he murmured more to keep her talking than from real interest. In his experience when people got on a verbal roll they tended to divulge aspects of themselves they wouldn’t normally share.

“Really?” Her eyes lit up. “Daniel Carroll was one of three commissioners appointed by General George Washington to survey and define the District of Columbia. The Carrolls owned land in Maryland, and Daniel strongly advocated locating the nation’s capital on the banks of the Potomac.”

Her face glowed with animation as she went on to tell him about the Carrolls’ descendants buying the building and forming a nonprofit foundation to start the museum. The joy in her voice squeezed Adam’s lungs, wringing out all the air as though he’d run a twenty-block foot chase.

Maybe getting her to open up on a subject she was so passionate about wasn’t the best idea since he got too easily wrapped up in her voice and could forget his purpose.

Out of the corner of his eye Adam spotted Detective David Delvecchio of the DC Police Department coming toward them.

Lana’s monologue tapered off for a moment before she breathed out, “It’s gone.”

Adam followed her gaze to an empty display case where a bed of red velvet sparkled with splinters of glass. Little plastic yellow markers were set in a circle around the case. As he led Lana closer, Adam noted bright red blood sprinkled on the floor amongst shards of glass. Lana’s blood.

“What do you have?” Adam asked as the detective halted in front of them.

David’s mouth lifted at one corner. “Former Special Agent Adam Donovan. Didn’t realize we’d invited the K-9 unit to the party.”

Adam flinched at the reminder of his past. He could feel Lana’s curious gaze on his face like an itch, but he refused to scratch. “This break-in may be related to an active investigation of ours.”

After giving Lana an interested once-over, David bounced his gaze back to Adam, a question in his eyes.

“Where’s the arrow?” Lana asked, drawing David’s attention back to her.

Knowing he had to tread lightly to ensure cooperation, Adam said, “This is Lana Gomez.”

David’s eyes widened then narrowed. “I see. The artifact is with the crime scene technicians.” He turned his sharp-eyed gaze on Adam. “You poaching the case, Donovan?”

“More like hoping we can work together.” Adam kept his voice neutral. “As I said, part of an open investigation.”

If push came to shove, Adam knew Captain McCord would involve the woman who’d formed the K-9 unit, the president’s special in-house security chief, General Margaret Meyer. The former four-star general would have no problem taking the case away from the local PD if necessary. Adam, however, preferred to keep interagency relations on good terms.

David cocked an eyebrow. “Ah, you show me yours, I’ll show you mine?”

Adam’s lips twitched. “Something like that.”

David’s attention transferred back to Lana. “I’m sure you’ve already filled my friend, here, in, but we like to conduct our own interviews. Are you up to giving your statement to an officer?”

Lana nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Garrison,” David called to a young uniformed officer. “Take Miss Gomez’s statement.”

Once Lana was out of earshot, David said, “Spill.”

“There’s a connection between Miss Gomez and the Jeffries case,” Adam went on to explain.

David grimaced. “Nasty business.”

Motioning for Adam and Ace to follow him to the back of the museum, the detective pointed to a spot on the gleaming white marble floor beneath an oil painting of the Capitol building. Black scuff marks showed in stark contrast, clearly indicating a struggle.

“The intruder came up behind the security guard and placed him in a choke hold,” David continued. “Guard passed out and dropped like a bag of stones in the Potomac.”

Adam frowned as he surveyed the area. The guard would have seen the intruder coming. Did that mean he knew his attacker? But for a choke hold to work, the guard would have had his back turned on the intruder. More pieces of the puzzle that weren’t fitting together. “Has the guard been released from the hospital?”

“Yes, he was released last night. He suffered no ill effects from the attack. Right now he’s in the security office with my officers.”

“I’d like a moment with him. How did the intruder enter?”

“The perp bypassed the security system by jerry-rigging a bladeRF radio device to the system’s keypad and jamming the signal while providing a phony rogue cell network for the keypad to latch on to. So when the intruder entered and the alarm sent a signal, it didn’t really go anywhere, which allowed the intruder to enter undetected.”

Keeping Ace at his heels, Adam headed for the smashed display case where a short man wearing the blue coveralls of the crime scene unit was placing the artifact back on its velvet bed. “This is where the intruder attacked Miss Gomez.”

“Our best guess is she interrupted the unidentified suspect before he could take the arrow.” David pointed to the red spots on the floor. “He hit her over the head and knocked her out. The intruder didn’t get what he was after because the security guard came to and managed to pull the fire alarm.”

Adam studied the long gold arrow; it certainly didn’t look like any archery arrow he’d ever used. The pointed pile had a wide base that narrowed to a tip, much like a Native American arrowhead that appeared sharp enough to pierce skin. The gold-plated shaft measured roughly an inch in diameter and the fletching, normally consisting of feathers to give the arrow wings, was made from delicately pounded gold filigree. “I don’t see any blood on it.”

“Should there be?”

“Miss Gomez claims he hit her with the arrow.” Adam’s gaze went to where she stood in her serviceable navy pumps. Though the heels were low and her navy blue skirt dropped to just above her knees, he found his gaze drawn to her shapely calves. Did she cycle? Or run? Or was she naturally toned? He gave a quick shake of his head to clear his thoughts. Her exercise regimen wasn’t any of his business.

David’s eyebrows hitched upward. In response to Adam’s statement or to the fact Adam had been staring at Lana? He tugged at the collar of his uniform shirt.

With a slight curl of his lip, David waved over a crime scene technician. “Did you find blood on the arrow?”

The tech shook his head. “No. No blood.”

Adam’s gaze slid back to Lana. Suspicion snarled inside his chest. Had she lied to him? Or had the intruder cleaned up after himself? He rubbed his chin. The perpetrator of the break-in had the technical know-how to bypass a state-of-the-art security system and was physically capable of taking out an armed guard. Both suggested the intruder had training that went beyond the norm. It was plausible the trespasser would have the smarts to wipe away trace evidence.

“I found a latent print, though. I used an alternate light source to find it and then ran a photograph of the print through the FBI’s and the DC fingerprint databases and got a hit.”

The tech’s words jolted through Adam. Blood rushed to his head, making his temples pound. This was good news.

“Do you have an ID?” David asked.

“Yes, sir.” The tech held out a printed sheet of paper. David took the paper and studied it for a long tense moment. His jaw firmed. The hard glint in his eyes as he lifted his gaze and handed Adam the sheet sent apprehension sliding through him.

Adam stared at the photo identification of the person who had last touched the Golden Arrow. His stomach sank to his toes.

Lana Gomez.

THREE

The muscles in Adam’s hand convulsed, crumpling the paper with Lana’s photo. A cold draft of air swirled through the museum, settling around him like a dark cloak. Outside, rain pinged irritating little drops of water against the overhead skylight. Lana’s soft voice echoed off the marble walls. He wasn’t sure what to think about this new development.