Finding Her Son(31)

Papers rustled. “Who was guarding him?” His father had gone into cop mode, snapping orders like the sergeant he would always be. Mitch had missed that part of their relationship.

“I don’t have that information.” His mind whirled with possibilities. “I can find out.”

“You do that. Then feed me the name.”

“Just how involved are you?” Mitch started to worry. His dad was a good cop, but he had to accept his physical limitations.

“Keeping my fingers in the pot. Just because my legs don’t work anymore, doesn’t mean my experience isn’t valuable. Even to my son,” Paul snapped.

“I never said—”

“You didn’t ask, either.” His dad’s voice had softened slightly, with just a hint of accusation, and a bit of hurt.

“You’re freelancing.” Mitch realized the new computer equipment in his dad’s office had more purpose than surfing the latest social-networking websites. “With Denver PD?”

“Sometimes.”

“You’ve gone private. Be careful, Dad. The last PI I knew got his head blown off.”

“Perry was a drunk. I’m careful.”

“But you’re not on this case.”

His dad was quiet for a moment. “Not at the moment. Not unless you need my help.”

Mitch didn’t want any of his family anywhere near this case, but if his dad had inside information, he couldn’t afford not to ask. “What do you think of Dane Tanner?”

“Ex-Special Forces. The latest hotshot detective.” Mitch could almost see his dad’s fingers steepling below his chin, as they always did when he considered a question. “Driven. Wants to bring down the criminals. In a bad way.”

“Is he an honest cop? Did his name ever come up in anything…unusual?”

“Not in the way you think.”

“Spill it, Dad. Give me something. If I trust him, and something happens to Emily—”

“She might’ve killed her husband, Mitch. The evidence—”

Mitch slowly did the stretching exercises Emily had prescribed. Easy, slow, not too much pain. “I don’t buy it. She was almost killed twice. Someone’s out to get her, and I’m going to find out who.”

“She’s staying with you.” The disapproval in Dad’s voice came through the phone loud and clear. “Not at your place, I hope.”

“I’m not a fool, but someone broke into her house on my watch. I’m being careful. She has nowhere else to go.” Mitch paused. “She wants her son back.”

“I know that hits you hard, especially after what happened to Ian’s little girl, but—”

“I believe in her.”

His dad sighed. “Okay. I taught you to trust your gut, but remember, we’ve both been screwed. My faith put me in this chair. Your trust of Adam got you shot. We should’ve seen the signs. You keep your eyes and ears open. I’ll be madder than a starving tick if you get yourself killed.”

“Should I go to Tanner?”

“Keep him in the loop. Not enough to put anyone in danger, but enough that if he’s dirty he’ll hang himself. Keep your enemy closer than your ally, Mitch.”

“You talking about Emily or Tanner?”

“Both.”

“That’s what I thought. I’ll contact Tanner.”

Mitch ended the call with a quick tap to the touch screen.

“Why would you communicate with the man who might be trying to kill me?”

Emily’s voice came out of nowhere. She’d cracked open his door and peeked through the opening, a towel around her head and another wrapping her body. She obviously didn’t care she was one tug away from being naked in front of him. Her face was flushed, but he couldn’t tell whether it was from the hot tub, a hot shower or pure anger.

She stalked over to his bed. Probably the latter.

“We had an agreement, but you’re a cop at heart, aren’t you? I thought I could trust you.”

The accusation dug deep. He couldn’t deny his deception or his assignment. That was one of the reasons he wanted to call Tanner, to convince the man to give him some room to investigate. He couldn’t decide if his boss had called his dad for information or to warn him in a roundabout way. Either way, he must focus on who was trying to kill Emily. The tiptoeing around would have to wait.

“Things have changed.”

“Yes. They’re worse.”

“Look. I won’t reveal where we’re staying, but I want to know what he knows.”

“You’re making a mistake. Perry said not to trust the Denver PD.”

“I’m a cop, and you’re here with me.” Mitch rose from the bed and stood toe-to-toe with her, a fingertip away from snapping the towel from around her and finishing what he should never have started last night. “Why is that, Emily? Why haven’t you just run?”

“Maybe I should have.” She turned away from him.

“Don’t. Either you’re here with me, or you’re not, but don’t question my integrity. I’ve said I’ll keep you safe, and I will. If I have one inkling Tanner is involved, I’ll push him out of the loop.”

His stomach churned at the argument. Every word was true, except that their entire relationship was based on his lies, and he could see no way out of it. He’d long passed the point of admitting the truth to her.