Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(61)

“No kidding,” Zack said.

Gabe snapped his gaze away from Shelby.

Zack glanced over his shoulder toward Kelsey’s bedroom, but not before Gabe caught the glint of curiosity in his eye. Zack was no dummy. He’d picked up on the subtle change in Shelby, too.

“Do me a favor, kid,” he said, without looking Gabe in the eye. “Mark said Rory and Connor located security footage from the day Kelsey went missing that confirmed someone who looked and acted a lot like Alex was at the riverbank that day, I hear her moving around back there. She’ll be out here soon. Let’s take it slow with her. Let her draw her own conclusions. Shelby, would you put a couple bags of popcorn in the microwave? Gabe, let’s get your camcorder hooked up. We’re having a party, remember?”

Kid. The standard nametag for any jarhead with less military time under his belt. It had nothing to do with age, but Gabe caught the drift. Zack was the old dog in the room. He meant to protect Kelsey, even from the good news.

“You bet. Let’s not tell her about the blood evidence yet, either. Not until we know for sure.” Gabe doffed the blanket, but rising to his feet brought a moment of dizziness. He paused with his hand on the back of his chair to let his head settle down.

Man. What was in that river water? Oh, wait. Two dead guys. Yuck.

He latched onto his gear bag and joined Zack on the floor in front of the television set, another indication of the kind of man Alex had been. The set was cheap and small. “You’re kidding me, right? How am I going to hook up a camcorder to this? What is it? Co-axle?” he asked as he pulled the mini-cam out of his bag.

“You’ll manage.” Zack turned the set sideways on its matching small wooden stand while Gabe pulled his mini-cam and cables from his bag. “The thing is, Alex used to have a nicer television. Used to have me over for football games and dinner with him and his girls way back when. Guess he purged all his good memories after they died.”

“They what? He’s been married before? His girls died?”

“Shh. Keep it quiet, but yes. Car crash took them both. The video line goes here. See?” Zack tapped the video input. “Yeah, Alex hooked up his old TV when my little LiLi wanted to know why she couldn’t watch Big Bird and Barney at her grandpa’s house. She’s a pistol. Always called him Grandpa. Funny thing, I think he liked it.”


Gabe’s gaze drifted to the mantle. He’d only given the family pictures lined up there a cursory glance, but the younger guy in the family portrait was his boss? Gabe thought maybe a brother, because that smiling guy resembled Alex, but it really was him? Wow. He was a lot happier then. Carefree.

Two other photographs displayed two smiling brown-haired boys not included in the family shot. “Who are they?”

“Joey and Tommy,” Kelsey said from the front room entry.

Gabe snapped his neck, ashamed she’d caught them discussing what had to be another damned painful time in her life.

“It’s okay, Gabe. You can ask. They’re my sons. I lost them before Alex and I ever met. The picture on the left is Alex with Sara and Abby. They were his first family. I’m his second.”

Embarrassment flamed Gabe’s cheeks. He wished he’d kept his big mouth shut. “I’m sure sorry, ma’am.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad you asked. It helps to talk about them. It keeps them alive in my heart. And this guy.” She adjusted the portrait of another man who had to be unrelated. The guy had a serious unibrow on a forehead that hung out over two light-blue eyes like a cliff, resembling Frankenstein. “This is Raymond. I met him last summer when I was kidnapped. He helped me get away, but he died in the process. We adopted him after the fact. Kind of. I had an artist do this pencil rendering. I don’t want to forget him, either.”

“Popcorn’s ready.” Shelby smoothed a hand over Kelsey’s shoulder. “How was your nap?”

Gabe was thankful for the distraction. More than ever, Kelsey needed the proof in his camcorder. “Ready to watch what me and the dogs found?” he asked, his cold and flu symptoms insignificant compared to what she’d survived and overcome.

Her eyes lit up. “Him?”





Chapter Eighteen


Gabe and Zack were very smooth operators. They’d both brightened when Kelsey appeared, not telling her anything she didn’t already know, but honestly. Gabe’s version of events on the day of the shooting was either inaccurate or Mr. Stewart wasn’t dead. No way. It couldn’t be. That handsome man in the pictures wouldn’t pretend to get killed. Not Alex. He wouldn’t hurt Kelsey. Heck, he had everything most guys wanted—well except for a decent house.

But darn. Kelsey had lost her first husband and sons, too? A shiver skated up Shelby’s spine, raising a rash of goose bumps across her shoulders at what she’d overheard. She brushed her hands over them, trying to dispel the chill.

Here she’d thought she’d be bored spending a few quiet days with a grieving widow, but the simple job had changed. She was up to her ears in more intrigue than she’d ever known. And now they were going to sit down and watch a movie with dead bodies? She rubbed her biceps, unable to chase the goose bumps away. Brrr.

“Hey, Shelby,” Zack called from the front room. “While you’re up, would you grab a couple beers?”