Chapter 17

17

Gunnar fought the fury, seeing the strain in Heather's eyes. The woman was the toughest he had ever met, hands down. She was also more vulnerable than he thought she realized was visible. "I'm sorry about this. Dan shouldn't have sent you up here. He should have sent Lila or Sean or?—"

"Like he pointed out, I drew the short straw. How that was possible since I'm still suspended, I don't know. But here I am." Heather looked down and pulled the blanket away from her baby's face. Gunnar had to smile. The baby's mouth was open, and she was blowing bubbles in her sleep.

"She looks a lot like Hope. Adorable." The baby was a beautiful baby, no denying that. Wild brown tufts of hair stuck out underneath the green hat on her little head. A baby version of the Hope gremlin. It made him want to smile just to see her.

"It's the hat and the weird sprouts of hair everywhere, right? Makes her look even more like Hope. She's the spitting image of my baby sister. Hope gets such a kick out of that," Heather said. "We don't exactly have a lot of winter clothing for the baby, but Summer had extra hats for my girls. We had to make do— most of our winter gear is still in the barn at our old house in Oklahoma."

Both little girls had on those slouchy knit hats similar to the ones Heather's younger sister often wore. He'd only met Hope Coleson a few times.

Something about Heather had always gotten under his skin.

Not the same way that Powell did, obviously, but the fear. He had always been able to see the fear in Heather's face when she didn't think anyone was watching. He just hadn't figured out how to help. He'd hoped with time, she'd open up to him a little. So he could help.

He'd thought it had had to do with the trauma from what Eastman had done, from killing her brother-in-law three years ago to abducting her nieces and her sister five months ago. But now, he knew the truth.

It was far more than that. And it never should have happened.

The TSP had betrayed Heather in the most unimaginable way possible.

The TSP was supposed to protect the innocent. Yet they couldn't even protect themselves from their own bad actors. That wasn't something he was going to accept easily.

Both women were still shivering. Neither wore more than a damned sweatshirt with windbreakers over the top. They'd wrapped blankets over Heather's older girl, and the baby had blankets over her carrier. "You need winter coats for this place."

"I know. I was going to leave Cara and the girls here and go find us some. I think there is a secondhand store nearby. I don't want to pay full price if we won't use them again. We'll just take them home with us for the next Colesons who may need them." Heather shot a look toward the two men in suits who stood nearby. Watching. She paled a little. "As soon as I figure out which of Barratt's bodyguards I'm going to leave with the girls and Cara, and which one is going to drive me."

Of course. The bodyguards were big, strong, armed men. Intimidating. And Heather had been through utter hell at the hands of a man who fit that description to a T. Heather was terrified of the bodyguards, even though she would never admit it.

He'd take her himself, but he had a call with the WHP commander in ten minutes. Gunnar checked. He recognized both of Houghton Barratt's guards right there. They were decent guys—she'd be safe with either of them. He'd leave Powell alone with either of them, no question. There wasn't a better litmus test than that.

"Grab hats and boots if you can find them. At least for yourself. We are going to have to go out on some scenes, I think. It's going to be damned cold. Have Buck drive you—I've known him for a few years now. He's a good guy—he has six younger siblings he wrangles, including three little sisters. The eldest is seventeen now, I think. He has custody and has since she was eleven or twelve. He adores his family." Gunnar understood what she wasn't saying. Hell, it was no wonder she didn't want to be alone with a man she had never met before. "I'll stay in the lobby with your girls until you get back. I'll just take my call from the WHP in here. We'll grab dinner in the dining room when you get back. Powell and I were going to eat together, but I suspect her brothers might have crashed the party, so you can help me run them off."

"Great. I'll do that. Did I ever mention I hate the snow? And flying? And probably Daniel McKellen the Second forever."

"No? I hadn't heard."

Powell was there. Going for the niece on Heather's left. Of course, Gunnar had recognized her as Powell's favorite intern. "Cara, come inside. Get by the fire. It is freezing out there. Come on, let's get you warmed up."

A look of pure relief went through Heather's face when she saw Powell standing there.

Powell fussed over Cara a great deal. Like she did Haldyn. It had surprised him at first to see how much, but when Powell cared about someone, she fussed. It drove her brothers crazy, but they let her do it to them too.

Occasionally.

Gunnar wanted her to fuss over him too. For the rest of his life if she wanted. All she had to do was say the word.

Cara and Powell headed over toward the fireplace, Cara telling Powell something Gunnar didn't catch. He stayed where he was. Looked at Heather. "Are you okay? Seriously? I've been worried about you this week."

Heather hesitated, then looked at her niece as she shifted the baby carrier in her hand. "I…don't really know, honestly. I've been focused on Hope. I had to answer questions from IA two days ago. About Steve. And what I supposedly knew he was involved in. Some of the guys from Wichita Falls crashed the interview. I reported Steve for harassment, stalking, assault at least eight times, other than when he physically attacked me—four times. Those reports are mostly gone now. But Hope found copies. We still have them. And I know Kimball had the originals. Somehow. I want copies of what Kimball had, but Daniel Asshole McKellen won't give them to me. Those copies Hope found were all that got Fort Worth's IA to back down. I think they believed me, but I'm just not sure. They may have just…retreated."

Gunnar knew the computer forensics team at Finley Creek had found four reports. So where were the others? It surprised him that she was telling him so freely. "I'm sorry, Heather. That never should have happened. What he did. I wish I had known, had been able to help."

"Should and do—two opposite ends of the world." She looked at him, then. This beautiful woman with pain and memories written on her face. "I really don't have anyone else I can trust. I have some things, Gun. Things Hope found. Things I found about Steve and some of his friends. I didn't put them together until…I've been delving into Jarrod's theory in my off time, but—I don't know. I know you are friends with the governor. I know he's got his own game in the making with all of what's happening in the TSP. He doesn't really care about us. Definitely not about my family, except how he can use us to his advantage. But he's the only one I know who has enough clout behind him to maybe do something with what Hope and I have found. I know someone is yanking me around right now. I don't think it's McKellen, not really, but I'm just not sure."

"Daniel wouldn't do that. I know he wouldn't."

But the truth was right there for him to see. She didn't trust Daniel one damned bit. But she was trusting Gunnar. That mattered. And he suspected just how hard that was for her.

He didn't take her trust lightly.

"I don't have the faith in McKellen that you do. I'd give what we have to Mig, but I don't want him caught in the middle of this any more than he already is. Not with his three kids solely dependent on him. And he doesn't know the governor but in passing."

And she thought Gunnar was the only one she could trust.

The weight of that was hard to miss.

"Get me what you have, Heath. We'll go over it tonight. I'll help however I can. You don't have to do this alone."

She nodded. Stared at him for a moment. "You really are one of the good ones, Gunnar Erickson. That matters. More than you can ever know."