"so you came down here to get close to faith, hoping celia would turn up," connor said in a dangerously low tone.

gray sucked in his breath and took the last plunge. "mick arranged for me to get a job here through a mutual acquaintance of his and pop's. i bugged faith's office and home phone and waited for her mother to call. she actually called the first day i met faith, but i hadn't gotten the tap in place yet."

"son of a bitch," connor seethed. "and you didn't think to tell us any of this?"

"you've been using her," nathan observed quietly. "i knew something weird was going on between you two. just how close did you get to her in this little investigation of yours?"

connor took a menacing step forward, and pop put his arm out to halt him. "not now, damn it. i want to hear the rest of this."

gray stood, meeting connor's unspoken challenge. "a few days after that first phone call, she called again, and i found faith in her office extremely upset. later, when i listened to the playback, i could hear samuels in the background making threatening remarks to faith's mother. mick gave me a report that he and celia had been spotted in huntsville, so we thought they might be headed this way."

pop bit out an uncharacteristic swear word.

"this morning i found this in the mail," gray said, pointing to the letter on the desk. "the bastard is here, which is why we have to find faith and keep her safe."

connor clenched his fists at his side and his neck muscles bulged and flexed. "she wouldn't be in any danger if you had been honest with us from the beginning. it's kind of hard to protect her when we're kept in the fucking dark."

pop picked up his cell phone and punched in a number with trembling fingers. he stuck the phone to his ear and stood, twitching impatiently. a few seconds later, he bit out another curse before he closed the phone and dropped it on the desk.

"i got her damn voice mail."

"you don't know where she is?" gray asked incredulously.

"no, i don't damn well know where she is. she called and said she needed a vacation. i told her to take one. i didn't even think to ask her where she was. i didn't think it was important at the time." pop sank down in his chair and rubbed a hand over his hair. "i need a minute to think, damn it."

"do you have any contacts with the houston pd?" gray asked. "we need to have faith's apartment watched. maybe even set up a decoy. if samuels is watching, he'll likely go for her there. faith has a set routine that she normally doesn't deviate from."

"yeah, you'd know wouldn't you," nathan said with a grunt.

"we could set a trap for the asshole," connor said. "sounds like he's pretty damn desperate."

"that was my thought," gray said. "we need to find faith, tell her what's going on and stash her someplace safe."

pop shook his head. "no."

gray, connor and nathan all looked at him in surprise.

pop stared back at them in turns. "i don't want her to know about any of this."

gray shook his head in confusion. "how are you going to keep it from her? and why would you keep it from her? she needs to know."

"just give me a damn minute to think," pop growled. he put his forehead in his hands and looked down for a long moment.

"i've got a plan," gray said slowly, his brow furrowing as he gave more thought to the idea forming in his head.

"maybe you should let us handle this," connor said acidly. "i'm not too crazy about your plans so far."

pop held up his hand. "i'm not too happy about any of this myself, but right now, the most important thing is making sure faith is safe. everything else can wait."

gray cleared his throat uncomfortably and continued. "i can't be involved in this, not officially, i mean. we find out where faith is, and i go to her. keep a close eye on her until this is resolved. you can coordinate with the houston police here and work out a way to catch samuels. maybe even go with a decoy like we mentioned earlier. i'll let faith know what's going on, and you can keep us posted on your progress."

again pop shook his head. "i don't want her to know about this."

"she has to know," gray said. "there's no way to keep this from her."

"you don't goddamn tell me what i will or won't tell my daughter," pop said in an explosion of anger. his lips tightened, and he appeared to be trying to regain control of his temper. "look, faith is the most tenderhearted girl i know. even with all her mother has done, it would break her heart to know her mother was involved in something like this. i can't let that happen to her again. she's already been let down too many times by that bitch."

"you can't protect her from everything," gray argued.

pop looked him straight in the eye and held up a finger. "i'll protect her from as much as i can. there is no need for her to know. she's on vacation. i told her to take a week. we'll find out where she is, and then you can go make sure she stays put and is safe."

"i don't like it," connor interrupted. "i don't want him anywhere near her."

pop held up his hand. "i'm not any happier about this damn mess than you are, connor, but gray's right. he can't be involved in this, and i need you and nathan and micah here if we're going to catch this son of a bitch. someone has to make sure faith stays safe." he stared gray down. "can i count on you to do that?"

"i don't like lying to her," he said through gritted teeth. "not about something like this."

"but you'll lie to her about everything else," nathan pointed out with a scowl.

gray's fingers curled into fists. "i did what i had to do to find the man responsible for murdering a cop. that bastard killed my partner. i had a responsibility to do whatever was necessary to bring him to justice. i didn't like deceiving any of you, and i don't want to lie to faith any more than i already have. i..."

"you what?" connor demanded.

he ignored connor and looked pop in the eye. "i care about your daughter. i've tried my best not to. i've tried to stay away from her. i'm the reason she took this damn vacation. i upset her, and now it's time for me to make things right. i can't make it right if i'm stuck lying to her some more."

pop didn't so much as flinch. he met gray's stare with a steady gaze. "you can make it right when the bastard who is threatening her is behind bars. there's no sense upsetting her needlessly. her mother has caused her enough grief. if she knows what her fool mother has done, you won't be able to keep her away from here. she'll worry that celia is in trouble. it could be days before we catch this guy. there's no sense in having her worried sick the entire time."

"i don't like it," gray said.

"i'm not that crazy about it either," connor muttered. gray noticed the sideways glance connor threw at pop.

"she's not a child," gray pointed out.

"you didn't seem to have any problems keeping the truth from her when it suited your purpose," pop said, anger rising in his voice again.

gray looked up at the ceiling in frustration. they were wasting so much valuable time in a ridiculous pissing match. he needed to find faith and make sure she was protected. he returned his gaze to pop. "look, when i got here, i had no idea if faith was innocent or not. how was i supposed to? for all i knew, she was completely aware of her mother's situation. i didn't know faith. i had to treat her like any other potential suspect. i know now that she's not involved, and i don't like lying to her any more than i already have."

"and i don't want her hurt," pop said quietly. "she's my daughter. i love her. if i can keep the knowledge that her mother was willing to allow her latest boyfriend to harm her own daughter over money, then by god i will."

gray closed his eyes. "all right. fine."

what an impossible situation. his mind raced to find a way to make everything work. how was he supposed to just show up, crash faith's vacation and act like he didn't have an ulterior motive for being there? he doubted she'd be overjoyed to see him. he imagined being able to level with her but instead he'd be going to her with more deceit.

but everything else would have to be real. he'd have to show her what was real. and what was real was his attraction to her, his need to see if they had any shot at the kind of relationship they both wanted.

could he pull that off as the real reason for tracking her down? that part wouldn't be a lie. he'd very much wanted to level with her and then pursue this thing between them. only now, he'd have to go about it bass-ackwards. pursue, then level.

hell.

chapter 27

the office building resembled the monthly meeting of the swat team just an hour later. policemen, friends of pop's, littered the offices of malone's, and the buzz of a dozen different conversations reverberated through the building. amid the chaos micah walked cautiously in, a bewildered expression on his face.

"what the fuck is going on?" he asked from the doorway of pop's office.

all four men turned around, their cell phones to their ears. pop tossed his aside. "do you know where faith is?" he demanded.

a peculiar look crossed micah's face. "uh, why do you ask? what's going on?"

gray rose and walked over to where micah stood. "if you know where she is, tell me. she's in a lot of danger."

micah's gaze sharpened. he lowered his voice so only gray would hear. "she's at damon's beach house."

"who the fuck is damon?" gray growled.

"he's the manager of the house, the guy who set faith up to visit. you probably saw him when you went to get her."

"yeah, i saw him," gray muttered. what the hell was she doing with the sex club guy?

"she's alone," micah said as if reading gray's thoughts.

"would you two care to share with the rest of us?" connor demanded. "micah, if you know where faith is, then you better spill it."

"i know where she is. now who's going to tell me why our office looks like a policemen's union meeting and what that has to do with faith being in danger?"

gray quickly related the story to micah. micah frowned and glanced over at gray. "so all this time you were jacking us around?"

gray sighed. "i had a job to do, man. you were a cop. you understand."

a dull shadow crossed micah's eyes. "yeah, i do."

a commotion in the hall had them all looking up. a few seconds later, mick came barreling past several policemen. he hadn't shaven in at least a week, and he looked like hell.

"damn it, mick, what are you doing here?" gray demanded.

"where else would i be?" he ground out. "now tell me what's going on."

gray sighed. "i can't be involved in this, mick, and neither can you. i'll give you the key to my apartment. you can go stay there. the police will notify you when an arrest has been made."

"the hell you say! and where the hell are you going?"

"i'm going to make sure faith stays out of harm's way," he said evenly. "hopefully this will all be over quickly."

"you're leaving?" mick asked incredulously. "you're going to let some piece of ass deter you from catching your partner's-your brother's-killer?"

in a blur, connor flew past gray and shoved mick against the wall, his hand twisted in mick's shirt. "listen to me, you son of a bitch. that's my sister you're talking about. why don't you do what gray told you and get the fuck out of here."

pop strode over and pulled connor away. though he appeared calmer than connor, his eyes blazed with anger. "back off, son. me and mr. winslow here will have a little chat. and then he's going to clear his ass out of my office." he turned to gray. "you need to get on out of here. you're supposed to be protecting my daughter."

gray started to dig around in his pocket for a key to his apartment, but pop waved him on. "i'll take care of making sure mr. winslow has a place to stay. you focus on your job, and we'll do ours. i'll be in touch and let you know how things are going and when it's safe to come back home."

gray nodded then turned to micah. "i need you to tell me where."

micah walked out to the front with gray and picked up a tablet of paper and a pen and jotted down an address. he tore off the piece of paper and handed it to gray. "just head straight down seawall boulevard out of town. you can't miss it. just about the time you think you're going to fall off the other end of the island, you're there."