Key Witness Page 6

  “Never a dull moment.”

  “You must like that kind of life. Full of adventures, taking risks, dodging trouble.”

  He grinned. “I’m not James Bond, if that’s what you’re implying, nor do I aspire to be.” He shrugged. “I think what we do is important. I think I’m good at what I do. So it’s a nice marriage of sorts.”

  Yeah, Elle had seen his type before. Been engaged to his type before, even. Risk-takers weren’t her match, that was for sure. She needed the safe type, the type who were happy with what they had and not always looking for the next rush of adrenaline.

  The waitress set a seafood platter in front of Denton and some broiled flounder by Elle. She lifted a quick prayer before unrolling her silverware. She looked up and noticed Denton studying her.

  “What?”

  “I knew there was something different about you.”

  “Because I pray?”

  “Yeah, because you pray. In public. When you don’t have to. I like that.”

  She raised her fork. “My family grew up only going to church on holidays. But when my sister was kidnapped, my world was turned upside down. I knew I had to trust in a higher being or I’d never find any true hope in this world. The more I studied the Bible, the more I realized that I really believed in God with all my heart—not only because I wanted Him to answer my prayers. I wanted to know Him more because of what He did for me on the cross.” She wiped her mouth. “How about you?”

  “I was kind of wild for a long time. A party boy, some might say. But after I met my wife, she taught me that there was a lot more to life.”

  Elle blanched. “Your wife?” Elle hadn’t seen him as the marrying type, much less as the married type. How had she missed that?

  “She passed away two years ago.” Elle didn’t miss the shadow that fell over his gaze. He’d loved her, and Elle knew all his pain hadn’t subsided. Did it ever when you lost a loved one? “I’m sorry. I had no idea you were married.”

  “Why do you sound so surprised?”

  She shook her head, flustered for showing her emotions so easily. “I just...I just didn’t expect that.”

  “I don’t seem like the marrying type?”

  “Honestly? Not exactly.”

  He shrugged. “I’ll take being married any day to being single.”

  Elle paused from eating, leaning back slightly so she could soak in the answer to her next question. “Really? What was so great about it?”

  “Those were the happiest days of my life. Even with our ups and downs—and we had them—marrying Wendi was the best thing I’ve ever done.” His words sounded sincere, honest and down-to-earth.

  Elle’s heart thudded. She’d lost hope in having her own happy ever after, of finding a good man who believed in forever. She cleared her throat. “That’s sweet.”

  “I mean it.” Denton’s gaze was unwavering and grounded.

  Elle’s throat burned with some strange emotion she couldn’t identify. “I believe you. I just wish I had that much confidence.”

  Denton put down his fork and straightened, his eyes narrowed. “Funny, because you seem like the marrying type.”

  In an effort to retain her composure, she took another bite of her food. The fish was cooked to perfection, she had to admit. Too bad they weren’t talking about the food anymore. She swallowed and wiped her mouth, noticing that Denton still waited for her response. “I haven’t seen that many examples of happy marriages.”

  “That’s a shame.”

  She had to change the subject and find a way to not talk about herself. “What happened with your wife, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  He shrugged. “It’s okay. She’s in a better place now and isn’t suffering anymore.” He paused a moment. “She had brain cancer. We tried everything—surgery, chemo, radiation. Nothing helped. They were all just temporary fixes, I suppose. The last couple weeks before she died were the worst.”

  Elle’s throat burned still. “I can’t imagine what that would have been like. I’m so sorry.”

  “Being married makes you grow up fast. But having a spouse with a terminal illness really shows you what you’re made of. I’m glad I was able to be there with her. It was another reason why I wanted to work for Eyes. The flexibility of my schedule let me stay home with her when she needed me.”

  “How long were you married?”

  “Five years. Not long enough.” He leaned forward. “You ever been married?”

  She shook her head, probably a little too hard. “No. I came close, but thankfully I saw the light, so to speak.”

  “About your fiancé or about marriage in general?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe both.” Her cell beeped and she picked it up, saw that Bentley was calling. “Saved by the cell.” She smiled before answering. Her smile quickly faded as her father’s chief-of-staff came on the line.

  “Elle, we have a problem. A big problem.”

  Her back muscles instantly tightened. “What’s going on?”

  “Someone hacked into our server again. This time they sent out a letter to everyone on our donation list.”

  “What did it say?”

  “Nothing. It was a picture of your father.”

  “What kind of picture?” She held her breath as she waited for his response.

  “A picture of your father with another woman.”

  Elle closed her eyes. “What do you mean exactly?”

  “You’re going to want to see it for yourself. The press is going to have a field day with this.”

  Elle stood, ignoring how she jarred the table and made everything rattle with the action. She grabbed her purse and began scrambling through her wallet for cash. “I’ve got to get back to the house and start doing some damage control.”

  Denton appeared at her side, back in bodyguard mode. “What was that phone call about?”

  Where was all of her cash? “Someone sent out an email to our campaign subscriber list of my father with another woman.”

  Denton’s hand went over hers. She couldn’t deny that jolt that rushed through her at his touch. “I’ve got the meal covered. Tell me about the email. You think it’s the same person who sent you the threatening email yesterday?”

  She paused long enough to close her purse and pull it over her shoulder. “Makes sense to me. I thought our IT guys had fixed whatever problem that allowed them to do it in the first place. Apparently not.”

  Denton threw some bills on the table while still keeping in stride with Elle. She reached the front door and swung it open.

  Denton stepped in front of her. “Wait. I know you’re upset, but we still need to take precautions.”

  She looked up, noticing his close proximity, and her heart seemed to stutter out an extra beat. She quickly looked away and stepped back. “Of course.”

  Denton scanned their surroundings—fairly simple since it was mostly cornfields and patches of trees—and then motioned toward the driver of the SUV. A moment later, the vehicle pulled up to the door and Denton ushered her inside.

  As soon as they started down the road, Denton turned toward her. “Tell me about the photos.”

  Elle pulled up her email on her phone and blanched when the picture popped onto her screen. The image was of her father seated on a park bench next to a pretty blonde woman not much older than Elle. They were both laughing, sitting close enough that people would ask questions, but far enough away that they’d be able to deny anything. Elle handed her phone to Denton.

  He studied the picture a moment, his expression unchanging. “Who is she?”

  “I have no idea.” Elle had never seen the woman before. But her dad had a separate apartment up in Washington, D.C., where he stayed when the senate was in session. She tried to stay as far away from that life as she coul
d.

  “Is your dad...?”

  Elle swallowed, her throat suddenly achy. “Having an affair? I hope not. Rumors have been circulating for years, though. I guess I always assumed it was better if I didn’t know.”

  He pointed to her phone, compassion warming his eyes. “There could be an explanation for that photo.”

  She shrugged. “Could be. I won’t know until I talk to my dad. I have to say, family issues aside, this is one of the worst things that could happen for his reelection campaign.”

  “How about for you?”

  She grimaced. “Yeah, I’ll deal with how it affects me after I process how it affects everything else. I wonder if my mom has seen this yet.”

  “Will she be devastated?”

  Her mom flashed through her mind. “Sadly, probably not. Their marriage has seen better days. Sometimes I think staying together is a political move more than anything else.” Elle shook her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you all of that. I don’t know what got into me. I always try so hard to be careful what I say, to be ‘politically correct,’ I suppose. Sometimes it feels good just to be honest.”

  “Whatever you say is safe with me.”

  Something about his words caused her cheeks to flush. She believed him. And Elle hardly ever believed anyone. Broken promises seemed to be a theme in her life. Yet here she was being protected by a man she hardly knew, and somehow innately she felt certain she could trust him.

  It had been a long time since she’d felt that way. The last time she’d let her guard down, she’d ended up devastated. Would it be the same with Denton?

  It didn’t matter. Denton would be out of her life soon. Once these bank robbers were behind bars, she’d have her freedom back. And with the local police working the case, certainly an arrest would be made before long.

  She prayed an arrest would be made before long.

  In the meantime, it would be best not to get too close to Denton. His revelation that he’d been married had shocked her enough and showed her a different side of the man. She’d never, ever guessed him to be the family-man type. But maybe that first impression was wrong.

  Her phone rang again. Her dad. She sighed before answering. This was one conversation she didn’t want to have.

  SIX

  Denton tried to give Elle some privacy but that wasn’t the easiest thing to do in the confined quarters of a moving SUV. He at least had the decency to look out the window as Elle spoke into the phone.

  “Dad, this is one of those times I wished I wasn’t working for you because I don’t want to ask you these hard questions. But I have to. Who is she, Dad?” Elle’s voice sounded sharp, tight.

  As it should. His own parents had divorced when he was a teenager, and he remembered the agony of watching his family fall apart. No one—whatever the age—should have to experience that. It was one of the reasons he’d always vowed to make his marriage his priority.

  Denton couldn’t hear her father’s response. The man did have a reputation for being a womanizer. Denton knew that much from the time he’d briefly been hired by the senator. It was a shame that so many men who had power abused it by treating those around them so poorly. He’d seen it time and time again.

  “Why would you let yourself be alone with her, Dad? Even if nothing happened, you know how gossip can start. We’re going to have to do some major damage control. As soon as I get home, I’ll call all the TV stations—if they haven’t already called me on my office line. We’ll write up a statement and put you in front of the camera. I need to talk to this Nancy Green, also, before the press gets to her.”

  Silence lingered as Senator Philips responded.

  “I’ll talk to you about it back at the house.” A moment later, Elle snapped her phone shut and closed her eyes. “This just gets better and better. That woman in the picture? She lives in the apartment beside him up in D.C.”

  Though Denton would never wish this situation on anyone, at least it provided Elle with a momentary distraction from her other problems. This wasn’t exactly the distraction that he’d hoped for, though.

  “Who would do this?”

  “One of your father’s political opponents?”

  “They’d deny it if they did.” She sighed and looked out the window again.

  As they pulled down the lane leading to her home, the driver braked. “Uh, boss, you’ll want to see this.”

  “What is it?” Denton pushed himself between the seats in time to see the commotion at the end of the drive.

  “We’ve got a welcoming committee.”

  Sure enough, three news vans blocked the entry to Elle’s house. Reporters mingled. Camera crews waited to pounce. “Keep going. They’ll move out of our way. Elle, stay down.”

  As they got closer, the news crews spotted them and surrounded the vehicle.

  “Is it true that someone’s after you?”

  “Is your father having an affair?”

  “Why would someone want you dead?”

  Elle glanced over at Denton. “Great. They already know. That didn’t take much time.” Her phone rang again. “It’s one of the local reporters.” She hit the end button. Her phone rang again and again until she turned it off.

  Finally, they got through the crowd. The gate inched open and they pulled through, away from the craziness outside it.

  “I’ve never seen it like that before,” Elle muttered, climbing back into her seat.

  As soon as Elle was safely settled inside, Denton was going to start looking into the background of everyone who worked for Senator Philips. News like this didn’t leak on its own. He hated to think that someone close to the family might be behind it all, but he couldn’t rest until he knew Elle was safe.

  That was the job he’d been hired to execute, and he planned to do just that.

  * * *

  As soon as Denton stepped into the Philips’ home, he felt the tension that filled the air. There were no smiles or warm greetings. No, everyone walked around with their back muscles pinched, with serious expressions straining their faces. Their words sounded terse, their glances were brief.

  They were in panic mode, realizing that Senator Philips’s campaign may have just died a quick death.

  Denton hoped that Elle’s father was more concerned with the survival of his daughter than he was with the survival of his reelection.

  Elle charged forward, breaking through the crowd of advisors, assistants and interns. She seemed to have an internal radar as to where her father was. Denton kept her in sight while assessing the crowd.

  Was someone behind these threats in the house right now? Had someone here broken the trust of the family? He’d look into that list Elle had given him of the campaign staff and volunteers. He’d even check into Elle’s ex-boyfriends if that would help. He didn’t want any stone to be left unturned.

  He caught up with Elle just in time to hear her father say, “Bentley’s going up to talk to Nancy now.”

  Elle’s hand went to her hip. “Bentley? You sent Bentley?”

  Senator Philips shrugged. “I couldn’t send you, not with everything going on.”

  “Dad, Bentley is a great strategist but he’s a terrible people person. That was a bad idea.”

  “I couldn’t very well go up there to talk to her myself! The moment I did, a reporter would jump out and snap another picture. Besides, he has a degree in law. He should know how to get the job done.”

  Elle shook her head, her jaw locking in place. “Where’s Mom? I need to check on her.”

  “She’s in her room. She doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now.” There didn’t seem to be any sympathy in his voice. It remained crisp and tight. Was that the true mark of a politician? The ability to always appear plastic and unemotional?

  Elle start
ed toward the stairway. “She’ll talk to me.”

  As soon as Elle stepped out of earshot, Senator Philips turned to Denton. He motioned for everyone else to leave the room and shut the doors. Then he pulled down the cuffs of his crisp white shirt. Worry showed in the crinkles at the corners of his eyes. “I’m not convinced that all of this isn’t connected.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, sir, when was that picture taken?”

  “Last week.”

  “Then it can’t be the same people. This has to be someone else who’s targeting your campaign.”

  His shoulders sagged slightly, and he paced back toward his desk. “Well, that’s a relief, I suppose, at least in one sense. I just want to make sure my little girl is safe. That’s my biggest concern right now.” Denton was glad to hear it.

  “Did you check in with the detectives on the case today? Are there any updates I should know about?”

  “They’re tracking down a couple leads. They don’t know anything definitive yet.”

  The senator paused, a hand going to his hip. “I heard about someone taking the picture of Emily from Elle’s place. What does that mean exactly?”

  “I wish I knew. I think these guys are more calculating than we’re giving them credit for. They’re planning something, and I don’t like it.”

  “I don’t understand why they’re coming after Elle. They did the crime. They should be running from the police right now, not trying to chase down my daughter.”

  “Until we understand their motivation, we won’t know why they’re doing this. Is it just revenge? It could be. But you’re right, Elle isn’t the one to blame for what they did. The only thing she did was call 9–1–1.”

  “But then that article ran and they figured out she was a politician’s daughter. People have tried to manipulate me by manipulating my family for years. Why they decided to target Jimmy in the middle of all of this, I don’t understand.”

  “Coincidences are rarely that. There may be more at play here than we realize. I’m going to look into all of your staff and volunteers.”

  The senator froze, his eyes going ice cold. “You think someone on my staff is behind these incidents?”