The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents #6)(25)
Author: Cynthia Eden

And gone on a robbery spree.

It seemed that Johnny was the wild child in the family. Kylie had been his strength. Without her, he was still floundering.

“I believe that the man who killed your sister has taken three more lives.”

Johnny’s hands fisted.

“He’s still in the city, the cops are looking for him now—”

“Because more people are dead.” Disgust tightened Johnny’s face. “They should’ve been looking for him before! They shouldn’t have given up on Kylie!”

“I’m not giving up on her,” Gabrielle said softly. “You know that. I gave you my word.”

Johnny sucked in a ragged breath and nodded.

“I need to ask you a few more questions about your sister’s boyfriend—”

“Fiancé,” Johnny cut in, straightening. “They were getting married. She called me and told me that she was marrying Keith. She was so excited.” His voice softened. “That was the last time I talked with her. I try to remember her that way, happy, you know?”

“I know,” she told him, her heart aching.

Cooper pulled up a chair and sat down next to her at the table.

Gabrielle cleared her throat. “Johnny, you told me that you met Keith a few times. Was there…anything about the guy that set off alarms for you?”

“Alarms?” His head cocked and his face scrunched.

Wait, wrong word. Treading more carefully, Gabrielle said, “It’s hard for me to find a lot of information on him. He’s—”

“He was ex-military,” Johnny said at once, then he jerked his head toward Cooper. “Like him.”

Her body tensed. “How do you know that?” She hadn’t found any enlistment records for Keith Lockwood.

Johnny smiled. When he smiled, he looked even younger than his twenty-two years. “I can always spot ’em. Me and Kylie, we grew up bouncing around military bases. Our dad commanded one…’til he died.” His shoulders rolled back. “It’s in the walk. The posture.” He tapped his temple. “I can always tell.” He pointed at Cooper. “I pegged you the minute you walked in.”

Cooper didn’t respond.

“Did Lockwood say he was in the military?” Gabrielle pressed. She didn’t want to tell Johnny that she doubted his word, but—

“Kylie told me,” he replied. “Her guy would have nightmares. Maybe flashbacks, I don’t know what they were exactly. He’d wake up, screaming about his team, about someone getting left behind.”

Excitement had her hands trembling. “Did your sister ever mention if Lockwood worked for a specific unit?”

Johnny shook his head. “It was some kind of black ops deal, I know that much. Kylie told me that whenever she asked Keith about it, he said he couldn’t tell her, and that man…hell, he usually told her everything. But he was walking away. They were going to start fresh.” He blinked and seemed to see the past. “Kylie was happy. Did I tell you that? When she called me, she was happy.”

Gabrielle swallowed the knot in her throat. “You did.”

He nodded. “Kylie liked pretty things. Things that sparkled.” His dimples flashed again. “I gave Kylie pretty things. She needed them, you know? I wanted her to go to heaven with them. So she’d sparkle up there—”

“Johnny.” She said his name deliberately, to bring him back. The grief still got to him. Still hurt him. “I am going to find her killer. I told you I wouldn’t give up, and I won’t.”

His head bowed. “Thank you.”

“But you have to keep your promise, too, remember?”

Cooper was watching them, so quiet and intense.

“You take the plea deal, you get some counseling and you don’t ever steal again.”

He looked up at her. “I don’t need to steal. I gave Kylie what she wanted.” His eyes narrowed. “And you’ll give her what she needs. Justice.”

“I will.”

A buzzer sounded then, and Quent stepped forward. “I’ve got to take Johnny back now.”

“Thank you.” Gabrielle rose. There were more questions she wanted to ask, but Johnny had already confirmed her growing suspicions.

She didn’t speak again until Johnny and Quent were gone. Then she focused on Cooper. She started to tell him about her new theory, but then she hesitated. “Was he right?” Gabrielle found herself asking instead. “Are you ex-military?”

Emotion vanished from his eyes. Strange, she could actually see the mask slipping into place. Why hadn’t she noticed that before?

Just when she thought he wasn’t going to answer her, Cooper said, “I was.”

“Those missing years,” she murmured. “The years Carmichael couldn’t find in your past. You were on active duty.”

He inclined his head. “Guilty.”

“What branch?”

“I joined the Air Force.” There was a brief pause, then, “I was a PJ—a pararescue jumper.”

Her eyes widened. “You jumped out of the planes.” It wasn’t the jumping out that was the danger—it was what he jumped into that could be so terrifying.

“I did my job,” Cooper said simply.

Talk about a major understatement. She’d read reports on PJs before. Those guys jumped into infernos, into war zones and even into the paths of hurricanes.

She rocked back on her heels. “No wonder you were used to the adrenaline rushes.”

“Told you,” he said as his eyes glinted, “I’ve got plenty of experience with them.”

“Why’d you give it up?” Gabrielle asked him. “What made you turn away from that life?”

“Because I got a better offer.” He shrugged, as if the change didn’t matter. “I get to make my rules now, and I’m still helping people.”

She smiled at him. “Yes, you are.” She headed for the door. “Johnny gave us a real lead in there.” They cleared the guard areas and headed back outside. “I already know that Van McAdams was in the military.”

“How are you so sure?”

The sun glared down on them in the parking lot as they paused near his motorcycle.

“The killer sliced his neck open.” She pulled in a deep breath. “And he sliced through the dog tags that were around Van’s throat. I saw the dog tags in the blood near him.” She gave a firm nod. “That’s two men dead, both men who were in the military—”