Safeguarding Kelly(4)
Author: Zoe Dawson

 

She moved over to the other metal table and Emily Johnson. She wasn’t finished with her yet, but she’d have to go back in the drawer for now.

 

“Kyle,” she called. He was their lab assistant. A smart, capable man with dark glasses and a shock of brown hair.

 

He peeked his head out of the door of the supply closet. “Doc?”

 

“Could you get these bodies back inside?” She pulled off her gloves and disposed of them, then removed her lab coat. As she walked toward her office, she hung it on a hook, went to her desk, and pulled out her purse.

 

Preoccupied, she headed for the door and the elevator. Suddenly, she paused, and warring with her common sense against her desire, she started firmly for the door.

 

But then she stopped and looked back. With a heavy sigh, she marched back and pulled his card out of her coat pocket, tucking it into a safe place in her wallet.

 

 

 

 

 

Jason worked at keeping his attention honed on Special Supervisory Agent Kai Talbot, the agent in charge of this station. She escorted them all toward the conference room, and Jason tried to focus on the conversation around him. Tried and failed. His mind was on his encounter with Kelly. Damn, the shock of seeing her again affected him more than he would ever have thought possible. When she’d up and disappeared from his life just over five years ago, he’d been blindsided by not only losing her, but realizing how much she meant to him.

 

“Please be seated,” Kai said as she took the chair at the head of the table. “Due to the nature of this investigation and the fact that there is a Navy and Coast Guard member involved, the directors, through the secretaries of the Navy and Homeland Security have authorized me to offer you the opportunity to make this a joint effort.”

 

“We appreciate the invite,” Davis said, giving Jason a look.

 

“We definitely accept,” Jason said. “The more resources we can draw from, the quicker we can solve this double homicide and bring closure to the families.”

 

She gave a quick nod. “Good. I think the best course of action is to give you two desks here, and we’ll split the workload. You handle the investigation of your servicemember, Captain Crouch, and we’ll handle Lieutenant Johnson. Look into their backgrounds, families, work, etc.”

 

“Sounds like a plan,” Davis said.

 

“Let’s get started,” she said. “I’ll contact your boss and give him the heads up. Agent Beck and Gunn will show you where to sit. Thanks for your assistance, gentlemen.”

 

She rose and walked out, leaving the four of them to talk.

 

“We’ve already done the preliminaries on Lieutenant Johnson as a matter of our routine investigation. Let’s go back to the main office, and we’ll share what we have so far.”

 

Back out in the main part of the NCIS offices, Jason saw Kelly looking trim and smart in dark pants and a short-sleeved white button-up blouse. Her long dark hair was pulled back in some complicated ponytail. Suddenly, the memory of letting that black cascade of hair run through his fingers while she was lying on top of him hit him with g-forces.

 

“Jason!” He looked around at Davis. “What’s up with you, man?”

 

He turned back and tracked Kelly’s progress to the elevator. She smiled at one of her coworkers and the beauty of her slammed into his chest.

 

“I knew her a long time ago. We have…unfinished business.”

 

She shifted her gaze, and it caught on his. Her smile faded, and that haunted look settled back there. She nodded to him, turning away and disappearing into the elevator.

 

He was getting that feeling again, the one telling him Kelly was not only hiding her emotions behind a blank mask, but that she was spooked by him. He knew from experience secrets kept people safe. Ask his biological father and he would have a whole lecture prepared. It was true that keeping his affair with Kelly from the Coast Guard preserved his career. It’s all he’d wanted was to serve and when his career had been in jeopardy because he couldn’t keep his hands off a superior…it had given him many sleepless nights. Still haunted him. Maybe he should let it go. It was true there would be no fraternization now. He’d been promoted to Warrant Officer and the policy no longer applied, but even with his shame at his conduct during the time he’d been stationed at Kodiak, he couldn’t seem to reconcile with his desire to talk to her, left him with these unresolved feelings for her tying a knot in his gut.

 

The doors closed, and she was gone. Yet he would be working alongside her. She would be one floor down. Fate had seen fit to bring them back into contact. He wasn’t going to squander the opportunity. He would have to be smart, though.

 

He closed his eyes as the memory of being deep inside her washed over him. The memory of the desperation, the heat, the need that they hadn’t been able to fight. The fact that it had been wrong on so many levels. But had felt so freaking right.

 

His feelings for her were in the past. Weren’t they? He just wanted…what? To connect with her again?

 

He turned away and followed Davis back to the main office, trying with all his might to be truthful with himself.

 

Would she be willing to talk to him about them? Where would those answers lead him? Was he ready to deal with them?

 

There was a woman at one of the desks. She looked up when they walked in. Standing, she extended her hand. “Hi, I’m Special Agent Amber Michaels. I understand you will be working the double homicide case with us. Sorry about the loss of your servicemember.”

 

Davis nodded to her as he’d worked with this office before, and Jason clasped her hand. She had a beautiful face and honey-blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She smiled broadly. “Nice to meet you,” Jason said.

 

“You can take the far desk, Davis, and you can take the one next to me. The previous agent, Andrea Hall, is doing a stint with Agents Afloat. She’s somewhere in the Atlantic.”

 

She picked up a remote on her desk and said, “We’ve got the files of both victims. We can go over both if you like, bring you up to speed.”

 

“Sounds like a plan,” Davis said.

 

“Great. Let’s get started.” She pushed the remote as Austin and Derrick walked in. “You slackers are right on time.”

 

Both of them laughed and waited for her to begin speaking.

 

“Captain George Crouch, MD.” She put up a slide with his service record on it, his picture showing a smiling man with sandy hair and kind brown eyes.” Fifty years old, Captain Crouch was employed by the Public Health Service and had been assigned to the Coast Guard since he graduated from Tufts University and was commissioned. He was a flight surgeon out of Coast Guard Air Station San Diego. He’s been there for eight years. His wife lives in San Diego, and he has two daughters, both in high school.”