Carter reared back, his heart threatening to pound out of his chest at Sean’s words. The idea of not having Tara and Colleen in his life cut like a bitch straight to his heart.
Sean leaned back, and his lips quirked upward on one side. “I see I got through.” He tossed back the last dregs of whiskey and walked over to the counter, setting his glass down. With his hand on the doorknob, he looked over his shoulder and added, “Nice condo you’ve got here. But I know someone who’s got a warm house and a warm heart waiting for you.” With that, he walked out, shutting the door behind him.
Carter stood unmoving for several minutes, Sean’s words passing through his mind, sinking in and replacing all his doubts and fears. He walked swiftly to the kitchen and poured the rest of his whiskey down the sink and headed to the bedroom. Grabbing a bag from the closet, he began filling it with some clothes and toiletries.
Traffic was light and it only took fifteen minutes for him to pull into Tara’s driveway. The upstairs window in Colleen’s bedroom was dark, but a faint glow from behind the curtains in the living room gave evidence that someone was waiting. Home. This feels like coming home.
33
A buzzer sounded, jarring Carter from a deep sleep. His eyes jerked open and it was evident the sun was up as it streamed between the slats in the blinds. The warm body next to him grunted before setting up quickly.
“Oh, God, we slept late,” Tara groaned, pushing the covers off her legs.
Unable to ascertain the buzzing sound, he looked over and could not help but smile. Tara’s thick hair was sleep-tousled, and her lips were still kiss-swollen. He wanted to pull her back into bed and continue making love to her the way they had late into the night. The investigation faded away the moment he took her in his arms, and words of love and commitment were the only ones spoken long into the night.
“Get up, get up, get up,” she whispered loudly.
His foggy brain finally caught up to her sense of urgency and his gaze shot over to the bedroom door, relieved that it was locked. He jumped from the bed and managed to pull on his sweatpants as Tara jerked on a robe. She was just tying it about her waist when the sound of little hands banging on the door rang out.
“Mom! Can we have pancakes?”
Tara glanced at him, a flash of indecision passing through her eyes before she straightened, squared her shoulders, and smiled. Throwing open the door, she wrapped her arms around Colleen, saying, “And good morning to you.”
Colleen laughed and murmured, “Good morning,” before looking past her mom, staring wide-eyed up at Carter.
He was sure his eyes were just as wide, but before he had a chance to think what to say, Colleen’s smile brightened. She left her mom’s side and rushed toward him, her arms thrown up in the air.
“Carter! I didn’t know you were here, too! You can have pancakes with us!”
He snatched her up off the ground as her arms wound around his neck. Tara walked forward, and still holding Colleen with one arm, he banded his other arm around Tara, embracing them both. After breakfast, he headed back to headquarters but promised their dinner out and boat ride that evening.
Sitting in his supervisor’s office with Evan, he smiled when they received the news that Rachel had had her baby boy, and all were fine. “The two of you will continue to partner until Rachel returns,” the supervisor said.
Nodding, he looked over as Kyle walked into the office and joined them. He offered a chin lift in greeting and began. “We know it’s not the whole pipeline, but what we’ve got so far is that Kilton Pharmaceuticals has security breaches that they’ve tried to keep hidden. Beth managed to get extra drug samples from one of the men at the warehouse that she was sleeping with. So far, it looks like what she delivered to other clinics and doctors’ offices was correct. It was Doug Tiller that was organizing the setup, although we still don’t have who was supplying the fentanyl. The pharmacist, Robert Atkins, was not part of the organization, but she slept with him, keeping him from asking too many questions.”
“What is Dr. Tiller’s game?” their supervisor asked.
“There’s still a lot that we’re untangling, but essentially, he was the conduit for illegal fentanyl and other opioid sales and distribution. The free clinic gave him the perfect market. Someone who’s homeless, can’t afford medical care, in pain and desperate is the perfect person to get hooked on opioids and then control. With the extra opioids that Beth was supplying him, it wasn’t hard for him to get them reliant on the drugs he was giving them. The next logical step was for them to have the offer of making money by selling the drugs. Not wanting them to be seen too often coming into the clinic, they used the free lunch line next door at the clinic as a
