Hudson: SEALs of Honor Book 27 Read online

“Well, we’ve known each other since forever,” Avery said.

  The waitress nodded enthusiastically. “I love seeing relationships like this. Something about being together for a long time brings a certain richness to it, a confidence in each other or something.” She held the menus against her chest and sighed happily. “You guys are so lucky.” And, with that, she turned and walked away.

  Hudson looked over at Avery and said, “I think she’s assuming we’re a couple.”

  “I think most people do.”

  “Which takes us back to that whole thing about why we aren’t.”

  “Still fear?”

  “I think so,” he said, in a quiet mood, studying her intently.

  She wished she knew what he was looking for and what he was hoping to find because she wanted to give it to him, but it had to be natural and honest and real. “I think the fear is understandable,” she said. “Even though she loved you, you lost her. And to go through something like that again isn’t what anybody wants. But, if you don’t want to go through that again, then you don’t sign up to care about anybody.”

  “Which sucks,” he said.

  “Have any of your other relationships made you feel like you were missing something?”

  “To a certain extent, yes,” he said. “I’ve had several people tell me that I was too distant.”

  She winced at that. The conversation continued in the same amiable intimate form, as they advanced their relationship another step further, and she was loving every minute of it. As she looked around at the restaurant, she reached across, grabbed his hand, and said, “It’s really nice that you came to see me.”

  “As I recall, you came to see me last time,” he said, “and I was behind this time for our visit.”

  “It’s not about being on some timeline or about who came to see whom last, like we’re taking turns. The fact that we just want to spend time together is what’s special.”

  He smiled and squeezed her fingers. His phone buzzed again, and he frowned.

  Noting his hesitation, she said, “You need to take it. You know that.”

  He nodded, pulled it out, and said, “I do try to avoid keeping it on when I’m out with a woman.”

  “Well, I appreciate the fact that I’m in the category of out with a woman,” she said, making air quotes with her fingers, “but I’m also somebody who knows what you do,” she said, “so it’s hardly the same category.”

  “No, but that’s … it’s a respect thing,” he said. He looked at the text, and she watched as his face darkened.

  “Well, that must be bad news.”

  “Yeah,” he said, “it’s also confusing as hell.”

  “Why?”

  “Still no sign of the older lady I helped out to the street.”

  “Really?” Fascinated, she leaned forward. “How is that possible?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said, “but something bizarre is going on.”

  “And you’re right in the middle of it, as usual,” she said, with a grin.

  He sighed. “I didn’t think I had this much bad luck, but apparently I do.”

  “Don’t even mention bad luck,” she said, “but do you need to go?”

  “No,” he said, “at least not right now.”

  “Well, let’s hope that we get our dinner soon and can go back to my place. Then, if you need to move on and do some work, that’s fine too.”

  He laughed. “Not many people would be happy with that.”

  “And again, I understand,” she murmured. “We’ve been here before.”

  He nodded. “Although lots of times I was injured, like you said.”

  “But you were always in touch with your team, helping however you could.”

  He smiled and nodded. “They’re like brothers.”

  “And all you have for a birth family is a single father, who’s moved on. I think our families formulate who we are more than we think.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “I was never close to him. I think that’s why Delilah, … why she hit me like a ton of bricks,” he said quietly. “And I was so looking forward to having that family, that group, to call my own,” he murmured.

  “But instead you lost that too. It was dangled in front of you and then taken away. And, for that, I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m a big boy now,” he said. His phone buzzed again. He looked down, and there it was. Dennis again. He answered it, putting it on Speakerphone, and said, “What’s up?”

  “You’re sure you saw her?”

  “Absolutely I am,” he said, with a laugh. “Do you really think I’d make that up?”

  “Well, no, I don’t really think that, but there’s no sign of her being registered.”

  “What about with the old man?”

  “No, he came in as a single.”

  “Or they’re assuming he was a single, but he was actually a couple, and maybe they just never saw her.”

  “And that’s possible too. The records are there, and of course everybody’s trying to cover their butt and figure out what happened, and they’re all scared of getting blamed for something.”

  “Of course they are. Fear is a great motivator,” Hudson said. “I helped the woman down the stairs. Check the cameras.”

  “Oh, good idea,” he said, “depending on which ones are still working.”

  “If any. They probably shut down all the electronics right at the beginning.”

  “Or they got blown down,” he said, “because that’s the side where the security is housed.”

  “Yeah,” Hudson said. “Now we’ve got to wonder how many people knew that.”

  “Yeah, it’s getting to be a little complicated,” Dennis said, then hesitated.

  She watched as Hudson closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, and she asked, “What is it, Dennis?”

  “Oh, I just wondered if Hudson had any insights.”

  A whole range of emotions crossed his face. “Well, I can’t say that it’s all connected,” he said. “I don’t know if you’ve got two separate incidents going on at that hotel, and both are rotten, but you’ve definitely got one murder and one missing woman,” he said. “Since I found her on the second floor, where the dead older male was found too, I wonder if she had anything to do with that guy’s death. For that matter, what if the activity on the second floor is tied to the murdered man on the fourth floor? What are the chances they’re all connected?”

  “In what way?” Dennis cried out in frustration.

  Hudson put the phone down on the table in front of them and said, “You’re on Speakerphone now, and we’re in a restaurant, so no yelling.”

  At that, Dennis modulated his voice. “Okay, so how could they possibly be connected?”

  “What if the older lady finds the dead old guy and leaves, went to get her vehicle,” he asked, “and our second military guy had just killed our first military guy and was looking for a getaway vehicle and decided to hijack hers?”

  “Oh, crap,” Dennis said.

  “So I would run vehicles registered to the old man and also check on the rentals.” He stopped and thought about it. “And, if those two uniformed men aren’t registered at the hotel, try facial recognition on the dead military-looking one to get an ID. And, if they are registered at the hotel, check for vehicles and see if the one guy’s driven away. For all we know, he’s taken a hostage, or the one military guy is working with the older lady and they’re in it together, or they’re an accidental meeting.”

  “Right,” Dennis said, all business. “I must have been more rattled than I thought,” he said, “because none of that occurred to me.”

  “And it’s not necessarily an answer. I’m just letting my brain figure out what’s going on here. We need data, and, for that, you need cameras.”

  “You mean, street cameras?”

  “Right. Check any and every camera in the area. Hell, even tourists taking photos with their cell phones. Regardless you should see me walking the o
lder lady out of the target hotel from cameras on one of the other nearby hotels. That should give you enough proof that she exists and also where she went to from there.”

  “Good idea,” he said. “I’ll get back to you.” Then he hung up.

  She stared at him. “You, sir, have a devious mind.”

  He looked up and gave her a smirk. “I spend a lot of time dealing with devious people,” he said. “This kind of stuff comes naturally to me.”

  “Well, there’s your next career, as a detective or a private investigator or maybe some IT guy who follows the digital trail,” she said, “whenever you’re ready for it.”

  “I don’t know if I want to go back to school though,” he said, “and I’m sure some education to retrain is required.”

  “But you could get it covered, couldn’t you?”

  “I could,” he said. “There’s always money for retraining, although money isn’t necessarily the issue.”

  “Well, in that case, it’s something to keep in your back pocket.”

  “Maybe.” Just then their dinners arrived. He sniffed the air. “I love salmon.”

  *

  Hudson really enjoyed his time with Avery. As that time and distance between the two of them melted away, he realized just how much his love of a good friend could very easily become something else. The danger of taking that step was that he would lose a friend, someone he had relied on a lot over the last few years. He really wanted to take that next step, but that didn’t mean it was the best idea. And that could bring him more pain.

  He looked over at her shrimp linguini and sighed. “That looks wonderful too.”

  “Well, let’s split it then,” she said cheerfully.

  He laughed. “Oh, I remember that move,” he said. “Whichever half you prefer, you tend to hog the rest of it.”

  “Sure, I’m hedging my bets,” she said, with a cheeky grin. “This way, I get to taste both and to eat the one I prefer.”

  He shook his head, as she leaned forward and stole a piece of salmon off his plate. He laughed. “One of the things I always loved about you,” he said, “is that you’re so feisty and so natural.”

  “Ha!” she said. “Well, maybe that’s true. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not. I’ve actually had boyfriends say that I was too involved, too busy, and far too pushy.”

  “Pushy?” he said, looking at her in surprise.

  She nodded. “I didn’t think I was pushy at all, but apparently I may be, since a couple have said that.”

  “Wow. Interesting.”

  “I don’t know if it’s interesting,” she said. “It’s kind of demoralizing actually.”

  He winced. “I guess. Whereas I was always getting told that I was uncommunicative, cold, and aloof.”

  “Ouch,” she said, “and yet we don’t find those things to be problems with each other.”

  “So, what are the chances that we’ve been skirting around what we could be because we’re afraid of ruining what we have?” he asked suddenly.

  She looked up, smiled. “I was wondering about that myself.”

  “If we take the steps into a new relationship,” he said, “and it goes badly, we’ve lost each other.”

  “And that’s something I would never want to happen,” she said quietly. “We’ve been good friends for a very long time.”

  “Since grade school,” he said, with a big grin. She nodded. He added, “And I think that’s probably why we haven’t taken that step forward.”

  “One of the reasons,” she said. “But now it’s up to us to make a decision as to whether we want to change it. And, if we don’t, it just means we’ll continue on this path, as we always have. Skirting around the same issue.”

  “Well, we’ve never really talked about it before,” he said.

  “No, but neither did we do anything to change the status quo. We’ve just been content to leave it where it was,” she said, with a frown.

  “What’s the frown for?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said, “but I didn’t want to change the status quo.”

  “Exactly,” he said, pointing a fork at her. “Because, if we do it and if it blows up …” He just left his words hanging.

  She shook her head and said, “If you’re going to point that fork at me, make sure it’s got something on the end of it.”

  He rolled his eyes, quickly scooped up a bit more salmon, and gave it to her. On his way back, he snagged a prawn and some linguini. As soon as it touched his lips, he moaned. “Oh my, that’s good.”

  “So is yours,” she said, with envy.

  He laughed. “You want to switch?”

  She shook her head. “No, but I’d do half and half.” And that’s what they did. They ate half of each plate and then switched. When the waitress came back to refill their waters, she stopped and frowned.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “You’re not seeing things. We just decided to share.”

  “Ah!” she said, her face clearing, “I wondered.”

  He added, “We’ll be leaving soon, if you wouldn’t mind getting our bill ready, please.” He noticed that Avery was surprised that he was asking for it already. He just shrugged. “Feels like we’ll need to leave soon.”

  “Your instincts as always are on target,” she said, lifting her water glass and taking a sip.

  “And I didn’t even offer you any wine.”

  “Nope, you’re working tonight. Even though you tell me that you’re not, you really are.”

  He laughed at that. “Okay, I kind of am. At least I want to follow this investigation through and see what’s going on.”

  “Of course you do,” she said. “So that’s what we’ll do.”

  He stood up when the bill arrived, and she followed him to the front counter, where he quickly paid the bill, then led her outside.

  “What’s going on?” she murmured.

  “I’m not sure,” he said, “but I had that feeling of being watched.”

  “By whom?”

  He shook his head. “I took a good look around the restaurant as I came outside. Did you see the older lady in the corner?”

  “The one in purple?”

  He nodded.

  “Yes,” Avery said. “She was sitting alone, having a large glass of wine. I was thinking about how nice it would be to wear that color. So many people don’t wear bright colors or think that they can until they’re older. Ladies and … older ladies in purple,” she said, “I think there’s a bunch of poems and songs about it.”

  He looked at her, completely confused. He shook his head. “No, I think it was her.”

  “What do you mean, her?”

  “I think it was the woman who’s missing from the hotel.”

  At that, Avery stopped and turned, then stared at him in shock. “Well, what the hell?”

  “I texted Dennis.” As they stood here outside the front door, a vehicle pulled up just a few minutes later.

  Sure enough, it was Dennis. He looked at Hudson in surprise. “Are you serious?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, “but take off your jacket and don’t look so much like a cop and walk in the front door.” And he gave him directions to follow to where the woman was. Hudson and Avery remained outside, waiting.

  “Are we waiting to see if she comes out?” Avery asked.

  “Not necessarily,” he said. “We’re just kind of waiting to see what happens.”

  “Wow,” she said, “I didn’t realize your life was so exciting.”

  “Not necessarily exciting,” he said, with a laugh, “but it definitely can be interesting.”

  “Yeah, you think? Well,” she said, “he’s gone in. What do we think’s going on?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, “but we’ll have to see if she goes out the back.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  He noted a nice bench beside the little garden at the front entrance. “How about you sit here,” he said, “and I’ll be right back.”

/>   And, with that, he loped around the corner to the rear of the restaurant.

  Chapter 4

  Stunned at the speed at which things had shifted, Avery sat down on the front bench. When Dennis came out with a lost look on his face, she asked, “Was it her?”

  “No older lady in there,” he said in surprise.

  “What!” She bounced to her feet and raced into the front of the restaurant, looking for the woman in purple.

  Dennis looked at her and asked, “Did you see her?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, she was wearing a lot of violet,” she murmured. “And it was … I obviously didn’t recognize her as being the woman who he had saved, but I certainly noticed that older woman there.”

  “Well, that’s good,” he said, with relief, “because I couldn’t handle another instance where Hudson’s been the only one who saw something.”

  “No, no, no,” she said, with a shake her head, “he’s not making it up.”

  “Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Just then they heard shouting behind the restaurant.

  “Ah,” she said. “We’re about to find out what’s going on.”

  Dennis looked at her in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

  She headed for the back of the restaurant, and Dennis, shaking his head, followed her. Sure enough, as they got closer, they heard the sound of a woman screeching and hollering. As they turned the corner, they saw the woman, raising a terrible fuss, as Hudson, with a gentle but insistent push, escorted the woman around the perimeter of the restaurant, until she stood in front of them.

  Dennis looked at her and said, “I’m a police detective, ma’am. What’s the problem?”

  She turned and glared at Hudson. “He accosted me.”

  Hudson looked over at Dennis and said, “She’s the one I helped out of the hotel.”

  “Are you, indeed?” He looked at the woman and said, “What’s your name, ma’am?”

  “Doesn’t matter what my name is,” she said stiffly, brushing down her skirt, her jacket, and then moving on to both shoulders. “Now that you’ve unhanded me, I’d like to go back to my hotel.”

  “What hotel is that?” Dennis asked.

  She just glared at him, crossed her arms, and said, “Now you listen to me, young man. You don’t have any reason to speak to me like that.”