Two Reasons to Run

by Colleen Coble

Tyler Price’s mother had died last year of a brain aneurysm, and every time Jane saw him now he seemed sad and lost. His dad was high up with the oil company that managed the platform, and Jane hadn’t remembered it until Tyler’s name was mentioned. He might be a good resource to talk to about Keith.

  Megan stared down at her hands. “I didn’t want to get him in trouble. He’s been through so much.”

  “Want me to have a talk with him?”

  Megan shook her head. “I don’t think it would do any good. He just forgets.”

  Jane made a note to talk to Steve about her missing man. Just maybe Tyler would come up, too, and she could make sure Megan wasn’t in any danger.

  Four

  That bull alligator sounded too close for comfort.

  Behind the house Reid sat on the pier that stretched like a finger into the Bon Secour River. Will, his legs dangling over the side, sat beside him in the cacophony of frogs trying to outdo one another. Sunset gilded the tops of the pecan trees and shimmered on the surface of the river.

  Will tossed a rock into the sluggish river. “Mom seemed okay with you at dinner.”

  Reid snorted. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice she didn’t so much as lean back against the seat. She was wound up as tightly as your arm before a pitch. She couldn’t wait to gulp down her food and get out of there.”

  “The two of you were discussing a case like old times.”

  The hope in his son’s voice hurt. Reid held no illusions of ever seeing forgiveness in Jane’s eyes. He didn’t deserve it either. And it was a real shame, because that kiss they’d shared still kept him awake at night, and he’d give anything for another taste of her lips.

  Reid held his son’s gaze. “You haven’t heard anything from Lauren, have you?”

  Will straightened. “You heard from her?”

  “No, just making sure she hasn’t been bothering you.”

  “I haven’t seen her since that day on the street.”

  “Me neither.”

  Four weeks with no contact from Lauren, his presumed-dead-but-resurrected ex. Her demand for money to go away again had come as a shock, but at least Will knew the truth now. Reid had begun to let himself hope she’d given up and moved on, that she was far away with no more thought about him and Will. But something in his gut told him he hadn’t seen the last of her.

  “Grandpa offered to take me deep sea fishing this weekend. I told him I’d have to check, but it’s okay, isn’t it?”

  Reid gave a jerky nod. “Sure. He probably knows all the best spots.”

  Jane’s dad had wasted no time in trying to buddy up to Will. Reid wasn’t sure how he felt about that yet. If there was one place to put the majority of the blame in this situation, it was squarely on the shoulders of Charles Hardy. He’d uttered the lie that set everything in motion. Though Reid’s own hands weren’t clean, Charles hadn’t made any attempt to find the grandson he knew was alive even though he’d told Jane the baby died. He had to have known Will was out there somewhere, but he’d waited until Reid had brought him to Pelican Harbor and revealed his identity to Jane before reaching out.

  But never let it be said he stood in the way of a good relationship between Will and his mother’s family. Pettiness wasn’t in his nature.

  Reid twirled a fallen leaf in his hand. “I found a lead to my grandparents, my mom’s parents.”

  “Seriously? Where are they?”

  Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned it yet. “They’re in a little town in northern Indiana called Wabash.”

  “Why didn’t you try to find them when you left Liberty’s Children with me?”

  “My dad had said they were dead so I didn’t look very hard. And I didn’t have the money back then to hire anyone. It was all I could do to keep us both fed and with a roof over our heads. I was working a lot of hours, too, so there wasn’t much time. I hired an investigator a couple of weeks ago, and it didn’t take long for her to find them.”

  Will’s brown eyes shone above his hopeful smile. “Are you going to call them? Or maybe go see them?”

  “I haven’t decided what to do yet. Kelly—that’s the investigator—seems to think they are in good health. They’re in their midseventies and still living at home.”

  “A-Are there any aunts or uncles? Or cousins?”

  “My mom had two younger brothers, and they each have kids. I’m unsure of ages and names yet. Kelly’s putting together information for me, and I should have it tomorrow or the next day. Then we can decide what to do.”

  “I want to go there. Just show up on their doorstep.”

  “I’m afraid that might be too much of a shock to them.”

  “Don’t you think it would be a good shock, though?”

  Reid looked out at the moonlight glittering on the water. “I’m not sure how they parted with my mom and dad.”

  “And is she still alive? Your mother?”

  “I was ten when she went missing. I heard her yelling at my dad that it wasn’t right for him to have another wife. When I got up the next morning, she was gone. He said she left, b-but I always thought he had her killed. Or killed her himself.” He shuddered, remembering the rages his dad would get into. “Within a month he had two other wives.”

  “Did Kelly search for her too?”

  He probably shouldn’t be talking about all this with Will. Sometimes Reid forgot he was only fifteen. The boy had always acted mature and steady.

  He nodded. “No sign of her.”

  “If you haven’t talked to them, they probably still think she’s out there somewhere.”

  He needed to change the subject. “You have homework?”

  “Yeah, some algebra.” Will got up. “I’ll do it now. The mosquitoes are zooming in.”

  “I’m right behind you.” Reid listened to the fading sound of Will’s flip-flops, then got to his feet. His personal life could wait. Keith McDonald was still missing, and the possibility of an attack on the oil platform loomed large in Reid’s mind, even though it was in the hands of Homeland Security now.

  He should leave it alone, but as an investigative journalist he had the unique position of being someone people wanted to talk to. Maybe he could find out more than the law. And it wouldn’t be a bad thing if he and Jane worked together on this. If anything could get her to put the past behind her, it might be a new case they could solve together.

  * * *

  She’d rather walk through fire than go in there, Jane thought the next day as she pulled up outside her father’s prepper compound and sat staring at the gate and the long driveway back to the buildings. All she had to do was punch in the code, but her throat was tight, and she couldn’t get her hand to move from the steering wheel. She hadn’t talked to her father in several weeks, not since he’d admitted the heinous things he’d done fifteen years ago.

  Thanks to his lie, she’d missed out on the first fifteen years of Will’s life.

  She exhaled and reached for the button to lower her window. Sitting out here wasn’t going to get her questions answered about Keith’s disappearance. Her father would know more about that oil platform than most. He was part of the environmental group in town that oversaw the marshes and wetlands. He knew all about the impact from Deepwater Horizon and helped oversee safety measures on the platforms.

  Her hand shook as she punched in the code. The big gate opened, and she was through both gates in under two minutes. Her pulse was beating like a tom-tom in her chest when she parked in front of her father’s porch. She stared at the two-story brick four-square for a long moment. How did she even open the conversation when she hadn’t come close to forgiving him yet?

  She forced herself to shove open her door and step out into the blazing heat. She opened the back door and let Parker out to run into the shadow of the big trees where he would chase squirrels before taking a nap—though she didn’t intend to be here long enough for the squirrels to wear him out.

  Her shoulders back, she strode up the steps to the
door and pressed the bell. A few weeks ago, she would have opened the door and gone on in. But a few weeks ago she still naively believed everything her father told her.

  Footsteps came toward the door, and it opened. Her dad’s gaze sharpened on her face. “Jane.” His eyebrows rose.

  “I need to talk to you about a terrorist threat.”

  He opened the door wider and stepped aside. “Sure.”

  Most people thought he was much younger than his early sixties. His biceps were as firm and strong as a twenty-year-old’s. Only his bushy white hair matched his age.

  She entered into a welcome wash of cool air and shut the door behind her. Coffee aroma drifted toward her, and her stomach rumbled at the scent of beignets. They wouldn’t be homemade. With his ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth, in jail, he’d be buying most of his food. For a prepper he was surprisingly unhandy in the kitchen. Until Elizabeth had moved in, he ate fast food, frozen pizza, and cereal. Or the dreadful freeze-dried meals he rotated out of his stockpile in the bunker.

  “It’s good to see you, Jane.”

  His cautious tone did nothing to quell the anger rising in her chest. Instead of answering, she dropped onto the sofa and clasped her hands on one knee. “What do you know about Zeus?”

  “The Greek god?” His smirk told her he knew exactly what she meant. And that he’d noticed the anger shaking her voice.

  She didn’t take the bait. “The oil platform.”

  He settled in the armchair across from the sofa and reached for a coffee mug atop it. “It’s the largest oil platform ever constructed in these waters and has more safety stops built into it than any other as well. Before it was approved to be erected, I wanted to make sure we didn’t have another Deepwater Horizon on our hands off our own shore. Has something happened?”

  She considered how much to tell him. It was likely Homeland Security would contact him anyway. “It might be the target of a terrorist plot.”

  His eyes widened. “Who would do such a thing?”

  “I don’t have details yet, just suspicions.” She told him about Keith’s email and subsequent disappearance. “Reid is doing a documentary on the platform, and he’s hoping to find out more. I’ve called it in to Homeland Security as well.”

  “You’re talking to Reid?”

  She wanted to leap to her feet and make for the door, but she drew in a deep breath. “I’m not going to talk to you about Reid or Will.”

  He banged his cup down hard enough, some coffee sloshed over the lip onto the table. “Oh, get over it, Jane. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. It all turned out okay. You have a relationship with your son now.”

  It was all she could do not to pummel him with her fists. “I missed out on fifteen years, Dad!”

  He leaned forward and pointed a finger at her. “And you’re alive. If I hadn’t lied to you, you’d be in an unmarked grave in Michigan.”

  “There would have been time to get him.”

  “You don’t know that! You didn’t see all the carnage scattered around us. After the birth, you were weak and shocked from loss of blood. If you think back, I’m sure you don’t even remember much about our escape.”

  “You cheated me, Dad, and you haven’t even apologized. You’re so sure you were right, and you don’t care how much it hurt me. How much it changed me and made me afraid of any kind of normal life.” She rose and swept her hand toward the window where the top of his bunker gleamed in the sunshine. “And you’re no better! Hiding guns and food for a coming apocalypse. What kind of life is it when you live in fear?”

  His narrowed gaze skewered her. “There’s nothing wrong with being prepared.”

  “Was that wall around your heart the real reason Elizabeth betrayed you?”

  His hazel eyes blazed under his bushy white brows. “I never want to hear her name again, and I’m surprised you would bring her up. She’s a murderer and a liar. If you want to talk about her, you can leave now.”

  She spun on her heel and stalked to the door, which she slammed behind her. Parker came when she called, and she couldn’t wait to get away from her dad and his smug certainty he’d done the right thing. She texted Ruby asking for a meeting at Pelican Brews, then drove off with a plume of dust behind her.

  * * *

  Shadows loomed in the dark warehouse. He walked quickly to where the other two waited in the back. His boots clacked along the concrete floor and echoed against the tall ceiling. It sounded like someone was following him, but he knew he was the last to arrive.

  He’d made sure of it, before he slid out of his truck and came inside. He wasn’t the most important piece of this puzzle to the Boss, but he knew his role would be foundational. He was the cleanup guy, the one who ensured everything happened as it should. It wasn’t a role he usually embraced, but this was his quest. He couldn’t rest until justice was served.

  “There you are.” The Boss pointed to an empty metal chair. “Kind of you to join us.” He lifted a brow.

  He smiled at the Boss’s displeasure and slid into the end seat without a reply.

  The Boss focused his attention on the IT guy. “We’re ready for our event?”

  “I am, sir,” the blond IT guy said. “It’s ready when you are. I can schedule it sooner if you like.”

  “No, no. I have my reasons for the timing. This meeting is to ensure there are no hiccups.”

  He was likely the only other person who knew the reason for the date. The other guy was a hired gun, whereas it was very personal for him and the Boss.

  The Boss glanced at him. “You’re quite sure our lark is dead?”

  He fingered the small scar on his upper lip. “Quite sure. I have pictures if you like.”

  The Boss wiggled his fingers for the phone. He scrolled through the pictures and grunted with satisfaction. “Good work. You do realize there’s an ongoing investigation?”

  “I assumed there would be, but they have no body.”

  “That won’t stop the chief of police. Don’t underestimate her because she’s petite. She’s very smart and focused, and she doesn’t give up. We may need to think outside the box to dissuade her.” The Boss tapped the pen against his chin. “She has a son. A threat to him might do the trick.”

  “I don’t hurt kids, Boss.”

  “This one is fifteen, almost grown. If you can’t do what I tell you, I’ll find someone who can.”

  “Fifteen is not a kid. Should I injure him or take him out?”

  “I’d rather not kill him because that will have her on our tail like a small tiger. I want to discourage her from looking too hard.”

  “If she’s as smart and focused as you say, a deterrent might spur her into looking harder.” He didn’t think the Boss was as smart as he thought he was, but he kept his opinion to himself.

  “I just need to slow her down until after May 12. See what you can do.”

  The Boss dismissed them, and he walked back to his truck. He’d have to think of something to deter her, but it might not be easy based on the lady chief’s description.

  Five

  Jane’s temper hadn’t cooled when she jerked open the door to Pelican Brews, but the scent of espresso and pastries took her anger down a notch. She scanned the tables and spotted Ruby. The skin under her eyes was dark enough to be mistaken for a domestic injury. Her red shirt was wrinkled as though she’d slept in it. She probably had.

  Jane’s gaze went to the figure beside her, and she nearly groaned. Reid again. What was he doing here? Ruby hadn’t said anything about him when Jane had texted with a request for a meeting. After confronting Dad yesterday, Jane wasn’t in the mood for more drama.

  Her idiotic pulse sped up at the sight of his tanned head and the muscular arms showing under his black tee. The smile he sent her way freed a flutter of butterflies in her belly.

  Reid held up a coffee in his hand, then slid it along the table to an empty seat. She made her way to the corner and stood looking down at the two of them. “Did I miss
a memo?”

  The acerbic bite to her tone made her sound like a shrew, but she had a feeling Reid had orchestrated this.

  She sat as far away from him as she could, but that meant she was looking him square in the face. To hide the irritation she was struggling to control, she bent her head and picked up the coffee cup. “Thanks for the coffee.”

  “No problem,” Reid said.

  Ruby glanced from her to Reid with a frown. “You said you had more questions?”

  “Has anyone from Homeland Security or the FBI contacted you?”

  Ruby tucked an errant brown curl behind her ear and nodded. “Several people came by yesterday, but I didn’t have much more to add than what I’d told you. It was all in the email.”

  “Did they ask about Keith’s friends?”

  “Yes, and I told them about his bunkmate and the others he’d mentioned on the rig.”

  “Who was his bunkmate? I’d like to talk to him.”

  “His name is Walter. I don’t remember his last name.”

  Jane set down her coffee and leaned forward. “I got to wondering if he would have talked to his friends here on land. And what about a girlfriend? Maybe he’s talked about this with people he’s comfortable with.”

  Ruby inclined her head toward the coffee counter. “That redhead there is Bonnie Webb. They dated about a year, but Keith said she didn’t like the way he was gone so long at a time and broke up with him. They broke up about a month ago.”

  Jane swiveled to gaze at Bonnie. She’d worked here several months now and was always cheerful and outgoing. She appeared to be in her early twenties, and while she had a cute build, she always dressed modestly in jeans and a T-shirt that covered her curves. Her vibrant red hair drew anyone’s attention. She always noticed Jane in the line and had her black coffee poured and ready to go.

  “I think I’ll see if she can take a break and join us for a few minutes. There’s no line, and three people are behind the counter.”

  Bonnie looked up with a smile when Jane approached the counter. “Need a refill, Chief?”