Reid barely heard him as he stared down the street to a car parked in the shadows. Had that guy followed them here? His heart pounded and he walked that direction. He was still two houses away when the vehicle’s engine roared to life, and the car raced away.
It was too dark to make out the license plate, and he wanted to believe he was wrong. It would bring some peace of mind to be in a house tonight, though he would need to tell Jane they had to take turns standing watch.
* * *
This was the home life she’d been missing.
Jane dried the last dish and put it in the cupboard. Being with Reid’s grandmother was everything Jane had craved all her life. The older woman mothered her in ways she’d never experienced. Lots of pats, a hug here and there, approval shining from her blue eyes at every moment. Jane felt like she’d stepped through a time warp.
This was what she and Reid had both missed. She didn’t want to leave, and she knew it would be hard on Reid and Will.
“I’m going to go see what Will’s doing.” Megan took Parker with her and stepped out onto the back patio where the guys sat laughing and talking.
“Good. It’s just the two of us,” Gretchen said. “I’m dying to know what happened between you. It’s clear you’re crazy about each other.”
Jane’s face went hot. “We’re just friends now. The past is . . . complicated.”
“I’ve got time to listen.” Gretchen gestured to the small table for two in the corner of the cozy kitchen.
Would Gretchen hate her when she learned she’d deserted Will and Reid? Jane pulled out a chair and considered how to tell the story. There was no way to spill the truth without appearing like a terrible person.
“It’s not a pretty story.”
Gretchen settled in the other chair. “The one I had to tell Reid wasn’t either.”
Jane clasped her hands together and told Gretchen of her great-grandson’s birth and the fire. Of running for her life and always feeling lost without her child. Of finding him again and learning the truth. By the time she finished, they were both crying.
Gretchen reached across the table and took her hand. “Thank you for your honesty. You’re a good person, Jane Hardy. You and Reid belong together.”
Jane gave a watery smile. “That’s to be determined yet. He didn’t tell me the truth when he got to town, and I’m having trouble getting past the lies.”
Gretchen kept hold of her hand. “Have you never done the same, Jane? Withheld information until you could trust a person? Never given the benefit of the doubt and then found out later you should have? Mistakes are human. And Reid has stuck around to try to make it up to you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you—like a starving man staring at a filet mignon.”
Jane wanted to laugh, but she’d seen that look on Reid’s face too. What would it be like to be a real family? To have vacations like this together where she had a life outside her job? There was an uncle as well as a nephew and niece to meet.
“You’re going to try, aren’t you?” Gretchen sounded worried.
“I’ll try. It might take some time though.”
“I suspect he’ll wait.” Gretchen released her and stood. “Let’s see what our men are up to.”
Our men. What a homey, wonderful term. She already loved Reid’s grandparents and longed to be part of an extended family like this. Her isolation for so many years seemed to be fading like the last bit of the night.
She stepped out under strands of twinkling lights hanging from the pergola and stopped beside Reid where he stood talking to Will and his grandfather. She slipped her hand into his, and he turned with surprise in his eyes.
He smiled. “You seem tired. It’s been a long day.”
“I think I’ll turn in if you want to show me which room.”
“Sure thing, but I think I’ll stay up and talk awhile. The kids probably will too. Let me show you where I put your stuff.” He led her through the house to the living room and up the open stairway to the first room off the hall. “I could have told you where to go, but I want to show you something. Don’t turn on the light.”
The warmth in her chest dissipated at his serious tone. “Trouble?”
“Maybe.”
He led her to the window facing the street. “There was a car out there when I went to get our things. I think the guy from Pelican Harbor followed us here.”
She put her hand to her throat. “Oh no. Are you sure?”
“Not positive, but it looked like him. I told Grandpa about it, and he and I are going to take turns watching the house. He’s got a rifle and is a crack shot.” He sounded proud.
“I’ll take a turn too. You guys will be up awhile. Wake me when you go to bed.” She bit her lip and glanced out on the street again. “I hate to tear you away from such a happy homecoming, but maybe we should head home. Get Will back to safety.”
Reid’s smile vanished. “Put him under lock and key again.” He sighed. “He’s having such a great time. What are we going to do about the danger he’s in? We can’t keep him locked up forever.”
“Maybe another week will give us more answers.”
“And maybe it won’t. Then what?”
Good question, and she had no answers. “We’ll figure it out as we go along.” She touched his arm. “Your family is great, Reid. I’m glad you found them. You’re already calling them Grandma and Grandpa. You stepped into a ready-made family that already loves you.” She winced at the way her voice wobbled. She didn’t want him to think she begrudged him the happy ending she hadn’t gotten. “I’m really happy for you and Will.”
His arms circled her and drew her into an embrace. “I know we didn’t find your mom, but you are part of all of this. I can tell they like you already.”
While it was all true, she still mourned the loss of the dream, that happy ending where her mother told her she thought about her every day. That had been a mirage though. If it were true, her mother would have come with them. Or she would have found them later.
It was time to grow up.
She pulled away and pushed him toward the door. “Go talk to your grandparents. Don’t forget to wake me.”
Closing the door felt wrong, but she knew it was the right thing to do. This wasn’t going to change overnight.
Twenty-Eight
The GPS tracker worked like it was supposed to. He’d been able to drive at an undetectable distance and follow the blip on his phone. They ended up in this quaint Indiana town he’d never heard of. Once he’d driven past the parked RV, he cruised through town and ended up eating a leisurely dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Mi Pueblo.
People said hello and smiled, and he spoke back as if he belonged here.
As it got dark he made a swath through the downtown and exited south to evaluate how he might get out of town if he was able to execute his plan. Around nine, he made his way back to Hill Street and parked half a block away from the well-maintained Craftsman house until Reid saw him. He’d driven off before he could be identified and had hung out in the city park down the street for a while, where he’d browsed the internet on his phone.
Patrons of a kids’ softball game left the diamond, and he watched the stars come out above the oak trees. When he phone rang, he grimaced. “Yo, Boss.”
“Where are you and what is the status?”
“I’m in Indiana.” He told the man about escaping from the bunker and finding his quarry. “I got the laptop and nearly came on back, but I couldn’t crack the iCloud password to destroy backups of the files. I decided to hang here and see what they are up to.”
“Have you destroyed all the physical copies on the computers?”
“The only guy who might have copies on a hard drive is his videographer. I didn’t think he’d do anything with them if he had them since Dixon is the one making the documentary.”
“There’s no guarantee of that. Would he know the Cloud password?”
“I don’t know. He might have his files backed
up elsewhere.”
A long silence followed. “Right now, the safest thing to do would be to eliminate Dixon. It’s ideal that he’s away from town. It might muddy the investigation. With him dead, the files will likely go unused. To be on the safe side, eliminate the videographer as well. With them both out of the way, no one should be able to access any online backups.”
The man winced. “I’d hoped to avoid murder.”
“Your bank account will thank you.”
And accolades from his friends if he shut down the oil platform. “All right.”
“Check in when it’s over.”
“Will do.” He ended the call and ran his seat back to stretch out his legs.
A burglary gone wrong might work. Especially so far from Pelican Harbor. He could make sure to take items of value so the small-town police here would assume it was theft related. It would have to do.
At midnight, he yawned and started the car to return to Hill Street. He parked down the other direction and peered back at the house. The streetlights shone down more than he’d like. One in front of the porch lit up the front yard way too much. He got out and walked down the side street where he could see into the backyard. Nope, wouldn’t work. The security light left few shadows and there was practically a spotlight at the back door. An awake neighbor would spot him in a heartbeat and call the cops.
He returned to the car and checked his supplies. Kerosene and a lighter should be enough. Two sides of the house caught too much light from the streetlamps, and though he had a suppressor on his Glock, someone might hear the exploding glass. Too risky. He’d have to set the fires as best he could and hope they all got caught in the inferno.
He slung his pack over one shoulder and got out to make a cautious approach.
Showtime.
* * *
Something felt off.
With Grandpa keeping watch, Reid had prowled the house though he should have gone to sleep for a while. He paused to examine every family photo, every obvious hand-me-down like knickknacks and lace doilies. His grandmother had put him and Will in the room where his mom had grown up, and the three of them had pored over her high school yearbooks, old pictures, and the articles of clothing his grandparents still had in the closet before his grandmother and Will had finally gone to bed.
The time here had brought the dim memories of his mother surging back again, and the pain of her loss had sharpened as well. She’d been such an easy pawn for Moses. Gentle, loving, easily controlled.
He hated his father.
He sent his grandfather on to bed, then took up his post in the darkened living room. Sneaking in through the back wouldn’t be hard, so he occasionally padded to the kitchen and looked out. He didn’t think the man would sneak in that way with the bright halo of the security light turning night into day, but he couldn’t ignore the possibility.
Were there any other points of entry? The east and west sides didn’t have doors, only windows. He would likely hear breaking glass if an intruder tried to get in that way.
Maybe he was jumpy for no good reason. He still wasn’t sure that car was the same one they’d seen in Kentucky.
He yawned, but he wasn’t sleepy.
He heard a noise and turned to see Jane coming down the stairs. She wore dark-blue cotton pajamas, and her feet were bare.
“I thought you were sleeping,” he said.
“I tried. You should have gone to bed first. You’ve had two hours of sleep. Anything going on?”
“Nothing. I haven’t seen the car come back.”
When she reached him, he looped his arm around her and drew her into his side. She didn’t pull away but slipped her arm around his waist.
“Anything from your detectives back home? They making headway?”
“I had an update from Augusta, but there’s nothing new. She’s asking questions and poking around, but we’ve hit a wall. No match on the fingerprints found on Keith’s laptop. They also haven’t been able to track the person he was emailing. Some kind of sophisticated cloaking was used. No telling what Homeland Security is finding. They don’t keep me in the loop.”
She tensed and her arm dropped away. He let her go with a sense of regret. “Something wrong?”
“What if I found my grandparents?”
“Your dad says they’re all dead, right?”
“That’s what he says, but he’s not exactly the paragon of truth.”
“You haven’t looked before?”
“I was focused on finding my mom. But grandparents would be great if they are anything like yours.”
“I’ll help you.”
“Thanks, I thought you might say th—” She stopped and tipped her head. “Did you hear that?” Her voice was a whisper.
“What? I didn’t hear anything.”
She didn’t answer but moved toward the west side of the house toward the dining room. He pulled out his gun and followed her. She held out her hand so he passed it over. She must have left hers in the bedroom upstairs. Barely breathing, they stood in the hallway between the living room and dining room.
He strained to listen, and there was a soft tinkle of noise. Glass maybe? Or maybe his grandmother had a wind chime. The hair stood taut on the back of his neck, and he felt a whisper of air as if a window was open.
Someone was inside the house.
He reached for anything heavy. He found a table lamp by the armchair against the wall a few feet away and unplugged it. Hefting it by its neck, he went back to stand with Jane.
She was rigid as she stared at a corner just past the table and chairs. A sideboard was there, but Reid didn’t see anyone in the dark. He didn’t dare ask her either, since he was sure a presence was in the house they hadn’t felt before.
He strained to listen, to see where the danger lay. She had the gun up and ready, and the danger was palpable.
A soft, sliding movement sounded to their left, nearer than the corner with the sideboard. He swung that way with the lamp aloft.
Jane pivoted too. “Show yourself!”
A bullet plowed into the woodwork by Reid’s head, and he flinched. Fire spat from the end of the gun in Jane’s hand, then a dark shadow rushed past them toward the kitchen. Reid sprang after the figure and managed to snag the arm of his jacket. The guy left it behind as he exited the back door.
Jane rushed after him and the guy disappeared into the shadows of the neighbor’s backyard.
“I smell smoke!” Reid ran for the back door and spotted the flames licking up the back wall in the kitchen.
Under the stench of smoke, he caught a whiff of kerosene. He flung open the door and ran for the sink, where he’d spotted a fire extinguisher attached to the side of the cabinet.
Jane rushed past him. “I’ll get everyone out!”
White foam spat from the wand and began to smother the fire. Once it was out, he went in search of any more spots and found one at the side wall to the dining room. It was smaller and didn’t take long to put out.
He went through the dining room, and Jane had assembled the rest of the family. His grandmother’s hair was askew, and she trembled when he put his arm around her. “It’s okay,” he soothed. “I don’t think there’s much damage. It’s all in the kitchen.”
“I want to see.” The older man marched past into the kitchen.
Reid led his grandmother after him and blinked in the bright overhead light. The flames had licked up the back wall directly under the bedroom where his son had been. Left unchecked, the fire would have destroyed the upstairs.
His grandmother hugged him. “It’s a good thing you found the fire.”
“It wasn’t an accident, Grandma. A man was in here setting it.”
Her eyes went huge, and she put her hand to her mouth. “Mercy sakes. Who would be so evil?”
“We’re going to find out.”
Jane’s voice was grim. “We need to get back to Pelican Harbor and solve this case. I’m going to nail him. He could have killed your grandpare
nts or one of the kids.”
Reid couldn’t argue with her. “I never saw him behind us.”
“He might have put a GPS tracker on the RV. I’ll check it out now while you pack up the kids. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”
While he hated to leave without meeting his uncle, they could come back when this was over.
Twenty-Nine
The man was back in Foley by 2:00 a.m. on Monday, and the RV wouldn’t be back for hours. He put his plane in the hangar and got into his truck in the parking lot.
The heat and humidity nearly suffocated him, and he tossed his cigarette out the window before he started the engine. He turned on the air-conditioning, then called his boss to report in.
“I was unable to eliminate the threat in Indiana last night, sir.”
“What? Tell me what happened.”
The man went over the details. “They are crafty and were keeping watch. I barely got out without being shot.”
“Where are you now?”
“About to head to Hastings’s place. I’ll take care of that first.”
“I want this all done by nightfall. Too much is at stake. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” He hung up and sighed.
He’d gotten little sleep for the past few days, and he’d hoped to catch a few z’s. He drove to Hastings’s place, which luckily had no near neighbors. The videographer’s car was in the drive next to the pier where the houseboat bobbed in its dock. He’d hoped to prowl the house undetected to plan his next move first. On the off chance the guy would leave, he drove to the marina and parked, then got out to feed the seagulls with a stale loaf of bread he had in the backseat. He settled on a bench and stared out over the water as he threw crumbs to the gulls.
He was beginning to regret he’d gotten involved in this. He’d done it for all the right reasons in his mind, but his boss’s fixation on revenge might see it all blow up in their faces.
He bought a lobster roll from a street vendor and ate it, relishing the sweet meat on his tongue, while he killed time. He tossed the last of it to the gulls and leaned back on the bench. The gentle sound of the waves and the distant creaking of boats bobbing in the water lulled him, and his eyes grew heavy. Maybe he’d close them for a few minutes.
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