Jude didn’t like the agent’s tone at all. He waited until the ruckus calmed down, then said, “With criminals? No way.”
She wasn’t lying about having seen a murder, either. Despite what a couple of the agents thought. He’d been trained to spot the indicators that someone might be lying, and she’d shown none of them. If it was an act then she deserved an award because he’d never met a person that good at acting. She was scared, and he’d seen the threat for himself. The danger in her life was obvious but he didn’t believe the man after her was acting alone. He couldn’t have shot up the Laundromat and then gone immediately to burn down her house. There hadn’t been time to line things up that perfectly.
So was there more than one threat, or was she being targeted by multiple people? There could be a head on this snake, calling the shots over the money and Zoe. Her boss? Alan Reskin seemed professional enough, but anyone could be pushed to kill under the right circumstances. Jude didn’t like not knowing all the answers.
No one looked particularly convinced of Zoe’s innocence, so he said, “If she knows anything I’ll find out. But I want her and her son protected.”
Milsner lifted his chin, gung-ho as usual. “I say we get a warrant. Raid the company and dig through what we find.”
“We’ll wait for something more solid. The DA will never go for it based on what we have so far.” Agent Daniels, his boss, sat at the far end of the conference room table. He glanced at Jude. “I’ll assign agents to keep an eye on Reskin, but I want to know what Zoe knows. You have one day to find out.”
It wasn’t protective custody, where Zoe and Tyler would be secure in a house the Secret Service had complete control over, and it wasn’t nothing, either. But one day? “Sir—”
“You’re all dismissed.”
Jude made a move to leave with the other agents but his boss waylaid him with a flick of his hand. Jude sat and the room emptied. At the last moment Milsner glanced back with a smirk, even though this was nothing like getting called to the principal’s office.
“You think you can get her talking?”
Jude thought on it. “I think there’s a good chance. I’m going to work on that as well as other leads.” The purple-haired woman was a bust. She’d checked out of the hospital and refused to give the police anything.
Daniels nodded. “This woman knows about Moose’s operation, which helps the cops unpack possible motives for his murder. But how is she an asset to our case?”
Daniels leaned against the table because his new left knee was titanium and bothered him until he took the weight off it. He wore wide-rimmed glasses and had a military haircut. He wasn’t what most people probably pictured when they thought of Secret Service agents. He looked like what he was—a sharp and capable man who was very good at his job.
Jude respected him, and not just because he pushed Jude for every single result he got. He wanted Jude to know precisely why he was doing this by asking him to reiterate it now.
“Aside from the murder she saw three weeks ago, Zoe can also potentially supply me with information on the kind of transactions Moose was making. The killer from the Laundromat—who she can identify—”
“As can you now, right?”
Jude nodded. He had seen Tucker himself, right after Moose had been shot, chased the man after the fire and gotten his wallet. “The killer has his own identity, which I believe Moose fabricated for him. Zoe is in the middle of this. The fact that she might have witnessed a murder committed by her boss could be part of it. Our investigation into the pharmaceutical company might have nothing to do with Zoe, depending on what her job was, but I’ll find out either way.”
“You think she saw an unsolved murder?”
“Possibly, though she said the cops made no record of it. There might be an open case on some detective’s desk, but there also might not.” Jude needed her to talk, otherwise he’d have to do the legwork. It could take him weeks to figure out what she’d seen and who was involved.
“You may need to hand this off to PD if the threads of your case tie off and their hunt for this Tucker Wilson is still ongoing.” Agent Daniels lifted off the table.
“Yes, sir.”
“Run it down, Agent Brauer.” He tapped the tabletop with his knuckles and left the room.
Jude mostly figured that meant “Good job,” or, “Go get ’em, son.” But he didn’t know for sure. His boss was solid. Jude would miss working under him when one—or both—of them moved up in the ranks of the Secret Service. It was another part of why he’d put off having a serious relationship with any woman.
Jude didn’t know what city he’d be working in ten years from now—or what he would be doing. The divorce rate among agents was high, and many of them retired before starting families. Still, there were happily married agents in the Secret Service. One was a director on the president’s detail Jude had met a few years ago.
He mulled it over as he went back to his desk and logged on to his computer. The first time he’d left it unlocked and walked away the other agents had changed his desktop background to an extremely embarrassing picture of Jude and a bunch of cats. It had been the worst graphic he’d ever seen, several pictures badly overlaid, but the point had been made: don’t leave your info for anyone to get into. The stuff agents looked at was no one else’s business, and bad security habits led to slacking, which led to leaking confidential information, even if he didn’t mean to do so. Security was paramount.
Once he logged in, Jude got to work breaking down the history on the driver’s license. The identity was a strong fabrication. The last known address was probably fake, but the electronic record was far more convincing than a person who’d simply begun to exist on the date the license was issued.
Moose was good, but Jude had access to multiple agency and government databases. He ran the picture through all of them and added a prayer he would get some information back soon. It wouldn’t necessarily get him an identity on the man, but everything had to be followed up just in case it got him an answer. Often the answer would be to a question he hadn’t even asked.
Jude sent a couple of emails to the detectives, and cleared out his inbox while he waited for a reply to his offer of a meeting between Zoe and the detectives investigating the Laundromat homicide. She had shared about BioWell, and she hadn’t precisely said she wouldn’t talk to the cops. He was pushing her offer of trust, and prayed it wouldn’t backfire on him.
He’d have to go through Moose’s office and try to find a paperwork trail that would help the task force investigation. See if he couldn’t discover who was behind it that way. Moose was dead, his entire business now part of a police investigation. Jude needed the cooperation of the detectives to get access. Hopefully they’d share what they found.
Five minutes later he got an email. The detectives from the Laundromat wanted to meet with Zoe.
* * *
“Right now?” Zoe gripped the phone Jude’s father had handed her. Andrew stood close by, a worried look on his face. She tried to send the older man a calm smile, but didn’t think he believed it.
On the other end of the phone Jude said, “I’m driving back to the church now. They agreed to meet us at a diner downtown. A neutral location, so you can give them a statement while we eat. The whole thing will take less than an hour.”
He was trying to reassure her it wasn’t a big deal, but tell that to her stomach. Just the idea of eating while she talked about blood and death made those pancakes want to resurface. She swallowed hard and tried to think of happy things.
He hung up before she could finish processing the idea, and then she had to tell Tyler she was going out. He’d given up on the book Leanne had found him, and opted instead to stare at the window as though threats lurked there. She didn’t want him to be scared, but she wouldn’t lie and tell him there was nothing to worry about. T
hey weren’t safe.
“You’re leaving?”
She nodded. “I don’t want to, but I have to talk to the police.”
He got up. “I want to come with you.”
What mom was able to resist that? “I think you should stay here, Ty. Andrew and Leanne will keep you company until I get back.”
He hugged her, his movements frantic. Zoe rubbed the back of his head, realizing he needed a haircut. “I’ll be back before you know it.” She didn’t want him listening to what she had to say to the police. He was already scared enough, though he didn’t know the details. He simply read her emotions and reflected them back without realizing.
“I know you’re scared. So am I.” She tugged on him until he leaned back and looked at her. Then she said, “I’ll be careful, and Jude will be with me. You’ll be here with Andrew and Leanne, and I’ll be back. Soon.”
“I want to go and see Aunty Ember. She’s in the hospital all alone.”
“It’s okay to be alone when you’re sleeping, you know that. The doctor said she might not wake up for hours.” They’d told her as much when she’d called, though it was debatable whether this much time unconscious was a good thing or not.
Still, if it made him happier, she would figure out a way to get him to the hospital to see her sister. “I’ll talk to Jude, and when I get back we’ll go. Maybe she’ll be awake by then.”
“I want to see her today, Mom.”
She narrowed her eyes and tried to inject some humor into this completely unfunny situation. “Are you bossing me?”
He grinned. “I’m getting bigger.”
“You could be ten feet tall, and I’d still be in charge.”
“We’d be equals, though. Your votes can’t outvote mine if I’m taller.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. Everyone knew parents’ votes counted for two and kids’ only one; that way a consensus could be reached more easily. “Maybe. I’ll take it to committee.”
“They’ll say I’m right.” Even though there was no committee, and he probably didn’t even know what that meant.
Zoe kissed his head and snuggled with him until Jude got there.
Being with the Secret Service agent in the car was nowhere near as comforting as time with her son. Especially since Jude barely said anything to her the entire way downtown while Zoe stared out the window.
Was this really what her life had become? She’d been trying her best to be a good mom and provide for her son by getting a good job doing admin in the accounts department. The best position she’d been able to find with no degree and only minimal qualifications.
Then one night everything had changed. She shuddered at the memory of that woman lying on the dirty concrete. The man standing over her. Their exchanged words had been vicious, and she’d fought back. But he’d bested her with one swing and she’d fallen.
Jude adjusted the vents and the temperature dial. “Are you cold?”
Zoe swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I’m ready to be done with this and get back to Tyler.”
“He’s safe, you know.”
“I thought he was safe with Ember, but I was wrong. I thought borrowing all that money was the right move. How did that man find the place when I hadn’t been there in a week?” None of this made any sense.
“Really?”
“I was working with Moose and I didn’t want to lead anyone back to the house, so I stayed away.”
“How did you hide the paper trail from them?”
“My sister rented it for us. Her name and mine are different.” She paused. “He found them there, where they should have been safe.”
Jude pulled up at a stoplight. Downtown was busy as usual, foot traffic and cars. Zoe rolled down the window a fraction so she could feel the breeze on her face.
The window rolled back up, and the gust of fresh air stopped.
“I thought you were cold.”
She glanced at Jude. “I just wanted to be able to breathe for a minute.” That wasn’t why she’d opened the window, but now that she’d said that it made sense.
This life, all this danger. The stress of constantly looking over her shoulder had her feeling trapped. Moose had seemed like her way out, but even with new identities she and Tyler would be in danger. Forever looking over their shoulders as they wondered when life would crash around them. Again.
She just wanted to wake up and realize all this was a nightmare. For her life to only be about worrying if Tyler should read more books and watch less TV—the answer was always yes to that question. Life wasn’t easy, but it also didn’t have to be filled with danger.
If she had the energy, she would pray for an answer. Surely there was something she could do to end this, instead of this being their new reality. Tyler had been through enough upheaval in his life; he didn’t need this on top of everything else.
Jude pulled into a parking space at the far end of the lot. Zoe glanced in all directions, out the tinted windows. “Aren’t we going to be exposed, walking all the way across the lot to get inside? Shouldn’t we park closer to the door?”
Jude shut off the engine. “We’re going to be cautious, but we don’t know where he is or what his plans are. We could twist ourselves in knots trying to figure out where the attack will come from. It’s best to just be smart. Cautious and aware, expecting the danger but not consumed by fear of it.”
“I’d love to not be twisted up in knots, but I don’t think it’s possible to be otherwise right now.” She didn’t want her voice to sound like that. Zoe fought the frustration and said, “I’m sorry. That was rude. You’re helping and I should be more grateful.”
“I know you’re tired.” His soft gaze met hers. “Thank you for apologizing, but it’s not necessary. You should be frustrated, because this is a frustrating situation you’re caught up in.” He touched her shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay, now I feel worse.” She gave him a wry smile. “Why can’t you be a jerk or something?”
“So you can reinforce your belief that all men are untrustworthy?” He shook his head. “Not on your life.”
“Fine.”
If he wanted to prove he was a good guy, maybe even the best guy, it was fine with her. She was open to being surprised, or even for once being wrong about someone. Logically she knew every guy in the world couldn’t be a bad guy. Some of them had to be nice, or no marriage would ever last.
Jude grinned. “Fine.” Then cracked his door. “Coffee?”
“I’ve had four cups already this morning, but the answer to that question is always yes.”
“So noted.” He hopped out. “Wait there until I come around.”
She did as he asked, and as they crossed the parking lot she realized he’d slipped into some trained Secret Service agent mode. He was cute when he was all business. But that only made Zoe sigh.
“All right?”
She pushed the diner door open. “Yeah.”
Tell that to her heart. It was softening toward him and Zoe didn’t know if she could stop it. Even if he really was a good guy, how was that going to help her? She was supposed to be keeping a distance. No one was so good they just helped another person without expecting something in return.
He had to have an angle. Though it didn’t make much sense he’d parked them at his parents’ instead of in a motel if he was planning on using her for something.
She sat opposite Jude, and they ordered coffee. Zoe got decaf just to prove she could deny herself what she really wanted for her own good. If she couldn’t keep her distance with Jude then she was seriously at risk of handing over her heart and having it stomped on.
A shiny muscle car pulled up out front.
“That’s them.”
Good. Zoe was ready to tell her story and get t
his part over with so she could figure out how to fix the rest of her life.
She watched out the window as two suited detectives got out of their vehicle. Halfway to the door, shots rang out. A van crawled along the street, the muzzle of a gun pointed out the window.
The cops ducked.
“Get down.” Jude leaned over the table and shoved her head down. Seconds later she heard the rev of that muscle car’s engine as it drove away. “They went after them.” His eyes pinned hers. “Stay here, where you’re surrounded by people, but stay down.” Jude got up from their booth and raced to the door.
Zoe glanced around, trying to figure out what had just happened.
In that moment, the man she had been running from emerged from the back hallway marked Restrooms. He stared at her, that gleam of evil in his eyes.
He was going to kill her.
SEVEN
Jude raced out the door right into the morning sun. He shaded his eyes with his hand and peered down the street, where the detectives raced in their car after the vehicle of men who had shot at them.
Logic kicked in now. He couldn’t go after them. How would that help? The detectives needed space to do their thing, and Jude had to stay with Zoe. To keep her safe no matter what happened.
His stomach churned. He’d left Zoe alone. With a diner full of people, sure. But he hadn’t stayed with her.
When the need to keep her safe had become his prime directive, he wasn’t sure. Likely sometime during last night, when he’d lain awake wondering why carrying a sleepy child in his arms felt distinctly normal. It should have been strange, helping Tyler from the car to bed, but it hadn’t. Nor had sitting with the boy at the kitchen table earlier that morning, eating pancakes and telling funny stories. And that was what struck him the most about this whole situation.
He was supposed to be questioning her, not contemplating whether he might be ready to be a father. Was anyone ever ready?
He’d mostly figured when he had kids then he’d adapt and learn as he went. Now that Zoe and Tyler were suddenly in his life, and he was faced with the strength of Zoe’s love for her son, coupled with the fact that Tyler was in as much danger as she was, he had to face realities he’d never contended with before.
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