Witness in Hiding

by Lisa Phillips

“Do I have much choice?”

  Jude gave her a small smile. “We’re going to arrange a safe house for tonight, okay? Once we’re done, it’ll be late. Tomorrow you can go wherever you want.”

  She could just walk out of this building with her son right now. Was she going to? No. Not just because she actually did feel safe at the moment. She wanted to get as far away from this as possible but her shoulder hurt and she was exhausted. Ten hours of safe, deep sleep would be far better than a late-night trip to who knew where.

  Leaving was a great idea. In principle. The execution of it was turning out to have a whole lot of issues she hadn’t been ready for.

  “Thank you.” She included Steve in it, which made the man blink. Zoe didn’t have the energy to figure out why he seemed surprised she’d be courteous.

  While Steve stayed with Tyler, Zoe and Jude went over what she had seen. Then he asked her enough questions she wound up going over it all another time. Until she said, “That’s it, Jude.”

  He frowned. The longer he stayed here staring at her with those eyes, the worse things were going to get. He was like a tractor beam of brooding. She wanted to hug him, and let him solve all of her problems. Those capable shoulders could carry her stress so much better than she was doing.

  “If you’re sure.” He waited.

  Zoe thought back to that night in the parking lot. “I’m sure I want you to find out who she was. I want to know if she’s dead, and if I really saw what I thought I did.”

  He nodded, “Okay.”

  * * *

  Jude strode through the parking lot, the company’s head of security trailing him. He didn’t pull the map from his pocket Zoe had drawn. He’d memorized where she’d been and where the man and prone woman were in relation to her. She was no artist, but neither was he, and her directions were clear enough he got the idea.

  “What did you say you were looking for?”

  “The Secret Service is conducting routine security tests on financial infrastructure that keep our economy safe, and I wanted to get an idea of building security as well, since I’m here.” He’d filed a report with the related documents, just so this wouldn’t be a total lie.

  When he was almost in the right area Jude glanced around the parking lot like he was looking for cameras. Not that he expected to find them—the CEO would never be so careless as to commit a crime where it could be recorded. Or had he just known he’d be able to hide the trail...perhaps with some help?

  If Alan Reskin had killed a woman down here, wouldn’t this man have been brought in as part of the cleanup? Jude couldn’t dismiss it as an option, so he had to not make it obvious he was basically looking for blood on the floor. Alan had taken the woman in his car, but there had to have been evidence to clean up.

  He nodded, as though satisfied with what he saw, and then trailed between cars via the vicinity of where Zoe had indicated. “Have you worked here for long?”

  “Fifteen years. Before that I worked private security.”

  “That’s impressive.” Jude had figured the guard was former military, but wouldn’t know until later when he ran the man’s identity. “Do you like working for BioWell?”

  The man sniffed. “It’s a job.” He didn’t ask Jude about being a Secret Service agent. Did he have someone in an office upstairs, running the check? Impersonating a federal agent was a serious crime, but too many people were dumbstruck by a shiny badge and forgot to ask basic questions.

  Even Zoe had taken his word for it.

  Which brought his thoughts back to her. Again. Jude shook his head, as though that would stop his brain from going back there. It seemed all his mind wanted to do was think about her. Muse over her. Wonder about them together. Did they have a future? Could he really help her?

  Jude took a breath and prayed each of those questions, casting each burden onto his Lord. He might fail, but God would not. Jude was content to trust in His help.

  “Is there any way I can see your security office? I’d like to get a look at your setup.”

  The man sniffed again. “Sure.”

  Which meant he wasn’t threatened by Jude’s observing. When the man walked him to the elevator, the pace was faster than Jude normally moved. Which made him wonder if this guy needed to prove he was better. Was it a power play, making him uncomfortable by walking so fast? He said nothing in the elevator, which was fine with Jude. He got the opportunity to study the man. But he gave nothing away.

  “Any idea where Alan Reskin is?” Jude asked. “I’d like to speak with him, if that’s possible.”

  “He’s on vacation right now. A cabin in the middle of nowhere. No cell signal, no internet. No contact. He’ll be back in a few days, though.”

  It was a specific answer, but also vague. And did not include an offer to get Jude in contact with the man when he returned. “I’ll have to make an appointment with his secretary, then.”

  “She’s on vacation, as well.”

  “At the same time?”

  “Makes sense if you ask me,” the man said. “Nothing to do while he isn’t here.”

  Jude didn’t point out the fact that that was basically ridiculous, but he wanted to. Alan might very well have been in town that morning, being as Zoe thought it was this man who’d delivered his “message” to Tyler. The head of his security probably didn’t want Jude to expose his lie. Or his ignorance. Jude was content to keep the knowledge to himself for now. If Alan really was covering up a murder, Jude couldn’t give away anything that might warn him to go into hiding before they found him.

  The only way they could prove someone had died here would be to bring a black light and some Luminol that would show blood even if it had been cleaned away. With no body it would be hard to prove a murder had occurred. Unless he found a considerable amount of blood residue. Otherwise it could have simply been a fight, or an accident.

  * * *

  Zoe grew more restless the longer Jude was gone. Tyler was handling it worse than she was, which gave her something to focus on. She’d rather not have spent the hour telling him to calm down, or to sit still, though. Not that she truly blamed him for being restless. The boy was...well, he was a boy. He needed a park to run around in. Instead of being cooped up here where both of them were going crazy.

  “Should I get him a snack or something?”

  She considered the agent’s words. “Sugar probably isn’t a good idea.”

  Steve Fronter had been replaced by a female agent shortly after Jude left. She was nice enough, though maybe she didn’t know much about little boys. Zoe didn’t hold it against her.

  The agent nodded. “I could see how that might be true. I’m sure we can find something in the vending machine. Maybe some nuts.”

  Tyler perked up. “I love nuts.”

  She stood. “What do you say, little man? Want to go with me and find something to munch on?”

  Zoe’s stomach growled. A snack was probably a good idea for both of them.

  Tyler jumped up. “Yeah!”

  “Grab me something, too, okay?”

  He nodded and raced out with the agent.

  Zoe felt bad about it, but she breathed a sigh of relief when he left the room. Her arm was starting to get sore again and it wasn’t time to take more pain meds yet.

  Zoe laid her head back on the cushy chair, thankful the government had sprung for nice tall-backed office chairs for their agents to sit in while they were conferencing. She smiled to herself, then shut her eyes.

  All she saw was Jude.

  Then the woman, lying on the ground with Alan Reskin standing over her. A shiver moved through her. He had always seemed like a nice enough man—or so she’d thought. She’d worked in his company but had never met him. All she knew was that he was powerful and wealthy.

  He was said to be hap
pily married. Nothing to indicate murderous tendencies. Beyond that she didn’t know much, and wouldn’t have had the chance to, either. Her job was to stare at columns of numbers all day, not schmooze with people who wouldn’t look twice at a single mom who only needed to work so she didn’t get evicted. They were worlds apart.

  Or they had been, until that night.

  Zoe shuddered, which shot more pain through her shoulder. A tear rolled down her cheek. Where was Jude? What was taking so long? Surely he’d found where the woman had died. Maybe it was impossible, but what would she do otherwise? Zoe would look like she’d lied. Though how had she made up Terrence Willis trying to kill her, or those people hurting Andrew?

  “Zoe?”

  She opened her eyes and saw Steve in the hall. “Is Tyler okay?” He was probably terrorizing the agents in the office. They’d dealt with worse threats than a seven-year-old boy, so surely they were able to handle it.

  “You should come with me.”

  Not liking his look, Zoe got up. Her head swam from pain and lack of food. She braced a hand on the table before she got her bearings enough to walk to him. He didn’t help her. Zoe walked with him down the hall. “Is Tyler being a nuisance? I should have told him to behave himself with that agent.”

  “I’m sure he’s fine. This is about something else.”

  Was it Jude? Maybe something had happened to him. “What is it?”

  His lips thinned, but he said nothing. Steve led her through an exit door...to a stairwell? Zoe stepped through and then turned.

  She didn’t get all the way around before his arms wrapped around her from behind. His grip squeezed her injured shoulder and she cried out. Before the sound could travel beyond the two of them, he clapped a hand over her mouth.

  “Don’t scream and your son will live.”

  THIRTEEN

  Jude listened to the phone ring in his car as he drove back to the office, but Steve didn’t pick up. He called Agent Milsner next.

  When the agent answered, he said, “Any update on finding the CEO?” Jude hardly believed Reskin was on vacation.

  “Not yet,” Milsner said. “Anything from his office besides that security video?”

  “Not a thing. We’d need crime scene techs if we want to dig below the surface.” There was a chance that trace evidence had been left behind even if the scene was cleaned extensively. If a woman had died in that parking lot, then there was every chance they’d find proof. But only if they were able to get a warrant for an extensive search.

  “You think she really saw a murder?”

  Jude’s stomach clenched. He wanted to defend her, but wasn’t about to get angry at his colleague for asking a logical question. “I think we need to dig more. Find Alan Reskin and ask a whole lot of questions.” It would help if Zoe could identify the woman, as well. Until they knew who she was they wouldn’t know why she might’ve been killed.

  Jude had no idea how they would figure out who the woman was, short of Zoe looking at thousands of photos. Talk about a needle in a haystack.

  “Parks and Tanner went to Reskin’s house.”

  “Good,” Jude said. “Between the cousin we have in custody, the woman who set the fire and Alan Reskin, all we have is a trifecta of something and not the first clue what it is.”

  “Or precisely how it relates to the investigation.”

  “True.” Jude flipped on his blinker and turned onto the street where the Secret Service office was located. “Later.”

  Jude hung up the call and headed inside the building. Passing through security took a whole lot less time without having to sign Zoe and Tyler in, and within minutes he was in the elevator headed upstairs.

  His thoughts stayed on Zoe, and the danger she would face if she ran—all on her own without anyone to look out for her. He didn’t want to consider her getting hurt but he couldn’t go. He wanted her close, and it didn’t have anything at all to do with the investigation. Instead it had everything to do with the way she’d looked up at him from the floor of the Laundromat. And every glance since then.

  If Zoe could’ve identified the woman it would have helped. With nothing to narrow down her identity other than the fact that she’d been blond, that would be nearly impossible. Zoe’s statement had included the fact that she hadn’t seen the woman’s face.

  They could start with staff at BioWell, if the company consented to release names of all their employees. If they pushed for a warrant, Jude figured the Secret Service wouldn’t have enough to get one. But who knew if the dead woman even worked there?

  He prayed the conversation between the agents and Terrence Willis yielded a result, as well as the search for Alan Reskin. They needed something that would allow them to put the criminals behind bars, or Zoe and Tyler would never be safe.

  He checked the conference room, but didn’t see Zoe or Tyler, then went to the closest manned desk and asked the agent, “Have you seen the woman who was in there?” When the man shook his head, Jude said, “What about Agent Fronter?” Maybe Steve had taken her somewhere, so she could walk instead of sitting for hours.

  “Haven’t seen him in a while.”

  “And Terrence Willis?”

  “The detectives took him back to their station to get booked in.”

  “Thanks.” He’d need to find out what the man had said, but right now he needed to figure out where Zoe and her son had gone. Jude turned with a sigh, and surveyed the office. Cubicles and a government-issue printer with an out-of-order sign taped to it. Where were they?

  Tyler rounded the corner at the end of the office, emerging from the hall where the vending machines were. The kid had chocolate all around his mouth. He grinned, clutching a packet of trail mix and two juice boxes.

  Jude waited until the kid caught up to him. The last few steps Tyler picked up his pace until he collided with Jude, who hugged the kid back but was careful he didn’t get food smears on his shirt. “Hey. Any idea where your mom is?” He glanced at the female agent who had escorted the boy, including her in his question.

  Tyler said, “No,” while the female agent frowned and strode to the conference room.

  “She isn’t in here.”

  “I know,” Jude said. “That’s why I asked. So where did she go?”

  “Good question.”

  Even Tyler looked worried now.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find her.”

  * * *

  Zoe lost her footing on the concrete steps of the stairwell and stumbled. Steve’s punishing grip on her arms never loosened. He’d secured his tie around her mouth and it cut into her cheeks. She could barely breathe. Even though her nose wasn’t blocked it still felt like she couldn’t draw in air. Her shoulder was screaming, the pain so bad she’d nearly blacked out a couple of times.

  “Nice try,” the agent said. “But falling isn’t going to help you.”

  She said nothing. The words would have been garbled behind the gag anyway. She found her footing on the next landing, but he didn’t slow. He just kept dragging her down and down and down. What would he do when he got her to his car? And how could he get her past the office security?

  Would this agent kill her himself or was he taking her to her former boss for him to kill her? The crazy cousin was in jail, so he couldn’t hurt her anymore. And yet there was still so much danger.

  God, help me.

  The words were foreign, but she needed aid. God could send help. She didn’t know much about how to be His follower, but she knew He helped people who stayed close to Him. Like Jude.

  Please.

  Her breath came in gasps, and black spots pricked in the edges of her vision. Her stomach roiled but now was not the time to be sick. She had to get out of this man’s grasp, but attempting to kick him and fight him hadn’t gotten her anywhere. He’d slammed
her against the wall. The door handle on that floor had dug into her side. She would have a huge bruise there tomorrow.

  No, fighting wouldn’t help. But if she passed out then he would have to carry her, wouldn’t he? Zoe swayed more than was necessary on the next set of stairs. She closed her eyes slowly, like she was losing consciousness, and prayed he would buy her act. That she could slow him down long enough for someone to realize she was missing and be able to find her. Was Jude even back in the office yet?

  Steven shifted her in his arms. Zoe took the opportunity and went limp. With a grunted curse, the man shifted and then his shoulder was in her stomach. All the air escaped her as he hefted her up. Her arm dangled and she wanted to scream at the pain that shocked through her shoulder.

  He shifted her. Just a short bounce, and his bone prodded a different part of her stomach. Then he started walking. Zoe moaned; she couldn’t help it. His grip made her hips hurt as well, and every step down jarred her even more. Zoe had to resist the urge to revisit with her breakfast, even while the temptation to pass out increased.

  But what could she do to stop him if she was out cold?

  He rounded the landing. Zoe caught a glimpse of the floor number. Three. On the next set of stairs down she hooked her foot on the handrail and managed to drag him back for a second. That earned her a sharp slap on the back of her leg, which startled her enough to make her lose her grip.

  “I should just shoot you right now for that.”

  He kept going until he reached the underground parking lot. Steve stopped, and everything in Zoe stilled. He was going to get away with this—get away with her. He took a breath and pushed open the door.

  The air in the parking lot was cooler—a basement encased in concrete—and smelled like motor oil. It brought back all the memories she had of that night. Alan Reskin.

  A man who ran a pharmaceutical company should care about people’s health. But no, he’d hurt a woman. Zoe thought back to the woman’s form until the mental image dissipated. She’d looked familiar, but where did she know the woman from? Maybe she worked at the company. Perhaps the man had been having an affair with a colleague, or it had to do with the case Jude was working on. Money or passion—those were top reasons for murder, right?