Christmas Witness Conspiracy

by Maggie K. Black

  “You got all that from a quick glance?” Kelly asked.

  “Yup.” Liam nodded. “My old-school skills haven’t gotten totally rusty. Like I said, I’ve survived this job a long time.”

  He led them past both a coffee shop and a restaurant before they finally stopped at a diner that had a pay phone out front. It took buying a map from a nearby gas station to get correct change. But Liam finally had it and they stood outside in the snow while he stared at the phone as if trying to decide what number to call. Then he punched in a number and stood back. The phone rang. It clicked through to the answering machine and then a few bars of “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes played, followed immediately by a couple of lines from an even older song from Bobby Darin about a shark’s pearly teeth.

  Liam hung up and his hand shook as he set the receiver back. “Thank You, God.”

  Her hand brushed his back. “‘Mack the Knife’?” she asked. “What does that mean?”

  He turned toward her, relief filling his eyes. “It means Mack and Iris still have Pip and she’s safe.”

  And suddenly it hit her. He’d been even more worried about Pip’s safety than she’d been. Because when he’d promised her that Pip was safe, she’d believed him.

  “Who did you call?” she asked.

  “A very long time ago, when I was training to be a cop, I was friends with a guy named Trent,” Liam explained. “An excellent cop, now an RCMP detective, who went on to marry an exceptional OPP detective named Chloe. Back when we were teenagers, cell phones weren’t that big a thing, or if they were we couldn’t afford them, so we’d call each other’s answering machines directly and leave messages. Trent and I agreed to keep one open as an emergency messaging device. It’s the closest thing we could get to an untraceable number. An unused twenty-five-year-old phone number is the last thing anyone’s going to be tapping. Like me, Trent used to go undercover in a lot of very rough assignments, sometimes for months at a time with really bad people.”

  “Very old school,” Kelly said. “How many times have you used the number?”

  “In over twentysomething years?” Liam asked. “He’s used it maybe twice.”

  “And you?” she asked.

  “This is the first time I’ve called it,” Liam said, and there was a weight to his words she didn’t quite understand.

  “How did he even know you’d call that number?” she asked.

  “He didn’t.” They kept walking. “He probably followed a hunch and took a shot in the dark because he heard something from someone he trusts. It was an act of faith and hope.”

  “So these new Imposters aren’t the only ones with a network,” she said. “You seem to have a lot of people looking out for you, wanting to help you.”

  He didn’t look at her. He just kept walking. “Cops look out for each other.”

  “Jess offered to help you on her wedding day,” she countered. “Mack and Iris are taking care of Pip. An old buddy called a secret number you set up over twenty years ago. That’s way more than cops looking out for each other.”

  He didn’t answer and she wasn’t sure why. It was like there was something inside Liam blocking him from seeing how much he mattered to people. Just like he apparently hadn’t seen just how much he’d mattered to her.

  “Come on,” he said. “We should eat something and figure out our next ride.”

  They reached a diner and Liam scanned it for lines of sight. Their conversation dropped to low and innocuous small talk, as they went inside, hid in a corner booth and bought greasy burgers that they paid cash for. A television mounted in the corner ran the twenty-four-hour news channel. Every now and then the younger, stronger, more classically handsome, de-aged Liam without all the scars and wounds of his life flashed on the screen. It was almost impossible to believe he was the same tired, drained, exhausted, battered and bruised man sitting in front of her. It wasn’t surprising that no one recognized him.

  The gas-station map told them they were a little over three hours from Ottawa. The burgers arrived and Kelly watched as Liam created a pool of ketchup on the corner of his plate and dipped his burger in it as he ate. “You know, you’re the only person I’ve ever known who does that.”

  Liam’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Well, maybe other people do, but you haven’t had burgers with them.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, probably.”

  He paused, then dipped his burger into the ketchup and took another bite.

  “Did you ever get a cat?” he asked.

  “I fostered some kittens for a while,” she said. “I also had some birds. Do you still dislike cats?”

  He laughed—it was a deep and warm chuckle that seemed to cut through space and time, back to when they’d sat in similar diners and had similar conversations all those years ago.

  “Cats dislike me,” he said. “Because they’re sneaky and I see through them.”

  She laughed, too, and for a long moment neither of them said anything, they just ate from their shared basket of fries, their hands lightly bumping as they reached for them.

  “I wanted to call when I heard your mom had passed away,” Liam said. He looked down at the table. “I just didn’t know what to say.”

  “She never really recovered from the shock of my dad laundering money and us being forced into witness protection,” she said. “Didn’t help my dad ran away with someone else. You said your dad passed?”

  “Four years ago,” Liam said. “It was cancer, pretty fast, but he had a few months in a hospice to tie up loose ends and say goodbyes.”

  Her hand reached for his across the table and linked through his fingers. “I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks.” Liam nodded. “Me, too.”

  “He must’ve been proud of all you’ve accomplished,” she said.

  “He was,” Liam said. “This was all he ever wanted for me.”

  A silence fell between them again that was both comfortable and awkward at the same time, like a cross between a first date and catching up with an old friend. They left the diner ten minutes later, keeping their heads down and moving quickly. At first it seemed a choice between hitchhiking again or taking a bus. But then they spotted a beat-up car in front of someone’s house with a for-sale sign on its windshield. The owner wanted fifteen hundred dollars for it, but Liam talked him down to nine hundred cash, and off they drove. They were down to their last few hundred dollars now, hardly enough for a few days’ worth of food and a motel room each for them to sleep in when night fell. The car’s summer tires were threadbare, the heater was broken and the right back-seat window was cracked. But it moved and it got them to Ottawa in time for the vigil.

  And still her phone stayed silent. Had something happened to Renner? Had he been able to rescue Hannah? Worry permeated every beat of her heart, just like it had back in the day when she and Liam had first been on the run together. And yet, despite the pain, fear and uncertainty, she also knew there was no one else she’d rather have by her side.

  A long, sprawling park ran along Ottawa’s water’s edge. Liam parked in a mostly empty lot and they walked, following a winding bike path. The faint sound of singing and gentle glow of lights rose ahead of them.

  “Considering it’s almost Christmas, there are probably several events going on in this park right now,” Liam said. “I don’t know how easy it’s going to be to find this vigil, or even how many people are going to be there. I’m guessing no more than a dozen or so. Maybe less, considering the weather. But hopefully at least one member of my team will be there, or someone else I trust, and I’ll be able to signal them.” He frowned. “Although with Jess gone on her honeymoon, Noah getting married tomorrow and Mack hunkered down somewhere protecting Pip, there might not be.”

  They crested a hill as the sound of music seemed to swell and rise to meet them—the final verse of “Amazing Grace.” Liam’s footsteps faltered.
Hundreds—no, thousands of candles were spread out in a rich tapestry of lights beneath them.

  “This can’t be it,” Liam said. “This must be some kind of Christmas event and the vigil moved.”

  He turned as if to go. But Kelly’s fingers grabbed hold of his and held fast.

  “This is it,” she said. “This is your candlelight vigil. All these people are here to celebrate you.”

  His head was shaking, but something in the slight quiver of his jaw as it set told her that he knew it was true.

  “But they don’t know me,” he said. “They don’t know anything about me. I’m a name on a police report or a tip sent their way.”

  “I know.” Her hand tightened on his. He had no idea how honored she was that she got to know him and that out of all the lives he’d touched, she was the one person he’d opened up to, been vulnerable with and decided to love, no matter how fleeting their time together. “But you changed their lives and for some, they’re only alive today because of you.”

  The music gave way to talking, as cop after cop spoke into a megaphone about Liam Bearsmith. And sure, it was clear most of them only knew of his uncanny knack for finding the right piece of evidence, pulling the right strings, finding the right source and showing up in the right place at the right time. They didn’t know anything about his sense of humor, his insecurities or his heart. But the fact he’d existed, done his job and been dedicated to his work mattered to all of them.

  And he was willing to give all this up for me.

  Between the distance and the snow it was hard to get a good look at who was speaking as the megaphone was passed around. But there was something about the tone of the strong woman’s voice when it took over the air that made Liam’s back straighten.

  “I’m detective Chloe Brant-Henry, OPP,” she said.

  “Wife of the man who left the message,” Liam whispered.

  “Liam and I worked a lot of cases together,” Chloe said. “Some of them were incredible, hair-curling stuff, which you’ll never get to hear about because they’re above your pay grades.” A ripple of laughter moved through the crowd. “When you grow up in a dysfunctional family, like my sister and I did, you learn to appreciate the family you find. As some of you know, when I married Trent I inherited three new brothers. What you probably don’t know is that Liam has always been like an honorary brother to us. He’s been there, without question, without hesitating, whenever we needed him. So wherever you are, Liam, I hope you know that you’re our brother and we’re here for you.”

  Liam pulled his fingers from hers and rubbed his hand across his eyes.

  Her phone pinged, she pulled it out and glanced at the screen.

  Hey, it’s Renner. Got Hannah. She’s safe.

  Locked onto your GPS in Ottawa now. On our way.

  There in fifteen minutes. It’s time to go.

  “Renner has Hannah,” Kelly said, glancing up at Liam from her phone. “She’s safe and he’s on his way to pick me up. He’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

  Renner was here? In Ottawa?

  Liam felt himself blink. “What do you mean, he’s on his way?”

  “Apparently he can track my phone on GPS,” Kelly said.

  Since when? All this time he’d thought the phone was completely untraceable.

  As he looked down at Kelly he could see the palpable relief and joy washing over her. He couldn’t blame her. But something didn’t sit right in Liam’s core. Something felt off.

  Help me, Lord. I’ve always been able to trust my gut. But right now I don’t know what this thing is I’m feeling and it’s clouding my vision.

  “Come with me,” Kelly said suddenly, as she pocketed her phone and then grabbed both of his hands in hers.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “I mean...come with me.” She said the words slowly. Her beautiful eyes locked on his face. “Come with Renner, Hannah, Pip and I. We’ll all go hunker down together somewhere and sort out how to stop the Imposters and prove you’re alive. You can get to know Renner and Hannah. We can figure this out together. Please, Liam, we’ve found each other again and I don’t want to go without you.”

  Go with her? Leave his work? Just run away with Kelly and start a new life? She had no idea how much he’d been willing to throw everything away for her before. But now?

  “I—I can’t...” he said.

  “You can.” Something firm moved through her voice and for a moment he almost believed her. “Why not, Liam? Why not come with us?”

  He wasn’t even sure. He just knew whatever it was came from somewhere deep inside him he’d never tapped into before. “I have a life here. I have a team...”

  “You had a life here,” she said. “You had a team. But now your team is disbanding and everyone else thinks you’re dead.” She waved her hand toward the array of dazzling lights. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t clear your name, prove you’re alive and stop the Imposters. But why can’t you do that with us? We can be your new team. We can go off-the-grid and find a way to do it together. For all your dedication to law enforcement, clearly somewhere along the line law enforcement let you down. Someone changed my file to keep us apart. Why not do what you wanted to do all those years ago—walk away from all this, and start again with me?”

  I don’t know! The words moved through him and he didn’t know how to speak them. Kelly would never know how much he’d wanted a life with her then and was tempted to leave everything behind to start a new life with her now.

  But he had no identification and no passport. His fingerprints matched a man who was wanted for murder. The only way to start anew with her was to go on the run and break the law.

  “Because that’s not the kind of man I am,” he said, the words crossing his lips the same moment they did his heart and mind. “Maybe it was never meant to be, as much as I wanted to give everything up to run away and be with you. This is my home, and this is my fight.”

  Her head was shaking and as he watched, a light dimmed in her eyes. Couldn’t she see?

  “You deserved a far better man than who I was when I asked you to marry me twenty-two years ago,” he said. “You deserved a husband who didn’t sneak around, break the rules and run from his responsibilities. You deserved a man who stepped up.”

  She pulled away, and as her eyes searched his face, they were filled with a look he couldn’t quite decipher.

  “And so, how are you going to be the kind of man who steps up now?” she asked.

  That’s just it. I don’t know!

  Before he could speak, her phone began to ring. Kelly pulled it out and held it between them. “Hello?”

  “Mom?” Hannah’s voice floated into the night and suddenly Liam realized Kelly had put it on Speakerphone.

  “Hannah?” Kelly’s voice broke as her eyes flooded with tears. Immediately, Liam pressed his arm around the small of her back, supporting her weight as her limbs began to shake. “Is it really you?”

  Silence fell on the other end of the line. A sob escaped Kelly’s lips. Liam glanced around and spotted a snow-covered bench sitting in a pool of light under a lamppost. He led Kelly toward it, wiped it off and helped her sit. She clutched his arm.

  “She’s gone.” Kelly looked up into his eyes. “It was Hannah. She was here and now she’s gone.”

  “It’s okay,” Liam said. “She’ll call back. The line must just be bad.”

  He glanced around and then he saw him. A lone figure standing by the road, not moving, not signaling him in any way, just staring at him. And even without seeing the man’s face, he recognized his form in an instant.

  It was Seth.

  Liam stood. “I... Give me a second.”

  Her phone rang again.

  “Hello?” Kelly answered it. “Hannah! Hi! Can you hear me? I can barely hear you.”

  She put
it on Speakerphone so Liam could listen in.

  “I’m here,” Hannah said. “Stay where you are. We’re driving your way.”

  Out of his peripheral vision, Liam could see Seth turn and walk toward the parking lot. He glanced from Kelly to Seth’s disappearing form. Help me, Lord! What do I do?

  “I’m here,” Kelly told Hannah. “I can’t wait to see you.”

  Seth was rapidly disappearing, but if Liam ran after him now he’d reach the other man in seconds.

  “Stay here,” Liam told Kelly. His hand landed on her shoulder and his eyes locked on hers. “Right here. On this bench. Don’t move. Don’t go anywhere. And if anyone approaches you, scream. Okay?” She nodded. He glanced back—Seth had disappeared from sight. He turned back to Kelly. “I need you to promise me, if anyone approaches you, you’ll scream for me and fight them off with all your might.”

  Kelly nodded. “I promise. Unless it’s Hannah.”

  “Deal,” he said, “unless it’s Hannah. I’ll be back in a second.”

  He brushed a kiss over the top of her head and bolted after Seth. For a moment he thought he’d lost him altogether. Then he spotted the hacker walking between the vehicles in a half-empty parking lot.

  “Seth!” Liam shouted. “Stop!”

  The hacker turned, his hood fell back and Seth’s eyes widened. Then Seth began to run. No! Whatever was going on, Seth was not getting away now. Liam pressed his body forward, his feet pounding on the icy ground as he ran after his former teammate. Within moments Liam had caught him—he grabbed Seth’s coat at the back of his neck and spun him around.

  “I’m sorry,” Seth said, his eyes wide. “I really am. I can explain.”

  “Not good enough,” Liam growled. He let Seth go and watched as the hacker’s knees buckled. “I thought we were on the same team.”

  “We are!” Guilt flooded Seth’s face. “It’s just, a buddy asked me for help and I had to help him.”