“It’s not what you think,” I said, grimacing.
“It’s not, huh?” she said, crossing her arms. “You looked like a cozy little family in there.”
“What are you talking about?” I said, but I got her meaning. Everything was so fucked up and she was calling me on it.
“Look.” I rushed my hands through my hair, exasperated. “It started out with me protecting them from a couple of thugs who were coming around.”
“Protecting,” she said. “You’re not in witness protection anymore. You’re here to interrogate a suspect’s family to gain clues.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “It’s not that cut and dry. We know this family. They’re part of this reservation and that little boy in there . . .”
Charlie gaped at me while I paced around in a circle.
“Well shit,” she said in a whisper. “It’s like that, huh?”
“Like what?” I said, rounding on her.
“You’re falling for her,” she said in a huff. “For them.”
I was already shaking my head but I knew how transparent I seemed to her. She’d known me for years and if the roles were reversed, I’d be saying the same to her.
“Listen, Alex,” she said, softening her voice.
“Don’t patronize me,” I said, gritting my teeth. “Let me get my things and go. I’ve got a new lead.”
“You do?” she asked. “But I haven’t heard from you in—”
“That’s because I was deathly ill, I couldn’t even get out of bed,” I said. “Didn’t Shane tell you?”
“Not exactly,” she said, wincing. “He just told me where to find you.”
Maybe Shane was also questioning my intentions. Fuck.
Or maybe he was protecting me from a bunch of razzing. Charlie could be as bad as any of the guys.
“Look, she’s clean. She doesn’t have anything solid for us,” I began, but then stopped. “Let’s head back to the hotel and I’ll fill you in.”
She nodded, her gaze darting around the lot like she figured it was a good idea as well. That gave me a moment to get my thoughts in some semblance of order. Was I simply blind when it came to Meadow? She had produced that envelope for me after our make out session the other night. Did she have anything more to offer? I needed to pull my head out of my ass and fast.
When I stepped back inside Meadow was at the sink washing dishes and Joaquin was watching Tom and Jerry. Her hands stilled on the bowl she was wiping clean.
“I’ve got to head back to the hotel,” I said. “Tons of work to catch up on.”
She bristled briefly before nodding in my direction.
“Charlie is looking out for me,” I said in an effort to assure her. But what good would soothing her do if we couldn’t even define what was happening between us. “Her coming her to find me means that being out of commission like that put us behind . . .”
“I’ll bet,” she said, cutting me off. “You best get moving.”
“I’ve overstayed my welcome anyway,” I said and then watched as the light dimmed in her gaze.
She assumed that I was taking a step back, so it was as if she wanted to beat me to the punch. “Whatever you say.”
Fuck, I wanted to take it all back and wipe that defeated look from her eyes.
My phone buzzed with a text and when I glanced down at the screen, she stepped around me to get by. My hand shot out to reach for her hip and I dragged her back to me. Her lips trembled as our gazes collided and I wanted to kiss her senseless right then.
“Please don’t,” I whispered and then pecked the side of her head. “I’m just not sure how to . . .”
“It’s okay,” she said, clutching at my arm. “I don’t know how either . . . but it’s definitely time to go.”
I nodded grimly and then turned to tell Joaquin good-bye.
“See you later, buddy,” I said, attempting to sound cheerful and easy-going.
“Will you be back tomorrow?” he asked. My heart squeezed into a fist.
“I’m not sure, I’ve got a lot of things to do,” I said, and was saved when he tuned back into his cartoon.
I grabbed my things and headed to the door, only looking back once before slipping out. Meadow offered me a forced smile, Joaquin waved, and it felt so strange to walk away from them. Which didn’t make much sense at all. It had only been a few days since I had arrived in this town, but I’d seen them in some capacity every single day.
It seemed unreal how attached to them I’d already grown.
“Wait,” I heard from the doorway and I turned to see Joaquin standing there, clutching something in his fist. “Here. You’ll need a friend.”
I leaned down to his eye-level as he dropped the tiny triceratops in my hand. “Why will I need a friend?”
“In case you leave town,” he said. “Momma says you don’t live around here so you might get lonely.”
I clutched the dinosaur and tugged Joaquin toward me. “I’ll take good care of him and he can tell you all the adventures he took in my suitcase.”
I smooched the top of his head and glanced over his shoulder at Meadow who wore a watery smile. “See you soon.”
After we got back to my hotel room, I laid it all out for Charlie.
“It seems that Sparrow only checks in occasionally with his ex and his kid,” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed I hadn’t slept in for days. “Always from a different untraceable number. He also randomly sends her cash in a plain white envelope.”
“It’s the same with his other exes,” she said.
I cringed. That was the missing piece of the puzzle for Gloria, who was still legally married to him. Though it was likely she’d already guessed he was with plenty of other women. But would she also have deduced that he had other families, other children? It was likely he was a bigamist or maybe even a polygamist and it was time to use that as a final selling point.
“And right now he’s probably involved with some other woman who’s pregnant with his child,” Charlie said, incensed. “He’s holed up in some fortress where nobody can get to him except his top men.”
I pulled out the envelope that I had received from Meadow and placed it in a Ziploc bag. “We can run it for prints but I doubt we’ll get anything.”
I handed it over to Charlie who inspected it through the plastic. “Maybe one of his handlers forgot to wear gloves.”
“There’s more,” I said and Charlie looked up. “This time he went a different route to get her the money.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, crossing her arms.
“He used Gloria to deliver the cash,” I said. “I have to wonder if he’s fishing for information.”
Her eyebrows lifted to her hairline. “About who might be asking around about him?”
“Yeah,” I said, sitting down on the bed. “Gloria obviously already knows I’m in town. But the envelope of money came before I began questioning her.”
“So maybe he’s been in more recent contact with her, maybe even threatened her not to talk?” she asked, pacing the room.
I crossed my leg over my knee. “It’s possible. The last time I showed up, she slammed the door in my face. She wasn’t going to give up anything more, even though I doubt she has anything.”
She rolled her eyes. “By now Sparrow probably knows about the two men from Garga’s crew and that you’ve been questioning folks around town. He’s reeling Gloria in again.”
“That’s my guess, too.”
“When will they learn? Okay, here’s what I think needs to happen,” Charlie said switching from fierce feminist to business mode in the blink of an eye. “You need to leave town to follow another lead and I’ll stay to work on Gloria. Woman to woman.”
“What?” I said springing up, my stomach roiling. “Why?”
“For two good reasons.” She held my gaze with a steely determination of her own. “One is so that Gloria can’t report back that a Marshal has been visiting Meadow way too many times.”
<
br /> I sucked in a breath, thinking about my visits to Meadow’s house the past couple of days. One the one hand, it may have helped ward off those men. On the other, it could’ve given Gloria ammunition.
“The second reason is so you can get your head screwed back on straight,” she said, throwing me another pointed look.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means,” she said, shaking her head. “Leave town, take a timeout, and then think about this situation from a distance.”
I breathed in and out pacing around the room. It was difficult to even think about leaving Meadow and Joaquin but I always knew the time would come.
“Even Shane thinks I’m right on this one.”
That stopped me in my tracks. “You spoke to Shane about me?”
“We’re just worried about you,” she said, squeezing my shoulder in a comforting way. “We want you to see this for what it is. A relationship on the road is tough.”
I opened my mouth to protest and she threw up her hands.
“Whatever it is,” she said. “I’m not trying to tell you how to feel, but I’m going to guess you’re pretty jumbled up right now. You haven’t had a relationship since she who shall remain un-named screwed you over good . . .”
I cocked an eyebrow. It was true we never brought up Claire’s name anymore. She had been a co-worker who had quickly become a suspect. I never even questioned her attempts to cover up her own tracks in the investigation of a man she had once been intimate with. Fuck. Even years later it still burned.
“You know what I mean,” Charlie said in a gentle voice.
“Yeah, I do,” I said, sinking back in my chair, fatigue settling in. “Damn.”
I recognized the logic in what Charlie was recommending. I had been steamrolling ahead and I needed the time and distance to wade through my feelings. I swallowed a couple more Tylenol to be sure I felt 100 percent, and then began packing up my room.
22
Meadow
Alex was gone. Even if he hadn’t called and told me he was catching a flight to New Mexico, I would’ve known. I’d already felt it in my bones. He asked if he could keep in touch and I said yes, though I wondered if I should’ve yanked off the Band-Aid all at once. The final good-bye might sting less.
Melancholy weighed me down, but I’d recover, I was a strong woman. I’d survived as a single parent for years and just because I was missing one smart, kind, and sexy man didn’t mean my whole life would be placed on pause.
I stepped off the employee elevator at the Golden Arrow and briefly lingered by the gift shop to say hello to my co-worker, Sharon, who ran the store. She slipped some peppermint candies into my pocket, the kind I enjoyed chewing on when I cleaned.
In the locker room, I placed my purse and coat in the metal slot and keyed in the combination. I turned and nearly ran into Gloria.
“You send the feds on me?” she sneered.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, trying to get by but she blocked my path.
“Some white lady with blond hair come out to the house to ask me about Sparrow. I already spoke to the Latino man.” I bristled. The white lady must’ve been Charlie.
I squared my shoulders. “And?”
She raised an eyebrow. “You lead her my way?”
“Why would I do that when I’ve got troubles of my own?”
“I’ve heard about your troubles,” she said, smirking. “Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome troubles.”
“Better not let Boss Lady hear you say that,” I said, attempting to throw her off her own game. Besides this town couldn’t say anything worse about me than they already have. “The Marshal is her friend. He might be whatever you described but he was still looking for Joaquin’s father, along with those other guys who searched through our house. He helped run them out of town, so I’m thankful for that.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You going to give Sparrow up?”
“How can I give him up when I don’t even know where he is?” I said through clenched teeth. “He only calls to speak to his son once in a blue moon and sends money the same.”
Her shoulders sagged as if relieved to hear my contact with him wasn’t something more. “Those men came into my house, too.”
“We should be standing with each other, not against,” I said, nudging past her. “You can have him. I’m only trying to survive while raising his child.”
“At least he gave you a child,” she said.
“Are you serious right now?” I swung toward her. “Look, Gloria, I’ve always seen you as a strong woman, but when it involves Sparrow, I don’t know who you become.”
“How dare you!”
“No. How dare you. That man is causing us grief—always has. It’s high time you admit it to yourself. He’s done some bad things and you’re still married to him.”
“You wish you were—”
“No, I don’t. I really don’t. Maybe you wish you had been the one who’d gotten pregnant instead of me.” Her gaze turned dark as she sucked in a breath. “But he wouldn’t have stuck around for either of us. It’s obvious by now, isn’t it?”
“You can’t know—”
“Ask yourself some tough questions, Gloria. What if you’re meant to be with some other man who will treat you like a queen and instead you’re stuck married to him?” I said, sighing. “I won’t pretend to understand the reasons why, but don’t you think he’s been with plenty of other women by now?”
Her face turned red as anger swept through her features. She turned to me with her lip curled in anger, her eyes shining with the same jealousy I’d recognized over the years. She had transformed to the girl of our younger days.
But a moment later, her gaze became watery, and I could see the grief plain as day.
“Gloria, I’m sorry if what I said upset you—”
“Just leave me the hell alone,” she said, shoving past me out the door.
I balled my fists. “And she’s back to hating me.”
But truth be told, we had never had it out like that. I could see her vulnerability and I think some of what I had said had gotten through to her. At least for a few moments before she shut me out again.
Frustrated and a little more than confused, I grabbed my supplies and walked onto the floor.
Before I could find my manager, Ross, and view my cleaning schedule for the day, Stuart approached me near the far wall of the buffet. “Boss Lady wants to see you in her office.”
“Right this minute?”
When he nodded, I sighed, and headed in that direction. What now? And what would I say if Dakota asked me about Alex? I had told her as a courtesy that he was ill because he was completely holed up in our house. I figured somebody close to him should know. And that somebody was Shane.
After I knocked Dakota told me to enter. She was on the phone and held up one finger. I was startled to see Charlie at her side table gathering up her things. Had Charlie talked to Gloria at work of all places? The employees would have a field day with those rumors.
“Meadow,” Charlie said and smiled warmly.
“Hi,” I said, wringing my hands, feeling pretty awkward.
“I was just visiting an old friend,” Charlie said motioning toward Dakota. I guess they’d become chummy since Shane had come back into her life. Did that mean Dakota was also friendly with Alex?
“Sorry about showing up like that at your house the other day,” Charlie said. “I couldn’t get ahold of Alex and he wasn’t checking his messages.”
“It’s fine,” I said my voice sounding rusty. “He was pretty sick, which is why I made sure to let somebody know.”
“Listen, I’m going to be in town for a couple of days, so if you need anything . . . if anybody is bothering you . . .” she removed a card from her pocket. “Feel free to call me.”
I took the offering and then looked over at Dakota, who was still in a conversation with somebody about billing. I figured I could speak fr
eely for a minute more.
“Gloria mentioned you talked to her?”
“I tried,” she said, standing up. “But she’s pretty resistant.”
I nodded. “Always has been.”
“Didn’t want to hear anything I had to say,” she said. “I hope she’s able to get from under his thumb someday.”
As she headed toward the door, I said, “Wait.”
“Maybe I could help . . . with Gloria,” I said, as she turned to look at me. “Get her to hear you out. I’m not sure if she knows anything more than me, but . . .”
“Call me if you get anywhere,” she said as Dakota was ending her call.
Dakota hung up just as Charlie closed the door behind her.
“You doing okay?” Dakota said.
I nodded. “Fine.”
“You know if you ever—”
“Please,” I said cutting her off. I felt guilty because she was my boss, but that was exactly why I was hesitant. “I don’t want to mix my personal life with work.”
“That’s what I admire about you, Meadow,” she said, always speaking plainly. “But we’re also a family here and if one of us is hurting . . .”
The Nakos family had always been good to us. But we were raised so vastly different. Dakota didn’t grow up in a trailer with zero running water. But could I fault her for that? Her family had been the one to bring about change on our reservation. Did you bite the hand that fed you?
But she had also suffered great loss because of it. Her father had been murdered last year because he was a powerful and influential man. She had been crushed under the weight of her grief and didn’t deserve that. Neither did he.
“I appreciate that,” I said, biting back my discomfort. “Is that why you wanted to see me?”
“No, it’s because we’re making a temporary change to the schedule,” she said, straightening her perfectly tailored cream shirt. If she has one thing going for her, it was that she was always impeccably dressed. It was rare to see her in anything but a fitted skirt or designer pantsuit. Same with Mrs. Nakos, who worked upstairs in the finance department, but came down regularly to meet with her daughter and the staff. “Ross had some things come up with his family. He needs to work nights for a few days. So I’d like you to take over the day manager duties for a little while. Get your feet wet. I’ll give you a little bonus in your check for the effort.”
Three Sacred Words (Golden Arrow #2) Page 13