“I don’t want a deal. I just want to go back. Please… I have no future without Gilead.”
“You almost sound scared. Are you afraid if Gilead finds out about this that he’ll hurt you like he hurt Al?”
“No! Not at all. You’re putting words in my mouth.”
Her gaze burned a hole in him. “I’m just trying to find out the truth. And if you really want some peace in your life, why don’t you tell me what’s going on? Just you and me. Right here. It will get a load off your chest.”
“You’ll use whatever I say against me.”
“I think you’ll feel better. You just need to talk to me. I know about the accident you were in. I know about how you got addicted to painkillers. How you lost your house. How you lost everything. Gilead took you in, and I’m sure you owe him a lot.”
“I do.”
Cassidy leveled her gaze with his. “But you don’t owe him your life.”
Barnabas’s hands hit the table. “Yes, I do!”
“You owe him so much that you’ll go to prison for him?” Cassidy asked.
He said nothing.
And Cassidy supposed that was answer enough.
While Cassidy interrogated Barnabas, Ty remained in her office and called one of his old military contacts again. Buddy Alan had been one of the SEAL team commanders Ty had worked with. The man was still in the Navy, now working in a management position instead of in the field.
“What can I do for you?” Hearing Buddy’s deep voice brought back a slew of memories for Ty—times of heroics, times of tragedy and grief, of victory, of defeat. There were so many emotions that accompanied Ty’s service in the military.
Ty leaned his shoulder against the wall. “Buddy, it’s been a while, but I have a question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“You remember that mission we went on, the one where we were sent to rescue a government official who was being held captive in Iraq?”
“I don’t think any of us will forget him.”
Usually, before starting a mission, their team had more information. On occasion, a case was high profile and getting media attention, so many details were even public. But this guy that they’d rescued was like a ghost. The military hadn’t given any information, and the media remained clueless about the fact that the man was ever captured, even.
The team had been given this man’s location and orders to rescue him, but nothing else. Not even a name. Just a photo. The mission had been risky, and one of their guys had taken a bullet. Thankfully, he’d recovered and been able to resume a normal life.
“Yeah, the whole mission was kind of strange, but it wasn’t our job to ask questions,” Ty continued. “We were sent in to rescue that guy from a terrorist compound, and that’s what we did.”
“What do you need to know?” Buddy asked.
“When we rescued this guy, he was … a mangled mess. Unrecognizable.” Ty still flinched when he remembered how they’d found the man. They’d thought he was dead, but, when they checked, he still had a faint heartbeat.
“He’d been beaten so badly we weren’t sure it was him,” Buddy said. “I’ve never seen someone’s face so swollen. His back was like raw meat.”
Ty swallowed hard. “His rescue never made the news. There weren’t any follow-ups or updates. It was almost like it hadn’t happened.”
“That’s correct.”
Except for the fact that the event had changed his life and the lives of his comrades. A person didn’t see another human in that state of suffering and return to the previous state of normal. No, seeing what they had that day changed every one of them.
Rumor had it that the man had been doing some deep cover work within some terrorist groups. The government probably thought that putting his face and name out there would only bring danger to those he loved. They were probably right.
“I know this is going to sound like a strange question, but do you have any pictures of this man? Maybe a copy of the one we were given before we went in to identify him?”
Buddy paused for a beat. “You want a picture of him?”
“There’s a situation that’s come up here where I’m living now, and I can’t shake the feeling that it may be somehow connected with that rescue. Maybe even to that man.”
“Why in the world would something be connected?”
If only Ty knew that answer. “I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
Another second of silence passed. “I see. I should be able to find the photo. I can send you what I know—off the record. You can’t share this with anyone.”
“You know I won’t. It’s for purely personal reasons.”
“I’ll see what I can find and send it to your email—unofficially, of course. I’m trusting you on this one.”
Ty ended the call and waited. Buddy was reliable, and he knew the man would do as he promised. Ty also knew this could lead nowhere. But he had to know.
A few minutes later, his phone buzzed.
It was Buddy. He’d sent the email.
With bated breath, Ty opened the attachment.
A photo stared back at him.
A photo of a man in his late twenties with short brown hair.
And the man looked nothing like Anthony Gilead.
Ty released his breath. It had been worth a try. But he still had no idea if this was truly connected to Ty’s former work as a SEAL or if he was reading way too much into this.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Barnabas, Al Hartman has a wife and children who need answers,” Cassidy continued, not ready to give up. “How can you have peace knowing that they’re suffering and that you could provide relief to them?”
He squirmed in his seat, his hands cuffed to a bar on the table. “I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t know a lot about this movement you’re a part of, but I do know you promote truth and love and acceptance. What better way to show love than by ending someone’s agony?”
He said nothing, but the sweat continued to bead over his skin.
“I have all night, Barnabas.” And she did. Patience was the best way to get someone to talk sometimes.
Barnabas’s fingers began to inch back and forth as if trying to work out an internal, unseen pressure.
“Al was one of us,” he finally said, his voice quivering. “But he was depressed. None of us were surprised when he took his own life.”
Finally, Cassidy was getting somewhere. “So you knew he hung himself?”
Barnabas nodded. “I heard. I guess he’d been threatening to do it for a while. I just didn’t think he really would. He was a changed man after joining us. He had so much potential.”
“So you don’t believe anyone did this to him?”
“No, I don’t believe so.”
Cassidy shifted and softened her expression, feeling on the verge of discovering the truth. “Barnabas, why was he living in a house off the compound?”
Barnabas opened his mouth. But before any words could leave his lips, the door behind her opened and … Kaleb stepped in.
“He’s not going to answer any more questions without me here.” Gone was the wounded, branded man Cassidy had met a few nights before. This Kaleb looked professional, tough, and confident.
“Are you a lawyer?” Cassidy sprang to her feet, wondering who had let him in. In the background, she spotted Dane. He shook his head apologetically.
“As a matter of fact, I am,” Kaleb said. “And I’ll be representing him.”
Cassidy’s chest tightened. This put a wrench in her plans, to say the least. Barnabas had been on the verge of sharing more.
Kaleb’s eagle-eyed gaze simmered on Cassidy’s. “And, aside from the fact that I’m telling him to remain silent, I also have evidence that will prove he’s innocent of the charges against him.”
“How do you know the charges against him?” Cassidy watched his face.
“When he didn’t come bac
k to the compound, I came here. Some guys outside the police station were talking about someone being arrested on drug charges. I put the pieces together.”
Cassidy found that unlikely, but there had been passersby outside during the man’s arrest. Someone could have overheard something. That didn’t explain how or why Kaleb had already been dressed in a suit when he arrived here.
“And what’s this evidence you have?” she asked.
“He was driving my vehicle so if anyone should be arrested for drug possession, it’s me. Barnabas knew nothing about the flakka found there.”
Cassidy bristled more. Another twist she hadn’t seen coming. “Do you care to explain why you had drugs in your possession?”
Kaleb frowned. “It’s because of my brother. I let him use my vehicle several times, and he had a severe drug addiction—to flakka. I thought he got rid of all of his supply. I paid for him to get clean. But he must have hidden some in my trunk without me knowing.”
“I’m going to need to talk to your brother to confirm this,” Cassidy said.
“I wish you could, but he died of an overdose three months ago. If you check online, you can confirm that.”
Leggott knocked on the window behind her.
“Excuse me one minute.”
She stepped into the hallway, grateful for the chance to clear her head. “Yes?”
“I just got the results of the drug test,” Leggott said. “Barnabas didn’t have any in his system. I just thought you’d want to know.”
She bit down. She may not have a reason to keep him here.
And that was terribly unfortunate.
“You had to let Barnabas go?” Ty’s voice held disbelief.
Cassidy raked a hand through her hair as she sat at her desk. “I had no choice. I didn’t have enough to hold him, especially not when Kaleb confessed that the drugs were actually his. His brother’s, to be precise. We still have Kaleb in custody, and we’ll question him more—or try to—but he’s not saying anything. There’s nothing more we can do until the magistrate gets into town.”
“Did someone pick Barnabas up?” Ty continued.
“No, he took Kaleb’s car. Kaleb’s other car, not the one the drugs were found in.”
“I’m assuming you searched that car as well?”
“We did. It was clean. And it was registered to Kaleb.” She let out a sigh.
“I’m sorry, Cassidy.”
“I was so close to getting answers, Ty. Barnabas admitted that Al was one of them. That he was depressed but that no one thought he was suicidal.”
“What if that’s all this is, Cassidy? What if he took his own life? There’s no crime in that—not legally, at least.”
“Even if he took his own life, someone put him in the water. Someone left those scars on his back. He can’t speak for himself right now, so I’m determined to speak for him.”
“That’s admirable.”
“What I need is someone on the inside.” She tapped her fingernails on her desk.
“I’ll do it.”
Cassidy turned as a new voice entered the room, and alarm raced through her. “Serena … what are you doing here?”
“I just got back and heard the news,” she said. “I’m the perfect one to go inside, Cassidy. I can convince Dietrich to convert me.”
“That’s absolutely, positively the worst idea that I’ve heard in a long time. By no means would I send you into that lion’s den.” Cassidy’s hand sliced through the air.
“I can handle it.” Serena stared back. The happy-go-lucky girl had a touch of bitterness in her eyes.
Cassidy supposed it didn’t matter how easygoing a person was. Betrayal still hurt and could transform normally placid emotions into untamable beasts.
“I’m not even sure a trained officer of the law could handle it, Serena.” The idea was bad on so many levels.
“I make the most sense.” She crossed her arms stubbornly.
Cassidy shook her head. “I mean it, Serena. Absolutely not. You’re not to go near that compound.”
Serena shrugged, almost like she was half-listening, and a spike of fear went through Cassidy. The girl was just brazen enough that she might try, despite what Cassidy told her.
Cassidy swallowed hard, trying to keep her emotions in check. “Why’d you come by, Serena?”
“Because Skye just told me about Dietrich. I wanted to hear it from you.”
“It’s true, Serena,” Cassidy said. “He’s one of them. Has he tried to convert you yet?”
She shook her head. “No, he hasn’t. I had no idea. He seemed so normal.”
“I’m sure that outside the compound many of the members seem normal. And many of them may be harmless, just sheep being led into a slaughterhouse. But that doesn’t mean you should be around them.”
Serena frowned and said nothing for a moment until her lips finally pulled down in a pouty frown. “Dietrich was really nice too.”
“There are plenty of nice guys who aren’t in cults,” Ty reminded her.
“But do they look like Ryan Reynolds?”
Cassidy closed her eyes and let out a sigh. “Serena, please tell me you’ll stay away from him. Promise me.”
Her frown deepened, but she said nothing.
“Serena …” Ty said. “You deserve someone of quality. You don’t want to be pulled into this mess. You might not make it out alive, and you definitely won’t make it out unscathed. Hold out for better than that.”
Serena didn’t say anything for a moment as she seemed to process Ty’s words. She’d always had the man up on a pedestal. Maybe Serena would listen to him.
Finally, Serena nodded, even as her shoulders sagged. “Okay. I promise. I’ll stay away—from Dietrich and Gilead’s Cove.”
Even though Serena said the words, Cassidy didn’t quite have the confidence that she would follow through.
And that thought would cause Cassidy to lose sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Cassidy sent Ty to keep an eye on Serena. Meanwhile, Mac and Leggott were watching the compound. Cassidy stood in their “lab,” which, in reality, was just an old storage closet at the station where they could do minimal crime scene tests—mostly fingerprints.
There had to be something she was missing, and she wouldn’t rest until she figured out what it was.
She pulled out the boxes of evidence they’d collected when Al Hartman washed ashore and began looking through them. His clothes were bagged. Evidence from beneath his fingernails. A hair sample.
Pausing, she held up the bag containing the hair. The piece had been found wrapped around one of the buttons on his shirt, and they’d kept it in case they needed to compare this sample with a potential killer’s.
She raised the bag up to the light and frowned. She hadn’t noticed it before—hadn’t really thought about finding a match. But now that she looked at the hair more closely …
Out of curiosity, she pulled out another file. This one was the evidence they’d taken on Barnabas, including fingerprints, a mouth swab, and a hair sample. She held both bags to the light to examine them more closely. Both strands had the same red sheen to them. Were the same length.
Her evaluation would never hold up in a court of law. They’d need further testing.
But she felt certain both of these hairs had come from Barnabas.
Which meant that Barnabas had been near Al when he’d died or shortly after.
Her heart skipped a beat.
She needed to get a search warrant to check out Barnabas’s quarters.
Maybe this was the missing link they’d been looking for.
Two hours later, she had her search warrant and headed to the compound. Dane had to drop Ranger off, but he was going to meet her there. She wouldn’t go inside without him.
As she headed down the road, she slowed when she spotted a vehicle parked in the driveway of a house right off the main road. Was that …?
It was.
It was the car K
aleb had driven to the station. Cassidy had caught a glimpse of it before Barnabas left. Had Barnabas not gone back to the compound? Was this one of the properties Gilead had bought?
Cassidy pulled up in front of the property. Maybe she’d see if she could catch Barnabas here. However, she would call Dane and have him meet her here instead.
No careless mistakes. Carelessness leads to failure.
Another Day-at-a-Glance quote. They always hit Cassidy right when she needed them.
Why would Gilead be buying up properties here on the island?
She had a feeling this would turn into something bigger than the island could handle. She fully expected that, by the end of this, she’d need to call in for help from the state police, the NC State Bureau of Investigation, maybe even the FBI.
Situations like these rarely ended well.
A shadow at the back of the property drew her attention. Was someone there? If so, what were they doing?
Picking up her phone, she called Dane and told him where she was. He was only five minutes away and would meet her here.
Cautiously, she walked around the perimeter of the house to the backyard. She stopped once she had a view of the entire space.
There was no one back here. Just an old shed, a few shrubby trees, and sandy grass.
Strange. Had she been seeing things? It was a possibility.
She turned to go back and wait for Dane.
But she’d only taken a step when something came down hard on her head.
And everything went black.
Chapter Thirty
Cassidy jerked her eyes open and moaned.
Where was she?
She tried to move, but she couldn’t. Her arms and legs had been tied to a chair. Everything around her was dark. And the faint scent of smoke filled her lungs.
What …?
Then everything rushed back to her.
Seeing the car Barnabas had taken from the station parked in a driveway. Walking toward the backyard. And then feeling a horrible pain at the back of her head.
On the Lookout Page 16