Expired Refuge

by Lisa Phillips

  “Guess you found me out, huh.”

  She scrunched up her nose. As much of a shrug as she had the energy for. Mia didn’t like being helpless, but this was where she was.

  Maybe she’d always been powerless and just never realized it.

  “You really forgave him?”

  That would be the ultimate take back of her power. Offering forgiveness was what she was supposed to have done.

  “Just like that?”

  He shook his head, sighing. “It wasn’t easy. Don’t brush it off as no big deal, or some quick decision.”

  Well, that was something.

  They sat in silence for a while.

  “How was hunting?”

  “That really what you want to ask me?”

  She did the mouth thing again. “I don’t know. I guess…how did you end up at Bible study, and forgiving Conroy?”

  “Fridays, I get lunch at the diner.”

  She nodded since he’d been doing that for as long as she could remember.

  “Pastor Daniels started to join me about a year ago.” His low voice rumbled through the room. “At first we just chatted. Then it turned more serious. We talked about everything. Your mom, you girls. Religion. He told me what God did in his life, taking the pain and bitterness. Says He scoops it right out and replaces it with Him. He has to do that daily so the bitterness doesn’t creep back in.”

  Mia nodded. Pastor Daniels was a good guy, and he’d led the youth back when she’d avoided going. The captain of the football team’s dad dragged their family to church, so all the girls had gone a few times at least. Mia had goofed around the couple of times she did go. Some of it had stuck, though.

  Enough that when she’d needed connection in Seattle, she’d sought out a local church.

  “Took a few months, but eventually I decided to see for myself what God could do in my life. So I made a commitment to Him. That came with forgiving Conroy.” Her dad sucked in a breath and pushed it out, long and slow. “Wasn’t easy and didn’t happen right away, like I said. But I had to let go of it. I couldn’t let the anger and pain keep me chained up anymore.”

  “So now you’re friends?”

  He shrugged one shoulder. It probably looked a lot like when she did it. “We talk. But it’s not like we go on BFF vacations.”

  Mia’s lips spread into a smile. That would be a pretty funny scenario if it didn’t birth in her mind images of her dad in shorts.

  “Get some sleep, okay? I’ll be here.”

  Mia wasn’t so sure she wanted to go to sleep. It was early afternoon and she’d taken more than one nap already today. She would probably be awake all night at this rate.

  “You need anything? Some tea or a sandwich?”

  She shoved up so she could sit with her back against the cushion. “You’re going to make me lunch?”

  He shrugged one shoulder.

  She nearly laughed. “You’re really different than you used to be.”

  “In a good way, I hope.”

  Mia smiled. She loved that he was happy, maybe joyful even. For a lot of years her father had been bitter.

  But faith hadn’t changed her like that. She’d held on to things he’d let go of, choosing instead to keep her pain inside. So while she appreciated how he’d changed, it also made it all too obvious that she hadn’t.

  Maybe she’d been doing it wrong.

  “What?”

  She said, “Just thinking about some things.” Mulling over her life, as she’d told Conroy she’d done while she waited in the empty room for Meena.

  “Like that job of yours?”

  “I always thought you just didn’t like me being a cop.”

  “It’s not just that,” he said. “It suits you, I guess. But that ATF thing is not what you were put on this earth to do.”

  “So what was I put on this earth to do?”

  He said, “Not for me to answer.”

  The doorbell rang.

  He stood. “That is for me to answer. Because it’s my front door.”

  “Hey, Rich. How are things?”

  Mia sat up. That was… “Cassie Barnes.” Conroy’s sister was here?

  “Cassie Edwards.” She corrected as she strode in. She was as tall as Mia but with generous hips that swayed as she moved, in a way she was probably completely unconscious about. “Has been for a while now.”

  “Sorry.” Mia pushed off the cushions and sat up straight.

  “No worries.” Cassie smiled. “I just came by to give you guys this.” She lifted the dish in her hands, a covered, foil pan.

  “Thank you, Cassie.” Her dad took the offering. “I’ll set this in the kitchen.”

  Cassie didn’t wait for an invitation. Which Mia wouldn’t have given her, anyway. She wandered into the living room and sat on the opposite end of the couch. “How are you? I heard about your rough week. And then being kidnapped.” She winced. “And having to face your sister.”

  Mia didn’t have time to say anything, let alone ask her if Conroy was in the habit of sharing police business with his sister.

  “I saw her in the grocery store a few months ago. One of those days when I was tired, the kids were tired. My whole cart was full of frozen pizza and corn dogs. Cans of that cheese you squirt and a huge variety box of chips. I was eyeing brownies and cupcakes, trying to decide which to get, when your sister waltzes past with a bag of salad and a package of all-natural chicken sausage. She gives me this dirty look you would not believe.” Cassie paused to take a breath, but only barely. “Brendan—he’s my son—he asked me if her face was stuck like that all the time. She heard.”

  Mia felt her lips curl up, entirely involuntarily.

  “I know, right?” Cassie glanced over Mia’s shoulder, shot her dad a smile, and then said, “Anyway, Leora—that’s my daughter—she’s in the cart. She holds out her sucker and asks your sister if she wants a lick. I thought your sister was going to vomit right there on the spot. As if kids are the source of all germs, like little Petri dishes, happy to spread the love.”

  Mia just blinked.

  “Your sister stormed off like she did that time when you said you wouldn’t do her math homework for her.”

  Cassie went quiet. Like she was waiting for Mia to say something.

  Mia broke the silence. “Uh…it’s good to see you.”

  “Been a long time since high school English lit.”

  “Yes, it has.” She wanted to smile, but this was kind of weird.

  “And now you’re a federal agent. That’s really cool, Mia.” Cassie smiled. “And you’re here. Conroy is helping you out.”

  “Trying to catch a guy who kidnapped me.” And the other guy who’d come after her.

  “Yeah, but he’s also seeing to your protection. Personally. Right?”

  Mia frowned. “Cassie—”

  Her dad sat on the arm of the couch behind her, so she couldn’t twist far enough to look up at him. “He has been looking out for her. Even sat with her at the hospital so she could rest easy.”

  Well, when he put it like that it sounded—

  Cassie beamed. “I always thought so.”

  Mia said, “You’ve always thought what?”

  “He had you stay at his house, right?”

  Mia shrugged.

  “Protecting you.” Cassie grinned. “In all ways. Which means he probably made you grilled chicken and a salad. It’s what he does when someone isn’t feeling well. He thinks healthy food is comfort food.”

  Mia didn’t know where to start. “It doesn’t matter because it didn’t work. The guy he’s looking for kidnapped me right out of Conroy’s house.” Mia sighed. “But I don’t think that’s what you meant. What did you ‘always’ think?”

  “That Conroy would end up with you.” Cassie shook her head like that was obvious. “You thought he hung the moon. I thought having my best friend be my sister one day would be the best thing ever. What he had with Mara, it was getting cold. If it wasn’t for the accident,
I think you two would have ended up pretty differently.” Cassie shrugged. “Mara would’ve been mad, but she’d have gotten over it.”

  This was so far out of left field that Mia didn’t even know what to say. “That’s a pretty big ‘If.”

  What was the point in dwelling on something that hadn’t happened and probably never would?

  “If Ed hadn’t crashed the car, then Conroy would have been free to pursue you.” Cassie smiled like that had been her greatest dream, and maybe still was.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Mara broke up with him. She was dating Ed Summers, and she’d been cheating on Conroy with Ed for like…a month. It all came out that night. They told him. Mara even said they were through, right to his face. Then she walked off with Ed. But they were both drunk, and Conroy wasn’t. So he went after them to make sure they got home all right. Ed was in the driver’s seat already and was about to take off, so Conroy jumped in the back. He was trying to convince them to stop the car when Ed crashed it.”

  Mia stared at her.

  If Cassie was right and Mara had broken up with Conroy… Why would he still try to save their lives? Why not. Of course it made sense. Conroy wouldn’t have done anything else. Even back then, he’d been all about protecting the people he cared about. Even people who had betrayed him.

  “He tried to save their lives, even after they’d dealt him the worst blow he could have been dealt by the people he thought were his friends.”

  Nineteen

  Conroy leaned back in his chair and blew out a breath. He’d read Anthony’s file so many times he could practically recite the thing. Anthony’s and his brother’s.

  He was still missing the connection to Ed Summers.

  “Anything?” Wilcox strode across the bull pen and dumped her backpack beside her desk.

  He shrugged. “Nothing that might tell us where Stiles is hiding out in town.”

  “Assuming he is,” she said. “Unless, of course, he’s in his car and parked somewhere no one can see him.”

  That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “What about Hudson?”

  “I drove Tate home. He’s in some discomfort, but other than that he’s okay.”

  “That’s it? He’s ‘okay’?”

  “No, but it’s a start.” She sat. “He had nothing to do with the breach of your security system. He confirmed that, and I believe him. Did you hear back from the company?”

  “They’re getting me a full report by end of day.” Heads were going to roll.

  Wilcox nodded. “You look like you want to punch someone.”

  Conroy pressed his lips together.

  She winced.

  “I’m keeping a close eye on Tate.” He didn’t think the man was completely innocent.

  Mia had kicked him out and gone with her dad. Pushing him away, trying to protect herself. Conroy couldn’t force her to forgive him. She had to come to the decision on her own. To make the choice to let that hurt go. Maybe if she knew all the circumstances then she would soften some. She’d see the fact that it hadn’t been his fault. He’d been trying to stop it.

  Ed Summers would always be the one solely responsible for the death of Mara Tathers.

  Conroy had spent years trying not to hate the guy for that, kind of like Mia hated him for his role in it. He figured he’d moved past it. Just that he had a pretty loose hold on that forgiveness. And it had nothing to do with the fact that, at any given moment of any given day, Lieutenant Conroy Barnes was actively looking for a way to shut down Ed Summers’s operation and arrest the guy.

  Conviction would be up to a judge.

  Conroy would do everything he could. But that meant building a solid case with overwhelming evidence. Something he hadn’t managed to do.

  Yet.

  He’d regret Meena Tathers being caught up in it, as she would likely be caught up in any sweep that brought in everyone connected to Summers’s operation. But that was the choice she’d made. The life she lived, lining her pockets with the fruits of Summers’s ill-gotten gains.

  What he needed to do was prove to Mia that he could protect her. That it would be worth it for her to put her trust in him.

  “How’s the chief today?”

  Conroy glanced toward the old man’s office. “Jess came in early. He’s not doing well.”

  Wilcox pushed out a breath through clenched teeth. “That’s too bad.”

  “Yeah.”

  This had to be bringing up memories for her. She’d watched her own father suffer to the end through a cancer diagnosis. One of the few things he knew about her life before Last Chance County. “Savannah…”

  She shook her head. “I’ll talk to Jess. Make sure she’s all right.”

  Conroy hadn’t exactly been after that. But he was grateful anyway. “Thanks.”

  “Lieutenant!”

  He spun around in his chair as Bill lumbered over. Conroy winced that he hadn’t gotten to his feet and met the guy halfway. Probably Bill didn’t want that, so he’d held off calling for Conroy until he was past that point.

  Conroy took the paper the dispatcher handed him. The old man was a Vietnam veteran, the fastest typist he’d ever met, and the calmest, most competent dispatcher Last Chance County had ever had. He was built like an ox and never took sick days. In fact, he never even got sick. His sister covered for him when he was off.

  “What is it?”

  “Address for the place Anthony Stiles has been staying. Got a call from a neighbor who’d seen the local news and the photo we put out, and recognized him as coming and going next door.” Bill paused. “She was a bit upset, but I talked her through it.”

  “Thanks.” Conroy pulled his suit jacket off the back of his chair.

  Savannah stood as well. “I’m coming with.”

  “You just wanna get out of doing paperwork.”

  She grinned. “Like you don’t hate it.”

  “I don’t hate it when you have to do it.” He grabbed his wallet and pulled his weapon from his desk drawer, sliding it onto his belt.

  Wilcox wasn’t smiling now. She glanced at the chief’s office and the old man in the bed on the other side of the glass.

  “I’ll keep you posted if there are any changes.”

  She said, “Thanks, Bill.”

  “Appreciate it.” Conroy led the way outside and handed her the paper. She typed the address into his phone so it came up on the dash screen when his Bluetooth connected. The car directed them to the house, and he halved the estimated time to their destination.

  “Doesn’t look like much.”

  Conroy agreed. “I think it’s one of those short-term rentals.”

  “If it is then there will be an agreement. A signed contract. He probably used a fake name, but it’s still evidence.”

  They got out and made their way down the drive to the front door. “Kind of looks more abandoned than a vacation rental.”

  “Yeah.” Wilcox let go of the two-handed grip she had on her weapon and pushed the front door open. “Inside looks the same.”

  They parted ways and swept the house.

  “Clear.”

  He found her in the kitchen. “Clear.”

  Wilcox’s nose wrinkled. “Of people, at least.”

  He knew what she meant. Dishes piled in the sink. Paper plates and pizza boxes overflowed the trash can. “See if you can find anything that will confirm it was Stiles living here.”

  “More like squatting.”

  Conroy made a noncommittal noise and wandered back to the bedroom.

  “I don’t know what you’re expecting to find,” Wilcox called out. “Maybe a picture of Mia with darts thrown at her face?”

  “Keep an eye out for that,” he called back.

  The bathroom was in a worse state than the kitchen. He checked the cupboards and found a toothbrush, which he put in an evidence bag Wilcox brought him.

  Not much else to find, though they checked everywhere. Even under the couch, finding a flip flop cov
ered in dust and dog hair.

  Wilcox swallowed, her nose crinkled.

  “Suck it up, detective. You’re starting to look like a girl.”

  She planted a hand high on her chest. “Moi?”

  “Yeah, you.”

  “Newsflash, boss, I am a girl. And a detective. A woman who is a cop. Which means at any given time I can be both, or either.”

  “Is that supposed to make sense?”

  Maybe that was why he couldn’t get through to Mia. It was like they spoke a different language sometimes.

  Wilcox grinned. “Definitely not.”

  “So what do you expect guys to even do? We literally have no clue what you girls are even talking about.”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “But I know it’s not me who has to figure that out.”

  Conroy shook his head.

  “So this was a bust?”

  He said, “Physical evidence can prove he was here, illegally occupying this house.”

  She looked at the screen of her phone. “Bill says it’s been empty for months.”

  Conroy nodded slowly.

  “So…squatting as a charge?”

  “For starters. Maybe criminal harassment.” He didn’t like it any more than she did. But it was what it was. Like the way he’d been looking for an in that would get them an arrest warrant for Ed Summers for years. Basically since he’d been accepted to the police department.

  They could only get what they could get. Which was what they could prove.

  Another kind of cop might force a conviction, probably based on falsified evidence. But neither Conroy nor Wilcox were that type of cop. And it wasn’t worth the risk.

  If they were going to do this, they were going to do it right.

  His phone rang.

  “I’ll meet you outside.”

  Conroy didn’t know why he was the one who had to be inside where it smelled, but given the caller came up as Mia, he was grateful for the privacy.

  “Hey.”

  “Uh…hey.” She paused for a second. “You’re not busy, are you?” Her breath came fast. She sounded scared. Or irritated.