Say It Again (First Wives)

by Catherine Bybee

  Sasha had bugged his mother to pull out a few early photo albums and giggled like a lovesick girl when images of AJ’s naked baby butt stared back at them. “How cute you were.”

  “Hey, I’m still cute.”

  Sasha did a little giggle squeak thing that he was associating with the Jennifer voice. She flipped to the back of the photo album and stuck out her lower lip. “That’s all?”

  His mother sighed. “I could bore you with pictures all day.”

  “I’m not bored. I love this kind of thing. My mom put all my baby pictures in storage and then didn’t pay the fees. I don’t have any pictures of me growing up.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” his mom said.

  “Why don’t you show Jennifer some more? I’d like a word with AJ.”

  Sasha glanced over her shoulder, kissed AJ on the cheek.

  His mom stood, glanced at his dad, then put on a well-practiced smile.

  “C’mon, Jennifer. I keep them upstairs.”

  Sasha bounced a little too much. “I’d love to see pictures of AJ’s grandparents,” he heard Sasha say as they walked away. “I want to know what AJ’s going to look like when he’s old.”

  Once they left the room, his father stood and motioned toward his study. “I want something stronger than coffee,” he announced.

  AJ followed his father into his private space, closed the door behind him, and watched while Alex crossed to a shelf that housed books and a decanter filled with amber liquid. He poured two generous portions and handed one to AJ before taking a seat.

  He sniffed the glass, took a sip. “I don’t think I’ve ever shared a brandy with you before.”

  Alex lifted his glass into the air. “Past due.” He took a generous swig, studied the contents of the glass as if they held the meaning of life. “She isn’t what I expected,” he finally said.

  “Jennifer?”

  He swirled the liquid, didn’t look up. “I pictured tattoos and piercings. Purple hair, maybe.”

  “I don’t deserve more credit than that?”

  His dad glanced over his glass with a look that every parent perfected after the teenage years.

  “Okay, fine. But I was never going to bring that girl home to meet my parents.”

  He smiled. “I like her. Even if she seems a little young.”

  AJ couldn’t help but wonder what his dad would say about Sasha. The real Sasha.

  “Is that why you brought me in here, to tell me your views on Jennifer?”

  The smile on his father’s face faded. He took another drink, tilted his head back as he swallowed.

  “I’ve been a diplomat my entire life. Dealt with international crises without blinking an eye. I can ease tensions with a brandy and a smile when I need to, but damn if I didn’t know what to do with you.”

  AJ sat back, let his father talk.

  “Do you know where I was when I heard you’d stolen a car?”

  AJ hesitated, wondered for a brief moment if his father knew more about him than AJ wanted.

  “With the German chancellor. My secretary called. I took the call because he said it was an emergency from the States. I was sipping brandy with Von—” Alex shook his head. “He asked what had happened, and I told him. He poured another glass and told me what I already knew. You were looking for my attention and it was too damn late to give it to you. I needed to let you have your rebellion and be there when you fell.”

  AJ’s jaw tightened. “Sound advice.” Advice given years ago, after the one and only time he’d been caught with his hands under the hood of a stolen car.

  Alex finished his brandy, stood to pour more. “You’d think. He also told me that if you crossed the line, I needed to walk away from you.” He stopped midpour, looked out the dark window. “You stopped. Maybe you didn’t care anymore, a giant middle finger to me. I was so thankful you ended your need to fall off the deep end. I don’t think I ever told you that.”

  AJ felt a guilty knot in the back of his throat.

  His dad turned to look at him. “I’m proud of you.”

  Oh, yeah, he didn’t need to hear this. “Why? I’ve done nothing with my life.” Nothing you’d be proud of.

  Alex shook his head. “Your life has just begun. Decent girl, a head on your shoulders. You have a better sense of right and wrong than half the people out there.”

  AJ narrowed his eyes.

  “I need to tell you something, but you have to promise me you’ll keep this from your mother right now.”

  The hair on the backs of his arms stood up. “What?”

  “I’ve hired a private firm to look into your sister’s murder. I can’t help but think the authorities aren’t looking in the right places.”

  AJ’s jaw slacked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You were angry when you left after the funeral. I’m going to do what I can to find out who did this, but if I fail . . . I don’t want this to be yet another wedge between us.” He lifted the brandy to his lips.

  “We can’t learn anything if we don’t look,” AJ told his father.

  True pain sat behind his dad’s expression. “I worried something like this would happen years ago when you kids were young and I was still working overseas. I never imagined I’d have to concern myself with it now.”

  “That’s what you said when you tried to get me to attend the boarding school with Amelia.”

  “Your mother was so worried about moving to another country, you kids. She was convinced Germany was some third world place with political extremists everywhere. Boarding schools in Europe aren’t uncommon. I agreed.”

  “Nothing crazy happened when you were in Germany,” AJ prompted.

  “No. If either of you had . . . if this had happened to Amelia when I was the ambassador, this would have been an international problem. Finding her killer would have only been a matter of time. Now the authorities spend time asking things like . . . Who were her friends, boyfriends? Did she have a drug problem? God, Amelia and drugs?” He shook his head. “Not Amelia.”

  “That wasn’t who she was,” AJ said.

  “No, it wasn’t. I may not have the kind of influence I once did, but I’m going to use what I have to find out who was behind this and bring them to justice.”

  Sasha’s and his mother’s voices carried from the hall.

  AJ stood and set his empty glass down.

  “Be careful, Alex,” his dad told him. The use of his given name had him pause.

  “I’m not Amelia.”

  “No. But I can’t lose you. You’re all I have left.”

  “Talk to me,” Sasha said the minute they pulled out of the Hofmann driveway.

  “My dad told me that he was searching for Amelia’s killer.”

  “That’s why he wanted to talk to you alone.” She’d seen by AJ’s expression when she and Marjorie had joined them again that something important had happened. “Your thoughts on that?”

  “There was a resolve about him . . . something different than I’ve ever seen before. He mentioned that he wasn’t sure if we’d ever really know, but that he had to look.” He glanced over at her before turning the corner. “That’s something, isn’t it?”

  “Does your mother know?” The unspoken stress between the couple was apparent to her. They hardly looked at each other, let alone spoke to one another, the entire night. The conversation was all about AJ and her. Even Amelia’s name wasn’t brought up. Considering they were a little over a month out from her death, Sasha found that difficult to grasp, too.

  “I don’t know. Why?”

  “Have your parents always slept in separate bedrooms?”

  “Always. Dad worked long hours, Mom hated her routine being messed up.”

  “An unhappy marriage.”

  AJ shrugged. “They don’t fight.”

  Sasha reached behind the seat to the small bag she’d left in the car while visiting AJ’s parents. She found her phone and turned it on. “Couples fight when they are trying hard to
resolve their issues. It’s when they give up and silence becomes the norm that the happiness is gone.”

  “Huh . . . so you’re a psychologist, too?”

  A text from Reed had come in several hours earlier. Call Me.

  “What else did you learn about my parents?” AJ asked.

  Sasha dialed Reed’s number, lifted the phone to her ear. “Hold up, I need to call Reed.”

  “Took long enough,” Reed answered.

  “Didn’t need anyone backtracking my calls. What’s up?”

  “What do white lilies and Checkpoint Charlie have in common?”

  Sasha chilled. “What happened?”

  For the next few minutes, Reed explained what had been sent to Trina’s home, the message, and the interpretation from Claire. All of which Sasha agreed were a warning and an announcement. Something was going south at Richter.

  “You trust this Charlie guy?” Reed asked.

  “I have no reason not to.”

  “Neil wants you back in Texas.”

  “Neil knows better than to order me around. Tell him to keep Claire safe. AJ and I will return when we have more answers.”

  Reed laughed. “I knew you were going to say that.”

  She hung up, told AJ about the call.

  He gripped the wheel, signaled to get off the highway. “Things are going to get worse before they get better, aren’t they?”

  “Undoubtedly.” Sasha noticed the street they were on. “Where are you going?”

  “Back to the hotel.”

  “Pull over.”

  “What?”

  “Pull over.” She didn’t have to say it again, AJ looked out the rearview mirror and turned into a gas station.

  Sasha turned in her seat to look at him. “All right.” She took a deep breath. This was why she worked alone.

  “What?”

  “From this moment forward, we have no routine. We will not be going back to your sister’s condo, your parents’ home, the hotel we stayed in last night. The recon at your parents’ is the longest we will sit still until we’re back in Texas or we can safely say the killer is caught and there is no one sending lilies in warning.” Her voice grew higher, her accent more curt as she spoke. “Always in motion. Never the same motion. Got it?”

  He just stared.

  “Amelia had a routine of running in the morning. Her killer knew exactly where she would be and when, waited until they could take her out without a witness, and then disappeared. We assume that same person is watching for us. Then there’s whomever Pohl has hired to find me.”

  AJ’s stare hardened. “Okay.”

  Sasha reached for the door.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “I’m driving.”

  AJ put the car in drive. “I’m capable of driving the car, Sasha.” He was pissed.

  An argument sat on her lips.

  Her phone rang, distracting her.

  “What now?” Sasha answered after recognizing a secure line from the base in Texas.

  “Wow, someone is tight. Everyone okay out there?” It was Cooper.

  AJ took a hard left, putting them back on the street moving in the opposite direction of the hotel.

  “Do you have information or is this a social call?”

  “Fine, back to bitch mode . . .”

  She would have flinched if Cooper wasn’t right.

  “We traced the camera feed in Amelia’s condo.”

  “To where?”

  “Up to a server, and right back down to her. It’s motion linked so anytime someone was in the space, the camera picked up and recorded it.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “Still working on that. Claire is following a thread of deleted messages in German.”

  AJ returned to the highway, put his foot into the gas.

  “Deleted, huh?”

  “You know how that is. Maybe she wasn’t as careful with them since they were encrypted to begin with, then written in a different language.”

  Sasha shook her head. “Only different if you don’t speak it. Call me when you know more.”

  They hung up.

  She waited to speak, felt the tension rolling off AJ.

  “You going to tell me what that was about?”

  He wasn’t going to like it. “Your sister was either hiding something or paranoid. Since her computer was locked up like a chastity belt on a Disney princess, I’m guessing a little of both.”

  The princess comment had him easing up on the gas . . . slightly.

  “Your sister was recording her own place. The camera I found was linked back to her.”

  “Why?”

  “Not for security. Cameras that record thieves are obvious, deterrents for the actions because the dirtbags see them. Hidden cameras are to catch someone in the act without them knowing it. So either Amelia thought someone she trusted was ripping her off, or she suspected someone might come after her.”

  “If she thought she was in danger, wouldn’t she have adopted the Richter way of life and avoided routine? Told someone? Something?”

  “You would think.” Only Amelia didn’t.

  “I don’t believe she knew it was coming. We might not have been that close, but she would have said something to me.”

  Sasha couldn’t help but wonder if that was AJ’s way of wishful thinking.

  “More questions than answers,” AJ muttered. He ran a hand through his hair. “What the hell was going through your mind, Amelia?” he asked his sister as if she were right there to answer him.

  Tension rolled off his shoulders.

  Sasha placed a hand on his back and spoke calmly. “It will come together. It always does.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “I either need to run and jump over things or I need to shoot something. You pick,” Claire said, standing toe-to-toe with Neil. She’d been staring at Amelia Hofmann’s cryptic notes in German for hours and she was starting to go crazy. She had no issue with long hours, but the words were running together, and she knew that if she could just clear her brain, something would click.

  “Wade has a home gym.”

  “Outside. Fresh air . . . get my brain cells working again.”

  “Fine. Cooper?” He waved the man over. “Take Claire out past the stables, set up some targets. Don’t go any farther.”

  Cooper offered two thumbs up. “Some trigger time? Sounds good to me.” He turned to Claire. “What do you want to shoot?”

  “What do you have?”

  Cooper smiled and motioned out the door. In the garage of the guesthouse they were using for a war room was a van that had rolled in the day after they arrived. She’d heard one of the guys yelling to another about getting something from the van, but she’d yet to see what was inside.

  When Cooper opened up the back door, Claire was all smiles. She climbed in the back and ran her hand along the stocks of a small arsenal. “Sweet.” She reached for the AR-15.

  “Careful there, kid, they’re all load—”

  Claire didn’t let him finish. She popped the magazine out, checked the chamber, left the round inside, and drove the magazine back where it belonged. She repeated the action with an M16 and a 9 mm pistol. With the safeties all in place, she turned back to Cooper. “Do we have any ear protection?”

  A sexy smile sat on Cooper’s face. “Okay, that was kinda hot.”

  She swallowed back the excitement his comment did for her insides and brushed past him. “Put it away, Cooper. You’re too old for me.”

  Outside and past the stables had to be far enough away to not disturb the livestock or the people in the house. Because of the long-range distance the weapons could reach, they also needed to butt up against a hillside or risk bullets finding unwanted targets.

  “We don’t generally have paper targets,” Cooper told her. “I could come up with something . . .”

  Claire looked down range. “That’s a fence post, isn’t it?”

  “The one about four
hundred yards out?”

  She nodded. “Think Wade will mind if we use it?” From where she was, the post seemed to have been abandoned next to a new fence some ten yards away. Or maybe it was a double barrier for some reason.

  “I’m sure a few holes won’t make that big of a difference.”

  Taking that as permission, Claire set the guns on the ground at her feet and lay down next to them. On her belly, she placed ear protection over her head.

  She noticed Cooper put on his ears and focus a pair of binoculars at her target.

  “You know, Cooper, I can’t help but wonder if the flowers and message from Charlie were just a warning for Sasha . . . or if the school is on lockdown.” She leaned over the gun, put the stock into her shoulder. She dug the toes of her shoes into the loose dirt she was lying on to leverage herself against the kick.

  “I doubt anyone would tell you if you called,” Cooper said.

  “Yeah, right. No one has a cell phone.” She took a deep breath, stared down the barrel, and squeezed. The shot buzzed past the post on the right.

  Cooper huffed and lowered the binoculars.

  “Sites are off.”

  “All our guns are dialed in, kid. You’re just—”

  She fired off three more shots, one right after the other. The final one snapped a string of barbwire. Liking the sound of that, Claire burrowed down stronger and took three more shots.

  “Off to the right. Not by much, though.”

  “Damn, girl.”

  She took that as praise. “What about a satellite image of the campus? Can we get that?”

  “Overhead, yeah. I’m not sure how that will answer your questions.”

  It probably wouldn’t. Not unless you could see into the eaves of the outside corridors, where the large containers would hold the lilies on shutdown days.

  Claire unloaded the magazine and reached for the second rifle.

  “Richter taught you how to shoot?” Cooper asked.

  “Richter taught me everything.” She took two test shots, hit the post but not the wire. “Jax would know what was going on. If anything.”