Erik nodded. This was more than he’d expected to get. He respected Sheriff Gilbert, almost saw the man as a father figure, and he hated to disappoint him.
The front door opened a crack, and Mrs. Gilbert peeked out.
“Tom?”
The sheriff said, “Be right there, dear.”
He waited for his wife to shut the door before clearing his throat, which Erik knew was his prompt to leave.
But Erik couldn’t leave. Not yet.
“Sir, what are the chances I’ll be reinstated?”
There was no immediate answer from the sheriff. The man watched him for a beat too long, and even in the dark Erik saw the sadness in the man’s eyes.
“I don’t know, son. It don’t look too good, especially after what happened to those Marshals today. That’s four men dead now because of your girl.”
Erik had to steel himself, keep his voice calm and steady.
“She’s not my girl, and I had nothing to do with any of that.”
“I know, son. But something like this, heads always got to roll. Especially when the papers find out you were with her this morning. It ain’t gonna come from me, but it’s gonna get out at some point …”
Sheriff Gilbert trailed off, shaking his head.
“Keep your chin up. Head on home and get some rest. I need to get some rest, too. Today was a long day, and something tells me tomorrow is gonna be even longer.”
Twenty-Four
Erik trudged up the steps to the second floor, his hands balling in and out of fists. It was a risk confronting Sheriff Gilbert like that, but he’d had no choice. He wanted to help any way he could, but he also wanted to see where things stood in terms of his job. And Erik had come away from it with the realization there was a good chance he wouldn’t have his job much longer.
The sheriff hadn’t said as much, but Erik was able to read between the lines. He wondered if it would be better for him to resign before he was fired. In that case, he wouldn’t be able to stay in Alden.
Being a deputy was what and who he was. He couldn’t see himself doing anything else. Which meant he would need to move away and try to find work in law enforcement elsewhere. Only he was pretty sure that even if he resigned, word would make it to whoever considered him elsewhere for a job of what had happened in Alden: Erik on his knees half-naked with a woman who killed two ICE agents when the police raided the apartment.
His eyes focused on the door across from his as he walked down the hallway. A notice from the police had been taped on the jamb between the door and the doorframe. The apartment wasn’t a crime scene, but the police wanted to make sure nothing was disturbed in case they needed to return at a later date. As far as Erik knew, the whole place had been searched—as well as his apartment, upon his approval—but there was always the chance they would need to check back again.
Erik shut his eyes, shook his head. He needed to forget about it. Needed to think of anything else except what happened today.
But of course he couldn’t do that. The more he tried to think about something else, he immediately thought about Jen or whoever the fuck she was aiming the shotgun at him and ordering him out of the bedroom.
He opened his eyes again, took a breath, and glanced once more at the door before turning to his own door, the apartment key in his hand.
He inserted the key into the lock but paused, stood staring at his door for a beat before slowly turning and taking in the door across the hallway again.
The notice from the police—it was sliced vertically, right along the doorframe. With the door closed the way it was, it looked almost perfect, like it hadn’t been touched. But from this angle, it didn’t look right.
Erik quietly pulled the key back out from the lock. He took a step toward the door. Got close enough to verify that, yes, the notice had been sliced.
He took another step forward.
Leaned in so that his ear was barely touching the door.
He couldn’t hear anything inside, but that didn’t mean much. Maybe whoever sliced the notice had entered the apartment and had already left. Or maybe they were still inside and had heard him and gone silent. Maybe somebody was standing on the other side of the door right now, looking at him through the peephole, a gun leveled at his chest.
Erik moved without thinking.
Knowing that he didn’t have time to retrieve his gun from inside his apartment—not his department-issued pistol, which he’d turned in earlier today, but his personal Glock—he stepped to the side as he turned the doorknob and shoved the door open.
He stood with his shoulder against the wall, holding his breath, waiting for a gunshot or for somebody to come running through the doorway.
Nothing.
He waited another beat, listening to the silence, when he realized that the door should have been locked.
Call Sheriff Gilbert. That’s what he should do. Call it in and have the proper authorities come take care of it, but he thought maybe this was a way he could redeem himself. If there was somebody in the apartment and he managed to detain them, wouldn’t that mean something? At the very least, he wouldn’t lose his job.
Five seconds had passed since he opened the door, and so far nothing had happened. Down the hallway, the volume on Mr. Hobbs’s television was turned up louder than it should be this time of night. Erik thought about calling out—“It’s the police!”—but decided to play this a different way.
Taking another breath, he stepped forward and entered the apartment, reaching out in one fluid motion to flick on the light switch—
Which did nothing.
The apartment remained dark.
Erik paused again, suddenly nervous, the confidence he’d felt only seconds ago having vanished, and he decided to retreat, hurry into his apartment to retrieve the Glock and call Sheriff Gilbert, when he sensed motion behind him.
He spun to his left and instinctively ducked, swinging his fist in an uppercut, skin brushing against heavy fabric for just an instant before the person behind him sidestepped the follow through and then Erik felt a heavy elbow snap down on the back of his neck. He stumbled away but immediately lurched back at his attacker, pushing the person into the wall, and he had the sense the person was big, tall and strong, and while Erik himself was tall and strong, this man had a good sixty pounds on him, much of it muscle, and before Erik knew it, his legs were swept out from under him and he fell hard, landing on his back, his head knocking on the floor. He tried to roll away, to scramble to his feet, but the man was on top of him, and suddenly Erik felt cold metal pressed to the side of his head as a deep voice whispered.
“Don’t fucking move.”
Twenty-Five
Lying on his back in the dark apartment, the man’s weight holding him in place and the barrel of a gun pressing against the side of his head, Erik took a moment to consider his options.
He quickly realized he had none.
Erik whispered, “Okay.”
The man didn’t move at first, keeping the barrel pressed against the side of Erik’s head. Erik was faintly aware of soft footsteps somewhere else in the apartment, which meant the man wasn’t alone. At least one other intruder. Maybe more.
The deep voice whispered again.
“Stay flat on the floor. Move a muscle, and I’ll shoot you in the face.”
Erik said nothing.
The man waited a beat, and then the heavy weight pressing Erik to the floor eased away as the man stood up.
Erik stayed where he was, staring at the dark ceiling. Wondering if the other intruder had a weapon. Wondering what the chances were he could manage to commandeer one of those weapons without getting shot.
The deep voice said, “Go ahead.”
At first, Erik wasn’t sure what to do—was the man speaking to him?—but then he heard the soft footsteps behind him again and a light came on.
It was a sort of a lamp with a blue glow, enough to illuminate the entire apartment with subtle light. Erik took in the man who had pressed the g
un to his head—he was big, just as Erik had suspected, and he had a full beard, the kind that made Erik peg the man for a SEAL.
Shifting his eyes up, he saw the other man was tall but thinner. This man regarded him curiously. He looked to have a phone in his hand, but no weapon.
The SEAL leaned over Erik, keeping his gun trained on him. Now with the soft light, Erik noted the gun was an FNX-45 with a threaded barrel.
The man said, “Who the hell are you?”
Erik wet his lips but said nothing.
“We don’t have time for this shit. You have a wallet?”
Erik nodded, just once.
“Give me your wallet.”
For a crazy moment, Erik wondered if he was being mugged. If these two men were here to rob the place. Alden was a small town that got a few B&Es during the year, but those were mostly from stupid kids who didn’t know any better.
The man said, “I’m not going to ask you again.”
Erik whispered, “My left rear pants pocket.”
“Go ahead and pull it out. Slowly.”
Erik did, slipping his leather wallet from his pocket. Besides his driver’s license and a debit card and a couple bucks of cash, there wasn’t anything else in there.
The man didn’t even look inside the wallet and instead tossed it to the other man. The other man opened the wallet and pulled out Erik’s DL. At first, Erik wasn’t sure what this man was doing before he saw the man hold his cell phone over the DL and snap a picture.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The SEAL said, “Background check.”
Erik started to sit up, but the SEAL stepped forward and aimed the gun at his face.
“Let’s not do anything stupid, okay, chief?”
Erik rested his head back on the carpet. Braced himself, took another deep breath. This wasn’t how he wanted to die. Not by the hands of these assholes.
The SEAL said, “Well?”
He wasn’t talking to Erik. The other man stepped forward and handed him the phone. The SEAL scanned the screen before he nodded and cut his gaze at Erik on the floor.
“Erik Johnson. Was raised in foster care. Entered the Marines at eighteen, stayed for five years and was honorably discharged. Now works as a Colton County sheriff’s deputy in Bumfuck, Texas.”
The man paused, and grinned down at Erik.
“It doesn’t say Bumfuck, but let’s be honest here, this town is pretty shitty.”
Erik said, “Who the hell are you?”
The man ignored him.
“Deputy Johnson, don’t you realize you’re trespassing?”
“Fuck you. You’re trespassing.”
The SEAL glanced again at the phone.
“Nothing here about unoriginal comebacks, but not every background check is complete.”
The SEAL handed the phone back to the other man, then crouched down beside Erik. He was close enough that if Erik tried anything the man could squeeze the trigger and place a bullet in Erik’s head before Erik moved a muscle.
“What brings you here tonight, Deputy Johnson?”
Erik felt his jaw tighten.
“Fuck you.”
“Didn’t you see the notice on the door? Law enforcement forbids anybody to enter, which includes neighbors. And don’t go telling me it’s because you’re law enforcement, too. I read that you were suspended today. What’s up with that?”
A chill shot through Erik’s veins. He wasn’t surprised basic information was so easily accessible to these men, but how would they know about his suspension as it had happened just that afternoon?
When Erik didn’t answer, the man said, “My associate and I don’t have all night.”
Erik wet his lips again. For a moment he didn’t think he’d have a voice, but then he managed to speak.
“I was here this morning.”
“You were where?”
“In this apartment.”
“Why were you in this apartment?”
“I was … in bed with her.”
In the soft light, Erik thought he saw something pass across the man’s face.
The man said, “Go on.”
“There isn’t much else to say. The police raided the apartment. Took her into custody. Because I was here, they questioned me, too, and because of what she did, they suspended me.”
Erik expected the man to ask more about what Jen or Holly or whatever her name was had done, but he didn’t. He glanced once at the thin man and then flicked his eyes back down at Erik.
“Sucks to be you, doesn’t it?”
Erik no longer had the sense that his life was in danger. Whatever these men were doing was shady, but he didn’t think they would kill him.
“Can I sit up?”
The man took a step back but kept the FNX-45 trained on him.
“Be my guest.”
Erik sat up, slowly, and shifted so that his back was against the wall. He didn’t know what was going to happen next, but he felt the need to keep talking.
“Do you know her?”
The man’s face remained expressionless.
“Do I know who?”
“Holly or whatever her name is. I saw her for a second this afternoon before the Marshals took her away. She told me her family is in danger.”
Again, Erik thought he saw something pass across the man’s face.
“She said the lawyer who came to see her today wasn’t even a real lawyer. And then it turned out—”
Erik paused, realizing maybe his life was in danger after all, that these two men might have visited the real lawyer earlier in the day.
The SEAL tilted his head.
“And then it turned out what?”
Erik wet his lips again.
“Did you kill her?”
“Did we kill who?”
“The lawyer.”
The SEAL traded a glance with the other man and frowned down at Erik.
“Chief, I can’t speak for my associate over there, but I certainly didn’t kill anybody today. Care to start making some sense?”
Erik had the feeling the man honestly didn’t know what he was talking about, and decided to push on.
“It turns out the real lawyer was murdered this morning, and another woman had come to the station impersonating her.”
The man glanced at his associate again, and there was something severe in the look, something that told Erik there was a lot more going on than he had first thought.
The man said, “Any idea who this woman was who impersonated the lawyer?”
“None.”
“Did Holly tell you anything else?”
The man said the name so easily, so naturally, Erik realized that was in fact her real name.
“She gave me a phone number to call. She said it was to some dry cleaners only it wasn’t really to a dry cleaners. Said to call and leave a message saying that her family is in danger. I figured she was bullshitting me, so I—”
He stopped when he noted the expression on the man’s face. This clearly meant something significant to him.
“She wasn’t bullshitting me, was she?”
The man said, “Who are you?”
“What do you mean? You read my background.”
“No, I mean what are you to her—a one-night stand or something more serious?”
Erik thought about it for a moment.
“Something more serious. Why?”
“Because it’s clear she trusted you. She wouldn’t have given you the number otherwise. Are you positive she said her family is in danger?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“All right. So what’s going to happen now is my associate and I are going to leave, and you’re going to stay here and act like we never had this conversation.”
Erik started to stand up, saw the gun still aimed at him, and stayed where he was with his back against the wall.
“Where are you going?”
“That�
��s no concern of yours.”
“If you’re”—he paused, not sure how to say the rest but then decided just to go with it—“if you’re going to try to save her family, I want to help.”
“Fat chance, Romeo. You’re staying here.”
“Please”—there was a hint of desperation in his voice, something he couldn’t hide—“I need to help.”
The man studied his face.
“Why?”
“I just … I can’t sit by and do nothing.”
The thin man tapped his foot on the floor, and when he had the SEAL’s attention, he tossed him the cell phone.
The SEAL scanned the screen again, and shook his head.
“No fucking way.”
The thin man nodded, his expression serious.
The SEAL said, “Fine, then I’ll call him and see what he says.”
He held the phone to his ear and listened for a moment, then said, “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” and listened some more and then said, “We don’t know anything about him,” and listened some more before he finally said, “Okay, fine,” and then disconnected the call and tossed the phone back to the thin man.
The SEAL leveled his gaze on Erik.
“You want to help?”
Erik nodded.
“Yes, of course.”
“Then you’re going to do everything I tell you to do.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“For starters, I need you to shut the fuck up and listen. You were suspended and are currently under investigation. Do you understand how it’s going to look if you all of a sudden disappear?”
Erik nodded—it wouldn’t look good at all—and the man continued.
“Holly’s family lives out near Washington, D.C. That’s where James and I are headed next. We didn’t manage to find any clues here about where Holly may have ended up. It’s like she disappeared into thin air. So the only lead we have—if you are to be believed—is that her family is in danger. There’s a private jet waiting for us at an airfield sixty miles away from here. If you want to go with us to D.C., you’re welcome, but again, you need to do everything I say. Got it?”
Erik looked back and forth between the thin man and the SEAL, expecting this to be some cruel joke, like the man might put a bullet in his head anyway.
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