“But....” I suddenly realized to my horror that I was being handed over to a writer. A writer. What’s he going to do if the bad guys catch up to me, stab them with his pen? “If Jeff isn’t an FBI agent or a cop....”
“No, he’s not either of those things, Marigold, but he’s got some tricks up his sleeve.”
“Keep in mind one thing, Marigold,” Tom cautioned me. “Those Cornwall boys can be very competitive. Remember that.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Jeff’s a bit of a superstar, now that he’s making oodles and oodles of money,” said Jojo, “as in an obscene amount of money.”
“He got the inspiration for several of the stories from his brothers, the lawmen,” her husband informed me. “If they hadn’t spilled the details of their big cases, he’d have never been able to write those thrillers.”
“Ah, sibling rivalry?”
“You might say that,” Tom conceded with a wry expression. “And when you add a pretty woman to the equation, it can get messy.”
“You mean they’ll fight over her?” I asked Tom. Jojo cut in.
“Marigold, you’re the pretty woman Tom mentioned.”
“You think they’ll fight over me?” I was shocked. “I’m...I’m just a woman on the run.”
“Good heavens,” Jojo laughed, slapping the table with her hands. “Are you really that thick? Marigold, you’re a damsel in distress, and these two guys live to be the knight in shining armor!”
“No way,” I scoffed. “Lincoln’s still stuck on his ex-wife. And you said yourself that Jeff is a superstar. Why would they be interested in me?”
“Holy moly, this is likely to get bloody. It’s like sending a mermaid into the shark tank. The Cornwall boys will devour her,” the retired FBI agent decided. “We should have the EMTs standing by with an ambulance.”
“Surely that’s an exaggeration,” I insisted. “How bad can they be?”
“You have no idea,” was all he had to say on the matter.
I cleaned up the dinner dishes while Tom took Kary out one last time. Jojo went back to the study to print me up some business cards for my cover as Susan Langforth and to set up a contacts list in the new cell phone she got for me. Tom downloaded the Atlanta airport map and talked me through the steps for the meeting with Jeff’s driver.
By nine, I was exhausted and excused myself for the evening, heading upstairs to bed. Kary passed me on the third step and kept on going. As I stepped into the guest room, the Shih Tzu hopped onto the bed and settled himself on my pillow.
“Oh, it’s going to be like that, is it?”
Although I was used to sleeping alone, I had to admit I was beginning to relish the little dog’s companionship. For the first time since Jared died, I slept soundly, deeply, surrendering my constant vigil of consciousness. Somehow I trusted my canine companion would alert me if something was wrong. Every once in a while, Kary would sigh aloud, letting me know he was right there by my side as the night wore on, and in the morning, when I awoke, I found him pressed up against my back.
Over a breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, and coffee, Jojo informed me that we were leaving for Dulles International Airport no later than ten o’clock. She had booked a non-stop noon flight for Kary and me. She would deliver me to the Delta gate with the assistance of a friendly FBI agent friend, and once my bag was checked and I was past the security checkpoint, it was merely a matter of walking onto the airplane, stowing the dog in his travel crate under the seat, and relaxing in first class for two hours or so. In Atlanta, I’d disembark from the plane and make my way to the arrivals lobby, pooch in tow. Jojo promised I would find my driver there waiting for Susan Langforth. Once he retrieved my suitcase from the baggage check area, I’d be driven to meet Jeff at his home in Buckhead.
“I have your new phone here. Don’t turn it on until you get to Atlanta, Marigold. I’ve put in the numbers you’ll need for contacting us. And we’ve all got your number, too, but I’ve given each person an alias that I think you’ll recognize. Now, any questions before you get ready?”
“What do I feed Kary? How much and how often?”
“I put together a file for your briefcase with all of Kary’s health information and wrote out the feeding instructions to make it look like Kary’s vet changed the dog food.”
“Thanks,” I told her. The little Shih Tzu heard us talking about him and decided to join us. Putting a paw up on my knee, he cocked his head this way and that. “I suppose you want to get up on my lap.”
“Kary has a micro chip, in case he ever gets lost. You might notice the little lump on the back of his neck. It’s about the size of a grain of rice, just under the skin.” She put my index and middle finger on the spot.
“Oh! There it is!”
“All it takes is for someone to run a scanner on him, and Kary’s information will pop up on the computer screen.”
“That’s very handy,” I decided.
“It only works if people are ethical, Marigold, but it means you have a chance to recover him if he wanders away from you.”
“In that case, I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
“All that’s left now is for you to pack.”
Heading upstairs, I got busy. I opened the closet door and took down the new clothes hanging on the rod inside. With the pair of scissors from the guest room desk drawer, I carefully removed each of the tags, thinking how different this wardrobe was from my last. When you’re in the party business, people expect a little glitz and lots of glamour. But now I was to be Susan Langforth, pharmaceutical sales rep, focused on making my way up the career ladder. The colors were more somber and business-like. I laid out my outfit for the day on the bed and then I folded and packed what remained, placing each item in the new suitcase Jojo bought me. Once that was done, I relaxed a little, mentally preparing myself for the day’s events and my journey to Atlanta. Pondering the unknown, I spent the next half hour having a long, relaxing bath, careful not to soak my stitches. It was the first time since I had been shot that I dared to scrub my body with soap and water. I was fairly certain that no killer would burst, gun in hand, and try to finish the job while I lingered in the tub.
What would Georgia in January be like? I had never been to the peach state. I knew the city was a popular destination, both for tourist and transplant. As a cultural city, it had potential; I had no doubt that if I were to start a party planning firm there, I could probably be a great success within a year or so. I’d start by building my contacts list, getting to know the venues, the caterers, the local musicians and disc jockeys. Hold on, Marigold! You’re only setting yourself up for more disappointment. Have you forgotten what happened?
Chapter Fifteen
With a deep sigh of disappointment, I shook myself back to reality. Things had changed the moment Tovar was shot before my eyes at the Gilded Nest. Life as I had known it in Lake Placid had vaporized. My ever-changing routine was about to do yet another one-eighty when I stepped off that plane. I had no clue what I was getting into or how it would turn out. The only thing I knew for sure was that a ten-pound singing Shih Tzu was to be my travel companion. If Kary didn’t accompany me, would I even have the courage to make the journey? I didn’t think so.
This crazy world of witness protection was beginning to catch up to me. All I really wanted was the chance to settle myself in a place I could call home for the next ten years and put down some roots that would flourish with time. I wanted to build new friendships and feel like I belonged somewhere. It wasn’t my fault I had to go into WitSec. I wasn’t the criminal. And yet, I always seemed to be the one being punished for it. How could I take this journey and make it work for me, Marigold Flowers?
Hold on there. Aren’t you forgetting something? You’ve only been Marigold since you moved to Lake Placid. Before that, you were Margot. At least that was the name that Jared called you. It’s been a long time since you’ve used your birth name. You’re like a songbird on the wing, always on the move, a
lways vulnerable. One of these days, the wind will prove to be your undoing. That little bit of air turbulence will prove too much for you. Your wings will fold and you’ll come crashing back to Earth.
It was true. I was never able to be the real me with the people in my world. Jared and I had never even gotten to the point in our relationship that I shared my real identity with him. It was too classified. Shaun, Tovar, and Eve insisted that Jared wouldn’t be fully briefed until after he signed all the paperwork, something that never happened. Shaun confided in me after the meeting, sharing his concerns that Jared wasn’t really taking my security seriously.
“Marigold, I’m not trying to bust your chops, but the guy seems a little fishy to me. He’s not acting like a man in love, concerned about the potential danger for you. If you ask me, he’s just a little too cocky.”
But I hadn’t asked the marshal, had I? I bristled at the notion that Jared was not worthy of being briefed about the situation. After all, he was an international business traveler, a man with his thumb in many pies, with a bank account that just kept growing with his successful investments. Why would the US Marshal Service think that Jared would be willing to go into witness protection with me, subject to relocation at the drop of a hat? He had businesses to run. He had an established life and a reputation to maintain. I much preferred the offer of protection Jared made me. At least I’d be able to live a fairly normal life.
It wasn’t as if Shaun had any evidence Jared wasn’t what he claimed to be. Maybe if it had been my old WitSec handler telling me this, I’d have listened. But I hadn’t been in Rhode Island all that long, nor did I know Shaun, Tovar, or Eve all that well. I wanted to believe that love would find a way. And I did believe it, right up until the moment I found his bloody body on the floor by the chair. In an instant, the dream was gone.
A couple of times, after I moved to Lake Placid, I came close to touching hope once more, but that vanished too. The minute I felt a man was interested in me, my heart froze up and I grew rigid. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing another one. I began to think that love was no longer an option on the table. I was doomed to spend what was left of my life always looking over my shoulder, all because of the research my grandfather and father had done. Should I blame them for what happened? How could I? All they had ever wanted was to use their knowledge as botanists to make the world a healthier place. How could we have ever guessed that my grandfather’s plant experiments would ever create such madness?
We are victims of family history, tied to our genealogical roots. Whether we like it or not, people hold us accountable for our ancestors, even if we never had a chance to choose the paths they took.
There was a change in me, though, one I couldn’t deny. It started when I found myself taken seriously by the New York State Police. Inspector Vidal, Philomena, and Jackson Cornwall all seemed to have my best interests at heart. They were willing to look into my case, to believe there was more to the story than meets the eye. It was the first time since I could remember where outsiders knew my story and didn’t seem to think I got what I deserved.
But it was the moment I met Lincoln when a part of me began to believe there might be a way out of this mess. Was it just that he was a lawman with a gun and he was acting his part as my personal protector, ready to rescue the damsel in distress, as Jojo and Tom suggested? Or did we have something more, something worth pursuing? It was hard to deny the attraction I felt. That spark between us seemed to glow brightly at unexpected moments, before it flickered out as Lincoln wrestled with his past. I couldn’t ignore the reality that he was still Deirdre’s to command; as long as he couldn’t let her go, I’d never have a chance.
Maybe I should be content to indulge in a harmless fantasy, one we would never act upon, one that could never hurt either of us; wishful thinking without the risk. Maybe it was enough for now to hope that there was someone out there for me, as Jojo had said, because I would begin the search to find the elusive love. The heart’s a funny thing, with a mind of its own. It wants what it wants, and when it begins to stir, to awaken, all that slumbering passion and desire comes alive in a powerful way.
Or was it the Cornwall men and their sense of duty, of honor, that made me feel somehow safer? If I had met only one of them, I might think it a fluke that such a good man really existed; but two? Two made me believe miracles were possible. What would three do for me, be the charm? I’d know soon enough. In another couple of hours, I would meet Jefferson.
Toweling off, I drenched myself in body lotion and let it soak in before slipping into my underwear. Today was the day I would abandon the gauze bandage over my ear, in favor of the soft purple cotton headband Jojo got me from Athleta, a little shop on Market Street that sold clothes for yoga workouts. It was just wide enough to cover my ears and hide the angry scar, my permanent reminder of the bullet that struck me in Windham.
Kary was waiting for me just outside the door when I emerged from the bathroom. Dressing in my new black trousers and white blouse, I fastened all the buttons and then I slipped my arms into the purple jacket. The matching purple pumps were comfortable on my feet. Admiring myself in the mirror, I decided I could probably give Deirdre a run for the money, especially once my damaged ear healed and I could shampoo my hair. At the moment, though, I really couldn’t complain. The headband did a nice job of hiding the unsightly wound, and it was comfortable enough to be a useful hair accessory. Pulling out my new makeup case, I took myself back into the bathroom and got to work on my game face. Kary joined me.
“Why in the world am I thinking of that woman?” I demanded of my canine companion. “How ridiculous is that? Why should it matter that I’m as attractive as Deirdre? Oh, look who I’m asking. Do you miss her?”
Kary didn’t answer, other than to plop down on the thick bath mat and curl up. Apparently, I was interrupting his naptime.
A soft knock alerted me to Jojo’s arrival. She came into the bedroom bearing gifts. “Marigold, are you decent?”
“Just finishing my makeup,” I called out. “Be right there.”
“Can’t wait to see how you look,” she replied. As I stepped out and pirouetted, taking three strides before each turn, she nodded approvingly. “Perfect. No one will think there’s anything wrong with the ear. And actually, you look very chic.”
“It’s a little more sophisticated and subdued than I’m used to,” I admitted, “but I like it.”
“Good. That means you’ll carry yourself well. It’s all about the attitude, Marigold.” She handed me a pair of reading glasses in a contemporary purple pattern, along with a glasses case. “Put these on. They’re the lowest power I could find, so you can wear them continually.”
I slipped them on carefully, avoiding my stitches. Would I be able to keep them on throughout the flight?
“I put a small foam pad on the earpiece, to keep the plastic away from your injury. Do you think you can manage for a few hours?”
“I guess I’ll have to, Jo. They do make me look more like a businesswoman, don’t they?” I checked out my reflection in the dresser mirror. “Nerdy in a smart girl kind of way.”
“Indeed. Now, here are a few more things to pack.” She offered me a couple of paperback mysteries, holding up a copy of The Secret of White Jasmine by Serena Duvall. “I loved this one. Very exotic and romantic, but it won’t give you nightmares.”
“I’ll take it,” I laughed.
The dog paraphernalia for Kary went into my suitcase, including all of the dog dishes, kibble and even some toys. She put a new laptop and several thick file folders into the new pink briefcase. She held up one folder to show me.
“This is Kary’s paperwork for the flight. He’s got his Delta doggie boarding pass, the health certificate from his vet, and his micro chip info, in case he gets loose. I also have your papers right here.” She showed me my printed boarding pass with the digital code before tucking it in with the other pages. “I marked the folder ‘airline’, Marigold.”
&
nbsp; “That makes it easy for me. Thanks, Jojo.”
“One last thing,” she said, reminding me again about the importance of not turning the phone on until I was officially inside Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. “Don’t be tempted to use it to check the flight status or anything else.”
“Can I ask why?”
“You’re only Susan Langforth for the next few hours, Marigold. Once you get to Atlanta, you’re going to get a new identity, and I want this phone,” she held up the HCT One, “only to be associated with your new identity. The same holds true for your laptop. Got it?”
“Got it,” I nodded. “Who am I going to be?”
I admit I was curious about my new name. In a way, I would be sad to see Marigold Flowers disappear. If I had to start over again, I was eager to learn as much as I could about the person I was about to become.
“You’ll find out when you get to where you’re going and not a moment sooner,” she smiled patiently. “Better that you don’t know until we’re sure you’re safe. Do you have a watch or would you like one from my collection?”
“I’ve got one.” I held out my wrist to show her the Citizen Chronograph Jared had given me as a gift early in our relationship.
“Wow, you have good taste,” she exclaimed. “I don’t think I have anything quite that fancy in my arsenal.”
“It was a gift,” I shrugged, not really wanting to remember.
“Someone spent a pretty penny on you.” I could see Jojo taking note of the diamonds surrounding the mother-of-pearl watch face.
“He could afford it,” was all I said before I busied myself with my suitcase, suddenly feeling overwhelmed once more. It seemed to happen a lot more often these days. Was it my guilt over Jared’s death that was finally catching up to me?
“Okay, I think I’ve covered everything,” she decided. “Now, let’s hit the road.”
Reluctant Witness Page 12