Will and I close the door on our family, hearing Wes and Luke discussing the beginnings of various ideas of how to execute this situation flawlessly. I have faith in them, and Agent Croft’s team, and know that it’s all going to work out.
Will and I finish cleaning up from dinner in silence. I’ve attempted to engage him, at first in conversation about how we’re going to handle the situation, then on to lighter topics like how great Erin was tonight. In both cases he blatantly ignored me. By the time we get upstairs to get ready for bed, I’ve had enough of the silent treatment and am about to tell him, when he breaks the silence on his own.
“Why are you doing this?” he says to me, his tone both sad and angry.
“Will, I have to…” I begin.
“No, you don’t have to! Do you have any idea how this could end? Have you even thought about how I could lose you forever? We have no idea what this guy is capable of doing!” Will shouts.
“I have thought about that! What if it were me, Will? What if something happened to me, and you didn’t know where I was? You couldn’t have closure. Wouldn’t you want someone to help you?” I counter.
“Don’t do that, Layla. You can’t flip this around and try to make me feel guilty for not wanting my wife of 17 days to commit herself to standing in the line of fire for a complete stranger! But you know what the worst part about this is? The worst part is that I have to go along with it and watch whatever horror may or may not unfold because regardless of what I say you’re going to do this anyway!” Will pulls his shirt off in a fury and throws in on the floor, followed by his pants. This had become the highlight of my day but tonight it’s certainly not the same as it has been over the last two weeks.
“I’m sorry,” I say softly.
“You’re only sorry that I don’t support this potential suicide mission. And now I have nothing left to say.” Will walks into the bathroom and slams the door.
Wow. I thought we’d make it longer than 17 days before we had our first major fight. I’ve never seen Will so angry with me before. I just need him to understand. I’m not trying to send myself on a suicide mission. I’m trying to help Blasi’s family. The night Marcus died Will got a glimpse of the pain I experienced for months. He has no real idea of the emptiness and the grief this family is feeling. Their imaginations are running wild with scenarios of where their father is. His wife is holding out hope that he’s going to come home alive. They’ll never be able to move on until they know for sure what happened to him. They have to lay him to rest so that they can finally get some themselves.
I change out of my clothes and into a set of pajama pants and a t-shirt and crawl into bed. I turn my back to the bathroom door because I don’t want Will to see me crying when he comes out, although since he’s been in there so long I’m beginning to wonder if he’s made a makeshift bed out of towels in the garden tub.
I don’t know how long I lay there, soaking my pillow with tears, before I feel Will slide into bed next to me. At first he just lays there and I resolve that it’ll be morning before I hear his voice or, if I’m lucky, feel his touch.
“I can’t lose you, Layla.” I hear Will sniff and know that he’s trying not to cry.
I turn around and find my sweet spot, laying my head on his chest, Will’s arm blanketing me. “You’re not going to lose me, Will,” I tell him. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You don’t know that. I understand the reasons why you want to do this, but don’t you see that you’re totally ignoring my wishes and my feelings about this? How is that supposed to make me feel?” Will turns his body so he’s facing me, both of us propping ourselves up on an elbow. “You are consistently doing things whether I’m in agreement or not. It almost got you killed with Marcus, and you let Holly’s lies eat away at you until you believed something about me, about us, that wasn’t true. I am doing my best to take care of you but you won’t let me. You are so damn stubborn!”
He’s right. I am stubborn.
I look into Will’s eyes in the light the moon is casting through the window. They’re grey-blue right now. His eyes are like a mood ring, and this is a mood I’ve never seen in him.
“I guess I’m failing at the letting you take care of me thing, huh?” I say, running my fingers through Will’s hair.
“I’m not sure you’re even trying,” he says honestly.
I don’t know what to say. I can’t defend myself because, if I’m honest, the only thing I’ve let Will do to take care of me is remodel the house and plan the most perfect honeymoon a girl could dream of having. Will’s hands were tied for so many of the major hurdles we’ve had to leap. Being as independent as I am, I just jumped as high as I could, all on my own, taking care of things while Will watched from the shadows.
“Being totally independent is a hard habit to break. I had to work really hard, and make it a conscious choice every day when I first moved in with Luke and Claire. And I think, maybe, I was able to let them take care of me because I was longing for parents. I needed to be a child and they gave that to me.” I pause, collecting my thoughts as they rush through my mind. “But now I’m a wife and I don’t know what that’s supposed to look like or feel like. I want you to take care of me Will. It’s hard for me to let go, though, because I want to take care of you just as much.”
“I need you to let me have a say in how this goes down. I can’t just sit by and let Luke and Wes lay out another plan for you without my involvement. You’re my wife now, Layla, and I swore to take care of you and protect you. I need you to let me do that.” Will holds my face with his hand and I can see the desperation in his eyes. He feels so disconnected and it’s killing him.
“Of course,” I tell him with a small sigh of release. This has to be as active a decision as it was with Luke and Claire. “Tell me what you want to do and I’ll do it. I love you and the last thing I want is for you feel like you’re not holding up your end of our vows.”
Will breathes a huge sigh of relief and pulls me to him. “I’m so sorry I yelled like that. I was just so frustrated,” he says as I find my sweet spot again.
“I’m sorry. I have to stop being so stubborn,” I say putting my arm across his stomach and squeezing. “What do you think we should do?”
“Let’s just sleep on it. We’ve got a little while before we have to have anything laid out. Luke is right, we’re both feeling the jet lag and the fatigue is not helping us handle this very well. Things will be clearer in the morning.”
“My mom used to say that,” I tell him. Will strokes my arm sweetly until I begin to fall asleep. “She was usually right…and I’m sure you are, too.”
*****
Morning comes and seems to bring the clarity Will and I were hoping to find. Sleeping for 12 hours probably had a lot to do with just how clear we’re seeing things now, too. It was almost noon when we got up. Now that we’re showered and dressed, I’m feeling refreshed and ready to leap over this new hurdle with Will’s hand in mine.
“I was just reading through his letter again,” Will says as I set his lunch in front of him on the counter. He’s seated at the bar and has the letter and pictures from Black Sedan Guy spread everywhere.
“Did you discover anything? It seemed pretty straight forward last night,” I say.
“Not really.” Will shakes his head in defeat. “I just keep wondering why now? I mean he’s got whatever my father paid him up front. He could literally just walk away and no one would ever know. Why push it?” We’re communicating like a team and asking questions that no one seemed to think of last night.
“It doesn’t make sense.” I pick up my phone after it pings and see that Luke has just sent me a text. “Luke says that he and Agent Croft are on their way over with Wes. That’s good, right? I mean, we can start mapping this out,” I say, standing next to Will and resting my arm on the back of his stool.
“Are you going to let me take the lead here?” he asks, putting his arm around my waist.
“Yes.
Whatever you think is best, I’ll do it,” I tell him.
“Thank you.” Will’s words are thoughtful and I can tell that it truly means a lot to him for me to stop trying to handle everything on my own. I don’t want to do this alone. I want to stop feeling like I have to be in control and really let Will do what he’s promised to do.
The doorbell rings and we both move to answer it together. Will takes my hand and gives me a smile and a nod before opening it. Standing on our front step are Luke, Wes, and Agent Croft. I haven’t seen Croft since the day he told me he had enough evidence to arrest Will’s father and charge him with, among other things, conspiracy. I remember him telling me that he would consider it a personal triumph to make sure Gregory Meyer spent the rest of his life in prison. Croft never got to do his victory lap.
“Hello, Layla, or should I say Mrs. Meyer?” Agent Croft says stepping into the foyer. He reaches out his hand but I ignore it and choose to give him a hug.
“Hello, Agent Croft,” I say. “It’s so good to see you again.”
“It’s lovely to see you, too. I’ve heard your entire story from start to finish and all I can say is…remarkable. It’s a pleasure to meet you Will,” he says shaking Will’s hand.
“It’s nice to meet you, too. Thank you so much for all you’ve done and we appreciate you coming today. We’re hoping you can help us navigate through this as smoothly as possible,” Will tells him.
“I’m going to do my best,” Croft answers.
“Um…shouldn’t your Agent Lassiter be here? I thought he was leading a team of your people on this?” I ask. It seems strange that the lead agent on this case wouldn’t be here to analyze the letter or the photos, or even ask Will and me anything about Black Sedan Guy.
“I got a call from the CSI unit. They think they’ve been able to pull some new evidence from the DNA they collected off the body of the first juror. Lassiter is a forensics guy and thought he’d be of better use there, so here I am,” he says with a smile.
“The CSI unit? That sounds so prime time!” I say with a little chuckle.
“I actually have an old friend from the academy who does consulting for one of those crime shows. They try to make it as accurate as possible. There are too many people like me who would call and tell them they got it wrong!” Agent Croft laughs and I remember why I liked him so much when we met in Florida. He’s just so real. “Ok…so let’s see this letter.”
“Here it is,” Will says as we all crowd around the kitchen bar.
“These pictures are good,” Wes says. “He knew what he was doing, what he was looking for. He knows that Layla is the mark.”
“What do you mean I’m the mark,” I ask.
“It means that he knows the way to get Will to do what he wants is through you. He hasn’t come right out and said it, but he’s threatening you. See how you’re just slightly more in focus than anyone or anything else in these pictures?” I nod as Wes shows me what he’s talking about. “He’s making sure that Will knows just how close he can get to you.”
“Do you know who this could be?” I ask Wes. I remember him explaining that Meyer always had someone take picture of his hits in case the henchman got mouthy. I wonder if, now that he’s seen how good the pictures are, if Wes thinks he might know who it was.
“It wasn’t any of Meyer’s guys. Not only are these pictures very good, they’re also very personal. The proximity with which he had to be from you is not a mark of one of any of the guys I worked with. They always kept their distance so as to never be seen. This guys has been bold in how close he’s gotten, even letting you see him. Besides, even if it was, once Meyer was in the hospital every last one of his guys disappeared. None of us cared about the money so we certainly wouldn’t come back months later for it. All we ever wanted was to be free.” I can see in Wes’ eyes just how true a statement that is for him. Now that he has his freedom, there’s nothing that would make him go back to a life chained to anything that had to do with Gregory Meyer…not even $250,000.
“How do we know this guy is even going to tell us where Blasi’s body is? How do we know that he’s even the guy responsible? What if he’s just trying to get an easy quarter million from Will?” I ask in the clarity of the new day. The FBI has to have dealt with this kind of thing before. I mean, what’s to stop some crazy person from bilking millions from the wealthy just by saying they have information?
“We don’t,” Croft answers simply. “That’s a risk we’re taking. Now, Luke said you’re willing and ready to take this on. Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Yes,” I say as I take Will’s hand. “But Will has the final say in how this goes down.”
“I thought we were settled last night?” Luke asks with a quizzical look on his face.
“We were, well, I was. But Will and I talked about it last night and I trust Will to decide what he thinks is best.” I smile softly at Will, hoping that his heart is full of joy at my willingness to let go and let him take care of me.
Will smiles back at me and I know I’ve put him at ease. “I’ve been thinking about this and there really isn’t any other way around the situation but for Layla to do the exchange. But, since he didn’t specifically say she was to go alone, I’m going with her.” Will’s delivery is straight forward and to the point. He’s going to go with me so he can do everything he can to make sure I’m kept safe.
“Do want to get both of you killed?” Luke says. “He said that Layla was to do the drop. You really think he’s going to discuss the semantics of his instructions with you? We’ll have eyes on her at all times, and Croft already suggested a transmitter earpiece so we can talk to her and hear everything on her end. You have no idea how this guy is going to respond if we don’t follow his instructions exactly. It could be disastrous.”
“I’m not arguing with you, Luke. Layla is my wife and I’m not sending her out there to face some psychopath by herself,” Will tells Luke directly. This is interesting. I’ve always seen Will and Luke work together. Will had always been on board with whatever Luke thought was best, but that was when I was Luke’s daughter.
Luke looks at Will for a hard minute, processing this uncharted territory. I’m not sure he knows what to do. We certainly never thought we’d be in a situation like this now that Gregory Meyer is dead. It seems I’m not the only one struggling with letting go and letting Will take care of me.
“Agent Croft,” Luke begins. I know what he’s doing. He’s going to try and get Croft to tell Will it’s an insane idea to do anything but follow Black Sedan Guy’s instructions to a T. “What do you think of Will’s idea?”
And there it is: the first pissing match between my husband and my father. I just never thought my father would be the one to start it.
Croft takes a deep, thoughtful breath, seeing exactly what’s happening. “Well, he didn’t specifically say for Layla to come alone, and he hasn’t actually threatened anyone. He’s offered information in exchange for money. Other than his claim that he knows where Blasi’s body is as an indication that he’s likely the one who killed him we have no reason to believe he’ll be aggressive. Chances are good he’s really just after the money, and Will showing up with Layla may not mean anything to him.”
“Luke,” Will says. “If I thought for one second that my going with Layla would put her in serious harm, I wouldn’t go. She is my wife. I can’t just send her out there. I need you to understand that. What if it were Claire?”
Luke looks down and seems to be searching himself for that answer. What if it where Claire? What would he do? When he finally realizes that he would do the exact same thing for his wife, he looks to Will and nods. “Ok. But I want all the same precautions on her that I mentioned. She’s my daughter. Can we at least do that?”
Will extends his hand and shakes Luke’s. Luke and I have learned a valuable lesson. Will Meyer is committed to taking care of me and there is nothing that is going to get in his way any longer. Not my father, not the FBI, and ce
rtainly not me.
Chapter 32
With the plan laid out by Agent Croft, and approved by my husband, father, and uncle, all that’s left to do is wait. Holly’s trial starts today, so that should take up a good portion of the ten days until Thanksgiving. Wes has resumed his post as personal security, ensuring our safety between now and when he, as he put it, personally takes down the bastard threatening his family.
We take our seats in the courtroom and wait for Holly to be brought in. We don’t sit anywhere near the front row. Will didn’t want to be that close to Holly, and I was in full support of that decision. Wes and Eliana sit with us while the other ex-wives, along with Michael and Erin, take up the row in front of us.
“How are you doing?” I ask Eliana.
“Fine, actually,” she says. I imagined she would be a ball of nerves, but she’s holding together just great. “Luke is calling me last.”
“You’re going to do great, Mom,” Will tells her.
Wes puts his arm around Eliana and smiles. “Yes, she is.”
The officers finally bring Holly in and seat her next to Luke. She’s dressed nicely in a green, knee-length skirt, white sweater, and tall brown boots. She looks solemn, which is probably how Luke told her to look so the judge will see some level of remorse in her. Her mother is seated on the bench behind her and Luke, dressed in her trademark skin-tight dress and heels so tall I’d break my neck if I tried to walk in them.
“Is that Holly’s father?” I whisper in reference to the man sitting next to Marlene.
“Yeah. Gordon Reynolds. Odd couple, aren’t they,” Will says.
“Very odd.” Holly’s father looks nothing like Gregory Meyer. He isn’t a tall man at all, his head coming just inches above Marlene’s. He’s also balding and is working a sad bit of a comb over. He’s not the angry figure I had in my head. When Marcus and Holly both talked about him, this is not the gambling addicted, stepson ignoring, lawyer I imagined in my head…at all.
Safe Harbor (The Lake Trilogy, Book 3) Page 28