She nodded as he shoved her toward an awaiting SUV. He opened the passenger door and she slid in, wincing at the uncomfortable position of her arms behind her.
He circled the vehicle and slid in behind the steering wheel and started the engine. “This would have all been so much easier if you could hire good help these days. Black had two chances to kill you and he bungled both of them.”
“Black? You mean Roger Black?” she asked in stunned surprise.
Jerrod chuckled. “You’d be amazed how easy it is to buy a greedy man.”
They hadn’t even considered the top-dog deputy as a potential suspect, but then why should they? She knew by Jerrod’s answer to her question about Amberly and Cole that he didn’t have anything to do with whatever had happened to them.
Jackson’s gut instinct that the attacks on them had been personal had been right, and the attacks had nothing to do with the case they’d been investigating.
That meant they had no clues at all about Amberly and Cole’s disappearance and moved her closer to believing that somehow the case was related to what Jackson had been working on in Bachelor Moon.
They drove only a short distance and then he stopped the SUV and put it in Park. Every nerve in Marjorie’s body went on high alert.
She looked around the area, but still couldn’t discern where they were in the darkness of the night. There were no lights to indicate any kind of civilization nearby.
Jerrod pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and flashed Marjorie a smile that was visible in the dashboard illumination. “Time for the games to begin,” he said and then punched in a number.
* * *
JACKSON HAD DRIVEN up and down each and every street of Mystic Lake, seeking Edward Bentz’s van. Not only could he not find it, none of the deputies on duty had managed to locate it, either.
Darkness had fallen and along with it his hope. Maybe this had been his father’s intention all along. To take Maggie away from him and place her somewhere that Jackson would never, ever find her again, either dead or alive.
Maybe the true torture was the not knowing what had happened to her...if she was alive, or if she was dead. And if Jerrod had killed her, had she suffered?
He’d been in touch with Deputy Fred Morsi, who was now acting as head deputy, several times through the course of the past couple of hours. Roger was locked up, and although Fred had continued to elicit answers from him, he still swore he had no idea where Jerrod, Edward or Maggie might be.
Jackson was now parked once again in front of the sheriff’s station. Night had fallen, and his despair had grown to mammoth proportions as if fed by the darkness itself.
He didn’t know where to go. He didn’t know what to do. He tasted grief, but refused to acknowledge it. He refused to grieve for Maggie without positive confirmation that she was dead.
He jumped as his cell phone rang. He fumbled it out of his pocket. “Revannaugh,” he answered.
“Isn’t that a coincidence, it’s Revannaugh on this end, too.”
The familiar sound of his father’s voice churned up a combination of rage and hatred in Jackson that he knew he had to control. “Where is she?”
“The lovely Agent Clinton is right here by my side.”
Jackson pressed the phone more tightly against his ear. “If you’ve hurt her I’ll kill you.”
Jerrod laughed. “Big talk from a man who doesn’t hold the cards.”
“What do you want, Jerrod?” Jackson asked the question although he already knew the answer.
“Do you have any idea the indignities I’ve suffered over the past six years? A man of my stature, in a prison cell with monsters? You put me there, son.”
“You put yourself there,” Jackson replied.
“You put the final nail in my coffin, my own flesh and blood testifying against me. You want your girlfriend back? Meet me in thirty minutes on the north bank of Mystic Lake, and as they say in the movies, come alone.”
“Thirty minutes. I’ll be there.” Jackson dropped his phone in his pocket, started his car and headed directly toward the lake that was the namesake of the town.
He had no idea what his father intended, had no idea what would go down on the banks of the lake this night. There was a near-full moon that would make it difficult to depend on the darkness of the night for cover.
He had no idea if his father would be alone with Maggie or if Edward Bentz would be with him to provide backup. He didn’t even know if Maggie was still alive or if Jerrod intended to deliver her body to his son.
Jackson was certain of just one thing...only one Revannaugh would be leaving the banks of Mystic Lake tonight. Jerrod had pushed him into a corner where he had no options. He would kill his father to save Maggie, and he knew his father would kill him without blinking an eye.
On the north shore of the glittering lake was a thick grove of trees. Jackson pulled into the area and got out of his car, his gun in his hand.
The night was hot, muggy and completely silent, as if Mother Nature knew something bad was coming and had hidden all the insects and night creatures from harm.
Nerves jangled inside him. He waited, unsure from which direction his father would come, uncertain if he might already be here.
He’d been foolish to come without his own backup. He didn’t exactly trust the Mystic Lake sheriff’s department, given the fact that their top deputy had turned out to be an ineffectual hit man.
He pulled out his phone and dialed the number for Agent Adam Forest. Maggie had given him the number to use in an emergency, and he figured this definitely qualified as an emergency.
It took him only moments to explain the situation with Adam and then hang up. It would be at least twenty to thirty minutes before Adam would arrive, and Jackson was expecting his father within the next ten minutes or so.
Those minutes clicked by in agonizing slowness. During that time, Jackson removed all emotion from his head. He couldn’t think of Jerrod as his father and he couldn’t think of Maggie as his partner or the woman he loved. The two of them were simply hostage taker and hostage. As long as he thought that way and kept his emotions in check, he would function better in doing whatever needed to be done for a successful outcome.
Despite the heat of the night, Jackson was cool as an unnatural calm descended upon him. He gripped his gun tighter as an SUV approached. The vehicle pulled to a halt, the high-beam lights pointed directly at Jackson, half blinding him.
He squinted and saw a tall man get out of the driver’s seat. Jerrod. He held his gun on the man who was his father, but there was no way he would shoot, not without knowing where Maggie was.
He got the answer to that question as Jerrod walked to the passenger side and pulled Maggie out of the car, using her as a shield in front of him as he approached Jackson. He held Maggie with one arm around her neck, and in his other hand was a gun pointed at Jackson.
“Let her go,” Jackson said. He kept his gaze on Jerrod, knowing that one look at Maggie would undo him to the point that he wouldn’t be able to function.
“Drop your gun,” Jerrod replied.
“You drop yours and let her go. It doesn’t have to be this way,” Jackson said.
He knew he would shoot Jerrod if he had to, but in a flash, old memories shot through his brain. Jerrod teaching him to ride a bicycle, buying him ice cream and taking him to a movie.
There had been flashes of a father in the monster, but Jackson had never been fooled. He knew exactly what his father was capable of, the kind of man he was at his very core.
“Just let Maggie go and we all walk away from this,” he said, although he knew at the very least he’d make sure his father was in custody.
Jerrod laughed, a dry, humorless sound. “Now, we both know you aren’t going to just let me walk away from this, and I’m d
efinitely not in the mood to let you walk away. I’ve had years to think about your betrayal, to wallow in my need to see my own brand of justice served.”
He moved the barrel of his gun and pressed it against Maggie’s temple. “Maybe if I kill her you’ll understand the depth of my unhappiness with you.”
For the first time Jackson allowed himself to look at Maggie. He was surprised to see that she appeared calm, as if resigned to whatever happened.
“If you kill her she’ll be dead, but then you’ll be dead, too,” Jackson said, pleased that his voice remained cool and calm.
Jerrod appeared to study him, and once again he moved his gun to point at Jackson. “Then I guess you leave me no choice. I’ll just have to kill you first, and then after you are dead I’ll take care of your partner.”
A shot rang out and Jerrod roared in pain as he dropped his gun, released Maggie and fell to one side on the ground. “You shot me,” he screamed at Jackson.
“No, I didn’t,” Jackson said in bewilderment as Maggie ran to his side.
At that moment, Agent Adam Forest stepped out from behind the SUV. As he walked past the writhing Jerrod, he kicked Jerrod’s gun out of reach and smiled.
“I saw an opportunity and so I took it.” He looked at Jackson. “No man should have to carry the burden of killing his own father through the rest of his life.”
“I’m bleeding to death,” Jerrod screamed. “For God’s sake, I need help.”
Adam returned to the man on the ground and checked out his wound. “Don’t be such a baby. It’s a clean shot through and through and didn’t do any permanent damage.” He rose to his feet. “I’ll call it in.”
Jackson nodded, numbed by the unexpected help. It was only when he grabbed Maggie into his arms that his numbness went away, along with the iciness that had been inside his heart for what felt like days.
He cupped her face, her beautiful face in his hands. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you at all?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “But I’d love it if you’d unfasten my wrists so I can wrap my arms around you.”
He whirled her around and with a pocketknife he sawed through the tape that bound her. She turned around and threw herself at him, her arms wrapping around his neck while her body pressed tightly against his.
“I was so afraid for you,” she murmured against his chest.
“I was terrified for you,” he replied as he stroked her hair, then caressed her back and breathed in the scent of her.
“I was a little worried myself,” Adam said, his voice breaking them apart. “I broke every speed limit to get here and then I was afraid he was going to shoot Jackson before I got a clean shot at his leg.”
Jackson looked over to where his father was still on the ground, only now he wore a bracelet of handcuffs. He looked back at Forest. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“All in a day’s work,” Forest replied.
At that moment the sound of sirens rose in the air. “I’ve got both FBI and local authorities on their way. From what I’ve heard, Mystic Lake law enforcement is going to need some help getting their stuff together.”
As Jackson thought of Roger Black, he nodded his head. “They definitely have some problems.” He frowned thoughtfully. “But nothing that went down here tonight had anything to do with the case of Amberly and Cole Caldwell’s disappearance.”
Maggie moved closer to his side. “At the moment I just want to celebrate the fact that we’re both still alive and your father is probably going back to prison for a very long time.”
“He’ll be facing attempted murder charges, kidnapping and conspiracy—yeah, he won’t see the light of day for years to come,” Jackson replied.
At that moment a flurry of cars pulled up. Jackson and Maggie were separated as the area swarmed with law enforcement officials. Maggie found herself in the backseat of her director’s car.
Daniel Forbes questioned her about not just the events of the night but also what she had known about Jackson’s father. She confessed that she’d known nothing about Jerrod Revannnaugh until the moment he’d shown up on her doorstep.
Jerrod had been taken away under armed guard to a hospital to have his wound tended to, then he would be taken to a federal holding cell in Kansas City.
Director Forbes questioned her for a long time, their talk interrupted several times by phone calls he had to take. By the time they were finished, he offered to take her home. Seeing Jackson nowhere in the sea of men and women in the area, she agreed.
When she arrived home, Jackson wasn’t there. She went inside, set the security and locked the door and then stumbled to the sofa and collapsed, trying to process everything that had happened, everything that she had learned over the course of the long, tension-filled evening.
It was no wonder Jackson hadn’t wanted to talk about his father with her, and it was no wonder that at sixteen Jackson had left his father behind and began to build a different life, a righteous life, for himself.
Thank God Adam had arrived in time to save Jackson the trauma of having to kill...or be killed...by his father. She stood as she heard the sound of a key in the lock, and then Jackson came in. He punched in the code on the keypad, then locked the door behind him and opened his arms to her.
She ran to him, needing to be held, needing to be close to him as the aftermath of the night washed over her. He wrapped her tight in his arms and there were no words necessary as they simply held each other.
She didn’t know how long they stood in the embrace, but finally he broke it and led her back to the sofa where they sat side by side.
“I should have told you,” he said, his gaze focused on the coffee table. “I should have warned you, but I had no idea that he was plotting against me or that he’d been released from prison.”
He finally looked at her, his eyes dark pools of misery. “He was a con man, the kind of man who might have scammed your mother out of any money she possessed. He had married at least six times, and each time he divorced he was wealthier and the woman was destitute. Knowing your history, I never wanted you to know that I got my charm from him. I wasn’t sure you’d really believe that that’s all I got from him.”
“Jackson.” She took one of his big hands in hers. “You can’t possibly be like your father. If you’re a con man you’re a very bad one. I don’t have any money.” She smiled at him teasingly. “That means you’ve wasted all your charm working it on me.”
He gave her a faint smile and pulled his hand from hers. “I’ve been called back to Baton Rouge.”
She looked at him in surprise. “When?”
“I’m on a ten o’clock flight tomorrow.”
“But we haven’t solved the crime. We still have people missing,” she protested.
“I think the powers that be have decided that the two cases might possibly be linked. The Kansas City FBI will continue to follow up here, but I’m heading home tomorrow.”
And now the heartache begins, she thought as pain pierced through her. Tomorrow she would no longer have him in her life. Tomorrow he would be back in Baton Rouge, charming the ladies, and in no time at all he’d forget all about her.
“I hate to see you go,” she said softly.
“Then come with me.” He grabbed her hands and pulled her closer to him. “I’m sure you’re due some time off. If I was to guess, you haven’t taken a real vacation since you started the job. Come with me, Maggie. Let me show you my city, let me show you how much I love you.”
She stared at his face, expecting to see a teasing twinkle in his eyes, an indication that he was joking, but there was only love and want in the depths of his eyes.
“I love you, Maggie. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone else in my life. I want to give to you, to make you happy. Come visit and let’s see where this
all goes. You can get a transfer and we can buy a big place with a carriage-house apartment for your mother.”
Marjorie pulled her hands from his. Wasn’t this what she’d wanted? For him to love her as much as she loved him? And yet it all seemed too fast. Her head was spinning. Things were going far too fast.
“Jackson, I...I don’t know what to say.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “I’d say that says it all,” he replied as shutters fell over his eyes. He stood. “I’d better get packed up. I’ll need to be at the airport by eight-thirty or so. You want to drive me or should I arrange for a cab?”
“Of course I’ll drive you,” she said.
“Then I’ll see you in the morning.” He turned and went into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.
She remained seated on the sofa, a million words unsaid, a thousand regrets already forming. But it was crazy to believe that they could build a life together. They weren’t meant to be, they’d never been meant to be anything more than partners.
She wasn’t his Maggie, she was Marjorie Clinton, a Kansas City FBI agent who was good at her job and didn’t take chances in her personal life.
* * *
THE RIDE TO THE AIRPORT the next morning was silent and awkward. Jackson knew Maggie loved him. She’d told him how she felt about him, that he’d managed to get deep into her heart, and yet not so deep that she wanted to take it any further.
It was a bitch, that the first woman Jackson had fallen in love with apparently wasn’t as deeply in love with him. First love, first heartbreak. He hadn’t expected either of them. But then, he hadn’t expected Maggie.
When they reached Terminal A, she circled around to the drop-off area and halted the car. She got out of the driver’s seat as he got out and retrieved his duffel bag from the backseat.
She joined him on the curb. She was dressed in a yellow blouse, which enhanced the beauty of her red-gold hair, and the pair of black jeans he’d bought when they’d been at the hotel. She was an ache inside him.
“Then I guess this is goodbye,” she said. “You have your ticket and your boarding pass?”
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