Sins That Haunt

by Lucy Farago

  “Gone? When? And what kind of a school doesn’t realize they have a missing student?” Where the hell had JJ put her?

  “Let’s sit down and we’ll explain.” Maggie took her hand and sat with her on the leather sofa. “It’s an excellent school, but she’d been forced to leave her friends behind and she was miserable. JJ didn’t spend much time with her, only on the holidays. Summer camp the rest of the time. So they were her family. Apparently, she’d called her father and asked him to return her to her old school, but of course he refused. That was at breakfast. She’d been so upset the school excused her from classes. They weren’t having much luck acclimating her to her new environment. They checked on her at lunch and she appeared to be sleeping in her bed, so they left her alone. By the time they discovered it wasn’t her under those blankets, it was dinner.”

  “She’d made up the bed to look like she was sleeping in it? Did she run away?”

  “There was no sign of a struggle,” Christian said, having taken a seat on Maggie’s desk. “Some of her clothes were missing, but the latch on her bedroom window was broken.”

  “She went out the window?” How unhappy was she?

  “There are security cameras in the halls so if someone took her, they used the window.” Noah walked in.

  She glued her butt to the couch when everything inside made her want to run into his arms. “How do we know she didn’t just run away?”

  “It’s not likely,” Maggie said. “She’s seven.”

  Seven? She was just a baby.

  “And a larger kid might have made the small drop to the ground, but not a seven-year-old. She had help.”

  And by help Christian didn’t mean the good kind. “Someone abducted her?”

  Noah took a seat on the other side of Shannon. “The day JJ was shot.”

  That was too much of a coincidence and a very long time for a child to go missing. “What about her mother? Maybe she snatched her.”

  “JJ told the school Cecilia’s mother was dead,” Noah said.

  “Well, that would explain why any woman would give JJ custody of her kid.” At least he hadn’t been evil enough to keep the poor little girl with him.

  “The local police were looking into it before the FBI got involved. They came up empty. It’s like JJ wiped her clean out of existence.”

  “Could he do that? There must be a record of her somewhere. Cecilia’s birth certificate?” But Shannon knew JJ had connections and none of them good.

  “That’s just it,” Christian said. “The one he gave the schools is a forgery. The woman listed has been dead for forty years.”

  “Why would he go to so much trouble? Who the hell was the mother?”

  “I’m having all the school records pulled and delivered here. You’ll have them in a few days.”

  “Thanks, Noah.” She really wanted to wrap herself in his arms. But she didn’t do that kind of stuff. She didn’t need a man to kiss her and make it better, especially this man, because in the end it wasn’t good for either of them.

  “There’s an AMBER Alert, but so far nothing. Christian asked Monty to try to find out what he could about her mother. And I’ve already called Nick,” Maggie said.

  They’d hired Nick earlier in the year to find a girl snatched by her miserable father. Nick had found and returned her to the States. They’d discovered later that Nick worked with Christian.

  As much as Shannon didn’t want to ask, didn’t want to consider it, she needed to know if Noah or Christian were thinking the same thing. “Do you think it’s possible that whoever shot JJ has her … or had her?” God forbid something bad had happened to the little girl. Maggie scooted closer and put her arm around Shannon’s shoulder, anticipating she’d need a hug. Shannon wanted to throw up. But she didn’t want anyone to sugarcoat the brutal truth. It wouldn’t help her … or her kid sister. “Tell me honestly.”

  “Let’s go over what we know,” Noah said. “You faxed JJ part of your file. Which list did you show as proof?”

  “Looks like I sent him two pages. Page one of the victims and page one of his partners in crime.”

  “Okay, my gut tells me this isn’t about revenge. So for now let’s leave that. Before you and he met, he would’ve had enough time to contact anyone on that list. If he was trying to extort money from them, it would have to be someone who has a lot to lose by his exposing them. We’d already busted JJ. So you giving the file to the police would have meant little to him. We were on to him. He let you think it did for another reason.”

  “What reason?” And why had he agreed to back off?

  “I don’t know. This is just a theory. It’s just as possible that he wasn’t blackmailing anyone, but either way someone knew and wanted your file. That much we’re certain of. But I’m not sure the two are related. He moved your sister long before you showed him the file. Everything points to his hiding her. But from whom?”

  “So you think he started blackmailing me to pay for her new school?” Was JJ not a complete and total shit?

  “Well, that’s another big coincidence, don’t you think? We busted him, so he didn’t have the cash to move her. He went to you.”

  “He could have just asked.” It would have made her life a whole lot simpler.

  “Would you have given it to him?” Noah asked doubtfully.

  “Probably not, at least not right away. I mean, if he’d given me proof that there was a kid, I might have. The idiot and his trust issues. Maybe he didn’t mean to do it, but he’s gone and screwed up another kid’s life. If this kid is still alive.”

  “Let’s not think like that,” Maggie said. “We don’t have much to go on. We don’t even know why someone would take her.”

  “In cases like this,” Noah said, “it’s usually a family member.”

  “Yes, that’s common knowledge, but he was shot. Killed on the same day she went missing.”

  “Maggie, may I?” he said, wanting her to move aside so he could hold Shannon.

  Her friend obliged him and joined her husband. Shannon was undeniably grateful. His scent, his strong arms, they were reassuring—and she was a sap. He held her to him. Her ear against his chest, she let the sound of his heartbeat soothe her.

  “Look, if her family killed JJ and took her, she’s likely safe. That’s a positive,” Noah said.

  “So why did JJ not want anyone to know where she was? He was a sack of shit, but he must’ve had a good reason for keeping her out of everyone’s reach. Don’t you think?”

  “We could debate this all night. Truth is, we don’t know. Why would someone want to hurt Cecilia?”

  “JJ had enemies too. He knew how to push people’s buttons. Maybe they wanted to use her as collateral for something. Could Santos have her?” She tipped her chin, wanting to see confirmation that her theory was wrong. Santos was not a nice man.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I have to agree with Noah,” Christian said. “If he needed JJ to do something JJ didn’t want, all he had to do was threaten his ass. Santos isn’t someone you fuck with. Nick’s good at what he does. If there’s a trail, he’ll find it. No offense,” he said to Noah.

  “None taken. The more eyes, the better. Screw my boss.” Noah smiled down at her. “We’ll find her. Promise.”

  “You’re not so good at finding people,” she said.

  “I’m not seventeen anymore. And I found you six years ago.”

  Shannon withdrew herself from his embrace. “What?”

  “Come on, Christian; that’s our cue to leave.” Maggie tugged on Christian shirt.

  “But someone is going to get his ass handed to him by one of you girls and for once it’s not me.”

  “And if you want it to stay that way, we’re going to leave them to have at it.”

  Shannon kept her eyes trained on Noah, but from the corner of her eye she saw the newlyweds leave.

  “Before you hand me my ass, you should know I regret not contacting you.”

  �
�And … ?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t.”

  “You found me when?” She silently did the math. “I was in law school.”

  “I’d just joined the FBI, had access to information I wouldn’t otherwise have. It took me a couple of years after school to figure out what I wanted to do.”

  “And … ?” she repeated, her patience wearing thin.

  “You want to know why I didn’t contact you?”

  “That would be the million-dollar question.” Why go through all the trouble of trying to find her and not make contact?

  “You knew where I was. Why didn’t you contact me?”

  Was he serious? “You’re starting to annoy me.”

  “Just starting?”

  “Noah …” She gave him her best don’t-screw-with-me glare.

  “What do you want me to say? You left me. You broke my heart.”

  “In your own words, you weren’t seventeen anymore. Did you stumble on my name by accident and wonder, gee whatever happened to her?”

  “No.”

  “Did my name come up in an investigation and it rang bells in your head?”

  He shook his head, looking rightfully nervous.

  “So you went looking for me and yet, when you found me, said nothing. Well? Are you going to make me drag it out of you, because if that’s the case, Maggie has a hitch on the back of her SUV.”

  “I just wanted to see if you were all right. Happy.”

  She’d have liked to know if he was all right, if he was happy. It would’ve gone a long way in easing her conscience. But her bullshit detector smelled a stinker. “No, you wanted to see if I was miserable without you. Must have been a real disappointment to see I wasn’t.” If she weren’t so sore, she’d haul off and punch him. As it was, she wasn’t about to inflict pain on herself just for the satisfaction.

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  “No?” She stood, ready to leave. “So tell me, what was it like?”

  He stood too. “Okay, it was a little like that, but not how you’re thinking.”

  The big doofus; all the turmoil of last week could have been avoided if he’d had the balls to call six years ago. And he didn’t because she wasn’t wallowing in her tears for him? “I’m done.” She left and headed straight for Maggie’s bedroom, Noah on her heels. She might not have been wallowing in misery, but she’d missed him. There hadn’t been a guy she’d dated that she hadn’t compared to Noah.

  “Hear me out” were the last words she heard as she locked Maggie’s bedroom door.

  Noah’s fist began to throb. He must’ve banged for five minutes before he drew Maggie and Christian’s attention.

  “What are you doing?” Maggie asked.

  “Shannon locked herself in your room. She won’t let me explain.”

  “You can stop banging,” Christian said. “She’s not in there.”

  “I followed her. She shut the door on my face,” he argued.

  “I’m not doubting you, but our bedroom opens up onto the patio. Guaranteed she’s in the pool house by now.”

  “Thanks,” Noah said, giving the man’s shoulder a squeeze. “I owe you.”

  Maggie folded her arms and blocked his path. “You’d better have a good reason for not calling six years ago. Who knows what could have happened had you reconnected then.”

  He wasn’t certain how good his reasoning was, not anymore. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty, right.”

  She nodded once and grudgingly let him pass. “Don’t you hurt her, Noah.”

  Not if his life depended on it. Not intentionally anyway.

  He ran through the house, into the living room, and out the patio doors. Sure enough, inside the pool house, Shannon sat on the couch, a glass of white wine in her hands.

  “Took you long enough.”

  She didn’t appear mad. Was this a trick?

  “Want some wine?” She indicated the bottle and empty glass on the coffee table.

  “Did you poison it?”

  “Not my style. When I kill someone I want him to see me coming.” She sipped her wine.

  He humored her, poured himself a glass and sat on the table across from her. “I want to explain.”

  “I’m sure you had your reasons,” she said, suddenly interested in the contents of her glass.

  Why was she being so reasonable? “I did, but they may not have been the most mature.”

  She met his gaze, clear disappointment in her eyes. “You wanted to see me fail?”

  “That wasn’t it. I was happy you were making something of yourself, proud even. I’d like to take a little of the credit. Your grades sucked before I came along.” He grinned, praying like hell she’d find the humor he’d intended. She returned his smile.

  “I’ll give you all the credit. How about that?”

  “Not all. You’re smart, but you had a lot on your plate. I guess after you left you were free to do what you wanted. And that’s what hurt. You were doing it without me. I spent years trying to get over you. If I hadn’t had Damon as a roommate, my college days would have been forgettable. Even afterward, I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life. But you, you’d found yourself. You got in to law school all by yourself and were pulling off fairly good grades.”

  “Without your help. Is that it? I could live without you?”

  “Partially, but mostly I felt stupid. Here I’d spent years imagining what you were doing. Were you thinking about me? Did you have regrets? And you, you not only had gone on with your life but you were in law school, making a career. You had a bright future. So I decided I should get on with mine too.”

  “But you’d joined the FBI.”

  “I did, but that was Damon’s doing. He pushed me to try. I had a knack for law in college, and anything to do with deductive reasoning, so he thought I’d be a good candidate. It wasn’t until after I found you that I threw myself into my career.”

  “Huh, go figure,” she said with a wide grin. “You owe me again.”

  “I don’t owe you.”

  “Yes, you do. I’m the reason you focused on your career.”

  “You were the reason I hadn’t been focusing on my career.”

  “Right, but then you saw what I was doing and figured you’d better do the same. Come on, admit it. Part of you did it out of spite.”

  “That’s not true.” Was it?

  “So you never thought that if I was going on with my life, so would you?”

  “No … yes, but …” He scratched his head. She’d twisted his words. “Fuck. I would hate to go against you in court.”

  “I keep telling you I’m that good. You just don’t want to believe me.”

  He got off the coffee table and sat next to her. “I should’ve called.”

  “You went through the trouble of trying to find me and then did nothing about it. It would have been nice to know you were all right too. I couldn’t come back to Tweedsmuir. Maggie got the odd report from her mom, but once your family moved away … nothing.”

  He slung his arm around her shoulder and she made no attempt to move it. “You had Maggie’s mom report to you about me?”

  “To Maggie and yes. I told you, I didn’t want to leave you behind. But sometimes it’s for the best. You eventually move on, find a purpose. Life goes on.”

  Why did he not like the sound of that? Maybe because it wasn’t in past tense. “Shannon, you know I love you, right?”

  “You said falling in love.”

  “Well, I fell, okay. Do you believe me?” To some people they were just words. But she had to remember he didn’t say things he didn’t mean.

  “I believe you believe it.”

  “You’re seriously questioning if I love you?”

  “I think we need to process what’s happened in the last few days.”

  “Shannon, I love you.”

  She set her glass of wine down on the coffee table and with a resigned sigh turned to face him. She grimaced as she tucked her good leg beneath her
. “I know that’s what you think.”

  “I do love you.” He knew how he felt, had always felt, Goddamn it.

  “Maybe. We haven’t seen each other in a long time—”

  “I never stopped loving you.” That he now knew. No other woman ever made him want to shoot himself in the head the way she did. With Shannon, he understood for better or for worse. They’d had the better and lived through the worst, and still he loved her. He didn’t know how to stop loving her, only how to pretend he didn’t. And that’s what he’d been doing the last thirteen years—faking it.

  “You never stopped loving Shannon Lewis. That’s not me anymore.”

  “Okay, I agree we’ve changed. And maybe I got lucky because I see the person I knew you could be. ”

  “For argument’s sake, let’s say you do love me and that I might be naïve enough to think that of course I would love the man you’ve become. Which isn’t to say I wouldn’t, but even if we take the time to figure out who we are, I’m not moving back east. Vegas is my home and it’s where I plan to stay. How are we going to get around that?”

  “We’ll find a way.” He just needed a little time to figure it out. “I’ll consider moving out here. There are some nice communities in the area,” he said, wrapping his hands around hers. His promotion wasn’t for certain.

  “Tweedsmuir is your home. You bought Maggie’s old house, for God’s sake.”

  “Because it’s a great house. But it’s just a house. We can make this work.”

  “And if we can’t? And you move here for nothing? I don’t want to break your heart again.”

  Shit no. He could see where this was going. “Look, the only thing I ask is that you not make the decision for us. We do it together. You don’t want to break my heart again? Well, I don’t want be left out of our breakup. If we try and it doesn’t work, then we try together and we end it together. Promise me, Shannon.”

  When she said nothing he suspected he’d gotten it right. Once again she’d thought she knew what was best for him. And she obviously doubted they could make this work. She’d end it just to save him the heartache of doing it later. But in his mind this do-over didn’t include the crappy finish. “Promise me,” he repeated.