If this went on much longer, the likelihood of Farrell seriously hurting someone in pursuit of what he wanted would increase. They couldn’t risk losing Farrell forever. US marshals didn’t let that happen.
The team had been given a free pass with the abduction attempt on Kerry, but the longer Farrell was free, the more likely it was that he would try again—or turn his attention elsewhere. Another victim might not be as clearheaded as Kerry.
Eric felt a surge in his chest—care that he wasn’t sure was about Kerry or Hailey. He wanted to protect them both. If Farrell was targeting Hailey’s daughter, then Eric was going to do everything in his power to help them stay safe until the escapee was back behind bars.
“Are you okay?”
Eric looked up. Hailey’s head was tilted to the side and her brow was crinkled. He shrugged one shoulder. “I was just thinking.”
“Must have been pretty deep. Who knew?”
Eric felt his mouth expand into a smile. She had a whole lot to learn if she thought he was just another federal agent, all brawn and no brains. He tapped his mouse and a picture came up. “Bingo.”
Hailey got up and came over. “What do you have?”
“A picture of Farrell from his high school yearbook—not that he ever graduated. I figured it might come in handy for finding who his friends were and seeing what he was up to.”
Hailey gasped.
“What?”
“That’s…” She sputtered. “Farrell is…”
“Hailey. What?”
“He was one of Charles’s friends.”
SEVEN
Water sprayed up from the tires as Eric sped through town. Hailey sat in the passenger seat, making call after call, trying to get Charles or Beth-Ann on the phone, but with no response. She hit a slew of buttons again and put the phone to her ear.
“Come on. Answer the phone.”
She jabbed the screen on her phone and cried out in frustration.
“Nothing?”
“Voice mail. Parker and Ames are supposed to be protecting her. They better have an explanation for this.”
“Maybe the weather is affecting their phones?”
Hailey shot him a look. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
Eric didn’t, but what other explanation could there be? Parker and Ames were solid guys, good marshals. At least so far as Eric had seen since he’d joined the team. If they’d been incapacitated by Farrell this time—even though they’d be on alert after what happened at the airport—that would take things to a whole new level. For Farrell, and for the team.
Eric pulled over where Hailey indicated, in a gated neighborhood much like Deirdre Phelps’s. This one was full of two-story houses that screamed money. An SUV with government plates was parked at the curb out front.
The passenger door was wide open, the inside light on.
Eric drew his weapon as they approached. The rain was hammering down now, destroying his ability to hear anything or to anticipate anyone coming up behind him. He scanned the area as Hailey did the same.
Ames hung out of the vehicle’s door, his head on the sidewalk, feet still tucked at an awkward angle inside the vehicle. Eric scanned the area and pressed two fingers to the underside of Ames’s neck. His pulse was faint and slow.
Hailey yelled over the noise of the rain. “I’m going up to the house.”
Eric nodded. “I’ll call this in and find Parker.” He pulled out his phone and called for an ambulance and for police presence before he hung up and called Jonah to report what had happened.
“Parker already called it in. He’s with Kerry. You find Farrell.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll be there in ten.”
Minutes later an ambulance pulled around the corner. Eric waited until the EMTs came over with all their gear, and then circled the house looking for Parker…and Farrell.
Both the darkness and rain made the evening’s visibility poor, but he squinted through it and kept going. As he walked down the manicured hedgerows and over freshly mowed lawns the ground squelched beneath his feet, soaking his shoes and socks.
He reached the backyard and saw two men in a tight huddle. Tensions were high, and neither was happy about their need to have a chat. The first man was Charles.
Eric raised his weapon and stepped closer. “Steve Farrell. You’re under arrest.”
Farrell’s head whipped around, and then he bolted.
Eric sprinted, bearing down on him at full speed. They broke through the trees and Eric heard someone on his tail, but he couldn’t look back to see who it was. Farrell jumped a fence. Eric did the same, hitting the wet ground with a splash.
A car door slammed. Eric sprinted to the road and saw a Cadillac peel away. Someone landed behind Eric, and he turned to find Hailey had followed them.
“Where is he?” She was breathing heavy, just like he was.
Rain dripped from his ears. Eric leaned in so she could hear him. “He’s gone.”
He pulled out his phone and gave the details to Jonah, relaying that their escapee had headed east down the street, away from the center of town.
“This seems to be happening a lot today.” Hailey’s eyes betrayed her disappointment. “Let’s go see Charles.”
Eric grinned. “With pleasure.”
Hailey trudged alongside him back to the house. The lawn wasn’t so manicured now that his feet had left size-twelve prints all the way across it, but he didn’t much care what Charles thought.
In fact, Eric had a few things he’d like to say to a man who’d abandoned his family in the process of trading in his wife for a newer model. Guys like that, who didn’t realize what they had and threw it away, didn’t deserve it in the first place.
Eric would’ve had a word with Charles, if it weren’t for the fact Kerry would get scared, Hailey would get mad at him and the new wife would call the cops.
It didn’t matter if Eric didn’t know Hailey all that well, and hadn’t met Kerry until today. No man worth anything did that to his family, even if he was the mayor.
They reached the front door. Hailey looked over and frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”
Eric didn’t really want to talk about it. “Long day?”
“Doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.”
That was probably true, but Eric preferred it infinitely more than the quiet of his dingy apartment. His life had brought him here, and he could see why the team liked bringing in fugitives. Still, when he was all by himself, he wondered why God had done this to him.
Hailey studied his face under cover of the porch roof. “You look totally lost.”
Eric looked at her. “Maybe I am.”
He followed the hall to the kitchen. All the lights were on. Kerry was sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar. Wide-eyed and pale, she looked the way she had after Farrell’s abduction attempt. Beth-Ann was wide-eyed, too, but she was staring at Parker, who stood in the corner with his feet hip-width apart and his arms folded, looking for all the world like a Roman centurion.
Parker lifted his chin. “You get him?”
Eric shook his head.
“Ames?”
“Just knocked out, it looks like,” Eric said, “The ambulance came for him.”
Parker nodded. “Good.”
Eric turned to Kerry. “You okay?”
She nodded, still in shock. Eric could only guess how bad he looked, drenched and muddy as he was. He’d discarded the ball cap he’d been wearing earlier. At least his hair was short enough it looked the same dry or wet.
Hailey moved past him and hugged her daughter.
Eric turned back to Parker. “Where’s Charles?”
The marshal motioned back down the hall. “Study.”
Eric strode down the hall, though his shoes squished on the wood floor with every step. He was probably leaving puddles. He sighed and opened the door to what he assumed was the study.
Charles was at the windo
w, staring out at the dark with a glass of ice and amber-colored liquid in his hand. The ice clinked when he turned around. “You were at the marshal’s office this afternoon, and on the street.”
Eric nodded.
“I’ll wait until Deputy Marshal Jonah Rivers gets here. I’ll speak with him.”
Eric folded his arms. “No, you won’t. You’ll speak with me.”
Charles’s salon-shaved jaw dropped. “Who do you think you—”
“I don’t know you. I don’t know this town and I’m too new to be tangled in the politics of who you are. That’s why you’re going to tell me how you know Steve Farrell and why he was here tonight after he attempted to abduct your daughter this afternoon.”
“I am not some suspect for you to interrogate.” Charles flung his arm out and his expensive drink sprayed onto the carpet. “I demand to speak with your superior.”
Eric pressed his lips together to keep from smirking. It was like conversing with a spoiled child. “Why was Farrell here?”
“How would I know?”
“Maybe because I saw you talking with him in the yard.”
Charles huffed. “The man is certifiable.”
“It looked like a pretty heated conversation. What did he say to you?”
Hailey’s voice came from the doorway. “Yes, Charles. What did he say to you?”
Charles’s eyes narrowed on Hailey.
Eric said, “You can tell us here how you know Farrell and what he wanted. Or we can take you downtown and you can be questioned there as an accomplice to a fugitive. Either works for me.”
Charles sputtered. Eric glanced at Hailey. Would she detain her ex-husband, or should Eric be the one to do it? At least that way, Charles wouldn’t be able to claim Hailey had some kind of personal prejudice against him.
The phone on the desk rang.
Charles strode over and snapped it up. “Yes?” His eyes widened and his face paled. “How long do we have?”
EIGHT
Hailey stood with Eric while Charles argued with the person on the phone. A crowd of boots pounded down the hallway, and Jonah came into view with the rest of the team behind him.
He gave Hailey a short nod and his eyes narrowed on Charles. “Hang up the phone.”
The mayor obeyed Jonah, dropping the phone like he’d just been given terminal news.
“Report.”
Hailey didn’t know who Jonah was talking to, so she took the lead. “Charles was talking with Farrell. We don’t know why, or what about.”
Jonah turned to her ex-husband. “Charles?”
It wasn’t the first time Hailey was ashamed of him, and she was fairly certain it wouldn’t be the last. Still, he was Kerry’s father, so she stayed silent instead of chewing him out, which was what she wanted to do.
Charles scratched his jaw. It was what he did when he had to share bad news. “The dam is at capacity.”
Eric glanced between them. “What does that mean?”
“They have to let out the excess, or the pressure will break the dam.” Charles looked at his gold watch. “That means we’re going to get an influx of water in about ten minutes—enough to flood the lower part of town.” He snapped up the phone. “I have to alert the chief, and we need to get it out on the emergency broadcast system.”
Hailey caught Eric’s eyes and motioned to the door with her head. Jonah let them by and followed them outside, where the rest of the team had crowded around.
“Why are we letting him use the phone right now?” Eric threw his hands up and then let them drop back down. “He needs to tell us where Farrell is going.”
Hailey shook her head. “He needs to concentrate on this right now. That man does not multitask. Trust me.” She pushed out a breath. “Local emergency services are going to be diverted to help flood victims. If we’re going to get Farrell in the middle of this, we have to do it ourselves. The BOLO is pretty much useless at this point.”
Jonah nodded. “She’s right. But Charles does need to tell us what he knows.”
“Then maybe you need to ask your buddy what he knows, because Eric and I didn’t get anywhere.”
Jonah’s eyebrows lifted and Eric glanced at Hailey.
“Sorry, sir. That was out of line.”
“Yeah, it was. But he will tell me what we need to know.” Jonah’s gaze swept across the entire team. “Go home. Get your families either secured, or packed and out of town, and then get back here. You have two hours.”
Everyone dispersed, but Hailey stayed with Eric and Jonah. She should check in with her dad, but she wanted to be there when Charles divulged what he knew. Not to mention she wasn’t leaving Kerry. Not now. “How’s Ames?”
Jonah adjusted his damp ball cap. “Paramedics said he has a pretty good bump on his head. They suspect a concussion.”
Hailey nodded. “But Farrell didn’t come here for Kerry, right? He came to talk to Charles.”
“That’s right.”
They all turned to where Charles was standing at the door to his study.
Hailey studied his face. He looked older, and tired. “What does Farrell want?”
Charles swallowed. “He said this afternoon was a warning.”
“Because Kerry got away?” Hailey was beyond proud of her daughter. She wanted to take out an ad in the newspaper to tell everyone that Kerry had kept a cool head, and she hadn’t allowed herself to be put in the car. There was a fine line in dangerous situations like that. It could have gone wrong so easily, but it hadn’t.
Thank You, God.
“But you didn’t answer my question.” Hailey pinned him with a stare. “What does Farrell want?”
“How should I know?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Hailey sneered. “Maybe because, of all the places he could have gone looking for whatever it is he wants, Farrell chose to come to you.”
Charles looked like he was going to be sick. He’d never been a good liar, and she was counting on that now. Maybe he would tell her why Farrell had targeted Kerry. “Why do you think he’s still here? He’s after the jewels, and he won’t stop until he has them.”
First Deirdre and now Charles? “What do you know about the jewels?”
Charles blanched, but he didn’t say anything.
Jonah shifted, turning his body more toward Charles. “Is he blackmailing you?”
Hailey was wondering that, too. Since Farrell’s first move had been attempted abduction of the person closest to Charles.
Her ex-husband pressed his lips together.
Hailey rolled her eyes. “Come on, Charles. What is it? A payment, an old score, what?”
Charles’s gaze flicked to her. The flash of guilt disappeared so fast she wondered if she’d even seen it. What was he hiding?
Face red, her ex-husband launched toward her. “You want to know why I didn’t want you to become a cop? This is why!”
She put her hands on her hips. “Because I’m good at it, or because you had something to hide and you knew I’d eventually figure out what you’d done?”
There was no way she was going to let this go. Not when it put Kerry in danger.
Jonah lifted his hand to Charles’s shoulder, but Charles backed up, his eyes on Hailey. “You think you’re so good. So right and honest. But you’re not! You want me to tell everyone all your secrets?”
“You’re the one in the middle of this, not me. Don’t you forget that.” She didn’t want the details of their marriage to be common knowledge, but there were more important things right now than responding to his threats. Hailey folded her arms. “Kerry is coming with me.”
“It’s my weekend.”
“And despite the fact that I have a fugitive to catch, she will be safer at home with my dad than with you. I don’t have time to babysit you, Charles. That’s if you’re not in a jail cell for the weekend.”
“I can’t go to jail! The town is flooding.”
Hailey leaned toward him. “Maybe you should have thought a
bout that before you decided to lie to us. You’re hiding something, Charles. You think we won’t figure out what ties you to Farrell?”
“Okay, okay.” Jonah pushed her back. “This isn’t getting us anywhere.” He turned to Charles, which put his shoulder in front of Hailey’s face. “Where did Farrell go?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Charles’s voice was strained, like he was about to burst. “He just threatened me and then you guys ran him off. He didn’t give me an itinerary.”
Eric studied her, and Hailey saw a question in his eyes. A flicker of concern. She nodded, but he didn’t seem to buy that she was fine. And why not? She held Eric’s gaze, not backing down. She wasn’t weak, and she didn’t need to be coddled. It had been a long, rough day, and it wasn’t over yet.
All this concern for her was going to get them both in trouble if it continued. Was he going to develop feelings for her? That would make their working partnership uncomfortable. Or maybe it was just concern shared between friends. It sure seemed like more, and it made her want to see what was underneath the “business” veneer he displayed at work.
But that would mean she was the one in trouble, the one with the feelings. The last thing Hailey needed after years of being single and being fine with it was to fall for a guy who was unobtainable, a guy who probably never even entertained the idea of there being something more between them. She’d end up the uncomfortable one, and he would never know. Because there was no way she would actually tell a guy she liked him—especially not a fellow marshal. That was a recipe for disaster.
She looked away, breaking the moment.
Charles huffed again, like the big baby he was. Hailey didn’t need to wonder why she’d married him. After her dad kicked her out, Charles had been the only one who stuck by her. But surely there’d been a better option. Hadn’t there? At the time she hadn’t thought so.
“I don’t know where Farrell went. All he said was he wants the money. Who knows what he’s talking about? But he said if I don’t give it to him by tomorrow morning he’ll kill Beth-Ann and Kerry.”
Senior deputy or not, Hailey pushed Jonah aside. “He said what?”
Charles actually looked guilty for the first time that night. “I’m sorry, Hailey.”
She blinked. Had he ever once said that to her? She didn’t think so. “Sorry or not, Kerry goes with me. Beth-Ann is your responsibility.”
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