In one day she’d been nearly kidnapped and had a gun held to her head. Kerry might be fine right now, but the likelihood was that she’d feel the impact at some point.
Hailey strode over to her daughter.
Jonah stopped in front of Eric and planted his feet, something he’d probably perfected on court detail. “You okay?”
Eric nodded. His arm still hurt where the bullet had sliced his skin, but he wasn’t going to bother anyone for a pain pill unless he really had to. Right now the discomfort was keeping him awake.
“Turner came in with two cops who’d been searching for residents stranded in their homes. I can’t detain him on the basis of your word against his, and no judge would issue a warrant right now, especially when there’s only your statement.”
Eric bit back a wince. “Where’s he now?”
“He went out with the sheriff to coordinate the transfer of some prisoners. A bus got washed out and tipped over so they took a team to lock it down and get them all on the road again. The sheriff isn’t going to let Turner out of his sight. Not until all of this can be cleared up and we can get to the bottom of it. We need every able body right now.”
Eric blinked. His tired brain was having trouble comprehending all that. Maybe he did need to take a rest.
Hailey wandered back over, frowning. She nudged his shoulder. “You okay?”
Eric ran his hand down his face. He must look rough if everyone was asking him that. “Yeah. How’s Kerry?”
“She’s having the time of her life.” Hailey smiled. “Come on. Let’s gas up before we head out again. That all right with you, Jonah?”
Jonah nodded, and Hailey pulled Eric over to the coffee station. Hailey poured two cups, grabbed half a dozen packets of sugar and ripped the tops off all at the same time. She split the stack in half and dumped the contents in their cups. Half of her attention was still on Kerry in the way that only a mom could pull off.
He glanced at Kerry and her posse of girls. She looked up like she’d felt her mom’s attention on her, and gave him a hesitant smile and a little wave. Eric smiled and waved back.
Hailey handed over his cup and glanced where he’d been looking. Her face softened. “I should probably tell her what’s happening. Charles is her father, and even since the divorce I’ve made a point not to say anything to take away from their relationship. Everyone should have two parents, if they can.”
She was silent a moment, and then she said, “Jonah won’t let her leave with anyone, so she’s protected here. Should I tell her Charles might be involved?”
Eric didn’t know about the two-parent thing, since he’d never had the chance to experience it himself, but he got what Hailey was saying. “I can see trying to protect her from the drama of the divorce. That’s a good thing.”
“And the hurt.”
Eric glanced at Hailey and saw the pain she tried so hard to hide from everyone.
“She doesn’t need to know that I cried when I found out I was pregnant because I didn’t want a baby. I wasn’t ready for a life other than the one I’d been so looking forward to. I had plans, you know? But then she kicked inside me, and I just melted. When I held her in my arms for the first time…there’s nothing like that feeling. I tried to shield her from the horrible things people said about me. I’m sure she’s heard them all, but I did my best not to be bothered by it.”
“So you just buried it?”
Hailey shrugged. “And yet people still think they can hand over their opinion and I should just take it.”
Eric’s heart broke for all she kept hidden, just for the sake of her peace of mind.
“When I told him I was pregnant, my dad was so mad. All he said was how disappointed my mom would have been with my behavior.” She paused. “Charles said he’d be there for us. He was already planning on going into politics. I guess he figured if anyone found out about us it would ruin his reputation. So we got married, and for the first few weeks we took turns watching Kerry and going to class. His parents weren’t happy about it, but we were a team, or I thought we were. It worked for a while, at least.”
“I’m glad you had him to help you.”
Hailey gave him a small smile. “Me, too. We were friends once, despite what’s happened since. It was after Kerry turned one that things started to derail. Charles had more classes, and he was working toward graduation—like I wasn’t. He said he needed to focus.” Hailey shrugged. Evidently the urge to vent over Charles’s behavior had dissipated.
Eric gave her a squeeze. “For what it’s worth, I’m proud of what you’ve made of your life.”
Hailey blinked, and Eric wondered for a second if she was going to accept his compliment. But she pulled away from him and smiled, brushing it off. “How about you, what’s your sob story?”
Eric chuckled. She was probably talking about him getting kicked out of WITSEC. Little did she know that his entire life was a continuing saga of sob stories, though there was one that surfaced above the rest. “I was engaged, once. It was a few years ago.”
“Engaged?”
Eric nodded. “Sarah was on the street outside of the office where she worked, gunned down for no other reason than she’d stepped out of her office to go home for the day. A car drove by and opened fire.”
He took a breath and gave himself a minute. Sarah could have died so easily. “She was paralyzed from the waist down, but she wouldn’t let me see her or help her with anything. Her father told me she just wanted to be alone, but I kept coming back and coming back. She wouldn’t even talk to me on the phone. Eventually I realized she wasn’t going to let me in again.”
“I’m so sorry.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but she held back.
“I am, too. What’s funny…well, it’s not really funny, but I think I’ve realized it never would have worked. I liked the idea of her, I think, more than I loved who she was. She was the epitome of what I wanted in life. Beautiful, successful. But it made me feel like a fraud trying to match up to her.”
Especially given the sorry state of his family growing up. The only person he’d ever been able to count on was his brother, Aaron. If the experience with Sarah had taught him anything, it was that no woman was ever going to think he was good enough. And he’d accepted that fact.
“You really think that?”
Eric shrugged. “I feel better being me. Even if who I am is the tubby twin who got beat up for being a nerd.”
“Ugh.” Hailey rolled her eyes. “Kids are so cliché.”
Eric chuckled. “I’ve never thought of it like that. It didn’t feel so cliché when they were pounding on me before my brother swooped in to save the day.”
“He did that a lot?”
Eric thought about Aaron and how even now he was trying to make his way to town from the airport. “You have no idea.”
Jonah strode over, his eyes on Hailey. “You two saddle up. I need you out there.”
“What’s going on?”
“Deirdre Phelps is at the high school. She says she knows where Farrell is, but she’ll only talk to you.” Jonah’s gaze settled on Hailey.
Hailey downed the rest of her coffee and slammed the cup down on the table. “Let’s roll.”
Eric caught Jonah’s eyes as she strode away and saw him grin. “Is she always like that?”
“Yes.” Jonah laughed. “Take care of each other.”
Eric nodded and went after his partner. The last day had been a tough mix of personal and professional drama for Hailey, and yet she’d pushed it aside and kept on rolling. Eric watched her kiss Kerry and give her a hug before she moved with him to the door. How did she compartmentalize her life like that?
Sarah’s paralysis and her ultimate rejection of him had left Eric reeling in a way that it had taken him years to come back from. Even still he carried a shadow of the depression with him.
If Sarah hadn’t wanted him when it counted, when she needed support the most, what made him think any other woman would f
eel different? It was tough not to believe there was something lacking in him. He didn’t know how to sustain a long-term romantic relationship. Failure would be inevitable, and Sarah must have known that.
*
Back in the boat again, Hailey was glad the rain wasn’t getting worse. But it was still pouring. She pulled up the collar of her raincoat and folded her arms against the chill in the air. When the sun went down, it was going to get a lot colder, which wouldn’t help the rescue crews any.
“Any idea why Deirdre asked for you?”
Hailey turned to Eric at the back of the boat and shook her head. Farrell’s brother was the man they’d shot at the airport. One of them was responsible for his death. But still, all they had so far was Harmer’s body, and Farrell still at large. And Deirdre…who knew what was happening with her. Was Deirdre helping Farrell locate the stolen jewels?
“You said you knew her in high school?”
Hailey pulled the collar of her coat down. “In passing. We didn’t exactly run in the same crowd.”
He nodded, keeping his eyes on her until she looked away. Hailey’s cheeks warmed from the attention. She couldn’t let her feelings for Eric develop any further. He might have said it wouldn’t have worked between him and the beautiful, successful Sarah, but Eric was the type of guy who would do anything for the woman he loved. He would have made it work, even if it meant giving up his whole life. She was sure of that.
Hailey had no intention of trying to live up to the perfect woman, even if part of her wanted to be reminded what it felt like to connect romantically with someone. Affection and the closeness that came with letting someone all the way into her heart…she’d known it in part with Charles. But however curious she was to know what being in love for real would feel like, she wasn’t strong enough to risk losing the tight grip she had on her life.
Her sense of security lay in her badge and her gun. That was the way it was always going to be, regardless of her dad pestering her to let the pastor’s words penetrate her heart. Hailey had to protect herself if she wanted to stay sane. She didn’t know how to follow a God who might seem wonderful but still couldn’t be fully understood. What if God asked more of her than she was prepared to give?
Hailey had heard people say again and again that God had done something they couldn’t explain, or allowed something to happen and they didn’t know why. That was fine for them if they wanted to trust in a God whose ways were “mysterious.” She just wasn’t going to let it happen to her.
The boat bumped the outer wall of the high school gymnasium, jogging Hailey from her thoughts.
“Whoa, sorry.”
She looked back to catch Eric’s grin as he fought to keep the boat straight in the rushing current of the river. Eric piloted the boat around the gym and got it as far as halfway up the steps to the main building. Hailey grabbed the rope and tied it to the railing.
She glanced at the walls of the buildings, then at the parking lot and the street out front. There was no one else around.
“I was expecting more of a welcome than this.”
NINETEEN
Eric grabbed her hand and helped her jump from the boat to the top step. Hailey looked around. “Where are the cops who called it in?”
She pulled out her phone and dialed Jonah. There was no marking on the doors to indicate the building had been cleared. Someone would have painted or chalked an X, marking it off as empty and contained before they padlocked the door against looters.
It rang twice before Jonah answered. “Rivers.”
Hailey launched straight in. “Where’s Deirdre supposed to be? There are no cops here. There’s nobody here at all.”
“There should be two officers on scene.”
Hailey hoped it wasn’t the two from Harmer’s house. The last thing she wanted was to run into those two sorry excuses for cops again. “Well, there isn’t. This building hasn’t even been cleared.”
“I’ll check what’s going on. Proceed until I get back to you but use caution. Manpower is seriously limited and who knows what’s going on. There could be people in there. But if Deirdre really is there, then we need her in custody.”
Hailey heard the frustration in his voice. Apparently Jonah would be happy to give up his seniority for the sake of getting out there and facing this himself.
She unsnapped her gun holster. “Got it.”
Eric did the same, drawing his weapon.
Hailey hung up. “Let’s check the place out.”
Eric led the way through the unlocked front doors. The flood was creating chaos all over town. The school and all of its equipment were open to anyone who wanted to come by and take whatever they wanted.
Looting was a sad fact of natural disasters, but since the local police and the sheriff had their hands full evacuating all the residents, it was hard to protect all the property as well. Still, someone should have been assigned to lock this building down.
The halls echoed as they walked, even with Hailey trying to keep her steps light. The whole place seemed eerily empty, especially since the lights were out. The power grid had been spotty all day. Hailey had figured when the whole town flooded the water would take out the electricity, too, but apparently it wasn’t that cut-and-dried.
Hailey’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She reached with her free hand, pulled it out and saw it was Jonah. “Shelder.”
“Okay, this is weird. The cops are saying no one knows anything about the phone call from Deirdre. The guy who supposedly took the call is AWOL, and no one was ever sent to the high school to lock it down. You have no backup and this may or may not be a ruse.”
“She’s probably not even here. This is probably all a big joke.” Maybe not likely, but possible—especially after a weekend full of attempted kidnappings, murders and secrets revealed that she’d had so far. “Should we check the whole school, just in case Deirdre is here?”
Jonah sighed over the line. Eric kept walking, so Hailey stayed beside him, glancing as he did into rooms as they walked. He might not be used to this work, but he knew what he was doing.
Jonah said, “This is the only lead we have. Whether or not it’s a hoax doesn’t make much difference. See it through, Shelder. But be careful. This could be a trap.”
“Yes, sir.” Hailey hung up and turned to Eric. “It’s going to be a long afternoon.”
Eric gave her a half smile. “It’s already been a long day.”
Hailey turned her attention back to the hall, rather than dwell on his smile. “A few more hours won’t kill you.”
Eric’s chuckle filled the hall. They turned the corner and hit a stairwell. Two flights took them to another hall lined with lockers and classroom doors every thirty feet or so.
They checked out each one. She hadn’t walked these halls in years, and it was horrifyingly familiar. Those days of bad hair and halfway decent grades were best forgotten. Whoever said the high school years were the best years of a person’s life was crazy.
Hailey’s experience was that things only got better as she’d grown older, especially now that Kerry was able to go running with her. Pretty soon she’d need to get Kerry down to the range and teach her how to shoot.
Blessed with being a lot more regular-looking than Hailey had in her teenage years, Kerry would probably breeze through the rest of her education relatively unscathed by bullies and “cool” kids trying to prove their own self-worth by humiliating everyone they thought was beneath them.
If Hailey were a praying kind of person, that would be the one thing she’d ask God for—that Kerry wouldn’t be harmed, physically or emotionally. That school would just be school and not the nightmare Hailey had hated every minute of.
From Eric’s earlier description of being beaten up for being a nerd, Hailey figured his teenage experience wasn’t too different from hers—although he probably didn’t have his name in the yearbook replaced with “The Hair.”
There weren’t many instances when Hailey mourned the l
oss of her mom more than those days, when some advice would have saved her a whole lot of teasing and heartache. She needed to get out of this building soon, or she’d start regressing into her teenage self.
Eric stopped. She heard a crackling sound and turned to him. His face was frozen and his body looked like every muscle had been locked tight with—
He dropped to the floor like a pile of books falling.
Beyond him stood Deirdre Phelps, the coils of her weapon embedded in Eric’s back.
Hailey didn’t have time to react before Deirdre lunged and sprayed something in her face.
*
Eric’s hands were bound in front of him, and he was lying on a sticky linoleum floor. Deirdre must have caught him by surprise with the stun gun. Nothing else zapped through his body like that, locking up his muscles. He could still feel the buzz in his fingers, and his back stung where the two probes had pierced his jacket and embedded themselves in his skin.
Eric turned his head just enough to see Hailey, tied to a chair with Deirdre standing over her. Phelps had gotten the drop on his partner? Hailey’s cheeks were red, her eyes were swollen and her nose was running.
Pepper spray.
It made sense. If Deirdre had used up her single stun gun shot on Eric she’d have needed a backup weapon.
Hailey looked at Deirdre, gritting her teeth together. Could she even see anything? “If I knew what you were talking about, I might take you up on that.”
“Don’t play coy with me. You know full well where we hid the stash. Farrell and I are going to get what’s ours, and then we’ll blow this backward town. So quit holding out on me and spill.”
Farrell and Deirdre had stolen the jewels and hidden them?
Was Charles even involved?
Deirdre was the high-society daughter of a rich man. Why was she so interested in the jewels now?
Eric studied Hailey. Why did they think she knew where the jewels were?
Had she known it would come to this? Admittedly he didn’t know much about his partner, but he’d been sure she was telling the truth. She’d claimed not to know anything about what Farrell and Deirdre were looking for. But Eric couldn’t ignore the evidence. Deirdre looked pretty convinced Hailey knew where the jewels were.
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