She shook her head, but the pain in her eyes told me that she already knew it wasn’t her name.
“No one.” I shook my head. “I couldn’t think of a single soul I wanted at my side in my darkest moments. I thought of my dad…I didn’t want him to see me that way. He was such a manly man, such a cowboy, that I knew he’d be disappointed to see me broken that way. And you…I couldn’t even remember your name.”
“Don’t say that,” she whispered, so much pain in her voice that she could not raise it above that breathy sound.
“And when I started to come out of the shock, when I started coming back into myself, I found myself wondering what kind of a man would do that. What kind of a man would promise himself to one woman and then be unable to remember her name when things were the most troubling. And I thought it was my fault, that I wasn’t good enough for you. That I wasn’t the man you deserved to have in your life. So I wrote to you and told you I couldn’t marry you.”
“You broke my heart.”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “I broke my own heart. I had wanted nothing more than the life we’d dreamed of together. I told myself, when I was better, when I could prove that I was a good man, I would go back to you. I thought it was the guilt of what I’d done. And it was, the guilt is a horrible burden that I carry around with me. But…”
She touched the side of my face and, for a moment, I remembered what it felt like to accept her touch, to anticipate her touch. But it was just memory now.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I never wanted to hurt you, Caryn. You were everything to me when we first met. But things have changed. I’ve changed.”
“I haven’t. I still love you, Nolan.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. But even as I struggled with the kindest way to tell her that, understanding slowly came into her eyes.
“How long have you been seeing her? Did you meet her before the letter, before you ended things with me?”
“No. I wouldn’t have done that to you.”
She studied my face. “Yeah, I know you that well. You wouldn’t cheat on me.”
“I wish things were different. I really do.”
Her eyes dropped to the floor. “I know.”
“You’ll find someone who will be so much better to you than I ever was.”
She shook her head. “No one could ever be as good to me as you were.” She reached up and kissed my cheek lightly, her lips lingering against my jaw. “If you ever change your mind…”
I just nodded because that seemed to be all she needed.
Chapter 21
At the Compound
Kipling walked through the workroom, his cell phone stuck to the side of his face. He could hear David on the other end, speaking to someone about security cameras. He was trying to keep everything on the up and up, but Kipling knew that Elliott could get what they needed much quicker than some day manager of some third-rate hotel.
He moved up behind Elliott and watched over his shoulder as he worked. Within seconds, there were images coming across his computer, grainy, black-and-white footage of a parking lot and the lobby of the hotel.
“There,” Kipling said, touching the screen where the camera footage looked out onto a black SUV parked under a cluster of trees.
Elliott noted the number of the camera and did something with the keyboard, pulling up the same footage, but then rewinding it. They watched as people came and went, as cars came and went, until they recognized Pepper’s back as she walked toward the SUV. And then they saw it, a gold Lexus pulling up behind her and a tall, blond man grabbing her, shoving her into the Lexus and driving off without so much as a turn signal.
“We’ve got it,” Kipling said into the phone. “Gold Lexus, partial plates Texas G58.”
“Great,” David said into the phone. “Send the information to Detective Snider. We’re headed back to the compound.”
Kipling disconnected the call and watched over Elliott’s shoulder as he maneuvered through the other camera feeds. They watched Pepper arrive at the hotel, watched her slip in through a side door and make her way to the elevators. They watched as she stepped into a guest room and then leave it again after five minutes. Then they were back at the abduction.
“Must be our thief,” Elliott said.
“That would be my guess.”
“I heard Nolan found out the man’s real name. Or, at least, the alias he was using in Dallas.”
“He’s quite an investigator.”
“He’s proving to be quite an asset around here.” Elliott sat back and looked up at Kipling. “Do we know how Ricki is? Has anyone told her what’s going on?”
“I don’t think so. David wouldn’t want to stress her, considering her blood pressure situation and everything.”
“Yeah. I get it.”
Kipling gestured to the computer monitor that still displayed the security footage. “Keep an eye on things and let me know if you see anything else that might be helpful.”
He headed upstairs, thinking he’d get his car keys and head into town to see if there was something more he could do to help find Pepper. He liked Pepper. They’d spent quite a few afternoons together, sitting quietly in the space outside their bedrooms, just acting as companions. He found her presence comforting even though they hardly spoke more than two words to each other. But, again, he rarely spared more than a few words on anyone these days, unless something important needed to be said.
He was halfway up the stairs when his cell rang again. He answered it automatically, assuming it was David.
“McKay.”
“Mr. McKay? This is Janice Nichols from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.”
Dread immediately began to dance its fingers around in Kipling’s belly.
“What can I do for you, Ms. Nichols?”
“I’m calling to inform you that Mickey Connors was found dead in his prison cell this afternoon.”
Kipling stopped on the stairs, his eyes sliding shut. He should have been elated at the news, thrilled to know that the man who murdered his wife and child was dead. But he wasn’t. For more than ten years, he’d been plotting to kill this man himself. Now that he was dead…it was bittersweet.
“We wanted to inform you before you saw it on the news.”
“I appreciate that.”
Kipling disconnected the call, his thoughts moving to Harley Connors, Mickey’s sister. She’d been his most loyal supporter through all this, paying for new lawyers out of her own pocket, pushing his bid for a new trial, even though Mickey himself had pled guilty and never showed any interest in attempting to change his own fate. She was eighteen when this whole thing began, just a child herself. Even while working on her studies in college and making her way through a rigorous medical school program, she managed to keep up with the case and come up with the money required to keep pushing things through the system. Her team had just recently sent items off for DNA testing, insisting that they would exonerate her brother when the results came back.
Harley was a thorn in my saddle. But she’d become something of a fixture in my life. If I had any pity left in me for this man—for this monster—it was connected to her.
But I didn’t have time to dwell on this nonsense now. We had to find Pepper.
Chapter 22
Pepper
He didn’t bother to tie me up or to restrain me in any way. I was free to sit up, to climb over the seats, to attack him. I didn’t.
“Where are you taking me?”
He glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “I’m whisking you away on a romantic weekend. Isn’t that what we’d planned?”
“Months ago. Before you disappeared on me.”
“I had business to attend to.”
“You mean you had a robbery to commit.”
He shrugged. “Call it whatever you want. These robberies are my business.”
I shook my head, my eyes moving to the windows. I knew where we were, even suspected where we we
re going. But knowing wasn’t going to help me right now.
“How many times have you done this? How many women have you left in your wake, left to take the blame for your crimes?”
“Seven here in Texas. But you know that already.”
“What about other states?”
He smiled, catching my eye in the mirror. “Dozens. Not always with women, but always successful.”
“You think you’re untouchable.”
“I think I’m good at what I do. And I think you talking to the cops put me in a position I’ve never been in before. It amps things up a little and makes it necessary to take a few precautions. Even forced me to turn down a new job I was actually looking forward to take. But…” He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Give it a month or so and I’ll be right back in action.”
“Why? Why do you do this?”
“Because I like the challenge.”
“And this? If you think you can get away without the cops getting any the wiser, why did you grab me?”
He caught my eye in the mirror again. “Because you’re my favorite. I really could have fallen for you, given more time. The fact that it was you who turned on me just makes it that much sweeter.”
“Yeah?”
“I have a job for you. I think you’ll enjoy it.”
I dug into my back pocket, looking for my cell phone. “I think I’ll just go home and pretend I never saw you again.”
“You do that. And we’ll see how long it’ll be before that boyfriend of yours ends up in military jail for the death of his entire unit.”
“What are you talking about?”
He glanced at me in the mirror again. “That’s something we’ll discuss once you agree to take the job.”
“That’s something you’ll explain right now or I’ll jump out of this car!”
He just smiled. “Try, sweetheart.”
I grabbed the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. I dug in my pocket again, but my phone wasn’t there.
“Looking for this?” He held up my phone for just an instant before tossing it out the window. He laughed as he watched it bounce on the asphalt behind us. “I really didn’t have to do that. I removed your battery and sim card before we left Austin. But it was fun, wasn’t it?”
“You’re an ass.”
“And you’re beautiful when you’re annoyed.”
I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. “You know I talked to the police. You know about Nolan. You must know about Gray Wolf and the people I’m living with. Don’t you think they’ll come looking for me?”
“I’m counting on it.”
“Why? What are you planning?”
“Oh, it’s not me. It’s what you’re going to do.”
I shook my head. “I won’t do anything to hurt my friends.”
“You mean your sister and her husband. And that pretty little boy they have.”
I sat up a little straighter. “You wouldn’t dare hurt Chase.”
“Chase? Is that his name?”
“Colin—”
“You’re the only one I told my real name to. Did you know that?” He seemed thoughtful as he concentrated on the road ahead of us. “Colin Lester Pierce. I’ve never used that name before, not since I walked away from the inner city dump my mother occasionally paid the rent on.”
“Then why use it with me?”
“Because, when I met you in that bar, I felt this connection.” He laughed. “I’ve always thought it was stupid when people talked like that. Connection. Souls can’t connect. Souls are just the poets’ trick to get people to read their crap. Souls don’t actually exist.”
“But you felt it anyway.”
“I liked you. I liked your spunk. You didn’t just fall for me; you fought your attraction to me. I had most of those other women in bed after ten minutes, but you made me work at it. I liked that.”
“I should have turned my back on you. I should have applied for that job and walked out of there like I’d planned.”
“But you didn’t. You loved being with me. I made you feel better than you were.”
“You made me feel like I was someone else. It turned out I didn’t like who that person was.”
“You liked her for a while.”
I shook my head. “Until I saw who you really were. You use and abuse people, just like my father did.”
“I never hurt you.”
“You left me holding the bag on a despicable robbery.”
“I came back for you.”
“After I turned you in.”
“No, babe. I’ve been here for weeks, watching you. I followed you here from Dallas, followed you through the campgrounds and the truck stops and all the other places where you thought you were hiding out. I followed you to that compound and watched you come and go with that precious little boy. I even imagined what it would be like if I ever had the balls to settle down, to have a family. If I did, it would be with you.”
“Too bad I don’t want to be with you.”
“You were okay with it a few months ago.”
“That’s before I knew the truth.”
“Why didn’t you fall as blindly as the others? Why did you turn on me?”
He seemed genuinely puzzled.
“Do you follow all the girls you use like this? Do you keep tabs on them to make sure they stay loyal?”
“Not like I did with you.”
“But you followed them?”
“Until they were arrested. It usually only took a day or to. Sometimes less. But you…you were smart enough to keep your face turned from the cameras. If you hadn’t turned yourself in, no one would be the wiser.”
“I would have been. I would have known, and I don’t think I could have lived with my conscious much longer.”
“Lucky that Tilford guy hired your Gray Wolf.”
“Did you chose him as a target because of me?”
He laughed. “Now we’re getting a little self-centered. No, I robbed Tilford because someone wanted me to rob him. He wanted the technology to sell on the open market. It was actually quite beneficial to the common man. He didn’t want the technology to become proprietary like so many of these other technology giants, like Microsoft and Apple. He wanted it to be freely available.”
“But you stole it.”
“I stole it before Tilford could apply for a patent. If he’d had the patent, I wouldn’t have been able to hurt him.”
“So it’s his fault.”
“Of course. What I do, it’s never my doing. It’s my employer; it’s the people I steal from. They set themselves up for trouble.”
“But it’s not your right to take advantage of that.”
“This is America, sweetheart. If you have the balls and the intelligence, you can do just about anything.”
“But there are five women serving time in prison because of you.”
“Should be seven.”
“What do you know about Nolan?”
He smiled, glancing back at me. “You do care about him, don’t you?”
I refused to acknowledge him. I sat there with my arms crossed over my chest, staring out the window, watching the world rush by. We were on the highway headed south, rushing toward a place I was praying Nolan remembered me mentioning. Or maybe I should pray that he didn’t remember. I didn’t want anyone else getting hurt because of my stupid decisions.
“You should rest, Pepper,” he said almost kindly. “You’ve got a long night ahead of you.”
Chapter 23
Nolan
David disconnected the last call he’d made and walked around the side of the SUV, looking for something I didn’t see. I was anxious to get out of there, anxious to go find Pepper. We were already hours behind her, I didn’t want to waste any more time. But David seemed content to sit and wait for…well, I had no idea what he was waiting for.
“I know where they’re headed,” I announced, wondering if that would finally get his attention.
He t
urned, shading his eyes from the sun.
“Where?”
“Corpus Christi.”
“What makes you think he’d take her there?”
“Because he told her that he has a house there.”
“He could have been lying.”
“And he could have been telling the truth, just like when he told her his real name.”
David frowned, glancing over his shoulder as though expecting Pepper to just walk out of the trees.
“Come on!”
I’d been standing here for the better part of an hour, waiting for him to make up his mind about what he wanted to do. I wasn’t going to wait any longer.
“I’m going to Corpus Christi. You can stay here, you can go…I don’t really give a fuck anymore. I need to find Pepper!”
I turned and climbed into my SUV. By the time I got it started, David was in the passenger seat.
“Well, if we’re wrong, we’ll know soon enough.”
***
David took a couple of phone calls in the first hour of our drive, but he was quiet after that. I could feel the weight of his concern; I could feel him glancing at me from time to time. I wondered if he blamed me for this since it was my former fiancée that Pepper had gone to see when she was taken. It was my fault, in a way. I don’t know how Caryn found me, and I didn’t really care. It was my fault.
I should have talked to Pepper about Caryn. I should have told her about what happened in Afghanistan. I should have told her more about my father. I should have…there were so many things I should have done. She deserved to know.
I was going to find her and she was going to be okay. There was no other possible outcome.
“Can I ask you something?”
I glanced at David. “If you’re going to ask what my intentions are—”
“I wasn’t going to ask about Pepper. I was going to ask about Afghanistan.”
CHASING PEPPER (Gray Wolf Security, Texas Book 5) Page 14