by Harris, Lisa
Her lips curved into a slight smile. “Thank you.”
He resisted the urge to grasp her hands. “For what?”
“For being here for me.”
“Anytime.”
“I need to go see my sister. And I’m sure you’ve still got a lot of work ahead of you in wrapping everything up.”
“Yeah. But first, do you need me to get you a ride to the hospital?”
“No, I’ll be okay.”
She still hadn’t moved. Like she didn’t want to go. He didn’t want her to go either. If he had his way, he’d sweep her away to some quiet place far away from here where they could sit and talk. Where he could put his arms around her and tell her he had this crazy idea he was falling for her.
“But there is something you can do for me.” Her smile faded as she looked up at him and caught his gaze. “Promise me you’ll find out the truth as to why Rafael had to die.”
17
Emily took the last sip of her coffee as she headed toward her car. She knew exactly what her sister would say if she could read her mind right now. She’d tell her she was crazy to trust Mason, and even crazier to be thinking she’d love the chance to get to know him better. Avery would tell her to stay away from a man she was convinced had played a role in the death of their brother. Emily tossed the empty cup into the trash can at the edge of the parking lot. Even she knew that all her sister’s evidence was only circumstantial. And today she’d seen the side of Mason she remembered. Compassion. Empathy. Concern.
That wasn’t the kind of man who betrayed his best friend.
Emotions jumbled, she managed to make it to the staff parking lot without running into any reporters. All she wanted to do right now was ensure her sister was okay, then go home and collapse, though she still wasn’t sure she wanted to be alone. Every time she closed her eyes she heard the gunshot that killed Rafael and saw the black body bag.
A voice called to her from behind. She stopped beside her car and turned around to see Charlie. Ex-fiancé … the man she’d once loved. Or at least thought she’d loved. He always managed to look perfect, even after working all day. Suits paired with expensive silk ties and high-end loafers. Never secondhand. Charlie was the last person she felt like dealing with at the moment.
“Emily … hey.” He jogged the short distance between them. “I know you’ve been through so much today. I wanted to check to see how you’re doing. Are you okay?”
She felt her blood pressure rise. Why was everyone asking her if she was okay? She wasn’t okay. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be okay again. Or at least she’d never look at things the same. Charlie and her sister dealt with situations like this every day: dead bodies, criminals, arrests. But not her. Those were the things she watched on television—ironically as an escape. Not something she experienced in real life.
Charlie reached out to grasp her arm. She pulled away and took a step back. The gesture felt too intimate. Too personal.
“I’m sorry.” Charlie cleared his throat. “I just … I know things are over between us, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still care about what happens to you.” He leaned against the car parked beside hers and folded his arms across his chest, giving her the space she needed. “You know I still care, don’t you? If anything would have happened to you today, I never would have been able to forgive myself for not having insisted on being the negotiator.”
Charlie had always known what to say to get what he wanted. He was suave, confident, self-assured. But she’d gotten over that a long time ago.
“Nothing happened to me—physically anyway. I’m fine.”
“When you were in there, I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my entire life.”
“I’m thankful to be alive, but there’s a dead boy who should still be alive as well.”
“I know.” He cracked the knuckles of his left hand one at a time. “But he held your class hostage, shot a student, and tried to take out an officer. All you have to do is watch the news to see what can happen when someone brings a gun into a school. You could have died in there.”
“But I didn’t.” She shook her head, wondering how long it took to shake the fear that had surrounded her the past few hours. How long would it take to forgive herself for not finding a way to save Rafael? How long would her heart hurt because things had ended this way? No matter what anyone said, Rafael died to save his family.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through all of this, but it’s over and you’re okay,” he said. “That’s what counts.”
“Do you remember Rafael?”
“I … you talked about so many of your students.”
Of course he wouldn’t remember. Not that it mattered anymore.
“I’ve been working with him the past three years, since he was a freshman in high school. He was planning to go to college next year. He was bright and had plans.”
“I know he was one of your students, but he gave up his right for freedom when he decided to take a class hostage. Maybe it shouldn’t have ended the way it did, but according to the captain, they didn’t have a choice.”
“I was told the same thing.”
“It’s the downside of what we do, Emily. Sometimes there’s a price in bringing justice to the world.”
She studied his expression. Confident. Self-assured. He hadn’t changed at all. His job had always come first and had always been more important than what she did. He might have loved her, but to Charlie, being a schoolteacher hadn’t exactly fit the bill of saving the world. To her, though, the impact she tried to make on the students’ lives mattered. And when she couldn’t make that difference, it hurt.
“I was making progress with him … I honestly believe that he would have let everyone go if he hadn’t been pushed.”
“I wasn’t there, but I do know that the captain wouldn’t have shot him unless he knew he had to. Believe me when I say that I wish the situation would have ended differently. His death was an unfortunate ending to a very unfortunate situation.”
“An unfortunate ending?” Emily shook her head. “Is that what you plan to tell his mother?”
Charlie shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “How did I get to be the bad guy here?”
“You’re not … I’m sorry.” He was right. She shouldn’t take out her frustrations on him. “It’s just that last week he was accepted to college. He had his entire life ahead of him.”
“He held a bunch of students at gunpoint and shot one of them. There is no excuse for something like that.” His expression softened. “Please, Emily. Don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m not mad at you.” Emily pushed the button on her car fob and unlocked her vehicle. “I just want to go check on my sister, then find a way to put all of this behind me.”
“I heard your sister’s going to be okay?”
“Yeah. It could have been so much worse.”
She started to open the car, but he grabbed her free hand.
“Emily, wait.”
“What is it?”
“Before you go, there’s something else I need to say. I … I know you’re going to think I’m crazy, but while you were in there with those students, it made me start thinking again about you … about us. This isn’t the first time I’ve regretted us calling off the wedding. Today brought everything back and made me realize how much I need you back in my life.”
She wasn’t in the mood to argue the fact that it hadn’t been a mutual decision. She’d been the one who’d called off the wedding, though she was certain the entire police force believed he was the one who’d dumped her. She’d never attempted to change anyone’s perspective. It didn’t make any difference to her. The only thing that did matter was the fact that all the feelings she’d once had for Charlie were gone.
“As soon as I’m finished,” he continued, “we could go somewhere for dinner. You’ve been through a lot. I could listen. You’re going to need someone to talk to.”
He’d always been a charmer, but it just w
asn’t enough anymore. “I can’t, Charlie. You know as well as I do that things are over between us, and that isn’t ever going to change.”
“I think you’re wrong. I think you still care about me as much as I care about you.”
She looked up at him, clean-cut, suave, and good looking. He’d swept her off her feet, but instead of falling in love with him, she’d been caught up with the idea of getting married—until the desire to get married had become more important than the person she was marrying. She’d finally realized she had to walk away.
Two weeks before they’d planned to send out the announcements and order the cake, she’d returned the engagement ring he’d given her. Most of her friends hadn’t understood why she’d broken things off. Sometimes even she wasn’t sure when she’d first realized her relationship with Charlie simply wasn’t what she was looking for.
She wanted a marriage like her mother and father, who’d managed to make it through both the good and the bad, who had a marriage where Christ was the foundation, and where divorce wasn’t an option. Maybe she was an old-fashioned optimist, but she was searching for the same thing.
Ultimately, Charlie didn’t end up being the man she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with—even if she was pushing thirty and still dreamed of having a family. It was a choice she’d yet to regret.
“Neither of us were ready for marriage, Charlie, and you know that. I want the ring, a family, the house eventually, but—”
“Not with me? What if you’re wrong? About us. Take me up on my offer. We’ll go eat somewhere after I wrap things up here. No strings attached, just you and me. And if in the process we discover something is left between us—”
“There isn’t anything left between us, Charlie. And while I appreciate your concern, I’ll be fine.”
Eventually.
She looked past Charlie to the school. Mason was standing on the front steps of the school, talking with another officer. He and Charlie were complete opposites. While both were focused on bringing justice to a messed-up world, Mason was far more laid back in his jeans and five o’clock shadow. Charlie was the polished one, always knowing what to say and when to say it.
Funny how it seemed that coming from a family of cops she was destined to fall for a cop, no matter how hard she tried to resist. First Charlie, now Mason … Emily’s gaze dipped. No. She hadn’t fallen for Mason. There was a difference between admiration and infatuation.
“Emily?”
She turned back to Charlie. “I’m sorry.”
His eyes darkened. “So it’s Mason now?”
“He’s just a friend. My family has known him for years.”
“What happened in there between the two of you? I saw you together a few minutes ago. You looked … cozy.”
“There’s nothing going on between Mason and me. He did a good job today. He handled things well, helped to keep the students calm—”
“And wasn’t able to stop Rafael from getting shot.”
She shook her head. “That wasn’t his fault, and he saved the kids that were in there.”
“Maybe, but he had no business trying to negotiate a hostage situation. He’s an undercover cop, for goodness’ sake. If I had been there, things would have ended differently.”
“Would they? I don’t think there’s any way to know that.” She frowned. He always had been so sure of himself. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m going now.”
“Let me call you. Once this is behind us.”
She shook her head. “Don’t call me. We’re through, Charlie.”
A message beeped on her phone. She pulled it from her pocket, glanced at the message, and felt her chest heave.
This isn’t over. We have Tess.
18
No … no … no.” Emily couldn’t breathe.
She fumbled with her phone, dropping her bag onto the pavement in the process. One of her pens rolled out of the dumped-over bag. This had to be a mistake. Tess was safe, on her way to see her mother at the hospital.
Charlie picked up the pen and handed it to her. “Em … what’s wrong?”
“It’s a message from … from a blocked number.” Emily handed him her phone, all the panic and alarm from the day returning. Except this time she felt as if she were stumbling in the dark. This time she had no idea who was behind the message. “I don’t understand how, but it says they have Tess.”
“Whoa. Slow down.” Charlie turned her toward him, his hands on her shoulders. “You don’t know what this means. Not yet. It could be nothing more than a prank. Someone’s idea of a very bad practical joke.”
“A prank?” Her eyes widened. “I don’t believe that, and neither do you. Not after today.”
Charlie pulled out his own phone. “I’m calling the captain.”
This should have been over. The students had been released. They’d found Eduardo. So why the text? Why Tess?
Lingering hope that Charlie’s first instincts had been right hovered at the edges of her thoughts. Maybe this wasn’t anything more than someone’s idea of a sick joke.
Charlie waited for the captain to answer as she tried to sort through the facts as she knew them. The cartel had kidnapped Eduardo and his mother. Demanded money owed them. Tried to manipulate Rafael …
They’d never gotten their money.
“They didn’t get the money,” she spouted.
“What?” Charlie ended his unanswered call and caught her gaze.
“The ransom money. Someone else has to be involved.”
“But why Tess?”
She took her phone back from Charlie. “I don’t know, but I need to find my father.”
She pushed her father’s number on speed dial, then started searching to see if his car was still in the parking lot. She found it halfway down the first row. He hadn’t left yet. Where was Tess? She hung up the unanswered phone. And where was her father?
Panic sifted through her as Charlie stopped beside her. “They have to be here somewhere.”
“Emily?”
She turned at Mason’s voice. He must have seen her running across the parking lot.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She tried to catch her breath. “Someone’s taken her. There has to be a connection to Eduardo and Rafael, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Wait a minute. Slow down. Taken who?”
“Tess.” She showed him the message. “We need to find the captain and my father. We can’t get ahold of either of them.”
Mason took her phone. “Who did this come from?”
“I don’t know. It’s a blocked number.”
“When’s the last time you saw Tess?”
“Right before I spoke with you. Fifteen … maybe twenty minutes ago. She was with my father. They were leaving to go see my sister at the hospital.”
“I just saw your father,” Mason said. “The captain needed to speak with him about something in private.”
“Was Tess with him?”
“No.”
Something shiny flashed from under one of the bushes. Emily bent down and picked up her father’s set of keys with the familiar inscribed key ring. A silver car with flashlights for headlights.
Her father’s.
She looked up at Mason, the jingle of keys audible between her shaky fingers. “So what happened? He sent Tess to the car to wait for him?”
“Would she have gotten into a car with someone she didn’t know?”
“Her mother is a police detective. She’d never get in a car with a stranger.”
“And the school grounds are full of reporters and police officers,” Charlie added. “If someone tried to grab her, there would be witnesses.”
“Okay, then could it have been someone she knew?” Mason asked.
“Maybe.”
Emily’s head pounded. It hurt to think. All she could do was follow Mason and Charlie back toward the school. Mason started barking out instructions at the other officers.
“We’ve got a missing student. Another possible kidnapping. Tessica North, Captain Hunt’s granddaughter. I want the grounds searched immediately. Everyone questioned …”
A few reporters still lingered at the edges of the parking lot. They were going to be all over this story, but she didn’t care. Like them, she’d thought all the students were safe now. Thought the situation had been resolved, but now …
She watched Mason hand her phone to someone. She was impressed at how he’d automatically taken charge.
“Get this phone to Tory and have her trace the last text. Charlie, get an AMBER Alert out.”
She caught the look that passed between them and expected Charlie to balk, but instead he just nodded.
She felt Mason’s hand on her shoulder. “Emily?”
“We have to find her.” She’d thought things couldn’t get worse when Rafael had shown up with a gun in her classroom. They’d made it through that. They’d make it through this. They had to.
“We’re going to find her,” he assured her, “but right now I need to know an exact timeline leading up to her disappearance. You said you saw her about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Yes.” Emily’s chest burned. She tried to breathe, but the air wasn’t reaching her lungs. She tried to calm herself, knowing that panicking wasn’t going to help Tess. “After talking with the police, I found Tess and my father. Daddy told us what happened to Avery and Eduardo. He headed to the parking lot with Tess, planning to drive her to the hospital to see her mom. That was right before we spoke.”
“And Charlie?”
“I met him in the parking lot after talking with you. He wanted to make sure I was okay.” She was having trouble staying focused. “I need to find my father, Mason.”