Moment of Doubt

by Sara Gauldin

“I’m not sure, the emails are coded. They leave some kind of signal, showing which targets are located from a specific family. We don’t know what or how. Your dad thought it had something to do with flowers on your mother’s grave, but no more flowers showed up, so that theory is a dead end.”

  My mind raced. “Flowers? Someone did put flowers on her grave a second time. I saw her. It was a woman. She got away.”

  “What? You mean you caught them in the act? You could have stopped this.”

  “Stopped what? I can’t shoot people for leaving flowers in a cemetery.”

  “No, no, you can’t. But Avery, you have to get out of here. I’m afraid we’re too late for your father. When I talked to your father, he said that if something went wrong, I had to get you to leave town.”

  “I’m here on a case. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “The Vance family has too many contacts in this town. You aren’t safe here, especially in this building.”

  I put my hand on Cynthia’s shoulder. She needed to pull it together, so I could find my Dad. “The Vance family is all dead, except Zachary Vance. And he is here in the station in the interrogation room.”

  “No, not all of them.” Cynthia shook her head.

  “I already know about Gerald New. He’s not a threat either.

  “Avery, they have other family members. Mr. Vance had a sister.”

  “A sister?” I asked.

  “Avery, you have to find him!” Cynthia sobbed.

  “Cynthia, slow down.”

  Her eyes were wide with fear. The emotion she was lacking when her husband was killed was a thing of the past. Now, she reminded me of a spooked horse.

  “Slow down? I’m only here as a courtesy. I’m getting out of here and if you’re smart, you’ll do the same.”

  “Tell me more. Who am I looking for?”

  Cynthia took a breath that sounded more like a gasp. “Naomi, Vance’s sister’s name is Naomi. I think she had children, as well. I don’t know—your dad didn’t tell me any of that.”

  “Okay, I’ll find Dad.”

  “It’s too late, Avery. If your father were still alive, he would have answered me already. He wanted you to get out of town if things went wrong.”

  “Well, that will not happen. You get out of town. I’m finding my father!”

  ***

  As soon as Cynthia rushed out of the office and on to whatever hideout she had in mind, I grabbed the office phone. There was no time to find my mobile at this point. I rushed down the hall to the file room. I had submitted the flowers from my mother’s grave for testing. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but only a few days had passed. Was it possible that they had completed the tests already? A quick check at the computer kiosk confirmed what I was afraid of: they weren’t in the system.

  “Wow, what a look! Is everything all right?” I turned to see Brooks looking at me with concern.

  “I sent a bouquet in for forensic analysis. I was hoping the results were back.”

  “Well, lucky for you, Genevieve had them sent to the FBI lab. You won’t find your results there. If you’ll allow me, I’ll log in, and we can have a look.”

  “We?” I asked.

  “Genevieve warned me you like to run in on your own. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m under orders from Richards to keep you out of trouble, whatever that means.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t need a babysitter. My father may be in trouble.”

  Brooks’ eyebrow creased as he considered my statement. “It sounds to me like you need some help. So let me help.”

  I stepped out of the way and let Brooks login to the FBI system. I wanted to make a run for it, to catch up with my dad before he did something stupid. But I didn’t have any idea where to go. Zachary Vance was at my fingertips, but I couldn’t throw away the interrogation now, with a confession so close. He was off-limits, New was fighting for his life, and I was getting nowhere.

  “Ah, here you go. The results are in.” Brooks stepped back and gestured toward the screen with an exaggerated flourish.

  I leaned in to read the report. The flowers were regular florist grade blooms, nothing special. The lab had found two sets of fingerprints on the bouquet, one was unidentified, and one was from somebody named Nicole Reynolds. “Nicole Reynolds, not the Vance I expected, but I will find you,” I mumbled to myself.

  “Do you think this is tied to the case, you know, the same family?”

  “I, uh, well.” Was he giving me an opening to use police backup, or was he accusing me of using the department for personal purposes, which I was? I took a deep breath. “I’m not sure, but there are a few too many coincidences for there not to be any overlap.” I flipped the screen back to the department side and ran a quick background check on Nicole Reynolds. Her record wasn’t long, but there was a DUI a few years earlier that was enough to put her in the system. I clicked on the mugshot to get a better look. All at once, it hit me. This woman was the same lady I saw that day with Gina Meadors walking into the pub back in Colorado. But there was more. She looked similar to a woman who was already sitting in lockup, Bren Clancy.

  “Do you know her?” Brooks asked.

  “No, but she looks like a woman I met once back in Colorado.” She looked like the woman I saw my realtor with, but I couldn’t tell Brooks I had been tracking her with no police presence.

  “Because if I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was the lady we picked up for helping to abduct Genevieve.”

  I nodded. He didn’t miss much. “Yeah, but she’s a Reynolds, and our perp is Bren Clancy.”

  “Print that picture. I think we need to figure out who is who. If Bren Clancy is really this Nicole Reynolds lady, we need to know.”

  I pushed print. “They can’t be the same person; both of them were arrested and fingerprinted. The system would have flagged them as the same person. Besides, look, this Nicole Reynolds lady has a little beauty mark on her upper left lip. I don’t think Bren Clancy has one.”

  Brooks scooped my papers off the printer. “Let’s see what Ms. Clancy has to say about this.”

  “Why? I need to find my dad.” I wanted to make a run for it, but where would I go?

  “We have to start somewhere. Look, start the search of the database for Nicole’s last known address. It will take a little while to run, and while it does, we can at least see what Bren has to say.” Brooks looked at me like a mother scolding her child.

  I shook my head. “Fine, but once we clear that little item of two suspects looking similar; we have to find my Dad!”

  Chapter 36

  Bren Clancy was asleep on her bunk when I entered the cell. “Wake up!” I tugged on her blanket.

  “What?” she grumbled.

  “I need to ask you something.” I glanced back at Brooks, who was standing in the cell's doorway. He nodded his approval. He was getting annoying.

  Bren sat up and pushed the hair away from her face. “You? I already said what I was going to say.”

  “Look, I’m not here to ask you about Nathan Spencer I want to know if you can tell me who this woman is.” I held up the photo.

  “Her, you can put that picture away. That’s Nicky. She’s not in town, is she? I don’t want her to know I’m here.”

  “Nicky? You mean Nicole?” I asked.

  “I mean my perfect sister. She was in Colorado on some business trip, and I hope they keep her.”

  “Oh really? What part of Colorado?”

  “How should I know? She sent me a picture of her on some mountain, the showoff.”

  Before I could wrap my head around what I was hearing, an announcement blared over the loudspeaker from the department next door. I couldn’t catch what was said.

  “Avery? Something is going on. We should go.” Brooks gestured for me to hurry. He didn’t need to bother. The hair on the back of my neck was standing up. Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what.

  I followed Brooks up the steps and back into the main part of t
he police department. He took the steps two at a time, never looking back to see if I bothered to follow him.

  “What’s going on?” Brooks asked the first officer he met. The young man didn’t stop; he only slowed for a step or two. “There’s a call in about a standoff. Officer Reynolds is being held hostage.”

  “Officer Reynolds?” I asked.

  “Noah Reynolds. Do you know him?”

  I nodded. He had worked for the department when I started here. I had only run into him once since I’d been back in town.

  The officer didn’t wait for my answer. He rushed toward the parking area where several cars were already turning on sirens and preparing to join their brother in law enforcement. My mind raced. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

  “Avery? Are you going?” Brook had his keys in his hand.

  I nodded. “Reynolds, Noah Reynolds. Nicole Reynolds…”

  “What are you getting at?”

  “They have the same last name, and we know Bren is Nicole’s sister.”

  “Where are you going with this?” Brook said.

  “I have to talk to Genevieve before we go.”

  Brooks glared at me for a long moment. “Avery, a man’s life is on the line.”

  “Yes, and I think my father’s life is also on the line. It’s the same emergency.”

  ***

  Kirk Nelson answered the interview room door with his brow creased.

  “I need to talk to her.” I nodded toward Genevieve.

  “She’s kind of busy right now.”

  “Then let me talk to them both. I think I can connect a couple of dots.”

  “Sure?” Kirk stepped back, waving me into the room.

  “Couldn’t stay away?” Zachary Vance looked at me like I was a steak dinner. I cringed.

  “I wanted to ask you about your cousins.”

  “Cousins?”

  “Right, your Aunt Naomi’s daughters.”

  “My aunt…”

  “Right, she had two daughters. It seems like we’re having a real family reunion here in lockup.”

  “What? I mean, I think it’s time I called my lawyer.”

  “Perhaps so. Your cousin Bren is using a court-appointed attorney. She was locked up for helping Nate Spencer. But you already knew they were involved.”

  Genevieve's jaw dropped for just a moment, and then her perfect, calm facade was restored. “Well, when your lawyer gets here, we can sort out all these payments you’ve been making to Mr. Spencer. Somehow, I now wonder if it has something to do with your cousin.”

  “He planned to kill her,” Vance shouted.

  “Well, that may change things,” Genevieve smirked. “Let’s make that call.”

  “Never mind,” Vance said. “I’ll tell you. After that freak killed Dana, he went over the deep end. He wanted more. He came for me. I was one of the ones he wanted. But Bren was at my house instead. He took her. And I was trying to get her back.”

  I leaned over to Genevieve. “I have to go, my dad’s in trouble,” I whispered.

  “Try not to do anything crazy,” she whispered back.

  I nodded and headed for the door. I stopped in my tracks and turned around. “I have one last question. What is Nicole’s husband’s name?”

  “Why?” Zachary Vance leered at me.

  “Answer the question,” Genevieve ordered.

  “Fine. It’s Noah, Noah Reynolds.”

  ***

  The flood of emotions running through me was overwhelming. Noah Reynolds, my former co-worker, was married into this bundle of corruption. If he was married to Nicole Vance, what was his involvement with any of this? I was more certain than ever that I would find my father when I caught up to whatever Noah Reynolds was involved in.

  “Are you ready to go?” Brook spun his keys around on his finger in anticipation.

  “Almost.” Before I left, there was one thing I had to know. “I have to go to the records department,” I told Brooks.

  “Are you going to end a standoff with a file folder?”

  “No, I need to know who worked the accident site when my mother died.” I didn’t explain. A feeling in the pit of my stomach told me I already knew the answer.

  Five minutes later, file in hand, I confirmed my theory. Noah Reynolds was the first officer on the scene when my mother died. I shoved the folder in the bag with the files Marge gave me and caught up to Agent Brooks as he waited by the door.

  “Let’s go.” I gave him a glace as I rushed out of the door. I didn’t need him to measure my emotional state; I just need him to drive.

  Chapter 37

  The townhouse had a false stone front that reflected the police lights in strange ways, the deformed shadows reflecting in random directions. Brooks flipped out his badge as he approached Officer Miller.

  “Agent Brooks.” She nodded to be polite. “This isn’t FBI business.”

  “No, but I was in town and wanted to help my fellow officer.”

  “That’s appreciated. But I think Avery shouldn’t be here.” Officer Miller looked at me with an expression of sympathy that no one wanted to see directed at them.

  I grimaced. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Avery, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your father is here. We’ve identified him as one of the suspects in the townhouse.”

  “So, my father is being held, hostage?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to be true or not.

  “No, I’m afraid not. He and another man, an off-duty police officer, are holding Noah Reynolds. No one is sure how they lured him here.”

  “Lured him here? Are you kidding me?” I took off toward the townhouse, but I only made it two steps before Brooks grabbed me by the arm and held me back. I spun to face him. “Let me go!”

  Brooks didn’t let go. “Stop, Avery. You don’t know the situation. You don’t know what you’re running into.”

  “I know one thing. Since my mother died, my father has tried his best to keep me running away from this town, and I think it’s time to settle things.”

  “All right, but take a deep breath. It would help if everybody knew why your father would want to hold Noah Reynolds here.”

  “There is no time for any of that.” I tugged against his grip.

  “Think about it, Avery. If you go running in there, you may cause somebody to react and then the whole SWAT team is going in there, and they won’t be looking at how to protect your father. They want to keep one of their own safe.”

  I stood there, feeling like Brooks had smacked me, but somewhere deep down, I knew it was true. “I need to talk to the commander.”

  “Jennings is over here.” Officer Miller gestured toward a police van where a makeshift headquarters was set up.

  We made our way toward the van. My mind spun with each step. There was too much to process. How had my quiet attorney father ended up in a police standoff? What was all of this about bodyguards? Who was in there with him?

  Jennings looked up from a warrant on a clipboard. “Avery, you shouldn’t be here.”

  “I keep hearing that.”

  “Commander Jennings, I think Avery may be able to help,” Brooks said.

  Jennings shook his head. “She’s too close to this one.”

  “I’m not asking to lead the SWAT team. I just want to tell you what I know.”

  Jennings looked at me for a long moment without saying a word.

  Brooks spoke up before either of us could break the silence. “The murder case that you have been investigating has revealed a family tie to Noah Reynolds.”

  “A family tie?”

  I nodded. “Yes, Noah Reynolds is married to Nicole Reynolds. Her sister is Bren Clancy.”

  “What does that have to do with your father? With any of this?”

  I sat down at the tiny folding table and put the file folders I had in my bag in a stack in front of me. “My father believes that the Vance family was involved in my mother’s murder.”

  Jennings shook his head
. “Avery, your mother died in a car accident. I remember that day. I had to tell your father.”

  I opened the files Marge gave me. “Here is a bit of the case, the part that’s not classified, that my mother’s partner gave me. They thought the Vance family was involved in some next-level international dealings. My mother was trying to prove her theory when things went wrong. Somehow, they knew she was putting things together. She never closed the case because an armored car rammed her vehicle, over and over until she was dead.” I opened the accident report. “And look who was the investigating officer? Noah Reynolds. He was the one who decided it was an accident. He didn’t even ticket the driver of the truck.”

  Jennings looked at the report. “It says that the truck T-boned her car when she pulled out in front of it.”

  “Yes, but that seems unlikely, look at the pictures. My mother was traveling west along the highway. She was on the primary road when the truck hit her. It was the middle of the night. Why would an armored car run stop signs in the middle of the night?”

  “That seems a little strange,” Brooks said. “Usually, T-bone accidents are the other way around, the person pulling out from an intersection gets hit by a car traveling along the main roadway.”

  Jennings nodded. “Sure, but it’s not impossible. It’s all a matter of timing.”

  “The collision can occur that way, but look at the vehicles. The entire side of the car is caved in. It’s a big, heavy truck, but the car is not caved in on one central point. The worst of the impact is here, in the front end over the engine compartment, but there are two other places on the car where the metal is caved in, one here in the driver's door, and the next one just behind it.” I pointed to the places on the car, trying not to see the blood—my mother’s blood—on the broken car window.

  “So why does the car show signs of three points of impact?” Brooks asked.

  “We can’t assume it was three,” Jennings said.

  “No, maybe not from just this photo. But let’s have a look at the truck.” Brooks pulled out a picture of the truck. “All the damage to the truck is in the right front corner. It’s concentrated in one place,”