by Sara L Foust
Gooseflesh raced up her arms and down her back. She squeezed her eyes tight and leaned back into his chest.
“There.”
Her eyes flew open. “You got it already?”
“Yep. Here,” he wrapped a paper towel around her still-oozing thumb. “Let me get a Band-Aid.”
When Zach walked away, Annalise let out the breath she’d been holding. What was happening to her? She’d been officially divorced for only a few days. And this was Zach. Her emotions weren’t playing nice tricks on her.
He returned a moment later, and Annalise took the bandage from him. No sense risking flutters or chill bumps again. “Thanks.”
“Can we go now? I told you this was a bad idea.”
“I know you did. I’m sorry. I have always hoped you’d find out what happened to him. I guess my imagination version of this long-lost reunion isn’t realistic.”
“I never said I wanted a reunion.”
She dropped her chin a notch. “No, you’re right. You didn’t.”
“Here.”
Annalise and Zach both spun to face Lorraine.
She laid a box on the table and, without another glance or word, retreated once more from the kitchen.
Annalise raised her eyebrow and looked at Zach. “What do you suppose is in there?”
“Dunno. Never seen it before.”
Zach picked it up, inspected every outside surface, and set it back down.
“You’re stalling.”
He sank into a chair. “What if I don’t really want to know what’s in there?”
Annalise frowned. “You do, Zach. You know you do.” She inched the box closer to him and smiled. “I’m here. No matter what’s inside.”
He lifted the lid with a shaky hand and peered inside.
What was it? What made his eyes round and his nostrils flare? She bit her lip to give him the silence for processing that he needed. But it wasn’t easy.
When he lifted his gaze, his eyes shone with unshed tears. He held up an envelope and showed her the front. To Zach. If he ever asks about me. ~Dad
Annalise gasped. “Are you going to open it?”
“I...I don’t know.”
“Could be the answers you want.”
“Could be more questions.”
“Only one way to find out.”
He drew a deep breath. “You open it.” And thrust the envelope in her hand.
“What? No, I can’t do this for you.”
“Why not? You asked Mom for me. You made me come today.”
The tone in his voice stung her deepest heartstrings, like jellyfish tentacles wrapping her emotions in them and squeezing. “I didn’t make you. I can’t make you do anything, Mr. Bullheaded.”
Annalise dropped the envelope on the table and let the storm door slam behind her. When he was thinking more clearly, she’d sort this out with him. Maybe, too, when she wasn’t about to burst into tears.
CAPTAIN BROOKS SILENCED his phone as another text from Annalise beeped in. He wasn’t ready to talk yet.
The photos, documents, court transcripts, and other items in his personal evidence collection littered the desk in front of him. How many times in five years had he scoured these same pieces of paper? And how many times had he found no new answers?
Senator Marcum was behind bars. The case closed. Yet, the real truth, the real mastermind behind the scenes had never been caught. As far as he knew, he was the only one still looking. Better for Annalise if she never knew the depth of the drug ring she’d help bring down in Memphis. Better for him if she never realized his level of involvement.
But, boy, he sure could use her amazing mind. If he revealed all the details he knew, would she be able to see something he hadn’t before?
If Olivia was scared enough to disappear, though, it meant anyone he brought in would be in danger. He couldn’t risk Annalise’s life to the Juarez cartel again. He hadn’t known her very well the first time they’d all dealt with this case, observing her only from behind the scenes. Now that he knew her personally, he definitely couldn’t take big chances. Not unless he had to.
Frustration hammered against his ribs along with his heartbeat. The same frustration he’d faced for so many years now. Senator Marcum sat uncomfortably behind bars, Annalise’s testimony sealing his fate for the next thirty years. The Juarez drug ring had busted up shortly thereafter.
Why, then, did Olivia word her note the way she had? They found me. There could only be one they. Someone had taken the reins.
And they would kill her for what she’d seen.
OLIVIA JERKED UPRIGHT. The cheap hotel bed squeaked its annoyance. In the pitch black of her rented room, for a moment she forgot where she was and reached a hand to feel the warmth of Jonah’s strong shoulders. His side of the bed was cold. And hadn’t been warm to start with.
She sighed and flopped back onto the pillow, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.
The nightmare still played behind the veil of darkness. Once she’d married Jonah, the horrible half-truths had faded. It seemed they were back in full force.
The screams. That’s what got her. Listening to the young woman’s agonizing screams and being unable to do a thing to help her. Watching helplessly from the shadows while the Juarez underlings tortured her to the point of insanity.
Knowing she herself would be next.
Knowing neither of them was leaving that warehouse, even if they gave the information the thugs wanted.
Olivia had known the risks of diving headfirst undercover into the toughest drug cartel in Memphis. Had known the side effects of pretending to fall for one of their men, of being something she wasn’t and compromising her moral compass for her job.
Until that very moment, none of it had seemed a real possibility. Oh, how wrong she had been.
In the nightmare, she could taste the coppery blood and feel the physical force of Maria’s death.
In real life, it was her own blood she’d tasted from biting her tongue to keep from crying out, but the impact of Maria’s death had been reality. Olivia shivered.
If they found her, this time there would be no escape. No new identity. No plastic surgery and fake background history. No starting over. No safety for her husband and children.
She had to keep moving.
To put as much distance between herself and the Juarez cartel as possible.
Regret the size of a jousting lance pierced her heart and stole her breath. She curled into the fetal position under the covers and pictured her babies’s faces. She’d never see them again. Annalise would continue thinking she was dead. Jonah would think she’d left him.
But if the Juarez men had followed her from Memphis to Knoxville, they would follow her anywhere they could find her. She couldn’t let that happen again.
As dawn lit the curtained window, she dried her tears and crawled from her nest of sorrow. Enough of that. For all she knew, while she laid in her tears, they were closing in. They thought she knew too much. Thought she’d seen who wore the big boots in the operation. They didn’t believe her when she told them the truth. She’d seen nothing but the life ebbing from Maria’s dark eyes.
Chapter Thirteen
“Buchanan.” Zach practically growled the three syllables.
Annalise patted Zach’s forearm. “Easy, tiger.”
Buchanan grinned as he took the bench across from them. “So good to see you fine officers again.”
Her nostrils flared as she bit back a sharp retort. “Oh, yes, you too.” Her sarcasm wasn’t a tiny bit veiled. “We need to chat.”
“Oh? Whatever about?”
She was going to slap him. No doubt about it. Before their short visit was over, her hand, or maybe fist, was going to connect with his ugly face.
Touching hers under the table, Zach’s thigh tensed.
He was definitely having a hard time holding back too.
“Listen, Buchanan. We know you have some powerful information that’s keeping you al
ive.”
His smile fell. “Not allowed to talk about it. You should know that.”
She suspected as much. “Fine. You don’t talk. You just listen.”
Zach picked up the thought, as if they’d rehearsed it all. “Here’s what we think. You just give us a little nod if we get close to the truth.”
Annalise folded her hands on the tabletop. “You rolled. Hard. On someone very powerful.”
“And in turn for your testimony or implications or just information, you get to live.”
“Assuming the men you rolled on don’t find out.”
Buchanan simply smiled.
But Annalise wasn’t watching his mouth. She was watching his left eye twitch. Ever so slightly with each statement. “Let’s go through the list. See if we can hit the nail on the head. Zach?”
“My pleasure. Jamison Branch?”
Annalise figured Zach would start with the more infamous moonshiners. But the first name elicited no twitch.
“Hammer boys.”
Nothing.
“Hentons.”
Nada.
“Smythe and Roberts.”
Zach switched to drug runners. Still nothing.
“Juarez.”
Buchanan’s left eyelid flicked. Ah. That was it. Annalise’s stomach dropped. She swallowed hard. “The Juarez Cartel is active again.”
Buchanan’s eyelid again gave him away.
“They are here in Knoxville.”
Twitch.
Annalise’s dropped stomach leaped back into her throat. She’d suspected the Juarez’s had relocated, but to know the group was here...she shuddered. The men who burned down her home and killed Joanie were too close for comfort.
“Thanks, Buchanan. We’ll be in touch.” Zach rose to leave.
“But I didn’t say nothing.” Buchanan’s voice suddenly seemed higher. “Tell them I didn’t say nothing.”
“You didn’t have to.” Annalise forced a semblance of a smile.
“They’ll kill me.”
“Who?”
Buchanan clamped his lips tight.
Annalise dropped her voice to a whisper. “You were dead already, rolling on them. The Juarez’s don’t leave loose ends.”
The blood drained from Buchanan’s face.
“Come on, Annalise.” Zach gently tugged her to her feet.
She shrugged off his hand and followed him through the many corridors and locked doors, feeling like a zombie all the way out and back to her SUV. She left without telling Zach goodbye.
If Olivia was really Joanie, and if the Juarez cartel was truly here in Knoxville, could they have something to do with her disappearance? Annalise shivered again. Though she didn’t want to admit it, it was the best possibility.
Or worst, depending on how she looked at it.
“DELIVERY FOR YOU, ANNALISE!” Zach’s voice floated through her open office door.
Yes. Joanie’s evidence boxes had arrived. She wore a broad smile when she entered the lobby. Perhaps this would be good enough distraction from her visit with Buchanan that she could stop obsessively revolving the same fears and worries over and over and over.
Zach helped her carry them into her office. “Wow. More than I thought. Where will you start?”
“Umm, in box number one, I suppose.” A giant purple dragon of awkwardness hovered between them. They hadn’t spoken at the jail of their argument. They hadn’t spoken much at all, in fact.
He chuckled, but it sounded forced. “Sounds logical to me.”
When had they last had any type of argument? Annalise hadn’t slept much last night worrying about him. She was still mad, but it was time to offer an olive branch. In light of Buchanan’s information, she had bigger dragons to slay anyway. She needed her friend. She thrust the box’s lid into his outstretched hand. “Wanna help?”
“Of course.” He smiled, a genuine one this time.
For the next three hours they dug through each box. Annalise retrieved a DNA sample and packed it with the hair from the Beck’s and sent them out to the lab for comparison. Part of her hoped they matched. The other ninety percent of her wondered what the ramifications would be if they did.
“Look, Annalise.” Zach broke into her thoughts.
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know. Open the envelope yet?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry I pushed before you were ready. I don’t like seeing you so upset.”
“I know. How many times have you gone through these boxes?”
“More than I can count. But it’s been years.”
“Anything triggering anything?”
She shook her head and pulled the last slip of paper from the fourth box. Her stomach knotted. “Zach, oh my gosh. Look.”
Captain Brooks’s signature stood out on the evidence log as bright as an airport landing strip. She handed the paper to him and sank back into her chair. How could Captain Brooks be involved in the case that had changed her life and she not know about it? How could he not tell her? At any point during her time working for him, why would he not come clean about it?
“Look, Annalise, maybe he couldn’t. Maybe his role was more classified than we realize.”
“But...but—”
“You worked with him for what almost three years?”
She nodded.
“If he could have told you, he would have.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“He’s one of the good guys.”
She lifted her eyebrow. “Same question.”
“Annalise, you know him. You’ve seen him in action, seen his integrity.”
She’d seen Dave too. Every day for nine years. She hadn’t expected his affair, his betrayal, his harsh words. “I need some air.”
“I need to go to the post office and see if I can get information on Jonah’s box. Want to join me?”
With a hand pressed to her stomach, Annalise shook her head. She made her way to her garden oasis. She should’ve brought Millie today. She could use the reassurance and calm her beloved beagle brought her.
ZACH SHOWED JONAH’S photo to the post office supervisor. “Do you recognize this man?”
The woman, Audrey according to her nametag, shook her head. “He seems kind of familiar but nothing that specifically stands out.”
“We suspect he was being blackmailed through a P.O. box at this location. Have you noticed any suspicious activity, or maybe had any customers that made you feel uncomfortable?”
“Not really, no. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay. Here is my business card. If you think of anything, please do not hesitate to call.” Zach smiled warmly, hoping to leave a good impression in her mind.
He returned to his truck at the curb and slid behind the wheel. Would they actually catch any breaks in this frustrating case? Lord, I don’t know what to do.
Whoa. How many days had it been since he’d last prayed? This case, and especially this thing with his dad, had thrown him off.
Maybe he should just open the envelope right now. See what his dear old dad wanted to tell him. He snickered. Right. He’d gone this long without knowing. What difference could it possibly make now? The man had left him and Mom, walked from their lives and never looked back. Nothing he could say would make that easier to swallow.
Zach tapped the steering wheel with his thumb and stared at the front door of the post office. He dialed Jonah. “Mr. Beck, when was the next payment due?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Perfect. Thanks.”
Tomorrow, he and Annalise would stake out the post office, while Kirk tied up some loose ends from another case. If something didn’t break soon, they’d be forced to put Olivia Beck in the unsolved, on-hold, grimace-every-time-they-looked-at-the-file category. It would drive all of them mad having a case with no answers so soon after their new task force had been formed.
In the last seven months, they had solved Cody Moss’s kidnapping and
put Jimmy Vern behind bars. They had officially shut down the Moonshine Mafia Jimmy Vern led too. They’d solved a murder in Gatlinburg, an automobile theft in Pigeon Forge, and tracked down a lost group of Boy Scouts. So far, so good.
Until now.
Until Olivia Beck walked into the forest, possibly of her own free will, and decided to vanish. Maybe this wasn’t a case they were meant to solve. Maybe she had good reason to leave. She was sick of Jonah’s gambling or something had just snapped in her mind.
Who understood why a normal, sane person walked away from their family?
He dropped his forehead to the steering wheel. His mind was not playing kindly with him lately. He had to stop obsessing. Annalise may be right. He should open the envelope and get it over with.
His hands shook as he retrieved it from the glove box. He stared at it for a good, long while before stuffing it back in. Nope. Not ready yet.
Chapter Fourteen
“Do you really think he’ll show up?” Annalise munched a cinnamon crunch bagel and leaned on the passenger windowsill.
Zach held back a grin. Annalise was already ready to spring from the vehicle. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“I’m bored.”
Ha! Yep. He chuckled. “Why am I not surprised? We’ve been sitting here for an hour, so you’ve made it pretty long.”
She punched his shoulder. “Whatever.”
If he could get her thinking about something else, she’d be able to be more patient. “When do the DNA results come in?”
“It could be a while. Wasn’t exactly a priority.”
“Yeah.”
“You open the envelope yet?”
His stomach turned over as he popped the glove box open. “Nope.”
“Why not?”
Terrible, debilitating fear that made him sweat and stumble just thinking about it. “Dunno.”
“Right.” She snorted.
Zach’s gaze followed the loan shop owner’s footsteps as he paused at the post office door, scanned the parking lot, and then turned to enter the building. “Annalise, there.” He pointed. “He’s here.”
She sat up straighter. “Plan?”