Two Reasons to Run Page 20

  “Not at all. I’m angry for you, and I’d like to wring your dad’s neck.” He raised his voice more than he’d intended.

  She blinked at his vehement statement. “Okay then.” She inhaled and let it out. “Where did I put the papers?” she muttered.

  “They’re here.” He picked them up from the table. “You left them with me. I’ll pray for you.”

  “I don’t think anything is going to make this easy.” She took the papers from his hand and headed for the munitions room.

  At least it was soundproof back there. The kids wouldn’t be able to hear the yelling, but he wished he could hear what was being said.

  Thirty-One

  Her dad was a liar and always had been.

  Jane didn’t knock but walked straight into the munitions room with the proof in her hands. The cavernous room smelled of metal and gunpowder, even though it was spotless. Her dad didn’t look up from his task of loading bullets at the stainless-steel table.

  She planted her feet and stared at him. “I need to talk to you.”

  “In a sec. I want to finish this.”

  “Now, Dad. Right now.”

  He turned to face her. “What’s happened? Is Will all right?”

  “Did you ever love me, Dad? You’ve never said it, not even once.” Her voice broke, and she fisted her hands as she took several deep breaths to calm herself.

  “What’s this all about, Jane? You sound hysterical.”

  His contemptuous tone snapped her control, and she stepped forward and slapped the papers down on the table. Her mother’s face stared up at him on the top sheet.

  He paled. “You’ve been snooping in my office?”

  “Oh, that’s adult. Trying to turn it back on me like I’m a child who went snooping where I wasn’t allowed. You’re a coward, Dad. And a cheat.” Her voice quivered again, and she cleared her throat. “You knew all along she was alive. That’s why you seemed a little startled to hear she was ‘dead.’” She made air quotes with her fingers. “But even seeing my pain about it, you couldn’t tell me the truth, could you?”

  “It’s not what you think.”

  “What I think is that it’s about not sharing me with my own mother. It’s about you maintaining control to make sure things went the way you wanted.”

  “She doesn’t have a soul, Jane. She didn’t want us and let us go without a backward look. I don’t understand why you wanted to find her. Rejection is never pleasant, and I wanted to spare you that.”

  “She rejected you, Dad. How do you know she doesn’t want to see me?”

  “She told me.”

  She reeled at that and took a step back. “I don’t believe you.”

  “You don’t think I let it go at this report, do you? I had her new name, her address, her phone number. I went to see her, and she wouldn’t open the door. She told me never to come back and never to tell you where she was. I was honoring her wishes.” He spread out his hands. “And I wanted to protect you.”

  “And when was this?”

  “I flew to Maine when you were in college.”

  It felt like a convenient lie. Her dad hated to travel, and she didn’t think he’d ever flown. She’d tried to get him to take a vacation, and he didn’t like to leave the compound. Not ever.

  “I don’t like to travel, but these were extenuating circumstances. Ask Elizabeth if you don’t believe me. She knows all about it. It was during spring break in 2010, the year you went to the Bahamas with friends.”

  She remembered. He’d been eager for her to go to the Bahamas, which had surprised her. Now she knew why. “Yet you never told me.”

  His lip curled. “Your mother didn’t want me to. She’s got a new family, and she doesn’t want anything to mess up her happy new life.”

  “Why should I believe you now when all you’ve done is lie to me? I can’t trust a word you say, Dad! I’m not sure I want you to be around Will any longer. What kind of a role model are you for my son?”

  His eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fists. “He’s my grandson. I’ll take you to court for my rights.”

  It was an idle threat, but she didn’t tell him that. She didn’t have the heart to hurt her son that way, but she could make sure Will knew his grandfather was a liar and not to be trusted.

  But was that even fair to her son? This parenting business was hard to navigate.

  She forced her fists to open and relax. “Have you heard anything from her since you saw her?”

  He looked down at the floor, then held her gaze. “I called her in 2013. I offered to buy her a ticket to come to your graduation. It would have been a great surprise for you.”

  Her lips felt numb. “She refused.”

  “She wouldn’t hear of it. She and her husband were having some marital problems, and she didn’t want to stir the waters more. Her girls were six and eight at that time, and she said she couldn’t leave them even if she wanted to.”

  Sisters. She had two younger sisters. They’d be thirteen and fifteen now. “They don’t know about me?”

  “No. Your mother didn’t want you in their lives. Or hers. I know that seems harsh, but it’s the truth, and it’s why I didn’t want you to know. You had her on a pedestal, and I’d rather let you keep her there instead of knowing what kind of person she really is.”

  “Why should I believe you?”

  He shrugged. “It’s the truth.”

  “Truth isn’t in your vocabulary.”

  “I know it appears that way, but it was only for your happiness and peace of mind, Jane. I wanted you to grow up untainted by her abandonment.”

  She let that statement alone like a copperhead. “Who’s her husband? And did she divorce you?”

  He raised a brow. “No. She never told him about me, just married him and pretended we never existed. That probably has a lot to do with her panic to avoid having me show up in her life. She could go to jail for bigamy.”

  “Her husband?”

  “He’s an attorney.” Her father gave a faint smile. “Wouldn’t that hit the newspapers?”

  She felt a sickening lump in her stomach that everything he was saying was true. “Why would Gabriel tell me she’s dead?”

  “Probably because she abandoned the group. She might have stolen money. Hard to know.” He hesitated. “One of the reasons we joined Mount Sinai was to get away from the cops. She had embezzled money at the job she had in Detroit. Hiding there seemed like a good option, but she quickly came to believe the lies Moses preached. I wanted to leave long before the fire.”

  He reached out toward her, but she backed away and rushed for the door.

  * * *

  Jane’s face was white when she returned to the living room. Reid wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. How’d it go? Are you all right? The unspoken questions died on his tongue when she didn’t look at him or speak.

  “Pizza’s ready!” Will called from the kitchen.

  Jane bolted from the room and headed for her bedroom, and Reid let her go. Somehow he’d try to maintain a normal evening so the kids didn’t know anything was wrong.

  His phone rang as he started toward the kitchen. Elliot. “You caught me.”

  There was a strangled sound on the other end.

  “Elliot?”

  The only response was panting and another strangled sound.

  “Elliot!”

  He heard a sound like someone falling or maybe the phone tumbling out of his hand. Rushing for Jane’s door, he pounded on it with his fist. “Jane!”

  She threw open the door to reveal tousled light-brown hair and a tearstained face. “What’s wrong?” Parker lifted his head from the bed behind her, then jumped down to come to her side.

  “Elliot called, but he couldn’t talk. It sounded like he might be injured.”

  “At his place?”

  “I’m not sure. He couldn’t speak.”

  She whipped around and grabbed her phone. “I’ll send Jackson to his place to check on him.
He’ll get there faster than we can. I’ll meet you at my vehicle.”

  While she placed the call for help and headed outside, he went to tell Charles what was happening and found him exiting the munitions room. He didn’t seem to be perturbed by the talk with Jane and simply nodded when Reid told him to watch the kids while they went to check on Elliot.

  In moments he hopped into the passenger seat of Jane’s SUV. “Was Jackson close?”

  “He’d gotten a call about some vandalism at the marina and has to finish what he’s doing. We’ll get there first, I think. I tried Augusta, too, but she didn’t pick up. I left a message.”

  Dust roiled behind them as she drove toward the road. He got out and opened the gates along the way until they were speeding toward Elliot’s. The lights whirled, and the siren screamed as the SUV barreled for the houseboat Elliot had rented on the Bon Secour River. Reid strained forward in his seat, mentally urging Jane to go faster as other vehicles pulled off the highway to allow them to pass.

  He directed her where to turn, and he pointed out Elliot’s houseboat. “There’s his car.”

  “Good. I was worried he might have been somewhere else when he called.” She pulled behind Elliot’s car and turned off the engine. “You have a key to get in?”

  “No.” He threw open the door and rushed to the entry.

  His gut took a dip when he saw the door swaying unlatched.

  Jane’s gaze took it in, and she pulled her gun from its holster. “Stand back, Reid. I’ll let you know when it’s clear.”

  He obeyed her steely command, but he couldn’t wait for her to allow him in. Elliot might be hurt inside, and desperation had him ignoring Jane’s frown. His gaze went past her to the disarray in the living room. The place had been tossed. Had Elliot interrupted a burglary?

  Jane advanced through the living room to the kitchen, which was in the same sorry state as the living room. He itched to dart down the hall to the bedroom, but he stayed behind her as she checked for an intruder before moving to the bedroom.

  The doorjamb on the bedroom door was splintered and broken, and the door had a large hole kicked in the bottom of it. He noticed the smell when he neared the doorway: a thick and cloying stench of blood.

  Jane pushed the door open all the way. Elliot lay sprawled on the floor with a pool of red spreading from his head, and his blond curls were matted. His phone lay by his outstretched hand.

  She knelt beside him with her gun still ready and touched his neck with the fingers on her left hand. “There’s a pulse! Call for an ambulance.” She grabbed a T-shirt on the floor and pressed it to his head wound.

  Reid dialed 911 and told the dispatcher where to send the ambulance, then knelt beside Jane. “Is he going to make it?”

  “Keep pressure on the wound. I need to check the rest of the house.”

  His mouth went dry when she didn’t answer his question. He took over trying to stop the bleeding while she rose and prowled the closet, then exited into the hall. He heard her checking the bathroom and other bedroom Elliot used as an office.

  His gaze roamed the room. There was so much blood. Could anyone survive so much blood loss? Someone had tossed this room too. All the contents of the dresser and closet lay strewn on the floor.

  What was the intruder looking for and was this related to whoever had followed them to Kentucky and Indiana? Or was it a random burglary Elliot had interrupted?

  It seemed forever before he heard the wail of the ambulance. Footsteps rushed inside, and two paramedics shouldered into the room.

  “We’ve got this,” one of them said, and Reid relinquished his spot beside Elliot.

  He watched them work on him for a moment, then went to find Jane in the kitchen. “Anything?”

  “I think the guy picked the lock.” She pointed to the front door standing open. “I’m not sure what was taken. Do you see anything missing?”

  “Let me check his office.”

  As he went back down the hall, he glanced into the bedroom. The paramedics were putting Elliot on a stretcher. At least he was still alive. He stepped into the office and saw in an instant that all the video equipment was gone. The bank of computers, the cameras, and the editing equipment.

  Somehow he didn’t think the intruder had taken it all to sell it.

  Thirty-Two

  This might become a murder scene, so everything had to be done right.

  Nora squinted in the sunlight in the backyard and pushed her glasses up on her nose to study the ground under a water oak tree. Jane had little hope of finding anything valuable in the grass, but she loped across the uneven ground to join the forensic tech.

  Nora straightened. “Some crushed grass here, Chief. I think the perp hid a vehicle in the trees. I found several butts, and I think he was watching our vic a while.” She held up a baggie containing the remains of a cigarette. “Not enough of a print to take a cast, but this looks fresh. I’ll run DNA on the butt and see if we get a hit. Does the vic smoke?”

  “I don’t know.” Jane motioned to Reid, who loped across the yard to join her. “Does Elliot smoke?”

  “No, he’s a health nut and hates cigarettes.”

  Nora tucked it in her evidence bag. “It might give us something.”

  Jane willed Reid to walk away, but he stayed too close for her peace of mind. “What about inside?”

  “Hairs, fiber, blood. We’ll check it all. The place was pretty neat, so maybe some of the DNA will be the perp’s.”

  “Elliot vacuums every day. He is a germophobe,” Reid said.

  Nora’s smile appeared. “Excellent. I’ll get to work.”

  Jane turned to follow her, but Reid put his hand on her arm. “Is Elliot going to make it?”

  Her discomfort vanished at his worried tone. “I don’t know, Reid. He lost a lot of blood.”

  “The attacker took our video equipment. What if all of this is about the video we shot aboard the oil rig? Elliot’s message said he’d found something.”

  She considered his theory. “You’ve looked at all of it, haven’t you?”

  “Not every frame. Elliot is the one who edits it to look good.”

  “Do you have all the files somewhere?”

  He shook his head. “My laptop that was stolen had what Elliot sent me, but he had the complete files.”

  “On his equipment that was stolen. What about backups?”

  “They took the backup hard drive.”

  “Online backup?”

  “I’m sure he had that, but I’m not sure where or what password he used.”

  “Were your files backed up online?”

  “Sure, on my iCloud.”

  “We can start there and take a look at what he sent you.”

  “I’ve seen it, and nothing jumped out at me, but maybe you’ll notice something I didn’t.”

  Time spent with him made it hard to hold her distance. “Let’s go to the war room and put it up on a large screen.”

  Other people would be there, too, which might make it easier for her. He nodded, and they walked back to her SUV and got in. She felt his gaze on her as she started her vehicle and drove toward the station.

  “How’d it go with your dad?”

  “Fine.”

  “Your tone says otherwise. Did he give you a reason for not telling you she’d left the cult?”

  She gripped the steering wheel with both hands. Was the man obtuse? “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “You need to though. It’s eating you up, and keeping it inside will make it worse.”

  “He wasn’t a bit sorry, okay?” Her voice rose and ended on a sob she barely choked back. “He had no remorse. None. All I got were excuses as if I should thank him for saving me from hurt.” That was the worst of it—that he hadn’t regretted what he’d done. “He was defensive and self-righteous. According to him my mom told him not to tell me because she has a new life and didn’t want me to spoil it.”

  “Do you believe him?”

&n
bsp; Reid’s calm voice grounded her, and she swallowed. “No. I don’t think he’d know the truth if it bit him. For a man who has dedicated his life to the law and justice, he’s clueless about truth and honesty. He’s like a copperhead hiding in the leaves—he fits in with honest people, but he doesn’t know what it is. Not really.”

  Reid reached over and put his hand over her right one where it lay on her leg. “I’m sorry, Jane. Where is she living?”

  “Maine. At least she was in 2010. Dad visited her.”

  “We can go there—you, me, and Will. He’d be excited to meet his grandmother.”

  “She probably won’t want to see me, and I don’t want him hurt.”

  The betrayal was a huge rock in her chest, pressing in and closing off her air. It was better not to think, not to feel. She pushed his hand away. He stared out the window, and she knew her action hurt him. What did he expect though? He’d hidden Will from her. Two major lies had slammed into her life and splintered it into pieces.

  He blew out a heavy sigh and looked back at her. “Did your dad keep in contact with her?”

  “No. She told him to leave her alone. At least according to Dad. And get this—he said she was wanted for embezzlement so that was why they first joined Mount Sinai. I’m not sure what to believe.”

  “Wow, that’s a surprise.”

  “And supposedly she never divorced Dad—just married some attorney. If we show up, it will come out that she’s a bigamist. Again, according to Dad.”

  “You can find out for sure. You have the resources.”

  True enough, but did she want to? It would be easier to hide all this in a cave and never look at it again, but she doubted she could do that. Truth had always been important to her, and these secrets would fester like an infected splinter.

  “You won’t be able to leave it alone, Jane. Isn’t it better to know the truth for sure?”

  He knew her better than she’d realized. “Is it? My search for truth has brought nothing but pain.”

  “That’s not true. You have Will now. I know how much you love him. He was worth all the pain you felt.”

  “Will is worth everything.”

  “Once you’re on the other side of this pain, it will be worth whatever you go through too. Valleys and mountaintops. That’s what life is all about. It’s how we grow.”