White cabinets went all the way to the nine-foot ceiling, and the smooth white counters reflected the light of gleaming stainless-steel appliances and small kitchen gadgets. Coffee brewed, and blue stoneware mugs had been set out on the large farmhouse table. Like being at home.
“You’ve done a good job with this bunker, Charles. Getting stuck here for a while wouldn’t be a hardship.”
Charles carried a steaming bowl of chicken Alfredo to the table. “The day is coming, Reid, and you’re always welcome here when the apocalypse strikes.”
Reid wanted to ask the older man’s views on all that, but now wasn’t the time. Jane walked in with Olivia, who was moving by herself. She had more color in her cheeks too. Reid couldn’t decide if he wanted to sit by Jane so he could catch a whiff of her luscious skin or sit across from her so he could see her face.
She took the decision out of his hands by pointing to the seat across from her. “Have a seat, Reid. Will, you can sit by me. Olivia, you want to sit by Megan?”
“I do.” Olivia moved over to drop beside her daughter, who looked crushed that she was across the table from Will and not beside him.
Reid sat in the assigned seat and realized his videographer hadn’t followed them. “Hey, Elliot, you’re invited to dinner.”
When Elliot didn’t answer, Reid went to see what was holding him up. The young man was hunched over the screen. He turned when Reid neared. “I knew we’d find something.” Elliot pumped his hand in the air. “Check it out.”
He had paused the screen, and a face peered around the corner at them. Reid couldn’t make out much detail about the face, but the clothing revealed an important detail. “Is that a woman?”
“Sure looks like one to me. There can’t be many women on the platform. It’s a hard job physically. If you can get the list of workers, we can narrow it down.”
Reid studied the image. “She appears like she’s eavesdropping and trying not to be seen.” It was in every line of her body and the way she tilted her head.
“That’s what I thought.” Elliot hit a key. “I’m printing it out, and we’ll see where this takes us.”
Thirteen
If only she could get Homeland Security to listen.
Jane put the last of the dishes away while Olivia wiped off the counters in the bunker’s kitchen. In the living room the guys yelled and hooted with laughter over a video game. While she wasn’t up on titles, she’d heard mention of Mario. That had been around forever, but she gathered this was a new version. Megan sat right beside Will.
Olivia rinsed out the sponge. “My daughter is smitten with your son, but he doesn’t seem to notice.”
“Give it time. When a girl as pretty as Megan fawns over a guy, he has to pay attention sooner or later.”
Olivia’s dark-blue eyes sparkled. “Too true. I think I’ll go watch the game for a few minutes. Sounds like fun. Then I’ll need to get Megan home kicking and screaming. She has school tomorrow.”
“I’ll be along shortly to run you home.”
Her dad entered the kitchen. “Done already? That bottomless pit of a grandson is calling for a snack already. I think he had three plates of pasta and two slices of pie, but he must have found some corner of his stomach not filled with food.” He beamed with pride as if he were the one who could eat the refrigerator.
Jane smiled. “The first weekend he stayed with me we went through four family-size bags of cheese puffs, three boxes of Kind bars, four dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies, and countless beignets. Did he say what he’s in the mood for?”
“Probably more chocolate pie.” Her dad opened the fridge and peered inside. “Only two pieces. It’ll probably be a bloody fight to the death for them.”
“There are beignets.” She opened the cupboard and pulled out a covered plate of them. “They can be the consolation prize.”
“They’ll console me.” He reached for the plate she slid across the counter to him.
“Um, Dad, before you go, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay.”
“It’s about Elizabeth.”
His longtime girlfriend was in jail for accessory to murder after she helped Brian Boulter, Jane’s former deputy, plot to take down her dad with false charges. The plot included murdering two people. She was also up on second-degree homicide charges due to her vigilante efforts. As far as Jane knew, her father hadn’t been to see her since the arrest, but the topic was a landmine of emotion.
The events had aged her dad. His hair and eyebrows had gotten even whiter over the past few weeks, and his hazel eyes looked weary as he studied Jane’s face. “What about her?”
His calm manner and voice didn’t soothe the twitch in his cheek. After Elizabeth’s arrest, he’d told Jane he didn’t want to talk about Elizabeth—not ever—but they had to.
“Look, Dad, I know you don’t want to talk about her, but there’s evidence that someone was able to get into your Wi-Fi system. Of course it could have been a hacker, but what if Elizabeth gave the password to someone?”
He gave a slow blink and exhaled. “She’s the one who set it up, so yes, she knows what it is.”
“That’s what I needed to know. I’ll talk to her and maybe she’ll tell me the truth.”
He lifted a bushy white brow. “Haven’t you learned anything yet, Jane? She hates me and, by extension, you too. If you want to waste your time, fine, go see her. But don’t expect honesty. She hasn’t given us that virtue in the last ten years, so she’s not going to start now.”
“I think she cares more than you think. She got caught up in trying to hide her vigilantism. Step-by-step, she dug herself into a deep hole, and she didn’t know how to escape.”
“Believe what you want, but whatever you do, don’t trust a thing she says.” He scooped up the plates of beignets and pies, then stalked back to the living room.
Jane rubbed her forehead. Maybe he was right, but she had to search under every rock.
Her phone dinged with a text from Augusta. Tyler was being assessed by a psychiatrist. He’d likely be there overnight, and Steve was making a ruckus. It was nothing Augusta couldn’t handle though. Jane sent a thank-you text and turned toward the doorway.
“Hey.” Reid stepped into the kitchen. “Our son is beating me, and I might need rescuing.”
She managed a smile. “Don’t come to me to save you. I’m not a gamer.”
“You look like someone just kicked your dog. What’s wrong?”
She told him about her chat with her dad. “And maybe he’s right and Elizabeth won’t know anything, but I’m not sure where else to look.”
“We can contact Steve Price and see if he will give us a list of women working the platform. That might lead to something.”
She nodded. “And I still need to interview Keith’s friends. One of them might know something.”
“Our dive tomorrow could be helpful.”
“Maybe.”
“But you’re not holding your breath.”
“Nope.” She opened the drawer and got out a handful of forks. “Y’all might need forks to eat that pie.”
“I’ll bet Will has it half devoured by now.” A fresh burst of groans erupted from the living room. “And I’d guess he just won the game.”
His gaze wrapped her in warmth, and she smiled. “I don’t know how you do it, but you always manage to make me feel ten feet tall instead of five two.”
He fell into step beside her and dropped an arm around her shoulders as they moved to the living room. “You’re an Amazon in my opinion. Never underestimate the short girls. Their smarts make up for their lack of stature.”
A chuckle bubbled up her throat. “I’ve spent most of my life being underestimated.”
She liked the weight of his muscular arm around her shoulders and the scent of his aftershave. It was dangerous, but she couldn’t bring herself to shrug him off.
* * *
The morning was too beautiful to be s
earching for a body.
Reid watched Jane a few feet below the surface until he was sure she was competent, then kicked down through the water along the massive pylons and beams holding up the oil platform. Algae, barnacles, coral, and oysters coated the surfaces in the bright colors of an artificial reef. The oil rigs had proven to be perfect habitats for the invertebrates.
A pod of dolphins swam near, and Jane paused to watch them. He swam over beside her and floated in the current as a curious sea turtle cruised by under their feet. Reid pointed down, and Jane nodded before following him into deeper water. He was certified to 130 feet, though he didn’t want to go that deep because Jane would insist on following him, and her diving skills were rusty.
He shot a glance upward to see the hull of their boat bobbing in the waves where he’d anchored it to a pylon, then glanced at his dive computer. A hundred feet. He shouldn’t take Jane much deeper. Squinting toward what seemed to be a limitless depth, he saw something floating close to a girder. He kicked his fins to take him down to examine the scrap of red. His dive computer read 120 feet.
He was three feet away when he realized what he’d spotted—a body with a rope wrapped around his ankle. The rope secured him to the girder to make sure he didn’t float to the surface. Reid flailed back away from the grisly sight and bumped into Jane, who had followed him.
Her eyes widened, and a flurry of bubbles escaped her mouth as she bit back the same scream that wanted to erupt from his throat. Keith McDonald? The body would be tough to identify since the fish had nibbled at the poor guy’s flesh. Even his mother wouldn’t recognize the mangled remains.
Bile rose in Reid’s throat, and he forced it down as Jane circled the body and examined it. He pulled out his waterproof camera and snapped off a few pictures as she pointed to various spots on the body like the head and chest. He couldn’t see a clear cause of death.
He glanced at his computer. They’d been at this depth for twenty minutes, and he blinked to clear his vision as the numbers for his nitrogen intake wavered. That couldn’t be right. They had to start up and make at least one safety stop. Jane glanced at her computer and jabbed her thumb upward.
He nodded and kicked his fins. They paused for a decompression stop, and impatience radiated from Jane’s eyes. When the time was up, she nodded and they ascended the final fifteen feet to the boat.
A wave broke over his head as he tore off his mask and let Jane climb the ladder first into the boat. She shook her head and pushed him toward the ladder. “Get aboard.”
He obeyed her terse command and climbed the ladder. Jane clambered aboard and ripped off her mask, then threw it down before rushing to his side as he came onto the boat. “You okay? You look a little green.”
He nodded. “I’m fine. Hard to look at though. That poor guy.”
She grabbed for the phone she’d left on the console and made a call. He listened as she gave a pointed request for forensic divers out at the rig.
She ended the call and turned to face him. “His mother was right. It wasn’t an accident, and he didn’t commit suicide.”
“If it’s Keith. It might take a while for a positive ID. How long for the forensic team to get here?”
“An hour or so.” She held out her hand. “Let me see the pictures.”
He stood silently as she flipped through the photos on the camera’s screen.
She gave it back. “They’re good, but I was hoping the pictures would show what I couldn’t see. I have no idea how he died.”
“It’s not obvious. Could have drowned, but it’s hard to say. It’s possible he was killed and tied to the girder to conceal the body. How will you ID him?”
“DNA maybe. Unless we find something definitive on the body.” Her phone dinged, and she reached for it. “It’s Augusta.” She frowned as she read the text. “The doctor released Tyler this morning. He put him on some medication he thinks will help until Tyler’s memory issues clear.”
“So he’s not a danger to Megan?”
“He doesn’t think so.” She dropped the phone back on the console and reached for a sandwich from the cooler. “I’m starved.” She offered him a turkey and cheese sandwich.
He took it. “Diving always makes me hungry too.”
The oil platform high above their heads clanged with noise and activity. Reid had an hour before people showed up. How did he bring up the topic of their past again?
Fourteen
Jane couldn’t get the image of the body out of her head. At least Ruby hadn’t been faced with it.
When they finished their sandwiches, she handed Reid a banana and a packet of almonds from the basket. “Still hungry?”
He nodded and peeled his banana and took a bite.
His somber expression took her aback, and she frowned. “What?”
He swallowed his bite of banana. “Just thinking about . . . us.”
She wanted to tell him there wasn’t an us, but it would be a lie, and they both knew it. The story of their past would likely haunt them both until they talked about it.
He cleared his throat. “Are you ever going to forgive me, Jane?”
She tore open her bag of nuts and didn’t look at him.
“Jane?”
She risked raising her gaze to meet his. “Why are you so different now? Why didn’t I recognize you?”
“I’m not the same person. I worked hard to overcome what I did—what my dad did.” He rubbed his shaved head. “I shaved it all off to become a new person, to leave the old behind. To show my true face to the world.”
She clenched her left hand into a fist. “That didn’t work well, did it? You hid your true face from me for way too long.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it when you should have told me immediately.”
“What would you have done if the situation were reversed? Would you have trusted me and believed that I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Will?”
She opened her mouth to assert she’d have been brutally honest, but the words died on her tongue. She didn’t trust easily after the way she’d been hurt as a child. If she’d come to town with Will in tow, she would have checked out Reid carefully.
“You can’t say it, can you?”
She shook her head. “Maybe I wouldn’t have told you either. But by the time you k-kissed me, you already knew what kind of person I was. You let me begin to care about you, and all the time you were hiding something so vital from me. If you’d told me as soon as you knew you could trust me, I could have taken it better.”
His gaze fell, and he ripped open the bag of almonds. He lifted his eyes again to hers. “You’re right. Even when I was beginning to care for you, I knew I should tell you. I didn’t want to spoil what was starting between us. I was wrong. I don’t know how to fix what I did though. I wish I could.”
No excuses, no rationalizations. His naked sorrow over his behavior touched the sore places of her heart with a soothing balm.
She popped a handful of almonds into her mouth so she didn’t have to answer him while she thought about a response. The bite of the wasabi powder made her nose run. At least that’s what she told herself. She grabbed a tissue from a storage compartment and sniffled as she willed the tears away.
Why would she cry now? She had Will in her life, which was incredible. Maybe she wanted more. Maybe she wanted Reid too. But that sounded crazy after what he’d done.
She balled up the tissue in her fist. “I’ll try. That’s all I can say.”
“That’s enough. I-I care about you, Jane.”
What did that mean? She couldn’t look in his face because she wasn’t sure she was ready to find out. “Any texts from Will?”
He cleared his throat. “Nope. He’s probably helping your dad load ammunition.”
“Just make sure he’s okay.”
Reid tapped on his phone, and it dinged moments later. “He’s working on homework. Megan came over after school, and she’s hanging out.”
“Uh-oh, it’s starting. He’d have to have been a concrete post not to notice her flirting last night. Did he say anything after she left?”
“We talked a little. He asked what I liked about you.”
She grinned. “So he asked for love advice? That’s so cute. What did you say?”
“I put him off. It didn’t seem the time to discuss things. I didn’t want to talk about you behind your back.”
“She’s the first girl I’ve seen him interested in.”
“I tried to probe a little after his question, but he clammed up.”
“I suppose it’s all too new. And she was Tyler’s girl. That has to feel wrong somehow too.”
“He probably doesn’t know how she feels yet. I remember the first time I—” He broke off and looked down.
“You what?”
“After my dad made us a couple. I-I didn’t have any idea how you felt about me.”
Her hands went as clammy as the first night he’d come to her. “I was terrified.”
“Me too. But I liked you. I always liked you.”
“You didn’t know me.”
She didn’t want to talk about this. Those nights were memories she’d worked hard to bury, but it appeared he hadn’t dug a hole as deep as she had.
The sound of a boat motor grew louder in the distance, and a small motorboat sped toward them. “There’s the forensic divers. We might get some answers now.”
“And you might get to avoid talking about the past, right?”
Had he really whispered those words, or had they come from her own heart? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
* * *
A rock lodged in Jane’s stomach at the coming interview.
The fireball in the west plunged into the dark sea, and Jane switched on the boat’s headlights. The lights of Gulf Shores beckoned across the water, and she headed for Bon Secour Bay. Every muscle in her body ached from the dive, and her spirit hurt as well from what faced her.
The forensic team had found a necklace on the body—a distinctive platinum pelican Ruby had mentioned he never took off. She’d given it to him on his sixteenth birthday. Jane had Reid take a picture of it to show Ruby. The body had to be Keith.
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