by Marlie May
She pulled her phone and started typing. “I’ll call Flint and tell you both at the same time.”
“Mia?” Flint said through speakerphone a second later.
“Hey. How are things? I’ve got you on speaker, by the way. I’m with Eli and we’re driving home.”
“I’m doing fine, but you didn’t call me so you and Eli could chat. What’s up?”
Mia explained about the fire in the hotel, that Jax was in the hospital but would be okay, and about us leaving early.
“A fire? Eli…”
“Yeah.” No need to ask what he’d meant. Flint wanted to know if Mia was safe. “It’s over. The guy who was responsible is dead.”
Flint’s breath whooshed through the line, and his voice rose with worry. “You’re sure you’re all right, Mia? I wish I could be there with you, sis.”
“I’m okay.” Reaching over, she took my hand. “Eli was with me.”
Not when I needed to be, which burned through me like a raging wildfire. I’d known I’d take a risk sending Mia off alone, but what else could I do? If she’d stayed, she could’ve died. Sure, she could’ve helped, but there was no guarantee we wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the smoke. I hadn’t really sent her for help. Though I would’ve welcomed it, I could get Jax by myself. But I needed her out of the hotel fast.
I’d played right into the guy’s hands.
“You don’t know how much I appreciate this, Eli,” Flint said. “You being there for Mia. I owe you.”
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Keeping Mia safe is the most important thing to me.”
“I can take over once I get home. You must be worn out.”
I was tired. Stress, lack of sleep, worry about Jax and Mia, plus getting knocked over the head would do that to a guy. And we’d gone to bed late…
“Mia and I—”
“We’re…” she said at the same time. The soft smile she gave me was filled with heat and promise. “Eli and I…” She broke off, but at my nod, added. “We’re together, now.”
It felt good to hear the words spoken. Right. I wanted to kiss her, show her what she meant to me, but I had to focus on driving and the conversation. I could show her later, though.
“I…see,” Flint said. “Damn well better not hurt her,” he growled, but a hint of humor came through in his voice, telling me he was happy for us, that he welcomed this.
Had he known all along that we’d fit together so well?
“I wanted to talk to you both at the same time, which is why I called rather than wait until you got home,” Mia said. She turned sparkling eyes my way. “And Eli wants to hear what I have to say immediately.”
“Okay.” A strong hint of reservation came through in Flint’s voice.
“The guy that fell had a gun. I pushed him and when he landed, the gun discharged, and he was shot in the chest. It was clear he’d hit a main artery and there wasn’t anything I could do for him. He died while I knelt beside him.”
“Mia! You’re all right?”
“I wasn’t hurt at all.”
Flint’s breath chugged out. “I’m grateful this is over, that he didn’t hurt you or Eli. Why was he after you?”
Pulling up to a stop sign, I turned out onto another road.
“He wanted something a man gave me in Mexico, but I don’t know why. It doesn’t make sense because it looks like nothing.”
“Wait,” I said, darting a look at her before returning it to the road. “Back up a second. Is this somehow related to your medical mission?” The robbery took place in a different location, but Peter…Was he involved? I hadn’t mentioned my suspicions to Mia but I sure would to Flint once we had a chance to talk alone. Besides, the guy had mentioned the maestro.
“This happened after my birthday dinner. You guys had left.”
“You said you were robbed.” Still wanted to rip a bunch of cops apart for how they’d treated her.
She pulled her gaze from mine, down to her lap where she’d set her phone. “There never was a robbery.”
“Mia,” Flint growled out. “Tell us what’s going on.”
“I decided to take a walk on the beach after you guys left.”
“Thought you went to your room?” I tapped the wheel with my fingers, wishing I could pull over and hold her because she looked ready to fall apart. But we needed to get home. While the guy in the stairwell was dead, my earlier hunch was proving true. I had a feeling this situation was just starting to heat up, not cool down.
“I did go back to my room, but I was bored. It was a gorgeous night.” Her laugh came out bitter. “Well, it was gorgeous when you guys were around. But it was my last night in Mexico and I decided to take a walk on the beach. I tripped over a man lying in the sand.”
I had a sick feeling where this was going. It couldn’t be…could it? “How does this tie into the guy in the stairwell?”
“Before the man lying in the sand died, he gave me a small notebook. It was hidden on his body.” Her face pinched. “He was dying. I think a lacerated liver from the knife wound, and—”
“Knife wound?” Flint shot out. His voice deepened. “Mia, I—”
She held up her hand and, as if he could see, he said nothing further. “He was desperate for me to take the notebook.”
“Where is it?” I asked. The one good thing about getting an early start was that the roads were nearly empty of other cars. We were making great progress and would be home in about an hour. With things still uncertain, we needed to get to a secure location.
“That’s a great question,” she said.
“The notebook,” Flint said. “Eli. You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Too much of a coincidence. “The notebook,” I said to prompt Mia.
“The man in the stairwell told me to give it to Julia.”
Flint’s breath wheezed out. “Julia? It can’t be…”
“He said to give it to her, that she’d destroy it. When I questioned him about the name, he said I knew who he meant. It is her.”
“Fuck,” Flint ground out. “This is all…yeah.”
Tied together, he wanted to say but wouldn’t in front of Mia.
“Did Julia have a brother?” I asked. I’d only met her a few times. Pretty, petite. Haunted eyes.
“She told me she was alone but I guess that was a lie like everything else.” No denying the disgust in Flint’s voice.
He’d mourned that woman for months. Went frantic trying to find her, but she must’ve ditched her phone or blocked him because he’d had no success tracking her down. She’d disappeared as if she’d never existed, leaving Flint behind with a shattered heart.
“What are the odds?” I said.
“We need that notebook, Mia,” Flint shot out. “Where is it.”
“At my place.” She gnawed on a fingernail. “Tell me why it’s important because, to me, it looks blank. You don’t know how close I was to throwing it out. Actually, I kind of did.”
Flint groaned and I was tempted to groan along with him. “Please tell me you didn’t get rid of it.”
She half smiled. “Well, it’s in the trash but it hasn’t made it to the landfill yet.” Her smile fled. “But I mean it. I’m not saying anything else until you tell me how all this ties together.” Her gaze lifted to me. “Please?”
“I’m sorry, Mia,” Flint said. “I can’t say much more.”
“It’s…part of a job,” I said carefully.
She smacked her fist on her thigh. “I knew it. Everything that’s happened is connected to Flint’s business, isn’t it? It has never been all about me. That guy…” Her voice broke. “He’s been after me for the notebook. It’s part of some top-secret job you guys are doing for the government, and I somehow stumbled into the middle of it.”
Silence reigned between Flint and me.
Turning in her seat, she gave me a look that should’ve pinned me in place or at least made me squirm. If she was good at reading me, only the tightening of my jaw would
tell her she’d squarely hit her mark.
“Why not admit it?” she said. “Oh, wait, if you tell me there’s a connection, you’ll have to kill me.”
Flint huffed. “It’s not like that.”
“Then tell me.”
I yanked on my t-shirt collar. “You know I’ll never hurt you.”
“Come on.” She tapped her temple. “You’re not the only one who can connect clues. I knew right from the start that you guys are secret operatives. Kinda like James Bond. Only without the sexy accent.”
I shot her a sharp look. “You think James Bond is sexy?” Which one? The old guy from Scotland or the new guy…who was hot.
She rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t everyone think James Bond is sexy?”
I raked my fingers through my hair.
“Strange that I can find humor in this tense situation, but what else can I do? Cry? I’m done playing the wimpy heroine like this is some action movie.” She grumbled. “You think I haven’t connected the fact that my sweet Aunt Becca—who happens to be retired from the CIA—randomly took a job with Flint because she wanted to keep her mind active? Last I knew, the best way to do that is by playing Sudoku. I’ve joked with Flint about how he’s kind of a James Bond with MacGyver thrown in for fun. You know, the—” She made air quotes. “Special Ops stuff combined with all that construction experience. And he hasn’t denied it.”
Flint grunted, giving nothing away.
Her lips twisted. “You guys don’t fool me. Not any longer. I just can’t—” Her voice cut out, and she swallowed deeply. “I thought I was dealing with all this. Someone breaking into my house. Throwing me in a trunk. The seafood which you and I both know seemed unrelated but is now highly suspicious. And now a guy who chased me on the beach in Mexico after killing a man tries to…well, I don’t know what he planned for me. But I’m part of all this, whether you like it or not. I have to know what’s going on here. Be honest with me. Please.”
“I think there is a connection between the man you found dying on the beach, the man with the gun in the stairwell, and a job we were doing in Mexico,” I said, because she was right. We needed to tell her. Maybe not everything because much of what we did would need high clearance to share, but she was involved whether we wanted her to be or not. She had the right to know why her life had been threatened.
And I was past done with lying.
“No shit,” she said with relief in her voice.
“We’ll tell you what we can,” Flint said. “Eli?”
I turned onto another secondary road. Cooler air drifted through the open windows from the woods on either side of us and swirled through the car. “Our knife-wielding friend obviously wanted the notebook. Nothing new for you there. And since I’m surmising the dead guy in Mexico was our contact on a job that I will not share further details about—on a threat of impalement by you Uncle Sid—I’m leaving it at that for now.”
“I don’t need to know everything about your secret project,” she said.
“In Mexico, we were tasked with providing protection for a government contact, but the guy left the safe location where we’d hidden him.”
“Taken?” she asked. Astute.
“Maybe.”
“You’d hidden him near the hotel where we were staying,” she said with certainty.
Flint grunted. Yeah, he shouldn’t underestimate his sister. “Half a mile or so down the road.”
“Why was he walking on the beach in a suit?” she asked. “It was hot. Too hot for clothing like that.”
“Things are adding up,” Flint said. “Not that the suit alone proves anything.”
“Mid-fifties. Slender build,” Mia said, frowning. “Older scar running down his right cheek.”
“Crap,” I hissed out. “She did find our guy.” Somehow, I’d hoped all this would turn out to be unrelated. I hated that Mia’s life had been endangered in Mexico, that she was thrust in the path of harm here where she should be safest.
Hard to believe this all tied together, but this was too close, too coincidental. How the hell had it happened?
“Where exactly is that notebook, Mia?” Flint’s raised voice made me picture him leaning forward, the phone clutched tightly in his hand. “We need it.”
“In my house.”
“Hidden,” I said. A statement. Because, if it had been lying around, the guy would’ve found it.
“It’s blank.” Her brow furrowed. “Why would I need to hide something like that?”
As I turned onto her road, I was grateful we’d be home soon.
Home. Funny how Mia’s place felt like home already. If we stayed together…Best not to go there. Whatever we had was new. Untested. But I ached to find a place with her permanently.
Did I dare trust her not to bail on me like everyone else had?
I shook my head, hoping I could shove off the thought, but it lingered, a sour taint in my mouth. Trust should be given freely, not demanded.
“When I got home, I unpacked in my basement,” Mia said. “I put my clothes into the washer. The dress was stained with blood.” She glanced at me. “You remember.”
I’d never forget. The fear on her face…Why hadn’t I realized there was more to the situation than a simple robbery?
“I didn’t see any point in washing the dress. The blood had set; I’d never get it out. So, I tossed it into the trash beside my dryer. It’s only chance that I haven’t emptied the bucket yet.”
“And the notebook?” Flint asked.
“It’s in one of the dress pockets. Funny…”
“What?”
She turned a frown my way. “The cop in Mexico threw it into the trash. I retrieved it. If the guy on the beach wanted me to have it, I was determined to keep it. Now, I wonder if that cop was involved.”
“I’m glad you still have it,” Flint said. “Get it, Eli, and bring it to the shop. I should be home in, oh, four hours, assuming my flight’s on time.”
“We can run some tests,” I said eagerly as I turned into Mia’s driveway and turned off my Jeep. “If this came from our guy and I’m pretty sure it did, this is a major breakthrough. He…Flint, the guy in the stairwell? He said not to let the maestro get it.”
“Fuck,” Flint sighed out. “This is it. I’ll let Haylee and Gabe know. We can pull them out. Oh, hey,” he added. “They’re calling my flight.”
“We’ll see you soon,” Mia said.
“You will. Bye.”
She tucked her phone into her purse and turned to me. “It’s over, then. Finally. No more hiding?”
“You don’t need my bodyguard duties any longer.”
Her face tightened but she reached out and took my hand. My heart along with it. “That might be true, but I still need you.”
21
Mia
When we arrived home, Ginny was waiting, sitting on the sofa with purring Walter on her lap. “You’re home early!” she said.
“We ran into some problems at the conference,” I said as Eli closed the door behind us. A lot of problems.
“Walter was the bestest boy,” Ginny said in a cutesy voice. “So snuggly. I need to get a cat. Cooper keeps talking about a couple of dogs. A big, vicious one and a tiny, cuddly one. Or is it the other way around? But Walter here made me realize how nice kitties can be.”
I picked Walter up and gave him kisses. “Did my boy miss his mama? Bet you did.” When I put him down, he strolled over to weave around Eli’s legs until Eli scratched him behind his ears. Walter’s rumbling purr rang out again. “Thank you for taking care of him.”
“Any time. He’s the sweetest thing.”
Walter strolled back to the sofa and blinked up at Ginny, who stroked his back. When he jumped onto the sofa and curled up on a quilt, Ginny rose.
“That’s quite the neighbor you have there,” she said.
I sighed. What now? “You mean Elwin, I assume.”
“That’s his name?” Ginny’s lips twisted. “He didn’t introduce himself
. Not officially, anyway. He’s handy with his gun, however.”
Groaning, I rubbed my aching head. I needed to take some aspirin. Or have a shot of tequila. “What did he do?”
“Sat on his porch with a rifle pointed this way. Even shouted that it was loaded when I went out to my car to get something. I believe he thought I was you. Hello. Red hair?”
“It’s strawberry blonde,” I said.
“Sure. Anyway, I called Cooper and asked him to make an official appearance. He showed up in one of his uniforms and had a sit-down with Elwin. Told him that if he didn’t put away his rifle, Cooper was going to take it from him and put it away for him and Elwin wouldn’t like where Cooper put it.”
“Cool.” My chuckle slipped out. “Maybe he’ll leave me alone from now on.”
“Hard to say.” She tilted her head. “But I don’t think he wants another interaction with Cooper.”
“I owe him cookies.” Lots of cookies.
Ginny chuckled. “Don’t fatten him up too much. I want him to fit into his uniform for our wedding. Which is only a few months away!” A thrill of excitement came through in her voice. Rising, she lifted her purse off the coffee table. “Let me know if you need me to come hang out with Walter again. Despite your neighbor, it was a lot of fun.” She winked at Eli. “Maybe you’ll want a getaway weekend or something.”
“I will.” I hoped Eli would want a getaway weekend, too. Soon.
Ginny left and I locked the door behind her and engaged the alarms.
“Let me get that notebook for you,” I said.
We went down to the basement and over to the washer and dryer. The trash bucket was wedged into the gap between the wall and the dryer and I had to yank hard to get it out. Lint clumps in the bucket masked anything underneath, which could be why the man from the stairwell hadn’t searched further.
For some reason, I’d avoided emptying this trash bucket. Who knew why I hadn’t chucked it out completely. Maybe I saw the dress as a symbol of what happened in Mexico. My memories were more than enough to keep my heart jolting into action, but the dress was a tangible object. Real. It proved the incident had happened, that it wasn’t all in my mind. That it hadn’t been a simple robbery.
