by DeLeon, Jana
“We’ll get another chance,” I said, forcing my voice to sound steady. But the reality was, I was still upset over the lost opportunity and anxious about when the next one might present itself.
“Randal and one of his men were taken alive,” Carter said. “Randal was shot but it’s a flesh wound.”
“And the FBI agents?” I asked.
“One casualty,” Carter said quietly.
“That sucks.” I hated it when the good guys went down.
“I’ll say a prayer for his family,” Gertie said.
“Of course,” Ida Belle said. She looked over at Gertie, then back at Carter. “What about the agents at the safe house?”
Carter stared at her for a couple seconds, then I saw his lower lip tremble. Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer and broke into a smile. “I have never seen anyone so pissed in my entire lifetime. When they didn’t respond to Harrison’s call, we went over to check, afraid something had happened to you. I should have known better.”
“I agree,” Gertie said. “Maybe from now on, you’ll stop underestimating us.”
“That’s not a good thing,” Ida Belle said. “Carter underestimating us is the only reason we’ve gotten away with most of the things we’ve done.”
Gertie’s face fell. “Oh yeah.”
Carter shook his head. “Anyway, we uncuffed the one agent and let the other one out of the bathroom. Thanks for leaving the key hanging right there on the wall.”
“That door’s an original piece,” Ida Belle said. “We didn’t want you to have to kick it down.”
“They both yelled at Harrison for a while, wanting you two brought up on charges, and claiming the bureau would sue for wasting their time, and a whole bunch of other nonsense.”
“Sore losers,” Gertie said.
“Harrison apologized for the inconvenience and said the CIA would be happy to reimburse the department for any expenses they felt were due. Then he claimed you three were being placed in the federal witness protection program and they wouldn’t be troubled by you in the future. They had barely gotten out the door before Harrison sat down on the couch and started laughing.”
“And what about you?” Ida Belle asked.
Carter smiled. “Oh, I didn’t wait for them to leave. I was too happy to see someone else on the receiving end of your terror besides me.”
Ida Belle blew out a breath. “I still can’t believe Gracie was the counterfeiting contact.”
“Me either,” Gertie said. “And there’s something I don’t understand. Fortune said Gracie said she was cleaning house, but why would she kill Max before he fixed the flaws on the money?”
“Gracie didn’t kill Max,” Carter said.
“What?” Ida Belle said. “But we thought…”
Carter nodded. “And that’s exactly what I would have thought except that after Fortune told me about your suspicions, I checked Brody’s alibi for that night. He and Gracie were two hundred miles away at her sister’s house for a wedding. It was an all-night party. There’s no way she could have gotten back to Sinful, murdered Max, then back to her sister’s house without someone missing her.”
“Then who?” Gertie asked. “One of Randal’s men?”
I looked down at a pile of coins on my kitchen table and like magic, it all fell into place. The coins, the original artist comment Gracie had made, Max’s oddly timed return to Sinful.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I have an idea…it’s going to sound strange at first but hear me out.”
And then I told them my theory.
###
It wasn’t even dawn the next morning when Harrison called. Ida Belle and Gertie were still asleep, and since Ally was still at Emmaline’s, I took the call in bed.
“Are you just getting away?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Harrison said, and I could hear the exhaustion in his voice. I knew that exhaustion well. So many hours without sleep piled on top of a huge adrenaline rush. Then when all that adrenaline left your body, you were ready to collapse.
“Why don’t you head to a hotel and get some sleep. Carter told me everything he knew. You can fill me in on the rest later.”
“There’s not much more to cover,” he said. “The FBI offered Randal a deal if he testified against Jamison. They’re pretty sure he’s going to take it.”
“What happened to Brody Sampson?”
“I actually felt sorry for him. That man was a wreck. Last I saw, he was alternating between telling the FBI everything he knew and crying. Apparently, Gracie and Randal had been tight since they were kids, but given Randal’s line of work, they’d kept it on the down-low as adults.”
“Did he say how she got involved with Max?”
“He said she gave Max the money to leave Sinful and hooked him up with Randal for work. That doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe you get it.”
“I do.” Gracie was Max’s financial ticket out of Sinful. Her way of getting back at Celia for sleeping with Brody.
“Anyway, Max did odd jobs for Randal until Gracie came up with the idea for him to make the coin dies. Brody found a bag of coins. He had some uncle who was a collector and knew they weren’t real. He confronted Gracie and she admitted involvement, but said she’d quit. Until he saw Max in Sinful, he thought she had.”
“That much might have been true, until her cousin was in the market for a counterfeit artist.”
“And Gracie figured she and Max could move up the food chain,” Harrison said. “That would make sense.”
“Except Max wasn’t quite good enough and had someone else do the work. I wonder if Gracie knew who the original artist was.”
“I don’t suppose we’ll ever know, but if I was Max, I damned sure wouldn’t have told her. If she had someone better, she wouldn’t need him.”
“Yeah, she was scary,” I said. “If you would have met her before the alley, you would have been really dumbfounded. I was.”
“Speaking of dumbfounded, I guess Carter told you about the agents at the safe house?”
“Oh yeah. We had a good laugh over it. I hear you did too.”
He chuckled. “I owe you an apology, Redding. I know you told me that the things you got into with them weren’t your fault, but I couldn’t believe there were people out there more hardheaded than you and who would take even bigger risks. I was wrong.”
“God broke the mold when he made Ida Belle and Gertie.”
“Nah, he just modified it and we got you. I feel sorry for Carter. He’s a cool dude. He doesn’t deserve being saddled with the three of you.”
I felt my stomach clench. “About that…what’s my situation now?”
“I was waiting to call you until I could talk things over with Morrow.”
I sucked in a breath. “And?”
“Given that he lost men here and the FBI is looking hard at Jamison and anyone he did business with, neither one of us figures Ahmad is going to maintain a presence. In fact, we both think you’re safer there now than you were before.”
The breath I’d been holding came out with a whoosh.
“I didn’t tell Morrow everything,” Harrison said. “I left out the stuff about you and Carter…the personal stuff. If you want to stay, Morrow is happy to leave you there, but if you want to go, I’ll figure out something.”
Relief, excitement, and also fear coursed through me. I hadn’t expected to have a choice, and now, I wasn’t certain what to say. I knew it would be easier on Carter if I left. Out of sight, out of mind probably made the whole broken heart thing go faster, and my heart wasn’t doing all that well either.
But…
And it was the but that stopped me from packing my bags.
Maybe two butts.
“If it’s all the same,” I said, “I think I’ll stay put.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
After a morning celebration because I was staying, Gertie and Ida Belle had gone home, exhausted but happy. Ally was back in residence with me, sworn to s
ilence and tickled that everything had turned out all right. Except for Emmaline, who’d been told the same story Ally heard, no one else in Sinful was the wiser for our latest escapade. We’d explained our sudden return from our Florida vacation as a screwup at the hotel where we had reservations and claimed we’d reschedule for later on.
Ally had gone to meet her contractor, and I had just settled down in my hammock with a beer and a book when Carter walked into my backyard. I sat up on the edge of the strings, watching him as he walked. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since the night before and wondered if he’d taken action on what I’d thrown out at him.
His expression was resigned and sad and I instantly knew that my theory had been correct. He pulled a lawn chair over and sat down facing me.
“You don’t have to say it,” I said. “I can see it in your face.”
He sighed. “Belinda confessed before I even started questioning her. Everything you guessed was the truth. When Max couldn’t get the design for the money right, he tracked down Landon in the group home in New Orleans. He’d been terrorizing Landon for almost a year before the poor boy finally broke down and told Belinda what was happening.”
“Did she know it was Max?” I asked.
“Not until Landon had that little fit in the General Store. She got suspicious and asked Landon if Max was the man he was afraid of. She’d been trying to get it out of him, but every time she asked, he cried and refused to speak for days at a time.”
“Jesus. Poor Landon. Poor Belinda. She dedicated her life to protecting her son and then a scumbag like Max takes advantage of him.”
“Yeah. She was angry and sad about the whole thing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone that broken—a civilian, anyway.”
“How did it come together?”
“A shutter came loose and she went out to secure it. She saw Max go down the street toward Celia’s house.”
I frowned. “I wonder what he was doing there?”
“I guess we’ll never know. Anyway, Belinda said she knew Celia was at the church, so she got her shotgun and followed him.”
“Where was Landon?”
“At the kitchen table watching movies on his iPad. He never knew she was gone. She followed Max into Celia’s house and confronted him in the kitchen. He tried to deny it at first, but finally admitted it was the truth and that he wasn’t leaving Sinful without getting what he came for.”
I shook my head. “So an angry mama bear was holding a shotgun on him and Max thought that was the way to handle it? What a moron.”
“She said she thought he was holding a pistol. She thought he lifted it and that’s why she fired.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. At this point, she’d say anything.”
“Of course. She’s worried about what will happen to Landon if she’s convicted. Did you talk to the DA?”
“Yeah. He has a brother with autism and was particularly disturbed with the callousness Max displayed. Charges won’t be filed against Belinda as long as she testifies about the counterfeiting. And since she’s the only person capable of getting the story out of Landon, they need her with him to build their case against Jamison’s organization.”
“What will happen in the meantime?”
“They will be put in protective custody until the trial. I think that’s what relieved Belinda the most. She and Landon would be easy targets for a man with Jamison’s connections.”
I nodded. “I’m glad they’ll be safe.”
“Me too. You know, I’m still amazed how you put it all together. There was so little to go on.”
“I’m not sure how I did either. It was a few small things and a general feeling that something was off, you know? I just couldn’t figure out why, but then it all clicked. Landon’s reaction to Max at the General Store and refusal to draw anymore, Landon’s insistence on the sidewalk that day that he didn’t like the fake coin, Max’s return to Sinful, and the group home that was supposed to have closed down was still up and running. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but somehow it made sense.”
Carter nodded. “I think instinct is the most overlooked asset of good investigative work. If we paid more attention to those feelings, things wouldn’t be as hard to figure out.”
I had a feeling that his comment referred to far more than my uncovering of Belinda as Max’s killer. I was certain Carter had felt something was off with me, probably from the moment he first met me. And now he was kicking himself for letting his attraction to me override what his gut was telling him. It was a hard pill for anyone to swallow, but especially hard for someone whose job description included reading people.
“Probably so,” I said. “But if we didn’t get sidetracked by other things, then we would be robots, right?”
“I suppose that’s true enough.” He stared at the ground for several seconds, then finally looked back up at me. “Have you talked to Harrison yet about your situation?”
I nodded. “He called this morning after he’d had a chance to go over everything with Director Morrow.”
“And?”
“And they both feel I’m safer now than before. That given the FBI investigation into Jamison and the loss of his men on-site, Ahmad would be foolish to maintain a presence here. Ahmad doesn’t do foolish.”
“So you’re staying?”
“They told me it was my choice, and I chose to stay.”
Carter frowned and nodded. I’m not sure what reaction I’d hoped to get from him, but I couldn’t help feeling hurt at his lack of interest.
“Harrison told me how you blew your cover,” he said quietly. “Why Ahmad put the price on you.”
I felt a blush run up my face. “I shouldn’t have done it. All those years of work and I not only blew our setup but got myself put on the top of a hit list. It was stupid.”
“It was human.”
I sniffed. “Maybe.”
“He also told me that you’re generally thought of as one of the best agents the CIA has ever had.”
“Ha.” I looked down at the ground. “No, that honor goes to my father.”
“Who Harrison said was a fine agent and also a Grade A asshole.”
I felt a lump form in my throat and I looked back up at Carter. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I think you’re really hard on yourself. Don’t get me wrong, in your job you have to be. Perfection is the goal, and the closer you come to it, the better your chance of making it to the next mission. But you can push yourself so hard that you forget who you are or why you’re doing the job to begin with.”
“I have always known why I do the job.”
“To prove to your father that you are good enough?”
I frowned. This was something I’d been doing a lot of thinking about in the past couple days, and the takedown in New Orleans had clarified a couple of things that I wasn’t certain about.
“That’s definitely where it started,” I said.
“And now?”
“Now I do it because I love it. I’m not made for a regular life. Maybe it’s because of my father. Maybe it’s because I’ve been doing it for so long. But none of that matters now. The bottom line is that’s who I am. I need the work, the thrill, the excitement, the challenge.”
Carter nodded, and I could see the disappointment in his expression.
“I understand,” he said. “But it’s not something I want in my life. I came back here for a simple life…”
“And all I offer is complication.”
“I’m sorry, Fortune, but whatever we had can’t continue. The two of us want completely different things. When I left Iraq there were things I never wanted to be part of again. Your job…” He sighed. “I can’t sit home wondering if you’re all right when you’re gone. That’s not the way I want to live.”
I felt the tears well up in my eyes. I understood exactly what he was saying, and I didn’t blame him one bit. But it didn’t hurt any less.
He rose from the chair, leaned over, and kissed me on the cheek.
“Good-bye,” he said.
I felt the tears run down my cheeks as he walked away.
Maybe I’d made the wrong decision. Maybe I should have left Sinful and started over somewhere without the baggage. Without the heartache.
I wiped the tears with the back of my hand. Carter was only one part of my life in Sinful. All the others were worth staying for. I just had to keep reminding myself of that.
My cell phone buzzed and I looked down at the display and smiled.
Crisis at the café. Celia’s struck again.
What’s in the cards for Fortune? Find out more in FORTUNE HUNTER, coming 2016.
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About the Author
Jana DeLeon grew up among the bayous and gators of southwest Louisiana and writes about them now. She’s never stumbled across a mystery like one of her heroines but is still hopeful. She lives in Dallas, Texas with a menagerie of animals and not a single ghost.
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