Line of Duty

by Christy Barritt

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jaxon saw the shadow figure again. Was this the man who had been threatening Abby? Had he come to the hospital to find her and then followed her here? The timeline fit.

  Knowing what he did now about the blood at Abby’s cabin, he didn’t want to take any chances. Before the man could get away again, Jaxon tore down the street after him. But the man had a head start again. Jaxon had been nearly a block away.

  He would do everything in his power to catch the man this time.

  Jaxon’s muscles burned as he pushed himself faster and faster on the sidewalk. People moved out of his way, casting curious glances as Jaxon quickly maneuvered through the crowds.

  He stopped near a corner. The man had disappeared. Again.

  But he couldn’t have gone far. The question was, where had the man gone exactly?

  As Jaxon glanced down one of the side streets, he spotted him again.

  Without wasting any time, Jaxon took off that way, barely missing an oncoming car as he raced across the street. Whoever this man was, he was hiding something. Why else would he be running?

  The man was nimble. Jaxon had always been a fast runner, and he was having trouble catching the guy now.

  As the man turned the corner around another building, Jaxon slowed his steps. He didn’t want to walk into a trap. Instead, he braced himself.

  As Jaxon rounded the corner, he planted his feet, ready to be jumped.

  No one was there.

  His gaze wandered down the perimeter of the space. A car in the distance roared to life.

  The vehicle was too far away for Jaxon to get the license number, but he noted that it was a black Volvo.

  At least this chase hadn’t been a total waste.

  He drew in several deep breaths, trying to gather his thoughts.

  He needed to get back to Abby. He’d left one tumultuous situation only to return to another. As he walked back toward his truck, his phone rang, and Ansley’s name popped onto his screen.

  He briefly considered not answering, but finally he put the device to his ear. “Hey, Sis. What’s up?”

  “Hey, Bro. I just got out of my meeting. I wanted to finish the conversation I started earlier.”

  Jaxon almost told Ansley not to tell him whatever it was she’d discovered. Part of him didn’t even want to know what was going on with Abby. Something in his gut told him that this new information would change things. Maybe he didn’t want things to change.

  Before he could say anything else, Ansley blurted, “Abby is the woman whose boyfriend killed his wife so they could be together.”

  Jaxon felt the air leave his lungs. “What?”

  “Yes, it’s been all over the news. If you would watch it, you would know. That’s why she looked familiar to me.”

  Maybe that’s why Abby had looked familiar to the man in the restaurant as well. But there was no way Jaxon could see Abby being involved with something like that.

  “You have to have it wrong. Abby would never do something like that.”

  “I’m just telling you what the news is reporting. I don’t know who this chick is, and I don’t know what she’s up to, but be careful.”

  “I am always careful,” Jaxon said.

  “But, if the media is right, this woman is like a black widow. She has mind-control power over men. I have a bad feeling about this.”

  His jaw flexed as he bit down. “You haven’t even met her.”

  “After what I read, I don’t need to.”

  Jaxon put his phone away, but the bad feeling continued to churn in his gut. Obviously, there was a lot more to Abby’s story. Jaxon couldn’t have been that bad a judge of character, could he?

  He didn’t know. He didn’t want to think so. But Abby was going to need to tell him the truth. He wanted to hear her side of the story. He hoped with everything within him that she had a good explanation as to what had really happened.

  As Jaxon spotted his truck in the distance, he saw a car headed toward it. A black Volvo.

  He sucked in a breath, expecting the worst.

  But the car kept on going.

  Strange. Had the driver not known Abby was inside? Or was this mystery person not coming around because of Abby at all?

  As soon as Jaxon climbed into his truck, he felt the tension there. It was like Abby knew that he knew the truth.

  “Is everything okay?” Abby’s voice sounded so sweet, so sincere. Someone like Abby couldn’t possibly be guilty of the things she had been accused of.

  “I thought I saw someone,” Jaxon said. “I thought I saw him at the hospital also.”

  “Did you catch him?” Abby stared at him with wide eyes.

  “No, he got away again.”

  “Do you think he’s the same man who’s been sending me threats?”

  Jaxon shook his head. “I have no idea who he is, but I do know that he didn’t show up until you were in the hospital.”

  More color left her face, as if that was even possible.

  As he started his truck, he turned to Abby. “You and I need to talk.”

  With a frown, Abby nodded. “You’re right. We do. There are things I should’ve told you earlier. I’m ready to tell you now.”

  Abby waited until she was back at Jaxon’s cabin with a cup of coffee in her hand and the fire blazing in front of them before sharing her story. She prayed she could get through this without throwing up again, but she wasn’t certain that was possible. The emotional impact of everything that had happened felt ingrained into the fiber of her being.

  Jaxon sat silently in the chair beside the couch, waiting for her to start. But she could see the hesitation in his gaze and knew this probably wouldn’t go well. If she were in Jaxon’s shoes, she would also be very hesitant right now. In fact, she would probably run.

  She drew in a deep breath and set her cup down, knowing she would be unable to drink yet. There was no good way to start. She just needed to dive in.

  “About a year ago my friends encouraged me to try online dating,” she said. “They’re all married and happy right now, and I’m currently the only single one of the group. So they signed me up, and I really didn’t think much of it. I had some guys try to contact me, but I wasn’t interested in any of them. Then one day I got a new message from somebody out of state. From the very first line, I was hooked.”

  “What was his first line?”

  “Don’t you hate online dating? I did—until I read your profile.” Repeating it now, the message seemed a little cheesy. But it had been a refreshing change from the other emails where the guys had tried too hard to sell themselves or they’d been entirely inappropriate.

  Jaxon nodded, letting her know he was listening.

  “We had a lot in common,” Abby continued. “We started emailing, and then it turned into texting, which then turned into talking on the phone. Finally, after a few months, we decided to meet somewhere neutral. We went out to San Antonio, got two separate rooms at a hotel there, and that night we met for the first time for dinner.”

  She glanced up at Jaxon and saw his face was stoic. He was listening to her every word, but she couldn’t get a read on his expression. She had no choice but to continue.

  “The first meeting went so well that we decided to meet again the next month. Every time we met those first several times, it was somewhere neutral, and we both got our own rooms. We really clicked, and it was unlike anything I have ever experienced before. He was a businessman. Divorced—his wife had cheated, he said. No kids. From Minnesota. His friends had also talked him into trying this dating site.

  “Eventually, I invited Patrick out to my hometown, and he met my coworkers and my family. Everybody loved him as much as I did. At that point, we started talking about marriage. We had even talked about moving somewhere we could both have a fresh start together. That way neither of us would resent the other for having to give up our families and careers. I was willing to do that for Patrick. I felt that strongly about him.”


  Abby looked at Jaxon again and saw that he was still listening with that unreadable expression. She almost wished he would show something so she could get a pulse on his thoughts. But, really, in the long run, it didn’t matter. His reaction wouldn’t change the truth, wouldn’t change reality.

  “Things started to go south,” she continued, staring at the flames. “I thought it was weird that he didn’t want me to go to his hometown to meet his family. In fact, I felt a little insulted. He always had a good excuse as to why I couldn’t go. But, after a while, it just felt strange. How were we ever going to get married and start a life together if I wasn’t allowed to even see where he was from and meet the people that he knew?”

  “Good question.” Jaxon took a sip of his coffee.

  “Eventually, Patrick suggested we should just elope. Though the idea was tempting, I knew it wouldn’t be wise. Red flags went up in my mind. One day, Patrick showed up by surprise at my place. But something about him seemed off. I couldn’t place what it was exactly, but there was almost a desperation in his eyes.

  “After that weekend, I knew I had to call things off with him. I knew it would be better to do it face-to-face, but I also knew I couldn’t wait until we saw each other in another month. So I called him. He didn’t answer. It was outside of our normal time. We had had a specific schedule because of his work.”

  Jaxon nodded, letting her know he was listening but nothing else.

  Abby continued. “In retrospect I see that it was all just an act, but at the time it made sense. Patrick called me back that evening, and I broke things off with him. He begged me not to. Said that he could make things right, and that he loved me more than anybody he’d ever loved in his life. He sounded very convincing, and, for a moment, I even wondered if I should maybe consider it. But, in the end, I told him that it wasn’t a good idea. That we needed space.”

  Abby attempted to take a sip of her drink. Her words seemed surreal, like she was telling someone else’s story. But it had all really happened to her.

  “He began to text and email me even more after that. He said that he would do anything to make things work between us. He apologized for not inviting me to meet his coworkers and family and said that he could remedy that if I just gave him some time. I didn’t respond initially, because I had asked for space and he clearly wasn’t giving it to me.

  “About a month later, he showed up again at my door, crying. Begging me to take him back. Something just seemed different about him. He no longer seemed like the man of my dreams or the man that I wanted to marry. In fact, I was having trouble remembering what I’d even seen in him at all. I had to get a couple friends to come over to get him to leave me alone. But eventually he did leave.

  “The next week, I happened to be watching TV when I saw the national news come on. I remember the shock that washed over me when I saw Patrick’s photo there. He was doing a press conference on his front lawn. His wife had gone missing, and he was begging for the public’s assistance in finding her.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Abby wiped away a tear from beneath her eyes as the memories flooded her. She’d never forget how surreal it had felt to see Patrick at the press conference. It all seemed like a bad dream—but it wasn’t.

  “Patrick had a whole story worked out,” she continued. “He said his wife may have been seeing someone else. It turned out his name really wasn’t Patrick Williams, but it was Patrick Finnegan. That’s what the ticker said at the bottom of the screen, at least.”

  “That was the first time you realized that he wasn’t who he said he was?” Jaxon asked.

  Abby grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, suddenly chilly. “That’s right. Like I said, I began suspecting that something wasn’t right, but I had no idea how deeply it went. I just thought he was one of those guys who had presented himself as someone he wasn’t on social media. It happens all the time. People put that they’re athletic and adventurous when in truth they like watching TV and eating fast food. Everyone tries to make themselves look a little bit better online, right? Either way, I had no clue.

  “As soon as I heard what was going on, I called the Minnesota police. I told them who I was and what I knew. It wasn’t long after that Patrick became a suspect in his wife’s disappearance. Two weeks later, they discovered her dead body in a field about five miles away from their home.”

  Jaxon shifted, as if he found it hard to stomach that thought. “That’s horrible.”

  “It was definitely horrible. And horrific. Unbelievable. I could go on and on.”

  “Did they arrest Patrick?”

  Abby shook her head. “No, from my understanding, they don’t have enough evidence yet.”

  “But you feel like he’s guilty?”

  “I do. Even though I tried to help the police, somehow I became the bad guy. The media began to paint me as someone who’d begged Patrick to kill his wife so we could be together.” Tears sprung to Abby’s eyes, and she wiped them with her sleeve. “I would never do that. I honestly couldn’t even believe anybody would accuse me of doing that. But they had.”

  “And?” Jaxon stared at her, waiting for Abby to continue.

  She sucked in a shaky breath. “I thought it would pass. But then I realized that everyone was looking for some type of sensational story to fuel the gossip chains. They called me ‘The Other Woman.’ Somehow, despite all the evidence, I became the bad guy. Even people in my hometown began looking at me like I was different. They were wondering if I might have been involved in this woman’s murder.” Her gaze latched on to Jaxon’s. “I promise you, I had nothing to do with what happened. Not that it matters. No one seems to believe me.”

  Jaxon’s face remained expressionless. “And the Executioner?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut. “I began getting threats from him shortly after. Honestly, there were so many people who could be responsible for sending those threats. The local police chief didn’t seem to take me very seriously. In fact, he acted like I might be complicit with this as well. I felt like I had no choice but to run. That’s when I came to Fog Lake, hoping to lie low until things passed. Mostly, though, I hoped to escape from this man known as the Executioner. That leads me to this moment.”

  Abby finished. She didn’t know what else there was that she could tell Jaxon. Now it was up to him whether or not he was going to believe her.

  Jaxon didn’t say anything for a minute. Abby had been around enough people to read between the lines. He might want to believe her, but there was always going to be that doubt in his mind now. Whatever goodwill he’d felt toward her was most likely gone.

  She stood and wiped her hands on the side of her jeans. “If you don’t mind, I think I could use a few minutes to rest and lie down.”

  Jaxon nodded slowly, almost lethargic. “Help yourself. I’ll be down here.”

  She could feel the disappointment humming from him. Part of her had been drawn to the man, and she’d desperately hoped against hope that he might believe her. That he might be on her side.

  But that had been hoping too much.

  Hopeless.

  There was that word again. It kept wanting to invade Abby’s life and her thoughts. She was getting too tired to fight it.

  As Abby disappeared up the steps, Jaxon leaned back in his chair and let his head fall against the cushions there. That was a lot to comprehend.

  Abby had clearly been through a devastating experience, to say the least. Though he could see why some people might wonder if she was guilty, Jaxon’s gut told him that she was telling the truth.

  Jaxon opened his computer, and out of curiosity Googled Patrick Finnegan’s name.

  Pages and pages of results came up. This certainly had been a hot news item since Jaxon had started avoiding all media over the past few months. A picture of Patrick stared back at him. The man looked like the all-American boy next door all grown up. He had a charismatic smile, he dressed well, and everybody he worked with had only glowing
things to say about him.

  Pictured beside him was a blonde woman with an equally big smile. There were various pictures of the couple. One was on the beach, another at a football game, and still another at a Christmas gathering. They certainly looked like a happy couple.

  His wife’s name was Theresa, and they’d been high school sweethearts. All their friends said they’d seemed happy together and that no one had suspected the two were having problems. Jaxon knew enough about police investigations to know there was probably more to the story yet to be revealed.

  Perhaps the police were hanging onto certain pieces of information until the right time. His gaze stopped when he saw a news article that was just released today.

  His eyes widened as he read the words there. “It’s believed that Abby Brennan was involved as a conspirator in the death of Theresa Finnegan. The police have opened up about some emails that were exchanged between Patrick Finnegan and Brennan. The texts between them detail how they could be together.”

  Jaxon scanned the emails and felt his muscles tighten until they felt like they might snap. Apparently, based on these emails, Patrick would have to pay so much alimony that he and Abby would never have a decent life together. But if Theresa died, they’d be home free.

  Jaxon looked away from his computer and blanched. In all the things that Abby had told him, she’d never mentioned these emails. How could she have been a part of this?

  Jaxon forced himself to keep reading. Patrick claimed he refused to go along with what Abby wanted. He also said Abby took matters into her own hands.

  Wait . . . he was blaming Abby for the death of his wife? Was that even possible? Jaxon kept reading.

  It turned out that the day his wife went missing, Abby had bought a plane ticket out to that area of Minnesota.

  He blanched yet again. Another detail that Abby hadn’t shared with him. Was that because she was guilty? Jaxon didn’t want to believe that was a possibility. Only a few minutes ago, he’d been convinced that she was innocent and had just been dealt a bad hand. But what if that wasn’t the case?