“Let’s just get going. It isn’t bad and there’s nothing we can do with it when we have no supplies anyway.”
*
Eric was soaked from the waist down. They probably could have moved faster through town if they’d swum. But he couldn’t bring himself to suggest it, since that would mean immersing himself in the dank water.
Street lights were still on, and the water level was only to his knees. Every so often something floated past. Most of it, he didn’t try to identify if it was trash or something worse.
Hailey glanced at him every few paces. To make sure he was still with her, or to make sure he was still upright?
Exhausted, Eric waded to a car and hauled himself up to sit on the hood. He leaned back against the windshield and closed his eyes against the pouring rain. If he lay there long enough, he’d probably fall asleep. Not a good plan.
He heard Hailey climb up beside him, but he didn’t open his eyes.
He was pretty sure Turner had been hurt, if not killed, by the car crashing into the office door. But Eric wasn’t going to push his luck by having them stay in one place too long. It wasn’t worth the risk of Turner coming after them to finish what he’d started and catching Eric weaponless.
That was the main reason he wanted to stop by his apartment. He didn’t feel right without a gun on his hip. Hailey was perfectly able to protect them both, but what kind of partner would he be if he made her take all the risk?
“The law enforcement command center is in the opposite direction, you know.”
“Yes,” Eric said. “But that’s going upstream, which will take twice as long.”
With a big sigh he hopped down, and they cut through a side street toward the road that ran behind his apartment complex. After that he only had to find his building in the maze of three-story apartments. When they got there, he could figure out why on earth his boss had just tried to kill him to cover up Phelps’s murder. It was way too convenient.
Water rushed by them, making it harder to wade through. Eric could almost imagine he was fishing on a riverbank, except for the fact that he was freezing. Maybe when the weather cleared and they could take a day off, he’d ask Hailey if she and Kerry wanted to go fishing with him.
Eric’s lips twitched, thinking of his hard-nosed partner in cut-off shorts and a T-shirt, holding a fishing pole. He chuckled.
“What?”
He looked at her. She was closer than he’d thought she would be, and for a moment the green of her eyes arrested him.
“Put me out of my misery, Hanning. What’s so funny about this?” She motioned to the street at large with a sweep of her arm.
“You like fishing?”
“Sitting still, waiting for hours for a fickle creature to take your bait? No thanks.”
“Yeah, I can see how fishing might not work for you.” He laughed. “I’m renting a top-floor apartment, so it’s probably fine. As long as the whole building didn’t soak up the river like cardboard and disintegrate.”
FOURTEEN
Hailey stared out Eric’s kitchen window. It was after six in the morning and rain was still falling at a pounding pace. The sun should have already risen above the horizon. Instead, the sky was almost completely black, the nascent day dawning dark and dreary. Dim light barely lit the apartment, which had no power. In fact, the whole block was out.
She decided to make a sandwich, but only for the sake of having something in her stomach. If she fell asleep at this point she wouldn’t wake for hours, never mind what all broke loose. That was just the way her body worked. Sometimes it simply refused to listen to honest reason.
Eric’s fridge held a pizza box, a case of soda, orange juice, coffee creamer and a half-empty gallon of milk. She found a jar at the very bottom of the door. The lid was crusted on, but she unscrewed it and found the dregs of what was supposed to be strawberry jam.
She spread it on the bread and forced it down. She wasn’t going to risk drinking the orange juice. If Eric was anything like every man Hailey had ever met, he probably drank straight from the carton, and she wasn’t going to go there. That was just nasty.
She grabbed a glass of water and looked at her phone for the hundredth time. There was a signal. She found Jonah in her contacts and called him.
Eric’s apartment was functional, but had absolutely no style whatsoever. It made her sad that his living space didn’t have personality, but not sad enough to actually volunteer to help fix it. She doubted she’d be able to do better. Her dad’s house was still decorated the way her mom had designed it.
She sat at his dinky little table and waited for Jonah to pick up.
“Rivers.”
“It’s Shelder. How’s Kerry?”
“Still sleeping. What happened? You and Hanning disappeared with Turner hours ago.”
Hailey related the story, giving him time to digest Eric’s explanation of what happened. He’d have to tell Jonah himself and write a report, since she’d been coming in the back way, but this would do for now.
Jonah said, “Parker and Samuels are back at the office. We got word that Ames is awake. I sent Michaels to talk to him about how Farrell managed to get the drop on him outside Charles’s house.”
Eric trailed back from the bathroom. His button-down shirt was off, and he’d pulled on a clean T-shirt. With one hand holding gauze on his opposite shoulder, he came over and spilled what was in his arms onto the table. Bandages, more gauze and some kind of antiseptic cream.
“Uh… Shelder?”
She blinked and realized she was still on the phone with Jonah. “Yeah, um…yes. Sir. What?”
Eric’s lips twitched. Jonah updated her on the manhunt and the search for Deirdre. Then he said, “Keep me apprised of the situation. When you’re ready to move, I’ll find you some transport.”
“Got it.”
“And when Kerry wakes up I’ll have her call you.”
“Great.” Hailey hung up and tried not to look at Eric.
Personal feelings were generally frowned upon at work. And while two agents getting into a relationship technically wasn’t against the rules, it also wasn’t encouraged.
The marshals understood that it happened and they wanted to know when it did, but they didn’t have to like it. Theirs wasn’t a job where emotion helped. Not when they were chasing the most violent criminals.
They couldn’t let their feelings for what the victims had been through cloud their attempts to bring the perpetrators to justice. Or their feelings for each other.
Hailey reiterated to her partner what Jonah had told her. She had to think of him like that. It would help to keep her feelings separated.
Eric said, “What about Farrell?”
“No sightings of him or Deirdre. Most everyone’s caught up helping evacuate the town. Parker and Samuels are running computer searches to try and find a link between Farrell and Charles. And where this stash of jewelry might have come from.”
“How about you?” Eric studied her. “Charles is involved, and you were married to the man. Do you know anything about that?”
Hailey grabbed the cream and squeezed it straight onto the clean gauze. Thankfully it wasn’t more than a bad scratch. “I have no idea what they’re looking for.” She blew out a breath. “You know, I’m beginning to understand why Charles objected to being interrogated. I can’t even believe you would ask me that.”
Eric’s lips curled up at the corners, but part of that might have been the pain of her mashing the gauze onto his arm. “Deal with it, Shelder. You’re part of this whether you like it or not. This case is personal, and you’re involved.”
Hailey didn’t say anything. Eric held the gauze down and she began to wrap his arm.
“Maybe you should think about it some. In case you know something, but maybe you don’t realize it.”
“You think I’ve forgotten I know something about a stash of stolen jewels?”
“There’s a chance, if Farrell and Charles really did kn
ow each other years ago. The timing might fit.”
Hailey sighed. “Why does it feel like I’ve been put in the naughty corner?”
He laughed. “Let me guess, you were the teacher’s pet?”
“I’ll have you know I went to OSU on a full scholarship.”
“Go Beavers?”
Hailey taped the gauze down.
“Married housing?”
She froze. “Excuse me?”
Eric really expected her to tell him she’d married Charles her junior year of college, had the baby early summer and then went back her senior year to graduate?
It had been hard every single step of the way, but she’d been determined that raising Kerry wouldn’t set her education back. Having a baby wasn’t a burden—it was a blessing. And being a mom to Kerry hadn’t meant she had to give up her dreams, just that she’d needed to make some extra ones.
Hailey had worked twice as hard to graduate and make sure her child didn’t miss out on too much in her first year of life. It had been Hailey’s choice to stick with college, but she hadn’t wanted Kerry to suffer for it.
Eric said, “I know we’re not the kind of partners who share a lot of personal information, but I can’t say I haven’t been curious about you, and Charles and Kerry. We’ve been through a lot in a couple of days. I hope you know by now that you can trust me.”
He had saved her life earlier, when Turner would have shot her. Still, Hailey felt her eyebrows rise. “Does that mean you’re going to tell me something personal about you?”
Eric’s smile dropped from his face.
“That’s what I thought.” Hailey turned away and heard Eric head back into his bedroom. Why did everything have to be so awkward between them?
She wandered around the tiny living room, tapping her fingers on the leg of her jeans while she tried to figure out what jewels Farrell was after. Anything to avoid the discomfort of conversing with her partner. Yes, a lot had happened in only a couple of days, but that didn’t mean everything had to change.
Hailey seriously doubted Farrell would go to this much trouble to break out of marshal custody for something which might not be a sure thing. He must know where the jewels came from, or even where they’d been hidden—though he hadn’t found them yet, apparently.
Deirdre had probably cut out from under her dad and her lawyer to pick up Farrell. Now they would never find him in this weather. As much as it irked her, Hailey was probably going to have to talk to Charles again. She needed the real story on why Farrell had gone over there to talk with him. There was no way that was a coincidence, not with the way Eric said they’d been arguing. She needed to find out the link between Charles and Farrell.
Since they’d known each other years ago, when Hailey had been in Charles’s life full-time, perhaps she did have something. Maybe in the boxes of old stuff in her dad’s attic. It was a long shot, but she didn’t have any other ideas when the likelihood of Charles giving her a straight answer was slim to none. If Farrell was going to come after her daughter again, then both Hailey and Kerry were sitting ducks.
Her phone rang. Jonah’s last name flashed on the screen. “Shelder.”
“It’s me.” Kerry’s voice was tired. “Did you really leave me on my own?”
Hailey looked at the closed bedroom door. When she put it like that, it sounded bad. “You’re perfectly safe. I had to go with Eric.”
Which, it turned out, was a good thing. They’d managed to save each other from getting shot by Turner.
“But you’re not here to make me safe.”
Hailey swelled with happiness, which was a little disturbing, considering the situation. She should be feeling thoroughly guilty at not being there for Kerry. But whenever the kid pretty much admitted she wanted to be with Hailey and no one else, she had to accept it no matter what was going on. She only wished the naysayers could hear her daughter now.
That was the downside of living in a small town. She’d become the local spectacle, a cautionary tale for young girls everywhere of what could happen when a person made poor decisions and let their life get out of control. Little did they know. She’d had her baby and still managed to finish college, all while holding her dream of a career intact.
She wouldn’t trade Kerry’s life for anything, but that didn’t change the cold hard reality that she’d been young and careless about the consequences of her actions. Even though she’d worked it out herself…at least until the divorce, when it became plain she hadn’t really worked anything out. She knew better now, hindsight and all that.
Kerry was growing into a fantastic young woman in her own right. But one who could wind up in the exact same situation, unless Hailey gave her the tools to be smart and keep safe. And to not wind up having to work twice as hard for what she wanted.
“You’ll be okay.” What Hailey meant was that Kerry would be safe.
“Why can’t I go to Dad’s?”
Hailey’s lip curled. “It’s not safe there. Everyone is evacuating.” She couldn’t let her feelings about her ex-husband take away from the fact Charles was Kerry’s father. He might be selfish, but he wouldn’t intentionally hurt his own daughter.
“What about Grandpa?”
“He’s busy with the other evacuees.”
Silence. Hailey didn’t ever pretend to know what her daughter was thinking. She could barely remember what it was like to be that age, but figured she had probably been all about what teen boy band was hot at the time. Kerry didn’t seem to be that interested in music, though. She listened to Christian radio, since Hailey’s dad insisted they go to church.
Kerry huffed loud enough Hailey heard it even through the crackling phone line. Hailey could imagine her lips pressed into a fine line that was both hilarious and cute, even if it meant Kerry was upset. “What if I need saving? You’ll be somewhere else, and you won’t even know.”
“Baby—”
“I want to come with you.”
“You can’t, Kerry. Farrell tried to kidnap you yesterday and he said he’s going to kill me and Eric. I want you surrounded by people who can protect you.”
“They have badges and guns, but they aren’t you. They don’t care about me like you do.”
Hailey stilled. “That’s true.”
“Then come back and get me.”
“I’ll talk to Jonah. Maybe we can work something out.”
Kerry jumped in immediately with her response. “You can stay with me?”
“Maybe. We’ll have to figure it out.”
Kerry hesitated. “Is Eric your boyfriend?”
Hailey glanced over her shoulder, but Eric hadn’t reappeared. She lowered her voice anyway. “No, Eric is not my boyfriend. He’s my partner.”
“Don’t you like him?”
Hailey shook her head. “Where is this coming from?”
“I don’t know. I just think…you’ve never had a boyfriend. That I know of. Maybe you want to think about it. Eric seems nice.” Kerry gasped. “Maybe he likes you!”
Hailey shook her head at her daughter’s exuberance. “That’s sweet, but I don’t think he does. We just work together.”
Kerry paused. Did she not believe her? “Seriously, Kerry. I don’t think he feels that way about me.”
“So you do like him?”
Hailey sighed. “Are you trying to set me up? I’m not worried about being an old maid. That’s not even a thing anymore. I don’t need to have a boyfriend.”
“But Dad is married. You might like it if you tried it.”
Hailey almost laughed. “Your dad is happy in his own way, but that doesn’t mean I have to get married, too. I can be happy with just you.”
Since the divorce that was exactly the reasoning she’d used to convince herself she didn’t need a man in her life. She could be whole without one. But did Kerry spend time with Charles and Beth-Ann, and then come home to Hailey’s house and see what was missing in her mom’s life?
“Do you think we need another guy arou
nd? Isn’t your grandpa enough?”
Kerry didn’t understand the risks of dating. Guys would say anything, and the reality often turned out to be something quite different. She’d seen it with friends over and over again. But fear was only part of what held Hailey back.
Charles hadn’t cared about her at all really, even though he’d supported her financially. Most of that was probably because he’d known he was headed for politics, and even back then he was determined to protect his reputation. His father likely convinced him of that, given how many times Hailey had heard the old man’s lecture about keeping his nose clean.
Kerry said, “Maybe while you’re with Eric, you should think about it. Like flirt a bit, and see what he does.”
“Flirt?” Hailey choked.
“If he likes you, he’ll flirt back. Then he might ask you out to dinner.” Kerry’s voice danced with delight. “Maybe he’s the one. That would be so romantic!”
Hailey rolled her eyes, thankful her daughter couldn’t see her face. “Okay, okay. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“So you’ll do it?”
“I’ll think about it.”
Kerry groaned. “That always means no.”
FIFTEEN
In the bedroom of his apartment, Eric could almost pretend there wasn’t a natural disaster going on outside, especially when his arm burned like a hot poker. Not that he knew what a hot poker felt like, but he could imagine.
He put on a clean shirt and jacket, took a couple of over-the-counter pain pills and then came out to where Hailey was staring out the kitchen window again.
Eric needed to make sure she got through this in one piece. He wanted his partner to be okay for her daughter’s sake—and for her dad’s, even though their relationship seemed tense.
Under her tough exterior he was starting to think there was a woman who’d been burned one too many times. Maybe it was because of the damage Charles had done to her emotions.
There weren’t many other things that might have caused Hailey to be so closed off with anyone and everyone except her daughter. Eric had loved once, and deeply. He’d been engaged to Sarah when she was shot, and her subsequent rejection of him had left its own wound.
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