She pulled open the refrigerator door to see what her mother had packed them. Ground beef, sandwich meats, hot dogs, chicken breasts. There was bread and buns and condiments. “Burgers okay?”
“Sure. You want me to light a fire in the grill?” He scooted back his chair, but stayed put. “Or there’s an iron skillet if you’d rather brown ’em on the stove.”
She’d rather he not make her think about cooking for him for the rest of their lives. Not now. Not yet. “You work. I’ll cook. It’s the nature of things.”
He laughed then, a gusty blast of sound that curled her toes. He’d brought this into her life, too. Laughter that was hale and hearty and male, and made her long to jump into his arms and hug him. Instead, she reached for one of the pounds of ground beef wrapped in butcher paper and tossed it onto the countertop. It landed with a thud.
“Anything new on the case?” she asked, squatting to find the iron skillet in the cabinet next to the stove. It was just dusty enough that she cleaned it before setting it on the gas burner to heat. And in the pantry beside the back door, she found a lazy Susan with spices—salt, pepper, garlic and chili powder for an extra kick.
She unrolled the package of meat, seasoned it, formed one larger and one smaller patty, then set them in the skillet to sizzle. Only when she returned to the fridge for lettuce, onion, mayo, mustard and tomato, did she realize Kell hadn’t answered. She glanced over to find him staring, his expression caught between a frown and apprehension.
Uh-oh. “Kell?”
“Neither the car nor the suspect have been located, no.” He turned his attention back to his laptop screen, but it was too late. There was something he didn’t want her to know and she’d seen it there, the worry, the misgiving.
Double uh-oh. “But?”
Groaning his reluctance, he scrubbed his hands over his face before he pushed to his feet and came toward her, decision made. She found herself backing closer to the stove, bumping the skillet with her elbow.
“Watch it,” Kell said, finding a spatula and flipping the meat while Jamie looked on.
What wasn’t he telling her? “Kell, tell me.”
“After lunch. Okay?”
Her stomach lurched, rattled. “Something’s happened. What is it?”
“Nothing’s happened. Not yet.” He reached for a knife and the onion.
Meaning it was going to. And he knew it was going to. What had he done? And what hadn’t he told her? She watched as he sliced the onion, dropping the rings into the grease from the burgers to brown.
Why not? What was a heart attack going to hurt when the killer caught up with her? She breathed deeply, searching for calm, finding a gnawing hunger instead. Her stomach growled. That didn’t mean she was waiting till after lunch to find out what he was keeping from her.
“Kell? What do you think is going to happen? And when?”
Kell chuckled as he stirred the onions.
“What’s so funny?”
“I am. Thinking you wouldn’t want answers now. That you wouldn’t figure out I had something up my sleeve.”
“So? Talk,” she said, using his knife to slice up half of the tomato, finding plastic wrap and storing the rest.
“You said something this morning about being able to see the killer coming—”
“He’s coming here, isn’t he?” The possibility slammed her so hard she almost doubled over. “To finish what he started ten years ago, right? And I’m not safe here at all.”
Kell set down the spatula and placed his hands on her shoulders, then slid them up to cup her face “You’re safe. One hundred percent safe. But I’m not so sure I am with the way you’re gripping that knife.”
What was he saying? A knife? God, oh, yes. God. “Sorry.” Her hand shaking, she set it down on the counter. “I guess I was thinking I might need a weapon.”
“Yeah. Saw that in your eyes.” He let her go then, though reluctantly, as if not quite certain she was steady—she saw that in his eyes—then served up the burger patties onto paper towels to drain, and shut off the fire beneath.
She didn’t care what he said. She wasn’t going to wait until after lunch for the rest of the story. “Is he coming here or not, Kell? Tell me that much at least.”
“If he does, we’ll be ready for him,” he told her staunchly.
That wasn’t an answer. And what was this “we” business anyhow? “What are you talking about? How are you and I going to be ready when he took out four of my friends in the blink of an eye?”
And then she got it. By we, Kell wasn’t talking about the two of them. “Who’s going to be ready? Who else knows where we are? Does he know? Did he find out? Is that what you’re not telling me?”
Kell had been loading plates with buns and meat and vegetables, and carrying them along with utensils and the squeeze bottles of mayonnaise and mustard to the table all the while Jamie had stood frozen. Now he took her by the hand and led her to eat.
Once they were seated, Kell continued. “This morning on the dock, you said something about being able to see him coming. It had me going back over all the precautions I’d taken in deciding to bring you here.”
They’d driven back roads, a route that had taken twice as long as she assumed the trip normally took. Troopers had followed them to make sure no one else did. Even her mother had no idea where they were. But at least Jamie knew her mom was safe. She had her own set of bodyguards.
Jamie imagined Kell’s contact person with the DPS knew; they’d have to stay in touch, after all. Or someone at the ranger station might need to know…Her eyes went wide and her whole chest tightened as she met Kell’s gaze over the burger he’d lifted to bite.
“The leak,” she said. “If there is a leak in your office, if that’s how he found me in Weldon, then the killer knows where we are.”
Kell shook his head, set down his burger and headed back to the kitchen for a roll of paper towels. Once he returned, he did his best to set her at ease. “Yes and no. Right now, Norm Greenley is the only one who knows where we are, though obviously, anyone with the capability and access can trace the GPS in my phone or the SUV.”
This was not good. “Who has the capability and access?”
“For starters, the techs who monitor the various software programs.”
Techs. Oh, God. “Like the one who recorded my hypnosis session?”
Kell nodded, bit into his burger again, chewed. “Megan Holly’s only been in the office three years. She transferred in from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. We’re not ruling her out, but she’s not the most likely suspect.”
There was that royal “we” again. Jamie twisted her hands in her lap. “Who is the most likely? And who is ‘we’?”
“Me and Greenley are the we. And as far as suspects, there’s a male tech, Hispanic, who’s been in the department since 1995. He was born here, but has family in Mexico. In particular, a half brother who’s been in and out of jail for petty offenses most of his life.”
Oh God. “You found that out today?”
Kell nodded. “I phoned Greenley while you were showering. He took my theory and ran with it. Did a background check on Vargas when his jacket turned up the brother’s sheet.”
Fast work. “So you did what? Put out a warrant or APB or whatever on the brother?
“Not exactly,” Kell said, filling his mouth with another huge bite that made talking impossible. As a delay tactic, it worked.
Frustrated, Jamie figured she might as well put her own burger together before the beef and sautéed onions got too cold to enjoy. If she had it in her to enjoy anything anymore, which she doubted. Still, she had a feeling she was going to need her strength.
“Then what exactly did you do?” she asked, using the last of the tomato slices, skipping the lettuce, and going light on the mayo and onions. Her stomach grumbled. The food really did smell good.
“Greenley had Vargas track my SUV,” he said, completely matter-of-factly.
Jamie took a bite of her burger. She’d known where this was going since she’d first mentioned the leak. And once she’d recovered from the initial shock of fearing the killer was coming, she’d braced herself for the worst—that he was.
Of course, it had never occurred to her that Kell would send him an engraved invitation, which seemed to be what he and Greenley had done. She tried not to sigh. Or scream. “Since the troopers followed us here, wouldn’t Greenley’s request raise a red flag? I mean, why would Greenley need the location of your SUV from Vargas when he knows where it is?”
“Vargas has no idea about the troopers. No reason he would, unless they told him. Since they’re not based in Midland and most likely don’t know him, there wouldn’t be, so no red flag.” Kell pushed away from the table and returned to the kitchen again, this time for two cans of soda.
“That still doesn’t explain why Greenley would want your location when he knows exactly where you are,” she said as Kell sat and scooted his chair back into place. She reached for her soda and popped the top, knowing she should trust him to do his job. But this was her life. She needed more than a pat on the head. “I can’t see how his request wouldn’t set off warning bells for Vargas, if he’s really the leak.”