Bad Break (10 page)

She came to the intersection with the main road that divided the island into ocean side and sound side. Turn left and she’d head north, winding across three other barrier islands and four bridges until reaching the mainland over twenty miles away. Turn right and ten minutes later, they’d be at the far end of the island where their hotel stood.

She hit the blinker to turn left.

“Mom, what are you doing?” Megan protested. Nothing got past her—often to Lucy’s regret.

“I need to get you off this island. I can come back for our things later.”

“That’s crazy. We can’t leave. Not now.”

“It’s not your decision.” There was no traffic on the road. Lucy turned left.

Megan twisted in her seat to face her. “Pull over.”

“We can discuss this later.” Lucy was distracted watching all her mirrors and running tactical scenarios through her mind—hard to do when you didn’t know the lay of the land as well as your opponent.

And when you weren’t certain who your opponent actually was.

“No.” Megan’s tone was sharp. “All my life you’ve trained me and dad to do what you tell us to do if it’s a dangerous situation. I understand that. But there’s no danger now. No need to panic.”

“I’m not panicking. And this isn’t PTSD,” Lucy added, before Megan could humiliate her by asking. “You need to trust me.”

“You mean trust your gut.”

“Well, yes.”

Megan twisted, checking the rear window. No headlights anywhere in sight as the road curved between Spanish moss laden trees. The occasional driveway or residential lane interrupted the tree line but no human activity. “Pull in there,” she indicated a narrow street that had only a few large houses, none of them with lights on. “We’ll be hidden from view and you can explain what’s going on.”

“I’ll explain once I have you safe on the mainland.”

“No, Mom. Do it now. If you’re going to ask me to abandon Mateo and his family, if you truly want me to be the kind of person who would betray a friend like that, then I need to understand why.”

Lucy sucked in her breath, slowed the car and backed them into the street, turning the headlights off. She hated it when Megan out-reasoned her. One of the many pitfalls of having a child smarter than she was—smarter than Nick as well, which was saying a lot.

“Dad calls it tactical awareness,” Megan continued. “Like when a soldier feels there’s something wrong so he steps left instead of right and misses an IED. He says it’s the sum of sensory perceptions and pattern recognition combining to create a quick-action reflex, instead of processing every decision step by step. But I need to understand, so take me through it the slow way, okay?”

Lucy took a deep breath and held it, looking inward, gauging her bodily responses. She wasn’t panicked. Urgency, yes, she felt that, but also the same calm she usually felt before entering a field of action during an operation.

Could she trust that? She’d read accounts of soldiers with PTSD suffering paranoid delusions where they’d acted with calm certainty that they were the only ones who saw the danger clearly. Could she have fallen into that trap without even knowing it?

If she had—and dragged Megan down with her—it was even more reason to get off this island as quickly as possible. Bottom line: if she couldn’t trust her judgment, she shouldn’t be carrying a gun.

“Okay,” Lucy finally said. “Here’s what I see. They have Mateo’s prints in Pastor Fleming’s blood on the knife, a full palm print on a piece of paper with the safe combination, and on the insulin pump. That pretty much makes Mateo one of the world’s most incompetent criminals, not even smart enough to wear gloves, so dumb he left the paper with his palm print and the safe combination there at the scene.”

“Mateo’s being framed—I’ve been telling you that all along.”

“Right. But the real question is: by who? Who stands to gain most?”

“Mateo’s family said it was a lot of cash—Pastor Fleming was getting ready to pay people who’d made loans to third world ministries. Maybe he was trying to fake his death so he could steal the money but Mateo walked in on it?”

Cash loans funneled through a church? That needed looking into. Had all the makings of a Ponzi scheme. Lucy added it to her list. But first priority was getting Megan to safety.

“I still don’t understand why we need to suddenly leave,” Megan continued. “It’ll take fifteen minutes to go grab our stuff from the hotel. How much danger could we be in if it was Pastor Fleming behind all this? He must be on the boat guarding Mateo, right?”

Good girl, filling in most of the blanks. Except the most important one. “When I was in Chief Hayden’s office, she had a photo of her and Shelly Fleming. That’s when I realized that I’d seen Chief Hayden in other photos—the Flemings’ wedding pictures in their house. And family photos from when they were young. I think she’s Shelly Fleming’s sister. Or at the very least, a close friend.”

“If the Chief of Police is involved, then we can’t trust anyone.” Megan shook her head. “I don’t buy it. All those other police are also here—the sheriff’s department and the crime scene techs from the state. The Coast Guard out searching for the boat.”

“Except I don’t think they are. I don’t think she actually called anyone.”

“There’s one way to tell for sure. Let’s go back to the Flemings’ house. You said yourself that crime scene would take days to process—that means the techs should still be there working.”

It went against Lucy’s instincts, but Megan had a point—there was little chance of anything happening, not in a public area. The most they’d lose would be some time. Still, if Megan hadn’t made her stop and talk this out, they’d be halfway to the mainland by now.

“If there’s no one there,” Megan continued, “then you can call the state police yourself.”

Except she couldn’t. “I have no standing here and can’t invite them into an investigation outside of their jurisdiction.” Lucy sighed. “Best I can do is plant the idea. It will take hours, maybe days to find someone to listen and take action.”

“Time Mateo doesn’t have.”

Lucy nodded, wishing she had a better answer for Megan. They sat in silence for a moment.

“I trust your instincts, Mom,” Megan finally said. “But I can’t just abandon Mateo and his family without concrete proof. And you’ll need something to get the state police to take action. If there’s no one at the Flemings, we can go—you can do what you need to do and I promise I’ll wait in a hotel room or whatever, you won’t need to worry about me.”

Best deal Lucy was going to get. She started the car again and headed south toward the Fleming crime scene.

Chapter 17

MEGAN SAW THE
way her mom’s jaw clenched as she turned the car toward their hotel and the Flemings’ house. Lucy was being paranoid—suspecting everyone and everything came with her job, sure, but even if Chief Hayden was involved, that didn’t mean Megan and Lucy were in danger. In fact, it might mean the opposite.

“If the chief and Shelly are working with Pastor Fleming, then Mateo ruined their plan, right?” she said, trying out her theory. “So they’re scrambling, trying to cover their tracks. There’s no way they’d target us—it’s too risky. They need us to back them up. In a way, we’re their alibis. We’re part of the story they’re trying to sell.”

Lucy’s frown didn’t ease. “If they feel desperate, backed into a corner, who knows what they might do.”

“That’s true of anyone. But Chief Hayden didn’t seem desperate to me. And using Mateo in that video…” She thought for a moment. “Wait. Do you think the entire police force could be in on it?”

“You’ve been watching too many movies. My guess is that Plan A was to steal the money, make it look like a robbery gone bad leaving Fleming presumed dead—”

“Where’d all that blood come from?” Megan asked.

“Actually, the way it was spread out like that, it probably wasn’t an extreme amount if you added it all up. It could have been diluted. Maybe Fleming was having his blood drawn and saving it up, who knows?”

“So it was all part of selling the idea that he was killed, his body taken?”

“Right. And Mateo was meant to find the crime scene, probably to establish a timeline where Shelly had an alibi.”

“But Mateo showed up early.”

“So they went with Plan B—setting Mateo up as a fall guy. Now they’re trying to get even more money from Fleming’s congregation while they’re planting more evidence against Mateo.”

“Wait.” Megan felt her stomach squeeze tight as if someone was choking her. “Mom, for that to work—”

“They need to stage a scenario where they kill Mateo during a dramatic hostage rescue. The money will have mysteriously vanished and life will go back to normal for the Flemings.”

“But not for Mateo or his family. We have to stop them.”

Lucy glanced over at her. “We have no proof,” she warned. “This is just a wild-assed theory. But it’s the only theory I can make fit all the facts.”

They were almost to the Flemings’ house. This section of the island with the shopping center and marina was better lit than the residential area they’d just driven through. Despite the fact that it should have been a hub of activity, the Flemings’ house was dark. There was crime scene tape strung across the gate and a police cruiser parked there, but no sign of a police officer.

“Damn,” Lucy muttered. “That’s it. We’re leaving.”

“Let’s at least grab our stuff from the room. We’re here already.”

Lucy didn’t answer, but instead of pulling into the hotel’s drive, she turned into the shopping center parking lot entrance, made an immediate U-turn, and headed back out on the main road heading away from their hotel. Before Megan could protest, her phone rang. Unknown caller.

“Hello?”

“Is this Megan? It’s Chief Hayden. Can I please speak with your mother?”

“Uh, sure. Hang on.” Megan turned the speakerphone on and held it up to Lucy. “It’s the chief.”

“Hello, this is Lucy.” Megan marveled at the way her mom’s voice sounded so natural. Was this the way she sounded when she went undercover?

“Lucy, hi again. I finally had a chance to get your statements but—”

“Oh, sorry. We were starving and Megan was so upset about Mateo and that tape. It’s my fault. I never should have let her get so close to the family. Is there any word? Have you found them?”

“No. Shelly is trying to raise the ransom, but on a Sunday night, it’s tough going. She’s putting out a call to his friends and parishioners to help. And there’s been no trace of the boat, nothing we can track.”

“Is there anything I can do to help? Glad to call in some of my people, if you want.”

“I think between the state and county guys we’ve got it covered. The sheriff is going to get their helicopter with the infrared radar up for us.”

“Good idea. Listen, can you get our statements in the morning? I really should make sure Megan is okay. This whole thing has been so traumatic for her.”

Megan rolled her eyes at that but Lucy didn’t smile. If anything, she seemed more tense, increasing their speed. They were almost to the drawbridge leading off the island.

“That will be fine. If I’m not here in the morning, any of my officers will be glad to help. Take care.”

“Good luck—call me sooner if anything happens, will you?”

“Of course.” The chief hung up.

They approached the bridge. It was up. There were two cars waiting, their taillights bright against the night. Lucy slowed, keeping a generous distance between her and the other cars, at least four or five car lengths.

“There’s no boat,” she said as they finally came to a stop.

“What?”

“They raise the bridge for the tall boats, but there’s no boat.”

“Maybe it’s already passed through.”

A man left the little shack that controlled the bridge and approached the first car in line. A few minutes later it made a U-turn and headed their way. Lucy flashed her lights and the driver pulled up. She rolled down her window. “What’s going on?”

“Bridge is broken. Cable snapped or something. They’re getting someone out to fix it but not sure how long it’s going to be.”

“Thanks.” Lucy waited for the car to pass before making her own U-turn. “I think I made a huge mistake. Do you have Walden’s home number in your cell?”

Isaac Walden was Lucy’s second in command back in Pittsburgh. “No. I can call Dad. He’ll have it.”

Lucy blew her breath out. “Your dad is not going to be happy. Yeah, call him.”

Megan dialed. “Dad? Hi there! Mom wants to talk to you.”

“Megan, how are you? Did something more happen? I wanted to discuss—”

“Nick,” Lucy interrupted, “we might have more trouble here than I originally thought. I need you to call Walden, have him call me on Megan’s cell.”

No answer.

“Nick?”

Megan glanced at the phone. “The call was dropped.” She tried dialing again. Dead silence. “I had three bars, but now they’re gone.” She dialed another number. “Nothing.”

Lucy glanced up through the windshield. “One cell tower for the entire island. Easy to control. Like the bridge.” She turned the car onto a private drive on the ocean side of the island. The mansion in front of them had no lights on and no gate. The driveway was circular. Lucy pulled around so they were facing out and parked. “Okay, we’re going to have to do this the hard way.”

“What’s that mean?” Megan asked, for the first time feeling frightened. Suddenly this all felt very, very real. Life and death real. Was this how her mom felt all the time when she was at work?

“It means… are you up for a game of hide and seek?”

Chapter 18

AS LUCY SCOUTED
the house, she forced herself to shift her emotions aside, although what she really wanted to do was scream in frustration. This was her fault; she’d allowed Megan to steer her away from the immediate action she’d wanted to take and now it was too late.

“Hide and seek?” Megan said, following Lucy back to the Subaru’s trunk. “What does that mean?”

“It means we’re going to find a safe place for you to hide.” Lucy opened the lockbox in the trunk and pulled out her Remington. “While I seek.”