Every muscle in Darby’s body ached, between the hard landing on the ground beneath Gage and her zip line crash into the tree, she realized it was only the soles of her feet that didn’t hurt.
Running with Gage in hiking boots changed that. They were comfortable for walking, but they were not designed for running.
Finally, Gage slowed to a walk, although he still appeared wary as he took in their surroundings. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She’d only gotten a glimpse of the black SUV. “Was that the same car that ran you off the road?”
“I believe so, although I didn’t get the license plate.” He drew her toward a different restaurant. They’d already gone a good two miles from their previous location. “Let’s grab something to eat.”
“Eat?” Normally, she never turned down a meal, but after nearly being run down by a car, on the heels of everything else that had happened, she wasn’t the least bit hungry.
“I could use some water, and the restroom. I should check out my leg.”
“You were hit?” Darby hadn’t realized. She slowed her pace to rake her gaze over him. “I don’t see any blood.”
“The bumper grazed me, that’s all.” He didn’t look concerned. “We need to eat eventually, may as well grab something now.”
He was right. She nodded in agreement.
They walked the rest of the way to the restaurant. Darby did her best to ignore the blister forming on her heel. Once again, Gage’s quick reflexes had saved her life. It was strange, though, to go from shooting at them to trying to hit them with a car. Unless they were hit head-on at a high rate of speed, it’s not likely they’d have died in the crash.
Injured enough to end up in the hospital? Oh yeah.
There was no way she could return to work in the morning. The stark thought filled her with dread. She didn’t want to lose her job. Maybe Kent Jacobs would be understanding about her need to be off work.
And maybe he wouldn’t.
The interior of the restaurant was cool against her hot and sweaty skin. Darby knew she probably looked awful, but she reminded herself she wasn’t looking to impress Gage.
The man had already seen her at her worst. A memory she wasn’t proud of.
The hostess led them to a booth. Darby dropped into her seat, grateful to take the pressure off her blisters. She didn’t dare take her hiking boots off for fear of never getting them back on if her feet swelled even a little.
“You want to use the restroom first?” Gage asked.
She waved a hand. “Go. I’m not going to move for a while.”
He disappeared into the restroom. Their server brought large glasses of water, which Darby gratefully drank, then rested the cool glass against her forehead.
They needed to go to the police with this latest incident. Not that she expected they’d do anything about it. Without a license plate number, and only a brief description, there wouldn’t be a way to track the driver.
A wave of hopelessness washed over her. She hadn’t felt this low since those first weeks in rehab, when every day loomed long and painful before her.
Pulling out her phone, she sent a quick text to Edith. How’s Leo?
Great. Misses you.
Tears pricked Darby’s eyes. Not as much as I miss him.
U need to talk?
Yes.
Gage returned to the booth, eyeing her curiously. Darby slowly rose to her aching feet. “My turn.”
She disappeared into the bathroom. After using the facilities and washing up the best she could, she called Edith. “Hey, everything still going well?”
“We’re fine, but Leo keeps asking about you.”
The news wrenched her heart. She’d never spent this much time away from her son. And she was even more irritated that the forced separation was because of Reyes seeking revenge. “I’m sorry, but you’ll need to stay where you are for a few more days. I’m trying to fix things here in town.”
“That’s fine, Darby, but you sound upset. Are you sure everything is all right?”
Nothing was all right, but Darby didn’t say anything. She simply closed her eyes for a moment and rested against the wall. After a long moment, she managed to speak. “I’m sure.” She strove to sound reassuring. “I just wanted to hear your voice.”
“Let me put Leo on the phone.” In the background, Darby could hear Edith talking to the little boy. “This is your mommy, can you say hi?”
“Hi,” Leo dutifully repeated. “Mommy home?”
More tears threatened, and it was all Darby could do not to break down sobbing. “Soon, Leo. We’ll all be home together very soon. Hug Oma, okay?”
“Okay.”
The call disconnected. Darby stayed where she was, trying to pull herself together. Falling apart wasn’t an option. Yes, she missed her son, more than she’d have imagined. But he and Edith were safe. That was all that mattered.
She straightened and returned to the booth. Their server came to refill their water glasses. “Are you ready to order?”
“Uh, sure.” She’d only glimpsed at the menu. “Do you have a turkey wrap?”
“Yep. Want fries with that?”
“Yes, please. Thanks.”
Gage ordered a buffalo chicken wrap. When they were alone, he asked, “You sure you’re okay?”
“Fine.” She couldn’t drum up a smile. “Just missing Leo. And feeling like we’re never going to escape Reyes.”
“I understand how you feel. We need to call Detective Pride, let him know about the near miss on Wayland Avenue.”
“Yeah, but what is he going to do about it?” She stared morosely at her water glass. “It’s as if Reyes is toying with us. The squirrel and now this? What’s his end game anyway?”
The moment the words were out of her mouth, she knew. “He wants us dead.”
Gage leaned forward to grasp her hand. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
She tightened her fingers around his. “The police will find him, won’t they?”
“I hope so.” Gage held her gaze. “We need to stay strong, Darby. Pray for God’s guidance.”
She opened her mouth to argue but hesitated. Maybe God was listening to Gage’s prayers. It was difficult to deny they were still both relatively unharmed, aches and pains aside, despite the various attempts to hurt them.
“I’ll leave that to you,” she finally said. “I don’t know how to pray.”
Looking her straight in the eye while still holding her hand, he said, “Dear Lord, we ask You to keep us safe from harm and to guide us on Your path. Amen.”
“Amen,” she whispered, glancing self-consciously around the restaurant. No one was paying them any attention.
“All you need to do is speak from the heart, Darby,” Gage said with a wry smile. “God doesn’t have a strict format, He simply listens.”
Listening wasn’t going to help them find Reyes, but she didn’t voice her skeptical thoughts aloud. Gage was entitled to his beliefs.
Just as she was entitled not to believe.
She couldn’t help thinking back to those awful years with the Preacher. The way he’d ranted about their sins, hitting them for emphasis. How he’d focused on their need to repent.
How the fire had broken out, and every last one of the foster kids had managed to escape the burning cabin.
But not the Preacher or his wife.
God’s doing? Probably not since she’d certainly helped fuel the fire. Not on purpose, but in retrospect, Darby knew the spilled moonshine the Preacher liked to drink may have played a role in how fast the fire had spread.
Moonshine she’d dumped over on purpose.
“Darby?”
Gage’s voice drew her back to the present. He was still holding her hand, but their server stood impatiently, holding their plates.
“Sorry.” She released Gage’s hand and sat back to give the server room to set their plates on the table. When they had their respective wraps, the server left them alone again.
“Dear Lord, we thank You for this food we are about to eat. Amen.”
She didn’t respond. All this praying made her uncomfortable. “What’s our next step?”
Gage took a bite of his wrap, his expression thoughtful. “We notify the detective, for sure. But I’m not sure what else we can do to find Reyes. He seems to have eyes on us, though, which is concerning.”
She sent a furtive glance over her shoulder. “Yes, but how? I don’t understand how Reyes knows every move we make.”
“I wish I knew,” Gage admitted. They both ate in silence for a moment, then he continued, “It’s clear Reyes found you in the area and spent several days watching your routine. Maybe he did the same to me on the other side of town. Easy to see how he may have spied my damaged white truck at the Knotty Pine Motel, but these recent attempts?” He shook his head. “I honestly have no clue.”
The news was hardly reassuring. Yet this wasn’t Gage’s fault. She’d played a role in naming Reyes initially, along with turning on Gage.
And if she hadn’t? Leo would have been born in jail and handed over to a foster family.
She’d made the best decision for Leo’s sake at the time, and she would do it again in a heartbeat.
Only now her past had come back to haunt her. Gage too.
At least this time, Leo would be in good hands with Edith if something terrible happened to her. He wouldn’t be shuttled off to strangers.
Yet the very possibility of never seeing her son again felt like a heavy rock sitting on her chest.
Making her wish there was a way to take away the pain.
Gage didn’t like the expression in Darby’s eyes. A mixture of despair and hopelessness with an undertone of resignation. She picked at her food, which concerned him even more.
“How many hotels are located on this side of town?” Gage asked.
She furrowed her brow. “Lots, but they’re all fairly full this time of the year. Why? You thinking of going from motel to motel showing Reyes’s mug shot?”
“Why not?” Gage figured any action was better than doing nothing. And he wanted Darby to have hope they’d get through this.
She looked mildly interested. “We should split up, cover more ground that way.”
“No.” He wasn’t budging on that point. “We stay together.”
“Okay, but doing this is going to take a lot of time.” She hesitated, then said, “I’ll call in sick to work tomorrow.”
“That’s probably best.” Remembering the impaled squirrel convinced him she wasn’t safe to return to the adventure park. Even if she was working with other employees, Reyes wouldn’t hesitate to take down anyone in his way.
Collateral damage.
Despite his own appetite taking a hike, Gage forced himself to finish his wrap. He glanced at his watch. “It’s six o’clock now. I think we can probably hit a few motels yet tonight.”
Darby perked up at his suggestion and took a healthy bite of her turkey wrap. “Okay, that works. Maybe we should do that first, before calling Detective Pride. We both know the hit-and-run incident isn’t going to help nail Reyes. While finding someone who recognizes him would.”
Her comment made him wonder if the detective had actually gone to the adventure park to talk to Steve Auckland personally. “I’d like to still leave the detective a message about the hit-and-run attempt. I did note that the vehicle was a Honda CRV.”
“You did?” Darby’s gaze looked at him with admiration. “I hardly got a look at it. I was too busy being flattened by you.”
Her teasing tone made him smile. “I’m sorry about that, but I reacted instinctively. But this time, I also tried to pay attention to the type of vehicle coming at us.” It was more than he’d been able to say about the rear-end collision.
That attempt had taken him completely by surprise.
“What if he’s staying in a rental property?”
Darby’s question gave him pause. “I guess it’s possible, but wouldn’t someone do a background check before renting their place out?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe. But then again, Reyes could be using a fake ID.”
“Yeah, something to hide his criminal record. But Auckland recognized him, so he couldn’t have changed his appearance much. Fake name aside, we should be able to find someone who’ll recognize him.”
“I hope so.” She munched a fry. “I want this thing over with, Gage. I need to spend time with my son. He’s my anchor, and I’m feeling . . .” Her voice trailed off.
He knew how easy it was to relapse during times of stress. He reached over to grasp her hand again. “One more day, Darby. If we don’t come up with something tomorrow, you should go and stay with Edith and your son. I’ll find a way to pull Reyes out of hiding.”
She clung to his hand for a long moment. “I don’t like the idea of him coming after you either.”
“Hey, we’re smart. We’ll find him.” He injected a confidence he didn’t feel into his tone. “And all that matters to me is that you and Leo are safe.”
“Oh, Gage.” She smiled wistfully. “Now that I’ve spent the past twenty-four hours with you, I can’t imagine why I didn’t tell you about Leo before now. Our son needs you. He needs a father figure. We have to find a way to find and arrest Reyes.”
Her words warmed his heart. “We will,” Gage assured her.
Failure wasn’t an option. Especially now that he knew he had a son.
They finished their meal, Darby eating only half of her wrap, but he was relieved to see her appetite had seemed to return. For several moments, he’d feared she might spiral out of control.
Wasn’t that why she’d voiced the desire to see Leo?
She waited until they were outside before asking, “Any idea where we should start?”
He took a moment to glance around the area. He hadn’t paid much attention to their surroundings, other than to get far away from the scene of the hit-and-run. The bruise on his leg ached, but the muscle was only bruised, nothing more. “The hit-and-run happened about two miles from here. What if Reyes happened to stumble across us while returning to his motel? I say we check out a few places around here first.”
She nodded. “That’s a good idea. I was also thinking we should head back to the Knotty Pine at some point. That’s where he took a shot at us, could be someone saw him prior to that. And our cars are still there too.”
“Okay, we’ll start here.” He wished he had a map of the area so they didn’t miss any of the motels. There was one located adjacent to the restaurant, so he turned in that direction. “I’ll call for a rideshare after we hit this cluster of motels.”
“You’ll need to let me pay for something sooner or later,” Darby pointed out. “At the rate we’re using rideshares, you’re bound to run out of cash.”
He didn’t like to admit she was right. It went against the grain to take her money, not just because he hadn’t paid any child support during the first five years of Leo’s life.
But because he found himself wanting to take care of her. To be her provider. Which was crazy since he’d barely gotten settled on his own two feet after his four-year stint behind bars.
“You can pay for breakfast tomorrow.” He forced himself to make the concession.
“I’ll hold you to that,” she said in a mock threatening tone.
He grinned. It struck him that being partnered with Darby was nice. He’d kept to himself since reentering society, primarily because he’d been on probation and hadn’t wanted to take any risks of being sent back. Over time, it became easier and cheaper to simply go home after work and eat in his studio apartment.
Most of the guys he worked with went out for drinks every Friday night. Gage had declined their offer so many times they’d stopped asking. But glancing at Darby now, it was all too easy to imagine spending Friday nights with her and Leo, maybe go to a movie or have a picnic.
Would Darby welcome that level of involvement in their lives? Or was she thinking of some sort of joint custody arrangement?
Plenty of time to work out the details later, once Reyes was safely behind bars. But Gage reverently hoped Darby would welcome him so they could spend time together as a family.
Gage left a message with Detective Pride about the hit-and-run. He figured they wouldn’t hear back from him until the following morning. In the meantime, they began to make rounds to the motels. The first place they approached had a surly female clerk who squinted at them from bloodshot eyes. “Our clientele is private.”
“I understand, but this man tried to kill us three times.” Gage drilled the woman with a glare. “He’s armed and dangerous, so if I were you, I’d avoid allowing him to hang around. You never know who he’ll target next.”
The clerk pursed her lips and took a closer look at the two mug shots. He’d decided to show both Reyes and Archer, just in case they were working together on this.
“Neither of them look familiar,” the clerk finally admitted. “But if they’re so dangerous, why aren’t the cops lookin’ fer him?”
“They are. In fact, we spoke to Detective Pride earlier today.” Gage took the two photos back. “Keep your eyes open. Thanks for your help.”
Their next three stops were much of the same. Because they weren’t cops, their questions about Reyes and Archer were greeted with suspicion or flat-out rudeness. While their reactions weren’t unexpected, they were disheartening. Gage was quickly losing hope that their attempt to find Reyes was nothing more than a waste of time.
Reyes could be anywhere in the Knoxville area. Even, as Darby had pointed out, in a private home under an assumed name.
“Maybe we should head over to the Knotty Pine,” Darby said with a sigh. “I’d like to make sure my car wasn’t towed.”
Both of their vehicles had likely been taken away, but he didn’t say anything. It would be yet another added expense neither of them could afford.
Walking to each destination had taken time, and the sun was dipping down below the horizon by the time they’d reached the Knotty Pine. To his surprise, both of their vehicles were still in the lot.
“We need to drive our cars to a public parking spot,” Darby murmured. “I’ll need my car to get to and from work once this is over.”
“Yeah.” Gage thought about the places they’d passed along the way. “How about in the strip mall parking lot? They should be fine there overnight.”
“Okay.” She glanced at the lobby. “Let’s check with the clerk first. Although it occurred to me that these places usually have more than one clerk on duty over a twenty-four-hour period. And we have no clue what time Reyes may have registered for a room.” She grimaced. “We might have to hit all these same places in the morning.”
“I had the same thought. But evenings and nights are the more likely timeframes to catch a glimpse of him. Daytime is when motel guests check out.” He led the way into the lobby. There was a different clerk behind the desk than last time.
This guy was roughly Gage’s own age of twenty-six, but he looked skinny and a bit malnourished. The former drug dealer recognized him as a potential user, but he kept his observations to himself.
Although, glancing at Darby, he could tell she’d noticed too. She subtly took the photos from him, shooing him back so she could take the lead.
He stayed a step behind her, determined to stay close in case this guy lashed out at her.
“Hey, you seen either of these two guys?” She showed the clerk the photos. “We’re looking for—supplies, you know?”
“Yeah?” A flare of interest sparked in the kid’s eyes. He leaned over to peer at the photographs. “This dude here.” He tapped the picture of Archer with a dirty fingertip. “I think he’s in room six.”
“You sure?” Darby pressed. “I don’t want to knock on the wrong door, stumble across the cops, if you know what I mean.”
“Cops.” The kid scowled. “They don’t come here. Yeah, I’m positive he’s in room six. Never seen the other dude, though.”
“Okay, thanks.” Darby folded the papers and tucked them into her pocket. “Don’t let on to anyone that we were here. Wouldn’t want him to get busted.”
“I won’t.” The kid leaned forward. “What kind of stash does he have?”
“Whatever you need.” She shrugged. “He’s well connected.”
“Wow.” The kid looked as if he wanted to jump over the counter and head over to see what Archer was supplying.
“Hey, be cool,” Darby cautioned. “Let us get to him first, then you should wait a while, just in case he’s being watched.”
“Yeah, okay.” He looked deflated.
Gage drew her outside. “Nice work, let’s call Detective Pride.”
“Shouldn’t we try to see him for ourselves first? Archer might not be in there.”
Darby had a point, but knocking at the guy’s door was a good way to get killed. But then he caught a glimpse of a man sliding behind the wheel of a black SUV. “That’s him,” he hissed.
Darby darted toward her car, using her key to unlock the doors, and climbed behind the wheel. Without hesitation, he jumped in beside her. She quickly backed out of the parking spot, spun around, and followed.
Gage silently prayed they weren’t being led into a trap.