“Honey, he called again.”
Tina Nelson squeezed the bridge of her nose between her thumb and finger, and scrunched her eyes closed. She almost hadn’t answered the phone when she saw her aunt’s name on the caller ID. That nagging feeling she always got in the pit of her stomach, the one that always preceded bad news? Right now it was doing somersaults and Rockette-style high kicks.
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing, I swear. I will never tell that lowlife where you are. I’m just worried he’s going to find you anyway.”
Tina gave an almost silent chuckle. “I’m being careful, Aunt Maxie. Covering my tracks is second nature now. Jared will stop looking for me when he gets bored.” She crossed her fingers at the blatant lie she’d just told her aunt, but the woman didn’t need to be consumed with worry about her. Taking care of Uncle Stanley was a full-time job, and she had her own health issues to deal with in addition to his. The doctors insisted he slow down since his heart attacks, and she still felt guilty because it was her fault. Well, hers and Jared Webster’s.
They made a few more minutes of small talk, avoiding the topic of Jared’s search for her, and she disconnected the call, but not before reassuring her aunt that she’d be careful and would call again soon.
Tina automatically scooched lower on the bench seat without realizing she’d done it and stared at the untouched bowl of chicken and dumplings in front of her. She’d come into Daisy’s Diner with her bestie, Renee O’Malley, hoping they’d get to spend a few more hours together before Tina headed for Dallas tomorrow morning. It was past time to head back to Portland and get her life back on track.
“Everything okay, hon?”
Tina looked up into Daisy’s face and gave her a halfhearted shrug. “I guess.” She waved the phone in her hand. “Family, you know?”
“Gotcha. Just thought I’d check and see if you need anything else.” Her eyes strayed to the untouched food. “You want something different? I can get you whatever you want.”
Tina picked up the spoon. “No, thanks, Daisy. This is great.” She shoved the loaded spoon in her mouth, and the flavor exploded on her taste buds. She gave Daisy a thumb’s up, savoring the comfort dish. Daisy gave her a quick grin and walked away as Renee slid onto the bench across from her.
“Sorry that took so long. Shiloh’s still a little paranoid about me going out without a bodyguard.”
“Can you blame him? Even though the Blacks are behind bars, Darius’ reach might not be curtailed. At least the feds froze all his accounts, and Eileen’s too. Ms. Patti told me they’re never going to see the outside of a prison cell again. While I hope that’s true, for your sake, I’m skeptical. One or both of them is going to roll over on somebody bigger and badder, and they’ll end up with a slap on the wrist.”
Renee’s expression clouded for a second before she looked at Tina and grinned. “I’m not worried. The FBI has at least a hundred charges they’re bringing against Darius. Eileen’s got her own set of problems, including assault on a federal agent from when she head-butted the guy putting her in the back of the car when she was arrested.” She fiddled with her napkin for a second before unfolding it and placing in on her lap. “I’m holding on to hope, because I refuse to spend my life hiding or running. Never again.”
“I’m so happy you’ve found somebody like Shiloh. He’s one of the good ones. All these Boudreaus seem to have a chivalrous quality that’s bone deep. Wonder if it’s a Texas thing?”
“I think it’s more a Boudreau thing. Douglas and Ms. Patti taught their sons how to be upstanding men, despite their rocky beginnings. They’re the kind of guys romance novels are written about, the kind you don’t believe exist in real life.”
“Lucky you.” She shoved another spoonful of her chicken and dumplings into her mouth before she ended up putting her foot in there. Renee really had lucked out when Shiloh Boudreau’s search brought him to Portland, and she’d found the man of her dreams. Unfortunately, the man Tina thought was her own prince turned out to be the evil black knight in disguise. Too bad she hadn’t figured that out before she married him.
“I hate that you’re leaving tomorrow. I’m going to miss you so much.”
“Renee…do you know I’m still having trouble calling you by that name? I can’t stay here forever. I’ve got a job. An apartment. Responsibilities. I can’t turn my back on everything simply because I’ve fallen in love with a town.” Tina took a sip of her tea, smiling at what she’d learned was called sweet tea by the local Texans.
“Only the town?” Renee teased.
Tina rolled her eyes before tossing her napkin at Renee. “Let’s not go there, girlfriend. I’m not looking for a guy in my life. I’m enjoying being footloose and fancy free—isn’t that how the saying goes?” And she was a big, fat liar. There was one of the Boudreaus who’d caught her attention, made her consider maybe all men weren’t monsters hiding inside handsome packages.
“The whole time I’ve known you, I can’t remember you ever dating anybody for more than a time or two. Is there something I should know?” Renee’s voice took on a worried tone, and Tina knew she had to nip this train of thought in the bud, because she couldn’t afford to rouse the other woman’s suspicions. If she started digging into Tina’s past, she might uncover the ugliness she’d buried, alongside the bones of her previous marriage.
“I’m not relationship material. I get bored too easily, so it’s better if I cut my losses before anybody gets too attached. Love ’em and leave ’em, that’s me.”
Looking down at her barely eaten bowl, she pushed it away, appetite gone. She hated lying to her friend, one of the few she had left. After the divorce, most of her friends had sided with Jared because he’d told credible lies about everything being her fault, even insinuating she’d been the unfaithful one in their marriage. Totally fabricated, but most of them had been his colleagues and their spouses, and she hadn’t been part of their upper echelon circle anyway.
“Did you know you get this tic by the side of your mouth when you lie?” Renee pointed with her spoon toward Tina’s mouth. “Took me a while, but I caught it. If you don’t want to tell me, fine, but don’t make up some bull hockey nonsense, cause I’m not buying it.”
As much as she wanted to confide in her best friend, she didn’t dare. Renee had come through her own horrific past and was finally getting a chance at true happiness and peace. No way on earth was Tina allowing her idiot ex-husband to cause anyone else a moment’s discomfort. Somehow, she’d figure out a way to maintain the low profile she’d been living under for the past two years and pray he didn’t discover where she was; otherwise, she’d have to move again.
“Let’s change the subject, okay? How was South Padre Island?”
Half-listening to her friend drone on about the trip with her brother, Tina began making plans. Though she’d secretly hoped Jared had given up on trying to find her and moved on to looking for wife number three, she should have known better. Her ex didn’t believe in letting anything go that belonged to him, whether it was a possession or a person, at least until he decided it was time to seek greener pastures.
She’d finally found a place, working at the coffee shop in Portland, where she’d managed to find a little oasis of peace. The thought of bringing trouble to their doorstep, when they’d been kind enough to put up with her fumbling foolishness while she’d been learning the ropes, made her want to cry.
Leaning back into the booth, she smiled at Renee’s enthusiasm about her recent getaway with her newly-rediscovered brother, Lucas. Too bad her own idyllic mini-vacation was over, and it was time Tina started making plans.
Portland, here I come.
Chance laid his briefcase on the desk and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. He hated mornings like this. Most of the cases he prosecuted in Shiloh Springs County weren’t major crimes. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d done anything more intense than burglary with the use of a firearm, when a couple of stupid teens decided to rob Jimbo’s Grocery. The evidence had been cut and dried, to the point he was surprised the guys wanted to go through with the case and not plead out. Guess everybody wanted their day in court, and they’d ended up being found guilty and got a harsher sentence than if they had simply taken the plea deal.
Which was what should have happened this morning. Today’s case was cut and dry; without a shadow of a doubt Marshall Goodman was guilty of assault. Marshall had a list of priors a mile long, a repeat offender who’d been out on probation when he beat the stuffing out of his ex-girlfriend’s new fella. Eyewitnesses stepped forward, and there was even video footage from multiple bystanders. He’d worked out a plea deal with defense council, hammering out every little detail, and headed into court this morning, expecting to be in and out in under an hour. Instead, he’d been blindsided when the defendant decided to toss the deal out the window, opting for a jury trial.
Idiot.
The rest of the afternoon had been spent arranging for the court date, then moving around another case he’d been working on, shoving it off onto the assistant district attorney. It wasn’t like they had a ton of court cases every day. Usually, two days a week he’d have to show up either in front of the bench or behind the scenes in the judge’s chambers dealing with the small stuff. Shiloh Springs wasn’t exactly a hotbed for criminal activity. The most excitement they’d had in a long time had been when the high school had been locked down during a hostage situation. That case was pending before the county court, and he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into a nice, juicy case of gun running, multiple counts of kidnapping, and a variety of other charges. For once, he’d get to hone his skills on a meaty offense.
Shrugging off his jacket, he folded it, laid it across the back of a chair, and loosened his tie. Time to get comfortable since he didn’t have to go back to court today. Opening his briefcase, he pulled out his laptop and moved around to sit at his desk. He had converted an entire bedroom in his place to a home office, and that’s usually where he spent his evenings, buried in work and research. Today, his attention wasn’t on work, though. Well, not in the traditional sense.
Clicking on the mouse, he opened the e-mail from Destiny, his friendly neighborhood hacker. He’d hired her off the books, because looking into Tina Nelson’s background wasn’t for any professional case he was prosecuting. No, this was personal. He’d read through the e-mail at least a dozen times already, and studied the attached photos, yet he found himself coming back again and again, searching for clues. Nuances and kernels of truth were contained within the dossier, he just had to weed them out one by one. Destiny had done her usual excellent job of digging out information others would have overlooked, or never found in the first place. She was just that good.
Clicking on the first photo, a pretty, smiling brunette popped up on screen. Head thrown back, she was laughing at something her companion said, her eyes shining with life. His chest tightened at the sight of her vivacious, infectious smile. She’d wormed her way into his head, haunted his thoughts from the moment he’d met her. Their first meeting had been eventful, to say the least. Darned woman attempted to brain him with the hotel ice bucket.
Tina Nelson.
The woman he’d been tasked with babysitting in Portland, and later brought into his parents’ home here in Shiloh Springs. In a pinch, she’d watched out and protected his sister when she’d been hiding from the people hunting her. Taken a beating when a hired mercenary wanted information on how to find Renee. She’d refused to tell him where Renee was, even though it meant she’d endured physical pain. Admiration for the spunky brunette warred with the facts on the page. The ones that troubled him, made him wonder if she could be trusted.
Clicking on another picture, he studied the man seated beside Tina. He carried himself with an air of somebody who came from a privileged background. Obviously taken at a business dinner or event of some kind, the sandy-haired man sported a tux, complete with cummerbund, but Chance couldn’t tear his eyes away from Tina. Her dark hair had been longer then, falling in waves past her shoulders. The royal blue gown hugged her curves in all the right places, displaying a lush body any woman would envy. Though she smiled at the camera, her eyes told the truest picture. They were haunted, filled with an anguish clearly visible to anybody looking beneath the saccharine smile. Her arm was entwined with the taller male’s, his fingers resting atop hers in a possessive gesture.
Chance blew out a deep breath. Maybe he was trying to see something in the picture that wasn’t there. While he had made a career of being able to read people, from their facial expressions to their mannerisms, Tina remained an enigma.
Moving the mouse to the next picture, he clicked it, and expanded it larger on his screen. Again, she was with the man from the previous photo, but there was a world of difference between the two pictures. In this one, she appeared beaten down, her vivacious spirit extinguished. Shoulders slumped, she seemed withdrawn into herself, as if trying to appear smaller, not wanting to draw anyone’s attention.
Checking the metadata between the two photos, he noted they’d been taken about three months apart. Such a short period of time, yet the differences were night and day. What happened to the woman he’d spent the last few weeks with?
The final picture showed a woman almost unrecognizable. The long hair she had before was cut into a modern edgy style, buzzed on the left side close to the scalp and colored a platinum blonde, so white it almost appeared to have no color. The quirky grin he’d come to know since her days at the Big House was the most recognizable thing about her. He knew women liked to do makeovers, update their looks with new hairstyles, new makeup and clothes, but this? It almost appeared like she was trying to reinvent herself.
Or maybe change the way she looked so she could hide in plain sight.
Destiny provided him with a list of cities and towns Tina had lived in for the last couple of years, never seeming to stay in one place more than a few months. The longest place she’d taken root was Portland, where she’d been for the last nine months. Every place she’d moved, she’d used a different last name and variations of her first. Guess when you’re trying to be inconspicuous, you go with what’s familiar.
Tina’s maiden name provided a plethora of information. She’d been born Christina Phillips to a working-class father and a stay-at-home mother. An only child, she’d excelled in school, always in the top of her classes, third in her high school class of over five hundred. Earned a full scholarship to Stanford. On the educational fast track, with recommendations from her professors and faculty, Tina was accepted into the medical program where she met her husband, Jared Webster. Chance had yet to look at his file, though Destiny had provided an extensive one on the man. Destiny was nothing if not thorough.
Leaning back in his chair, Chance closed his eyes, remembering his first meeting with Tina. After the long drive from Shiloh Springs to Dallas, he’d flown into Portland, and headed for the hotel Lucas booked. Of course, his brother hadn’t bothered to tell him he’d be sharing the room with Renee’s feisty friend. He’d allowed Shiloh to twist his arm into playing bodyguard instead of lounging on the balcony of his condo on South Padre Island, which had been his plans when he’d taken a week off work.
He’d slid the keycard into the lock and walked into the room, planning to get settled into his room, and then check in with the woman he’d been sent to babysit. Instead, he’d heard a banshee-loud yell, followed by excruciating pain in the back of his skull.
The image she’d made, standing inside the room, with a towel wrapped around her body and another atop her head, wielding the room’s ice bucket in her hand made his lips curve in a rueful smile. Though at the time he hadn’t been smiling, he’d been puzzled and in pain. He’d made an educated guess that’s what walloped him in the head, and he raised his fingers and touched the goose egg coming up on the back of his skull. He knew where the blame lay, because Shiloh hadn’t bothered telling Tina they’d be sharing a room, either. Once they’d straightened out the misunderstanding, she’d apologized profusely, before grabbing her clothing and dressing in the bathroom. A shame that, because she had the kind of body meant for sin, a woman with curves and legs that went on forever. He’d noticed the black eye and split lip, and the bruises covering her arms, which made his blood boil, but that dimmed when he’d focused on how good she looked in next to nothing. Too bad he couldn’t touch her. She was most definitely off limits because she was Renee’s friend.
With a shake of his head, he looked at his laptop screen. He refused to pull up the photos of Tina again; he had them memorized anyway. No, he needed something different, something he could sink his teeth into, a puzzle to solve and keep his mind off the beautiful woman who was quickly coming to mean something to him.
Moving the mouse over Jared Webster’s file, he clicked open and started reading.