HER FATHER WAS HERE?
A wave of nausea swept through Aubrey. On any other day, a visit to Papps’s house would have had her soaking up the afternoon sun on the back veranda of the senator’s large house. She’d always loved the warm winter days and the line of palm trees and the blue ocean spreading out in front of them. But instead of enjoying the incredible view, she was caught up in her father’s messy decisions.
She sat back in her chair. “Where is he?”
“With the BOLO out on your father, someone at the local PD found video surveillance of him at the Omni Hotel while investigating a separate incident. They followed up, but he didn’t check in, and there’s no evidence he met anyone.”
Her mind worked through the possible scenarios, and only one stood out. “He had to have been meeting someone. Maybe whoever it was didn’t show up.”
“It’s very possible.”
“If his ex-wife lives here, like I think she does, he might be here to see her,” she said.
“I think it would be worth paying her a visit,” Adam said.
“I agree.” Jack turned to her. “Do you know how to find her? With the new information we’re gathering, we’re still updating our files.”
“She shouldn’t be hard to track down.” Aubrey opened her laptop that was sitting on the table. “As far as I know, she still lives around here after remarrying. I don’t know her new last name, but her maiden name was Brook.”
Aubrey searched for Rachel’s Facebook page. Fifteen minutes later, she found the page that was filled with a sprinkling of energetic selfies and beach shots. “Looks like I was right. She remarried and lives just outside of Corpus with her new husband.”
“You’re good.” Adam leaned forward and studied the page. “What else can you tell us about her?”
Aubrey dug through another pile of memories she would have preferred to keep buried. But this wasn’t the time to let the past drag her under. “The last time I spoke with her was right after their divorce went through. She needed something from my father and wanted me to talk to him for her. It was clear from the tone of her voice that she was relieved to be rid of him.”
She remembered feeling sorry for her father at the time. Sorry that he was still searching for something and had ended up failing at another marriage. Sorry that she and her mother hadn’t been enough for him.
Adam flipped through a few of the photos. “She seems like a bit of a gold digger.”
“I’ve thought the same thing, though unfortunately for her, my father looked better with his expensive car and clothes than he did on paper. Which is why, I’m assuming, she ended up walking out when she found out the truth. He was always more flash than substance and spent more than he made.” She blinked back the emotion. “All of this makes me miss my mom, though on the other hand, it makes me so glad she’s not here. I know that when they married, she loved him, and to be fair, he loved her, but things changed. He changed. I would have hated to see her having to deal with the fallout from all of this.”
Adam nodded. “I always loved your mom. She had a way of making everyone feel at home no matter who they were.”
“She was always like that. Loved having a full house. She could whip up a meal for guests in thirty minutes that made you think she’d slaved over the stove for hours.”
“Her spaghetti and meatballs was my favorite,” Jack said. “I’d finish off my plate and she’d pile on another helping.”
Aubrey laughed at the memory. “For some reason she always felt like she had to fatten the two of you up.”
Jack reached out and squeezed her hand, making her wish for the moment that they could go back in time. That he could drive her to her mother’s house for spaghetti and meatballs with chocolate cake for dessert like they used to when everything in life seemed so much simpler. When the biggest concern she faced was passing Mrs. Gunther’s science test and what she was going to wear to school the next day.
“What if Rachel hasn’t seen him?” Aubrey asked. “What next?”
“We’ll go to plan B,” Jack said.
“Aren’t we well beyond plan B?” She pulled her hand away and took a sip of her tea that was now lukewarm, trying not to be frustrated. “I understand you’ve been at this for months.”
She might not be close to her father, but she knew if he didn’t want to be found, it wasn’t going to be easy to track him down.
“You’re going to start making me feel like I’m shirking my job.”
She shook her head. “Not at all. But I will say this about my father. He’s been disappearing and shirking his responsibilities for as long as I remember.”
“We’re going to find him, Bree.” Jack stood up. “It’s just a matter of time.”
“I’m going with you.”
“Bree, I brought you here to keep you safe.”
“And you need me. Rachel will talk to me before she talks to the FBI.”
Jack frowned. “I’m not going to argue with that, but we need to be careful.”
It didn’t take long for them to drive to the house, which sat on a large piece of land overlooking the ocean with a dozen palm trees. It had to be worth at least a couple million dollars. Maybe Jack had been right about Rachel being a gold digger. She also couldn’t help but wonder if her father had felt any of the same loss that she knew her mother had felt when he’d left them. A single mom, struggling to pay the bills and keep food on the table. She’d risen to the occasion, but even as a young girl, Aubrey had seen that it hadn’t been easy.
It wasn’t as if Aubrey really knew her father’s second wife. She’d only spoken with her a couple of times. The first time had been the day her father had insisted on bringing Rachel to meet her just days before they drove to Vegas to tie the knot. The whole time it seemed more like an opportunity for him to absolve the guilt he had to have felt. To get her to give him the approval he seemed to want from her. Why, she’d never quite understood. He never cared what she thought about anything else.
She’d given him nothing. How could she approve of the way he’d walked out on her mother, especially when he was marrying a woman barely ten years older than she was. But what had hurt the most was that he never asked about her mother that day or any other day. He probably didn’t even know when the cancer came back again with a vengeance and the doctors didn’t expect her to live more than a few more months. And why would he? As far as he was concerned, Mary Grayson was a piece of his past, and Rachel was the woman who was going to make him feel young again.
The memories pressed in around her. She’d seen the fire in her father’s eyes that day. The lilt in his voice as if he’d struck gold. And in the end, Rachel had only been another step toward his ruin.
She dragged her mind back to the present as she walked beside Jack up the long brick walkway in silence and focused on trying to ignore the ball of nerves in the pit of her stomach. Thoughts of her father were something she was used to dealing with, but she thought she’d buried her feelings about him years ago. No, erased them. But clearly, she was wrong. The last few hours had resurrected emotions she’d rather forget, leaving her feeling small and vulnerable.
She studied Jack’s profile as he stepped onto the porch. It seemed strange, seeing him after so many years, and now they’d been thrown into working a case together. He’d always been a calming presence in her life, and somehow that hadn’t changed at all. He was still that grounding in the midst of the chaos swirling around her. She drew in a long, slow breath. She could do this. There was a higher purpose at stake, which meant she couldn’t let personal feelings get in the way.
Jack stopped in front of a pair of massive wooden front doors and rang the doorbell. A man in his late thirties wearing shorts and a T-shirt opened the door with his cell phone in his hand.
“It’s about time.” His frown deepened as he stared at them. “Except you’re not the plumber.”
Jack shot Aubrey a side glance. “No . . . I’m FBI Special Agent Jack Shannon, and this is Detective Aubrey Grayson. You’re Corey Porter?”
She recognized the man from Rachel’s Facebook page as her husband.
He, on the other hand, clearly didn’t recognize Aubrey or her name, which shouldn’t surprise her. She had a feeling Rachel didn’t share details about her ex-husband’s family.
“FBI?” He took a closer look at Jack’s badge and frowned. “What’s going on?”
“We need to speak to your wife, Rachel. Is she at home?” Aubrey asked.
“Give me a second.” He told whoever he was talking to that he would have to call them back, then turned to Jack. “Listen, I don’t know what this is about, but unless you’ve got some kind of warrant, you’re going to need to tell me what’s going on.”
“Your wife isn’t in any kind of trouble. We’re looking for some information she might have.”
He hesitated a few more seconds. “Information?”
“About someone she used to know. Just a couple of questions, that’s all.”
“Fine. Rachel . . .” He shouted from the entryway for his wife to come to the door.
They heard the click of heels against the wood floor and then, “Aubrey . . . wow . . . it’s been a long time.” Rachel glanced at her husband, then back to Bree. “I guess you met my husband, Corey.”
Aubrey smiled at her. “Yes. We have.”
Rachel hadn’t aged since the last time she’d seen her, though from the look of her slightly frozen brow, tanned skin, and bleached hair, she’d had some help keeping her face timeless.
Aubrey felt a sudden wave of discomfort, just like the first time she’d met Rachel. She was only ten years younger than the woman who, for whatever reason, decided to marry her father. The arrangement had always bothered her.
“You know each other?” Corey asked.
“We’ve met,” Aubrey said, leaving it at that. “Not in regard to police business, of course, but socially, though it’s been a long time.”
Corey looked confused but didn’t say anything. Neither did he move away from the door. Clearly Rachel had never told him about the daughter of her ex-husband, which could make this situation even more awkward. “I’m assuming this is police business, judging by the FBI badge?”
“We are here on official business.” She flashed her own badge. There was clearly an issue between Rachel and her new husband, but there was no reason Aubrey needed to disclose their former relationship. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but we’re looking for a way to contact Charles Ramsey.”
“Charles?” Rachel’s gaze dropped. “Is he in trouble—”
“Wait a minute . . .” Corey grabbed the doorframe with one hand. “Your ex-husband?”
“The FBI needs to talk with him,” Jack said, leaving it at that. “We’re having trouble tracking him down. We thought you might know where he is.”
Aubrey tried to read Rachel’s expression as she glanced at her husband. Annoyance? Fear? She wasn’t sure.
Rachel sucked in a sharp breath. “You have to understand that when I walked out of his life, I walked out for good. I haven’t talked to him since the divorce was finalized, and I don’t want to. He was a mistake I’d like to forget.”
“So you have no way at all to contact him?” Aubrey asked.
Her gaze shifted again. “I just said I haven’t talked to him since I signed the divorce papers, and I’m married again, so . . . there was never a reason to keep in touch with him. And honestly, I’d like to leave the past in the past.”
“I understand. I’m sorry to bother you.” Jack handed her his business card. “If you do happen to hear from him, please give me a call. It is very important that we get ahold of him.”
“Of course, and I’m sorry I couldn’t be of any help.”
She was simply another victim in the wake of her father’s destruction.
Aubrey started back down the driveway with Jack, feeling his irritation. “There was something about the way she answered that made it seem like she knows something she’s not telling us,” she said.
“I agree, but why?”
“The number one reason would be her husband. He could be the jealous type. We have no idea how much she’s told him about her ex, and if she’s seen him . . .”
“Is there anything else you can think of about her that might help?”
“Honestly, I don’t know her well. I never did. She eloped with my father. He brought her to meet me a few days before they got married. He wanted my approval, but I tried to act like I didn’t care. The bottom line is that there was never a relationship between the two of us. To be honest, I never wanted any kind of relationship with her, and I’m pretty sure she didn’t either. The few times I was around her felt awkward, especially to a kid who just wanted to spend time with her father. Not with his new wife.”
“So you think she’s seen your father?”
“I’m not sure why she would, but it’s possible. Something seemed off with her answers.”
Jack started to open his car door, then stopped. “You up for a walk and a bit of fresh air to clear your mind?”
“Where to?”
He shot her a grin, then started walking. “It’s not far.”
“Okay.”
She hurried to catch up with him, wondering what he had in mind. But maybe it didn’t matter. The weather was perfect, views of the winter beach were stunning, and the company wasn’t bad either.
“You know, a few years ago, you wouldn’t have questioned my suggestion or missed a chance to go to the beach,” he said. “It was your favorite place. There’s a food truck set up nearby, so I was thinking some mini tacos and a bit of sunshine might be on the menu before the sun sets.”
Ten minutes later she was sitting at one of the picnic tables that overlooked the beach where a family was playing in the sand. It wasn’t the first time they’d sat in this very same spot. Back then they would have grabbed takeaway and headed out on the beach with some of their friends in time to catch the sunset. She held on to the memory as he made his way to the table and set down a couple packets of tacos in front of her.
“I didn’t think I was hungry, but I was wrong,” she said, taking the drink and food he offered her. For the moment, anyway, she was content to just enjoy his company. “It doesn’t get much better than this. Seventy-two-degree weather, a couple mini tacos—”
“And don’t forget the company.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “You can’t get much better than this, can you? I confess, I’ve spent far too much time working and not near enough enjoying what’s around me.”
“Hazards of the trade, and on top of that you were supposed to be on your vacation right now.”
“Some vacation.” She added some fresh pico de gallo to her taco, then took a bite. “I’ll have to ask for a few more days to make up for this one.”
But as much as she enjoyed his company, she couldn’t get her father off her mind—how he could be a traitor to the country she loved and served.
“Bree.” Jack met her gaze. “You need to know that many people who are recruited don’t start out planning to betray their country.”
He could still read her thoughts. “Meaning my father didn’t wake up one day and just decide to become a traitor?”
“It usually happens gradually,” Jack said.
But how he got there wasn’t the point. She knew it was greed that had kept him on the path.
Jack’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket. “Now this is interesting.”
“Who is it?”
“A text message from Rachel.”
Aubrey frowned. “Really?”
“She says she wants to meet up with us in town in thirty minutes.”
“Does she say why?”
“No, but it seems pretty clear that she’s wanting to talk to us without her husband standing there.”
“So we were right.” She caught Jack’s gaze and frowned. “She was hiding something.”