Renee didn’t know what to think when she entered the kitchen Friday morning to find Katherine sitting at the table and Kade nowhere to be found. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Katherine motioned to the stove. “There are some scrambled eggs if you want some.”
“Thanks.” Renee retrieved a plate and served herself a small amount of the remaining eggs. She wasn’t sure her stomach could handle more than a bite or two. Hoping her voice sounded casual, she asked, “Where are the senator and Ghost?”
“They already left for the capitol building. I guess there’s a big budget vote today.” She set her fork down. “Come keep me company and tell me what you have planned for today.”
Renee slid into the seat across from Katherine. “I’ll probably do some work in the security office and start packing. Ghost and I will be leaving in the next day or two.”
“Can I assume that whatever caused everyone to be so worried is over?”
Renee’s only response was to shift her gaze to her plate and take a bite of her eggs. She didn’t want to acknowledge that another potential threat was still out there. When she looked up, Katherine was staring at her. “You don’t look too excited about going back home.”
“It’s hard knowing Ghost and I will be going different directions after today.”
Katherine reached out and patted her hand. “Have a little faith. Things have a way of turning out even when it seems like you’re facing the impossible.”
“I kept hoping that was true, but it doesn’t look like it.” Renee managed to take another bite before she gave up on breakfast. She pushed back from the table. “I’d better get to work.”
“I’ll be around today if you need to talk.”
“Thanks.” Renee managed to make it to the security office before the lack of certainty in her future caused her eyes to well up with tears.
She drew a deep breath and fought back her emotions. Crying wasn’t going to change anything.
She opened the security room door and found a small white box on her keyboard with a note attached. Curious, she picked it up and read.
R,
Left-hand jewelry may never be in my future, but I hope you’ll accept this gift. I’ll never forget you. No matter what I said, every memory we made together was worth it.
Love,
K
She dropped into her seat and read through the note twice more. Could it be that Kade’s feelings mirrored her own? Was he hurting as much as she?
Hope soared briefly only to come crashing down with a hard and resounding thud. Even if that were the case, it didn’t change things. Tonight they would both leave the Whitmores’ and go their separate ways.
A tear spilled over, and she set the note aside. Lifting the lid of the simple white box, her insides melted when she saw the sapphire ring.
Gently, she lifted it from the thick cotton pad it lay on and turned it over in her hand. Simple, elegant, beautiful. Exactly the kind of jewelry she would have chosen for herself. Of course, she’d never had occasion to wear such a thing before.
Jewelry had always seemed too frivolous to spend money on, but now she understood its effects when given by someone who mattered.
Slowly she slipped it on her right hand, surprised to find it fit. Indulging herself, she held her hand out and admired the deep-blue stone. After reading the note one last time, she tucked it into the box and set it aside. Her mind was still reeling as she unlocked the computer screen in front of her and tried to focus on her responsibilities for today.
For nearly an hour, she stared at her screen, trying to analyze the piles of research she had conducted over the past several weeks. The idea that so many people had been killed for Sean Caspar and Owen Werthcamp left her reeling.
The real Caspar, his girlfriend, the prison guard. None of their bodies had ever been found, yet no one had seen any of them since these men had pushed them out of their way. What kind of people could turn into cold-blooded murderers with so little regard for human life?
When she went back in time to when Hannah’s father was killed, the body count nearly doubled, and that was before she added in the crew members on the ship who had died alongside Caspar.
She glanced at the security monitors; all was normal. A movement caught her eye at the rear of the house, and she focused there to see Katherine leaving through the back door. Going to feed the horses, no doubt.
In all her emotional turmoil from last night, Renee had forgotten all about that chore. A slice of guilt surfaced that she hadn’t taken care of it, and she suddenly felt uneasy about Katherine being outside, exposed.
With a shake of her head, Renee reminded herself that a security detail had been assigned to her. Renee stared at the monitors again, slowly rising from her seat.
Unease bloomed into apprehension. Her eyes went from one monitor to the next and then again. Not one member of the protection detail was visible. The view by the garage where one always stood showed nothing. The front drive, no one. The street view, no extra cars.
Renee snatched up her phone and dialed Kade’s number. He didn’t answer. She called a second time with the same results. Where was he? Never before had she failed to reach him.
She tried another call, this time hitting Hannah’s number. The moment her friend greeted her, Renee’s fears tumbled out. “I think something’s wrong. The senator’s wife is here at the house with me, but her security detail isn’t anywhere where I can see them.”
“Where’s Kade?”
“He’s with the senator in D.C. He isn’t answering his phone.”
“That’s odd.” Hannah hesitated briefly. “Is the security equipment all functional?”
“It appears to be.” Renee crossed to the window and looked out to make sure what she saw on her screen matched what was really outside. “I’m looking out the window, and I don’t see anything.”
“It’s probably just a mix-up, but I’m going to call Ace to see if he can go over there to check everything out.”
“Is he even in town?”
“Yeah. He wanted to give Kade an extra set of eyes since our part of the budget is supposed to go through today.”
“Thanks, Hannah. I know I’m probably overreacting.”
“In this line of work, I’d rather you overreact than underreact.”
“Me too.” Renee hung up and checked the monitors again. Katherine was visible at the edge of the path leading to the stables. It took a moment for Renee to realize she had stopped to pull some weeds in one of her flowerbeds.
Pulling weeds. The woman lived in a mansion, was married to a senator, and she was pulling weeds on her way to feed her horses herself.
Several minutes passed before Katherine dusted off her hands and continued up the path. The rest of the grounds remained quiet until a car pulled up and parked at the edge of a front camera’s view. Less than a minute later, another car pulled into the drive, and a woman in her early thirties climbed out.
Renee’s first thought was that the woman was likely a friend of the family coming for a visit. With Katherine not available to confirm the woman’s identity, Renee zoomed in on her face. Something seemed familiar about her, but Renee couldn’t put her finger on where she might have seen her before.
Very few visitors had come by during her time here, and this woman hadn’t been one of them. Could she be someone Renee had crossed paths with at the CIA? And if so, why would she be here?
The woman glanced over her shoulder briefly, and in that instant, clarity ran through Renee. Tamara Cordelius, the woman who had dated the real Sean Caspar, hadn’t been a murder victim after all. She had been an accomplice.
Renee grabbed her phone and hit Redial. “Hannah, Tamara Cordelius is here, and I think she brought friends.”
“I don’t understand. Who is she?”
“She used to date Caspar, the real one. I think she was really working with the man who killed him and took over his identity.”
“What’s she doing now?” Hannah asked.
“Heading for the front door.”
“Get the senator’s wife and get out of there. I’ll call Ace and see how close he is.”
Renee didn’t have to be told twice. She bolted from the security office and raced to the back door. Her hand gripped the knob, and she had to remind herself to turn it slowly, soundlessly.
Slipping outside, she quietly closed the door behind her. Rather than walk up the path, she angled into the lawn, allowing the grass to quiet her footsteps.
Her heart pounded as she hurried forward, and she quickly glanced behind her at regular intervals to make sure she wasn’t being followed.
The moment she reached the trail, she broke into a run, her legs moving nearly as quickly as her thoughts.