Bradley gripped the edge of the conference table chair beside his knees, as he watched the video play on the laptop screen for the hundredth time. Even though his eyes were now burning, his coffee untouched. He’d heard the words when they told him the email came from Alexis’s computer.
But he didn’t believe it.
“The background is moving.” He’d turned the sound down. Rachel’s words, her broken voice, played in his head anyway. He didn’t need to keep listening to it. He needed details—ones that would help them locate her.
The agent he’d been speaking with didn’t look up from his own computer, a laptop which he’d brought in. “Curtain. A sheet, maybe. We’re trying to figure it out.”
“What about background noise?”
“Because you’re going to hear a train, or a certain kind of bird that only lives in one part of town and get a location, Sherlock?”
Bradley glanced at the man. Maybe that had been what he was thinking, but apparently it didn’t happen here. “Pardon me if I’m not an expert in kidnapping videos.”
The agent sighed. “Sorry. There’s nothing in the background. Whoever he is, he’s good.”
“What if it’s a woman?”
“You think Alexis Calvert is responsible?”
That hadn’t been what he was talking about at all, but the agent assumed otherwise. Especially now that they’d traced back the email to her computer. This could very well be the work of a woman as easily as a man, right? Just not Alexis. Or so he’d believed. He couldn’t let his faith in her waver now.
Yes, she was hiding something. That much he knew just from talking to her outside Rachel’s house. Her reaction had been mostly about what happened to her friend, but he knew her well enough to see more there. Just not what the FBI agents wanted to see. Because of the kidnapping? No way. She would never hurt Rachel. Except the fact that her public display of…that didn’t exactly leave his sister unscathed.
Bradley sighed and moved to refill his coffee.
“You wanna tell me about this two million she said he wants?”
He topped his coffee with whole milk and turned, leaned his hips against the counter. This wasn’t an interrogation. They needed this information.
“Neither of you has that kind of money.”
“Not for another two days, no.”
The agent’s brow furrowed. “The inheritance you mentioned?”
“A trust our parents set up. When they passed away, it was kept for us until the day we turn thirty.” He smiled. “Guess they figured we’d just waste it if we got it earlier.”
And now the kidnapper wanted it.
“One million each.” Bradley sipped his coffee.
It wasn’t a ton of money, not by standards of wealth, but it was a life-changer. He wanted to be grateful for it. Truth was, with his parents gone he didn’t really care all that much about dollars. He’d rather have them here. Even if it meant his mother was beside herself with worry about Rachel. His dad would be yelling at everyone to cover the fact he was scared out of his mind.
Bradley was barely holding it together as it was. The agents acted like this was just another day on the job, which he supposed it was, for them. If he had his parents here, Bradley doubted he would be holding himself together this well.
The agent said, “So the kidnapper is close enough to you to know about this inheritance. Knows precisely when you’ll be getting it in order to coincide with handing it over in exchange for her.”
That didn’t mean it was Alexis. “Or he works at the law firm. Or knew our parents. They were popular in their sphere of business.” He shrugged, even though his stomach was twisting. “You think figuring out who knows about the money will find her?”
It was a long shot from that to a location where she was being held. Still, they had to get a lead somehow.
No one had said as much to him, but he figured the FBI was running on next to nothing apart from this kick Agent Walker was on about Alexis. They were bringing her in right now so they could question her. All because the email had come from her computer. He figured she’d been hacked, but they would know that, wouldn’t they? Was the misdirection just a way for the kidnapper to make sure the FBI was doing busywork?
The agent said, “We have to investigate every avenue. Never know which one will unearth the truth.”
“And the meet?” It was set for two days from now. The day they were supposed to have hit the lawyer’s office and signed all those papers. Not a coincidence, either.
“That’s one of the avenues I—”
The second he saw Alexis being escorted down the hall, Bradley tuned out the rest. He set his cup on the table and moved to the door. Alexis had tear tracks on her dry face, what makeup she’d been wearing now smeared under her eyes. They marched her from the elevator down the hall while every agent in the room stared at her.
He didn’t want to be as worried about her as he was about Rachel. He shouldn’t be. But he couldn’t help his sister, while Alexis might be able to—if she told the FBI what she was hiding. Both his girls were in trouble, just different kinds. That was the reality. Bradley was torn between them, trying to balance friendship with Alexis—or what remained of one—and his relationship with his sister.
What had Rachel wanted to tell him? And, why did it seem like it had something to do with Alexis? Maybe she’d wanted to make a change in her life. Or she’d met someone.
Bradley swung back around to the agent. “Does my sister have a boyfriend?”
“There’s a guy.” He flicked through screens. “It doesn’t seem serious.”
“Any indication he might want it to turn serious and she doesn’t?”
The agent shook his head. “He isn’t the pushy kind from what I’ve been able to find out.”
“So we’re not looking at him?”
“We’re not looking at anyone. The FBI is investigating this case.”
They didn’t want his help? “What is the guy’s name?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
Because they didn’t want him paying the man a visit? He figured that was a waste of a perfectly good resource. “I want to listen to the interview with Alexis.”
The agent sighed.
“We’re not making any progress here, and I know Alexis better than anyone. I can give you guys insight.”
“You said you haven’t seen her in years.”
His stomach clenched. “That stuff doesn’t change.”
The agent made a call, and Bradley was escorted to the viewing room. Probably so he was out of that agent’s hair. Too bad for them he didn’t care who he was annoying. He’d make them all crazy if it meant they found his sister faster. What did it matter if they did that just to get rid of him?
Bradley was more used to kicking down doors. Evade. Capture. Exfil. There was a mission, and that mission was undertaken until it was completed. Then they waited for the next mission. Simple, but not easy. There was a purity to it that didn’t even touch this life stateside. It was hard to find people who understood the transition. Alexis was one of the ones who had made it easier. Made home worth coming to, just to see her smile.
She’d acted like he was this great hero every single time, even when the mission had gone wrong and he took his frustration out on her.
Then, in one night, they’d grown closer. The next morning Rachel had shown up and overreacted. Everything had fallen apart from there. He stared at Alexis through the glass. Did she regret what they’d done? She’d told Rachel it wasn’t a big deal. That hurt, but he got why. Rachel didn’t need to know the extent of the promises they’d made to each other in the dark.
Promises Alexis hadn’t kept.
Bradley tried to see all that through the lens of what he believed now. The faith he had, and the fact God called him to live a holy life. Not out of obligation, but as worship. Gratitude for what God had done.
Alexis in his life wasn’t a holy thing, but what if it could be? Maybe there was too much melted snow under the bridge to think about her and marriage in the same context. But why not dream big? Wasn’t that the point of having faith in a big God?
“I already told you,” Alexis pleaded with Agent Walker. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The ransom video was sent from your computer.”
She blinked, and her mouth opened. No sound came out.
“She’s surprised,” an agent standing behind Bradley muttered.
“Could be faked.” Another person.
“She isn’t faking that.” Bradley turned to stare at them both. “The woman can’t keep a secret to save her life. She isn’t capable of fake surprise.”
“Then she’s surprised she got caught.” Bradley saw the guy’s badge. An FBI shrink?
“No way. She didn’t do this.” He turned back to the window. They were probably sharing a look, but who cared? These people’s opinions wouldn’t change the truth.
Through the glass, Alexis shifted her hair back with a shaky hand. She looked exhausted. She was living in a dump. What was she doing for work these days?
He didn’t want to soften toward her, but she had always lived in that part of him. The part he hadn’t been able to toughen up. No matter what. This woman was what made him vulnerable. With her in his life, he’d felt like he could conquer anything. She was safe at home, so what was there to be scared about on a mission?
Alexis wiped a tear away. “My friend came over. I was out of the room for a minute. But he wouldn’t do that. No way.”
Snickers behind him made Bradley bite down on his molars. Alexis had a boyfriend? Here Bradley was defending her, and she was defending someone else?
“I don’t think anyone came over,” Agent Walker said. “I think you sent the ransom video yourself.”
Alexis opened her mouth. Closed it. “I—” She cut herself off.
Bradley watched the thoughts play across her face. The woman had never known how to hide anything. Right now she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know how to play this, whether to defend herself or argue with the agent. There was no subterfuge here, even with the FBI thinking she was part of it. Bradley was as convinced as he could be that Alexis hadn’t done anything. And that wasn’t blind feelings talking. He knew this woman. Just like he knew his sister.
If Rachel had brought Alexis to the house, and called Bradley to be there an hour and a half later, she had meant for them to all be there at the same time. Which meant whatever Rachel wanted to say had to do with Bradley and Alexis.
Agent Walker tossed a pen on the table between him and Alexis. “What’s this mysterious friend’s name, so we can verify he was at your house?”
“You mean, so you can tear into his life and terrify him with all this?”
“If he’s innocent, what does he have to worry about?”
Alexis clutched her arms tighter around her middle.
“Or we can go through your phone and figure it out for ourselves. But saving us all that work…” Walker left off the implications of that.
Bradley didn’t figure much was going to change the FBI’s impression of Alexis. Least of all her giving them a name, when they already had her phone and computer. They probably already knew who her friend was.
Alexis shut her eyes for a second.
The shrink behind him said, “She’s planning. Working out her next move.”
Bradley bit down so hard he figured he was about to crack a tooth. Seriously, they couldn’t just take her word for it? Alexis hadn’t done anything to make the FBI believe she wasn’t trustworthy…
That wasn’t true.
He shut his own eyes. Her private life had been splashed across social media. Even with the outrageous public icons these days, it had still been a huge scandal for a Senator’s assistant to act like that. She’d been branded. And not in a good way.
And he’d had his heart broken.
“Let’s talk about you,” Agent Walker said. “Assistant to a senator, nothing but success in front of you, and you throw it away. For what, a good time?”
Another video he couldn’t get out of his head. But what did his sister’s kidnapping have to do with Alexis’s indiscretion? Surely the two weren’t tied together. This was about money. Not what Alexis had done.
“It figures you’re just like everyone else,” Alexis said. “Fishing to find out if I’m up for a good time.” She motioned to Agent Walker’s wedding ring. “Things lacking at home?”
“Deflection,” the shrink said.
Except that he’d heard that tone from Alexis before. It wasn’t bitterness, or trying to get the attention off herself. It was pain. No, it was anguish.
Agent Walker didn’t react. “Then your friend fires you, and you’re left with nothing. No money, no life. No job. Can’t get employment past menial labor.”
“Cleaning houses is honest work.”
“Until people find out who is cleaning their houses and they ask your boss to remove you. Scared they’ll find their house in the next video, right? Or one of their paintings for sale on eBay.”
“I’m not a thief.”
“And yet you make regular cash deposits into your bank account that aren’t part of your income. You’re careful,” Agent Walker said. “I’ll give you that. Small amounts, couple hundred at a time. Different times of the day. Different branches.” He leaned back in his chair. “You wanna tell me where that money came from?”
“Diff…” Alexis blinked.
“Where does the money come from, Alexis?”
She stared at the agent, her body still. “I know how this is going to sound, but the money comes from Rachel.”
“Senator Harris was giving you money?”
Alexis shrugged one shoulder. “She wanted to help me out. It’s a free country.”
Because she felt guilty. The thought popped into his head, but he couldn’t figure out why. Alexis didn’t feel like she had anything to be ashamed of. Rachel had given her money—she’d helped her friend out. But there was another layer to it.
Just not the one Agent Walker seemed to think was there. “You mean you forced her to help you out.”
“Rachel is my friend.” She chuckled, full of mirth. “And if you knew Senator Harris at all, you’d know that nobody forces Rachel to do anything.”
“And yet you nearly destroyed her reputation with what you did.”
Alexis looked like she was about to be sick. “I don’t want to talk about this!”
“Too bad. Your friend took the hit, and you kept on keeping on. Getting paid. Living your life like nothing happened.”
Alexis snorted, though it sounded more like she was about to start crying. “Have you seen my life?”
Bradley’s stomach clenched. He’d seen her life. Rachel could have given her even more, but Alexis probably hadn’t wanted it. Didn’t want to be indebted to her friend.
At a time when she should have been begging to make amends.
None of this made sense to him.
Agent Walker said, “I guess that’s what happens when you post that stuff.”
“The original post came from a dummy account no one can trace,” Alexis shot back at him. “Didn’t you read the news reports? We didn’t leak anything.”
We?
Walker dismissed her words with a wave. “Why would I care?”
“Because then maybe you’d have an inkling of why I am scared out of my mind for my friend right now. She’s been kidnapped and you’re sitting here doing nothing.” Alexis screamed the words at him. “This is a complete waste of time.”
“You might think that.” Walker’s words were low, a dark tone. “But when I find the connection between you and the kidnapper, I’m going to nail you with everything I’ve got.”
Bradley backed up from the window, his mind reeling.
“Doesn’t look so innocent now, does she?”
He didn’t care what the shrink thought. That wasn’t even what he was thinking about. Your friend took the hit. It was a crazy idea, but in a weird way made total sense. Didn’t explain everything. But maybe it gave him just enough. Just what he needed to begin to make sense of this.
First, they had to find Rachel.
Then, he was going to sit the girls down and make them meet with him.
Bradley turned to the shrink. He squared his shoulders, the same way he’d done with the guys on his team when those videos of Alexis came out. “She didn’t do this.”
He walked out of the viewing room, every stride making him more convinced he was right. They’d both lied to him, Rachel and Alexis, and he’d believed it. There had to be a reason, or he knew they’d have told him the truth. Instead, the girls had drawn a wedge between the three of them. He hadn’t been able to help them, when that was exactly what he should have done. What he wanted to have done.
Now, with the FBI looking hard at Alexis, and his sister in the hands of greedy kidnappers, they were going to accept his help.
Whether they liked it or not.
He was here, and he was going to be here for them both.
Alexis was held for hours, during which time he kept calling Steve until the man picked up. And then he got the team activated. Finally the agent who’d been with him earlier came back in the conference room.
“She’s been cleared to go.” He said it with caution. As though he wasn’t sure how Bradley was going to react. As if he’d do anything but make sure she got home okay.
“You guys didn’t find anything incriminating on her phone?” Or, the FBI figured she was still part of it and they were going to follow Alexis hoping she would lead them to the kidnappers.
“Only the fact there was a text conversation between her and an unlabeled contact.”
Bradley said, “What does that mean?”
The agent who’d been with him in the conference room said, “Whoever it is, their number is unregistered. So if she has a ‘friend’ who came over, she doesn’t want anyone to know who it is.” He shrugged. “Could be it’s a code, but it also means we have nothing to hold her on.”
“What about her computer?”
“Still going through it.”
“There should be evidence the video was sent from it, right?”
“Should be.”
The agent didn’t tell him more after that. Bradley figured he’d been lucky they told him as much as they had.
Hours later, Alexis was escorted out of the interview room. Bradley crossed the office to meet them. When Walker saw him there he said, “She’s free to go now, but I’m keeping an eye on her. Don’t worry about that.”
Bradley nodded. “I intend to do the same.” He turned to her then, ignoring the shell-shocked look on her face. “In fact, why don’t I give you a ride home?”
They walked to the elevator together, past agents filing in with boxes of belongings. Alexis’s stuff?
She gasped. “They have my journals.”
He tugged on her hand until they were alone in the elevator, not wanting her to break down in front of anyone else. She didn’t need that. And he needed her to get to a place where she would start trusting him with the truth.
“They’re going to find out everything.” She whispered the words to the quiet of the elevator as they descended between floors.
Bradley figured the truth coming to light was a good thing, regardless of what fallout there might be. He turned so he faced her and ducked his head. “Lex.” He waited until she made eye contact, then said, “Everything is going to be okay.”
Her eyes widened. He saw it coming, but didn’t move. She needed to do it.
Her palm cracked across his face. “How dare you!”