Josh took another turn, then glanced in the rearview mirror. The other car made the same turn. They were keeping their distance, but they were definitely tailing them.
“You’re sure they’re following us?” Caitlyn asked.
Josh caught the panic in her voice. He couldn’t blame her. It was a repeat of the tunnels all over again. This was no coincidence.
“The black sedan two cars back. They’ve been behind us for the past mile or two and have followed us on every turn.”
Caitlyn studied her side-view mirror. “I see them, but how did they find us? It’s definitely not the same car from the garage yesterday.”
“No, it’s not.”
But if it wasn’t them, then who?
“Do you think they knew we were at the pawn shop?” Caitlyn asked.
“I’m not sure exactly where they picked up our trail, but I don’t think so. I was pretty thorough ensuring no one followed us there, or when we left.” He glanced in his rearview mirror again. “I’m going to try and slow down. If we can get them to pass us, we might be able to get the license plate number to run.”
He took his foot off the accelerator and dropped his speed five, then ten miles an hour. The cars between them passed until the sedan was only a couple car lengths behind them.
“They’re slowing down as well, but I got it.” She grabbed a pen from the console and wrote the number down.
“Good girl.” Josh put in a call to his partner, who picked up on the second ring. “Quinton, we’ve got a tail. I need you to run a license plate for us.”
Caitlyn read the plate number out loud.
“Give me a minute,” Quinton said.
Josh kept his speed steady while they waited for the information. The other car had to know they’d been made but were making no moves to back off.
“Okay,” Quinton said, coming back on the line. “I’ve got it, but you’re not going to like this. Your tail is someone from the department.”
“The department?” The answer startled him. He looked again into the rearview mirror, but the other car was still too far back for him to identify the driver and passenger. “Why would someone from the department be following us? If they have questions, they could just call and talk to me.”
“I wish I knew, but I can’t answer that.”
Whatever was going on, he didn’t like it, because he wasn’t the only one involved in this. He had to think about Caitlyn’s safety as well.
The black sedan flashed their police strobe lights and signaled for them to pull over.
“Quinton . . . I’m going to need to call you back.”
He hung up the call and flipped on his blinker.
Caitlyn turned around again. “Do you think we should stop?”
“I’m not sure we have a choice, and on top of that, I want to know what they want.”
Josh pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall and parked in an empty spot, trying to work through the next step. He’d never been one to be rash. Never one to jump to conclusions, but everything about this felt wrong. And his gut told him that there was going to be no walking away from this unscathed.
He brushed his hand across Caitlyn’s arm. “I want you to stay in the car.”
“Josh—”
“Please?”
She nodded as he pushed record on his phone, dropped it into his pocket, then slid out of the driver’s seat.
He recognized the two detectives who got out. Mike Sanchez had a wife and two little girls and a reputation for making even the most hardened criminal confess. Brent Adams was a divorcé who spent more time working than Josh did, if that were possible. What they were doing out following him, he had no idea.
“Detectives . . .” Josh stopped in front of them. “When did you start patrolling the streets?”
“We were out following up a lead on a case and recognized your car,” Adams said. “Wanted to see how you were doing.”
“You could have called.”
Sanchez shoved his hands into his pockets and caught Josh’s gaze. “I guess you heard they reopened your wife’s case. That has to be upsetting.”
Josh fought to keep his reaction neutral, but the information hit him in the gut like a sucker punch. Two days ago, he’d sat in his boss’s office, begging him to reopen his wife’s murder. And now the captain had done it without even telling him.
“I’m sorry . . .” Adams glanced at his partner. “We assumed you knew.”
“Captain Thomas must have come across some new information since I spoke to him last,” Josh said.
“I’d assume the same thing, though we were just as surprised as you are.” Adams shook his head. “All this time we’ve all believed that Olivia’s murderers were safe behind bars.”
“Do you know what they’ve found?” Josh asked. He wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to get information about what might be going on at the precinct.
“All we really know is that there have been rumors going around the precinct,” Adams said. “Rumors that there were problems between you and your wife. Rumors that the captain is looking closer to home for a new suspect.”
Closer to home?
Josh studied their expressions, trying to determine the motivation behind the conversation, but the implications weren’t lost to him. “He thinks I was involved in her death.”
Saying it out loud left a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
“It’s a theory that’s come up, though we find that hard to believe,” Sanchez said. “And I know for you to have her case resurrected like this has to be disturbing.”
The reality of Sanchez’s answer sliced through him. While the man’s spoken empathy seemed genuine, he had to be wrong. Why would the captain think he was involved? He was the one who’d come to him with new information. The one who had begged him to reopen the case. Why would he have done that if he was guilty?
“Who’s the woman in the car with you?” Adams asked.
“Just a friend.”
He kept his tone nonchalant. He wasn’t ready to buy in to their concern over him and the situation, and on top of that, while he didn’t have anything to hide, he had no intentions of getting Caitlyn involved any more than he had to.
Adams took a step backward. “Just . . . be careful.”
A warning or a threat? At this point, he didn’t know anymore.
He turned around and headed back to his car. The only advantage he had at the moment was that the people working inside this precinct knew him. And knew he always worked with integrity. That had to count for something. They’d known Olivia from Fourth of July picnics and Christmas parties. They’d seen him interact with his wife. Had to know they’d had a solid marriage.
Or had they known? Every couple had secrets. Every person had secrets. Did they assume he had some of his own?
“What’s going on?” she asked as soon as he’d slid back into the driver’s seat.
“Let’s just say they didn’t stop us to wish us a good day. They were fishing for information. And I think they wanted to see my reaction. Olivia’s case is being reopened.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “That’s all I really know. That and I’m pretty sure they’re looking at me as a suspect.”
“You can’t be serious.”
If only he wasn’t.
“Why would they think you’re involved?” Caitlyn caught his gaze. “It doesn’t make sense. You’re the one who went to the captain, asking him to reopen the case. Why would you do that if you’d killed her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did they threaten you?”
“No.”
“Then what did they want?”
“All I can come up with is that the same people who set up Beckmann have realized everything is about to fall through.”
“So someone needs another scapegoat and is trying to pin this on you,” she said.
His chest muscles tightened. “I think that’s very possible, and the husband’s always the number one suspect.”
“But how can they prove something that never happened?”
“They managed to squelch a man’s alibi in a murder trial. It wouldn’t be that hard to plant evidence.” Another thought shot to the surface. “What if they weren’t breaking into my house to steal something—”
He heard the fear in her voice, but there was no use sugarcoating the situation. And at least he wasn’t the only one thinking that.
“Can I ask you a question?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“You’re putting a lot on the line here.” His jaw tensed. “Why do you seem so convinced I didn’t kill Olivia?”
“Because just like I know Olivia loved you, I see that same love in your eyes that you had for her. There’s just no way I could believe she was having an affair or that you murdered her.”
He felt his muscles relax slightly at her answer. He hadn’t realized how important it was to have her believe him. “You know that things are going to get far worse before they get better.”
“I realize that.”
“If they do put out a warrant for my arrest, and I turn myself in—if this is a setup—this isn’t going to end well.”
The panic refused to lessen. Who was he kidding. At least three people were already dead. This case would never make it to trial. Not if the goal was to eliminate him without any questions being asked. He’d be dead long before the trial.
“I was looking at running,” she said. “At least until I had enough irrefutable proof.”
He caught her gaze, surprised at her response. “Do you know what happens when the law goes after a fugitive?”
“Honestly, no, and I really don’t think I want to find out.”
“I hope you never have to. Because they’ll be given a search warrant to get into your house, your computer, and your phone. Cyberanalysts will go over everything they find. They’ll go through your online profiles, find out who your circle of trust is and who you’ll contact, and learn everything they can about you. They’ll go through your bank data, which means you can’t withdraw a dime without them knowing what you’re doing. And on top of that, they’ll learn everything there is to know from your subscriber, so they can track your phone. Every police department across the country is going to have your photo, and every officer within a two-hundred-mile radius of this point will be on the lookout. There will be nowhere to run.”
He was scaring her. He could see it in her eyes. But what if he couldn’t save her. That’s what scared him. He wasn’t going to be responsible for something happening to her.
Not again.
“You feel guilty for Olivia’s death, don’t you?” she said. “Guilty over the fact you couldn’t save her?”
He stopped short at her question and felt the familiar sense of guilt seep through him.
She lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Silence hung like a heavy curtain between them. Familiar waves of panic engulfed him.
I can’t do this, God. Not this. Being accused of murdering my wife? How do I end this?
The only thing left driving him now was his need to find out the truth, and his desire to keep Caitlyn safe.
“She was my wife,” he finally said. “And I couldn’t save her.”
“Josh—”
“If I had been there that night, if I had communicated better with her, and found out what was going on with her and especially what was bothering her, none of this might have happened—”
“It’s not your fault. It never was. And I don’t think anything you did would have stopped this.”
“But I’m a cop and I couldn’t save my wife. Sounds pretty weak to me.”
His phone rang again, and he glanced at the caller ID. It was Quinton.
“What’s up?” Josh asked. “I was just about to call you.”
“I just found out something you need to know. The captain made the decision to reopen your wife’s murder investigation.”
Josh let out a sharp breath. “I know.”
“How?”
“I was pulled over by my tail, and they seemed pretty happy to give me the latest update.”
“What exactly did they want?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. Which is why I think I need to go in and talk to the captain,” he said. “Make him listen to reason—”
“Not yet. I still want you to give me a little more time to find out what’s going on from the inside. Besides, if they had anything on you at all, they would have already brought you in. Them letting you go proves they have nothing at this point.”
“Maybe.”
Josh hung up the phone a minute later, unable to shake the sudden paranoia that had taken hold of him. If he didn’t know who to trust in the department, he had no idea who he could go to. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard, wondering what their next move should be. He could go home and search his house, but he was certain someone would be there watching. And if he did find something, they could in turn accuse him of hiding it. If this continued, they would find a way to bring him in. He was certain of that.
“If we can find out who we’re up against, then we have a chance of stopping this.” Caitlyn’s voice broke into his thoughts. “If we put everything that we have together, they’ll have to see the truth. But we need that information from the lab.”
He had to admit she was right about one thing. The only way they were going to be able to put an end to this was to find out who was behind it.
“I know the layout of the building,” she said, “and the schedules of most of the employees on that floor. If we go at the end of the day, there will be fewer people to deal with.”
“Which will also make you more obvious.” He shifted his thinking to her plan. “Any guards during the day?”
“A couple security guards and a receptionist. They won’t think twice about me being there. Trust me.”
He hesitated. He heard the wisdom in her words, and yet at the same time he was concerned about her involvement. So many things could go wrong. If they were caught, it would only add to the guilt he was carrying.
She reached out and squeezed his hand. “I don’t expect you to tell me everything’s going to be fine. But we need to do this.”
“I know.”
“You’re sure?”
“Are you trying to talk me out of it now?”
She shot him a smile. “No.”
He studied her face and caught the determination in her eyes. He’d never met anyone so focused and determined. And stubborn, for that matter. The woman had managed to wear him down with her insistence on doing this with him. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to bawl her out . . . or kiss her.
Josh shoved away the second thought. A fresh wave of apprehension swept through him. Their main objective might be hunting down who was behind this, but keeping Caitlyn safe had suddenly become his priority.