Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
He nodded. “Reid was a nice guy,” Gale told her. “I mean, he worshipped Dean, and I have no doubt that watching his brother fall apart has led us here.”
“Well, just know that you’ll all be safe, and despite appearances, meaning, despite all of us, all his protections, Maks Gorev is a fine man, and I hope for good things for both of you.”
Gale had been in a fog until those words, but now I could see him breaking down. It had to be hard, having your past come back to haunt you. But the way he looked at her and then said, “Thank you,” like he was pulling it out of his heart, got me thinking, again, about the future I already wanted with the man.
TWELVE
Three hours later we were in Gresham, Oregon. Our transport vehicle was armored, not comfortable in the least, but I was concerned about that for Ada, not myself. Gale had barely spoken a word, and I would have been scared that he was pulling away, rethinking his life choices where I was concerned, except that he sat right next to me the whole time, thigh plastered to mine, arm around my shoulders, with Misha stretched out in his lap like he was on a beach in Hawai’i, soaking up the rays.
“I thought dogs slept curled up in balls,” one of the state troopers said.
“Not when they completely trust their people,” Ada told him, smiling adoringly at my dog. Misha was willingly showing Gale and me his stomach when sleeping that way, even occasionally snoring. He had faith in us.
At the beautiful two-story house that overlooked a backyard that was even more perfectly manicured than Gale’s, I could tell Gale was impressed. The redwoods were enormous, the decor was gorgeous with all the hanging flowers and small items, and I had to wonder why a safe house was so beautifully kept. I had questions, and so did Gale.
“Tell me what they say in the morning,” Ada told me. “I’m done. I’m asleep on my feet.”
Once Gale and I said our good-nights to her, I rounded on the marshals.
“Explain this to me,” I asked Alvarez and Byers, who had made the trip with us in their car, since we were now a mere forty minutes from Portland. “Why the amazing kitchen with the inlaid tile island? It’s a lovely home.”
“I don’t understand the question,” she said flatly.
“Yes, you do,” Gale assured her. “I’ve guarded people in safe houses, and this ain’t it.”
“Fine. This isn’t actually a safe house. It’s owned by private citizens, and we rent this one, and others, like an Airbnb,” Alvarez said around a yawn. We’d all been up round the clock, and it was now six in the morning.
“You’re not worried about us?” I asked Byers.
“Not like we need to barricade you in. We just needed to move you. The FBI thinks Wells is still in Rune, readying a second attack. Either that, or he’s already driving back to LA, where there’s a BOLO out on him and SWAT is ready to pick him up. Personally, my money is on him being in Rune. I suspect he truly believes he can kill Deputy Chief Malloy.”
“Why do you think it’s taken him so long to act?” Gale asked Alvarez, switching it up, wanting answers from both of them.
“Sometimes it takes years for the fallout of a killing or a murder to really take hold,” she replied gently. “I need you to understand, Deputy Chief Malloy, that this is not your fault. His life has fallen apart, and he’s blaming you instead of moving forward to fix it. That’s unfortunate, but again, not your fault.”
“Call me Gale,” he told her. “The title is grating.”
She nodded, and then her phone pinged and she excused herself.
“From the latest report we have,” Byers began as the three of us stepped outside onto the back deck, “it looks like Wells had a girlfriend who left him after he himself got into drugs. She has since married a DA in New York and had a child.”
“You think that was the trigger?” I asked Byers.
“It certainly could have been. His parents get divorced, then his girl leaves him and has a child with another man, and that leads back to where he felt it all went bad, which was when his brother was killed.”
Gale walked to the railing and leaned over as Byers excused himself and went back inside. “I wish Reid would have just reached out to me. We could have talked together like we used to.”
“Why did you lose touch?” I moved over to stand beside him, putting my hand on his back and leaning into him.
“After Dean was killed and the truth about our past relationship came out, even though his parents didn’t approve of us being together, they didn’t understand why I didn’t do more to save him.” He sounded defeated. “His mother was especially caustic, saying that the shame of what her son had done with me probably pushed him to the drugs.”