Page 73 of Risk of a Lifetime
“Yeah. You got his number?”
Evans shuffled papers. “Sure thing. I knew I’d seen it in your file somewhere. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything back.”
“Thanks.” JB lingered on the call. Thinking. Without the special contact lens he wore, Landon had one blue eye and one brown.
“You’re awful quiet. What’s wrong?”
Marcy walked into the kitchen fully dressed, including her boots. Hair brushed and smelling of toothpaste, she looked like a good morning wake-up. He hated to ruin her day, but she needed to know his thinking. He motioned her over and pointed her to the chair across the table from him.
“You still there?” the deputy said. “Kennett just walked in. I’ve got you on speaker phone.”
“Yeah.”
“What’s up, JB?” Kennett asked.
“My cop instincts say everything comes to a head today.” JB watched Marcy’s face. Since he’d been old enough to remember, he could always feel a life-changing day the minute he woke up. Today, his instinct churned with fire and adrenaline. This day didn’t feel good. “He’s coming.”
Her expression stayed strong, but her eyes held fear as he covered her hand with his.
“Hold on. Evans is trying to reach your boss.” Kennett’s said. “You got much fog out there?”
“Layers. Like pea-soup. Be mighty hard to come in by boat.” JB glanced up as his wife walked to the front window and did a tiny peek outside. She palmed her hand upward a couple times. “Marcy just motioned that the fog is lifting. My bet is he’ll still come in by road. Maybe walk a ways. You might want to alert anybody living in cabins out here.”
Kennett chuckled. “Beat you to that one. Called everyone last night. Told them to leave the area, or else lock their doors and stay inside.”
Evans mumbled in the background. Probably talking to Wilson. “Okay. I’ll tell him.” The deputy cleared his throat. “JB, Wilson says for you to call him. Right now.”
“Why?”
“He’s checking things out. Landon never called him,” Evans continued. “I’ll let your boss give you the specifics.”
There must be a clue to the 1038. Something so classified, it needed to be relayed agent to agent.
Evans and Kennett were talking over each other, and he refocused on their conversation. “What’s going on?”
“Me, Kennett, and a couple other cruisers are headed your way.” Evans said as a door creaked open and slammed closed in the background. “Kennett’s headed out right now. Don’t worry, we should be there ahead of 10:38.”
JB glanced at Marcy. “The guy won’t wait today. He’ll get antsy. Nervous. Blow his routine.”
“Call Wilson. Get your info. We’re on our way.”
“Hey, Evans, do me a favor before you head out. Request one of the Jeff City police narrow in on Landon’s phone. Check out its location.”
“You got it. Why?”
“Make sure he’s actually where the phone shows.” JB shook his head. He had a bad feeling. Real bad feeling about the person behind all of this. “Things in my life started to fall apart after I met Landon on that meth bust. As I said before, I don’t like coincidences.”
…
JB speed dialed his boss, and Wilson answered on the first ring. “Tell me you got something on 1038?” JB said abruptly.
“The guys in the office are still checking.” Wilson’s no-non-sense attitude carried through the phone. “We’ve put 1038 in as a random along with your name to see what comes up in the secure system. Nothing yet.”
Marcy sat a refilled cup of coffee in front of JB and offered a scared smile before she walked back to the counter for her own cup. He fought the idea that he should have stayed away from her, away from Crayton. Recuperating in the hospital after the last job, the idea of getting back together with her had been the fuel to keep him going. His body might have been healed on its own, but the memories of her were what had healed his mind and emotions.
He knew then that he’d give up everything else to live the rest of his life with her. The past few days might be all they had. At least they’d been together.
The brush of her hand on his jerked him back from his thoughts. She sat in the chair beside him at the table, flipping through the horticulture book. Her eyes focused on each page as if taking in the colors and beauty of the scenes pushed the bluntness of the moment into the shadows. He noticed a tiny twitch right before she turned each page. She’d found her way to cope—one page at a time.
