Page 44 of The Husband's Secret
“He said Scott is dead.” She stared forward then. “Then he warned that if I didn’t find what they needed within twenty-four hours that Janey would…” She closed her eyes.
Ben reached for her hand. “We’re not going to let them get to Janey.”
She shook her head. “How can we stop them?” She turned to look at him. “Really, how can we possibly assume the idea is even possible? This is a huge cartel. I did some googling about them, and you’re right, they are ruthless. Worse than any of the others. And there are literally hundreds if not thousands of them operating all over the place. Unless I find what they want, how can I hope to keep out of their reach—much less stop them?”
There was no arguing her conclusions. The upside was that she and her daughter would be dead already if the cartel wanted them that way. Obviously there was something else they wanted. Something that required allowing her to live long enough to findit. The downside was that even if the cartel got whatever it was they wanted, that didn’t ensure Brenda’s or Janey’s safety.
“We will do whatever necessary,” he promised.
He didn’t want to bring up the idea of witness protection. The agency had its own program to help those who needed to disappear. He hoped that wouldn’t prove necessary for Brenda and her daughter, but at this point he couldn’t make promises beyond the one he’d just made.
“I feel like I should cry if what he said is true, that Scott is dead.” She sighed. “But I think I may have cried all the tears I had for him. The truth is I’ve cried for him so many times that it seems ridiculous to cry again. I cried so much with Janey after the explosion. I swear there are just no more tears for him left in me.” She shook her head. “None. Do I sound awful?”
“You sound—” he looked to her for a moment then settled his attention back on the street “—like someone who has been pushed to her limit. Trust me, anyone else would have reached that place long ago. You have been more than sufficiently forgiving and incredibly decent about all of this. Not only did he cheat multiple times, but he left you holding this enormous bag of trouble. I would throw in that he has shown no care for your or Janey’s safety if not for the fact that he reached out to the Colby Agency.”
“That was probably just to keep from feeling guilty,” she protested.
Ben had to laugh. She was mentally exhausted and not about to give the man an inch. “I’m taking you to lunch. Pick the spot.”
“Food…? I’m not sure I care.” She gasped and turned to Ben. “I just realized something that might be important. Did you hear that detective say that Lanier had a big-deal attorney signing in?”
“I did. Do you know the attorney?”
“Only by name.” A realization dawned in her expression. “Oh my God. Carlisle is the attorney Lena Jenner hired. How’s that for a coincidence?”
Ben would bet just about anything it wasn’t a coincidence at all. “We may need to pay an impromptu visit to Ms. Jenner.”
“Definitely,” Brenda agreed.
The same car that had made every turn he had since leaving the police department popped up in his rearview mirror once more. Silver sedan. Blond driver. Sunglasses.
Well, damn.
“Hang on. We have a tail.”
Chapter Sixteen
2:00 p.m.
“Is it the same sedan that followed us before?” Brenda resisted the impulse to turn around and stare out the rear window. Her pulse rate had already jumped into a frantic mode.
Every time they took what felt like a half step forward, something else happened to drag them back two steps.
Or maybe they hadn’t moved forward at all.
“Different color,” Ben points out. “The other one was black and there’s also a different driver.”
“Do we just keep driving or go home or turn around and go back to the police department?” This was so exasperating. When would they get to a point where they felt like they were moving forward?
Never, it seemed.
This Lanier person—the intruder, if he hadn’t lied about that too—was the perfect example. Brenda had arrived at the interview in hopes he had something to tell her that would help her understand how to stop this nightmare. But he’d done nothing but warn her of the consequences if she didn’t resolve it.
How was she supposed to know what to do?
Maybe the only way out of this was to take Janey and run. They could hide and hope they were never found. If Scott was really dead…
Except she had no idea what the truth was anymore, and the cartel’s resources were far too powerful, too broad to make running away so simple.
