Page 81 of Deadly Revenge
“But why would you?” Maya said. “You only suspected Abigail had a partner, you didn’t know for sure.”
“I wish I’d done more.”
“You came and saved me,” Maya said. “Without you here, Abigail may have been able to fulfill her wish of killing me and stopping the DNA evidencethat would lead back to her. And at least we have him now. Abigail and Agent Ross have been stopped. They won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”
“That’s true,” Eric said.
“And,” Pops said, “now your old department, prosecutors, judges and even federal agents in your area are being investigated. It might take a while, but at least things should get better, especially with Abigail gone.”
“That’s true too,” Eric said.
“I wonder if what Ross told me has any truth to it?” Maya said.
“What did he tell you?” Josh asked.
“That Abigail told him to shoot her so that she wouldn’t have to go to prison. I have to question that. I think he probably killed her in a last-ditch attempt to save himself,” Maya said.
“I agree with that,” Eric said. “Guess we’ll never truly know.”
“The only thing that makes me think he might be telling the truth is that he could have shot Hope, Juniper and me, but he didn’t. He had the chance. We were out in the open. He just murdered Abigail and left. Not that I’m complaining. I’m grateful.”
“Whatever his reasoning was,” Pops said, “I’m very thankful he didn’t take all of you out and finish Abigail’s mission.”
“Me too,” Eric and Josh said in unison.
“I’m glad too obviously, although I had the feeling when I was getting ready to let Juniper apprehend him, that if he’d known we were there, he would have shot us then.”
“Maybe he really thought that he could get away with just killing Abigail and then go back to his normal life as an agent,” Josh said. “I mean, even if he and Abigail were partners, he was working out of the Denver office. Maybe getting away from her at least distance wise made him realize he needed to be done with her forever. He couldn’t tell anyone what he knew because then he’d be arrested too.”
“That’s true,” Maya said. “He was stuck. Abigail had her claws in him and she never would have let him go. The one thing he told me that I actually believe is that he did love her. I wonder if she really cared about him.”
“So many questions that will never be answered,” Pops said.
“I don’t know that Abigail had the capacity to care about anyone,” Eric added.
Maya heard footsteps coming down the hall. Kessler came back into the room.
“You have a deal,” he said. “And after Eric signs the papers that the prosecutors are preparing and getting ready to send, then congratulations, he’ll become your favorite detainee with an ankle monitor.”
Happiness washed over Maya. She and Eric stood and she went around the table and hugged him.
“It’s nice to have a father,” Maya said.
“You’ll probably get tired of me,” Eric said.
“Maybe. Just remember, I have Juniper. You have to behave.”
Eric laughed and said, “Deal.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
The next day Maya and Josh, after sleeping in and having a leisurely morning with lots of coffee, decided to head out to her cabin. She knew the builders had been able to get a lot done and she wanted to see the progress. The dogs had also slept all night long and while Juniper was a little tired, she still had plenty of energy. Maya figured they could go run around and play while she and Josh studied how the build was going.
They all piled into Maya’s personal vehicle, an off-road Jeep, and headed out. She was driving and as she shifted gears, she could see Josh was once again acting nervous.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
