“There you go again.”
“Now you’re being spoiled. Can you afford to select nobody to trust? Really? You ready to carry that load?”
“Clearly I’m not.” She sighed, dropped her hands to her lap. “Jared, we’re friends. You helping me with this doesn’t mean we’ll ever be anything but friends. I gotta know you’re doing this because you are my friend, not someone who wants a relationship afterwards. When you continually bring it up, how much you care, you assume I don’t see that, and you don’t stop telling me, so of course I do. And that bothers me. I’m okay that you want more. Are you okay if there never is any?”
“Maybe you misunderstand me,” he whispered.
“Oh, come on. How could I?”
“We are headed into very dangerous territory. You’re launching a campaign that might expose you to people who want things kept quiet—not for any nefarious reason, just not to open old wounds or something. I don’t know. But I do know this, I agree with what everyone has told you, Marco, Rebecca and probably others as well. I think you’re in danger. If you were the target of the bomb, or the fiancé of the person who was, it makes no difference. Your proximity to the source of that danger and the fact that you’re pushing away everyone who wants to help you just because you don’t trust them is concerning. You have to trust someone.”
She smiled. “That’s exactly what Marco said.”
“He’s right. Look, I’m jealous as hell about the guy—”
She drilled him a look that stopped him mid-sentence.
“Okay, I guess I’m trying to convince you like you were a guy or something, because clearly I’m not getting through. The point is, and this is the only way I can say it, if I’m so jealous of him and I still don’t think he’s your enemy, maybe you should reconsider that as well. I know I told you earlier not to get him involved, but what if that’s a huge miscalculation? You could be setting yourself up for disaster. I don’t have to be in love with you to care about whether you wind up in a dump site somewhere with your throat cut.”
Shannon’s first reaction was anger at the suggestion. She couldn’t think of anything to say back to him or to refute the logic of his argument.
“There has to be an explanation. You’re doing your own research, but you’re not involving the one person who is very close to the center of it all. How smart is that, Shannon?”
She was getting tired, and the alcohol was beginning to wear on her with what little she’d eaten today. She needed a good night’s sleep to catch up, to be able to think. She knew Marco was probably sending out people to find her, so she might not have a lot of time to do it.
“Okay, I’ll take your information, I’ll review it tonight. I’ll get to bed—get a motel—and crash. I’ll call you in the morning. I’ll talk to you first before I talk to anyone else.”
“Fair enough. I’m still worried. But I won’t launch anything until morning. And if you don’t call me, I’m going to make a huge noise, so don’t do that, okay?”
“I promise.”
“One other thing. I think you should leave your car here, in case someone’s tracking you, and let me drop you off at a motel that’s safe. Please let me do that Shannon. I will rest better tonight if I know you’re checked in safely for the night.”
She worried that her lack of wheels would make it more difficult to get everything done tomorrow. She had to go to the bank to get a new credit card and some cash, and she had to get some clothes, so she avoided her little house by the beach. But that was where she really wanted to be. But, the alternative wasn’t much of a problem. She could always get a taxi back here, pick up her car in the morning.
It was a weak moment, she knew. But she was getting tired of fighting all the worry inside her head.
“Okay. I’ll do that. I made a reservation without a credit card at the Wyndam in Clearwater. I’ve been there before.”
Jared settled their tab. She picked up the manilla inner-office folder that was filled with items he’d copied for her, her briefcase with her laptop in it, and the satchel with a change of underwear and some toiletries. She’d left the scrubs at her place, in favor of a fresh pair of jeans and a long-sleeved tee shirt.
The two of them pulled out of the parking lot, which was jammed with people arriving for the evening entertainment and headed north on Gulf Boulevard toward Clearwater.
Shannon left Jared sitting in his car at the lobby entrance. After confirming and checking in, she came back out and waved him off. Then she headed straight for the elevator to the tenth floor, locked the deadbolt and pulled over the security bar, then sat in the dark, her emotions welling up, until she began to sob.
It was exactly not the way she expected these few days to go. She was alone, in the dark, left without resources, in a sterile room overlooking the breathtakingly beautiful glistening waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Even at night, it was stunning.
How could she have come this low?
She wet a washrag with cool water and wiped her face and neck, examining herself in the mirror. It was a frightful sight. She was looking into the face of someone totally out of control.
What have I done?
She tried calling Judy again, and this time, she answered. She sounded like she’d just pounded down a good bottle of Scotch, which was her drug of choice.
“Judie, you sound terrible. Are you sick?” Shannon asked.
“Oh God, Shannon, I came down with a migraine, and went to bed. I woke up today to about a dozen angry calls from Jared. I’m so sorry I worried everyone. And you, you’ve been through a lot, Shannon. What the hell is going on?”
“You heard about the bomb.”
“Yes. Marco’s in the hospital. Is he okay? Nobody at the station knows anything. Everyone’s running around trying to chase leads, and the whole place is just a mess. Police in and out, some of Marco’s guys there—”
“Marco’s guys? Who?”
“I think two of his military buddies interviewed me just a half hour ago at the office. They were looking for you. Where have you disappeared to? And why?”
“I’m not sure myself, except I discovered Marco thinks Rebecca might have something to do with Emily’s death too, as well as the bomb.”
“That bitch? No way.”
“Well, he thinks so.”
“She’s a piece of work. But I just think her world’s falling apart, and she’s lost the war. I mean, Marco belongs to you now. She was up at the station today looking for Jared, like everyone else. She got into a huge argument with a couple of the techs who had her removed. It was bizarre to say the least. I guess she tried to go see Marco and no one would give her entry.”
“I was there, I know. So, Judie, I may need your help.”
“You got it. But wait, why aren’t you at the hospital?”
“I have to check some things out. I’m trying to stay out of sight, looking into the theory that Em’s death wasn’t a DUI case after all. If I ask you to, would you run some errands for me?”
“Of course. You need anything tonight? I can run out to the beach, no problem.”
“I’m not at my house. I took a place up in Clearwater. I needed the space to think and do a little online research.” Shannon didn’t like lying to her best friend, but she didn’t want to reveal too much.