Hush in the Storm by Cosgrove Julie B

Author:Cosgrove, Julie B [Cosgrove, Julie B]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Prism Book Group
Published: 2014-08-04T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The door opened with a clamor. Mercedes stood there in full uniform, her police cap half shading her face.

“We’ve coordinated with the Fort Worth police to get you safely home. I’m to escort you by squad car to Amarillo, then by bus to Fort Worth. A female officer will intercept you at the other end and take you to headquarters for more questioning.”

I plastered on a smile. “Great. I can hardly wait to be grilled for another few hours.” I got up and walked over to her, my hands folded around my waist. In unison our steps clicked down the narrow hall. In the main squad room, Officer Juarez flipped through a clipboard. When he saw me approach, he tipped his fingers to his head. “Good luck, Mrs. Westlaw.”

I shot him a sarcastic grin.

In the squad car, I asked Mercedes, “I have one question. If I was supposedly in so much danger I had to have my death faked, isn’t that going to put me in even more jeopardy now to suddenly return alive?”

She shook her head. “We’re still trying to sort out his story. No one’s convinced you ever were in any danger.”

I twisted to face her, my eyes so wide they stretched my forehead. “What do you mean?”

Mercedes looked straight ahead. “We think this guy may be, uh, delusional.” She leaned her head toward me and looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “You may have been one lucky lady to get away from him when you did.”

I shook my head. “No, no. I don’t believe that. He was smart enough to fake my death. He set it up, switched the cars. Arranged the room in a basement. Wired the cameras and sensors.”

She turned toward me. “So?”

“That all took planning and intelligence. Not exactly delusional behavior, is it?”

“I’m not a psychologist. Are you?” By the look on her face, it was a rhetorical question.

I shook my finger at her. “Mae Lin and her goons were real enough. The gas station in New Mexico? Trust me. That was real.”

Mercedes shrugged, the edges of her lips curled down a bit. “Maybe so. Sometimes these nutcases suck other low-lives into their vortex of deceit. You have to admit his story is a bit, well, fanciful.”

“But someone did shoot at us. A bullet was wedged in the motel room wall.”

“Maybe it was the drug lords giving you two a warning.”

“So you all believe that part. About the shack in New Mexico. And Travis protecting me in the desert to get me to safety.”

She shifted in the seat and looked out the car window. “All I know is I’m to get you on a bus. Perhaps, by the time you arrive in Fort Worth, the Metroplex investigators will have some answers.”

She obviously didn’t want to continue this conversation. It would be a long ride back to Fort Worth if I pursued it further. Maybe the authorities in the Metroplex would be more open to believe what Tom had said and done.

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