any sleep because a pedophile and a rapist are dead. But Jonathan is a narcissist who believes that he is always right. That anything he does is justified. There are good men and women sitting in prison today because they refuse to speak against him. Loyalty is noble, to a point. But their loyalty is misguided. They suffer so he can be free.”
She realized that wasn’t a selling point as soon as she said it. Because Michael Thompson was suffering every day of his life. The pain from the murder of his daughter had never found a healthy outlet. You never got over loss, but you could find ways to survive it. You had to, or become a hollow shell.
“He’s obsessed with me,” she continued. Keep it personal. “He’s called me Monique more than once. And not just because I look like his dead daughter, but because he wants me to love him as a father. He orchestrated the escape of Jimmy Hunt—a cruel and violent drug runner, the man who testified that he hired you. But he only did it because the Hunt family framed my husband for murder. If I know Jonathan Paxton—and I do—Jimmy Hunt is as good as dead. He used him to get to my husband, but he won’t let him live. Hunt facilitated the rape and murder of a dozen or more women, all for his sick son. Jonathan would want that crime punished. So, why this elaborate plan, I don’t know. That’s the only thing I can’t figure out—why frame Sean? Why kidnap a federal agent? My husband is not a predator. He’s saved the lives of countless women and children through his selflessness and bravery. Yet Jonathan wants to punish him … or me. The only thing I’ve done to Jonathan Paxton is walk away from him.
“Mike,” Lucy said, fighting to keep the emotion out of her voice, “you loved your daughter Sarah with all your heart and soul. I know you did. Would she want you to kill in her name? Would she want you to tarnish her short, beautiful life with these acts of violence? Is this how you want your daughter Whitney to remember you?”
A single tear slipped from the corner of Thompson’s eye. It slowly dribbled down his narrow face. He made no move to wipe it off, showed no reaction to it whatsoever.
“I don’t know what grievance Jonathan has with my husband.” Sean had certainly been party to Paxton’s downfall, but so had she and several other FBI agents. Why single out Sean? “But I know that Jonathan is behind this entire thing. Working with Hunt and his daughter to frame Sean for murder. Getting into the prison system database to put Sean on the transport with Hunt. Orchestrating the escape. Sean will die if I don’t find him. I love my husband more than anything in the world. So I am asking you, as one survivor to another, where is Jonathan Paxton?”
Chapter Forty-five
MONTGOMERY, TEXAS
Jonathan Paxton ended the call from his house manager in New York.
This was certainly unfortunate.
Though the FBI agent who spoke with Margery said they wanted to talk to him about a current investigation in which he might be of help, that was a lie. For two and a half years, he’d spoken directly to no one in the FBI. When they wanted to communicate, they did so through his lawyer.
Visiting his house on a Saturday evening was certainly out of the ordinary.
It wasn’t Hunt—he had no reason to blab, and he’d only known of Paxton’s involvement recently. Jonathan trusted Colton more than anyone on his staff outside of Sergio Russo. Neither would make a tactical error. Thompson … he wouldn’t betray him. He had wanted to kill himself when he was caught; Jonathan was the one who convinced him not to.
There is much good you can do in prison, he’d told him.
Thompson was eager to get started.
Then who?
Jonathan closed his eyes and replayed the last three years.
He’d kept tabs on Lucy. He had to; he loved her. He had grown increasingly worried about the danger she was in because of the man she’d mistakenly fallen in love with.
But he didn’t interfere.
A good father never interfered unless their daughter was in immediate danger.
But he should have.
He should have found a way to stop Monique from dating Adam Scott.
He should have found a way to stop Lucy from moving in with Sean Rogan.
But he waited. Watched. Grew angry. Didn’t act. He focused on his primary