and wife. Surely she didn’t resent that he was here on business with a colleague, probably attending some seminar since she knew that many of them were held here at the resort each year. But she did resent that he’d gone on with his life when she couldn’t.
“I’m sorry,” she said, meaning it. She saw that he was staring at Brick with the same questioning look she’d given the brunette. “This is Brick Savage. A...friend.”
Thomas seemed to turn the name over in his mouth as if trying to place it. Brick’s name was unusual enough that she knew he was bound to eventually tie it to Natalie since the deputy’s name had been in all the news as the man who’d rescued the distraught woman in the middle of the night. Once Thomas did figure out who Brick was, he’d know what she was up to. Unless he’d already heard about Natalie being in the hospital here before making her daring escape.
But now he merely lifted a brow at her before he stuck out his hand to shake Brick’s. “I’m also a friend of Mo’s,” he said, making her feel worse, if that was possible. He’d made his position clear after the funeral, the last time they’d talked.
“I really don’t care what happens to Natalie Berkshire,” he’d said. “I never want to hear her name again.”
“You don’t want justice?” Mo had demanded.
“Justice? My son is dead, my wife is dead. Tracking down Natalie won’t bring either of them back.”
“But she’ll kill again, she’ll destroy other families, she’ll—”
“I can’t do anything about that.”
“Well, I can,” Mo had snapped. “And I will.”
Thomas had begun to cry. “Please, for my sake, if not your own, let it go, Maureen. I can’t bear anymore. I’m begging you. Let your sister and the rest of us find some peace.”
Had he found that peace? She sure hadn’t.
“We really should get going,” Quinn said, dragging Mo back from the past. “We’re already running late for the seminar.” She gave Mo an apologetic shrug and held out a flyer. “I don’t know if you’re familiar with Palmer’s seminars. They’re enlightening.”
Mo took the sheet of paper without looking at it.
“It was nice to meet you,” Quinn said. She really was pretty. And young. The word fresh came to mind.
“You, too,” Mo said automatically as she wished she hadn’t run into them now of all times. As the two walked away, she saw Thomas turn to Quinn and say something. The brunette’s soft laugh filtered back, making Mo uncomfortable. She thought about Tricia. Something had been wrong in that house. Natalie had tried to tell her, but Mo hadn’t wanted to hear. Now she regretted it.
“You going to tell me what that was about?” Brick said once the two were out of earshot.
“That was my brother-in-law.” She realized she hadn’t introduced Thomas by his last name. “Thomas Colton. Tricia’s husband.”
Brick had to catch up to her since she’d turned and taken off, wanting to put that entire scene behind her. Sometimes she spoke before she thought. Change that to often. It got her into trouble. She wouldn’t be suspended right now if she were capable of keeping her mouth shut.
“He knew Natalie well, I’m assuming?” Brick said as he caught up to her and motioned to where his pickup was parked. She nodded and slowed, no longer cringing, but glad to have put distance between her and Thomas and his...associate.
Once in his pickup, he reminded her that she hadn’t finished her story.
She realized she was still holding the flyer the woman had given her. Wadding it up, she tossed it on the floor. “Drive and I’ll tell you everything. Natalie already has a huge head start.”
He hesitated, but only a moment before he started the truck. “We need to establish some ground rules,” he said as he pulled away from the jail. “We do this together. You take off, you go back behind bars. You help me find her, but then she’s going to be returned for questioning about her abduction and any other deaths under her employ. Is that understood?”
“Whatever you say.”
“I’m out on a limb here. Don’t saw it off, because I don’t want to be hunting you next.”
“We don’t have time to argue,” she said, dismissing his concerns. “Tell me how she got out of the hospital.”
He told her about Natalie taking the nurse’s clothing and leaving her gagged and bound half-naked under the bed before stealing a motorcycle and escaping. “She probably got the idea from