Burn Down the Night (Everything I Left Unsaid #3)- Molly O'Keefe Page 0,89
a chance at whatever this thing was between them.
So the alternate beginning to the story.
“I had just gotten fired from a job at a diner off the highway outside of Raleigh…”
He took a lot of notes. Asked a lot of questions about locations and the names of people. When I got to the drugs part he didn’t look surprised.
“Was anyone armed?” he asked.
“Not that I ever saw.”
I explained the pills and how after anyone left, the whole camp moved. No one ever moved while I’d been there. But that’s what I was told. And when I went back to where the camp had been, it was gone. Only a few people were allowed to know the new locations. And only a few people were allowed to leave the compound.
When I was done, I sat back against the couch, letting go of a breath that sounded like relief.
“Is that all?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“And Max—”
“Not a part of this.”
“Lying isn’t going to help you, Joan.”
“Neither is telling you about Max.”
“I know he had something to do with the explosions at the strip club—”
“That was me. Not the Skulls.”
“You?” Eric asked and sat back with his eyes wide, his military calm rattled. “You’re going to need a lawyer.”
Right. With the three hundred bucks I had left from the five hundred Fern had given me.
“You want to ask Hugo?” Eric asked Fern.
“Or Dan.”
“Dan’s a better choice,” Eric said, and I put my hand up.
“Look, I’m not…jail’s not a problem.”
“Jail is a problem,” said Fern.
“Not if Jennifer is safe.”
The room was dark, lit only by a little light coming in through the shades and the glow of Eric’s computer system, but I could not miss the expression on Fern’s face.
I looked away, but it wasn’t fast enough.
The pity. It burned.
“I have a friend in the FBI office out of Charlotte. I’ll call him. Set something up. I imagine from what you’re telling me that it will be sooner rather than later. How quick can you move?”
“Now,” I said, all but getting to my feet. “Tonight.”
“Tomorrow will probably do just fine,” Eric said with a kind smile in my direction. “I’m real glad you trusted me with this,” he said. “I know it wasn’t easy.”
“I’ve done so many stupid things wrong.”
“You’re fixing it now.”
That seemed like a very real benediction. A strange closing on this shitty part of my life. Yes, I prayed. I actually prayed. Yes, God, please let this be the end of it.
“So…tomorrow?” I asked, feeling quite suddenly like this might actually happen. This whole nightmare might come to an end.
Eric looked down at his watch. “Why don’t you guys head to the cocktail party? See if you can find Dan. I’ll call my contact and meet you down there with more information.”
Fern stood up, so I did, too.
Eric stood up, too, because he was a gentleman, and he walked us to the door.
“Thank you,” I said. “For listening. And believing…”
He nodded like he understood. And really, quite frankly, before I knew what I was doing, I’d put my arms over his shoulder and I was…yes, I was hugging him. And somehow, he made it not awkward by saying, “Thank you for trusting me enough to tell your story.”
I backed away and Eric opened the door. I stepped out into the hallway, but before Fern joined me, she leaned up and put her hand on Eric’s chest and kissed him hard on the mouth.
The kind of kiss that said a whole bunch of things. Important things. I smiled and looked away.
“Well, now,” Eric said with a very masculine smile. A smile that looked like a man getting some. “Will you look at that?”
“See you soon,” Fern murmured, and then she was out in the hallway with me. I looked at her with my eyebrows raised and she blushed, hard.
“He’s been really patient,” she said, running a hand over the belt at her waist.
“Well, then I figure he should be rewarded.”
Her lip twitched and it seemed somehow—for the moment, anyway—we’d stepped into a separate universe, a place where we’d become allies and maybe even friends.
“Let’s go,” Fern said. “Before all the shrimp are gone.”
“Shrimp!” I said. “You didn’t say anything about shrimp!”
And we took off smiling down the hallway.
The only thing missing was Jennifer.
And Max.
I stumbled, the weight of my grief and regret knocking me off balance.
“Are you okay?” Fern asked.
I was about to say no, but I couldn’t. I was all out of lies.
“Hey,” Fern said, bringing me to a stop in the hallway.