Holding his Hostage - Amy Gamet Page 0,26
shaking. “Do you realize what could have happened?”
“I just wanted to meet him, and I knew Mom wouldn’t let me. I didn’t think you’d come after us with a gun!”
Her fear was evident in her voice, and he finally took a moment to see things from her point of view. She wasn’t even a teenager, she was just a kid. She wanted to see this boy and resorted to sneaking out as millions of girls had done before her.
He’d come after them with headgear and a Glock.
No wonder the poor thing was terrified.
He opened his arms. “Come here.” She didn’t budge, and his arms fell to his sides. “I’m sorry. I knew someone was out here and I needed to protect your mother.”
“You scared the crap out of me.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I think I cut your friend’s arm.”
“Bad?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know.” She wiped her eyes and nose with one swipe, the gesture so childlike he was struck by the awkwardness of her age. “Come on. Let’s go in to your mother. She’s got to be worried sick by now.”
She sighed. “Mom’s awake?”
“Most definitely.”
She fell into step beside him. “You’re not going to tell her.”
“Of course I am.”
“She’s going to kill me.”
“Probably.”
“She’s never going to give me my phone back.”
“Absolutely not.” He picked up his NVGs and brushed off snow and dirt. “There are cookies on the counter. Milk’s in the fridge.”
The door of the camper rattled dramatically. “April’s out there!” Jo yelled.
“Calm down, I know. I’ve got her. Let go of the handle.”
“Don’t shoot her!”
“Jo, calm down. Let go of the door.” He reached in his pocket and withdrew the key, then unlocked the door and opened it. She all but fell out of the RV and pulled April into her arms. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“What were you doing out here late at night? You scared the hell out of us!”
April pulled back. “I was meeting my friend.”
“What?”
Sloan put his arm on Jo’s back. “It’s cold out here. Let’s talk inside.” He could feel the tension in her body, about to unleash. Joanne was going to lay into April but good. “Godspeed,” he whispered under his breath, following the pair inside.
All hell broke loose at that point, and Sloan quietly picked up his phone and retreated to the bedroom, perching on the edge of the bed beside the sleeping Fiona and checking his messages. Moto had answered him.
ALREADY GOT IT. THIS THE WIFE?
A video file was attached. “Fuck,” he whispered, hitting play.
“What’s the matter?” asked Lucas, crossing to his side.
“I shouldn’t have said that. Didn’t see you there.” A woman entered the picture, but it was too far away to see her face clearly.
“Mom’s screaming at April. I’m staying away. What are you watching?”
“A surveillance video. Just take a sec.”
Lucas leaned over the screen. “That a bank?”
“Yeah.”
“Who is she?”
“I don’t know.”
The camera angle switched to a shot from the teller’s point of view, the woman’s face now clearly visible. It wasn’t Jo, and Sloan released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He’d been afraid she had been lying to him, and it was a relief to realize she was not. He flicked off the video.
Lucas’s expression was dark, his stare boring into Sloan’s.
“What’s wrong, kiddo?” Sloan asked.
“That’s her.”
He furrowed his brow. “Who?”
“The woman my dad was kissing.”
16
Joanne dug a roll of antacids from her purse. “I don’t like getting this close to Richard Bannon on purpose.”
“It’s his wife’s office, not his.”
“That’s still too close.” She bit down on the chalky tablet. She was cranky, having gotten little sleep last night after April’s escapades and Sloan sharing the video of McKenzie at the bank. Jo’s mind had been full of questions and possible scenarios that could explain why David’s former lover would be withdrawing large sums of money after he died.
If he’d died at all.
Bannon had claimed to have killed him, but what if that was a lie to make her believe he was capable of hurting her kids? The thought had begun to percolate the moment she’d seen the video, regardless of the body in the casket they had buried. Someone had died in that hunting cabin, and she’d assumed it had been David. But what if she’d been wrong? What if they were all wrong?
David was having an affair with Bannon’s wife, and if he wasn’t really dead, that gave them both an entirely different motivation. Maybe he was alive and well and living on the beach with McKenzie somewhere.
According to Moto