Second Chances (35 page)

"Oh my god."

He clicked on the next page. "Holy crap."

"What?"

Nathan sat on the edge of the bed shaking his head.

"What is it?"

Again he shook his head.

"Tell me."

"Paige Hampton. Ocean City, New Jersey. M...murder suicide."

"What?" Paige clambered off the floor and over to the bed.

"Shot her husband three times, before turning the gun on herself," Nathan read off the computer. He did not want to, but he clicked onto the next page.

"No, no, no."

Nathan read the new article that appeared on the screen and in his mind he echoed Paige's words. Paige Reading of Grand Junction Utah, stabbed and killed her husband and four month old son before using the knife on herself.

Nathan shook his head in disbelief. He could hear Paige crying and knew he should say something comforting, but he could think of nothing. And there was still one page left. He clicked on the last page and even before it loaded he knew what the article was about. There was a picture of the wreck. It was a picture he knew all too well.

He flipped through all the pages once more, not believing what he was seeing, but being unable to deny it. He checked the dates on the articles, trying to process it all.

It was the sound of Paige in the bathroom that finally pulled him away from the screen. He was now very glad they hadn't gotten dinner. He put the laptop aside and went to the bathroom. Paige was on her knees throwing up.
 

Nathan grabbed a washcloth and ran some cold water. He knelt next to her and gently wiped her forehead. She retched a few more times, but there was nothing left in her stomach. She took the washcloth from him and began to wipe her face.

He waited for a minute or two until Paige indicated that she didn't think she was going to throw up anymore and then helped her to her feet. She leaned over the sink and ran the water again, scooping some into her mouth and spitting it out. She grabbed the small bottle of mouthwash and gargled.
 

She stood looking at herself in the mirror. She began to shake her head, her hands trembling. She turned and hugged Nathan tightly, crying against his chest. He could hear her talking, but was unable to make out any of the words. He lifted her up off her feet and carried her out of the bathroom. He sat down on the edge of the bed and held her tight while she continued to cry.
 

A few minutes later she was out of tears. She loosened her grip on Nathan, but didn't let go entirely.

"Better?"

She shrugged. Better? Better than what? She felt numb inside.

"W..wh...what does it mean?"

Nathan opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it.

"What does it mean for me?"

"I don't know."

"Am I going to kill myself? Am I going to kill someone else and then kill myself?"

The hysteria in her voice was building and Nathan wasn't sure what to do. He held her tightly for a moment before pushing her back a little so he could look at her.

"Paige, I don't know what all this means. I don't know why they showed us this, but we will find out. Tomorrow we will call them and demand answers." He didn't say what they would do if the woman on the other end of the phone refused to give them and hoped Paige wasn't wondering the same thing.

"But...but what happened to them? Why did they all...do...those things? What if I am going to do that too?"

"You won't."

"But what if I do?"

"You won't do that, Paige. I won't let you. I am going to be by your side until we figure all this out and I won't let you," he said, looking deeply into her red puffy eyes.

"Bu..."

Before she could say another word, Nathan leaned in and kissed her. It was all he could think of to get her to stop. She seemed surprised at first and began to pull back, then she was leaning into him and returning his kiss with a fury.

Nathan knew the intensity of their kiss was fueled more by their overwhelming need for reassurance than by the emotions they felt for each other, but he didn't care. He had missed holding his wife, kissing her and feeling her kiss him. He knew she wasn't his wife, but at the moment he didn't care. Whoever the hell she really was, he'd already fallen in love with her.

When the kiss finally ended, they both felt drained. Neither one wanted to release the other. They sat together, enjoying the comfort they found in each others arms.

"What happens tomorrow?" Paige asked after a few minutes.

Nathan shook his head. He got up, slipping free from Paige. He closed the computer and put it on the nightstand then walked over and turned off the lights before returning to the bed. He pulled back the covers.

"We worry about that tomorrow."

He stretched out and Paige crawled into bed with him, laying her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her. They exchanged no more words. They were each lost in their own thoughts. Questions tumbled through their minds, but they gave voice to none of them. They took what comfort they could from each other, both fearing what the coming day might bring.

"As far as I know they are still in their room. Either that or he left the phone behind. GPS has not shown any movement since you reported them back at the hotel."

Jimmy refreshed the computer directly in front of him once more and the data on the screen remained unchanged. His eyes flicked to the screen of the laptop to his right and then over to the movie playing on the laptop to his left. He tried his best to stifle a yawn and failed.

"Sorry to have you going twenty-four-seven, Jimmy. I simply don't have much choice. I've been put in a place where I don't know who it is I can trust."

Jimmy grinned and shook his head.

"No problem boss. I've pulled longer sessions in World of Warcraft."

"Of course," Cameron said, not having a clue what Jimmy was talking about.

"Besides I've slept in this office many times."

"I can't have you fal..."

"Don't worry about me missing anything. I have alarms set on the programs I have tracking them. I'd be awake and on top of them before they were out of the lobby."

Cameron said nothing.

"Trust me boss, I am on top of them."

"Okay, Jimmy. Any luck on that audio from earlier? Any chance you could get a trace on that?"

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Nah, no luck. Sorry."

"Anything on Dr. Merrick?"

"No. She went off the grid. I have every connection to her tapped, but so far not a peep."

"At the first sign, call us," Cameron said as he hung up the phone.

Jimmy clicked his phone over to the other line.

"Did you get all that?"

"Yes. Any other information?"

"Yes, Mr. Dillinger. I've been monitoring all traffic coming out of the hotel's internet connection and am certain this is a piece of the puzzle." Jimmy tapped a few keys on the laptop on his right. "Obviously someone has compiled these reports. Do you want me to delete the site or brick the server?"

"No, not yet. Can you check for mirror sites?"

"You basically want to know if I can erase this information from the net entirely?"

"Yes."

"Sorry, Mr. Dillinger. I can send out some programs to crawl the net and destroy the information if they find it, but to say with a hundred percent certainty that it will be completely gone, that I can't do. Controlling digital information isn't nearly as easy as hardcopy info."

"Do your best. Tag anything you find, but don't remove it from the net yet. I don't want to spook anyone. Things are already crazy enough without throwing extra chaos into the mix."

"You got it. What do you want me to tell Kassar?"

"Keep him up to date as he requested, information at a minimum, but make sure I get all information first."

"Of course."

"What's the story with Jason and Dr. Merrick?"

"I wasn't kidding with Kassar. She really has gone off the grid. Well, as much as possible anyway. She obviously did her homework, likely has new IDs and is probably paying cash for everything. I know you likely don't want me to use official channels, but if you'd let me piggyback on the main system I could have real-time facial recognition programs running and be able to..."

"No. It's not that important. As long as Cameron can't find them I am content. I'd rather not have this on the books, even in an unofficial way. Son of a bitch made it personal a very long time ago."

"There is going to be a job opening soon, isn't there?"

"Do you really want to know, Jimmy?"

"Um, no, I guess not."

"Don't mourn for Kassar just yet. He's made his own decisions and will have to deal with the consequences. How things end up, will be up to him. I personally hope he continues on the path he's been taking. I don't like his methods and he's already shown a willingness to expose us. I know the outcome I am hoping for. He makes any more of a mess and I will gladly clean it up."

The phone clicked off and Jimmy sat there for a moment. He thought about Dillinger's words and shivered as a chill ran down his back. He didn't ever intend to get on that man's bad side.

Nathan woke with a familiar and comfortable weight resting in his arms. He looked at her. She was sleeping soundly, there was almost a smile upon her face. Exhaustion was his only conclusion. He couldn't imagine how else she could manage to sleep. He'd woken every hour or so. He kept seeing the web pages in his mind, every news clipping and obituary. What did it all mean? What could it mean? So much death. Paige after Paige after Paige. What the hell did it all mean? What happened to his Paige? What happened to the other Paiges? What might happen to this Paige?

"Nothing," he said to himself. He didn't know what had happened to them. Perhaps the woman on the other end of the phone knew, perhaps she didn't. Whatever the case, he intended to make certain that nothing happened to the woman in his arms. She wasn't his Paige, but she was definitely someone special. She didn't deserve what was happening to her. Of that he was certain and if it was within his power to protect her, even a little bit, then he would do it.

Nathan carefully slipped out of bed. He went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and shook his head. He looked exhausted, felt it too. He wondered what Paige must think when she looked into the mirror. No doubt she questioned exactly who it was that was looking back at her. What must that be like? He was tempted to grab his phone, dial the number and demand answers. Part of him was worried the woman would just hang up on him and they would never hear from her again. The other half of him was worried she would actually give him answers. Was he prepared to deal with those answers? Was Paige?

He slipped back out of the bathroom briefly and then returned with his laptop and shut the door. He booted up the computer and returned to the website. He clicked from page to page rereading the information. He lingered on the story about his wife. He had spent the last year trying to forget that horrible night. Now he concentrated on remembering every detail.
 

They had planned on spending the night in. Paige had picked out several movies and they were going to eat dinner and then curl up together and watch them. He remembered that she had gotten a phone call while he was cooking dinner. She had said it had been a wrong number, but he had thought it had been too long of a call for a simple wrong number.
 

He frowned as he relived the night in his mind. Had that phone call meant anything? He had never given it much thought before. Who had been on the other side of that call?
 

After getting off the phone they had eaten dinner. Or rather, he had eaten dinner while Paige picked at hers. After dinner she had insisted that she needed to run out for a quick errand. He had asked her if she wanted him to go with her.

Nathan looked into the mirror and his puzzled expression looked back at him.

She had seemed conflicted at the offer. Hadn't she? He could tell that part of her really wanted him to go with her and part of her didn't. What was it he had seen in her eyes that night? Sadness? Fear? Something, something hadn't seemed quite right, but he had ignored it. He had fooled himself into believing nothing was wrong. After all, why should anything have been wrong? She had been fine all day and most of that evening. It wasn't until after that phone call. Who the hell had that been? Had that been the reason for it all?

He clicked the keys and the pages flipped back and forth. Suicide. Murder-suicide.

Nathan felt sick to his stomach. The questions floating in his mind were maddening. He refused to even verbalize them, was angry with himself for even thinking them, but no matter how hard he tried they continued to whisper at the corners of his mind. Had Paige wanted him to go? Had she thought about having him come along and...and...

It was the sound of Paige's whimpering that drew him back from the past. Even with the door mostly closed he could hear her. He shut down the computer and returned to the other room. Paige had curled herself into a ball and was shuddering in her sleep. He climbed back into bed with her and she crawled into his arms instantly. Nathan kissed her gently on the head and her whimpering stopped.

"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you," he whispered to her sleeping form. "Not if I can help it. Not ever again."

Paige woke with a slip of a smile on her face. She curled against Nathan. He still had his arms wrapped around her. She looked up at him. He was sleeping, a scowl on his face. He obviously wasn't having pleasant dreams. Her smile faltered and was replaced with a frown. She wondered what this was doing to him, what she was doing to him. What must be going on in his mind? He was curled up in bed, comforting a woman who was the mirror image of his dead wife. That certainly couldn't be easy. He had definitely accepted the fact that she wasn't his Paige, but did that make things easier or harder?

She bit her lip as she thought. What were her feelings here? She knew she was feeling something for him. However, the way things were, she wasn't entirely sure she could trust herself. Her entire world was apparently a lie. Could her feelings be as well? And even if they weren't, was it possible they had any future together? Could he ever look at her and see only her and not his dead wife?