The Enemy's Son (16 page)

When he gently shook her shoulder, she opened her eyes. Herald was talking to her.

“I have strong relationships with a few good, dependable guys on the force. I’ll talk to them and make sure the right people are watching Jerry.”

“Thank you, Herald.” That had to be enough for now. She had hell to pay when the dust settled. Wasn’t it so ironic that she thought
she
was using
Alexander?
What had she been thinking?

Okay, she had been completely focused on rescuing her dad. Now he was away from Keith, and she had to put the pieces together. Through the haze in her mind, she knew there was something, or several somethings, she was supposed to remember or do.

The car stopped and Herald got out. Nick touched her face, looking concerned like she wasn’t really there. Maybe she wasn’t. “Cora, we’re getting a room. You can take a shower and rest a while, and then we’ll try to see Jerry.”

Another room? She was so tired of running around. “I need a change of clothes…can’t I go home?”

Adam glanced at Nick. She could tell they communicated entire conversations in those looks.

“Cora, you probably know that’s not safe,” Nick said.

She knew. But it sounded nice to soak in her own bath tub and sleep in clean pajamas in her own bed.

Adam added, “We’ll keep you safe here.”

She shuddered. It wasn’t over yet. She needed to keep her guard up. That’s why Adam was keeping watch while they waited in the car.

Herald tapped on the window. Nick and Adam hurried out, and she followed their lead. It was hard to imagine that Alexander would track them down, but he’d shot Jerry. Keith still didn’t have his million dollars back. She wondered if he ever realized Alexander stole it.

Upstairs in the bathroom, Cora turned the water on hot, glad for the comfort and for some kind of feeling to make it through. Her entire body felt numb, disconnected from her. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the soothing water running down her and almost forgot she was in the shower. When the water started to grow cold, she snapped awake and remembered she needed to wash, but she had to force herself to forget what she was washing off.

Pictures flashed, one after another, of her father, Nick, and the other men that had been at Keith’s home. She could hardly believe Nick had shown up and helped her after she ran from him. She couldn’t fathom what might have happened if he hadn’t stepped in.

She wrapped in the small hotel towel. There was no way she could put her clothes back on, not with…

Someone knocked. “Cora, I have a change of clothes for you.”

Nick had known. She opened the door and saw her bag. “How did you…oh, this was in your car from before.”

She’d left a skirt in it, but at least it was something different and semi clean. Nick was waiting for her outside the door and pulled her into a much needed tight embrace. She ran her hands over him and breathed in his scent. After hanging onto him for a minute, she remembered that Herald and Adam. But Herald was gone and Adam was playing solitaire on a small table by the door. His handgun sat on the table too.

The TV was turned on without anyone watching it, maybe for the noise.

“Come over here with me.” He pulled her into a couch with him. She gladly curled up against him and laid her head on his chest.

There was a lot to talk about, but maybe Nick was trying to wrap his head around it too. At least, she wasn’t sure where to start or where they would go. She wasn’t even sure how she felt. Was she running through fire or drowning in a freezing ocean? She felt Nick’s arms around her, holding her together, and his steady heartbeat beckoned hers to continue.

With new clarity, Cora realized she had been thinking with her head, which had always been her saving attribute, but this last week she had ignored her heart, and her heart had been right.

Nick rested his face on his hair. “Are you doing okay? Do you want something for dinner yet?”

“I’m only twenty five and I’ve lost both my parents.” She angrily wiped at the tears that flooded her eyes.

“You don’t know that.” He took her chin and gently turned her face toward him. “Jerry’s tough. He’s fighting for you.”

That was true. Her dad would fight the world for her. She almost smiled.

“I’m here for you. I’ll do whatever you need.” He watched her eyes like he was watching a beautiful sunrise. Now she could follow her heart and believe him.

“I’m sorry, Nick.”

“For what?”

“Alexander. He completely fooled me.” Tears sprang up in her eyes. A tear escaped and ran down one cheek. She had listened to Alexander and almost got her dad killed, and maybe Nick too. She had so focused she didn’t see thing clearly.

Nick kissed her tears. “He fooled everyone from my father to Jerry. That’s how the guy lives.”

“All I could think about was finding my father. I didn’t assess his motives at all.”

He shook his head. “You did what you had to. I was trying to protect you, but I should have told you more. When Adam first told me what was going on, he said Alexander watched the news every night just to see you. Alexander
‘exposed’
Jerry for skimming money, and he suggested right off the bat that you’re the perfect tool for coercing Jerry into repaying the money. He had a master plan all along and you were a big part of it.”

Cora leaned back to look at him, sighing in irritation and frustration. She felt invaded. “So everything happened as he planned it. But why did he want to trick me like that? I was walking around town, tired, hot and hungry, trying to figure out where to look first, and then there was Alexander. With lemonade and a plan. Why did he pretend to help me?”

 “I think he planned to take the money, and you, and run.”

It chilled her to see inside his mind, and scared her even more that she had spent two days with him. Laying her head back on Nick’s chest, she whispered, “Thank you for what you did.”

 He started to say something when his cell vibrated in his pocket.  

“It’s Keith.”

 “See what he says.” The reporter in her couldn’t let the opportunity pass.

Nick answered it with a cold, “Hello.”

“Is that woman with you?” His voice was loud enough for Cora to hear.

“Why does that matter now?” Nick asked. “The police know Alexander shot Jerry, and that you’re involved.”

Adam moved over to hear as well.

“I think it’s in your best interest to bring her back here.”

“Hardly.” Nick shook his head at Cora and Adam as if to say,
Can you believe this guy?

“Don’t think the police will protect you. You’ll be their first suspect.”

Nick glanced at Cora, and she saw the doubt in his eyes. The police had questioned them and let them go. Keith would have to be one hell of a liar to convince them of another story. Unless he somehow bought them.

“We can take care of ourselves.”

“Believe whatever you want to. I just want that key. The police are looking for you now, and the only place they won’t look is with me. Actually, you’ll be very lucky if the police find you before Alexander does. I’ve got you cornered. Come talk to me, and this can be over.” Keith hung up.

Cora rubbed her forehead and sat back, wrapping an arm through Nick’s. That had sounded like several threats. It didn’t seem possible, but it sounded like he had his men and the police both looking for them, and then Alexander was hunting them down with his own agenda.

“How is that possible?” Adam quickly stood. “The police talked to each of us, and we told what really happened.”

“I don’t know. We make three witnesses,” Nick said. “And it’s our word against Keith’s. I have a feeling Alexander split.”

Her father could clear this up if they believed him. They had to after Keith had him beat to in inch of his life. 

“But,” Adam said, pacing. “This is Keith Holloway. He could have a few dirty cops working for him. Do the police know we’re staying here?”

Nick nodded. His phone, still in his hand, vibrated again. “Herald this time,” he told them and answered.

“Nick, you need to move.”

“Adam thinks so too…but did something else happen?”

“That missing money was in a trust fund set up in Cora’s name.” Nick glanced at her and looked like he wanted to get up and out of her ear shot. However, he saw that she heard.

The possible explanations rolled through her head and sent her stomach into a tumble. A jackhammer headache started in her temple.

“Alexander could have set up the account,” Nick told Herald.

“Yes, possible. However, Keith claims that Cora shot Jerry because he wouldn’t release the money to her. I’m on my way over. Meet me outside.”

They made a B-line to the parking garage, crammed into Herald’s Lincoln, and took off. She guessed they were headed out of town. 

Nick watched out the back window for a few minutes and didn’t see any cars that kept up with them. She grilled Herald about who was watching her father at the hospital.

“Nick,” Herald said. “Is there anything else about this case? It’s getting ugly and complicated fast. Somehow, this seems personal to your father. I need to know everything.”

It
was
his money. But was it more than that? Cora noticed Nick hesitated and look at him, finding him looking down at his hands thoughtfully.

Adam turned around for a second and they shared one of those looks.

“It’s drug money,” he said. “They contract out to people who grow marijuana and others who make harder drugs. They traffic it up and down I-5. It could be bigger than that, involving Mexico possible, but I’ve tried to stay clear of all of it and might not know much about the entire operation.”

No one said anything for a minute. She hoped Herald wasn’t angry at Nick for not sharing that sooner, but who could blame him? He was still looking at his hands.

“So he has a lot at stake,” Herald said. “This is about controlling everyone that works for him or knows about this.”

“It means he knows how to cover things up and get to the police, too,” Adam said.

Jerry must have known. What had her father gotten himself into?

“But you’re right,” Nick said. “It is personal. He’s a control freak. Keith thinks he’s built his little kingdom and Alexander convinced him that Jerry was stealing from him for the last few years. Money is everything to Keith and to Alexander. I think Keith is so enraged that Jerry stole from him that he won’t look at the facts or logic of it.”

 “I wonder,” Herald said, “Why hasn’t Alexander just grabbed the money and run?”

“Apparently he can’t get to the money.” Nick’s soft words caught everyone’s attention and silence filled the car again.

Where did this mess end? Jerry had told her he knew where the money was. They knew that part now, unless… “Herald, is that money still in the trust fund?”

“No. Maybe Jerry took the money out of the account to protect you, since the account is in your name. It’s definitely gone.”

She knew Jerry didn’t have it. He would have given it back to keep her safe.

“Do we have anywhere to go?” Cora asked as they drove on. She wondered if they simply ran or ran with a purpose.