Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(72)

“Huh . . . so you’re a psychologist, too?”

A text from Reed had come in several hours earlier. Call Me.

“What else did you learn about my parents?” AJ asked.

Sasha dialed Reed’s number, lifted the phone to her ear. “Hold up, I need to call Reed.”

“Took long enough,” Reed answered.

“Didn’t need anyone backtracking my calls. What’s up?”

“What do white lilies and Checkpoint Charlie have in common?”

Sasha chilled. “What happened?”

For the next few minutes, Reed explained what had been sent to Trina’s home, the message, and the interpretation from Claire. All of which Sasha agreed were a warning and an announcement. Something was going south at Richter.

“You trust this Charlie guy?” Reed asked.

“I have no reason not to.”

“Neil wants you back in Texas.”

“Neil knows better than to order me around. Tell him to keep Claire safe. AJ and I will return when we have more answers.”

Reed laughed. “I knew you were going to say that.”

She hung up, told AJ about the call.

He gripped the wheel, signaled to get off the highway. “Things are going to get worse before they get better, aren’t they?”

“Undoubtedly.” Sasha noticed the street they were on. “Where are you going?”

“Back to the hotel.”

“Pull over.”

“What?”

“Pull over.” She didn’t have to say it again, AJ looked out the rearview mirror and turned into a gas station.

Sasha turned in her seat to look at him. “All right.” She took a deep breath. This was why she worked alone.

“What?”

“From this moment forward, we have no routine. We will not be going back to your sister’s condo, your parents’ home, the hotel we stayed in last night. The recon at your parents’ is the longest we will sit still until we’re back in Texas or we can safely say the killer is caught and there is no one sending lilies in warning.” Her voice grew higher, her accent more curt as she spoke. “Always in motion. Never the same motion. Got it?”

He just stared.

“Amelia had a routine of running in the morning. Her killer knew exactly where she would be and when, waited until they could take her out without a witness, and then disappeared. We assume that same person is watching for us. Then there’s whomever Pohl has hired to find me.”

AJ’s stare hardened. “Okay.”

Sasha reached for the door.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m driving.”

AJ put the car in drive. “I’m capable of driving the car, Sasha.” He was pissed.

An argument sat on her lips.

Her phone rang, distracting her.

“What now?” Sasha answered after recognizing a secure line from the base in Texas.

“Wow, someone is tight. Everyone okay out there?” It was Cooper.

AJ took a hard left, putting them back on the street moving in the opposite direction of the hotel.

“Do you have information or is this a social call?”

“Fine, back to bitch mode . . .”

She would have flinched if Cooper wasn’t right.

“We traced the camera feed in Amelia’s condo.”

“To where?”

“Up to a server, and right back down to her. It’s motion linked so anytime someone was in the space, the camera picked up and recorded it.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Still working on that. Claire is following a thread of deleted messages in German.”

AJ returned to the highway, put his foot into the gas.

“Deleted, huh?”

“You know how that is. Maybe she wasn’t as careful with them since they were encrypted to begin with, then written in a different language.”

Sasha shook her head. “Only different if you don’t speak it. Call me when you know more.”

They hung up.

She waited to speak, felt the tension rolling off AJ.

“You going to tell me what that was about?”

He wasn’t going to like it. “Your sister was either hiding something or paranoid. Since her computer was locked up like a chastity belt on a Disney princess, I’m guessing a little of both.”

The princess comment had him easing up on the gas . . . slightly.

“Your sister was recording her own place. The camera I found was linked back to her.”

“Why?”

“Not for security. Cameras that record thieves are obvious, deterrents for the actions because the dirtbags see them. Hidden cameras are to catch someone in the act without them knowing it. So either Amelia thought someone she trusted was ripping her off, or she suspected someone might come after her.”

“If she thought she was in danger, wouldn’t she have adopted the Richter way of life and avoided routine? Told someone? Something?”

“You would think.” Only Amelia didn’t.

“I don’t believe she knew it was coming. We might not have been that close, but she would have said something to me.”

Sasha couldn’t help but wonder if that was AJ’s way of wishful thinking.