Dylan (Bowen Boys, #3)(6)
But then she’d started asking questions…questions that he wasn’t going to answer. When she’d removed the chip, they had made arrangements to have her taken out. She’d been one step ahead of them on that score, too.
He went home and walked into his house. Since yesterday afternoon, he’d been careful when he entered and left buildings. His house was no different. When his wife didn’t come to see him as he walked into the living room, he drew his gun. Crosby was f*cking with the wrong family if she thought she would get to his. When he entered the kitchen, he saw the note on the table and nearly picked up the phone to dial the police before he recognized his wife’s scribble.
“Karrie had a dentist appointment, and I needed a few things from the market. We should be home around six, if not before. I’m sorry about dinner. Love, S.”
Dentist. He put the note down and crumbled in the seat. Christ, he wasn’t going to make it if they didn’t find her soon. Kirby had to do something to protect his family, and he was making arrangements when his wife, Sally, walked in the door at a quarter of six. He was sending them away on a trip. As far away as he could send them. And they were leaving first thing in the morning.
“But I don’t understand why you can’t come with us.” Sally took two slices of pizza he’d ordered for them and put it on her plate. “You’ve not taken a vacation in years, and this would be so much fun.”
“I can’t. I told you, if it wasn’t for this thing going on at work, I’d go, and you know it. But with these murders and someone out there that might…I would just feel better about working these long hours if I knew that you and Karrie were safe.” He ate his slices and reached for two more. “You and Karrie go and have a blast. Call me occasionally and take lots of pictures.”
By noon the next day, he was sitting in his office and his wife and daughter were on their way to France. He picked up the newspaper and nearly fell over in his chair. There it was on the front page: “Woman Suspected in Murder of Prominent Lawyer’s Family’s Death.”
Kirby read it twice and was relieved to see that no one had mentioned her name. If she got wind that they had anything on her, he’d be lucky if he ever even heard her name again, much less saw her. He wondered where the hell she’d gone and why the hell he couldn’t find out one piece of information she’d given them that was true.
~~~
Dylan sat in the chair by the bed and watched her breathing. He’d been watching her most of the three days she’d been there, and was beginning to think she might make it. He looked up when Khan entered the room and sat down.
“You should go out and finish your classroom. Mom said you only have until Friday to get the stuff out or the school will trash it.” Dylan nodded but didn’t move. “I can sit with her. I won’t touch her, I swear.”
“I know you won’t.” Dylan stretched out his long legs and realized how stiff he was. “Caitlynne came by to take her fingerprints to see if we could find out anything about her. She said she didn’t have any.”
Khan nodded. “Walker told me. He said that she’d had them burned off with acid. It must have been painful.”
The two of them sat there for a long while before Dylan told his brother what he probably already knew. “She’s my mate. I have a mate that has five gunshot wounds and numerous other cuts and bruises. No fingerprints and no name. It sounds so surreal that it has to be true.”
“Dylan, whatever is going through your head is more than likely wrong. You have to believe that. She could just be a woman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, who will have her full memory when she wakes.”
He looked over at the gun she’d had on her, along with all the other weapons. There were three knives, two guns, a thin wire that had been wrapped three times into a long cord, and a grenade. A f*cking grenade. He looked at Khan.
“You and I both saw her that morning. She was armed and looked like one of those ninjas that you see in the movies. She’d been hurt, not because she’d been in the wrong place, but because someone had taken objection to what she was doing there. Christ.” Dylan stood up to pace. “The fates have really f*cked me over and given me a damned murderer for a mate, and we’re going to be on the run for the rest of our lives.”
“You don’t know that.” Dylan looked at his brother. “You don’t. And there may be a great explanation for it, too.”
“Who are you?” Khan flushed. “A year ago you would have come in here and demanded that I toss her to the streets and wash all signs of her from my life, and especially yours. Now you’re in here spouting good news and a positive outlook. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you, but again…who the f*ck are you, and what happened to you?”
“Monica happened to me. And you might want to find the silver lining in this, too. She might just be the best thing that ever happened to you.”
Dylan looked at the woman. “Silver lining, huh? Okay. Silver line this, jackass. She is still armed better than the Secret Service that Warren has around him, which is good. She can protect him when he visits. The fact that she doesn’t know her name or probably anything about herself means I can tell her anything I want and she’ll have to believe me, because she doesn’t know any better. I can—”