Gone (Deadly Secrets #2)(13)

True fear curled through his gut like smoke twists along the ground. Even without seeing the face, he knew it was Rory Mills. A guy he’d worked with a few times and the visitor yesterday who’d told him about the missing girl.

His hands shook as the light went out, dousing the area in darkness once more. Squinting, he searched for the shadow—the man—who had him by the short and curlies.

“As I said before, Mr. Gilbert,”—a match flared in the darkness, illuminating a cigarette and masculine lips before going out and leaving nothing but the red hue of a lit end—“I have the power to make your life heaven or hell. Others in my organization, however, are ready to see you facedown like Mills.”

Gilbert swallowed hard. “I was stupid. I see that now. I’ll do anythin’ you ask. Just give me a second chance.”

The red hue of the cigarette darkened as the man drew in a puff of tobacco. “There is one thing you might be able to do for us, assuming you can make it to your release without fucking anything else up.”

“I will. I mean, I’ll make it to my release. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

“Make sure your son doesn’t dig into things that don’t concern him.”

“Alec? He wouldn’t do that. He knows his kid’s dead.”

“His ex-wife doesn’t. I heard from a reliable source that your son was with Devereaux today at the hospital where the Feds took the package.”

“That don’t mean nothin’.”

“No, it doesn’t. But Devereaux almost caught on to the truth three years ago. We don’t want her restarting her search and uncovering something better left alone. If she does, we want you to make sure she’s unable to tell anyone about what she finds.”

A burst of excitement ignited inside Gilbert. They wanted him to watch Raegan. That would not be a hardship. The chick was hot, and keeping her in line would go one step further in sticking it to Alec. Gilbert nodded quickly. “I can do that.”

“Good. Because if you fail this time”—the man pointed the smoldering cigarette toward Mills’s lifeless body—“you’ll be joining your friend down there in the dirt. We have connections in high places, and you can be found anywhere, Gilbert. Remember that.”





CHAPTER FOUR


He’d left.

Raegan glanced around the private dining room and told herself she should have kept an eye on Alec. Sometime between Ethan’s toast to Michael and Hannah’s twenty-five years of marriage and the coffee and desserts being wheeled out, Alec had slipped out of the party and disappeared.

She glanced across the room and spotted Ethan speaking with an older couple. After setting her glass on a nearby table, she wove through the crowd until she reached his side, then waited—not so patiently—as he said good-bye and the couple wandered off.

“Hey, Raegan.” Ethan turned her way. “Having a good time?”

“Sure. Have you seen Alec?”

A worried look passed over Ethan’s features as he glanced past her over the crowd. “Not since before the toast.”

“I was hoping to catch him for a few minutes, but I think he might have left.”

Ethan’s jaw clenched as he pulled his cell from the pocket of his slacks and started punching buttons.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Seeing if he left. As long as he has his location services on, I can see where he is.”

“You track your brother?”

“I haven’t needed to in quite a while. After what happened today, he’s given me reason to be concerned again.”

Raegan realized Alec had told Ethan about the girl at the hospital. She’d known it would throw him for a loop, even though he’d acted as if he were fine.

Ethan frowned. “Yeah, he left. Rat bastard.”

“Where is he?”

“Sunset Highway. Looks like he’s heading home.”

Home . . . She’d known Alec had moved out of the city after their divorce, only she didn’t know where. Something in the back of her head warned that tonight was not the night to talk to him about what she’d found. But something else told her he was hurting tonight, and even though she was the last person he wanted comfort from, she couldn’t turn her back on him.

“Where is that?”

Ethan looked up. “You sure you want to go out there? It’s supposed to snow tonight. And in the mood he’s in—”

“I need to talk to him, Ethan.”

Ethan’s features softened. “I’ll text you the address.”

Relief spread through her, and she hugged him, this man who’d once been her brother-in-law. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he muttered as she released him. “Alec’s not the same guy you remember.”

She knew he wasn’t. He was sober. Even if he railed at her for following him, tonight she wanted to make sure he stayed that way.



Alec looked out the window of his front room at the brake lights illuminating the darkness.

Snow fell in big white flakes that had already blanketed the countryside in a layer of white. Whoever was out there at this hour was obviously having trouble on the slick road.

He frowned because heading out into the cold to help a stranger at midnight wasn’t his idea of fun. Especially after the day he’d had. But considering he wasn’t getting any sleep anyway, there was no reason to sit here and be an ass.