Set Me Free (A Fugitive #2)(11)

"Maybe you should go back to the beginning then."

"What do you mean?" She turned on his shoulder to look up at him.

Zach pressed his lips together before taking in a deep breath. "Please don't be mad, but I asked my uncle to look into who you might be. I gave him the vague details you'd told me and he did some research."

"What kind of research?" Lucy pressed her hand to Zach's chest and sat up.

"He found me some newspaper articles and murders in L.A. around the time you mentioned. He um, gave me a few files." Zach sat up slowly, nervous of her reaction. He watched her shadow in the dark as she turned her back to him and drew her knees to her chest.

"Were any of them on me?" She finally whispered.

"Yeah," Zach replied softly. "Yeah, there's a Lucy Tate file there. Do you want to see it?"

She drew in a full breath then slowly released it. "Yes."

He flicked on the light before she changed her mind and squinted against the sudden glare from his lamp. Stumbling to his closest he pulled out the file and walked back to the bed. He held it out to her, not daring to breathe as she reached for it.

Her hands were shaking as she drew it onto her lap. With her teeth embedded in the edge of her bottom lip, she flicked the file open and began to read. It was a struggle for her. Zach watched her carefully, noting the way her eyes closed or her body jerked as obvious memories lashed her.

"That's not true," she'd murmur occasionally.

As she worked her way slowly through each article, Zach sat down on the bed and nestled in behind her. He perched his chin on her shoulder when she began to sniff and wipe at tears.

"I didn't kill my own parents."

Reaching for a Kleenex, he passed it to her and then began rubbing slow circles on her back as she mopped up her tears.

"I know." He kissed her shoulder.

"I can't believe you invited me into your house after reading this? What did you think when I told you my name?"

She gripped her forehead, her muscles pinging tight. Zach squeezed her shoulder, nestling his lips into the crook of her neck and letting out a sigh. "I know you, Lucy," he mumbled against her skin. "I know you didn't do this."

"There were so many reasons not to go to the cops and try and find a good one among them, someone who could help me. I was afraid no one would believe me and that I'd get thrown into jail for a crime I didn't commit. I knew I couldn't hide from him if I were locked up. I didn't want to tell you. Who wants to be with someone who's a prime suspect in a murder investigation? How could I possibly explain to you that staying low was my only option? And then after a while I wasn't just hiding from the law because I was supposedly guilty of murder. I'm a thief! I'm—"

"Hey, stop trying to convince me. I know you're not capable of killing anybody." He kissed the side of her head and rested his chin back on her shoulder.

She sighed. "You're too good for me."

"Actually, I think I'm just right. Now shut up and keep reading."

Lucy snickered and lifted the file back into her hands and went quiet until she got to the final page and her shoulders jolted up, knocking Zach's chin.

He sat back with a grimace and rubbed his face, but Lucy didn't even notice. She was holding the interview of FBI agent William Tenner in her hands, her fingers gripping the image so tightly the paper was starting to rip.

"Careful." Zach tried to ease it from her grasp.

"That's him." The words rushed out with her breath and Zach's stomach flipped over.

"The guy who killed your parents?" He could barely set the words free.

She nodded, her head jerking up and down erratically.

Zach licked his lips and tried to regulate his thoughts. Looking at the page again, his face bunched with confusion. "Are you sure? Special Agent William Tenner of the FBI?"

She nodded once more, her eyes transfixed on the image, her skin translucent with fear.

Worried that she might pass out, Zach pried the image from her and turned it over. This seemed to snap her out of it and she finally looked at his face.

"The FBI. He worked for the FBI? Dad was killed by someone he worked with!"

"I thought you said your parents were killed by a cop?"

"I thought they were! I don't know why I was so convinced of that, but I just made an assumption and it stuck." She ran shaking fingers into her hair, looking ready to hurl. "The FBI. I can't believe it. I thought a cop was bad, but this just seems so much worse."

"That's because it kinda is." Zach's heart was galloping as he mussed his hair.

"I'm sorry. This is bad. This is so much worse than what I thought. I can leave if you want me to."

Zach spun around with a glare. "Would you stop. I don't want you to leave! I thought that was obvious."

"But, Zach, this is huge. I mean, he's..." She pointed at the upturned picture. "Terrifying."

"And guilty. He's not any kind of special agent. He's a dirty criminal and he has to be brought to justice." Zach's voice was like steel and at first he was worried it might scare her, but her head bobbed.

"Don't let him win." A watery smile flashed onto her face. "That's what Shorty told me. I thought he meant, don't let him catch me, but you bring a slightly different meaning to it all."