Set Me Free (A Fugitive #2)(18)

"The evidence has been tampered with. Tenner would have taken over the investigation and manipulated it so that it would turn out the way he wanted. I don't know about the bullets, but obviously that little detail was overlooked." Alex rubbed his chin, searing the screen with a black glare.

"And we all know why." I pointed at the computer with a shaking finger. "See whose damn signature is on all this stuff? William Fucking Tenner!"

I wanted to pick up the laptop and throw it across the room. Instead, I sufficed by slamming my hands on the counter. I had never felt such rage before. I'd always been too engulfed by fear to let the feeling grow, but it was bubbling inside me now, bursting to break free.

"I don't get it though. If they did think she was the killer then why wasn't there an all out manhunt for her. They think she killed an FBI agent. They'd be all over that." Elliot frowned.

"Lucy's been off the grid since it happened. She would have been pretty hard to find." Zach smiled and winked, pride cresting over his expression. "And even when she did finally resurface, she had new names, personas, different looks."

"I think it's personal though too. Tenner doesn't want everyone hunting for me. He wants to find me himself. He wants that satisfaction. I just know it." My shoulders jolted with a shiver and I crossed my arms. "How the hell can we bring this guy down? He can fudge an entire murder investigation and then just make it disappear!"

"He can't make evidence disappear." Alex spoke softly.

"Yes, he can!"

With a sigh he turned back to the screen and opened up a photo. An image of my parents popped up. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Look at it." Alex's firm command forced my eyes open.

"All this stuff." His finger circled my dead parents. "This would all go into evidence. The bullets taken from your parents' bodies, their clothes, their jewelry. It'll be somewhere, he can't just get away with losing that stuff."

"I'm pretty sure he could. He's probably destroyed it."

"Yeah." Alex nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, he may have. But what if he missed something. You saw the scene play out. If we went back to that house, you could walk through the room, maybe spot something that could give this guy away. We don't need much, just enough to open the investigation with someone we can trust."

"And who can we possibly trust?"

"The FBI will have an internal affairs gig going. They have to protect their reputation. A sniff of foul play and they'll go after it." Alex tapped his fingers on the table, excitement flittering across his face. "The San Francisco Chronicle has a huge circulation. If we get enough for me to write a credible article, the FBI will be scrambling to fix it." He turned to me with a confident grin. "Lucy, we've already got you. We just need a little extra powder in our keg and we can blow this whole thing wide open. If an investigation into Tenner starts, something will come out. Like you said, he's bound to be involved in other criminal activity."

"And how do we stay safe while that's going on?"

Alex's brow bunched. "Let's just take it one step at a time. First, we need some evidence." His blue eyes hit me with a persuasive force I knew I wouldn't be able to refuse. "Fancy a road trip?"

My gut plummeted.

Los Angeles.

Could I honestly go back there?

I looked to Zach's steady gaze and felt my heart squeeze.

I had to.

It didn't matter what I wanted. I needed Zach in my life and if that was going to happen, I needed to do everything in my power to bring an end to William Tenner's hold over me.





Chapter 10





LUCY





The drive to L.A. took five hours. We stopped for lunch along the way, so it was basically six hours of silence. I couldn't find it in me to speak. I was so nervous, my head felt like it was being squeezed by a vise. My vision kept blurring with images of my parents' corpses.

I'm not sure if it was out of respect for me or whether they all just felt too awkward, but none of the guys spoke either. Elliot had insisted on coming. I think he was excited by the idea of playing cop for a day. What did he know? So he'd watched some criminal shows. This was reality! A sickening, terrifying reality. I couldn't get it out of my head that this trip was a huge mistake, but every time I spotted Zach gazing at me or felt his fingers gently brush mine, I knew I had to go through with it.

We reached North Hollywood by three and were pulling into Culver City about half an hour later.

"Which way from here?" Alex flicked a glance at me.

I was frozen in my seat as I took in the familiar surroundings. My middle school was just off the road we were on.

"Right," I croaked.

We drove past Palms Middle School, my throat constricting as I remembered walking out with an excited Maria. Giggling together as we waved goodbye to Patrick de Luca, my first real crush.

My voice dropped to monotone as I directed Alex to my street.

"This one." I pointed out the window and he braked outside a white stucco house with orange tiles on the roof. I gazed up at the second story, spotting my bedroom window. It looked so normal, so peaceful. The lawn needed a mow and the hedges out front were in desperate need of a trim, but the white front door was still the same, the forest green guttering that Dad had spent an entire weekend painting. He'd let me help. I climbed up and down that ladder passing him drinks, clean brushes, more tins of paint. I'd meticulously worked on the down pipe, making sure my strokes were even and perfect. Dad had laughed at me. It's only a down pipe, Lulu.