Reunion on the Run Page 6

  Claire shook her head. “I’ve spent hours searching online. I haven’t found anything.”

  Alex flashed a knowing smile. “I’m pretty sure you don’t know where to look. Neither do I, for that matter. This friend of mine is a bit of an expert at digging up dirt on people. He has another case that’s a priority right now but promised to look into Xavier as soon as he could.”

  “Would this happen to be a colleague?”

  “Yes. I contacted him when I took Roscoe out before dinner,” Alex admitted. “He’s good with computers. Real good. He can get into databases you or I could never get access to.”

  “He’s a hacker?” Claire asked with arched eyebrows.

  “Yes, but he only uses his skills to help people.” He leaned back in his seat. “Speaking of hacking, I checked in with Gretchen. The good news is she didn’t find any bugs in Beth’s house. That means no one has gotten in.”

  Claire frowned. “How did they track me to the shack?”

  “I was getting to that,” Alex said. “Gretchen noticed that when Beth takes phone calls, she heads to her office. She has a laptop set up in there. Gretchen suspects—and I think she’s probably right—that someone hacked into Beth’s webcam. They could get access to Beth’s office that way without ever entering her home. They’d only be able to hear her side of the conversation, but in this case, it was all they needed.”

  Claire nodded thoughtfully. “That makes me feel a bit better. I was worried that if they got into her house once without Beth knowing, that they could do it again.”

  “I really don’t think that’s the case,” Alex assured her. “I think they accessed our conversation remotely. Needless to say, Gretchen has unplugged the computer and warned Beth and Steven both. I know you hate being away from Mia but being with Beth is probably the safest place for her right now. You couldn’t have taken her on the run with you. You would’ve been too conspicuous. And I don’t even want to think about how differently the attack on the shack would’ve gone if Mia had been inside.”

  Claire put her hand over her stomach. The very thought made her ill. She couldn’t even contemplate how she could’ve fought off the two men with Mia in tow. She was anxious to move the conversation along.

  “Can you tell me what you’re doing these days or is it still all very hush-hush?” There was no sarcasm, just curiosity, in her tone.

  “I can’t tell you everything,” he said carefully, “but I can give you an idea of what I do.”

  She waited for him to go on, surprised that he was willing to reveal anything at all.

  “I work for a private organization called HOPE. It’s mostly funded by a private benefactor but there are some charities involved.” His tone grew serious. “We rescue victims of human trafficking. Or at least, we try to. Most people in this country are blissfully unaware of what an epidemic this has become.”

  “That sounds dangerous.” It also sounded exactly like the sort of organization Alex would be involved in.

  “It is. My work takes me all over. I’ve extracted women from Europe, South America, across the United States. Not only big cities, but we’ve broken up a few trafficking rings in small towns you’d never expect.”

  Claire’s stomach clenched. It was horrifying to realize something so awful was taking place in her very own country. Yet she wasn’t at all surprised that Alex was a part of trying to set it all right.

  “How did you get involved?”

  “An army buddy contacted me a few years ago, wondering if I’d be interested in helping out. There was no way I could refuse. The more I learned about HOPE, the more convinced I became that it’s where I belong. The woman who founded it nearly lost a daughter to trafficking. She’d gotten tangled up in drugs and became a runaway,” he explained. “Her mother, Helena, had the resources to go to great lengths to get her back. Helena realized not everyone did, so she founded HOPE to offer help to others searching for their loved ones.”

  “It sounds like amazing work.” Challenging and heartbreaking yet rewarding. It was exactly the sort of occupation that Claire was sure Alex would thrive in. He could put his military training to use while continuing to make a difference in the world.

  “It is. Half the battle is tracking these missing persons down. We have a team specialized in research.” He paused. “Mason Berg is part of that team. He’s the one that I asked to look into Xavier.”

  “I’m grateful he’s willing to take the time out to help me. Hopefully I’ll be able to pay him back someday.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Helping people, that’s what the organization is all about. Until I hear back from him, we need to try to figure this out on our own.”

  “I’ve told you everything I know.”

  “Not everything,” Alex said gently. “I understand it’s not easy to talk about, but could you walk me through the night Jared died? Maybe there’s a clue you missed.”

  “I’ve walked myself through it hundreds of times already,” Claire admitted. “I can’t think of anything out of the ordinary.”

  “Why was he down by the pool so late at night?” Alex pressed. “Is it possible that he was meeting someone?”

  “If he was, I wasn’t aware of it. He went down most nights if the weather was nice. It was his evening ritual,” she said with a frown. “The first few weeks of our marriage I tried to join him, just to keep him company. He made it clear to me that I wasn’t welcome. Some nights he sat in the hot tub, listening to classical music. Other nights he sat poolside, making phone calls. Regardless of how he spent his time, he preferred to do it alone.”

  She didn’t want to know what Alex thought of her pitiful excuse for a marriage. Looking back, she had no doubt Jared had married her because he’d thought it would help him with his business dealings. It was for that same reason he hadn’t wanted to let her go. He’d believed it would look bad to the investors of his family-friendly hotel chain if his wife filed for divorce. She realized now that he’d never loved her, and it was not something she cared to talk about.

  A quick glance at Alex reassured Claire that he wasn’t judging her, that he truly wanted to understand in an effort to be better equipped to help her. She reminded herself that this wasn’t personal for Alex. He’d made a career of helping people.

  Despite the way her heart fluttered every now and again when she glanced his way, she needed to remember that he was there because she was in a bind. He was there to help her, just like he’d helped dozens of clients. Nothing more, nothing less.

  “The night he died,” she continued, “was like any other night. He went out to sit on the patio. I read Mia several stories before tucking her in. It wasn’t unusual for him to be out rather late. I spent some time reading my Bible.”

  “You didn’t hear anything? See anything?”

  “No.” She was becoming exasperated. She understood the line of questioning, but just because he continued to ask didn’t mean something was going to miraculously come to mind.

  “What about Roscoe? Nothing upset him?”

  “No. Jared hated having a dog. Roscoe wasn’t too fond of him, either. Like most other nights, he was sleeping outside of Mia’s bedroom door.” She shrugged. “I’m telling you, there was nothing out of the ordinary that night.”

  “Did you typically go down to check on him?”

  Claire closed her eyes, bracing herself against the image his question conjured.

  “No,” she said, opening them again. She leaned back in her chair and avoided Alex’s gaze from across the table. “Our bedroom window overlooked the backyard. I was pulling the curtains closed. I saw him—” she cleared her throat “—saw him floating in the water. He was fully clothed. There really was no question that something was terribly wrong. I raced outside. I didn’t even think—I just dove in after him. I was wearing a robe and slippers. The robe dragged me to the bottom. I struggled, final
ly managing to get it off.”

  Her head had broken the surface of the water. She’d screamed for help, cried out for someone to assist her as she’d fumbled with her husband’s lifeless body, trying to drag him to the edge. She’d managed to climb out and, with strength fueled by adrenaline, she’d managed to tug him onto the pebbly surface surrounding the area. Rescue breathing and CPR had done nothing for Jared, he’d been too far gone.

  She pressed her fingers to her lips. They felt cold to her touch as she was slammed with the memory of pressing air into her husband’s unresponsive lungs.

  There had been so much force behind her chest compressions that she’d cracked his ribs. A sure sign she’d done them correctly.

  She’d done everything right, everything within her power to save him.

  She’d failed.

  And now she was being accused of bringing about his death.

  She finally glanced at Alex and was comforted by his sympathetic gaze.

  “I know that was an awful thing to experience,” he said quietly.

  “It was. I tried to save him. I really did.”

  He took her hand and squeezed. The familiar feel of his fingers around hers brought her comfort. Warmth spilled through her. A subtle echo of past feelings drifted to the surface and she knew she needed to squelch them. She gave Alex’s hand a thankful squeeze in return before gently sliding her fingers away. He frowned, probably feeling shunned, but she couldn’t worry about that now. Clasping her hands together, she nestled them in the security of her lap.

  “I don’t doubt that you did everything you possibly could,” he said.

  “Then you are one of the rare few. It’s so disheartening to know that I did all that I could, yet the blame for his death landed on me.”

  “The case against you primarily stems from the motive of a troubled marriage?” Alex asked.

  She hesitated, not because she had anything to hide, but because she hated that there was more.

  “Not entirely,” she admitted. “That aspect plays a big part, but really it just plays into the larger motive. Jared had me sign a prenup. In the event of a divorce, I got nothing. In the event of his death...”

  “His entire estate would go to you,” Alex guessed.

  “Yes.” She shrugged. “He really had no other family. He was an only child, his mother walked out when he was a teenager and his father passed away a few years before we met.”

  “Considering that you wanted out of the marriage, and he wouldn’t let you, to someone who doesn’t know you—”

  “It could look like I had reason,” she finished for him. “His death not only released me from the marriage—”

  “But it left you millions.”

  “It looks bad for me, doesn’t it?” Claire asked, though she knew the answer.

  “On the flip side, Xavier would’ve known all of this,” Alex said, ignoring her question. “To me that gives him motive for setting you up. He knew you’d be an easy scapegoat.”

  “I don’t think the investigators see it that way.”

  “We’ll have to change that then, won’t we?”

  “I feel like I’m running out of time,” Claire admitted. “I feel like Xavier is closing in on me. I know he wants to get to me before the police do. He wants to silence me.”

  “He knows you’re onto him,” Alex agreed. “I think we need to send a copy of these files to the detective working your case.” He tapped the black binder. “It can’t hurt at this point. If anything, it might detain Xavier for a while.”

  “I’ll do whatever you think is best.”

  “We won’t stay here longer than another night or two,” Alex continued. “I know of a few campgrounds on public land where you can camp for free. That means no ID required. You just pick a spot and pitch tents.”

  Claire didn’t like that idea at all. It had nothing to do with roughing it and everything to do with the lack of protection a tent offered.

  “There are other options,” Alex said when he noted her grimace. “Mason—”

  “The computer guy?” Claire asked.

  “That’s him,” Alex agreed. “He’s been working from home these past few weeks. I know he’d put us up for a few nights. But considering how delicate this situation is, I don’t want to involve him unless we’re out of options.”

  “I assume you didn’t tell him about me.”

  “Not directly, but I told him I was in a potentially sticky situation. He agreed to be on standby should we need help.” He gave her an apologetic shrug. “He knows I’m traveling with someone. He also knows I need information on Xavier Ambrose. He didn’t ask why, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t pieced it together himself.”

  “I’d rather not involve anyone else.” Claire didn’t want to put anyone else in danger. Nor did she want anyone aware of her situation. Harboring a fugitive could cause all sorts of problems for those involved.

  “I don’t plan on contacting him again unless it’s necessary.” Alex strummed a hand against the table. “But I believe strongly in backup plans.”

  FIVE

  Alex leaned against the door frame, giving Claire her space as she set their plan into motion. Time was running out, their resources were limited, their options were few. This plan had to work.

  “Oh, dear, I’m sorry to hear that she left. She worked for A & M for such a long time.” Claire paused before pushing ahead with her flawless Southern drawl. “Perhaps you can help me. Ruth is an old friend of mine but the number I have for her has been disconnected.” Distress spilled into her tone. She closed her eyes, probably said a silent prayer and went for the information they needed. “I’m planning to be in Portland for the day. I’m not sure when I’ll be back. It would be such a shame if we weren’t able to connect. Could you be a darling and tell me where I could find her?”

  Alex waited, sending up a prayer of his own. His teeth clenched when her shoulders drooped. They needed this lead. If it fell through, he wasn’t sure where to go from here. Claire’s future looked pretty bleak without it. He couldn’t bear the thought of that. It made his heart ache to think of Claire behind bars.

  Spending time with her the past few days had rekindled a flame that had never really died. He’d left Claire because he’d loved her and he’d thought it was best for her at the time. Over the years he’d managed to dim his feelings. Now he could feel them slowly sparking to life.

  He thought he could probably fall back in love if he let himself.

  Given Claire’s reticence in regard to him, he knew that would be a very bad idea. No, it was better to keep those feelings tamped down. He needed to concentrate on the situation at hand. Spend a little less time contemplating whether or not her skin was still smooth as velvet. His fingers itched to brush against her cheek as a lock of hair escaped from where it had been tucked behind her ear.

  “Of course. I understand.” Claire sighed. “Unfortunately, I don’t know when I’ll have the chance to meet up with her again. You see, Ruth’s husband passed away several years ago. I’m recently widowed.” Her voice crackled with emotion that Alex did not think was fake. “After my husband’s death, Ruth sent me the sweetest card and I’d really like to thank her for her kind words. I’ve been struggling lately. Ruth and her encouragement were such a blessing.” She sniffled. “I had really hoped to reconnect with her.” There was a pause and then her tone brightened ever so slightly. “Oh, thank you. Of course, I’ll keep it to myself.”

  She twisted around and shot him a hopeful look. He could feel her tension from across the room. He waited impatiently for the call to end.

  “You have no idea how much I appreciate it. God bless, have a wonderful day!” She disconnected and held the phone up triumphantly. Her eyes were bright with relief.

  “Great job,” Alex said. “I take it you received the information we need?”

 
Claire nodded. “I apologize for the theatrics. I couldn’t bring myself to lie, so I had to embellish the truth a bit.”

  “You got the job done,” Alex pointed out. “That’s the important thing.”

  He wasn’t sure she’d embellished all that much. Though things had not been good with her husband, she’d still been married to the man. Had lived with him and loved him at one point in time. Of course his death had affected her.

  Claire handed his phone to him.

  “She’s working at a lawyer’s office in downtown Portland.”

  Alex arched an eyebrow. “Interesting career change.”

  Claire shrugged. “Maybe she feels safer there.”

  “Did you get an address?”

  “I know where this place is. What do you think of heading into the city today?”

  Less than two hours later they’d made the trek inland. Alex stood on the sidewalk in front of the Marshall & Clayton Law Firm. He glanced around, as if truly confused about his whereabouts. In gym shorts and a ball cap that he’d confiscated from the campground’s lost-and-found box, he looked like any other jogger. He wore sunglasses and earbuds, hoping it would deter anyone from trying to start up a conversation with him. If nothing else, it gave him an excuse to ignore someone if he was spoken to.

  His gaze swept the street as he held up a piece of paper. To passersby, it would look as if he were searching for something. In reality, it gave him an excuse to assess potential problems. Nothing seemed amiss. No one appeared suspicious. He didn’t think he’d been followed.

  Claire was in the Jeep down the block. He hated leaving her unprotected, but having her enter the building with him wasn’t an option.

  As soon as he decided it was safe, he walked up the sidewalk and pushed through the doors.

  He recognized Ruth from the description Claire had given him. Her graying hair was twisted into a tidy bun. She wore silver wire-rimmed glasses. She was a bit on the plain side, but a kind smile swayed her features into pretty.