Take One With You (19 page)

As much as she hated to admit it, what she’d found on Thane’s computer deeply troubled Anita. He hadn’t been sharing a lot of information with the task force, and he appeared to know quite a bit about some murders that seemed clearly to be TOWY related, possibly even the initial crimes. But it was all so confusing. The email address of the person with whom he was secretly communicating was untraceable. Even Manish the IT guy couldn’t track it back to the source.

Anita was careful not to share too much with him since she knew it would get back to Myers, but just the headers and the email address of the shadowy source Thane had been exchanging information with, somebody called Flowers, had set off alarm bells.

“Whoever’s sending those emails is up to something,” Manish told her. “No one has that level of security outside the NSA.”

What the fuck is Thane doing?

“It’s pretty impressive, actually,” Manish continued on the phone. “Let me know when you have more.”

Yeah, right.
“Will do, thanks,” Anita said, and hung up before Manish could ask her any more questions. She figured she had at least a week or so before the kid realized what side of the bread his butter was on and started voluntarily filling in Myers behind her back. The Captain wouldn’t want to be so obvious as to immediately tell the kid to spy on his superior, but he’d get to that eventually if she didn’t find something pretty quickly.

Thane had been swamped since he started working the task force, and they hadn’t been together since their amazing sexual marathon, but Anita was eager to talk to him about his trip to California. He’d been just a little too casual about the trip and she sensed it had something to do with this TOWY thing.

One of the emails she’d gotten off his computer referred to someone or something named Clairebear, and there was a number attached that looked like it might be a case number or incident report, something official that she hadn’t yet figured out.

Thane wasn’t trusting too much to his keyboard; he was probably using a drop phone, which made her even more suspicious.

Why would a detective use a drop phone?

***

Thane found Brad’s name and address through his search for Charlie, which had been surprisingly fruitless. This Sarah sounded more promising, actually. She had an arrest record almost as long as Big Max, but no convictions. Her dad had been that senator who’d died in a car accident one state over.
Probably got her out of a few
, Thane thought. He didn’t care about that, though. He’d do the same for his own kid, if he had to. Sarah’s mother was a rich bitch who’d taken up with her ex-husband’s chief of staff before the body was cold.
Nice.
Thane didn’t even have to source that one; it had been in the fucking newspaper.

Sarah seemed more like the type to go a little wild. Charlie had nothing, no record of any kind. Seemed like a nice, quiet kid. Dead parents, though. Life’s tough.

But when he checked out his stepfather, Brad, a whole list of shady dealings popped up going back at least fifteen years. No convictions, but from what Thane could tell, the guy was a scumbag. Lots of civil suits, lots of people who felt ripped off but couldn’t prove it. A real douchebag.

Now that’s the type of guy who could use one of those Towys on his ass.

Thane sensed something was bothering Anita, but he’d been too goddamn busy to talk to her. The day he got back from California somebody called in a tip that two TOWY founders were on their way to Willow Creek Mall to turn themselves in, and then someone, probably the same asshole, had put out the same information on the Internet.

That was when Thane decided to take matters into his own hands.

***

“Who?” Sarah asked.

“Brad. Charlie’s stepdad.”

Sarah’s blood ran cold. “What do you want?” she asked. “How did you get this number?”

Brad ignored the second question, a fact Sarah noticed immediately.

“Haven’t seen Charlie lately,” Brad said. “I’m kind of worried.”

I’ll bet you are.
“I haven’t seen him,” she said coldly.

“Do you know where he is?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, maybe you could stop by and pick up a few of his things. Give them to him the next time you see him.”

“Why would I do that?”

“I’m going to be leaving tonight,” Brad said. “Not sure when I’m coming back. They belonged to his mother.”

Sarah stopped breathing for a moment. She knew Charlie would want whatever had belonged to his mom.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Odds and ends. But there’s a letter. It’s sealed, addressed to Charlie. I know he’d want it.”

Sarah’s mind raced. “Why don’t you just leave it all on the porch and I’ll pick it up tomorrow?”

There was a pause.

“I can do that. I’ll put it out tonight. Before I leave. In case you change your mind.”

“Good.”

“You won’t even have to see me.”

Sarah hung up before he could say anything else. Brad was probably lying, but what if he wasn’t?

Fuck.

She had to call Charlie.

***

Brad hung up the phone and threw some random junk into a cardboard box, dragging it out onto the porch. He preferred to get both of them over tonight, but whatever. Whether one or both showed up would be fine. One of them would lead to the other. He was quite sure of that.

He turned off all the lights and sat down at his desk, where the window faced the front of the house. He took out the .38, checked the cylinder, and locked it back into place, settling in for the long haul. After a few minutes staring out the window, he grabbed a few more flat points and put them in his shirt pocket.

He’d be ready no matter who showed up.

***

Anita hung up, fuming. All the late night calls and sexy texts and Thane was acting like they were casual acquaintances or something.

‘I’ve got shit to do?’ ‘I’ve got shit to do?’ Why is he acting like that?

After a moment, she understood. Thane knew how to push her buttons. Unlike her husband, Thane could always get the reaction he wanted from her.

That’s why I love him.

Anita stopped and thought about that for a minute, and realized it was true. She was in love with Thane.

So was he trying to make me mad? Or was it real?

She went back to her computer and went through the files she had on Thane.

Turned out, it didn’t really make a difference.

***

Thane hung up and studied the text on his drop phone. It was just four numbers. They’d spoken on the phone after his trip to LA, and that was when Flowers informed him that someone in his department had been monitoring their communications. Flowers was very different on that call, so serious that Thane believed him. He figured it was probably Myers.

No wonder the asshole paid for my trip.

“I’ll text you with the info when I get it,” Flowers had said. “Radio silence until you hear back.”

Yeah, right. Radio silence. Kid sounds like he’s playing detective.

But the text really knocked the wind out of him. As soon as he received it, Thane angrily dialed Flowers. The number had already been disconnected.

Thane stared at the text. Four numbers. Anita’s badge number.

“Goddamnit!” he screamed, and threw his phone against the wall.

He’s using her against me.

But was that really true? Or was she a willing participant?

Suddenly their time together seemed like a goddamn lie. She was just another ball-busting bitch like his ex and her attorney. Everybody piling on to get a piece of the pie.

Thane was as pissed off as he’d ever been in his life. At least his ex had a reason for acting the way she did. He didn’t like it, but their years together weren’t always pretty; plenty of blame to go around, there. But Anita? What reason did she have to betray him like that?

The more he thought about it, the sicker he felt. Usually he could just shake it off and be done with it. He’d left more people behind than he cared to admit.

This was different. He loved this one.

And that was what made it sting.

He left the house in a rage, ready to kick some ass.

***

When she called, Charlie was in the shower, his first of the week. Even his shock and grief was not enough to keep Charlie comfortable with his own rank smell after being cooped up so long in the tiny motel room. What maid service there was, he had consistently refused for fear of being seen by someone who might report the presence of a teenager at the motel, which might bring him unwanted attention.

He’d gotten out of the shower and was immediately engrossed in the coverage of the local mall shootout, which was covered wall-to-wall on both local and national news outlets. Of particular interest to Charlie was the detective in charge of the task force, who almost seemed as if he knew who they were. Like he was subtly sending a message to him and Sarah. He wondered if he should call her.

He watched the coverage for almost an hour more before he realized he’d gotten a voicemail.

He looked at the caller ID.

Sarah.

“Hi Charlie…it’s me. Listen, Brad’s leaving town tomorrow. He’s got some of your mom’s stuff. He’s going to leave it out on the porch. Tomorrow. He’s leaving it out tomorrow. I don’t think you should go over there, so I’ll go over tomorrow. Since it won’t be out there tonight. I’ll call when I have it.” There was a long pause. “I love you, Charlie.”

Charlie called her back but she didn’t pick up. Had she seen the mall shooting? Maybe she was upset. Maybe she still wasn’t ready to talk. He listened to the message several more times before he realized what she was doing. He checked out of the motel, determined to end it all.

***

Anita stared at the computer screen. There it was. She grabbed her phone and called Thane. Voicemail.

Where the fuck are you?

She went back to the files and tried to figure out what his next move would be.

***

Thane grabbed him by the collar. “I got your number, goof.”

The “goof” gave a mighty shove and Thane practically flew backwards, stumbling against a table, nearly falling over chairs. A big guy from the kitchen was now standing in the doorway, but the bartender waved him off. Someone touched Thane’s shoulder and he turned in anger, but he immediately softened when he saw who it was.

“Jesus, Cookie,” he slurred. It was his favorite waitress, the one whose real name, once again, eluded him. “For a minute I thought you were Goodbody.”

“Who?” She smiled and shook her head, looking at him with a mixture of concern and pity that made him feel even worse, and he realized he needed to get the hell out of there. He patted her hand and nodded towards the bartender, but he was already taking other drink orders.

“Nobody gives a shit what I do,” he mumbled.

“I do.”

Thane turned to see Anita standing there.

***

Charlie took the bus to Brad’s, which meant he’d still have a hike to get there from the nearest bus stop. He hoped he’d be in time.

***

“I know it’s not you.”

Thane blinked and tried to focus on what she was saying. “Not me, what?”

“The Towys,” Anita answered. “I know it’s not you.”

Thane threw her hand off his shoulder. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I thought maybe…you were involved…not involved, I mean not doing it, or anything. Maybe just…” Her voice trailed off. She clearly didn’t know how to tell him that she had thought he might actually have been working directly with the creators of the website.

“Involved?”

“No! I don’t think that, now,” she pleaded. “Just maybe that you know more than you’re telling the feds.”

“Like what?”

Two people exited the restaurant, bundling themselves up against the cool night air. Anita tried to steer Thane farther away from the door, but he shrugged her off again.

“Like who’s behind that website.”

Thane sneered and walked towards his car. “I know lots of shit.”

“Wait a minute,” she said, and walked ahead of him.

He stopped and glared at her. “You know lots of shit, too, don’t you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know goddamn well what it means, Sherlock.”

He brushed past her and she followed him. “Okay, I’m sorry. I got roped in. But what would you expect me to do?”

Thane whirled around. “How about a little honesty?”

Anita stopped in her tracks. It stung, and they both knew it. He had never lied to her; maybe he’d been slow to report what he’d found to the feds, but he’d never lied to her. He’d just been doing his job. She could not say the same.

Thane stood there looking at her, slightly unsteady, waiting for her to respond, but there was nothing she could say. For the first time she saw real hurt in his eyes, and that made her feel even worse. He loved her, she knew that now, and she also knew that she’d blown it. He was not an easy man to love, but when he did, he put it all out there. Trust was something he valued above all else, and that trust had been shattered.

“Nothing to say, huh?”

She could barely meet his eyes, and after a moment, he turned to get into his car. Had he not been just a little drunk, or had she been able to stifle the impulse to reach out for him, both Thane and Anita might have lived to see the morning.

***

Sarah called her mother before she left. She wasn’t sure why she needed to do that, but somehow it felt right. She was very happy to hear from her daughter, and the two of them cried a bit before ending the call, which was very brief. She made Sarah promise to come home for a visit the following day.

She never saw her daughter again.

***

Anita reached for Thane. She had more to confess, more truth to tell, but what she really wanted was to touch him. She needed to touch, feel him, connect with him, if only for an instant.

Thane felt her hand on his shoulder. He, too, longed for her touch. Longed to connect. But because he was drunk, he was unsteady. And because he was hurt, he was angry.

He turned awkwardly and lost his balance on the curb, flailing his powerful arms just as she moved closer. Anita fell to the sidewalk, blood gushing from her nose, the two of them connecting physically in a way neither had intended. She looked up at him in shock, not because she thought it had been on purpose, but because she had come close to blacking out.

It was more confusion than accusation, but all Thane saw was the look in her eye and the blood on her face. He was immediately filled with such shame and revulsion at what he’d done that he was in his car and driving away before she could say a word.

***

Brad bolted upright, nearly spilling his scotch. He peered out the window, pocketed the gun, and left through the back door.

***

Anita ran to her car, wiping her face with her sleeve. She thought she knew where Thane was going; it had been in his notes. The notes she had found on his computer. The notes she wished she’d never seen. In his condition, she didn’t trust his judgment and felt responsible for what might happen. He was impulsive and angry, and she’d seen what he was capable of doing in that state of mind.

She checked her notebook for the address and sped into the night.

***

Anita was right about Thane’s intentions. She was right about his anger. She was right about his first impulse after that argument. He wanted to heal the rift between them as badly as she did, and the way to do that was to end it that very night. Thane was on his way to the address she had copied into her notebook from his computer.

Ironically, the one thing Anita had not factored into her decision was the one thing that changed his own. The one thing that made her happiest about their terrible fight. The one bright spot of the evening, borne of their awful confrontation.

Anita knew that Thane loved her. It was why he was so devastated at her betrayal.

It was what drove them both, and why their final missed connection would have such tragic consequences.