Wrong Number (6 page)

“Aubree, I’m trying to help you. You need to take some of this medicine and then this sedative tonight to help you sleep.”

“What I need is to talk to my mother.” Aubree stood slowly. “Officer Haskins said I could speak with her this morning.”

“All right then. Come with me. He’s actually been waiting for you to get ready.” Dr. Samuels picked up the pill bottle and put it on the nightstand.

With swollen eyes, she followed Dr. Samuels out the door and down a long hallway. The facility was clean and quiet, and Aubree noticed the security guards standing at the outer doors. Dr. Samuels led her into another room filled with chairs and a phone in each corner sitting atop dark brown tables.

Officer Haskins and Detective Rawlings were in one corner, and they looked up when she entered. Cody was on the phone, scribbling something on a piece of paper while Haskins typed on a laptop—or was attempting to type. His fingers hen-pecked at the keys, and she guessed they were both working on her case. She hoped they would figure it all out so that she could go home soon.

“I want to call my mom now.”

Haskins walked over to her. “The FBI has been in touch with her, and they’re sending some agents to pick her up in the next hour and take her to the airport.”

Aubree nodded, and Haskins handed her the phone. She gripped the receiver with trembling hands as he dialed. After only the first ring, she heard a familiar voice.

“Hello?”

“Mom.” She said the word quietly and choked back the emotions waiting to erupt again.

“Aubree!” Her mom’s voice sounded shaky. “It’s so awful. I’m coming there as soon as I can. I only heard about it a few hours ago. I’ve been packing and waiting for the FBI agents to come, but then the police came over. They’ve been trying to collect some information about you and Devin to help with the investigation. Where are you?”

“I’m in—” Aubree started to answer when she heard a commotion, and someone grabbed the phone from her hand.

F
IVE

S
TARTLED AND ANGRY
, A
UBREE
looked up to see the FBI agent covering the mouthpiece on the phone. Agent Edwards’ face was crimson, and it made his hair look almost white.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Stewart. I thought someone had explained to you that you cannot share any details about your case.”

“What? Give me the phone. I’m trying to talk to my mother. I’m not doing anything illegal!” Aubree shouted and stood up.

As she reached for the phone, Edwards said, “Aubree listen, the police didn’t contact your mother this morning. It must’ve been someone else related to this crime.”

“What? How did you know?”

“We have these lines tapped into a listening service,” Edwards replied and pointed at the clear spiral cord trailing from his ear.

“Okay, but how could they find her so fast?”

Edwards didn’t answer. He put the phone to his ear. “Hello, this is Agent Jason Edwards from the FBI. I’m sorry to interrupt your phone call, but I need to verify that you are Madeline Nelson. Can you please tell me what condition your daughter is in?”

Aubree sat silently and watched as he nodded his head. “And when is she due?” There was another pause. “What is she having? A boy or girl?” He smiled and nodded again. Then he sat beside Aubree and covered the mouthpiece. “Haskins, Cody, we need to get somebody over to Aubree’s mother’s home in Idaho ASAP. Some police officers went over there today.”

“They couldn’t have been our guys,” Haskins said.

“They weren’t. They were trying to see if Mrs. Nelson knows anything. Our guys weren’t scheduled to pick her up for another hour.”

“Consider it done. We’ll have her leave immediately,” Haskins said.

“Hold on a minute. I’m going to put Mrs. Nelson on speakerphone, and I want you to hear what she has to say.” Edwards looked at Aubree. “You cannot tell your mother where you are. If you do, it could put her life in danger.”

Aubree swallowed and reminded herself to be brave as the agent pressed the button for the speakerphone. “Mom, I’m okay.”

“I wish I could be there to hold you right now,” Madeline said. “I’m so sorry this happened.”

“Mrs. Nelson, this is Agent Edwards again. I’d like you to be ready to leave as soon as possible. Our agents will be there to pick you up shortly, and you can take the first flight available into San Diego. I’ll have someone meet you there so that you can be with your daughter.”

“But where is Aubree? Are you holding her somewhere?”

Aubree leaned toward the phone. “Mom, it’s all right. I didn’t want to be at the house right now.”

“How do you know these men are real agents?”

“Because I—”

Edwards held up his hand again. “Mrs. Nelson, I can assure you we are true officers of the law. You don’t need to worry about Aubree. We’re just trying to help her get some rest and keep your grandchild safe.”

“But the police officers that came to my home today told me about what Devin did. They told me about the other things connected to this case, so I don’t know why you’re being so secretive.” Madeline’s voice continued to rise in pitch.

“They said that Devin was in some kind of trouble. Aubree, they said the FBI might get involved and that I should call these police officers immediately if they did because it was out of the FBI’s jurisdiction.”

“Mom, Devin didn’t do anything. He was murdered.” Aubree covered her mouth.

“I don’t know who to trust,” Madeline said. “Aubree, you need to get out of there. I don’t think you’re safe.”

“Mrs. Nelson, I’m afraid those men weren’t real police officers,” Edwards interrupted. “Whatever you do, don’t call them. In fact, I’d
like you to give me the number. It’s probably not even a real number,” he said.

“Why should I give you the number?” Madeline demanded.

“Fine,” Edwards said through gritted teeth. “Call the Federal Bureau of Investigation yourself and ask them if Jason Edwards is a legitimate officer.”

“I’m sorry,” Madeline said, “but they told me Aubree might be in danger and that I needed to find out where she was and contact them. Aubree, honey, they said Devin had over thirty-five thousand dollars in credit card debt from Internet gambling.”

“Mom, that’s not true. They weren’t—”

Edwards picked up the phone before Aubree could finish. “Mrs. Nelson, I realize you’re worried, but we need you to finish packing. Don’t answer the door or the telephone until you see this same number on your caller ID. That will be me calling to verify that my agents are there to pick you up. At that time, I will give you a code word and when my agents show up, they’ll also have identification. Aubree is under a lot of stress, and it would help her if you could get here safely and soon.”

Aubree’s mind was spinning as Edwards spoke to her mother. Internet gambling—she had immediately protested but suddenly felt it was true. Devin was always working on the computer, and he’d been passed up for a promotion at work because he hadn’t turned in reports on time. But thirty-five thousand dollars? That part couldn’t be true.

Edwards hung up the phone. The fiery tattoo moved as he flexed his arm. He frowned, and it caused his forehead to crease in several places.

“We’ll be back in a bit, Edwards,” Cody said as he and Haskins left the room. Each footstep reverberated against the tile and pounded against Aubree’s overwhelmed mind.

“Is my mom going to be okay?”

“Yes. I think someone was trying to get information from her. I didn’t want to scare her, but those men couldn’t have been real police officers. We’re going to check the numbers they gave her, but I doubt they’ll lead anywhere. I’m sure they’re planning on keeping her under surveillance. I just hope they haven’t tapped into her phone already.”

“But they wouldn’t hurt my mom . . .” Aubree’s eyes filled with tears.

Edwards handed her a tissue. “Our guys will make sure she’s safe. She should be here soon.”

“And then I can see her?”

“Yes, but you’re still going to have to be careful. You can’t divulge anything about this case to your mother, or you risk putting her in danger.” He looked at her and frowned again. “After the funeral, you’ll be removed to protective custody and won’t be able to see anyone you know for awhile.”

“But—”

“Aubree,” Edwards interrupted and looked at her with a piercing gaze. “We don’t want any more deaths in this case. After the incident with your mother, at the very least, we’ll have to do some heavy surveillance if she is to return home.”

She swallowed a lump in her throat. “It’s true, isn’t it?”

He raised his eyebrows.

“The gambling debt,” Aubree ventured. “Devin was involved with Internet gambling.” She said it as a statement of fact, because she believed it was true. Cody had given her a sympathetic glance before leaving the room. They all knew.

It didn’t seem possible for Edwards to frown any deeper, but he did and then banged the table. “I’m sorry. There was no reason for you to find out like this.”

“No reason?” She felt the heat rising in her cheeks. “Oh, you mean since my husband was murdered, I’m pregnant, alone, and about to be placed in a witness protection program—why make my life worse?”

Edwards wiped his hand over his face and looked at the floor. “No, I wasn’t sure of all the details, and yes, I guess I didn’t want to add to your burdens. I planned on checking into everything and giving you some time before . . .” he narrowed his eyes and cursed under his breath.

She leaned over the table and put her head in her hands. Her chest ached when she remembered all the times Devin had talked about her working to bring in extra money. She felt the heat of anger flushing her skin. Because of Devin’s foolish gambling, he had been willing to take her away from their newborn baby to pay his debts.

She could feel Edwards watching her, and she looked up with weary eyes. “Thirty-five thousand dollars?”

He pulled out a sheet of paper from one of his green file folders and slid it across the table. “I’m afraid your husband had a problem with gambling before you even met. The thirty-five thousand is just one debt these
criminals were able to find. He also had two others for ten thousand each.”

Aubree’s chest tightened, and she found it hard to breathe as she pulled the sheet of paper toward her. There was his name, Devin M. Stewart, above a loan in which his car had been used as collateral and later taken from him. She remembered his sad story of how he’d had to sell his car to pay for tuition, and she grimaced.

Was her entire life with Devin a lie? Who was he really? Her lip began to tremble again. “I don’t know what’s happening,” she whispered. “My life is falling apart, and I don’t even know who my husband is anymore.”

Edwards popped his knuckles and his breath came out in a huff. “I’m very sorry. Gambling is a real addiction, and it looks like your husband may have been suffering from it. It doesn’t make him a monster, just someone with a problem who needed help.”

A few tears slipped down her cheeks and dropped onto the surface of the table. Aubree watched the tears pool together in front of her and shrugged. She was gradually seeing her life with Devin through a clearer lens. There were so many times he had acted secretive, and she had written it off as his quiet male personality. She didn’t want to believe he had been hiding this huge secret—one that accrued interest daily.

She clenched her fists and gazed at the sheets of paper before her until the dollar signs started to blur. It was incredible that Devin had held it together as well as he had. He’d kept up a pretty good cover while each day, as he tried to keep it secret from her, the staggering debt must have been crushing the life out of him.

“What will happen to the debts?” Aubree asked.

“They were all in Devin’s name. I don’t want you to worry about them. He didn’t use any of your joint assets as collateral. Focus on all the good things you knew about your husband, okay?” Edwards gave her a weak smile.

The words replayed in her head: All the good things you
knew
about your husband. What else
didn’t
she know about Devin? She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth slowly as the tears continued to fall.

A nurse escorted Aubree back to her room. The emotional trauma was starting to take a toll on her. She saw the pill bottle on the nightstand,
shook her head, and pushed it into a drawer.
I don’t need pills! I want my life back
, she thought. As she eased onto the bed, she realized that even if Devin hadn’t died, the truth about his gambling debts would’ve surfaced someday. The pain of his deceit compounded with the agony of his murder was too much. Her head throbbed, and she willed herself to concentrate on something besides the unraveling threads of her life.

As she lay under the crisp white sheets of the bed, she tried to shut out the questions and confusion in her mind. The second hand on the clock ticked in time with a swaying cord that hung from the blinds above the air conditioning vent. The tiny noises lulled her to sleep.

Her growling stomach brought her to her senses a few hours later. It was horrible that she could feel hungry at a time like this, but then her hand strayed to her abdomen, and she felt the firmness of her baby inside. She had to get through this for the baby. Aubree closed her eyes and whispered another prayer, a plea for help to make it through this ordeal. At least her mother would be here soon, and that thought brought a surge of comfort to her.