Page 110

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

J acob’s phone buzzed. He had a coupon for the local sub sandwich shop, valid tomorrow. It was after midnight, so he didn’t want a sandwich. But he was food shopping. The grocery store wasn’t empty. He sidestepped a couple headed for the chips, and went for the freezer section at the back.

It wasn’t hard to assume the stares he was getting from staff and customers were about the fingerprint. Except the police probably hadn’t released that information. Not much different from the normal attention that came with his high school yearbook photo, enlarged and currently on a book display by the registers. He never used self-checkout, just so he didn’t have to walk by it.

Then again, Addie was on the cover right beside him, along with Hank and Becca.

If he wanted to see his friends, maybe he should go look at the book. It was the easiest way to feel that connection and not deal with the drama. As if the dust jacket on a book was anything close to a relationship.

Jacob blew out a long breath.

His life had been fine for years. He’d been content with his work and his quiet home. Why would that be a bad thing? Except it left him wide open for someone to plant his fingerprint on a body and frame him for murder. As if he should be the type of guy to spend the night with some woman he wasn’t married to, just for the sake of an alibi. The police understood that he was single, didn’t they?

Addie was the only woman he’d…another sigh.

That wasn’t worth dragging up in his memories. Church had shown him that he didn’t need to feel guilt or shame over the choices they’d made simply because they thought that was what they were supposed to do. Because it was what everyone else did. Instead, there was a better way. One they’d had no clue about, but he did now.

The last thing he wanted was to fall back into that old trap and those old ways of thinking.

This whole situation would test his resolve not to be that guy who relied on his emotions far too much. He wasn’t perfect now, but he had the resource to be at peace and stand firm even when he was being accused of murder.

His phone buzzed again. Probably another sandwich coupon. But it was an incoming call, one he answered. “Addie?”

Silence greeted him for a second. “You sound better than you did earlier.”

“From the smoke?” He headed down the aisle where coffee was located and added a pack to his basket because he forgot some when he’d been shopping with Addie. No point in ever risking running out of that life-saving brew. “Or the police interrogation?”

“Please tell me what that was about.”

“They aren’t telling you anything?”

“They know we’re connected.” Addie sighed. “It’s not that they’re deliberately shutting me out, but I’m not one of them. I’m federal. Add that to the connection between us…” She left that statement hanging.

“Maybe everyone else thinks that’s bad.” He perused the tea even though he wasn’t going to buy any, this time or any other. It wasn’t as though his mother ever visited his place. “But I like the sound of it.”

“Me, too.”

“I don’t have a lot of connections.” He hoped she understood what he meant. “Not since you. It’s nice to know it’s still there.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Do you wonder if it ever left?”

“Sure.” Her voice softened. “Maybe we should’ve done better. Figured it out and stayed together.”

“You figure we’d be married with four kids by now?”

“And a dog.”

“Ha.” He barked a laugh. “No way, two cats. That’s non-negotiable.”

“Maybe it wouldn’t have worked, and we’d have wound up another statistic of divorce. Given your hardline stance on pets.” He could hear humor in her voice.

Jacob found himself smiling. Considering the day he’d had, that surprised him. After his livelihood was damaged and almost destroyed, he was labeled the suspect in a murder. Now Addie had him laughing.

He could hardly believe it was possible.

Thank You, Lord.

Her being back in his life might have changed things, but maybe they weren’t all for the worse. Some might have been for the better.

He found himself saying, “I guess we’ll never know.”

He figured there was a chance still that they might find out. If she stuck around. If they worked at it, and this developed into something. Sure they had chemistry. That was basically all their relationship had been before. Now, if they were going to get into a relationship, he wanted more substance. Except with a murder charge between them, was that likely?

It could be too late for them or just the beginning of something new. With a shadow of what-always-should’ve-been.

She said, “Hmm,” then changed the subject. “Are you okay, after the interview?”

Jacob told her about the fingerprint on the body.

“I hadn’t heard that.” Her tone wasn’t one he could read. He’d need to see her face for the truth.

“I guess the onus is on me to prove someone else planted it there if the police aren’t going to investigate anyone else. Maybe they’ll just pile all the evidence they have on me, so it looks like I did it.” He squeezed the phone, now hot against his cheek. “They might not ever find the real killer. They’re so determined to put this on me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know you’d help if you could.” Maybe that was an assumption, but he figured it was true enough.

“I should just walk in tomorrow and pull jurisdiction.” She hesitated, purposely not saying something to him. “Make it my case because it is.”

She was investigating cold cases, according to Hank. Jacob didn’t know why they’d be related to a murder that only happened a couple of days ago.

“That’s sweet, Addie. Thank you for wanting to help. But it’ll look too obvious that you’re trying to save me if you do it.”

“It’ll look obvious when I put cuffs on the right guy.” She went quiet for a second. “Maybe I can help you.”

“How?”

“Let me worry about that.”

“Because you know for sure I didn’t do this?” Maybe she had proof he could pass to his lawyer. If she disclosed it to him.

Jacob was gauging the kind of special agent she was. He didn’t know how far Addie might go to uncover the truth. Did she follow the rules to the letter, or go renegade when it was necessary? Or did she fall somewhere between, depending on the circumstances?

“Jacob.” She said nothing else, as though everything he needed to know was contained there.

Maybe it was.

She sighed. “You probably want to get some sleep.”

“Are you still at work?”

“For a little longer. You turning in?”

Jacob frowned. “I’m at the store.”

“But we already…” There was a long moment of silence and then, “Ah. Pizza night?”

She knew what it meant. Jacob felt that connection buzz like a surge of power in an electricity line. He was a photographer, so he didn’t exactly know how that worked, but he’d seen the effects of excess energy that needed to be discharged.

He got two pizzas instead of one. Just in case.

“You had a rough day.”

Jacob pressed his lips together. He didn’t want to talk about it. That’s what pizza was for.

Addie said, “Pepperoni with the cheese in the crust?”

“Is there any other way?” He felt the curve of a smile on his lips and turned for the middle aisle so he could go check out.

“So it was bad, then. Talking to the cops?”

“Given the fact they found my print on her body?” Did she think he’d be able to just brush that off? “I have to be able to explain it. Someone is framing me, but I can’t even say as much because they probably hear that like once a week.”

“You kept your head. That’s good.” Addie said, “The truth will come out.”

“Hopefully not after I’ve served years of a sentence for a crime I did not commit.”

“I’m praying for you.” She paused. “I’m a little rusty on that front, but desperate times.”

He almost stopped in the middle aisle the memory hit him so hard. “Thank you.”

The two of them huddled in that cabin. They’d cried out to a God neither of them was sure they believed in back then—not in those dark hours when they’d felt abandoned. But what else did they have to do? It was either accept death or try anything they could think of to figure a way out.

Rescue had come.

Even if he didn’t understand why Becca died or why they were the saved kids. The killer had been put in prison—a place the police wanted to put him now as well. Life didn’t always make sense.

He just tried to minimize the surprises and disappointments. At least as much as he could.

With Addie here now, he wasn’t sure how to do that.

“Want to come over?” Maybe it wasn’t a good idea, but the question was out. “Share some late dinner.”

She said, “I haven’t eaten. I was waiting to hear what happened with you.”

“Meet me at my apartment? We can forget about everything, just eat and watch TV.” He had a guest room if she ended up late and didn’t want to go home. He’d let people think whatever they wanted. What Jacob did with his life, and the principles he chose to uphold, were his business and no one else’s.

Or that was the pizza night talking, and he was just over other people’s opinions.

Murder or something illicit. It wouldn’t matter that he’d done neither.

He was too tired to fight right now.

“Addie?” He walked through the automatic doors to the outside air, where an icy wind blew. There was no new snow and nothing in the forecast, but it was still freezing enough he had to flip up the collar of his shirt. He’d never been entirely comfortable outside at night but wasn’t exactly going to admit to being afraid of the dark.

“Let me wrap up here and text Russ. I’ll come over.”

“Great.” He headed for Grandpa’s truck parked in his spot. It reminded him of that first night he’d seen Addie. When she’d nearly died in a hit-and-run, and he’d scurried away like a scared rabbit when the cops came.

He wouldn’t be doing that anymore. It was time to stand up for himself and figure out how to get the truth out so he could prove this was a setup.

“See you soon?” Her voice sounded hopeful. Jacob wasn’t about to disrespect that. They’d probably have to talk about the morals he’d acquired in the last few years. Get some ground rules.

Did she even want to start something with him?

No doubt it was a terrible idea that would only end in disaster. Given last time, probably not the right path. Still…

A rustle behind him had Jacob spin around to meet whatever it was.

“Jake?”

The dark figure rushed toward him. At the last second, he spotted the glint of a blade.

“Hey—”

The man slashed out and slammed into him. Jacob whipped his arm around. The bag of pizzas and all he’d bought slammed into the man’s shoulder.

He was so focused on combatting the attack that he didn’t realize what had happened. Not at the first second.

The man drew back.

Jacob heard Addie’s voice from a distance. “Jake! What’s going on? Jake!”

He stumbled. Fell against his truck and started to slide to the ground. Pain sliced through him like a whip. Branded. Fire. Ice. All of it tore through his abdomen.

He looked down and saw the knife. The blood.

“Addie.”