Page 45 of Final Approach (Lake City Heroes #4)

He nodded and stood. “You took me by surprise when you came back in after leaving the other day. I overreacted.” He frowned. “I don’t do that very often. Nevertheless, I should have hidden it better, but I didn’t take you for a snoop.”

“I learned from one of the best.”

He ignored her dig. “How long have you had it?”

“For just about a day.”

“Ah. You came in when I was working a case.”

“Yes. I also found all the boxes of Mom’s that you said you tossed. Made me wonder what else I’ll find once I finish going through those. I did find something interesting. You have some property off the Outer Banks?”

“You shouldn’t go looking in places you have no business snooping into.

” His eyes darkened, and for a moment, she was glad she brought her gun.

If he’d been willing to kill her mother, would he kill her too?

She shoved the terrifying thought away. He glanced down, then back, the black look gone. “You want to know everything, I see.”

Did she? “I ... yes. Including what you did with the letter she left for me.”

“I burned it.”

Her heart squeezed. Had he really? Or was he lying again?

“I found the divorce papers,” he said. “About two months before that flight. One she wasn’t even supposed to be on. I didn’t think she’d have the guts to actually go see a lawyer and have papers drawn up, but she proved me wrong.” He shrugged. “I couldn’t let that happen.”

“So you planned a hijacking ?” Who did that? Who planned two ? Her father, apparently.

He huffed. “It wasn’t supposed to go down that way. Yours went exactly like it was supposed to. Pretty much.”

“ Mine? ” He waved a hand as though everything was of no consequence and she let it go. It wouldn’t make any sense to belabor the point. “Tell me about Mom’s.”

He shook his head. “She wasn’t supposed to die.

She was never supposed to die. None of them were.

I was just losing control and needed her to come to her senses and realize that she was supposed to stay home with you kids and stop traipsing around the world on a stupid plane.

When I found the divorce papers, I lost it.

Started planning right then and there. I knew there would be a flight coming up and had everything ready so all I had to do was make a phone call.

I came up with the perfect plan and found the right person to help me carry it through.

It was just a matter of timing.” He swallowed hard.

“Then two months later, we had that fight, she left the letter and took that last-minute flight”—he frowned—“and I made the call.”

Kristine gaped. Then snapped her mouth shut. “I ... I almost can’t even compute what I’m hearing. You loved Mom.” A pause. “Didn’t you?”

“Of course. Why do you think I was doing whatever it took to keep her home?”

“That’s ... that’s not love. That’s obsession or wanting to control, but that’s definitely not love.” She hesitated. “Do you even know what love is?”

He sighed and scrubbed a hand down his cheek. “Of course I do. I love you kids. Which is why I’m always checking up on you and making sure you stay safe. Doing whatever it takes to keep you that way!”

“But ... a hijacking!” She blinked, wondering if he was a psychopath. It almost sounded like it. Which meant she could be in some serious danger. She wanted to scoff at the thought but couldn’t. And she still had questions. “That was you in the Brown home, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “I went looking for the money. He wasn’t supposed to say a word about being hired to do that job. Idiot. So, I wanted my money back. Couldn’t find it, though. Then you showed up and I had to get out of there before you...” He shrugged.

“Before I recognized you.” She fell silent and simply let her brain spin. “And the tattoo you told Marcus Brown to get? What was that?”

“Just a way to confuse things. Throw the investigation off.” He smiled. “And it worked.”

Kristine rubbed her eyes, thinking about how she was going to get away from him. She didn’t really see him letting her leave. Not with everything she knew. He could deny it, of course, but a simple investigation into him would most likely unearth the evidence needed to put him away for a long time.

“And I did love your mother,” he said. “Very much.”

Love her or want to control her? “Where did you meet Mom?” she asked.

“On a flight. You know that.”

“Exactly. Doing something she loved doing. Why would you want to take that away from her?”

“Because she was supposed to love me more! Us more.”

Psychopath was becoming more of a possibility. Or at least antisocial personality disorder. “So you argued. And when you found the divorce papers, you decided to kill her. Along with all those innocent people on the plane with her.” She was going to puke.

“No. No, no, no. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I don’t know what happened, but he was never supposed to get into the cockpit.”

“But he did. And the plane crashed. And they all died. Because of you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “No, not because of me. Because of her . If she’d just done what I told her, none of that would have happened.”

Kristine froze as those words echoed in her mind. Where had she heard him say that before?

With Emily. In the hospital.

Now she knew the answer to her earlier question. He’d kill her without blinking.

She backed up and his gaze sharpened.

“I have to go,” she said. “Andrew and the others are expecting me. I need to process all of this. Think about things I almost can’t even understand.”

He stepped around from behind his desk, gun in his hand. He aimed it at her. “No, I don’t think you’re going anywhere. You’ve disobeyed me over and over and over with no consequences. But now there has to be some and I know exactly what those are. You’ve just moved the timetable up a little bit.”

Kristine spun and ran, pulling her phone from her pocket. Something slammed into her right shoulder and a sharp pain radiated from the hit, sending her to her knees next to the kitchen door.

Her muscles went sluggish. She’d been hit with a drug, not a bullet. Which meant time was short.

She shoved the phone into her sock and hiking boot and pulled her pants leg over it.

Everything slowed.

Her father appeared in front of her and she had no way to fight him. Now she just wanted to sleep.

“Come on, Krissy-girl. Time for us to fly the friendly skies.”

“Wha—?”

He laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m going to take care of you.

Very good care of you. So good you’ll never have to worry about anything ever again.

And I’ll never be lonely again. Emily is next.

” He raked a hand down his face and blew out a sigh.

“Thank goodness she didn’t die in that wreck.

I never meant for her to be hurt, you know.

That idiot Dana was going way too fast.” The familiar anger tinged with the mental instability that had always been there flared in his eyes, and Kristine wanted to weep.

“But that’s neither here nor there. It’s water under the bridge.

Then it will be Ethan’s turn. I’ll have to figure out how to get him incapacitated.

Shouldn’t be too hard. At least he’s extended his stay and isn’t leaving so quickly. ”

“No...” Why did her voice echo in her head? “He left yesterday.” Didn’t he?

He picked her up, carried her to his car, and slid her in the back seat. Then patted her down. “Where’s your phone?”

“Car...” She struggled to sit upright, but it was like fighting quicksand.

“Then it can stay there. Be a good girl and stay put until I get back. I have to hide your vehicle.” He pulled back and shut the door.

The darkness was swirling, just beyond her reach.

It took every ounce of concentration, but she managed to get her phone and type a message to Andrew.

The driver’s door opened and she hit send before her fingers lost strength, and she closed her eyes.

The last thing she heard was the device bouncing on the floorboard.

ANDREW COULDN’T DO IT. He couldn’t let her handle this by herself. Whatever this was. But she’d obviously lost sleep over it and was having a tough time dealing with it. He’d told her he was on the way to her father’s, and she wasn’t answering his texts.

He tapped the wheel while he drove. So why wouldn’t she respond? Unless she’d been right and her father had—

His phone pinged. Kristine sharing her location.

911 help follow me Dad bad hired hijacker. Drugged me. Don’t call follo—

What kind of message was that?

A desperate cry for help for sure. She was in trouble and the last place she’d been was her father’s. Her father had hired the hijacker? Could that possibly be what she meant?

He pulled over and sent a group text to everyone. It was faster than calling.

Kristine’s in trouble. She went to see her dad, but I got this text.

He copied and pasted it.

Someone tell me what this means.

She was in trouble. He knew it in his gut.

Andrew read the message again. Follow me.

He could do that. He knew exactly where she was and the little dot was moving toward Lake City, so Andrew simply watched it.

When it turned off the main road about ten miles from his location, he made a U-turn and headed after her.

He called Nathan, who answered on the first ring. “I’m following her. She sent me a location ping on her phone and I’m headed after her.”

“Can you tell what the destination is?”

“Not yet, but they’re on the outskirts of Lake City. What’s there?”

“Um, a couple of restaurants, housing developments, a few commercial properties, the airport, and ... I don’t know. Keep following her and reporting in your location. I’ll head in that direction too.”

“I’ll just do the same thing she did and ping you my location. You can follow me while I’m following her.”

“Perfect.”

Andrew did his best to close in on the vehicle containing Kristine, but it was in a hurry and going fast. And then it stopped at the airport and he was still about seven minutes out.

He pressed the gas.

A lot could happen in seven minutes.