Page 18
Navarro house
Titusville, Virginia
Wednesday evening
Tash looked up, cocked his head to one side, and said, “What’s for dessert, Uncle Rebel?”
Tash pulled back. “I don’t understand.”
“The FBI believes your dad could be involved.”
“He didn’t call me either.”
Rebel heard the fear in his voice and didn’t know what to do. “We’ll keep trying, Tash.”
“I promise. The FBI will discover who is. You don’t need to be scared, all right? We just have to wait.”
Easy words to say to a little kid he knew was scared spitless. He was an adult and he was scared spitless himself.
Rebel kept his voice calm and smooth. “Tash, a dream can’t make something happen, bad or good.”
Tash thought his dreams were premonitions? No wonder he was so scared. Rebel pulled Tash onto his lap, cradled him in his arms. “Try to forget the dreams, Tash. That’s all they are, just bad dreams. You and I—we’re going to stay together until your dad can come home.”
Tash laid his face against Rebel’s shoulder. “Does everyone in town know about Dad?”
“Yes, very probably. News like this gets around really fast.”
“Do Autumn and her mom and dad know?”
“Yes, they do, and Ethan’s going to help however he can. And so will FBI agent Dillon Savich.”
Tash was quiet, then he said in a hopeful little voice, “Do you really think so? You don’t think Sasha will tell him she doesn’t want me around at all?”
“Sasha has nothing to say about this, Tash. Will you believe me?”
Morales said, “There was an accident about ten miles east of here and we were held up. May we come in, Mr. Navarro?”
Special Agent Briggs stepped around her. He was older, in his mid- to late forties, tall and beefy, with a fringe of salt-and-pepper hair circling his head. He looked Rebel up and down and said, his voice deep and aggressive, “As Agent Morales said, we are here to speak to you about your brother, Mr. Navarro. We’d like to know where he is. May we come in?”
Special Agent Morales put her hand on Briggs’s arm. “Go take care of your nephew. We’ll wait.”
Tash said from behind him, “Uncle Rebel, I don’t understand. Why did they come here?”
Special Agent Briggs said, impatience shimmering in the air around him, “He’s a big boy, he can brush his own teeth—”
Morales cut him off. She smiled down at Tash, stuck out her hand. “I like your name, Tash. My name’s Loretta.”
Tash gingerly took her hand. “My mama named me Tasher after her papa, but I’m Tash.”
“It’s a great name. You look like your uncle.”
Morales smiled at Rebel. “Do what you need to do, Mr. Navarro. It was a pleasure to meet you, Tash.” Morales and Briggs watched Rebel Navarro take the little boy’s hand, walk with him up the stairs, and disappear down a hallway to the right of the landing.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18 (Reading here)
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73