Page 32 of Shadowed Witness (The Secrets of Kincaid #2)

Allye continued to stare at the text messages.

No, no, no, no.

She had to tell her family—warn them.

The time caught her eye. It was late. They’d all be in bed by now. Should she wake them?

She reread the message. Forced herself to think logically. The photos might be recent, but it had been hours at minimum since they’d been taken. And she doubted whoever sent the threat expected her to be able to do anything about her statement tonight.

Her family wasn’t in immediate danger.

But that did little to calm her nerves. They were in danger. And it was all because of her.

What should she do? She couldn’t lie to the police—couldn’t let a murderer and drug dealer keep ruining some lives and outright ending others. But she couldn’t let her family be harmed either.

Her brain finally kicked in. She needed to call Eric. Show him these texts and ask what he recommended she do. Before she could second-guess herself, she paused the movie and dialed his number.

He answered quickly. “You okay?”

Relief swept through her at the sound of his voice. “Yes, I’m fine—I think.”

“You think? Did something happen?”

“I just received a text message threatening my family.”

“What did it say? Better yet, forward it to me.” He gave her the number of his work cell.

“One second.” She sent the messages through. “The photos came through first, then the threat.”

He grunted. “I’m assuming you don’t recognize the number?”

“No.”

“Probably a burner phone, but I can try to track it down if you give me the number.”

She pulled the phone from her ear again and read him the number. In the quiet that followed, she could hear his pen clicking.

“This changes things, Allye. I know you’ve been trying to shield your family from this, but they need to know so they can watch their backs.”

“I know,” she whispered. “I’ll tell them in the morning.”

“Do you need me to come with you?”

She hesitated. Did she want him to go with her? Yes. Full stop. Did she need him there? No. She could do this alone. No need to pull him from his work. “I can handle this.”

“I know you can . That wasn’t what I meant. Would you feel better having someone along that knows what’s been going on and won’t react emotionally?”

“I mean, yes, but—”

“Then I’ll be there. Tell me when and where.”

“I’ll have to let you know. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to get everyone together or if I’ll have to go to them separately.” She massaged her forehead. “Why threaten them? Why not just kill me and be done with it?”

“For some reason, they seem to want you alive.” He sounded puzzled. She had to admit it didn’t make any sense to her either. Her attacker, like most drug dealers, seemed to have no problem with murder.

“But still, why not at least threaten me ? Why go straight to my family?”

“What would you do if the threat had been aimed at you? Would you even consider asking us to drop the investigation, as far as it concerns the events you experienced?”

She barely had to think about it. “No.”

“And somebody knows that. Someone involved knows you and knows you well enough to predict that a threat to your family would be much more effective than one to yourself.”

“Mayor Jennings?” She could hardly picture it, but he was the only one she could think of. Even with his apparent slipup last night at Zhan’s, it was still hard to wrap her mind around the possibility that he could be involved in something like this.

“We need more evidence before we throw accusations around.” He paused. “But he seems the most likely suspect so far. Whoever it is already went to a lot of trouble to try to gaslight you. Now they know that isn’t going to work, and more drastic measures are necessary.”

“What should I do?”

His pen clicked again. “You can’t give them what they want. But we can play this smart.”

“How? I don’t think I have the capacity for smart right now.” Her head hurt, and it wasn’t just from tonight’s earlier events.

“We’ll start with warning your family, like we already planned. Bryce knows how to watch his back.”

Corina too, after all she’d been through last year. Allye wasn’t so sure about her mom. Her head pounded harder as another realization hit.

“My mom and Mayor Jennings are dating.” The words tasted like acid. If her teapot weren’t already empty, she’d be pouring another cup to rinse her mouth out.

“I’ve heard that.” Click, click. “Is their relationship serious?”

“Mom seems to think so.”

He blew out a breath. “That’s another complication we didn’t need.”

“Could that possibly play into things? He doesn’t want me dead because of how it would affect her?”

“But now she’s being threatened.”

“Maybe it’s an empty threat.”

“Maybe. But we can’t bank on that.”

“I know.” She sighed. “And Mom’s a straight shooter. If I tell her we suspect the mayor, she’s going to want to confront him directly.”

“That would be a really bad idea. We don’t want to tip him off.”

Allye couldn’t agree more. “But if I don’t tell her we suspect him, she’ll probably end up confiding in him about whatever I do tell her. But I can’t not tell her. She needs to know she’s in danger—especially if the mayor’s involved. She trusts him, Eric.”

He thought for a moment. “Okay. We’re agreed nothing is to be done tonight, right?”

“Yes, if you think that’s best.”

“I do. Let me do some research while you get some rest.”

“But—”

“Really, Allye. I know you got some good news today, but tonight has been rough, and you’re probably still running on adrenaline. Rest now so you don’t crash later.”

It was probably already too late for that, but he was right. “I’ll try.”

“Please do. I’ll see what I can uncover tonight.

” His pen clicked once again. “Listen, I have to testify in court tomorrow afternoon, and in the morning, there’s a meeting I have to attend at the station.

But there should be plenty of time in between for us to handle talking to your family.

How about I come pick you up after my meeting, and we’ll warn Bryce and Corina first?

Maybe they’ll have some insight on how to best handle telling your mom. ”

“Okay.” She didn’t know what else to say.

His voice softened. “We’re going to figure this out. Trust me on that.”

“I hope so.”

“We will. I’ll call before I head your way, but it’ll probably be about nine or so.”

“Okay. ’Night.”

“Goodnight.”

She sat quietly with her phone in her hand after they hung up.

Eric sounded so sure they’d get to the bottom of things, but what was it going to cost?

The good guys didn’t always win. Not on earth anyway.

Sometimes good people died. Please, God, don’t let that be the case for us.

Keep the people I love safe. Help us make the right decisions, and help Eric catch these guys before anyone else gets hurt.

While Eric had given her good advice about trying to rest, she doubted there’d be much, if any, sleep for her tonight.