“Ann, you’re being cryptic.”
“And deliberately so.”
“What’s Grace coming back to do?”
Ann shook her head. “If I can persuade her to wait-and I haven’t given up on that-I’d rather you not have those details yet. If she does go ahead and ask Josh, he’ll tell you, and you and I will have, without question, a rather intense conversation then.”
“Is there a security concern?”
“No, there’s nothing like that in her situation. I’m simply a friend wishing I could get her to delay the course she’s set herself on.”
“A good friend, Ann.” He wasn’t going to get anything more at this point, and he accepted that. “You think Grace is coming this way in the next few days?”
“Tuesday would be my guess. If the task force hadn’t decided to focus on Carin County, I would have found another reason to be in the area. I’m not letting Grace do this without a friend around.”
He nodded. “I’ll help her, and help you too, however I can. Just let me know what you need.”
Ann nodded back. “I appreciate that, Gabriel, more than you can know. If Paul’s not able to be here, you’re going to get my initial reaction. Which could be ugly because I can’t afford to show those emotions to Grace.” She picked up the coffee mug she’d brought into the living room and stood. “Despite appearances, I really didn’t set out to complicate your life with this visit. It’s just… well, you know me, enough stuff happens that weeks like this are inevitable once in a while.”
He smiled. He did indeed know her. “Paul’s coming down?” he asked as he stood too.
“Yeah. We’re going to be doing some back-and-forth flights. I’ll have those hours in the air to talk with him, he can be here for half a day, adding his perspective to what’s happening, and I can have him back in the FBI office the next day. It works for us.”
“I’ve watched it work.” Gabe started heading toward the kitchen. “Let’s get those things for Evie before you leave. You look tired, Ann, and this hasn’t even begun yet. Evie digging into the two cases, Karen and Will sorting things out, Grace coming back… you’d better catch some rest yourself along with Evie.”
“I’m going that way next. Thanks for the visit.”
“What are friends for?”
She smiled. “I’ve been blessed with having two of the Thane brothers in that role for years.” Ann followed him into the kitchen and set her coffee mug in the sink.
Gabriel got out an empty grocery sack, retrieved two 7-Up bottles from the refrigerator, a bottle of Tylenol he kept in the spice cabinet, then opened the drawer next to the silverware. Every chili and soup order he called in came with cracker packages, and he added a handful to the sack. “I think I’ve remembered everything on Evie’s list.”
Ann accepted the sack. “She’ll appreciate this. Thanks.”
He walked with her to the front door. “Call Paul.”
“We’ve got a phone date in”-she glanced at her watch-“forty minutes.”
“I like that about the two of you.” He held her jacket as she slipped it on.
“Thanks again.” Ann tugged keys out of her pocket. “If by tomorrow Evie’s headache has eased off, she’s going to eat lunch and then want to get to work, so I figure we’ll be at the post-office building during the afternoon. I plan to leave for Chicago around four p.m. I’ll be back Tuesday, early morning.”
Gabriel made a mental note of the schedule. “I’ll make a point to stop by the post office before you leave. The case files she needs should be there by the time you come in.” He leaned against the doorframe as she walked out to her car. “Take care, Ann.”
She lifted a hand in farewell. Gabriel pushed his hands into his pockets as he watched her pull out of the drive. His brothers had a hard week coming at them: Will hearing the truth about Karen, and Josh helping Grace… with what, he didn’t know yet. The Florist case would make it an equally rough week for him. “God, help me be ready for whatever’s coming,” he whispered.
Being sheriff of Carin County meant carrying heavy truths about those who lived here. Name a crime and he could pretty much identify someone around Carin who had committed it, either in the distant or recent past.
Karen had been hiding in plain sight. He had to admire that about her. She’d concealed her connection to Chicago and the murder trial with such skill, he had never had cause to wonder what she was hiding, and he was a man whose second nature was to listen for those false notes in someone’s story. Ann had done a superb job coaching her on how to handle it all.
He was sure there were other buried secrets, dark skeletons or worse in his county… maybe even a living monster around. Ann’s concern about Grace suggested there was another story he didn’t know about. Yet, he thought. The truth was going to come into the light as it always did. He’d deal with it because that went with the job.
Gabriel shut off the porch light and walked through the house, banked the fire and closed the doors on it, set the house alarm, and headed upstairs. He sincerely hoped the phone would not ring again during the night.
Ann Falcon
Ann nudged off her shoes inside the front door of Evie’s vacation rental, walked upstairs, heard the radio playing faintly in Evie’s bedroom. She eased open the door, confirmed Evie was comfortably sleeping, her back and neck elevated with pillows, and quietly closed the door again. Ann walked to the third of the four bedrooms and sank into the soft mountain of pillows. She got out her phone, hit the speed dial.
Paul answered on the first ring. She could see on her phone’s screen that he was home in their shared office, the artwork behind him one of her favorite pieces.
“Hello, darling.”
Her eyes filled at his simple greeting.
Paul shut down his laptop. “Rough day?”
“Just long. Gabriel and I talked for close to two hours.”
“Did you tell him?”
She shook her head, whispered, “No, not yet. Only about Karen.”
She read the quiet empathy in his eyes. “Okay.”
“I should have.”
Paul shook his head. “If you couldn’t tell him tonight, it was because it wasn’t ready to be said. Grace is going to get through this,” Paul reassured. “You’ll be there for her. Josh will help her. I’ll be around. Rachel will come if needed. Her doctor will be on call. Grace will have people she trusts to help her-she won’t face this alone.”
“Just get me to next weekend and I’ll be able to believe it.” There was nothing else she could do tonight, so Ann forced herself to change the subject, looking for something lighter to think about. “How did your Saturday go?”
“We had to arrest a state congressman for leaving lewd messages in women’s public restrooms, canceled a 10K race because of bomb threats-called it a permit problem-and finally managed to catch the guy who has been tossing rotten eggs at FBI cars leaving the parking garage. That gets me to about three p.m. when I thankfully came home. The world didn’t stop going crazy, though. I just decided it could wait until Monday. I shared a late lunch with the dog-we had BLTs-then we played in the park and went to visit Jasmine. Black is a happy boy.” Paul tilted the camera. “Say hi to Mom.”
The dog swished his tail on the floor but didn’t bother to roll over. He had four feet in the air and was comfortably napping upside down whenever food or conversation was not directed his way.