“Your husband helped to uncover corruption within the FBI,” Keller said, almost seeming emotionless. “He found that Agent Ford Priestley is behind a large illegal ring that we’ve been trying to take down for years.”
My jaw clenched hard, molars all but grinding together as I tried to keep myself in check. Yeah, Keller was playing his part and doing all of this so Lipton wouldn’t be tipped off, but I was ready to kill him for using Ford’s name like that. I tried to remind myself that the lies were what kept us in the game. If Mrs. Lipton believed we were on her and her husband’s side, there was a better chance he would believe it too should he make contact with her.
“I saw on the news…” She shook her head like she was disappointed. “He’s always been such a nice man. It’s hard to believe the things they’re saying about him. I guess you never really know someone.”
Again, I had to stuff down my anger.
“Yes. He’s gone underground and we are just doing a routine check to make sure your family is safe.” Keller paused, studying her for a moment. “Have you seen anything out of the ordinary? Has Ford Priestley tried to contact you?”
Her mouth hung open and her wet eyes glazed over. Was she in some kind of shock?
“Ma’am,” I said, squatting beside the armchair she was sitting in. This was my moment to shine. I had to pull out all the charm. I needed her calm and listening. “It’s going to be okay.I know it’s scary, but we don’t believe this Agent…” I choked on his name. I couldn’t throw lies about Ford out there like that. I hoped she didn’t notice. “We don’t believe he’s in the area. He’s all over the news. The whole country is looking for him. So it wouldn’t be smart for him to come out of hiding just for revenge.”
She nodded like I made all the sense in the world.
“What should I do?” she asked, sounding broken.
“We need to know where your husband is,” I said calmly. “We want to make sure he’s okay since he missed his last check-in.”
I didn’t dare look at Keller even though I wasn’t sure if I’d said the right thing. Would that be something her husband had to do in his position? Hopefully, she was just as clueless as I was.
“I-I spoke to him three nights ago,” she said, her lashes fluttering rapidly. “He’s supposed to come home this weekend for The Andrew’s anniversary party.” She smiled briefly, excitement lighting up her eyes. “It’s their forty-fifth and they are going all out. I think it’s sweet.”
I smiled too, despite the situation, though it was a little forced. She was just a sweet older lady who was stuck in her own little world. So basically, she was my mother.
“He did call to tell me he plans on coming home for the party.” Her smile dimmed. “I always hold out hope, but if we’re honest, more often than not, he has to cancel at the last minute. It’s always so hard to plan things with the way his work goes sometimes.” Her face expressed how used to this she was.
There was a chance. A very slim chance that he was coming home this weekend.
“You don’t think Ford will hurt me, do you?” she asked.
“No,” I said, patting her hand.
Her glassy eyes gave me the impression she didn’t believe me.
I had to get out of here.
I quickly wrapped things up, wishing Mrs. Lipton a good day like we weren’t about to turn her world upside down soon.
By the time we got back to the SUV, my skin was crawling.
Remy was working on getting into their security system. Roland was still in lookout mode, eyes wondering and head slowly swiveling. Sawyer started casually walking back to the car the moment he saw us.
“There’s a chance he’ll be home soon,” Keller said. I liked that he thought like me, taking that slim chance and running with it.
“Yep. And we need to come up with a plan,” I said.
We were so fucking close. I had to believe it was almost over.
35
Austin
The next two days were spent watching the fucking house. We’d rented another car and were taking turns rotating who was on.
Sitting around was getting to me. Staying in a hotel room when I wasn’t on was getting to me.
Ford had called me over and over again, and it was killing me not to answer his calls. At some point, I just turned off my phone. Which, I realized wasn’t any better. I’d tell him everything soon enough. Hell, Reed probably already filled Ford in on what I was doing, and I couldn’t hate him for that. And the only thing saving me from Ford trying to stop me was the fact that it wasn’t safe for him to be seen.
