Mary spun, her hand frozen with the key poised to go in the lock, her gaze going to the gun in his hand. “What? I’m going to bed. You don’t have to threaten me.”
Nick’s face heated. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I just haven’t cleared your room,” he said quiet enough so as not to disturb the other guests.
He removed the key from her hand and inserted it in the lock, careful not to make a sound. “Stand to the side.”
Mary moved down the hallway and waited.
Crouched low, he unlocked the door and swung it open. Nothing moved inside, but he didn’t trust the silence. He reached up and flipped the light switch, ducking back out of range. Again, nothing moved, no shots were fired. All good signs but not enough to bet your life on. With a deep breath, he somersaulted into the room and rolled to his feet, his SIG Sauer preceding him.
“No one’s here,” Mary said from the doorway.
“Jeez, woman.” Nick jumped in front of her. His gun still pointed toward the interior of the room. “Do you just want to get yourself killed?” he hissed over his shoulder. A quick glance proved her right. No one lurked in the shadows, or under the bed.
“There’s no one in here, but someone was.” Mary crossed the room and lifted something from the pillow.
“What is it?”
“Another clue.” Mary handed him a photocopy of an old newspaper article dating back to 1995.
Charges of treason in enemy arms sales case dropped for lack of evidence. The article listed Taylor Rayburn as the soldier in question.
“Taylor Rayburn?” Mary’s brows rose. “That might have been one of the names in the picture.”
She raced into Nick’s room.
Nick followed.
Mary grabbed the photograph and the magnifying glass from the desk. “There!” She pointed to the man standing in the back, the one with the civilian woman hovering behind him. “Do you see it?”
Nick took the glass from her and held it over the faded photograph. “Could be. I’ll have my guys run a check on that name and see what they come up with.”
Mary took the picture from him and sat in one of the lounge chairs next to the bed. “I swear Taylor Rayburn looks like someone I should know.” She tipped her head, squinting. “If it is, he’d be thirty years older. But I swear I’ve seen a picture of this man before. Let me have the magnifying glass.” She held out her hand.
“Mary, we have a computer guru who specializes in this kind of thing. Let him do the hard stuff.”
“What about these documents, the letter?” Mary grabbed the stack of letters and rifled through them.
“You’re stalling.”
“No, I’m trying to figure this out.” Her hands stilled and her face blanched. “Oh my God.”
Nick dropped down on the bed beside her and took the letter she held open in her hand. “What?”
“These are love letters to my father.” Mary’s eyes filled and she stared up at Nick. “From Jasmine.”
Nick read through several. “There’s nothing worth killing a man over in these.” When he finally glanced across at Mary, he noted her pallor.
“She wasn’t lying. She really did know my father before he met my mother.”
“He was barely out of his teens when he went to Bosnia. All young men think they’re in love when they’re that young.”
“I didn’t want to believe her.” Mary shook her head, a tear slipping from the corner of her eyes. “I guess I always thought my mother was his first and only love.”
Nick’s chest tightened and he tossed the letters onto the bed. “It was a long time ago.”
“He never forgot her.” Another tear followed the first and Mary swiped at the offensive drop. “He never told me.”
The second tear made Nick’s chest squeeze even more, until he could barely breathe. If Mary didn’t leave soon, he’d be holding her in his arms telling her everything was all right. And he didn’t want to go there. “Go to bed, Mary. You’ll feel better about it in the morning.”
