They parted and Maya turned to her father. “I don’t know if I should handcuff you, hug you, or both.”
“I’d prefer the hug,” Eric said.
Maya stood in place. Josh couldn’t imagine the conflict she must feel as the two stared at each other. They didn’t look alike. Josh knew from pictures that Maya was the spitting image of her mother with her curly auburn hair, green eyes, and light complexion. Her father was the opposite, with dark hair and chocolate-brown eyes, but with the look they were giving each other, Josh could see where Maya got some of her stubborn personality. He decided he’d intervene.
“I know you two have a lot to talk about,” Josh said to Maya and Eric, “but I need you to meet Elena. We need to fill each other in and come up with a plan.”
“Yeah, okay,” Maya said, breaking eye contact with her father. She turned to Elena. “I’m glad you’re okay. We’ve been looking for you.”
“I appreciate that,” Elena said. “I had no idea what I was getting into.”
“That’s for sure,” Maya said. “We went through the evidence and I can see the case you were building. With Josh’s notes and photos, you have a solid reason to overturn the current conviction, but the big problem is we don’t know who killed Sydney. In fact, we can only guess who is trying to cover something up and that’s Senator Dale Bradford, but that doesn’t mean he killed his own daughter. We interviewed the family. I don’t think getting any of them to give up any information is going to be easy.”
“I agree,” Elena said. “I think to catch the senator, or at least find out who he’s covering for, we need to set a trap. I told Eric and Josh before you came that I wanted to be the bait.”
“And we said no,” Josh said.
“I agree with that,” Maya said. “We need to get you somewhere safe. Rory can take you back to the sheriff’s office.”
“No, listen to me,” Elena said. She had a strength to her voice that made Josh, about ready to add more ideas, stop and listen.
“I want to be the decoy for this,” Elena continued. “I’ll lay out my case…”
“Prosecutors,” Eric muttered.
Elena shot him a look and then said, “I don’t want to go to the sheriff’s office. I don’t care if I’m somewhere safe. I’ve learned through all of this that there’s no safe place. We could be driving back to the sheriff’s office and have some gang member from Chicago run us off the road.”
Josh shrugged. “You’ve got a point there.”
“I started this. Amber is dead because of me. Josh is on the run and has been arrested for crimes he didn’t commit because of me. I’ll never be safe. I started this and I want to end it. And I want to make everyone who chased after me and killed Amber pay for what they did.” Elena crossed her arms and stared at each of them.
“You make a good argument,” Josh said.
“You’re not actually thinking about letting her do this, are you?” Maya asked.
“I am, but not alone. If we set things up right, we can have the upper hand and control the situation,” Josh said.
“Did you hit your head in that crash?” Maya asked. “How do you think we can control this situation?”
“You said you interviewed the family. Can you call them? Maybe the senator or Tony and tell them you found me and I have the evidence. You could say you’re calling to let them know because you’re going to arrest me. Slip in the location and I’m sure they’ll show up, since they’re obsessed about the evidence I had,” Josh said. “There’s a building with a classroom that is a simple floor plan. The only spot someone could hide would be in the bathroom. We can make sure that we set up so a person would have to go between us to get to the bathroom. I’ll go with Elena. That way she has someone with her and I’m also someone they obviously want.”
“This is crazy,” Maya said. “These people have tried to kill you. Both of you. And you want to be the decoys? We don’t have the manpower, and right now, everyone here has some sort of conflict or they’re a fugitive. I should be bringing you all in, not debating setting someone up.”
Josh knew Maya was right. But he also knew that if they didn’t do something to flush out the real culprit, none of them would be safe. “I understand what you’re saying, and you’re right. We need more people who can help with this situation. If I radio for help, I don’t need to call the senator. I’m pretty certain his guys have been listening to our calls and will show up. I’ll call Lucas and Agent Kessler too. Tell them what’s going on and get them to come, both for this and to arrest Eric.”
“I’m not getting arrested,” Eric said. “Not today, anyway. So you can leave that out of your plan.”
“Fine,” Josh said, “but we could at least get more people here if we tell them you’re here as well. You’ll know the plan, so you can decide what you want to do.”
“You could turn yourself in,” Maya said.
“No,” Eric answered. “I can’t. Not right now. There’s too much at stake, and I can’t do anything from jail or prison. Leave me out of this. Right now, focus on catching the person behind everything that’s been going on.”
“I wish you would start acting like a responsible adult and tell me what’s at stake,” Maya said.
Josh knew this was quickly getting out of control. Even Rory had an uncomfortable look, like she wished she wasn’t hearing this. “Okay, stop, you two. One thing at a time. Let’s get a plan, let’s get more people up here. Eric, to help get a better response, we might need to let the FBI and other agencies know that you’re here. But you will have enough of a heads-up that you can leave if you want. Just don’t tell us your plan. The less we know the better. We don’t need to get in trouble because of you.”
“I can’t believe you’re siding with him,” Maya said.
