“They were hoping you’d lead them to your buyer.”
“I would believe that if Ihada buyer. But since I don’t, it doesn’t work.”
Yeah, right. “Based on your boss’s evidence, the FBI thinks you do.”
“Hollowell knows I’m not guilty,” she said, her voice hard as flint.
“How?”
“Because he’s the one who set me up.” Her eyebrows lifted. “And I’d bet he’s doing the same thing to you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I find Jay, and then he turns up dead. You and I were both at the bar. Makes sense that one of us did it.” She watched him expectantly.
“Or that we did it together.” Was that Hollowell’s game? Had he maneuvered Scott into taking the fall as Valerie’s accomplice? After all, she’d been saved by a sniper in the shootout with the FBI. And he’d been there too. Without his rifle, but still there. He’d even run through the parking lot for everyone to see. Dread rolled through his stomach like a rogue wave. “Son of a bitch.”
CHAPTER SIX
Zachari, CA
Sunday, 7 p.m.
SCOTT HAD THE STUNNED LOOK of a man who’d been hit with a two-by-four. She could almost see his mind spinning as he questioned everything he knew about his role in her “escape.”
Welcome to her world.
He hadn’t deserved to get dragged into this, but there wasn’t much she could do for him even if he was a pawn. He was still trying to decide if he could trust her, and she was trying to figure out how to beat her boss when she was only now catching on to the complexity—and thoroughness—of Duncan’s plan. She’d played right into his trap.
What did he expect her to do next? What could she do instead? And where did Scott fit in? Until he made up his mind about her—and she, him—he was a wild card. She needed to keep up her guard.
“As much as I’d like to explore that more,” Scott finally said, “I think we need to get off the beach, off the streets, and find a place to lay low where we can keep an eye on the news.”
“Won’t the cops be searching the hotels? Especially the sleazy, cash-only ones.”
He pushed up his cap and rubbed his forehead. “Maybe.” Pulling the hat down again, he said, “You’re probably not even on the cops’ radar yet, but once they figure out who Suresh…was, you will be.”
That familiar pain sliced at her chest.Jay. She took a deep breath and imagined her sorrow as a black square. She squished it up really small, shoved it into an imaginary jar, and screwed the lid on tight. That jar in her head held some doozies, and if it ever broke, she’d probably end up on the floor as a puddle of goo.
“If I check us in,” Scott said, “we should be okay. They won’t be looking for me.”
“You were there too. And you called it in.”
He nodded. “Yeah, but I haven’t been on the news. Who would recognize me?”
“You’re assuming Duncan won’t tell the police you’re part of this.” Clearly, Scott was still struggling to believe the man who’d funded his paycheck would implicate him.
“That would put him under scrutiny too,” he said.
“Yeah, but there’s no need to consider him a suspect when I’ve been the perfect patsy. The fact that you still think I might have done this just proves how well I played into Duncan’s hands. And so have you.”
Scott cut her off with a sharp jerk of his chin. “Enough. Let’s table this until we have something more than speculation.”
She clamped her mouth shut. It was easy to forget that his unassuming surfer boy exterior concealed a dangerous man.
“Let’s go,” he said, waving her to standing. “There’s a hotel a few blocks down that should work for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll get my van if the area’s clear.”
“Do I have a choice?” She held her chin high and looked him in the eye.
