When it was over and she was about to head out, one of the students, Vera Mahaffey, approached her. The twenty-four-year-old graduate teaching assistant and costume designer for the performance was petite and had curly red hair in a U-cut. Vera was wearing horn-shaped glasses, which she pushed up before saying anxiously, “ProfessorJernigan, I thought you should know that when I parked, I saw a man snooping around your car in the lot—”
“Really?” Raquelle cocked a brow.Could it have been Eddie?she mused. “Did you get a good look at the person?”
“Afraid not.” Vera frowned. “He had a hood over his head and was wearing somewhat baggy clothing. When he saw me, he just took off running—and disappeared on campus.”
“Hmm.” She thought about the man she had seen moving rapidly at the marina, just before Eddie’s boat exploded. Was this the same person? If so, how would he know where she worked? Or what type of car she drove?On the other hand, Eddie knew both, Raquelle told herself musingly.
When she stepped outside, Raquelle was leery and on guard as she headed toward the parking lot. Her eyes scanned it, looking for any sign that she was being followed or watched. She had hoped that she would see Eddie, coming to her for help out of his current predicament. At least she would know that he was alive. And they could go from there.
But she did not see her brother, dampening Raquelle’s optimism. But there was no indication that another man—perhaps the one fleeing Knotter Marina yesterday—was lurking about her Infiniti Q50 sedan.
Well, that’s a relief anyway, she thought and wondered if Vera, who had sometimes been prone to exaggeration since becoming her teaching assistant, had jumped the gun in her assessment of the situation and reaction to the supposed snooper.
After getting into the vehicle and locking the doors,Raquelle checked the surroundings once more before starting up the engine and heading out for her luncheon date with Landon. She certainly didn’t look at this as a real date with her ex-husband but found herself looking forward to it nonetheless, if it could lead to a positive outcome for Eddie and his disappearance.
* * *
HE WATCHED FROMbehind a building, with a bird’s-eye view of the lot. Specifically, he was watching as Raquelle Jernigan showed up at the car she drove. He had spotted her at the marina just as he was leaving.
She had seen him, though he seriously doubted that she could pick him out of a lineup, much less recognize him if she passed him on the street. He had been wearing the same hood over his head that he wore now. And had his back to her for the most part.
Still, she was a potential witness. And a possible obstacle in his mission that he might have to deal with.
Just as he had the pontoon boat owned by her brother. The fact that he managed to miraculously escape the explosion meant nothing.
Eddie Jernigan was a dead man walking. And only biding time that he was in very short supply of.
He was sure that the informant knew this as well and would pay dearly for this act of betrayal. It was only a matter of patience and determination before he finished the job he was paid handsomely to do by his employer—eliminating the deceitful art dealer.
Short of that, Eddie’s good-looking theater-professor sister was in his crosshairs as a way to draw the snitch out in the open. Or simply eliminate her altogether aspartial payment on the life of her brother—till his time was up for good.
He sucked in a deep breath before emerging from the shadows, knowing that Raquelle Jernigan had driven off, no longer able to spot him, only to try and escape. But that would be all but impossible should it come to that.
The clock was ticking for her—much like the bomb he had detonated remotely—almost as quickly as it was for Eddie Jernigan.
He headed toward the parking lot, where his Toyota Tundra pickup awaited. Once inside, he lifted his cell phone and informed his employer about the sister and how he planned to proceed from here.
Chapter Five
Joslyn’s Place on Orrin Way was busier with patrons than Landon had expected but was still a good choice to meet with its proximity to Braedon College. For whatever reason, he actually felt butterflies in his stomach at the prospect of having lunch with his ex-wife, as though it was a real date like the first one for them at the University of South Carolina.
Only thisdatewas much different, insofar as the circumstances that brought them together again. Landon wondered if Raquelle would have given him the time of day were it not for her obvious concern about Eddie. Had he confided in her before disappearing? Could she have intel that, in the absence of her brother, could still be used against Ivan Pimentel?
Landon came back to Raquelle having given him the cold shoulder ever since the divorce. Or was he overstating things? Fact was she had every right to put family—which he was no longer a part of—first, even taking back her maiden name of Jernigan to put further distance between them.
Even if that hurt more than Landon cared to admit, she was no less guilty than himself for allowing their marriage to fall apart and finding it hard—if not impossible—to pick up the pieces of a fractured relationship. Raquelleowed him nothing and he knew it. To suggest otherwise and want a do-over just might be asking too much.
Keep telling yourself that, Landon contemplated uneasily as he tasted the black coffee while awaiting Raquelle in a booth near the picture window.
When she showed up right on time, he waved her over while wondering if she still played the piano. He could think of no reason why she wouldn’t, given the joy it seemed to bring her. Even if his own guitar playing was infrequent these days.
Like a gentleman, Landon stood after Raquelle got to the table and said to her in a friendly tone of voice, “Hey.”
“Hey,” she responded tentatively and slid into one side of the booth.
Landon sat back on the other side. “I ordered coffee with cream.” He eyed the steaming mug in front of her, remembering how she liked her coffee.
Raquelle smiled thinly. “Thanks.” She lifted the mug and took a sip, setting it back down as she regarded him. “Do you have any news about Eddie…?”
