“I’ll get on it,” Yusef assured him. “One way or another, Eddie won’t continue to shoot his mouth off to the feds. Trust me, if he hasn’t already been taken care of, Eddie’s days are numbered.”
Favoring him with a hard stare, Ivan said, “That better be the case. Can’t have the FBI breathing down my neck—and soon yours to follow.”
“I agree.” Yusef tugged on his beard. “You don’t have to worry.”
Ivan gave a nod, eyes narrowed. “So go,” he ordered him impatiently.
He watched as Yusef walked away, while taking out his cell phone. As far as Ivan was concerned, once the bomber had verified completing the job, he too then became a liability. And would need to be dealt with the same way as Eddie—so neither of them could come back to haunt him.
Chapter Seven
After a mostly restless sleep, which thankfully didn’t come with another nightmare, Raquelle gave up after a while. She got up early, put her hair in a high ponytail, and, to get her weekend off to a good start, went for a run along the wooded trail on the property she once shared with Landon. Wearing brown knit pocket joggers, a pink crop tank, and white running shoes, she made her way through the loblolly pine and southern red oaks, remembering when she used to jog with Landon. Each pushed the other, giving them both a good workout. Then it all ended.
Honestly, she missed those days. But had conditioned herself to accept that some things weren’t meant to be. Or was it possible to turn back the clock—or even reset it to a new place in time—where it concerned romance? She thought about Landon’s mother finding love again later in life. Anything was possible, right?
Maybe not everything, Raquelle told herself pessimistically. Maybe things with Landon were best left in the past and thinking otherwise could be dangerous.
She thought about Eddie and the danger he faced— assuming he was still out there somewhere alive. And not put out of commission. Or unable to ever be found. Isn’tthat what people associated with organized crime did to those they wanted rid of: made sure the body would never show up and lead back to them through DNA, prints, or other clues?
I’ll never give up on him as long as there’s still hope that he can get through the troubles that led to his partnering up with Landon and becoming his CI, Raquelle thought as she started to jog back to the house. She couldn’t help but wonder if Eddie might have turned to his ex-girlfriend, Penelope Dunlap, for a place to hide out. Though their relationship had ended badly, Raquelle believed that her brother still carried a torch for her—and maybe Penelope for him as well. If so, it could be refuge that his pursuers might never be privy to.
With Eddie still officially missing and Landon seemingly no closer to getting a handle on where he could be—and with whom—Raquelle thought it incumbent upon her to pay Penelope a visit.
Worth a try, she told herself, returning home. She took a shower, dressed, and had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and a cup of coffee before heading out.
* * *
HE WATCHED THROUGHthe woods, using high-powered binoculars as he surveyed the house that Raquelle Jernigan lived in. She’d just finished jogging, and he had stayed a safe distance away but kept her in sight. The fact that she was Eddie Jernigan’s only living relative in the vicinity and someone whom Eddie might turn to for his very survival was of interest.
Of less concern at the moment was whether or not Raquelle could actually finger him as the man who’d planted a bomb inside Eddie’s boat and detonated it. Herealized that his employer would not take kindly to the art professor identifying him, threatening his employer’s lucrative art empire. Never mind the personal stakes for continuing to ply his trade uninterrupted by a long stint in prison.
As it was, he was confident that Eddie’s sister could no more identify and hand him over to the authorities than she could any other male who happened to be at the marina that day. But Eddie Jernigan was another matter entirely—had her brother managed to survive another brush with death. He’d gunned down someone who fit Eddie’s description in the woods near the snitch’s apartment complex. But before he could verify that the job had been completed, voices in the area forced him to abandon the mission out of an abundance of caution and self-preservation.
Now he could only wait and see.
He continued watching the house through the binoculars, noting that Raquelle was leaving and getting in her car. No need to follow her. If the circumstances warranted taking her out, he knew right where to find her.
But for now, his only real concern was to make sure that Eddie Jernigan could no longer pass info to the FBI—or stay alive to talk about it with his sister or anyone else.
* * *
RAQUELLE ARRIVED ATthe Loganfield Hills Condominiums complex on Elkeer Road in Chetlin Bay, a suburb of Columbia and a short drive from Dryer Woods. She’d accompanied Eddie there a couple of times when he and Penelope were still going strong. At the time, Raquelle thought she seemed like a good match for her brother.
Guess I was no better able to judge their romancesurviving than my own, she told herself, reflecting on a marriage that somehow managed to get away from her and Landon.
Raquelle had texted Penelope as a heads-up that she wanted to drop by, while also serving as a message to Eddie to stay put, if she’d allowed him to take shelter there with an X on his back. As Penelope made no attempt to dissuade her, Raquelle could only hope that, at the very least, Eddie had contacted his ex-girlfriend to let her know he was all right.
Which is all I need to hold on to for now, Raquelle told herself. And to pass the information along to Landon.
She knocked on the door of the condo, wondering if Eddie would actually be the one standing there when it opened.
Instead, it was Penelope. In her early thirties, she was attractive and slender, with hazel eyes and long brown hair in multiple layers. An archaeologist, Penelope was a member of the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians with headquarters in Berkeley County, South Carolina.
“Hi,” she said in a muted tone.
“Hi.” Raquelle gave her a soft smile and was invited inside. She took a glance around the small and neat setting with an open concept on vinyl plank flooring, with lots of windows and midcentury modern furniture. The hope that Eddie would emerge from a bedroom crossed her mind, but it didn’t happen. “Nice to see you again, Penelope,” she told her, regretting that they had lost touch since the breakup with Eddie.
“You too.” Penelope smiled. “Do you want to sit down?”
