Landon pulled away from her, peering into her watery eyes, as he said somberly, “Go home, Raquelle. This is still a murder investigation that needs to unwind. If anything comes up that warrants notification, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay.” She nodded, then glanced at the decedent and back to him, before walking off.
After she left, Landon eyed the spent shell casings near the body, then asked Spencer, “Think this was a targeted hit?”
“Looks that way—be it a robbery, resistance, case of mistaken identity, wrong place, wrong time—who knows?”
“Yeah, except the shooter—for now,” Landon surmised. “Any ID on the victim?”
“None that I could find,” the detective said. “Could be the victim was homeless. We have more than our fair share of people living in the woods—or wherever they can lay their heads.”
“Maybe.” Landon creased his brow musingly. “We’ll learn more about the dead man and the circumstancesof death once the autopsy and crime scene investigation are completed.”
“Exactly,” Spencer concurred.
Landon left the wooded area while thinking about Eddie, who might have again cheated death if the victim was meant to be him. If not, the deceased was shot in cold blood by an unknown assailant and deserved justice.
Either way you slice it, Eddie may still be alive out there, trying to avoid a similar fate, he told himself as he got into his SUV. With Raquelle being forced to play a waiting game that neither of them wanted to lose.
* * *
AT HOME THAT EVENING, Raquelle counted her blessings that Eddie hadn’t been the person shot to death in the wooded area near his apartment. It was a close call, but the poor victim was someone else who ran into harm’s way, for one reason or another. But he too must have had family that would now be left grieving his death and needing answers.
At least I still have hope that Eddie can get through his ordeal, Raquelle told herself, sitting on the piano bench, fingers on the keys. As she started to play the piano, she couldn’t help but think about losing herself for a moment when embracing Landon in the woods. The sheer sense of relief that Eddie had not been shot to death brought her back to a comfort level she once felt with her ex-husband.
Till reality came crashing down like a tidal wave.
Or was it more of a reckoning that there might have still been something there between them?
Raquelle’s thoughts were interrupted when her cell phone rang. She removed it from a pocket of her one-button ivory blazer and saw that the caller was Landon.
“Hey,” he said tonelessly.
“Hey.” She waited to hear if there was new info regarding Eddie. Perhaps another body had shown up in the woods?
“Eddie’s still unaccounted for,” Landon announced. “That’s a good sign that he may still be out there somewhere—alive.”
“I hope so.” Raquelle looked at the piano. “But where?”And if alive, how long can he last if he’s still being hunted—and presumably running out of money?she asked herself.
“I’ve been pondering that very question.” Landon took a breath. “Is there any way possible that Eddie could have found his way to the Catawba tribal lands as a place to hide out?”
“Hmm…” She had to chew on that thought. They were both certainly proud members of the Catawba Nation, where their father was once on the executive committee. But she and Eddie had not been as active within the Catawba community as they probably should have been. Yet they both still kept in touch with some of those living on the reservation, leaving open the door that Eddie could have turned to them for refuge while being hunted.Even if it meant keeping me out of the loop, Raquelle told herself. “Yes, it’s possible,” she said, warming up to the idea in spite of Rock Hill, where the reservation was located, being more than an hour away by car.
“I think we should drive up to the reservation and see if Eddie is hiding there,” Landon suggested. “If so, we can make sure he stays safe somewhere else, without endangering anyone on tribal lands.”
“Okay,” she said, not needing to pause for thought. The goal was to find Eddie before a killer did—if herbrother truly was still among the living and in hiding. Only then could she feel that he was in safe hands, more or less. If this meant having to spend more time with her ex-husband in close proximity, then so be it. “When did you want to go?”
Landon answered, “I was thinking this afternoon—if that works for you. I can pick you up, and we can get there and back in a few hours—and see how it all plays out.”
“I can make it work,” she asserted. “I’ll be ready when you arrive.”
“All right. See you in a little while.”
After she disconnected, Raquelle prepared herself for the excursion. She wondered if she should invite Landon inside for the first time since their divorce became official. Or would it seem too weird for either of them? As it was, she still felt the house belonged to both of them, despite her gaining complete ownership of it.
When she peeked through the window as Landon’s duty vehicle pulled up to the house, Raquelle couldn’t help but feel a combination of anxiety and excitement in taking this trip with him—while knowing that the very fate of Eddie could well be hanging in the balance.
* * *
