Eddie’s voice cracked as he said, “Landon, I think they’ve figured out that I’m talking to you… Now they want me dead. You have to help me, man. I’m on my boat. I should’ve passed on being a snitch.” He sucked in an erratic breath. “I need a way out of this—before I’m silenced forever…” Another uneven sigh. “If something happens to me, fill Raquelle in on what’s been going on… She deserves that much, don’t you think?”
The voicemail ended.
Landon was left with more questions than answers. He called Eddie’s number but only got his recorded message of being unable to respond.
That’s not good, Landon thought, wondering if there was a sinister reason why he wouldn’t—or couldn’t—pick up. Eddie had been walking a tightrope, being persuasiveto organized offenders he was dealing with and being straight as Landon’s CI in dispensing relevant information to the investigation. If they really had made him, he would definitely need to be pulled out, and not just for his sake. For Raquelle’s too, as his sister and the person Eddie was probably closest to.
Starting the SUV, Landon headed for Knotter Marina, a short distance away. He made another attempt to reach Eddie but got the same nonresponse.Hopefully he was able to stave off any threats to his life till help arrived, Landon thought, trying not to allow himself to assume the worst-case scenario.
His mind wandered off to his ex-wife. From the moment he first laid eyes on Raquelle Jernigan as she walked across the campus of the University of South Carolina, he fell in love with the beauty. She was the complete package physically. And when he struck up the nerve to have a conversation with her, he was even more smitten and impressed with her personality and intellect.
Asking Raquelle to marry him had probably been the best decision Landon ever made. She was the woman he’d dreamed about in so many ways but never thought he would land as a wife, lover, and best friend. Unfortunately, things took a left turn during their six-plus years together, as both seemed to want more than the other could give to be happy. Neither seemed ready to commit to having a family over pursuing their professional goals. That major stumbling block, along with magnifying the little things into something bigger than they were, was more than either could handle. Rather than continue to question each other’s choices and commitment to themarriage, which seemed to be nearing the point of no return, they chose to take the easy way out and call it quits.
Looking back, now Landon wondered if they had acted hastily in ruining a good thing. At least that was how he saw their relationship. Those memories he wouldn’t trade for anything. Maybe Raquelle saw it differently and had no regrets about ending their marriage.
Since the divorce, neither had gone out of their way to keep in touch for the most part, only bumping into each other on occasion when he was back in the area. He had wanted to reach out to Raquelle from time to time but didn’t want to push the envelope if this made her uncomfortable.
Was that a mistake?
Landon had asked Eddie recently if his sister was seeing anyone and the answer was no, but he admitted that Raquelle was pretty private about her social life. So maybe there was hope yet for them.
Or is that a stretch after four years apart?Landon asked himself as he gazed through the windshield at the street ahead. While his own dating life since the divorce had been unfulfilling at best and downright disastrous at worst, he had reconciled himself to the reality that life went on, like it or not.I can’t change the past or make Raquelle feel about me the way she once did, he thought squarely. He was left with no choice but to play the hand both had been dealt, for better or worse.
Unfortunately, the same was true for Eddie.
For his sake, Landon hoped there might still be light at the end of the tunnel that they both could benefit from.
When he pulled into the marina parking lot, Landoncould see that a boat was on fire. His first thought was that it had to be anyone’s boat but Eddie’s.
But that belief—or fantasy—went out the window when Landon spotted what looked to be Raquelle. She was standing on the walkway, appearing as though she was in a state of shock.
Even as he left the SUV and raced toward his ex-wife, Landon had an unnerving sense of foreboding that she might feel duty bound to pull her brother from the flames engulfing his Crest Savannah 250 SLSC pontoon.
I have to stop her, Landon told himself, putting on even more speed as he crossed the walkway in record time.
Before Raquelle could literally plunge herself into the fire, the terrible consequences unthinkable for him, Landon caught up to his ex and grabbed her from behind, stopping her tall and still nicely slender frame in its tracks.
When she looked over her shoulder and glared at him with piercing brown eyes beneath thin brows, a dainty nose, full mouth, and dimpled chin on a beautiful diamond-shaped face, as if he were the enemy, he remained firm in telling her, “There’s nothing you can do to save him.”
Landon wasn’t sure if she heard him correctly. Or had deliberately chosen to tune him out. He could only consider that Eddie must have called her as well and possibly mentioned him in the conversation, causing Raquelle to react negatively to their association behind her back.
Gazing at the boat on fire as others began to emerge to see the awful display, Landon could only imagine what must have been going on inside Raquelle’s head that was surrounded by long and loose, thick raven hair. He knewthat no one could come out of that inferno alive, which was obviously hard for her to accept.
And it would be left for him to deal with the fallout, assuming that Eddie had been unable to escape the horrendous fate that was set in motion through their mutual cooperation.
Chapter Two
Raquelle was on pins and needles as she waited for word on whether or not her brother had succumbed to the flames that ripped through his pontoon like a firestorm. Surely Eddie couldn’t still be alive on the boat. And if he was, his injuries would be so severe that she wasn’t so sure he would want to keep living, in spite of their appreciation for the gift of life, no matter its unpredictable journey.
As firefighters went to work to put out the flames—after other nearby boats had been evacuated—and people had gathered to gawk as though visiting a tourist attraction, Raquelle turned toward her ex-husband. She was still coming to grips with him being there at the scene—albeit too late to prevent what might have happened to Eddie. Had he called Landon to ask for help? What were the two involved with that had them in close contact?
Raquelle knew that they both got along fairly well during her marriage to Landon. But once it was over, Landon seemed to make a concerted effort to distance himself from both her and Eddie. Her brother seemed to think that this was for the best, as she had. So what changed?
She regarded Landon. Though his chiseled features were hardened, she had to admit that he had changedlittle since they first met. If anything, he was even more handsome, if possible, than the man she fell in love with years ago. And every bit as fit, judging by the contours of his firm frame beneath the clothing and FBI vest. But he had matured over time, which made him even more appealing to the eye.
Now, though, was not the time to reminisce. Or look beyond the unsettling moment at hand.
Raquelle regarded her ex hotly and asked suspiciously, “What happened here…?”
