I rolled my eyes. “Iknow, Agent Bray. Now, I’d like to enjoy the rest of my afternoon, if you don’t mind.” I held my arm toward the door.
“Yes, of course,” he said, looking disappointed as if perhaps I was going to invite him to hang out. “I’ll get out of your way. Let me know if you see anything in the street.”
“Won’t you be watching the camera feed?”
His face reddened. “Yes. Right. Okay then. I’ll let myself out.”
I smiled at his fluster as he zipped up his bag and slung it back over his shoulder. “Bye, Agent Bray. Lock the door behind you, please.”
“Of course. Have a good afternoon.”
He left me alone in the bedroom, and I realized I hadn’t told him about the mysterious phone call.
CHAPTER10
Ten years ago
Itold the man interrogating me the truth about what my father and I had been doing in the hotel room. I figured I had no choice since he had the chronicle of my whole life laid out in front of him. He knew every identity I’d ever had; I had no room left to lie.
When I finished, he gazed at me with a look hinting at pity.
“When can I see my father?” I asked. My teeth had stopped chattering. The jacket he’d draped over my shoulders had taken off the chill. I’d finally stopped shaking.
He stroked his mustache with his long fingers and rested his hand on top of my open file. “Probably never.”
The answer hit me like a blow to the chest. At the same time, a sense of freedom buoyed my spirit.
Despite my father’s promises that the hotel was going to be our last job, I’d had my own plans. I was finally eighteen and ready to be free of his lifestyle. Our life—all the lies—was all I’d ever known, but I was ready to break away. To live on my own. I was nothing if not independent. I’d hoped to escape and find my own apartment, maybe sign up for community college courses and be a normal young adult.
But all that had changed when his gun went off in the hotel room.
Someone else’s gun had been held to my head moments before, and I had not yet processed how lucky I was that my father’s gun had gone off instead. I had come close enough to death not to feel it yet. The terror of the cold metal barrel against my temple, that man’s merciless arms around me, would set in later, I was sure.
“Where is he?” I asked.
The man casually flipped my file closed and rested his hand atop it. He looked like he was silently considering something and didn’t answer my question.
“I just told you everything,” I said through gritted teeth. I did not want to beg, but I did not like the game he was playing. “Can you at least tell me if he’s okay? Please?”
He looked up at the shaking plea in my final word. His eyes softened with sympathy. “He’s fine. Recovering from a gunshot wound to the leg, but he’s in custody.”
I sagged with relief. I may have wanted to be free of him, but that didn’t mean I wanted him dead. “What’s going to happen to him?”
At this, he let out a small, dark laugh. He straightened and tented his fingers over the closed file. He leaned forward. “Erin, if I have this much onyou, just imagine what I’ve got on him.”
My throat went dry and stiff. I quietly coughed and hoped he’d offer me some water, but instead, he leaned back in his chair.
“And that actually leaves us in an interesting position.”
The dark note in his voice set my hair on end. I tried not to look nervous.
“Look, I know you’ve been through hell tonight—and for a good portion of your life—and most of it wasn’t your fault. But there are many judges who’d try you as an adult for many ofthe things you’ve done. You’re eighteen now, and there’s enough in here to put you away for decades.” He picked up his pen and tapped the file. He remained silent and gazed at me until I met his eyes. “Including accessory to the murder your father just committed.”
My heart surged up into my mouth and brought the taste of bile with it. “I didn’t do—”
He shook his head. “You were in the room, Erin. Your father had a gun. You were a coconspirator in an attempted robbery. No one is going to let you off that hook.”
My heart was pounding. I knew we were in trouble, butmurderwasn’t on my radar. My father had never killed anyone before to my knowledge. Until that moment, I hadn’t known the man from the hotel room had died.
