out sodas. “How’s the security around here going to work?”
“I’ve got a small pocket phone for you to carry. Within about a hundred yards of this house when you touch number one it is automatically on intercom mode with mine. My actual phone number is speed-dial two and Granger’s speed-dial three. The dogs are the primary warning for company, and we’ll keep an eye out on the road. For vehicles we don’t know-you disappear from sight and let me check them out. If trouble arrives-we make a deal now that you only run; I don’t want any help. Either go to a safe hiding spot or grab a vehicle and go.”
“I don’t like that idea, but I’ll agree to it.”
“My job is to make sure someone coming after you has to go through me first, and whoever tries will find I’m more prepared for trouble than they expect.” Caroline smiled. “I don’t expect more than the mailman or maybe a neighbor out here. But the faster we both know these grounds like the back of our hands the better. I don’t think we need gobs of security people around who will attract more attention than we need.”
“Like the telephone guy working down on the east road.”
“You noticed him?”
“Granger pointed him out as one of Jonathan’s guys. I’m slowly learning the faces.”
“He’s tightening up phone service for me so it’s not that easy to cut our communications, putting in a relay station for the cellular phones.” Caroline stacked the sandwiches together. “What I could use is your taking a look at the photos from New York and telling me who you would consider as faces I should be watching for.”
Amy knew the suggestion was really Luke’s, another way to nibble at the identity of the shooter and what she had seen the night Greg was killed, but it was a reasonable and necessary request. “I can recognize a few of the people Greg did business with,” she replied, “but the two that have been on my tail recently-they weren’t from New York that I could tell.”
“I think the feds hired them.”
“What?”
“You’ve been appearing at random over the years to hand over information, which was making them some good cases and helping them get noticed and promoted; they wanted you to come in with everything you had and compel you to testify. Two investigators on your tail for twenty months-that’s not Richard Wise-that’s someone with rules they have to operate within. The cop you were working with probably had no say in the matter or even knew the tail was being planned.”
She hadn’t even seriously considered that option, but it was this cop’s first opinion. “Maybe. I admit to being surprised I lived through our last encounter. They were waiting for me when I got home from work.”
“What happened?”
“I have a habit of watching a place before I enter, and one of them was too near a window even in the darkened house. Since they knew the location and probably had seen the safe houses I’d arranged in the area, I got out the hard way-hitchhiking cross country with a truck driver and his wife, even doing part of the driving for a stretch of Nebraska. A long state, Nebraska-you wake up to the sun and see it set all in the same state.”
Caroline smiled. “Are you really ready to be back to stay?”
“No, but there aren’t choices anymore. The money my sisters just walked into says they’re in as much, if not more, danger than I am. Richard knows I’ve got only a few million of his cash left, if that, if he’s assuming I spent part of it over the years.”
“Why don’t you turn in the last ledger and cash and at least clear away one item you carry? Your sisters-the gallery and apartment are going to be a secure fortress the way the guys are going.”
“I’ve got the ledger tucked in a safe place a long way from here, and I don’t want to have to leave for the week it would take to turn the ledgers in. And after what you said, I don’t think I’ll be returning to Texas to make the drop either.”
“We could fly out and get the book, and I could make the delivery for you. There’s no need for you to become a material witness on cases they can make without you.”
“New York will want me to testify about the shooting.”
“Only if they get enough to convince them they can make the case against the shooter. A witness testimony but without the gun, without cooperating motive for who hired the shooter-it’s your word against his, and a DA is not going to make that case when he has to deal with the fact you’ve been on the run for years with stolen money and books. The defense attorney will make waves that you were the one who hired the hit on Greg.”
“And you begin to get the picture for why it was easier to just stay out there on my own this last stretch of time. Cops have more pushing on them than my welfare.”
“I know. Luke gave me carte blanche, by the way, to not tell him stuff. Where you go, who you see, what you do-the only thing he expects is that I take the bullet if someone starts shooting at us.”
“Thanks for mucking with my head; that image isn’t going to leave soon.”
“Well, we’ll have to compromise on it because I doubt I’ve got the reflexes to take the bullet for you. I’ll do my best to make sure you’re not in a place someone can easily shoot you. That’s about my limit.”
“Let’s hope it never gets even close to that.”
Caroline took her plate over to the table. “You want to borrow some boots for today? I think we’re about the same size.”
“Sure.”
“Let’s go explore while the sun is up and making it warmer. Tonight is forecast to be a bear of a cold front coming in, and tomorrow I doubt we want to move from the house.”
Chapter Fourteen
LUKE FOLLOWED AMY into the house Sunday night, having been somewhat surprised to find her down at the barn upon his arrival, but after a second thought, not so surprised after all. She wasn’t the type to like to be cooped up if there were options available to take her outside. “How are you settling in?”
“Better than I thought I would. It’s going to take some time getting used to sleeping with the sounds of this old house in the night when the wind comes. I like Caroline.”
“I thought you might.” Luke pulled off his coat and used one of the open pegs to hang it up. “I can already smell dinner-I feel a bit guilty having you cook the meal,” he teased.
Amy laughed and pushed the door open, leading the way through to the kitchen. “As long as it doesn’t affect your appetite, go ahead. It’s swiss steak and mashed potatoes, simple but hot and hard to mess up. Ice cream and brownies for dessert.”
“You’ll find me a willing guest.”
He pulled out one of the kitchen chairs as she moved to the stove to check the meal. She looked better today- more confident, less nerves showing-and her smile had been quick and reached her eyes. This had been the right move and seeing her confirmed it.
“Today was quiet?” she asked, glancing back at him.
He nodded. “I saw your sisters briefly at church. They know you’re in the area-Marsh and Connor conveyed that message last night-and they know we’ll set something up for Wednesday if possible.”
“They didn’t flood you with questions?”
“They’re just glad to have you back. They’ll be patient for a while now.”
“How’s the reporter problem?”
“Dispersing, thankfully. There were only two around the gallery this morning to shout questions and snap pictures as Marie and Tracey were leaving. Most have shifted to interviewing friends of the family and trying to arrange interviews through Daniel.”
“I’m glad. Anything else happening in your days? I know crime in this city didn’t stop just because I’ve been taking a slice of your time.”
He smiled, not minding she was asking and finding it endearing. “An armed robbery at a liquor store had me out late last night. We’re working two assaults, a domestic disturbance, and a high-speed chase of a guy who boosted a car off a dealer’s lot. I’d say it’s been a typical weekend so far. Would you like some help with setting the table?”
“Sure. Plates are that end, and glasses near me.”
