got her discharge, and the next time we were together, it was here in this living room.”
“What about the men who were after the drugs? Did they ever come?”
“You really are a smart girl,” Tom said. “No. They never did, and your mom never gave me a good explanation as to why. But I found out soon enough. There were no men who had threatened her. Your mom confessed that she and Kip Lange were the only two people involved. They had stolen the drugs from Stan Greeley, who was planning to smuggle them out of the country himself.”
“Where did he get the drugs from?” asked Jill.
“We think they probably came from Afghanistan. I think he traded them for military secrets.”
“So the gun belonged to Kip Lange?”
“That’s right. The weapon that went missing was the one that I hid. Your mom’s job was to keep Stan Greeley distracted. Lange knew that Greeley had the drugs hidden under some floorboards.”
“How did he know that?” Jill said.
Here Tom paused. “I don’t know,” Tom said. “And your mom couldn’t say. Lange just knew.”
“How did Mom distract him?”
“Honey, I don’t think you want to know.”
“I’m not a child. I want to know.”
“She seduced him. Went back with him to his house. Then she drugged him. Only it wasn’t enough to knock Greeley out. He heard Lange looking for the drugs. That’s when the shooting began.”
Jill got a faraway look in her eyes.
“I’m sorry you have to hear all this.”
“But why did Mom hate you? You helped her. You kept her out of prison.”
“Kip Lange was in prison, and he wasn’t going to be getting out anytime soon. Your mother wanted me to retrieve the drugs so we could sell them. We’re talking millions of dollars. But I told her no. I told her I was going to destroy them. She started sobbing. She begged me not to do that. We both knew Lange would get out one day. If the drugs were destroyed, we’d have no leverage if he ever came after her—or you. And you were our lives!”
“What did you do?” asked Jill.
“I agreed. For the sake of our family, I agreed. But even though I wouldn’t destroy the drugs, I told your mom that I’d never reveal where they were hidden. And I hid them in a place where they’d never be found.”
“So Mom wanted you to sell the drugs and you wouldn’t? That’s why she hated you?”
“That’s why. She kept pressuring me to get the drugs. When our finances were in shambles, she’d say I could fix it. She became single-minded. Lange got his sentence. Twenty-five years to life. He was going to be locked up for a long time. That only made your mom more determined. Eventually, she gave up hope and asked for a divorce. Then she used the only weapon she had left to get what she wanted. She used you to hurt me.”
Jill sucked in a breath.
“It’s all my fault,” she said repeatedly.
“No, honey. None of this is your fault. It was a bad situation to begin with, and we made it worse. But I don’t regret it. I can’t. Because if I didn’t, you wouldn’t have had those years with Mom.”
“So it was Lange in the woods that night,” Jill said.
“I’m pretty sure it was, yeah. He got out early on a technicality. We didn’t know.”
“You think he was the one who broke into the house?”
Tom nodded. “My guess is he came here looking for the drugs. Your mom saw him and panicked. There was a struggle. She ran. You know what happened next. Until I find Lange, I can’t be sure of anything I just told you. But I have to think Kip Lange is somehow connected to the charges against me. I just don’t know how, or even why.”
Jill was quiet for a long while.
“Do you believe me?”
Jill shrugged. “I don’t know what to think right now.”
“I understand. I really do,” Tom said. “But I didn’t make all this up just to keep you from seeing Mitchell Boyd. I told you the truth because I need you to trust me on this one. Will you do that, at least for now? Things aren’t safe here. Roland Boyd is dangerous, and Kip Lange is still out there, somewhere. You need to keep away from the Boyds, and never go anywhere alone. You go to school, and you come home. That’s it.”
“I’m not ready to move back here, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Tom looked away to hide his disappointment. “I can drive you back to Vern’s, if that’s what you want. But no more sneaking out. Understood?”
“I don’t get it. Why would Kip Lange want to make it look like you’re sleeping with Lindsey?”
“I don’t know,” Tom admitted. “I thought maybe Lange was going to blackmail me, but that didn’t happen.”
“Because maybe it’s true.”
“It’s not.”
Jill kept her interlocked hands between her knees and held her father’s gaze. “This is a lot for me to process,” she said.
“Now you know why I kept this a secret from you.”
“I think I do,” Jill said.
“Jill, I’m so very sorry,” Tom said.
“For what?”
“Because now it’s your secret to keep, too.”
Chapter 39
Shilo High School’s 250-seat auditorium was almost filled to capacity. Rainy peered out at the settling crowd through a part in the heavy auditorium stage curtain. The sound of students’ voices was overpowering in the high-ceilinged room. Rainy wondered how the outnumbered teachers would ever quiet these kids down. Waiting with her backstage were the other speakers for the mandatory student assembly: Shilo High School principal Lester Osborne and police sergeant Brendan Murphy. Murphy apparently had learned his lesson and kept his hands appropriately to himself. Angie Didomenico, who had put this assembly in motion, had a schedule conflict and had sent regrets.
Rainy checked her watch. In five minutes, Lester Osborne would step onto the stage to make his introductory remarks. Shortly after, he’d bring out Sergeant Murphy to say a few words before commencing with the afternoon’s main event—a cyber safety seminar presented by FBI special agent Loraine Miles.
Earlier in the day from his office in Boston, Walt Tomlinson had sent Rainy an email commending her initiative and praising her willingness to sacrifice a much-needed off day. This sort of community outreach, she knew, improved public perception of the FBI, and the positive public relations helped bolster Tomlinson’s budgeting requests
Tomlinson had begrudgingly allowed her to use Carter’s time and expertise in assisting the Shilo PD with its investigation, but her request to take over the Hawkins case or, at the minimum, establish a federal nexus to it was denied. With the FBI, it was always a matter of resource allocation, and Tomlinson guarded his resources like precious gems.
The State of New Hampshire was going to prosecute Tom Hawkins, and that was that. It was a politically motivated move, something Rainy knew even before she’d been told. Such occurrences happened occasionally with high-profile cases. By controlling the pretrial press and media coverage, the New Hampshire D.A. could demonstrate to the voters his tough stance on sex crimes between teachers and students. It would go a long way to help with the D.A.’s reelection efforts.
The FBI preferred to not behave like bullies by taking over cases that the states wanted to prosecute themselves, and did so only when such action was legally necessary or beneficial to the FBI. Rainy didn’t let go of the Hawkins case easily. During a closed door meeting in Tomlinson’s office, she tried again to change his mind.
