finds out about your…our family’s connection to Georgina, it could hurt your chances of winning the election. Maybe you should let Ryan be the spokesperson on this.”
“With Burke Hennessy dead, there’s no question Dad will win the election,” Owen stated. “No one in their right mind would vote for Judge Monroe, not with how he helped cover up what his son was doing.”
“That’s for sure,” quipped Keira, her blues eyes flashing with anger.
“There’s no proof he covered anything up,” Douglas said.
“And it’s not fair to think people wouldn’t vote for the judge because his son went bad,” argued Demi.
Charles moved up behind her and placed his hands protectively on her shoulders. “I agree with Demi on that.”
“Exactly why I think Ryan should take the lead on this,” Fiona said.
Meghan watched the interplay between the siblings with interest. The love they shared was evident even in their arguing. And she appreciated that they all had a voice and weren’t afraid to speak up.
“Aiden, it’s of course up to you,” Nick said, pushing away from the wall. “But I agree with Fiona that keeping you out of this would be better all the way around. We need the public looking for Georgina and Mrs. Hennessy, not distracted with another scandal.”
“Granddad would be the better choice to talk to the press,” Ryan finally spoke up. Though nothing showed on his face, Meghan detected the note of unresolved anger in his tone.
Looking like he’d aged in the past half hour, Aiden nodded. “You’re right, of course. Dad?”
Ian Fitzgerald rose. “I’ll have my secretary set it up.” The patriarch ambled from the room.
“We’ll need photos of both Georgina and Christina Hennessy,” Nick said.
“I can get those,” Keira offered.
“In the meantime, we need to keep searching for Christina,” Douglas said.
“The BOLO hasn’t yielded anything,” Owen said.
“What about family? Christina’s parents?” Victoria asked.
“We haven’t found any so far,” Ryan said. “But we’ll keep searching.”
“I have an idea,” Meghan said and winced at how small her voice sounded.
All heads turned toward her. She cleared her throat. She kept her gaze on Ryan. “If I hadn’t found Helen at home, my next stop would have been to the town of Belmont to the Elm’s Peace Center to see Dr. Bates.”
Ryan tilted his head. “Explain.”
“Dr. Bates was her psychiatrist.”
“How did you find that out?” Charles asked.
Meghan glanced at the town doctor then back to Ryan. “People talk.”
Ryan’s mouth pressed together. Then he nodded. “I’ll contact the doctor.” He turned and walked out of the house.
For a moment Meghan stared at the empty doorway. Then she swung her gaze over the Fitzgerald clan. No one said a word, but they didn’t have to. The looks of distrust, of curiosity, spoke volumes. Her gaze landed on Aiden.
He held Olivia’s letter in his hand. “You should go with him, Meghan.”
His quietly said words sent surprise sliding through her but she didn’t take the time to analyze why he’d want her to accompany his son. She whirled around and raced out of the house. Ryan had just started the engine on his SUV. She jumped into the passenger seat.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
She clicked the seat belt in place. “Coming with you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Get out.”
She shook her head. “Not going to happen. Look, Ryan, I’ll only follow you. We might as well work together.”
“I’d rather work alone.”
“I wouldn’t.” The admission was out before she realized the truth in the words.
She’d been operating alone for so long, she didn’t understand why she now suddenly needed a partner. The image of the men in the van tore through her mind, the sound of the bullets hitting the car, the blood from where she’d been hit brought fear screaming back into her system. There was a very good reason to stick close to Ryan. Safety. She wasn’t a fool. And dying wasn’t on her To Do list anytime soon.
“You may not need me,” she said, “but I need you. What if the masked men in the van find me again? Or you, for that matter? We don’t know who they were after or why.”
His scowl darkened. “All the more reason for you to stay in town. Go home, Meghan. Let me do my job.”
“I can’t. Georgina is my relative, my blood. I have to find her. I won’t stop until I do. So you’ll have to forcibly remove me from your car. But that will take time. Something you don’t have to waste right now.”
His lip curled. For a moment she thought he might force her from the vehicle, but then he threw the gear into Drive and stepped on the gas. “Stubborn woman,” he muttered.
She sat back and released a tense breath. She’d been called worse.
Meghan Henry shouldn’t be riding with him, tagging along on a police investigation. He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. This went against department standard operating procedures.
Okay, they did have a ride-along program, but still… She was an unauthorized civilian. And a reporter. Two strikes against her. Oh, wait, there was a third-she’d just upended his world.
“Tell me what you’ve heard about Christina.” Ryan’s side throbbed, reminding him that a mere twenty-four hours ago he’d been engaging in law enforcement’s version of mixed martial arts. Didn’t matter. His injuries were a nuisance that had to be endured. All that mattered now was tracking down Christina, arresting her for murder and securing Georgina.
The tires of his SUV burned up the pavement on the way to nearby Belmont, a town west of Fitzgerald Bay. He cut through the parade of cars with one eye on the road and the other on the rearview mirror, keeping vigilant for any suspicious cars or vans following them. He didn’t want a repeat of that event. He didn’t have to see Meghan’s shoulder to feel badly that she’d been grazed by a bullet on his watch.
“I’m not sure how reliable the information is,” Meghan said, “but apparently Christina had a history of mental illness and suffered a nervous breakdown several years ago. She’d been hospitalized in a neighboring town under the care of a psychiatrist.”
Great. With a history like that, who knew what the woman was capable of? He slanted Meghan a quick glance. “Who told you this?”
“Townspeople,” she said. “It was the word on the streets. So to speak.”
He’d done his fair share of interrogations over the years, so he knew what extracting information from a suspect was about. But getting ordinary people to open up to a badge wasn’t an easy task. People tended to be wary, suspicious even, regardless that they’d known Ryan since he was a baby. Yet they spill their guts to the nosy reporter? “I don’t get it. Why? Why do people open up to you?”
She shrugged. “I asked the right questions when I’m buying my coffee, standing in the checkout line at the market or ordering my lunch. Half the job of being a reporter is getting people to talk. You get them to relax, to talk about familiar things, mundane things, eventually leading them to the gossip you know they’re dying to reveal.”
He snorted. “Small-town gossip isn’t usually without some embellishment.”
“Are you always so cynical?”
Ignoring her question, he changed lanes. The woman annoyed him. Not only because she’d been the catalyst to throwing his family back into scandal and rocking them to the core, but she was brash and a know-it-all type and would probably not think twice about endangering her life and those around her. He’d seen her in action.
His mouth twisted. He didn’t want to like her in any way. But he couldn’t deny the grudging admiration filling his chest at the way she’d fought for Georgina. Add brave and courageous to the list of her faults.
