“Well, I had to ask. Cover all the bases, you understand. Mrs. Drury, were you at home all day yesterday as well?”
Corinne nodded, her arms still wrapped around her husband’s waist. She hadn’t torn herself from his side since the moment he’d rocketed through the door. Antonio didn’t believe for one nanosecond either was telling the truth, but without any corroborating evidence, he had to walk away. But this wasn’t over, not by a long shot. He’d have Drury in handcuffs for what he did to Serena, and it looked like his wife might be right by his side in a jail cell for perjury.
“You’ve answered all the questions I have at this time.” He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Drury. “If you think of anything, give me a call. I’d like to get this case settled and find out who’s behind the attempted kidnapping.”
Drury took the card and shoved it into his pocket. “We will.”
Antonio gave Drury one final look, reading the satisfaction in the other man’s eyes. He honestly thought he’d gotten away with trying to abduct Serena. Let him believe that, because his days as a free man were numbered.
It was a promise.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Serena elevated the bed higher so she was partially sitting up. Flipping through the channels on the TV wasn’t helping. She couldn’t stop thinking about Antonio. He’d kissed her! Did it mean something more than a simple kiss or was she reading way too much into the simple gesture?
A quiet knock on the door drew her thoughts away from the kiss to the man standing inside her room. He was tall, with sandy brown hair and a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. A Stetson in his hand, along with his formal bearing, told her more than words he was some kind of fed. Either FBI or maybe Texas Rangers, but he was definitely government.
“Ms. Berkley?”
“I’m sorry, but no, I’m Serena Snowden.”
He walked further into the room and closed the door quietly behind him. When he pulled off the sunglasses, his startling green eyes speared her, telling her he saw straight through her lie. “I’m Derrick Williamson, FBI. I’m the Special Agent in Charge from the Austin office. I’d like to talk to you about your uncle, James Berkley.”
“I told you—”
“Don’t bother to lie, I have all the proof I need to know you are Sharon Berkley, but if it makes you more comfortable, I’ll call you Ms. Snowden.”
Serena threw her hands up. “Fine, call me whatever you want. You obviously know everything.”
He pulled a chair up beside the bed and eased his lanky frame onto the seat. “How are you doing? I heard about the accident.”
“Antonio called you?”
Williamson shook his head, a lock of hair falling across his forehead. It gave him a younger, more approachable look. “I was already on my way here. Antonio and Rafe convinced me to let the Boudreaus protect you at their ranch. I agreed, since they assured me you’d be safer there than in witness protection.”
“Oh.” Guilt speared through her, remembering how she’d disobeyed the one thing Antonio asked, and left the ranch without taking anybody with her. It was her fault he was in trouble, and she couldn’t let him take the rap. “Antonio’s not to blame. I’m the one who didn’t listen, who left the ranch without backup. He’s not responsible.”
She watched Williamson’s lips turn up at the corners, but couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He was a hard man to read. “Ms. Snowden, Mr. Boudreau isn’t in trouble. He’s doing his job, like I’m doing mine. Which is why I’m here on a Sunday, instead of at home with my son, watching football.”
“I’m sorry.”
“There’s enough blame to go around. I have to admit, I admire your ability to stay off the grid and under the government’s radar. Not a lot of people can. I’m impressed.”
“It wasn’t like I had a lot of choice,” Serena mumbled under her breath.
“You’re right.” Her head jerked up at his response. He’d heard her muttered comment, and she felt heat rush into her face. “Witness protection failed you not once, but twice, and for that you have my sincerest apologies. I’ve been assured the party who leaked your information to an outside source is now spending quality time behind bars. But I’m a skeptical man by nature, and like Boudreau, I can’t be one hundred percent confident all the holes have been plugged, which is why I agreed to his proposal for you to stay at his parents’ ranch.”
“And I pulled a rookie stunt and blew everything to smithereens.”
“I’m hopeful we can salvage things. Can you tell me about your accident? How much do you remember?”
“I went over all this with Antonio and again with Rafe.”
Williamson nodded. “I know, and I’ve got copies of their reports, but I’d like to hear your version. Now some time has passed, maybe you’ll remember something you didn’t before. Let’s start from the beginning.”
Serena told him exactly what she’d told Antonio and Rafe, about getting the phone call from Mr. Olson and heading out to meet him. Explained how she’d been hit by the car and pushed off the road. The shock at finding out her uncle’s lawyer, Jonathan Drury, was the driver of the other car. Williamson listened intently, not interrupting, which was a rarity because both Rafe and Antonio had stopped her throughout the retelling with a myriad of questions.
“You mentioned Drury said you were his ticket to freedom. Any idea what he meant?”
“Not a clue, but that’s what he said. I was his ticket to freedom and he was going to cash it in.”
Williamson leaned back in the chair, and stared out the window, not saying
