“Do they know he’s an FBI agent? The criminals?”
He’d pulled onto the road, and she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder, at the spot on the beach where they had kissed. It was so bittersweet. Everything about her life right now was bittersweet. A baby. That should be such a joyous event, but she couldn’t share the joy that she did feel when she thought of having a baby. Couldn’t share that with anyone. She felt like a mole herself.
“Yes, I believe they do, but they won’t turn in someone who is keeping them from going to prison.”
“I suppose they wouldn’t.” She gathered her gloves and scarf and tucked them in her purse. “The FBI doesn’t bust speakeasies, that’s prohibition agents, so who do you bust?” She wasn’t exactly sure what she was trying to do, other than convince herself what she knew was true. That his job was extremely dangerous.
“Anyone committing a federal crime,” he said. “We were involved in the Burrows case because when the train was robbed seven years ago, a shipment of old currency that had been being transported in order for it to be destroyed was stolen off the train. No one was supposed to know about that money being on that train. Rex Gaynor claimed upon his arrest that Billy Phillips, his partner, is who had known about the shipment. Billy had died at the scene, so there was no way to discover who had told him about it. Until Rex was poisoned in prison. The case was seven years old, so for Rex to be poisoned didn’t make sense, until we discovered a piece of evidence that had been overlooked. That Vincent Burrows had been on the train.”
Dangerous, yes, but she also found it interesting. “You think Burrows had him poisoned?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Rex knew Elkin had worked on the case back then. I think Elkin had told Burrows they had to get rid of anyone who knew about the case. I believe Elkin thought the case was so old, that no one would care about a convict dying in prison. I know he was surprised when the review of the passenger list was brought up.”
“Do you think he’d told Burrows about the money seven years ago?”
“Yes, and I believe he was the reason a counterfeiting ring left that beach cottage, on the cove where you were digging clams, hours before we were about to bust them, and how a train robber in Kansas got the slip on us and is still on the loose.”
She’d removed her hat and was brushing the snarls from her hair, but stopped midstroke. “The beach cottage? That’s why you asked me...”
“Yes, it seemed too coincidental.”
A tiny tingle coiled its way up her spine. “You never knew about us sneaking out. You thought right from the beginning that I—”
“I’m sorry for that. You’re right. I never knew about you sneaking out, not until you told me. In my line of business, you question coincidences.”
She nodded. Not wanting to think how she felt about that right now, she asked, “Why do you think Elkin did it?”
“I don’t know. People always have a reason, though, one they’ve justified in their own mind, right, wrong, or indifferent.”
“What will you do when you find him?”
“Take him to Washington, DC, where he’ll stand trial, just like everyone else.”
The brush stalled in her hand. “Washington, DC?”
“Yes, to the agency headquarters.”
“And then you’ll be assigned to another case.”
“Yes, I will.”
She dropped the brush into her purse and picked up her hat. “Do you know where?”
“No, I never know.” He glanced her way. “That’s why everything I own fits in a single suitcase. It could be Washington State, Montana, Maine, Texas.” He shrugged. “Anywhere within the forty-eight states of the United States of America.”
Her stomach sank, and churned, for no reason. He’d just corroborated what she’d already known. “Do you ever see your family?”
He didn’t look her way as he said, “Haven’t seen them in over four years.” In the next breath, he said, “We’re here.”
She glanced out the windshield, saw a grocery store. “What are we doing here?”
“I told your father that I was taking you to buy supplies.” He gave her a wink. “Let’s go shopping.”
She waited until he opened her car door, then as he held out a hand to help her out, she asked, “You really like your job, don’t you?”
He nodded. “Yes, yes, I do. It’s the only part of my life that has worked out.”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “My childhood prepared me for this. Of going through life alone, chasing down criminals fits into that perfectly. I don’t have to worry about anything except for getting the job done.”
“And moving on to the next one.”
“Exactly.”
She climbed out of the car with as much composure as she could muster. Her legs felt weak at the knowledge she was going to have to keep the most wonderful part of her life a secret forever.
They bought a variety of cleaning supplies, which they delivered to the abandoned house. There, he insisted she didn’t need to do any cleaning, now or later, and then he walked her home.
As soon as he left, it was as if the light went out inside her. It was like a switch that he could turn on and off. Even with sadness over what she knew had to be, while being with him today, she’d still felt whole, alive.
Although the tears were there, she didn’t cry that afternoon while baking, or when her father returned home with James in tow. She most certainly didn’t cry while eating the evening meal with James sitting next to her.
After the meal, while Mother and Jane cleaned the kitchen, she and James sat on the sofa in the front room. He was asking her about the wedding, the honeymoon, and it was making her head hurt, her heart hurt.
“I have no preferences,” she said, thinking about how Patsy hadn’t cared about her wedding for a very different reason. Patsy
