“And you don’t know who it’s from”? She asked.
“No,” he answered quickly- but it was it too quickly. Was this some stupid plot he and Carson had come up with to help the ‘innocent’ man escape? She really didn’t know what to think.
“Where are you calling from?”
“A diner about thirty miles from my place.”
“Was there anything else left at your house?”
“I don’t think so,” he answered. That wasn’t good enough for her. What could she do though? She couldn't get the forensics team to swing by; that would expose what she’d been up to and get her fired. She would have to go and look for herself, it was the only way.
“I’m coming over. Head back home and I’ll meet you there. Get a pot of coffee on,” she said and hung up before he could say anything else.”
The night cooled significantly since Sarah had gotten home and she had the heat on high in the car to stop from shivering. She was tired though, and had to open the windows from time to time to let in some cold gusts to keep her awake. She was not sorry to see the entrance to his access road.
Tyler was at the door when she came up to the house and she walked briskly the short distance outside eager to get inside.
“I’m going to say sorry now, before we go any further,” he said, his face bearing the look of someone resigned to a serious chewing out. Sarah wasn’t happy, but the bulk of her anger had been burnt out after the phone call and then on the first part of her drive here. It was no short distance from her house to his.
“Let’s leave all that for now,” she said stepping inside and pulling on her gloves, “Show me the letter and where you found it.” Tyler guided her to his desk and nodded down,
“It was there, amongst my other stuff.” Sarah looked at the desk and thought all of a sudden this was the most ridiculous search she could do. There was no way this scene had not been tampered with. Anything Tyler didn’t want her to see would have been removed before she got here and who knew what else he might have compromised as he searched the house earlier too.
“You haven't found anything else since we spoke?” she asked, leafing through the papers on the desk. Tyler shook his head,
“You know this is a waste of time,” he said to her.
“Why so?” she asked. She felt the same but wanted to know his reason for thinking this.
“Whoever did this is good at what they do. There was no one else in the world who knew Carson was here. My house is kinda off the grid here. They knew he was here though and they took him.”
“Who did?” Tyler looked at her at this question. She knew he was thinking it was Spalding.
“Who do you think it was?” he replied. They looked at one another without speaking. Tyler broke eye contact and walked towards the kitchen, "You want some of that coffee?” Sarah did and she followed.
“Where is the note?” she asked. Tyler poured a coffee for her and then passing her the cup took the note out of his pocket and put it on the island counter. Sarah looked at it a moment, noting he’d placed it in a Ziploc bag, before taking it up and looking at it through the plastic. “Are your fingerprints on this?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he answered before raising the coffee to his lips. She saw those lips moist and soft looking and then looked back to the letter. She slid the note out and looked at it. It was as she’d expected and she too felt this was the work of Spalding. Who else could it be?
“This is going to be a lot of trouble for us if this ever got out,” Tyler said.
“Well, I’m glad you are willing to take on ‘some’ of the blame,” she said.
“I know it’s my fault, but that doesn’t stop it being a problem for both of us,” he replied coolly. She was kind of hoping he would lose his temper so she could let loose with her own. At the moment, she had the most to lose. There was no doubt Tyler could be in serious trouble for harbouring a fugitive at his place, but there was no proof of that and her revealing it would only reveal the relationship she shared with the journalist.
“Look,” Tyler said as he placed his cup down. “The only people who know Carson was here are you, me and whoever has him, right?” Sarah could tell where he was going with this. It made her feel sick but at the same time she was struggling to come up with anything more palatable. Maybe she wasn’t the person she thought she was after all?
“Right,” she said without enthusiasm.
“So, he says in the note I’ll see him again soon. I say we wait until we hear from him.”
“And then what?”
“Do whatever we have to, to get Carson back.” Sarah shook her head in dismay.
“This is such bullshit,” she said. “You pull this same crap over and over!” she shouted at him and it surprised both of them. To even greater surprise to Sarah, Tyler shouted back at her!
“What the hell do you want me to do! What would you have done if I told you he was here?”
“I don’t know...”
“I do know! You would have had a SWAT team or something raid the place and take him in!”
“Not necessarily!” she was really shouting now, “You didn’t give me a chance to do anything. You don’t trust me and I’m the one who has the most to lose!” This seemed to get through to him and though he was about to shout something back at her he visibly paused and held his mouth shut firmly. He shook his head slowly and Sarah, realising
