Chapter Five #2
The warning in Annette’s voice sharpened.
“I’m not closing the recovery on bad facts.”
Annette exhaled. “You have until morning to bring me a cleaner answer. If I don’t hear from you by seven, I start making calls you won’t like.”
“Understood.”
“And do not turn an identification problem into a pride problem.”
Dex’s hand moved to the crucifix at his chest. The old silver shape pressed against black cotton under his fingers.
He stopped with his hand on the crucifix.
Then his hand dropped.
“I won’t,” he said.
The call ended.
Dex lowered the phone.
I faced him across the narrow room, past the scratched table and the cuffs lying cold in the sunlight.
“You lied to her.”
“I bought time.”
“That’s my line.”
“You stole my truck. I’m allowed to steal one thing back.”
Crystal made a small sound that almost became a laugh. It cracked halfway through and turned into a shaky breath.
Dex put his phone in his back pocket. “You need food.”
“I’m not hungry,” Crystal said.
“You’re shaking.”
“That’s fear.”
“Fear gets worse when you haven’t eaten.”
I stared at him.
His brow lifted. “What?”
“That was almost gentle.”
“It was practical.”
“Oh, good. I was worried charm had entered the building.”
Dex glanced at the plastic grocery bag near the porch door. “Yours?”
Crystal nodded. “There’s water. Peanut butter crackers. Apples. I think a sandwich from yesterday.”
“Eat the crackers,” Dex said. “Leave the sandwich.”
“Was that professional advice?”
“That sandwich has been alone with fear and summer heat. I don’t trust it.”
A laugh got out of me before I could stop it.
Crystal heard it, and her expression changed like she’d caught something fragile in her hands.
I turned away first.
Dex moved to the grocery bag slowly, giving both of us the chance to object. When neither of us did, he brought the crackers and a water bottle to the table. He set them near Crystal, then stepped back.
Crystal opened the crackers with fingers that didn’t quite work. The plastic tore wrong. Crumbs spilled across the table.
I reached for the package.
“So help me,” Crystal said, “if you tell me I’m doing crackers wrong, I’ll scream.”
I stopped with my hand in the air.
Dex’s attention shifted to the window.
“What?” I snapped.
“I’m learning family dynamics.”
“You’re learning nothing.”
“I’ve learned both of you threaten violence when embarrassed.”
Crystal ate one cracker. “That’s accurate.”
I pointed at her. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I’m on your side, and I’m underfed.”
Dex leaned back against the counter, arms folded, the morning light cutting over his dark hair and the stubble along his jaw.
He was too large for the faded cabin kitchen, too solid for the kind of trouble that had lived in my head as charges, fake invoices, and men with keys to places they shouldn’t enter.
The cuffs stayed on the table.
Crystal ate two more crackers and drank half the water. Color came back to her face in a thin wash.
Dex waited until the bottle touched the table again. “Who gets the records if we move them?”
“My attorney,” Crystal said.
“Can you reach her?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Crystal glanced at me.
I nodded once.
“She gave me an emergency number after the break-in,” Crystal said. “I memorized it.”
Dex nodded. “Good. Keep it in your head until we have the records.”
“You don’t want it now?” Crystal asked.
“Not on my phone. Not while North Fork keeps calling me.”
I folded my arms tighter. “That sounded almost paranoid.”
“That sounded like experience.”
“Less charming.”
“More useful.”
Crystal rubbed her thumb over the edge of the water bottle. “If something happens before we get there, I can call her.”
“The goal is making sure something doesn’t happen before we get there,” Dex said.
I moved to the far side of the table and braced both hands on the chair back across from Crystal. “The locker’s outside town. Crystal has the key. There’s a copied flash drive, printed invoices, account statements, and the notes she made before she ran.”
Dex nodded once. “Any originals?”
“No,” Crystal said. “I couldn’t take originals without making it obvious.”
“They knew anyway,” I said.
“They knew I copied something,” Crystal said. “They don’t know exactly what I have.”
Dex checked the window again. “Then we act like Frank knows enough to watch the obvious places.”
Crystal’s hand tightened around the water bottle.
“Why would he?” I asked.
“Because someone searched Crystal’s apartment for the records. Because the charge landed on her before she could report the pattern. Because the file missed an identical twin and still put me close enough to make your sister run.” His jaw tightened. “I don’t like the timing.”
Crystal set the water down too hard. “Frank.”
“Maybe,” Dex said. “Maybe someone doing what Frank tells him. I’m not naming what I can’t prove.”
I didn’t like the way that landed.
Dex kept his attention on me. “North Fork isn’t dirty.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I think a lot of things.”
“And most of them come with sharp edges.”
“Only the accurate ones.”
His expression didn’t soften. It settled. “I won’t turn in an innocent woman for a fee.”
Crystal stopped breathing.
My fingers tightened on the chair back.
There were sentences a person expected from men with cuffs and recovery packets. Orders. Threats. Terms. Warnings about making things harder.
Dex said something else, and his hand didn’t move toward the cuffs.
“You don’t know she’s innocent,” I said, because someone had to be difficult and apparently the family had elected me.
“I know the file missed an identical twin.”
“That isn’t proof.”
“I know Crystal copied records before the money charge landed on her. I know someone searched her place for those records. I know you were willing to get arrested in her name, and I know you’re reckless, not stupid.”
“Careful. That sounded like a compliment.”
“It was one.”
Crystal’s eyes widened.
I ignored her. “You should practice. It came out painful.”
Dex didn’t look away from me. “I also know if I bring Crystal in before we move that evidence, whoever’s looking for it gets a cleaner shot at finding it first.”
I couldn’t make a joke out of that.
He’d said we twice now.
I took a drink of water so I wouldn’t have to answer too fast.
Dex pushed away from the counter. “So we protect Crystal, move the evidence, and get it to her attorney. After that, it goes to someone with authority who isn’t taking Frank Dugan’s word as gospel.”
“You say that like you’re in charge.”
“I’m saying it like I have the truck.”
“I stole it once.”
“I’m not sleeping this time.”
I turned away before he saw the motel come back into my face.
Crystal stared very hard at her cracker package.
Dex didn’t smile.
I set the water bottle down. “We can use Crystal’s car.”
“We shouldn’t,” Dex said.
Crystal lifted her head. “Why?”
“If someone has that car from last night or the cabin office, it’s riskier. My truck has already been seen all over this mess. It also has a full tank, better clearance, and me driving.”
“I can drive,” I said.
“I know.”
“You’re saying that like it hurt.”
“It did.”
Crystal’s mouth twitched.
I ignored both of them. “We’re not leaving her here alone.”
“No,” Dex said. “We aren’t.”
I bent over the water bottle before either of them saw how much I needed that answer.
Crystal set the crackers down and watched me too long.
“Jade,” she said quietly. “Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
I turned from both of them before they saw too much. “We have bigger problems.”
Crystal nodded like that hurt, but she didn’t push.
I needed air.
The porch boards were warm under my boots.
The screen door whispered shut behind me.
Summer pressed close, carrying pine sap, dry grass, and dust. Beyond the rail, the cabin road curved between trees, empty for now.
The silver car sat tucked beside the A-frame with needles scattered across its hood.
I gripped the porch rail and made myself breathe.
The door opened behind me.
Dex stepped onto the porch but didn’t come close enough to touch me. He stood near the door with one shoulder against the rough siding, leaving me the rail, the steps, and the illusion of space.
“Crystal’s sitting down,” he said.
“Does she know you’re giving progress reports?”
“No.”
“Brave.”
“She’s scarier than she looks.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re exactly as scary as you look.”
I turned my head. “That sounded like another compliment.”
“It was closer to a warning to myself.”
I missed my next breath.
I faced the road again. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Be decent out here. It’s inconvenient.”
Dex was quiet long enough that I heard wind move through the high branches.
“I’m angry,” he said.
“I remember.”
“I’m also trying very hard not to let that make me stupid.”
“That would be a refreshing change of pace from most men.”
His mouth twitched. “You have a generous view of my gender.”
“I have experience.”
“I’m not asking you to explain that.”
“Good.”
“I’m asking what you need.”
My fingers slipped on the porch rail.
People usually asked where Crystal was, what I had done, what I would fix next. Dex asked for the one thing I hadn’t prepared.
I stared at the trees. “I need you not to hand my sister over to people who’ll lose her in paperwork long enough for Frank to get to the records.”
“Done.”
“You don’t get to say done that easily.”
“I just did.”
I turned on him.
“I’m not turning her in before we move the evidence.”
My fingers tightened on the rail.
He stepped closer, then stopped when I glanced at him. “What else?”
“I need Crystal safe. I need the locker emptied. I need copies in more than one place. I need her attorney to have them before Frank knows they’re moving.” I swallowed. “I need you to stop looking at me like that.”
Dex’s brow tightened. “Like what?”
Like my real name had weight in his mouth.
Like the woman who’d stolen his truck was still the woman he’d touched with care.
I turned back to the road. “Like you’re still deciding what I am.”
“I already know what you are.”
“No, you don’t.”