Chapter Fifty-Four
Kessler pulled out a chair and settled down across the table from Eric. Maya and Josh joined him. She realized that the way
they’d taken their seats was three against one. Pops came back with some food and handed everyone their meals. Then he sat
down on the same side as Maya, Josh and Kessler. Four against one.
Maya was okay with that. She wanted her father to take the plea deal. He might not ever do the job he loved again, but he
wouldn’t be sitting in prison. Was it wrong of her to be happy about Ross sitting in prison rotting away when her own father
had committed crimes?
Eric hadn’t killed anyone, but that didn’t mean the bribes and other things he’d done didn’t hurt someone either. Why did
there have to be so many gray areas? The one thing Maya did believe was that Eric had changed for the better over the past year. It was like being on the run and trying to help catch
Abigail had changed his priorities.
Eric sat forward, hands on the table, but in a relaxed fashion with his fingers laced. “I get the feeling you all want to
talk about something.”
Maya chuckled and shook her head. “You think?”
Kessler gave her a look that said this was his time. Maya understood and stayed quiet.
“I’ve talked with the prosecutors,” Kessler began. He laid out the deal he’d told Maya and Josh about. “What do you think?”
Eric sat back, crossed his arms and took a deep breath, then letting it out. “I think it’s very generous.”
Relief washed over Maya. Hopefully he wasn’t going to add any “buts” to it. Instead he said, “Just to make sure I understand,
I do community service, I wear my ankle monitor and I never work in law enforcement again? Is that right?”
“That’s right,” Kessler said.
“I assume the alternative would be a trial and then I’d be tried for all sorts of things like evading arrest, bribes, stuff
like that?”
“That’s right.”
“Then I’d like to take your offer, but I do have one question.”
Maya’s heart dropped. She had come to love Eric, but she also knew him well and nothing ever seemed straightforward with him.
“What’s your question?” Kessler asked.
“I’d like to stay here in Colorado. I’d be willing to stay in Pinecone Junction under the supervision of this sheriff’s office.
I feel if I am sent to Montana, there’s too many ghosts in my past there. I want a fresh start. Do you think the prosecutors
would be up for that?”
“I can ask,” Kessler said. “My guess is they would if a certain sheriff and undersheriff and even a US Forest Service officer were up for keeping track of your whereabouts.”
“I think we can arrange that,” Pops said. “At least I’m good with it.”
“Same here,” Josh said. “We can figure out with the parole officer where Eric should stay, but I know of a house that will
be available soon. It belongs to me, so we can figure out all the arrangements regarding the ankle monitor. That’s of course
if our Forest Service officer is okay with that.”
Maya stared at Josh. Her cabin was being rebuilt from Abigail burning it down the previous fall. The warm, dry weather meant
the contractors were ahead of schedule. She and Josh would be moving into the finished cabin around September or October.
They were living in Josh’s house in town and he’d been debating renting it or making it an Airbnb.
“That works for me,” Maya said. “And I have the K-9 who can track Eric if he tries anything.”
Eric laughed. “Yes, you do.”
“Until that house is unoccupied,” Pops said, interjecting, “I am fine with Eric staying with me. I have a large house and
it’s empty.”
Maya felt bad for Pops. She hadn’t thought about him living alone and how that might be hard for him. But it had to be tough.
On the other hand, Pops was set in his ways and having a roommate would be interesting.
“However,” Pops continued, “I don’t do laundry, cook or clean for anyone but myself.”
“Got it,” Eric said. “I think we can figure things out.”
“I’ll call the prosecutors right now then,” Kessler said, standing and pulling out his cell phone. “That way, you can be turned
over to everyone here and I don’t have to worry about you anymore. I’ll see if I can get ahold of them right now. Excuse me
for a minute.”
Kessler left the room and Maya, Josh and Pops stared back at Eric. Maya broke the silence by saying, “What about Nick, Isabelle
and Hope? If you’re here, it’ll be harder for you to see them.”
“Maybe they’ll understand and come visit,” Eric said. “I feel that I’m a different person now and I don’t have a home. I don’t
want to go back to Montana and somehow get sucked into the wrong choices again. I’d like to think I wouldn’t, but I have to
be honest with myself.”
“I understand,” Josh said.
“You do?” Eric asked.
“I do. After I got out of rehab, I realized that if I tried to stay in Chicago or work anywhere around home, I would have
temptations all over the place,” Josh explained. “Plus, I just wanted a fresh start. And I knew for sure that I’d never be
hired by any departments around there. Pops gave me a second chance. I’m happy to pay it forward and return the favor by allowing
you to stay in my house. Assuming the parole officer agrees to that.”
“That means a lot,” Eric said. “Thank you.”
“It means a lot to me too,” Maya said. “Let’s hope Kessler can get the prosecutors to agree.”
They sat in silence for a minute, but her mind couldn’t settle down. What would it be like to visit her father and get to know him better? There were still so many things she wanted to know. She looked over at Eric. “Did you know Agent Ross when he was up in Montana?”
“I did,” Eric said. “I always thought he was a stand-up guy. The kind of officer I wanted to be like, but wasn’t. Talk about
being completely wrong about someone.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself,” Maya said. “We’ve all had that kind of experience. That’s how I ended up kidnapped by a serial
killer, for example. I trusted him and thought he was a good guy. Psychopaths can be charming.”
“True,” Eric said. “I guess it’s human nature to assume things, but looking back, I can see the clues. For example, it was
Agent Ross’s partner who was coming to see your grandmother to talk to her about what your mother knew. Maybe even get the
evidence from her. He was the agent who died in a car ‘accident’ on the way here. Then when Drew, the officer I knew, was
shot, Ross was also involved. I should have connected the dots then.”
“But why would you?” Maya said. “You only suspected Abigail had a partner, you didn’t know for sure.”
“I wish I’d done more.”
“You came and saved me,” Maya said. “Without you here, Abigail may have been able to fulfill her wish of killing me and stopping the DNA evidence that would lead back to her. And at least we have him now. Abigail and Agent Ross have been stopped. They won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”
“That’s true,” Eric said.
“And,” Pops said, “now your old department, prosecutors, judges and even federal agents in your area are being investigated.
It might take a while, but at least things should get better, especially with Abigail gone.”
“That’s true too,” Eric said.
“I wonder if what Ross told me has any truth to it?” Maya said.
“What did he tell you?” Josh asked.
“That Abigail told him to shoot her so that she wouldn’t have to go to prison. I have to question that. I think he probably
killed her in a last-ditch attempt to save himself,” Maya said.
“I agree with that,” Eric said. “Guess we’ll never truly know.”
“The only thing that makes me think he might be telling the truth is that he could have shot Hope, Juniper and me, but he
didn’t. He had the chance. We were out in the open. He just murdered Abigail and left. Not that I’m complaining. I’m grateful.”
“Whatever his reasoning was,” Pops said, “I’m very thankful he didn’t take all of you out and finish Abigail’s mission.”
“Me too,” Eric and Josh said in unison.
“I’m glad too obviously, although I had the feeling when I was getting ready to let Juniper apprehend him, that if he’d known
we were there, he would have shot us then.”
“Maybe he really thought that he could get away with just killing Abigail and then go back to his normal life as an agent,” Josh said.
“I mean, even if he and Abigail were partners, he was working out of the Denver office. Maybe getting away from her at least distance wise made him realize he needed to be done with her forever. He couldn’t tell anyone what he knew because then he’d be arrested too. ”
“That’s true,” Maya said. “He was stuck. Abigail had her claws in him and she never would have let him go. The one thing he
told me that I actually believe is that he did love her. I wonder if she really cared about him.”
“So many questions that will never be answered,” Pops said.
“I don’t know that Abigail had the capacity to care about anyone,” Eric added.
Maya heard footsteps coming down the hall. Kessler came back into the room.
“You have a deal,” he said. “And after Eric signs the papers that the prosecutors are preparing and getting ready to send,
then congratulations, he’ll become your favorite detainee with an ankle monitor.”
Happiness washed over Maya. She and Eric stood and she went around the table and hugged him.
“It’s nice to have a father,” Maya said.
“You’ll probably get tired of me,” Eric said.
“Maybe. Just remember, I have Juniper. You have to behave.”
Eric laughed and said, “Deal.”