Zulu
U pon waking, Reina saw the text and tears filled her eyes. It was over. She breathed easier than she had since she’d seen Stella Adams and Blake Henning exit that bank. She glanced back into the bedroom where Lilly still slept, her angelic face on the pillow. One thing she knew was that this time, Stella Adams would not be getting a new identity. She would be going to prison. Both Lambchop and Madison had assured her of that.
She sent Jimmy a text telling him she was awake and to call whenever worked for him. The call came an hour later as the four of them were eating breakfast. She stepped into Madison’s front room to take the call. “Hello.”
“Hi, how are you doing?” Wilson asked.
“Anxious to hear how you got them.”
“I’ll tell you more in person, but we located them late last night. Henning was strangling Stella Adams. She shot and killed him.”
That hadn’t been what Reina expected to hear. “Oh my God,” she said. “He was going to kill her?”
“Yes.”
“So she killed him in self-defense?” she asked.
“That’ll be for a judge and jury to decide,” Wilson said. “And I guess an attorney general too, if they charge her. But we were there, she didn’t need to kill him to stop him.”
“Oh my God,” she said again. “She’s in custody?”
“Oh yeah, she’s in custody. She isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. St. Vincent is sure she’ll get at least twenty years for her multiple crimes.”
“Can I see her and talk to her?” Reina asked. “I want her to know I’ll take good care of Lilly. No matter what she’s done, she is her mother. And I want to be able to tell her how big of a piece of shit she is for putting her daughter in the situations she did.”
Wilson chuckled. “The Yin and the Yang all in one person. Yeah, I can put that request in with my boss.”
“When will you be home?” she asked.
“Our plane get’s here in a few hours. We’ll be back after lunch. It’ll be safe for us to go back to my place. I can borrow an agency vehicle and come pick you up. See if you can get back in touch with the woman selling that house next to Elizabeth and Doc’s house. Maybe we can stop by and see it after I pick you up.”
“Okay, I’ll do that.”
“I’m sorry, I have to go,” he said. Cooper had just poked his head into the room and pointed to his watch. “I’ll see you later.”
***
Madison stuck her head into the guest room Reina and Lilly were staying in. The girls were playing in Hahna’s room, so Reina took advantage of the time, per Madison’s prompting, to work on her assignments for class. “The team will be back in about an hour,” she said.
“Yes, Jimmy messaged me before they took off and gave me the approximate time he’d land. Madison, I truly appreciate you letting Lilly and me stay here.”
“I’m glad you could. The girls get along great. This has been good for them both,” Madison said. “Our boss, Shepherd, would like to meet with you and Wilson after the teams’ debrief. I’ve already talked to Elizabeth, and she can keep the girls. I can drive you in and we’ll drop the girls at Elizabeth’s on the way. I have a little bit of work I need to do at the office.”
“Should I be worried that your boss wants to meet with us?”
“Not at all,” Madison assured her.
Reina packed up her and Lilly’s few belongings and carried them out to Madison’s SUV in the garage when they left to go to the office. They walked the girls into Elizabeth’s house. Reina was again reminded how much she liked Elizabeth. The young woman’s welcoming hugs and attention to both of the girls as they entered instantly put both Lilly and her at ease.
That ease was replaced with mild anxiety as they drove to the ten-story office building along the ring road at Woodfield Mall. It was all familiar now, the parking garage, the gate, the double garage door entry to the private parking area, the elevator, floor five, all of it.
But when she and Madison stepped off the elevator, there stood Jimmy, waiting for her. He greeted her with an embrace.
“Is Coop in his office?” Madison asked.
“Yeah, he headed that way after our debrief,” Wilson answered.
“I’ll see you later. Let’s get the girls together to play soon,” she told Reina. Then she walked down the hall in the direction Reina knew led to the kitchen and Angel’s desk.
Wilson laced his fingers with Rae’s. He kissed the top of her head. “Shepherd’s waiting for us.” He gave her hand a gentle tug as he stepped towards Shepherd’s open door in the corner.
Reina pulled on his hand, stopping him. “Is there anything I need to know?”
“No, it’s routine.” He gave a smile and then continued walking towards Shepherd’s office. He knocked on the open door.
“Come,” Shepherd said.
They entered the office. Reina saw the man sitting at the big desk in front of floor to ceiling windows. He stood and walked over to the seating area to the right of his desk. They joined him there. He extended his right hand to Reina. “I’m Shepherd. It’s nice to meet you.” He held a manilla folder in his left hand.
She shook his hand. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you too.”
He motioned to the couch. He sat in a chair opposite them. “Stella Adams is going to face a variety of charges in multiple jurisdictions,” Shepherd said. “She won’t walk free for many years, certainly not while her daughter is still a minor. If you’re still willing, you’ve been given custody of Lilly Carona. The Marshals are waiting for my direction on the creation of new identities for you both.”
“Is one for me really necessary?” Reina asked. “It sounds like everyone associated with Iowa is either in custody or dead.” She was glad Blake Henning was dead.
“For your protection it is best,” Shepherd said. “People in jail can still have visitors and pass info along. And they do get out at some point.”
He handed the folder across to her. She opened it and read the name she was getting. She giggled. She turned to Jimmy. “Did you know?”
He glanced at the sheet of paper in her hand. He smiled. “I was consulted and agreed.”
“Rachel Wilson,” she read aloud.
“Rae is an accepted shortened form of Rachel,” Shepherd said. “The second page is Lilly’s. I need for you to sign yours in that name so the Marshals can create your ID.”
He handed her a pen, and she signed on the line. She remembered the process from last time. They’d create for her a driver’s license, passport, and issue her a credit card, enough for her to establish bank accounts. Last time they gave her eight hundred dollars. She had a lot more than that in her bank accounts now. “What about my bank accounts under Reina Ellis?”
“They’ll clear them out and issue a cashier’s check under your new name so you can take it to the bank of your choice to establish accounts. They should have that all done within ten days,” Shepherd said. His gaze went to Wilson. “I assume the delay in her getting access to funds won’t be an issue.”
“Not at all,” Wilson said. “I’ve got you,” he added, a wink to Rae.
“Thank you both,” she said. She flipped to the second page. Lilly Wilson was the name Lilly would be taking.
“Wilson mentioned you wanted to talk to Stella Adams. I can arrange a visit,” Shepherd said.
“Yes, please,” Reina said. “No matter what she’s done, she is Lilly’s mother, and I want her to know that I will take good care of Lilly. And would it be okay to offer to write to her to tell her how Lilly is doing, maybe send her pictures? And maybe when Lilly is older, she can write Lilly, or I can take Lilly to visit?”
“I’d think long and hard about what you’re offering her,” Shepherd said. “But if you want to do that, yes, I’ll provide you with an anonymous PO box address she can have. She can never know your real address, understand?”
“Yes, I do. Thank you. And I promise, I will think about it.” And she’d talk with Jimmy about it as she hadn’t yet. She also wanted to give Stella a piece of her mind for the situation she’d put Lilly in and the harm she’d done that Reina would now have to make sure Lilly recovered from. She wouldn’t mention that to Shepherd though.
“Do you still have your ID under Reina Ellis?” Shepherd asked.
“Yes.”
“Your flight will have to be booked under that name as the Marshals won’t have your ID issued under Rachel Wilson soon enough.”
“Okay, no problem. I have both my driver’s license and passport with me.”
Shepherd’s eyes went to Wilson. “Angel can make your travel arrangements. She’s off today but can take care of it from home. I messaged her. She’s expecting your call. You’re off for the next three days. Report for duty at zero seven hundred Thursday.”
“Yes, sir,” Wilson said, coming to his feet. He knew they’d just been dismissed. He also already knew he was off for three days. He’d met privately with Shepherd and Cooper after the debrief. It had also been disclosed that the Smith’s had been located and arrested.
Reina also stood. “Thank you again, Mister Shepherd, for everything.” She presented her hand.
“You’re welcome,” he said shaking it.
Once in the hallway, with Shepherd’s office door closed, they embraced.
“We have a lot to accomplish in three days,” he said.
Cooper and Madison approached. “I hear you’re headed to Newark to meet with Stella Adams,” Madison said. “I’m in town for the next few days. I can keep Lilly and Elizabeth can watch her if I have to come into the office, though I think the majority of my work can be done from home. I’m not scheduled to cover Ops.”
“That would be great. She’s comfortable at your house,” Reina said. “Thank you.”
“Are you flying out today?” Madison asked.
“If we can,” Wilson said. “I need to call Angel.”
“If we can fly out today, I still need to tell Lilly about the plans, even though I know she’ll be thrilled that she’ll be staying at your house.”
“I’ll sleep with her in the guest room,” Madison said. “I understand it’s going to take her time to be okay being alone in a room.”
“I’m injured that you don’t want to sleep with me, Blondie,” Cooper joked. “We haven’t been introduced. I’m Cooper, Madison’s husband.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Reina said. “I recognize you from the pictures at your house. I’m Reina.” She paused for a second. “Or no, I guess I won’t be any longer. My new name’s going to be Rachel, Rae for short.” She smiled. “Just Rae again.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Rae,” Cooper said.
“It might be a good idea if you only think of yourself as Rae now,” Wilson said.
“Yeah, I think you’re right. I mentally had to remind myself constantly that I was Reina, not Rae or Rae Ella. This should be easier.”
“We’re headed to Doc and Elizabeth’s to get the girls,” Madison said. “You can ride with us.”
“That’s perfect. Lee said we could come see the house again at any time. We could do that and tell Lilly she’ll be staying with you for a day or two without me,” Rae said.
Upon arriving at Elizabeth and Doc’s house, they told Lilly the plan, who took it well. Rae knew both Madison and Elizabeth would take good care of her, but she still felt a little sad when she buckled Lilly into the car seat in Madison’s car. Then she and Jimmy knocked on Lee’s door.
After seeing the unit from the second floor to the basement, Wilson was ready to make an offer, but he knew he should talk with Rae about it first. They’d have several hours while flying to New Jersey to do that. “Thank you for letting us see it, Lee. I promise to get back to you by dinnertime tonight.”
“Good enough,” she said. “I’m only doing this because you’re friends of Elizabeth next door. That girl is a doll.”
“Yes, she is,” Rae agreed.
***
Rae thought she’d mentally prepared herself to sit down and talk to Stella Adams. But when the guard escorted the woman wearing Department of Corrections prison apparel into the room, Rae knew she wasn’t properly prepared to sit opposite of this woman who had so spectacularly failed her child.
Stella Adams looked different, and it just wasn’t the clothes. Her hair, worn in its normal ponytail, needed to be washed. Her face, devoid of makeup, looked dry and pale. But it was the sad, utterly defeated expression on her face and the eyes that lacked a spark of life that hit Rae the hardest. A broken woman sat in front of her. The things she’d planned to say to the woman evaporated from her thoughts.
“Are you doing okay?” Rae asked.
She nodded. “Is Lilly okay?”
Rae smiled. “Yes, she is. She misses you, doesn’t understand.” Rae pulled the drawing from the folder. “She drew you this picture.”
Stella teared up. She covered her mouth with her trembling hand. “Lilly is the only good thing I’ve ever done. No matter what you may think of me, I love her so much.” Tears spilled out of her eyes.
“I know you do,” Rae said. “And she loves you too.”
“I would have died if anything had happened to her. It wasn’t easy to let her go, but I knew it was the best thing for her. We could have killed that agent and took her from that car that night like Blake wanted to. We drove right by them. But that would have been devastating to her to see. Regardless of what they told you about me, I’m not a monster. Blake was the monster. He tried to kill me. That’s why I had to kill him.”
“Yes, he would have killed you,” Rae agreed even though she was shocked by what Stella had just said. They would have killed Jackson that night if Stella had wanted to get Lilly. “And as far as letting Lilly go, that was the best thing for her. But you had an AirTag in her shoe. So, it’s not like you couldn’t find her and get her later.”
“Found it, huh? Yeah, I planned to come get her when we were done in Atlantic City, and I was free of Blake.”
Reina could not think of a thing to say in response to that. She was glad when Stella continued.
“I’m so sorry he hurt you. I thought he’d killed you. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to know you were okay. Please believe me that I am so sorry you got involved in it.” She wiped the tears that continued to trickle down her cheeks.
“I had a gut feeling Lilly was in trouble, you were in trouble. I don’t regret trying to help. I’m sorry it ended for you as it did.”
“Well, we all make our own beds, don’t we? I really tried to be Ashley Carona and leave all that behind in New Jersey. But they wouldn’t let me. Once they found me, I was theirs again. It’s ironic, I didn’t want to be a CNA. That was the Marshals doing. They even got me the job at the hospital where Jennifer Smith saw me. That’s how it happened, how they found me. And it put me in a good place to compromise people’s identities. They threatened me and Lilly. There was nothing I could do but go along.”
Reina doubted that. She wondered why Ashley Carona had not reached back out to the Marshals. Surely, they would have helped her. “There’s always something you can do. You could have called the Marshals.”
“Blake Henning burned my next-door neighbor’s house down when I said no, thinking it was my house. He fucking killed nice old Mister Singer. If I didn’t go along, he would have killed Lilly.”
“I visited your house after Lilly was no longer coming to school. My maps program told me the burned down house next to yours was actually your address.”
“Why did you do that?” Stella asked.
“I told you; I had a feeling you and Lilly were in trouble.”
The room fell silent for a long minute.
“Thank you for agreeing to be Lilly’s guardian.”
“Thank you for your approval of it,” Rae said, not that Stella had to approve of it. But it was better that she did. “I’ll make sure you receive letters and more hand-drawn pictures from her. I’ll send you photographs of her too and drop you notes so you know how she’s doing. And I’ll make sure you have an address so you can write her letters,” Rae offered. “You’re her mom. I’m not going to replace you.” And that was the bottom line of it. Stella was her mother and even though she was in prison, it was better for Lilly to have a relationship with her.
Stella shook her head. “Lilly needs a mom, and I can’t be it from in here. You be her mom and be the best damn mom she could ever have.”
“I want her to know who you are,” Rae said. “I could even see about bringing her to visit when she’s a little older,” Rae offered.
“No, I don’t want my kid visiting me in jail,” Stella said, cutting her off. “Do you understand? Don’t you ever bring her here.”
Rae nodded. “Okay, but if you ever change your mind.”
“I won’t,” she replied sternly. “I had to visit my dad in jail. I would never put my daughter through that.”
“Lilly will need to be told in an age-appropriate way that you’re in jail and why,” Rae said. “What are your thoughts on that?”
“I don’t know. I know the shame I felt, knowing what my dad did. I don’t want Lilly to feel that way. Make sure you get her some help, you know, a child therapist.”
“I already have an appointment scheduled for her next week,” Rae promised.
“There’s no chance I’ll be out before she’s an adult. She needs a mom. She needs you to be her mom,” she repeated.
“But yes, please drop me a note from time to time and let me know how she’s doing.”
“I will,” Rae again promised.
The detective stepped back into the room. “I’m sorry, visiting time is over.” He nodded to Rae. “I’ll see you out.”
A uniformed officer came in and took Stella. At the door, Stella stopped for just a second. “Thank you, Reina. I know you didn’t have to come talk to me. I appreciate that you did.” Then the guard escorted her from the room.
Rae stepped out into the hall where Jimmy waited. He and the detective were in the room next door that had a monitor, the camera in the corner was hooked up to. They saw and heard everything.
Wilson wrapped his arms around Rae and pulled her into his chest. “You went easy on her.”
“I showed her grace like Elizabeth suggested. Elizabeth was right. Stella Adams will punish herself for the actions that led to her being locked up away from Lilly far more than anyone else ever could. No matter what else I can say about her, she loves her daughter.”
Wilson pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You’re a good person, Rae. Lilly is so lucky to have you as her new mom. Take that role in her life, just like Stella said. She needs a mom. She needs you to be that mom.”
“And you?” she asked.
“I’ll be right there with you, like I promised. While you were in there, I contacted the owner of that townhouse next to Doc and Elizabeth and I bought it.”
“Just like that?” she asked, shaking her head.
“Yes. I agreed to their price, their terms, and no contingency to sell my place. I just bought it. They’ll have their lawyer send the contract to mine with what closing date works for them.”
Rae glanced around the empty hallway. Having this conversation in the hallway outside of the jail’s interview room was all wrong. She didn’t want to plan her future here. “Not here,” she said.
Wilson understood. He chuckled. “Come on. Let’s go. Angel got us a hotel room for the night.” He twined his fingers around hers and led her out. They thanked Detective Arthur for arranging the visit. He walked them out.
Rae watched Jimmy open the door for her on the passenger side of the rental car. She was again impressed with his gentlemanly gesture. “Thank you,” she said feeling emotional.
Wilson pulled Rae into an embrace, concerned by how emotional she appeared. “Are you okay?”
“I will be,” she said. She pulled away just far enough to look into his eyes, into his beautiful blue eyes. “Jimmy, Stella and Blake would have killed Jackson.”
“Correction, they would have tried. There’s a good chance he would have killed them instead.”
The thoughts ran through her mind of the added horror that would have been inflicted on Lilly, no matter which way it would have gone. “I am even more determined now with providing Lilly a safe, normal life where none of those things touch her.”
Wilson waited a beat. “And we will, Rae. Are you doubting we can with the job I do?”
She shook her head. “No, that’s not what I was saying. The world needs more people that do the job you do, because there seems to be an endless supply of people who do bad things. By the way, Madison said it was over a month before Hahna could sleep in a room alone. Tonight, may be our last chance for that for a while to be alone in bed.” She flashed him a suggestive smile.
He pressed his body into hers and gifted her with a lengthy kiss. When he pulled away, he said, “In that case Mizz Rachel Wilson we better get to that hotel.”
“One more thing, Jimmy. I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you,” she said, a little nervous to be putting it out there.
Wilson’s lips pulled into a grin. “That’s good, because I’m pretty sure I love you too.”
“Can either of us really be sure as we haven’t even slept together?” she asked.
“You read my mind. Let’s get back to the hotel and see.”