Chapter Twenty-Five
Twenty-Five
Mendocino, California
Gary closed the front door of the rental house behind Elle. “Stay put and don’t go near the windows. I’m going to double-check that no one is here. Ronan said that no one could get past the alarm system without him being notified, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
Elle nodded, leaning on the wall farthest from the windows. She’d been confident in that meeting. She was proud of herself, but now the reality of the situation had broken through that confidence.
Her old friend anxiety was back.
Hey there. Go the fuck away.
Ashton Dempsey was out there somewhere.
Waiting for me.
Howard had allocated her a protection detail and Gary Simpson was it for the next twelve hours. She didn’t want to need a protection detail, but she was grateful for it.
Ashton wouldn’t stop until she was in prison or dead.
Alexis had once asked her if she wanted to die, if that was why she’d been so hell-bent on working for Sara. If her guilt and penance had driven her to such a dangerous job.
At the time, Elle had vociferously denied it. Now she had to reconsider. She hadn’t wanted to die. But maybe she hadn’t wanted to live.
The danger in which she’d put herself over the last two years suddenly seemed frivolous, but at least she’d have died for something that mattered. Bringing in criminals who’d tried to outrun the justice system seemed like a worthy goal.
But no more. She hadn’t realized how worried her parents had been. Scaring them had never been her intent.
Her life mattered to the people who loved her.
Looking at the sofa where Ronan had held her all night made her wonder if he might someday be among those people.
Gary returned from checking out the house. “We’re clear. Let’s get something to eat. Then we can watch a movie or something.”
Elle blinked. “I can’t remember the last time I just sat and watched a movie.”
“Now, that’s just sad, Elle.” Gary walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. “You want a sandwich? There’s deli meat and salad. Ronan said he’d need to bring groceries, but it looks like someone stocked the fridge while we were in that meeting.”
Ronan was in the office, reviewing the credit card charges Ashton had made all over town. Elle suspected that Howard had wanted to separate her and Ronan for a little while because he’d become too attached to her.
She hoped so. She was becoming attached to him, too.
The credit cards Ashton had been using were legit—in that they were all issued to Bradley Albertson—and all the balances were paid off monthly. It seemed surreal that Ashton would be so honest when it came to paying his bills and, at the same time, so willing to lie, cheat, steal, and murder.
Ronan was hoping to use the credit card charges to find out where Ashton was hiding. She hoped he was successful and then they wouldn’t need the plan they’d developed in that meeting.
Following Gary, Elle gathered plates and bread. “Penny probably got the groceries. She’s a nice person.”
“She is. Ronan’s done an amazing job with her.”
“Can’t have been easy, being a single dad.”
Gary gave her a sideways look. “Fishing for information on Ronan?”
“No. I know enough. He told me about his ex-wife one of the nights we chatted on the bluff.”
Gary put the packages of deli meat on the counter and gave her his full attention. “So the night I saw you two wasn’t the first time you met on the bluff?”
Elle smiled. “Nope.”
She busied herself making a sandwich, chuckling when Gary finally whined, “Elle.”
She laughed. “Fine. I first went to the bluff near Judith’s inn, just to think. Ronan joined me there. He’d been following me, of course.”
“Well, yeah. Bounty hunter on our turf? For sure we’d follow you.” He leaned closer, eyes gleaming. “And then?”
She laughed again. “You’re incorrigible.”
“That’s what my wife tells me. What happened next?”
“We declared a truce. I just didn’t tell Sara about it. She doesn’t like cops.”
“I got that on my own,” he said dryly. He finished making his sandwich and took his and Elle’s plates to the table. “And then?”
“He told me that the bluffs help him think, too. That he went to these bluffs, here in Mendocino, so the next night, so did I. I figured if he was going to follow me, I’d at least make it convenient for him to get home afterward.”
Gary chuckled. “And you chatted?”
“Every night thereafter.”
Gary blinked at her. “Every night?”
“It was kind of a palate cleanser after being cooped up in a car all day with no one to talk to but Sara. Sara never asked where I went every night. I think she knew.”
“Are you going to quit bounty hunting?”
“Yes. It was an interesting gig for a little while, and maybe what I needed right after the accident, but I think I’m going back to family law.”
“I’ve heard the bar here in California isn’t easy, but you can do it.”
“I’ve already done it.”
He paused his sandwich halfway between the plate and his mouth. “You did?”
“I did. I’m fully licensed to practice in California.
Alexis bullied me into doing it and I’m glad she did.
” She looked to the window. The fog was coming in from the ocean.
It was so pretty. “I was lost after the accident. My friends kind of guided my life for a little while. Sara and Felicia gave me a job that gave me a purpose. Alexis made sure that I kept my options open in case I wanted to return to law.”
“Good friends to have.”
“Yes, they are. I’m lucky to have them.”
“And you all live in the Bay Area?”
“We do. Alexis was born and raised in San Francisco. Sara grew up in Oakland and Felicia in San Jose. I was the outsider when I got to Berkeley, coming from Florida. They’d all met each other already and saw me standing off to the side at one of the mixers, completely overwhelmed.
They decided I was their project. Mission ‘Make Elle a Californian.’ They assumed I’d stay in California after graduation, but I’d met Todd over Christmas our final year and I thought I was in love. ”
“You may have been,” he said kindly.
“Maybe. But he wasn’t the man I thought he was. Or not the one I wanted him to be. I’m sorry he’s dead, but I’m not sorry I’m no longer married to him.”
“From what Howard said, he was a shitty husband.”
“Yeah. That shocked the hell out of me, by the way, that Howard knew so much.”
“He seems like a windbag sometimes, but he’s good at his job. He’s got a brain that never stops.”
“You like him.”
“Most of the time. Respect him all the time, though, and in our business that’s more important.”
“How long have you and Ronan been friends?”
“Long time. Since he came back home when Penny was five. He and my wife went to high school together. When he moved home, he needed help with Penny. His mom stepped up and my wife did, too. So did the people who lived here in this house. Dianne Foster, too. Took a village to raise that girl and I think we did one helluva job.”
“I agree.”
They finished eating in a companionable silence, Gary glancing at his phone between bites.
“Hey,” he said. “I just got an email from Howard. That detective from Sarasota—George Dixon—called back. Neil Kerrigan was more than willing to throw Ashton under the bus for a plea deal on his defrauding of little old ladies. He told them where to find Ashton’s hiding places.
The Sarasota PD found more guns in his aunt’s garage and three different fake IDs taped under a drawer in his aunt’s guest bedroom.
All driver’s licenses. Lance Nelson, Byron Bristow, and Shane Conlan.
He ran a check and all the aliases have corresponding passports, none of which they’ve found. ”
“Have the airports and border crossings been notified?”
“They have. But this will help us search for other credit cards in his name. Ashton has got to be staying somewhere around here and not many places take cash anymore. We need to find him before he hurts someone else.”
“How can I help?”
“By staying here and staying safe.”
Elle had opened her mouth to argue when her phone buzzed with an unfamiliar number. For a moment she stared at it, like a snake poised to strike.
What if it was Ashton?
“Answer it,” Gary said calmly. “Put it on speaker.”
She did so. “Hello?”
“Um…Can I speak to Elle Randolph, please?” The voice was hesitant, female, young, and familiar.
“This is she.” Elle’s memory clicked in and she remembered the young woman with the bruises and the baby. “Is this Annie? From the pharmacy?”
“Yes.” The answer came out on a relieved whoosh of air. “Were you serious when you offered to help me?”
Gary raised his eyebrows. Elle held up a finger, asking him to wait. If Annie was asking for help, something serious had happened.
“I was. Are you safe, Annie?”
“Yes. I…” Annie’s voice cracked on a sob. “I’m in the shelter. Just me and my baby. I had to leave the dog behind. He hid in the backyard and I couldn’t find him and Roger was coming home any minute and I…I don’t want Roger to hurt the dog because I left.”
Elle understood Annie’s attachment to her dog. After all, it had been Todd’s abuse of her cocker spaniel that had finally convinced her to leave.
Gary frowned, his sympathy clear. Annie Purvis? he mouthed.
Elle nodded. It seemed Annie Purvis’s troubles were well known. “We’ll figure out what to do with the dog. That you and your baby are safe is what’s important at this very moment. Did he hurt you?”
“Yes. He choked me.” Her laugh was shrill. “I needed to wear a turtleneck sweater to hide the bruises, but they were all in the wash, so I said fuck it, you know? I decided I was done hiding. So I waited until he went out and I left. You must think I’m stupid for staying so long.”
“No, Annie, I don’t. I stayed way too long, too.”
There was a moment of shocked silence. “You…you did?”
“I did. And I’m not stupid.”
It felt good to say aloud. Triumphant, even.
“No. You’re a lawyer. I need one of those. I need a divorce.”