Chapter 24
She hadn’t cried in the shower or while getting dressed, so that was good because she’d done far too much of that lately. But Nina had stood there with the hot water streaming over her body and thought, What do I do now?
Last night she was sure someone had set fire to something inside her house. But why? Nina had no answer for that, but plenty of questions and ideas that she’d be talking through with Sheriff Dans today.
To ensure her safety, Finch and Lynx took her back to the McAllister cottage. She had put up some resistance when the decision had been made for her—Nina was never good at letting someone else make choices for her—but she’d given in and ended up here.
She’d then spent the night in Finch’s arms and slept better than she had in days. They hadn’t spoken when they’d gotten into bed, but they had this morning.
“Who am I if I’m not a soldier?” His words had been raw and vulnerable, and they surprised Nina because she’d never thought he’d share something like that with her.
They’d made her ache to take away his pain, and yet right then, she had little to give other than words because she was raw and vulnerable, too, no matter how much she was fighting it.
Nina knew there was so much more to Finch, but it didn’t matter how she and others saw him; it was about how he saw himself.
“Morning,” Lynx said when Nina arrived in the kitchen.
Unlike his big brother, this McAllister clearly would rather be in bed, she thought, taking in the scruffy hair and squinty eyes.
“Morning, and I’m sorry that you’re out of bed early due to me.”
“He’ll cope. Besides, it’s good for him to live in the real world occasionally and see a morning like regular people.” Finch handed her a mug of coffee as he spoke.
“Thank you.”
“Welcome.” Their eyes met briefly, and then he turned back to the counter.
Nina always tried to be honest with herself, and right now she was feeling all kinds of things for Finch, which she told herself was entirely due to the craziness that was currently her life.
“Sit and shovel this in before the sheriff arrives,” he then said, heading to the small dining table with plates loaded with food.
“Better do as he says because if you don’t, he’ll just fire more orders at you,” Lynx said, waving her before him. “It’s his big brother complex. When we were young, someone had to take control because—well, you know who our parents are. Order isn’t something they excel at.”
“You were lucky to have him, then?” She felt a need to protect Finch, which was ridiculous, as this was his brother.
“Extremely lucky. No telling where we would have ended up without him.”
He meant it. Nina could hear that in his voice.
“Sit.” Finch waved to the chairs around the table. “Eat and drink before Sheriff Dans arrives.
“He used that voice on us all the time, growing up. Mom and Dad weren’t big on rules, other than we needed our eight hours a night. Finch loved rules,” Lynx said, “so he was the one who set them in the McAllister household.”
Finch didn’t comment, just put a large mouthful of toast and eggs into his mouth.
He needed a shave, and his hair, which Jessie had cut to perfection, was standing up off his head. He looked a little grumpy and a lot mean, and she knew he’d rarely been either before the accident that had changed his life.
“We got to school with our bags packed, on time, because he made us.”
Nina remembered those school mornings when she’d arrive alone and watch others do the same, but with their siblings.
Usually arguing, or just annoying each other, but to her that would have been better than having no one.
She always felt bad for thinking like that because her mother had made her life wonderful and she had friends, but there had always been that longing inside her.
She took a seat with the brothers and ate. The eggs were good and the coffee strong. There was no conversation until they heard the crunch of tires on gravel, and the silence was surprisingly comfortable.
“That’s more than one car,” Finch said, collecting the plates and taking them to the kitchen.
“Maybe he and Dan came in separate vehicles, or he’s brought one of the other deputies with him?” Lynx said.
Nina got up and headed to the front door to see who else had arrived.
“Wait.”
“Why?” She turned to look at Finch, who was following.
“Because I said wait.”
“I’m not in danger with you and your brother here, Finch. That, plus no one is driving up to the front door to grab me.”
“This is not a joke, Nina.”
“No, really? Because it’s one hell of a joke having someone break into your house, then toss the contents around. Plus, there’s the fire that could have taken all my possessions and my house.”
Finch stepped around her and then held her behind him as he opened the door. “It’s Dan and the sheriff,” he said.
“I better make more coffee,” Lynx said from behind her.
“Not a baddy, then?”
He turned to look at her, running his eyes over her face. “You okay?”
She nodded.
He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“You can’t say that, Finch. No one—”
He cut her off by kissing her again. He then turned back to greet Dan and his uncle. “Morning.”
“Morning,” Dan said. “We thought we’d come here to run through a few things where we can get some privacy.”
“Good idea,” Finch said.
Soon they were all seated at the table with more coffee, though Nina was pretty sure no amount of caffeine was going to help her today.
“First off, I wanted to let you know that the town already knows what happened last night, which is to be expected in Lyntacky,” Sheriff Dans said.
“We’ll keep those who aren’t involved uninformed as to the details until we know more.
But I have told my family because I want eyes all over town and on you. ”
“So you believe me that I didn’t leave my hair straightener on?” Nina said.
“A few things had me leaning that way,” the sheriff said.
“We went to your house this morning, Nina. The smoke smell is bad, and the bathroom where the fire started is going to need a full renovation. Due to smoke damage, some furnishings will also need replacing and others heavy-duty washing. You’re going to need a professional cleaner in there. ”
Nina felt sick when she thought about what someone had done to her lovely little house. Anger followed closely, a dark, seething rage toward whoever was doing this to her.
“I visited Sawyer’s place as the sun came up. I knew he and Birdie would be awake because Sadie’s an early riser, and while I was there, JD arrived with Connor, who had a restless night, and he thought a drive might be good for his mother.”
Dan snorted. “Zoe can’t function without sleep.”
“I told them what had happened last night. Sawyer is smart, so I wanted to see what he thought. When I mentioned what Jett said about the hair straightener, JD said there is no way you would leave them on. He said you’re obsessive about checking things are turned off before you leave The Gnat, Nina. ”
“It’s true, I am.”
“So, with that piece of information and everything else that has been happening in your life lately, I think someone is targeting you. We’re doing a thorough scene examination of your house, but let’s go with my theory because I feel in my gut it’s the right one. Dan agrees.”
“I do,” his nephew said.
“I’ve discussed this with Nina and Dan,” Finch said. “Is it possible her mother took something when she left and didn’t realize it was of value to Dale Falcon? Because if it was just Nina they were after, they’d have grabbed her by now.”
Hearing his name still gave her a jolt, but then, do you ever get used to knowing your father is actually alive when you believed him dead?
“It’s a solid theory,” the sheriff said.
“We need to go through everything that belonged to your mother, Nina,” Dan said.
“She didn’t have that much stuff.”
“And is it all in your house?”
Nina nodded. “I’ve got a few things in storage at the Murrays’ place. Her living room suite and some boxes. But I don’t think anything there is—”
“It doesn’t matter, we have to look at everything,” Finch said.
“Is there anything at all that your mother cherished or told you to not touch when you were younger, Nina? Are there any notebooks or documents that may contain information?” Dan asked.
The crunch of tires on gravel alerted them that someone else had arrived. The door opened seconds later, and in stomped Sawyer Duke and JD. Jay was on their heels.
“I told you I was coming to talk to Nina alone, Sawyer, and I’d get back to you after,” Sheriff Dans said, looking at the men.
“It was Jay’s idea,” Sawyer said. “I called him after you left and ran through it with him. Dan and he had already talked after he’d learned your father’s name, Nina.”
“Soon everyone in this town will know,” Finch muttered.
“I can help, but let me answer this call first,” Jay said, then walked toward the front entrance.
Nina didn’t know all the details of what Jay Haddon did, but she knew it was to do with national security.
When he returned to the table and sat back down, his face was calm as he placed his phone carefully on the table before him. “I’ve got someone pulling Falcon’s current status now. But while we wait, Nina, I need you to think about something, and I need you to think about it carefully.”
She looked at him.
“When your mother left Dale Falcon, how quickly did she leave Arizona?”
Nina shook her head slowly. “I don’t know the details. She never talked about him, and I didn’t know he was alive. But the letter she left me after she died said she had two choices when they arrested him. Stay and wait for him, or run. She ran, which suggested it was in a hurry.”
“If she ran, then she probably only took what she could fit in a car,” Jay said.
“It’s possible she packed fast and took something without realizing what it was.
A document, a hard drive, or a number written on a piece of paper tucked inside a book she grabbed off a shelf. Something she didn’t know she had.”
“Something that could still mean a great deal to Dale Falcon,” Dan added quietly. “Years later.”
“Unfinished business,” Finch said.
Like her, they didn’t believe he wanted to find his daughter to reconnect, and while she told herself she didn’t need that man, there was a small part of her that needed him to care about her—even just a little.
Nina felt Finch’s hand settle on top of hers under the table and hadn’t even realized she’d clenched it into a fist on her thigh. Turning it over, she linked fingers with him, needing the contact.
“I looked into the case notes for Falcon’s arrest, which I’m sure you and Dan have,” Jay said to Sheriff Dans.
“Two of his men took plea deals and gave evidence against Falcon, but federal cases like this rarely pull up everything. There are threads that don’t get followed, associates who don’t get charged, and money that doesn’t get found.
” He looked back at Nina. “If your mother left with something that could unravel any of that, or he had the time to hide something before the police arrived, he may want it back now.”
“He might have kept things running from prison,” Sheriff Dans cut in. “We all know that happens.”
“But if it’s important, why leave it where someone could find it? Why not put it somewhere he could access when he got out?” Lynx asked.
“Like Jay said, maybe he didn’t have time to do more than hide it. Or maybe he didn’t think Nina’s mom would ever leave him?” Finch suggested.
Nina thought about her mother’s things. Boxes she packed and stored, but never looked at again. The things in the Murrays’ storage shed. There were books her mother had carried from house to house their entire lives, also in boxes.
“The books,” Nina said.
Everyone looked at her.
“She had this small collection of books she brought with us. Five of them. She read them over and over and told me an aunt she loved gave them to her. They’re packed in a box at the Murrays’.
There are other things stored in boxes in my closet, too, and some of those may have come from when she was with him, my father. ” The word felt strange on her lips.
“Then we need to look through those too,” Finch said.
Jay’s phone buzzed on the table. He picked it up, and when he read the screen, his expression didn’t change, but something behind his eyes did. He set the phone down again with a deliberate care that made Nina’s skin prickle.
“Dale Falcon flew into Denver two weeks ago. He hired a car from there, but since that day, there has been no trace of him. Since Denver, he hasn’t used a credit card or his own name to book into accommodation. The question is why?” Jay said.
“How the fuck did you come up with that, when Uncle Asher and I have been hunting him since her mother passed away?” Dan asked, looking ten shades of pissed off.
“I have contacts and know the right places to look. Plus, it wasn’t hard to track flight records,” Jay said with a slight smirk designed to annoy his best friend.
“But I haven’t got to the good part yet.
Shirley Falcon changed her name and that of her daughter to Shirley and Nina Winters in Oklahoma County District Court the same year her husband was put in prison. ”
“You found that out this morning?” Nina asked, grappling with what she was being told.
“No. I started digging into things when I knew about your father from Dan, in case you needed the details, and trouble came calling with your father’s release.”
“Which means if someone wanted to find out that information about the name change, they could too,” Lynx added.
“He gets out,” Finch said, his voice low and hard, “then two months later, someone is going through your house, and when that didn’t give them what they needed, they set fire to it.”
“I didn’t tell you last night, but someone called the station about the fire before Lynx,” Dan said. “The fire department also got a tip-off.”
“So they wanted the fire stopped before it did too much damage or destroyed what they were looking for,” Jay said. “But enough to ensure Nina had to move out.”
“So who in this town has been doing these things and is likely working for Nina’s father?” Dan asked, which sent another chill down Nina’s spine. “Last night shows they’re getting more desperate.”
“We’re searching for his known associates and family members now,” Sheriff Dans said. “You keep looking, too, Jay. We need pictures so we can identify them.”
“I want to know what Dale Falcon looks like before he comes to Lyntacky,” Dan added.
Nina’s mother had spent years building a quiet life, and keeping her safe from something she hadn’t even known existed.
And then she’d gotten sick and slowly died, while somewhere out there, the man who was apparently Nina’s father was now coming for whatever Shirley Winters had taken with her when she left him, and Nina had no clue what that could be.
The thought was a terrifying one.