Prestige, page 14
“That sounds great. Logan would love it.”
“So would Shawn.”
“Just remind Shawn that Logan is six. He should probably focus on how cool the rocks are instead of the petrographic analysis and mineral makeup.”
Casey jerked her face to her passenger. “What the… What? You speak Shawn-inese?”
Meri wasn’t expecting to genuinely laugh so soon after breaking Troy’s heart again, but she did and was thankful to Casey for that.
“Sometimes.”
“Nerd,” Casey muttered.
On the outside of town, Casey pulled into the driveway of a house even smaller than the one where they’d left Troy angry and confused. This one didn’t have the pond in front or the beautiful trees, but the yard was fenced in, and the houses were spaced out enough that the neighbors weren’t on top of them. There was a deck, but it wasn’t nearly as magnificent. This house wasn’t the perfect fit the other had been, but it would do.
They walked in, and Meri immediately scanned the open concept, calculating her duck-and-cover plans for Logan. She had to think outside her normal box in case Troy was as bad as she’d been told. If he came looking for her and Logan, she didn’t want him to find the boy by scanning the rooms.
She and Troy had always been able to finish each other’s thoughts. The last thing she wanted was for him to be able to predict where she’d tell Logan to hide if shit went down.
Casey also went to work on learning the layout of the house, but Meri’s focus changed when Logan screamed her name and jumped to his feet the moment he noticed her.
He came running across the living room as if he hadn’t seen her for days instead of an hour or so. Throwing his arms around her waist, he hugged her tight.
She smiled as she ruffled his hair with one hand and hugged him to her with the other.
He peered around her side before looking up at her. “Where’s Troy?”
Yeah. She knew that was coming. Squatting down so she could look him eye to eye, she did her best to explain in terms he could understand. The confusion and little hint of fear in his eyes shattered what was left of her heart. She hated how much this poor kid had been through, and she hated that she was putting him through even more. Clearly he was expecting to hear some terrible news and was bracing himself for the worst.
She forced a reassuring smile to her face, hoping to put his little mind at ease.
“Troy is going to try to find the bad guy so we can stop running,” she said. “We have to hunker down a bit longer, okay?”
“What if the bad guy gets him?” he whispered. The concern in his voice was genuine. The bond that had formed between Logan and Troy was as strong as any Meri had seen. Logan counted on Troy as much as a little boy could count on any adult.
“You know what? I don’t think that’s going to happen, because Troy is smarter and stronger than any bad guy I’ve ever met.”
“Can I call him?”
“No, buddy. We can’t call him. We still have to do our best to be safe, and that means we have to be very careful where we go and who we call.”
A pout turned Logan’s mouth into a frown, but he didn’t argue. He was probably one of the most compliant kids Meri had ever seen. For some reason, that made her sad. All the running and hiding and keeping secrets seemed to have dimmed the spark a kid his age should have.
She wished more than anything she could give his innocence back to him, but he’d seen too much darkness in his short life to ever convince him that life was always fun and games.
Taking his hands, she forced a big smile. “Once this is all over, I think we should get all the Prestige team and drag them to the park to play and have a big picnic. Don’t you?”
He smiled. “And Troy?”
Meri swallowed. “And Troy, if he can come.”
“Hey,” Lynn interrupted. “Let’s show Meri our escape plan.”
Logan pulled Meri toward the second bedroom. There was a toybox below the window with clearly marked instructions with photos on how to open it in case of fire.
“If Troy was here, he’d tell me this is the way to escape.”
Meri ruffled his hair. “Well, since Troy isn’t here, I’m going to tell you that. If things get scary, you go out this window and run to a neighbor and ask them to call the police.”
Questions filled Logan’s eyes, and that hint of excitement that he’d managed to muster up faded away. “Nothing bad will happen, though. Not with you and Troy here.”
Damn, she felt like a jerk. She was all but telling him not to trust Troy, and that was the only person he’d trusted for weeks.
“I know it’s confusing,” she said. “You have so many rules to learn, and they are always changing, but this one is important. If you have to run away, I want you to talk to the neighbor and get help.”
He stared at her, and the sense of distrust was palpable.
She didn’t blame him.
“I want Troy,” he said.
For lack of anything else to say, she smiled. “We’ll see him soon.”
“Okay,” Logan said. “Can I play alone now?”
Damn it. He’d seen through her lies.
“Sure.” She barely got the word out before he darted off. Facing Lynn, she sighed. “I know. I lied to a kid.”
“You told him what he needed to hear to put his mind at ease. That’s okay sometimes. How are you doing?”
“Honestly? I’m unsettled by how this day has gone.”
“You made the right choice.”
“I know.” Meri was confident in that. “Until we can sort out the truth, we have to protect Logan. I know that.”
“But?” Lynn asked.
Meri shrugged and let out a long, depressed sigh. “But I waited an awfully long time to have a life with Troy, and I probably blew it in less than a week.”
“Do you think he did it?” Lynn asked. “Really?”
She shook her head. “No. I think there is a lot more to whatever happened after I left New York, but I don’t know who to trust to get to the bottom of it. Even if I did, I don’t think I can be objective. I want Troy to be innocent. My investigation is biased before I even begin.”
“May I reach out to him? I’d like to hear his take on all of this. I can be more objective. Maybe I’ll find something that you both overlooked.”
“Yeah. Be careful. If he’s as manipulative as my old teammates are making him out to be, he could twist you around too.”
Lynn chuckled. “Do you know me at all? There’s never been a man who can twist me around.”
“Tell that to Justin,” Meri said with a roll of her eyes and a sarcastic tone.
The look Lynn gave in return conveyed her displeasure at the accusation. “I’m going to have Joanie bring you food. Take a look around and text her if you need anything.”
“Will do. Lynn,” she called. “Thank you. I know this situation is taxing our resources and finances.”
“He’s a kid, Meri. We don’t turn our backs on kids. We’ll see this through and worry about the rest later.”
Lynn left, and Meri bolted the door behind her. She could hear Casey and Logan chattering down the hall and was so thankful that she had her team. She couldn’t think of a time that she’d needed them as much as she did now.
She had been honest when she said she was biased where Troy was concerned. She couldn’t possibly sort all this out without her teammates taking a neutral stance to determine if Troy was capable of the things he’d been accused of doing.
Randall, Hank, and Director Bruce claimed to have seen a different side of him than she had. She was smart and confident in her ability to read people, so she couldn’t fathom that Troy was the monster they’d made him out to be. But she’d also fallen in love with him a long time ago, and love has a way of blinding people.
As Casey continued talking with Logan, Meri walked the house, stopping at each window to take in the expansive yard on each side, noting any places that might provide cover for someone closing in on the house. Then she turned the blinds enough to peer through but not enough to make it easy for someone to see inside. A few days ago, the change of position in her blinds had tipped her off to someone hiding inside her house.
Little did she know then how her world would be turned upside down. Just a few hours ago, her upside-down world had been welcomed because it had brought Troy back to her. Now she was confused, uneasy about what she thought she knew, and she hated that feeling.
She wanted answers. She needed answers, but the only way to get them was to insert herself back into Lochlin Private Security, and she couldn’t do that without putting Logan in danger. Though she wasn’t good at relinquishing control, she was going to have to. This one time, she was going to have to let someone else solve a problem on her behalf.
Her problem—the one she had to focus on—was the danger facing that little boy down the hallway. Her broken heart and self-doubt were issues she’d have to deal with once Logan was safe.
Troy was sitting on the deck of the little pond house when two cars came down the driveway. He sat, looking at the water, sipping his coffee until the black sedans parked, and Director Bruce and several other Lochlin Private Security guards climbed out.
The other men stood by the car, keeping watch, while the director approached Troy. His footfalls echoed across the wood with loud steps that shook Troy down to his core.
He was used to Meri’s steady but light steps and Logan’s rushed clomping steps, but the steady fall of the director’s expensive shoes and big feet unsettled him. Though the last few weeks had been tense and unpredictable, the last few days had eased his mind. Being with Meri again, even with Logan in tow, had brought him a sense of inner peace he wasn’t expecting to find while on the run.
That peace had shattered a few hours ago. His world had shifted in a way that felt incredibly wrong to every instinct in him. He and Meri should have stuck together, but he couldn’t blame her for leaving. Not if their entire Lochlin team had turned against him. And it seemed they had.
Troy had debated what to do once Meri and Casey had left. But Casey had all but told him what his choices were—prove to Meri that he hadn’t done the things she’d been told by turning himself in. Any other action would prove, in her mind, that he was guilty. Somehow, Meri’s perception of him was more important than whatever consequences he was about to face for his decision to slip from the safe house with Logan.
He had no idea what was coming now that the director had arrived, but after the day he’d had, Troy was expecting the worst.
“Are you armed?” Director Bruce asked.
Troy nodded toward the guns beside him. “That’s all I have.”
The director removed the clips from Troy’s guns and put his knife in his pocket. “I’m glad you called. This has gone on long enough.”
Troy smirked. “I ran out of options. Coffee?”
“No, thanks.” He looked around at the woods and the calm water. His black suit was out of place in this setting, but he wasn’t as out of touch as his finely pressed clothing made it seem. He wasn’t scanning the scenery. He was looking for danger. Though he was more of an office politician than an active guard these days, Ron Bruce was smart. That gave Troy hope. Hope that he was smart enough to see through whatever stories had gotten Meri so out of sorts.
“Nice place,” the director said.
“I like it,” Troy said before taking a sip of coffee. “It’s quiet.”
“Where is Logan Bantam?” Apparently, their small talk was done, and the director was moving on to the reason he was there.
Troy drew a long breath as he sat his mug on the small table he had put between two chairs so he and Meri could sit there and watch Logan play. However, since she had left, he had been sitting there, watching the pond and thinking about his actions.
Had he used Logan to convince her to let him back into her life? He couldn’t deny how at home he’d felt being with the two of them. Nor could he deny that he had known that she might slam the door in his face, but she never would have left a little boy out to hang.
But he kept coming to the same conclusion. Despite his determination to find her, despite dragging her into Logan’s situation, he wasn’t the bad guy she had treated him like earlier. And he didn’t think she believed he was. She was being careful. She was playing defense. She was doing exactly what he had done when he’d whisked Logan off in the first place.
“Meri took him,” Troy answered. “Her new team is protecting him now.”
“From whom, Troy?”
Sinking deeper into his chair, he scoffed. “She said she’s not sure. Randall told Meri that I killed the Bantams and kidnapped Logan so that I would have a reason for her to help me.”
“Did you?”
“No. Meri knows that I didn’t, but she’s got too much information to sort out, and until she does, she is making sure Logan is safe. Which, despite that being a bitter damn pill to swallow, is the right thing to do.”
“She was always very smart, wasn’t she?”
Troy wanted to laugh. Ron Bruce was clever, but his question was obviously a transparent attempt to lure Troy into some kind of trap to prove he’d been stalking Meri.
“Randall is wrong, Director. He was wrong about my reasons for trying to find Meri a year ago, and he’s wrong about why I sought her out after I took Logan.”
“So you aren’t in love with her?”
“Oh, I’m in love with her. Head over heels, in fact. But I’m not insane, and I’m not a danger to her, Logan, or anyone else.” He finally looked up at his boss and sighed at the disbelief in the director’s eyes. “I was responsible for her decision to quit. I wanted to find her and try to right the wrong that made her leave. I’m not some obsessed psychopath.”
“Well, the thing is, two of your teammates strongly disagree with that. Unfortunately, I’m beginning to suspect they are right.”
He shrugged. “I went to you. I told you there was something off about the team, that something was going to happen.”
“How did you know that?”
“My gut.”
“Come on, Troy,” the director said firmly. “You might as well tell me your tarot cards told you. I can’t move a family based on gut feelings and instinct. I need facts. I told you that.”
Troy fought the urge to jump to his feet. He didn’t doubt that one of the guards standing nearby would take the movement as a threat and would be more than happy to put a bullet in him. Instead, he took a long breath and reminded himself to remain calm.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it. Gut feelings save our asses far more than facts do.”
“I’m not here to debate that with you. What was so off with the team that you knew something was going to happen to the Bantams?”
“Randall started spending money he shouldn’t have had. I thought maybe he’d been bought off.”
“He married into money.”
Troy creased his brow. Randall got married? “No, he didn’t—”
“Yes, he did,” Director Bruce countered firmly. “He got married a few months ago, and we agreed he should keep his marriage secret for the safety of his wife.”
“Why?”
“Honestly,” the director said, “he was concerned about your fascination with Meri and your stability. He didn’t want to share anything too personal with you.”
Troy did his best not to roll his eyes. “I’m not—”
“We searched your apartment after you went on the run, Troy. We saw the pictures.”
He wasn’t following. “What pictures?”
“The hundreds of pictures that you had all over the damn walls. Meri at the store. Meri at her mother’s. Meri jogging. Meri—”
He did stand then, ignoring the way the men by the car stood taller, more alert.
“I didn’t have a single picture of Meri in my apartment. I had a handful on my phone, but that’s it. I’ve never had a single printed photo of her.”
The way Director Bruce stared at him, his face stoic, let Troy know he didn’t believe him.
“There were pictures of that woman covering your walls,” the director said. “You had been following her for months before she left, and when she disappeared you snapped. As evidenced by your obsession to find her.”
Troy dragged his hand down his face. “You know what? My downstairs neighbor would know that this isn’t right. Her name was Lucia Vega. She had a key to my place so she could water my plants. Find her. Ask her what my apartment looked like. She was in there at least three times a week to take care of the ferns my sister keeps bringing over. I can’t keep the damn things alive.”
Director Bruce continued staring at him.
“How are you not seeing that I’m being set up?” Troy insisted.
“Why would someone do that?”
“I don’t know. Ask Randall.”
“Troy,” he said between clenched teeth, finally showing his frustration.
“Okay, maybe he did marry into money, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get paid off by someone to kill the man who could take them down. Now he’s pinning it on me.”
“He didn’t get paid off. Nobody got paid off. Do you honestly think two people got killed on our watch and we didn’t turn over every rock on every person who knew where they were? We checked bank records, phone records, email, and text. Hell, we even looked into everybody’s medical history. Nobody got paid off. Nobody has an offshore account. The only person who had a motive and the means to hurt those people was you. And that motive was your fixation on your former team leader.”
“I told you I was trying to fix things—”
“Fix the fact that you slept with Sarah and were ultimately responsible for her death? Or stalking Meri? Or kidnapping a child under our protection? Which thing were you trying to fix?”
Exacerbated from repeating himself, Troy threw his hands up. “Call my neighbor—”
“It’s not just the photos,” Director Bruce stated. “You had file after file of Meri on your computer.”
“No.” He raked his hand over his hair. “I mean, yes, I did, but I deleted that file when I started to suspect there was a mole on our team.”
