Page 118 of Lost in the Moonlight

“What do we know about the man in the sedan?” Lincoln asked as he went about fixing tea for us.

“Ryan Jennings. Age thirty-five,” Axel said. “He has a history of mental health issues. We believe he first met Felicity when she was in a facility herself as a teen. Their time there overlapped.”

Lincoln looked surprised. “How’d you find that out? She said she’d had her records cleansed of any hospital stays.”

Deputy Marshal James snorted. “Nothing is ever really gone. And digging is part of our job.”

“Did she hire him? Ask him to do this?” Lincoln asked, and I could hear the guilt in his voice that I hated because none of this would ever be his fault.

“We don’t believe so,” James said.

“From what we can gather, as Ryan is still unconscious, he lost his job at a Hollywood studio last year and has been living in his car ever since. He was ticketed in D.C. for parking and sleeping overnight near one of the monuments around the time Felicity and you were together last summer. In addition to the notes on his phone, there were handwritten journals in the car. We haven’t gone through them all, but enough to know he was angry and obsessed. Some of the pages are love letters to Felicity, others are angry notes to her for being with you, and even angrier notes to her for ignoring him. Some vow to get revenge on you for hurting her. There are lots of pictures and news articles about Felicity and some of you, Lincoln. But no more photos of you and Willow besides the one he’d already sent to her,” Axel said.

“It’s over, then?” I asked, my voice wavering.

“For the most part. The only open question at the moment is where he got the gun. With his mental health issues, no state would grant him a gun license, and it’s hard to see him having the right connections to get one on the black market.” Axel and Deputy Marshal James exchanged a look.

“What?” I demanded.

“It’s a Glock with an aftermarket switch attached. Two magazines with thirty bullets each.” Some of the relief I’d felt spun away, a cold shiver creeping up my back.

“What’s a switch? Why is any of this important?” Lincoln asked.

“Switches allow a shooter to literally switch back and forth from single shots to automatic. It’s a favorite adaption made by many street gangs,” Axel explained.

“It’s what Danny and Roci used.” My voice sounded hoarse and hollow. Lincoln reached over and grabbed my hand, and the warmth of it, the strength of it, grounded me.

“We don’t think it’s connected to the Viceroys,” James explained quickly. “There’s no evidence linking Ryan to them, and it doesn’t look like he’s ever been to Chicago.”

“You think he followed me here from D.C.?” Lincoln’s voice was dark.

“Yes.”

I felt the shudder that went through him. He’d grounded me when I’d started to panic, and now it was my turn to do the same. I pushed at the frown between his brows and then squeezed his hand. “We’re taking our future back, Lincoln. No more regrets. No more living small. We have you and me and our big futures. You promised. Forever. You and me.”

He hesitated for a mere second before wrapping me in his arms and kissing the top of my head. “We’ll put it behind us, Sweetness. It’s over. All of it.”

? ? ?

Because it was the only way I knew how to show my gratitude, I made Lincoln run to the store so I could make breakfast for the entire security detail and the remaining Marshals. I made enough food that it probably could have fed another twenty people. So, when Mom showed up with Hector, there was plenty for them as well.

I hugged each of them and then asked, “Who’s at the café?”

“I shut the doors for the day,” Hector said. “Hung a sign that said family emergency.”

“Hector! No!”

He looked at me with serious eyes and said, “I’m not upset, and you shouldn’t be either. If I’ve learned anything in this life, it’s that love and family come first. Those are the only things you can leave behind. The only things that truly matter.”

He pulled me into another tight hug before dragging my mom into the embrace with us. When I saw the sweet smile they shared, I nearly swooned.

“I can see you’ve decided to stay,” Deputy Marshal James said with a resigned look at the three of us tangled together.

One glance at Mom’s glowing face had closed the deal for me. We’d found happiness here. I was done letting evil have even one more minute of my time. The ugly feeling in my chest that wouldn’t stop beating…I’d bury it. Bury it in the past with this Ryan guy as we said goodbye to the Marshals.

When we nodded with stupidly happy smiles on our faces, Deputy Marshal James said, “Well, crap. I guess it was bound to happen to me at some point.” She headed toward the back door. “I’ll send the paperwork for you to sign. It might take a few weeks, as government paperwork tends to move at a snail’s pace, so it’ll give us time to make sure things have really settled down here.”

Then, she walked out without waiting for our response.

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