Page 55 of Hidden Depths

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want, but pretending you don’t have baggage—”

“I don’t.”

“There you go lying again.”

“How do you know?”

“Because everyone has baggage. How can you not? You don’t live in a vacuum. I mean, come on, Tom, you told me you were tortured not that long ago. You knew you would be and yet you went anyway.”

“Maybe I’m just brave.”

“I have no doubt you are, but…never mind. You obviously don’t want to talk about it with me, and that’s fine. But my point is, I’m not trying to overanalyze the situation. I just want to understand it, and I think it’s worth considering the possibility that I could be of some use to you here.”

“Hang on, we’ve moved from God wanting you to stay to Him wanting you to help?”

“Why else would He want to me to stay?”

“He doesn’t.”

“Maybe we should pray about it. That’s what Margaret would do.”

He didn’t want to pray about it. He didn’t want to risk God agreeing with her. He couldn’t have that. In the midst of everything that had happened, he’d forgotten that the reason he’d asked her to lunch in the first place was because he was attracted to her. And after everything that had happened, that the attraction had only grown. Having her remain here would be too diverting.

“Sara, things happen. That’s all this is. It’s a weird coincidence. Tomorrow, you’re getting on that bus. Then Peter will find a safe place for you to live far away from these guys, and everything that God has for you here, you can follow through on it there.”

“What if I want to do it here?”

“Sara.”

“What if I can help?”

“Help with what? You need to drop this. It’s crazy. You’re a civilian. You’ve been hiding for five years, and the men who want you dead are in town, and you want to stick around? What is it you think you can do?” He took a breath, pushing back his rising anxiety. “Don’t get me wrong. I understand why you would want to help, but I’ll do my job better knowing that you’re safe. If you stay, then you’re one more thing I’ve got to concern myself with.”

“Right. I’m a nuisance.”

“That’s not what I said. Don’t do that.”

“Then you can think of it this way. If we hadn’t met, I’d be looking out for myself right now without you. I would have gone back to my house and settled down, and everything would be fine. You’d be relaxing without a care in the world.”

“Then I’m glad it didn’t happen that way.”

“Are you?” She shook her head. “I don’t have to stay here with you. I can go back to my home, and you can forget all about me.”

“Sara, stop.”

She dropped her head into hands. “I’m sorry. I know. And I know you’re right. The best place I can be is away from here. I don’t know why I’m being so defensive.”

“You’ve been looking out for yourself for five years. I imagine it’s frustrating to have someone else telling you what to do. But you’ve done the hard part getting Lansky put away. That’s more than most people do in a lifetime. Let me take care of the rest.”

“I wish I could do more. I was relieved when Lansky went to prison, but he was one man, and I knew there were more in his group who had murdered others. Like Balthazar and Dutch. They didn’t pull the trigger that time, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t done it. And now that they’re here, that same thing rises up inside of me. I want them to get what they deserve. They should be in prison, not living free.”

“And that’s exactly what I’m going to work on after you’re gone. I’ll make them pay for their crimes.”

Her fingers twisted around each other. “I also don’t want to go because I’m worried about you.”

“Me? Don’t be. I can handle myself.”

“I know you can. But I want you to promise me you won’t be reckless on my account. I want those guys to pay for their crimes, but not at the cost of you. I don’t want you risking your life.”

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