Page 22 of Mile High Mystery

“Three years. I met your sister not long after I graduated from the Academy. I was just supposed to interview her to update our file on the Chalk brothers, but the two of us really hit it off.”

Zach nodded. He was getting winded, making it harder to talk, though Shelby was scarcely breathing hard, despite the higher altitude and steep climb.

“Camille and I used to run together,” she said.

“Seriously? She was never one for working out or sports or anything.”

“She told me one of her first WITSEC handlers was a runner and she would go out with him. It was something she could do that made her feel safe. That was before she moved to Maryland and was given her new identity. That first six months or so, before people settle into their new lives, is tough on everyone. They don’t have jobs or friends, they’re cut off from their families and they’re not supposed to go anywhere alone. A lot of people can’t stick it out, but Camille did.”

“She was always stubborn.” And independent. She had been determined to testify against the Chalk brothers. Just her, by herself. She would bring them down alone. She had made Zach believe she didn’t need his help.

“I have her laptop.”

He stumbled, then stopped and stared at her. She stopped also and turned back to him. “The sheriff’s department recovered it from the rental van at the campsite.”

Camille’s laptop. Something personal that she had touched. “What’s on it?” he asked.

“I haven’t looked at it yet.”

“Can I see it?” he asked.

She frowned. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“There might be things on there—things she’s written that you don’t understand that I would. I mean, we grew up together. We were close. I know how her mind works.” Or he used to. Camille had literally become a different person in the past four years. One he hadn’t known.

“Let me see what I find first,” she said. “If I think you can help me, I’ll let you know.”

“I want to see it,” he said. “I mean, a laptop. That’s personal, you know? If she’s written things in files on there or searched particular websites or even downloaded certain games, it would help me know what was going through her head these past few years.” He stared at the ground, wishing he was better at expressing himself. “It would make what happened seem more real, I think.”

“I can’t make promises,” she said. “But I’ll see what I can do.”

It wasn’t the answer he wanted, but it was better than he could have expected from most people. Most agents. He had thought from the first that Shelby wasn’t like those unemotional, by-the-book agents his family had dealt with before and during the Chalk brothers trial. Maybe it was because Shelby had known Camille. The two of them had been friends. He liked knowing Camille had had a friend in her new life without him.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s finish our run.”

They set out again, Shelby taking the lead again. Zach didn’t mind. She made an attractive picture, pounding up the trail ahead of him. She wore a small black pack—he wondered if it contained a gun. Probably. It must be a strange life, to believe you had to go everywhere armed.

“Did Camille date anyone in Maryland?” he asked.

Shelby slowed her pace a little to drop back and jog beside him. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m trying to imagine what her life was like. She had a job and I assume an apartment or a house. Did she have a boyfriend? Someone more serious?”

“She had a house. A little bungalow near the park where we jogged. And she dated a few guys. One of the only complaints I ever heard her make was that she felt she couldn’t have a real relationship with a man because she could never tell him the truth about the past.”

“Do people do that—I mean, do they get married and have kids and stuff and their spouse never knows the truth?”

“I think some of them do. Others choose to tell the truth, and then the spouse has to be sworn to secrecy. But they make it work. Relationships are full of compromises. I guess this is just one more. But you would have to be really certain about the other person before you revealed that you were in witness security. Your life could depend on it.”

“It makes me sad, knowing she felt she couldn’t really be close to someone.”

“She had one serious relationship,” Shelby said. “With that first WITSEC handler—the guy she used to jog with. His bosses figured out he was developing feelings for her and reassigned him somewhere across the country.”

He stopped again. “Wait a minute. They already took everything else away from her—they took that, too?”

“It’s not a good idea for marshals and the people they’re supposed to protect to get involved,” she said. She pushed her hair back and readjusted the headband. “But yeah, it was pretty awful. But probably for the best.”

“Because everybody has to play by the rules?”

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