Page 82 of This Moment

She looked at her suitcase once again.

“Cadie, please trust me.”

Her eyes met mine, and she nodded. “Okay.”

We walked back into the living room only to find Mark eating from a tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Cadie and I walked over and sat down on the sofa. “Help yourself to the ice cream, Mark.”

“I’m starving, Kian. I haven’t eaten breakfast or lunch.”

Standing, Cadie asked, “Would you like for me to make you something to eat?”

Mark looked at me. I shrugged. “You can tell her what you told me while she makes something to eat.”

Then I realized she hadn’t gone to the book club meeting. “I thought you had book club.”

Cadie was pulling different things from the refrigerator. “It’s not until later. I was coming home to change. I guess I better let Aurora know I won’t make it.”

“No, you should go,” Mark said. When we both looked at him, he explained. “The last thing you want is to change your routine or act like something is wrong.”

Cadie sighed. “But something is wrong. I have a crazy family hunting me down.”

Mark held up his hand. “Let me tell you what I know, and then we’ll talk afterward. Is that fair enough?”

Nodding her head, Cadie replied, “Fair enough.”

Cadie

When Mark finished telling me how the FBI had stumbled on my name and how he had entered the picture, my head was spinning.

“So they asked you to come in and talk to me?” I asked.

“Mainly it’s because I’m from here. But yeah, they had their reasons.”

“And you guys don’t know why I ran?”

Mark shook his head. “Would you like to tell me?”

I pressed my lips tightly together. When I looked at Kian, he nodded. I trusted him and knew I could trust Mark, even though I had just met him. Strangely, he hadn’t told his family he was the CIA, but who was I to judge?

Clearing my throat, I told Mark everything I had told Kian.

“Did you see the guy Michael shot?” Mark asked.

“Um, not really. He was maybe in his forties. The only reason I say that is he had some gray streaks in his hair; that was about all I could see.”

“And you said you saw two cops. Boston cops?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

Mark sat back and whistled. “I hate crooked cops.”

Kian leaned forward. “Is there anything any of them said that you might have heard and didn’t think was important at the time?”

Mark looked at his older brother and smirked.

“Um, let me think.”