Page 61 of Our Lips Are Sealed
Nick shook his head. “No cops. We’ll be fine.”
“You and your mother could be in danger,” Cohen reminded him. “If Toby is responsible for slaughtering eight women, he wouldn’t hesitate to harm either of you.”
“I said no.”
“Unmarked cars,” Judy said, her eyes averted from her son. “They can come, but only if the cars are unmarked and none in uniform.”
“I can’t promise anything,” Cohen told her. “All I can offer is my assurances that I’ll try to make that happen.”
Once Nick agreed to police protection, they said their goodbyes, with Judy hanging on to Jamison. “You call me when you make it home, so I know you’re safe.”
Closing her eyes, Jamison held on. “I hope I can come back soon.”
Judy gave her a tight smile. “That’d be nice, but we’ll have to see how it goes,” she said, pulling Evie in for a group hug. “You two remember what I told you. Use it to stay safe.”
Evie wound herself around Judy, accepting that while destiny wasn’t always fair, it had at least given them a chance to meet before it was too late. “We’ll call you tonight, and I’ll text over some pictures of Mama.”
Cohen led her and Jamison out of the trailer and into the bright midday sun. Samuel paced on the dirt road, talking on his phone, but he hung up as they made their way down the ramp.
No one spoke until the SUV’s tires touched the solid pavement of a city street.
“Why didn’t Nick want the cops around?” Jamison asked.
“That’s a normal reaction for people who’ve been incarcerated for a long period of time,” Cohen said and leaned forward to address Samuel. “Who knows?”
“My father, Mathis, and Selah,” Samuel replied, turning into the diner parking lot where they had left Evie’s car. “Mathis is sending officers to the house while Selah tells the twins what’s going on.”
A sharp pain struck Evie in the chest when she thought of Annabeth. “Oh my God, is Annabeth at the house by herself?”
“Abe is there,” Samuel said, giving her leg a reassuring squeeze. “And my dad is en route.”
Cohen pulled out his phone, tapping away at the screen. “The brother knows more than he’s letting on. Judy said she had a picture of Toby, but he claimed he couldn’t find it.”
Evie spun around in her seat to face him. “You don’t know that Nick was lying.”
Cohen spared her a brief apologetic glance. “It’s my job to know.”
Searching through her phone, Jamison grunted. “No socials on Toby anywhere. Getting those pictures from Judy would have been helpful.”
“Think about how Judy got all weird when Nick told her he couldn’t find the picture,” Evie said. “He probably thinks he’s protecting Toby, who’s been the only connection to his dead sister until now.”
Samuel dropped his buzzing phone into Evie’s lap while he parked next to her car. “Check the message.”
Skimming through the texts, Evie found a new one from Selah. “Selah says he and Simone are coming home. He’s recalled the pilots, and they should be in the air within the next few hours. They’re waiting for Lenora’s parents to come and stay with her.”
“Good.” Samuel handed Cohen her car keys since the agent was driving the sedan back with Jamison. “I hate for him to leave Lenora, but I’m sure with all this going on, Simone wants to get home and he’ll see that she arrives safely.”
Cohen opened the door to get out. “You’ll have to drive,” he said, tossing the keys Samuel had just handed him at Jamison. “I’ve got to focus on finding Tobias Miller.”
The car door slammed shut behind Cohen as he exited, and silence filled the car.
“Um…” Jamison stared down at the keys in her lap. “What?”
Evie got out, chasing after Cohen. “Jamison can’t drive that far without getting lost.”
He stopped short, irritated. “Jesus, would it kill you guys to have a little faith in her? She can do it.”
“No really, I can’t,” Jamison said, coming up behind them. “Evie’s not trying to be mean. If you make me drive, we might end up in Texas instead of Florida.”
