Page 83 of Montana Silence

“Yeah,” Jude said. “He visited Malcolm a couple of times early on in his prison sentence and never again. We only did a cursory look at those, and nothing popped. Now I think he didn’t come back on purpose because he was communicating with Malcolm another way.”

In the background, I heard low voices. Everyone was on deck, trying to do whatever they could from half a country away.

“We got a grainy picture, but nothing solid from recently. His appearance has changed. Looks like he’s had major surgery. And it looks like he’s trying to take Malcolm Novic’s place in every sense of the word.”

“What?” I shook my head. “He’s trying to look like him?”

“Not what we need to focus on. Border Patrol has been notified,” Lucas said. “They have a picture of Mara and of Claire. We sent them what we had for Neil.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I ground out. “They’re not going through a checkpoint.”

Silence came from the other end of the line.

“Thank you,” I finally said. “Sorry.”

“Don’t fucking apologize,” Lucas said. “Focus on what’s in front of you.”

All I could think about was that day in the gym with Lucas when I’d admitted my deepest fear. The one I was face-to-face with right now. What if I couldn’t protect Mara?

Ihadn’tprotected her. Something had been off in my gut, and I’d still let her walk away from me. My heart collapsed in on itself. This was my fault. We could have stayed another day, gone to the courthouse, and none of this would have happened.

“You don’t know that,” Grant said.

Shit. I hadn’t realized I’d said it out loud. “I do.”

“No,” he said. “You don’t. Sabotaging the car? They had no way of knowing if you’d actually call Claire. That was one of the plans they had. But they’ve beenplanningthis, Liam. You and I both know you never have only one plan. You have every possible plan. I would bet my entire life savings they had people waiting for you outside the courthouse. They would have dropped you and taken her. You could be lying dead on the asphalt right now.”

I took a deep breath. They were right, but it didn’t erase the guilt raging in my chest. Mara wasmine, and I’d let her go. I’d abandoned her, just like everyone in my life had done to me. The spiral of thoughts wouldn’t let me go.

Pressing down on the gas, I shot past cars going half my speed. Close the distance. “They’re going how fast?”

“Limit,” Jude said.

Good. Speed limit meant they were tryingnotto draw attention to themselves. I, on the other hand, didn’t care who saw.

God, how could this happen? The lawyer? How did I not see this coming? How could I possibly be worthy of Mara when I hadn’t seen what I should have? What if this was the thing that made her realize the truth and leave?

Three taps.

I focused on the memory of her tapping my hand this morning before she left, a confident smile on her face.

How the hell didn’t we check deeper? How didn’t Iknow?

“Was there any sign of this?” I asked desperately. “With the lawyer. Could we have seen this coming?”

Daniel’s voice was grim. “I don’t say this often, but I don’t think we could have. They were so careful. It’s one of the cleanest trails I’ve ever seen. They learned after Malcolm’s arrest—and quickly.”

I gritted my teeth and focused on the road. In my life, I’d already lost a woman because I hadn’t been enough. Wasn’t good enough and hadn’t done enough. It wasn’t going to happen again. If I lost this time, I would lose having given fuckingeverything.

“Okay, Liam.” Daniel’s voice came clear through the phone. “We have a plan. But you’re going to have to trust us.”

Nausea churned in my gut. Trusting them meant I likely wasn’t going to like whatever they asked me to do. “Talk to me.”

“We’re tracking the car. Law enforcement understands the situation. The court has backed us up, and they have your police report from last time. They’ll set up blockades wherever they can. But where the car is now, there’re too many ways they could branch off. We have to wait until they’re locked in to make the call.”

“Okay.”

It made sense. I didn’t like it, but it made sense.

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