Page 6 of In Hiding

She chuffed. “Too much like his father. He’ll be eleven, soon.”

He marveled how fast time went by. “I was an asshole to you. I didn’t deserve you and you deserved better.”

“You got that right.”

“Walters had a hold over me.” The memory of his old Army superior tried to surface but he was well practiced at pushing it back into its box. The man no longer had power over him. “Not that it justifies anything, but it goes some way toward an explanation. Though of what, I don’t know. I knew I had to find my own way, without him.”

“In jail?”

Yeah, he’d wondered that half a dozen times, too, but Kit had given him no choice. Confess or be turned in. He couldn’t say it was easy to confess everything to the cops and risk going to jail, but it was far better than having some else force his hand. He hadn’t really expected to be incarcerated, and with his luck, he should have found more trouble than he had. Fortunately, he’d found Erik Christensen and purpose.

Lucy turned and studied him for a long moment. “I think my husband would like to punch your lights out.”

He nodded. “And I’d let him.”

“Why should I help you, Jake? I know you weren’t responsible for taking my son, but you had a hand in his disappearance.”

“For which I will burn in hell,” he heard himself say. Staring through her, he remembered the day as clear as if it were yesterday. He’d been tasked with getting Lucy drunk enough to pass out, and while he didn’t really know what Walters was up to, it would always be the lowest point of his life. “How could I ask you to forgive me when I can’t forgive myself, Lucy? But even after everything I did to you, you are the only person I can trust with this.”

She touched his cheek, the contact pulling him out of the past. “I don’t remember this scar. Did you get this in prison?”

He shied away from her hand, not wanting to discuss the permanent reminder Mitchell left behind. “It’s a tough place to be.”

Her eyes softened. “Swear on my son’s life that you will protect this woman with your own, if it comes to it.”

Unsure why he did so, Jake dropped to his knees. “I swear.”

“Do you really want to make amends, or is her brother a man to be feared?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Both.”

She waved the slip of paper and shook her head. “I make no promises but with a name like this, I should be able to find her.”

“How long?”

She shrugged and gestured for him to stand. “Give me three days. I’m not as quick as I used to be.”

He doubted it. She might run her business from home, but she was the best at finding those who didn’t want to be found. She had contacts everywhere. He didn’t need to wait three days. She called him back to the B&B in two. Jake arrived to find her waiting on the veranda, wrapped in a blanket to guard against the early winter winds.

He parked the Harley in the drive and met her at the stairs. Lucy admired the bike with a look he remembered well.

“Do you still have yours?” he asked as he climbed up to the veranda.

She nodded. “I really should sell her. She’s just gathering dust these days.”

He remembered Lucy on her Harley Sportster, with her bright red hair trailing behind on the breeze and dressed in well-worn, well-fitting leathers. The dream had warmed him many a cold night behind bars.

She held an A4 folder. “She’s had a hard life, Jake. You better not be lying to me.”

He smiled. “Never again, Lucinda Green.”

Her eyes twinkled. “That would be Lucy Martin now.”

“Apologies, Mrs. Martin, but it makes no difference. I will never lie to you.”

“Are you scared, Jake?”

Like Erik, she could read him as well as an open book. “I am.”

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