Page 31 of Hunted in Hope Town

Maybe he still could.

Instead, he’d snatched maybe a few interrupted hours of sleep, before he gave up and got to work. Once it was a decent hour, he spent an hour on the phone with Zach, working with the laptop he’d borrowed and the subpar internet access to enable a recording Dr. Leigh couldn’t trace and Zach would have access to.

He’d also emailed Dr. Leigh himself, asking to find a time to meet with her sometime today via video chat.

“Let me know when she gets back to you,” Zach told him. “I want to be available while you’re having your session. I’m going to put a private investigator on tailing Dr. Leigh ASAP. We’ve also got eyes on the only access road up to the cabin. We’ll keep them there at least twenty-four hours after this.”

“What does the PI know?”

“Just that I have suspicions the doctor is colluding with some people I don’t trust. They don’t know anything about you or Jessica. Their job is just to collect information about where Dr. Leigh is going and who she’s speaking to.”

“And if Dr. Leigh speaks about us?”

“I’m not hiring random people, Ellis. And I can’t be five places at once. Either we trust a few people to help us, or this threat just hangs there, and we never know where it came from.”

Ellis couldn’t help but wonder if he should have just done this all along. Isolated her in the middle of nowhere after she’d been released from the hospital and called it a day. No threats. No outside world. No life.

It wouldn’t have been fair, but it would have been easier.

But just as he thought that, the email client on his laptop dinged and an email from Dr. Leigh showed up with a time and invitation to a video chat.

“Looks like Dr. Leigh will see us at ten. Can your PI be there in time?”

“She’s already on her way. You sure Jessica is up to this?”

Up to it? He didn’t have a clue what she was up to. She was being so…strong. So sure. But he kept worrying that it was only because she didn’t remember the full picture. She didn’t fully understand what kind of danger they were in.

But he did, which meant they had to act. “No, but she’s determined. I don’t see her backing down.”

“I’m no doctor, but I can’t help but think having some say, some agency in this whole thing is good for her. No one wants to be a powerless victim hiding away.”

Ellis scowled, because that’s what he’d like to be right now. Or at least like her to be, but he couldn’t deny that Zach was probably at least partially right.

“I’ll be in touch. You sure the laptop will record?”

“I’ll make sure of it. Good luck, Ellis.”

“Thanks,” Ellis muttered, then ended the phone call. He sat there for a few minutes, mulling over how he wanted this to go.

Kirsten’s idea that she pretend to remember them was a good one. It allowed him to be involved and observe Dr. Leigh. It’d give him a new perspective into how she dealt with Kirsten when he wasn’t there, and if Dr. Leigh was someone to be concerned about.

Maybe he’d been technically out for the past two years, but he was still a damn good FBI agent. He could sniff out a rat and keep Kirsten safe in the process.

Even though you didn’t last time?

Different. He hadn’t been there. He’d been undercover. Maybe he hadn’t been able to sniff out where the leak came from, but he certainly would have kept Kirsten from being hurt if he’d been home.

He had to hold on to that certainty or everything fell apart, and he couldn’t afford to let her get caught in the cross fire twice.

He’d die first.

He got to his feet. He’d heard her get up a little while ago, and when he stepped out into the main living area, she was in the kitchen, putting together breakfast.

She didn’t look at him over her shoulder or address him, but he could tell she knew he’d stepped into the room because her shoulders got a fraction tenser.

“Dr. Leigh is expecting us to video conference with her at ten.”

“So soon? That’s good.” She gave a firm little nod like she was assuring herself. She put two plates on the table. “Sit.”