Page 79 of Hotter than Wildfire

There was a moral issue here, too. The longer Ellen waited to tip this tangled mess into the FBI’s capable hands, the longer Gerald had to mess with any evidence that might be left.

It might even be too late. Maybe she’d been wrong to spend this past year afraid and in hiding. Maybe she should have been bolder, gone to the FBI before. She’d been so scared, so terrified of sticking her head above the ground, that she might have ensured that Gerald get away with murder, twice. Three times, actually, including poor Roddy. If Gerald got away with it, it would be her fault.

Gerald would spend the rest of his life getting richer and richer, becoming ever more powerful, never paying for his crimes, while Ellen stayed hidden in the dark, worried every single second of the day that she was endangering people she’d grown to care for. And in the case of Harry, to love.

Unthinkable.

Yesterday had been a false alarm—a couple of balloons popping. But Harry was right, it could have been Gerald or one of his guys. At any moment, she could be in the crosshairs of some sniper employed by Gerald.

In five months, Nicole would have her baby and Ellen would be in a permanent sweat of anxiety that Gerald could kill her and Nicole and the baby. He wouldn’t hesitate. If he found out where she was, he’d kill everyone with her, on the off chance that she’d talked.

It was too late to keep Nicole from becoming a friend. Everything she knew about Nicole told her that she cared for Ellen and that she was intensely loyal to the people she cared about. She wouldn’t stay away from Ellen just because there was a vague possibility that Gerald would catch up with her.

It was more than just a vague possibility, though. He’d caught up with her in Seattle, he knew she’d been in San Diego. Gerald was smart and rich and had huge resources.

He’d know how to somehow track her down, he’d done it before.

Ellen had been careful when having the records produced. The musicians, puzzled, had been in the next room and had never seen her, nothing had been signed in her name, not even in the name of Irene Ball, but in the name of a small company she’d set up where no one’s name actually appeared except that of a lawyer who worked online just for companies like hers.

But Gerald had found Roddy, had tortured him. Who knew what he’d been forced to say? Who knew if Roddy had said something that would help Gerald find her? Who knew if she’d covered her tracks enough?

It was a very lucky thing that she had kept her friendship with Kerry a secret. Without ever talking about it, they had never shown each other warmth in public, rarely called each other and never went out together. They had a message board accessible only to themselves and that’s where they made plans to meet. Mostly at Kerry’s place.

Not even Mario, the owner of the Blue Moon, realized how close they were. So Kerry shouldn’t be in any danger. But there were other ways to find people.

The streets of San Diego were covered in security cameras. Could she go through life here wearing huge sunglasses, shapeless dresses and wide-brimmed hats? Every single day? Without making a mistake once?

She’d go crazy. Most of all, she’d drive Harry crazy too and ruin his life. And since he was embedded in a tight group of people who loved him and were starting to love her, she’d ruin their lives too.

And Nicole’s baby…

Ellen’s thoughts kept circling back to that terrifying thought. Harm to the baby. What it would mean to Harry. Harry had lost his baby sister. He’d never survive Nicole and Sam’s child being killed. She’d never survive it either.

The longer she stayed, the worse it would be. The longer she stayed, the more she’d care for them, the more embedded in their lives she’d be. And after the baby was born, she’d love the baby too. One more hostage to Gerald’s craziness and cruelty.

Oh God.

She had to go. She had to go now before one of these wonderful people got hurt.

She wanted to stay but she had to go.

Billie’s sad, beautiful voice came over her headset. I begged on the stars/To throw me a beam or two/Wished on the stars/And asked for a dream or two.

The beams and the dreams were all gone.

The screen in front of her blurred, grew refracted as tears filled her eyes, but she willed them back, dashing the back of her hand angrily over her eyes.

Tears were a dangerous weakness.

What she was going to do—had to do—in the next half hour was tricky because she was going to have to sneak past Nicole, who was no fool, and past three men who were very alert. No tears, no second thoughts, no hesitation. She had to be brave and decisive, take it step by step.

First, dropping the whole mess into the lap of the FBI.

The San Diego FBI Field Office website was very informative. The person in charge of the office—the official title was Special Agent in Charge—was a woman, Karen Sands. There was even a photo of her, a handsome women with straight light blonde hair, looking boldly into the camera. She was reassurance itself and looked capable and fearless. Just what Ellen needed.

Between songs, she lifted an earphone and heard the reassuring sound of Nicole deeply immersed in her translation, keying the words in a steady patter. Nicole wasn’t paying her any attention. Good.

There was a Contact Us button for reporting crime. Ellen hesitated for just a moment, fingers curled over the keys.