Page 8 of Tracking Safety

The words hit her like a physical blow, and her pulse hammered faster. “That . . . that sounds like a threat.”

“It’s a reality.” He said the words without flinching. “I’m not your enemy. I’m the person standing in this elevator telling you the truth about your situation before someone less inclined to give you options comes along.”

She stared at the elevator doors and tried to think clearly. She stared at the red Stop button and the man who’d pressed it.

Her thoughts raced all over the place but found nowhere to stop. “What exactly are you asking me to do?”

“We need documents. Specifically, we need records of transactions, names of associates, a list of meeting locations. We need any evidence that connects the Barone organization to its operations. You have access to your husband’s files. To his office. To the people he meets with. We need you to pay attention and report back.”

“You’re asking me to betray him—while living with him.” She shook her head. “What happens to me if Roderick finds out I’m feeding information to the FBI?”

The agent didn’t answer, which was its own kind of answer.

One she already knew.

She could be killed. Sure, the FBI would offer her protection. But what kind of protection could they really give her when she was living with Roderick?

It was a no-win situation.

She pressed her eyes closed as frustration rose inside her. No matter what she decided, she would lose.

“I have patients I need to see,” she finally said.

He held the card out until she took it.

She turned it over. A dry cleaner’s card, plain as anything—a name, an address, a phone number. Nothing that should have meant a thing.

Connelly already had a cover story worked out. Ellie shouldn’t be surprised. But somehow that fact frightened her even more.

This was real. All too real.

Then he reached past her and released the Stop button. The elevator shuddered back to life.

“Think about it,” he said. “But don’t think too long.”

The doors opened on her floor.

Her knees almost buckled as she stepped out, but she managed to remain upright.

She made it to her office, closed the door behind her, and nearly collapsed into her chair.

The business card seemed to burn a hole in her pocket.

Her options weren’t good. Do nothing and go to prison. Betray her husband and be killed. Or run and be hunted.

What was she going to do?

CHAPTER 1

Luke King stood in line at Hartwell’s Hardware, a box of exterior screws and a pair of cabinet hinges in his hands.

He had three hours of work ahead of him at Refuge Cove and approximately forty minutes to get back before the lumber delivery arrived. He didn’t have time to be standing in line behind a man who appeared to be returning every item he’d ever purchased, receipt by receipt, while Harvey Hutchins worked through each one like a man who had all the time in the world.

However, this was life in a small town. His mom always told him to stop and smell the roses more. He reminded himself of that now.

Luke shifted the box of screws to his other hand and waited.

Several minutes later, the man ahead of him gathered his refund and moved on. Finally.