Page 404 of A Matter of Time

“I promise,” he whispered, and he started shaking as the tears came. Together we got up and walked into the terminal.

I went to get my ticket for Dallas, and Carrington picked up the one his mother had bought for his trip home to Raleigh. When we were both done, we met at the golf store. I bought a hoodie because I was freezing, and he got a polo shirt and a hoodie as well. We washed our faces, cleaned up so we wouldn’t scare people, and ate dinner, with him asking me a million questions at once. I watched him board the plane two hours later, and when I saw him turn and wave, I had an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. He was safe because of me. Put a line down in my good-deed column for the day.

When I was sitting in the boarding area waiting for my flight, my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“I’m going to kill you, Jory.”

“You gotta get in line to kill me,” I told Rego, then hung up. He called back seconds later. “The FBI, Jory?”

“Just deny you ever saw me. They’ve got no proof it was you, and that officer on your payroll, Collins, was careful. He told us to put our heads down when we walked under the surveillance cameras.”

Heavy sigh. “I’m sorry I hit you. I’ll drive back around in front of the terminal. Come out and meet me.”

“You had a lot of guests in the car. I don’t wanna interrupt.”

“I dropped everybody off. It’ll just be us.”

“Unfortunately I have a plane to catch.”

“What?”

“I’m leaving,” I sighed. “When I get back, I’ll call you. I really do appreciate you busting me out. When Sam comes to see you, just⁠—”

“Sam? Who’s Sam?”

I sighed deeply. “Detective Sam Kage. He’s working the case I’m involved in. When he calls you⁠—”

“Jesus, Sam Kage?” he breathed. “Are you kidding?”

“No.”

“What are you wrapped up in, Jory?”

“Some kind of witness protec⁠—”

“Lose my number,” he ordered, and hung up.

Apparently, I had stumbled onto the one thing that scared Rego James—the FBI, and a little Sam Kage thrown in for good measure. It would have been funny if I hadn’t felt like crap. Just watching Sam’s calls come in one after another was painful. I wanted to pick up and talk to him, but I also knew that if I did, I was done. I couldn’t have a phone call traced because I could not afford to be found. I needed to clear Caleb’s name, and I needed to go to Dallas to do that. The key to saving Caleb was in finding out everything about his mother. I wouldn’t stop until that was accomplished.

An hour later, as I sat in coach listening to the flight attendant welcome passengers onto flight 233 with nonstop service to Dallas-Fort Worth, I sank into the chair and tried to figure out what I was going to do next. My idea was good. Since Susan Reid was in Chicago, I would go to Fort Worth and see what there was to find at her house. They had checked Caleb’s apartment, but not Susan’s house. I was going to save my friend. Just because he loved his mother didn’t mean he deserved to pay for her crimes.

The airport in Dallas was huge, but being from Chicago, I had no problem with it. In the cab, I chatted up the driver and asked him where I should go to grab some clothes. He drove me to the Galleria, where I picked up a couple of pairs of jeans and socks, T-shirts, all the essentials, as well as a fleece-lined denim jacket. I didn’t want to stick out. I grabbed a beanie and a pair of gloves, and shoved my old stuff into a duffel bag. When I went back outside to wait for a cab, I realized it was dark already. I had been too pumped up to sleep on the plane, and now, as I was finally tiring, I had no room or place to sleep. The good news was that from the two thousand I had taken out as a cash advance from my credit card, I still had quite a bit left.

My second cab driver was even more helpful than the first and knew exactly where the closest Internet café was. I sent Dane an email that I was all right. I wasn’t worried about Dane or Sam, though, as they had lots of people, plus each other, looking out for them. What I needed was a motel so I could sleep.

Another cab took me to a really nice bed-and-breakfast that had curtains on the windows, tubs in all the rooms, and brass beds. I was in the Magnolia room, and besides the pictures on the walls, there was soap and lotion and shampoo to match. It was very quaint, as was the antique princess phone and the sink shaped like a flower in the bathroom. I got in bed after a hot shower and didn’t even get under the covers. I was too tired to even dream.

NINETEEN

My morning agenda was twofold. First, I had to call Sam, and second, I needed to go to Susan Reid’s house and take a look around. See if I could find anything to incriminate her. Knowing something in your heart and proving it were two very different things. As I headed out after breakfast, walking toward the street, I called Sam.

“Jory.”

“Hi.” I smiled into the phone. “How are you?”

Long silence.