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She glanced over at Roland. “Our disguises?”
“Yes. There’s a bag on the backseat. Joy put it together for us. Although the FBI said they’d set up a decoy, I’m not about to trust that. From here on out, we’re a married couple from Atlanta--Lawrence and Sabrina Meriwether. And in that bag is all the identification we’ll need to prove it.”
“Atlanta? I don’t have a southern accent.”
“Don’t worry about that. Most people living in Atlanta are transplants anyway.”
She nodded, knowing that was probably true. “Were you born in Charlottesville?”
“Yes. I’ve lived there all my life, except for when I went to college, and my short stint in the military. What about you?”
“I was born in Rapid City, South Dakota. Both my parents were military. I got my BA from Ohio State University and my medical degree from Yale. DeWalt and I both did.”
“The two of you met in college?” he asked.
“Yes. In our sophomore year at OSU when we were part of the same study group. And then, we discovered we both intended to go into the same field. What are the odds of that? Still, having the same goals brought us together.”
“I bet. Are your parents still living?” he asked.
“No. Mom died when I was fourteen and Dad passed away while I was in college. I had super parents.”
“Only child?”
“Yes. What about you?” she asked.
He nodded. “I was Mom’s one and only. She passed away a year after I completed my training at the police academy.”
She didn’t know how to ask this, so she just blurted it out. “And…did you meet your wife in college?”
It took a while for him to answer. Finally, he said, “No, Becca and I met on a blind date arranged by my mother and the aunt who raised her. The two women met while they were getting chemo treatment for breast cancer.”
In a lower voice, he added, “Mom and her aunt died a year after Becca and I married, just months apart.”
That was so sad. But at least the matchmakers had managed to see them married off. When the car’s interior got quiet again, she decided to change the subject. “Roland?”
“Yes?”
“I’ve heard that you’ve been shot before.”
“I have,” he replied.
She swallowed. “Please tell me about it.”
• • •
Roland couldn’t help wondering why she was interested in that. He was hoping her request was merely a way to pass the time and take her mind off the danger at hand. So, while nearly losing his life was something he’d rather not discuss, he would.
“At first, I thought I was only involved in a carjacking—not fun, but not necessarily fatal. But I soon realized there was more to it. The carjacking was the first part of plan, created by a demented young woman who wanted me dead, to take me out permanently. She wanted to punish me for her father’s suicide.”
He doubted he would ever forget that night. He’d been on his way to a charity event and took the route he’d normally take. He hadn’t been prepared for an ambush.
“Her father?” Lennox asked.
“Yes. He’d been the fire marshal who’d investigated the fire that killed my brother and his wife. He claimed it had been electrical…but it had been murder. I guess he couldn’t live with the lie any longer and decided to end his life.”
“And the daughter blamed you?”
“She was insane with grief. She’d lost a father, yes. But she overlooked the fact that because of her father, I lost my brother and sister-in-law.”
