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“I know you don’t. You love your daughter. If you give me the address, I’ll call Adam and Jessica and have them go and pick him right up. Or I can have them go to your house, and you can tell them the address.”
“No,” came the emphatic reply.
“What do you mean, no?” She exchanged a glance with Brian who was leaning over her shoulder to listen in on the call and looked just as confused as she felt.
“I … I don’t trust them,” Maria stammered. “I don’t want Jay to get hurt. I just can't let him hurt Kinsley. What if … couldn’t you …?”
“Couldn’t I what?” she asked when the woman didn't continue.
“Could you come here?”
“Come where?”
“To my house. I don’t want to talk to the cops. They just want to arrest Jay, they don’t care about Kinsley.”
Hayley knew that wasn't true, but she wasn't going to argue about it. “I suppose I can go to your house.” Hayley felt Brian tense beside her, but she ignored him. Right now, getting Maria to tell them where her husband was hiding out was her number one priority.
“You care about Kinsley I know you do. You really want to make sure she’s safe. I want to as well, but I'm scared. Jay is … well, he’s got a temper, especially when he drinks, and I … I … I'm not sure I can do this. But you, you're so strong, I don’t want to talk to anyone else, only you. I don’t think I can do this without you.”
“And you don’t have to,” she assured the other woman.
Hayley couldn’t imagine living the life Maria had. Her parents had loved one another, her dad had never laid a hand on her mom or on her and her sister, and she knew Brian would never do anything to hurt her. She wanted Maria to know that she didn't have to be afraid of her husband anymore. She wanted the woman to realize that she was worth more than what Jay had convinced her she was. She wanted Maria and Kinsley to have a happy life and a future where they could be and do anything they wanted.
The only way to do that was to take Jay out of the equation.
“I'm on my way.”
* * * * *
5:21 P.M.
“I don’t like this.”
“Everything will be fine,” Hayley said.
She’d said that already.
Several times.
And yet Brian couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren't going to be fine.
They were in his car on the way to Maria Turner’s house. They’d called Adam and Jessica to make sure the cops would meet them there, and he’d also called Brady because he wanted to have backup. Taking Hayley out of the safehouse felt like a mistake. She was safe there, Jay had no idea where they were, and since no one besides Brady and Ryan knew, there wasn't much chance he would find out.
But out here they were like sitting ducks.
“It’s getting dark,” he muttered under his breath.
“It’s winter,” Hayley reminded him. “We’re lucky there’s this much light.”
That was true. Although it was almost five-thirty, there was still the last lingering daylight, only because it had been a clear day and the clouds had stayed away meaning the last rays of the sun still touched the horizon. That wouldn’t last long though, they were still fifteen minutes away from the Turner house, and by the time they got there it would be pitch black out. There were streetlights and the lights from houses decorated for the holidays, but it wasn't enough. It felt like they were going into this blind, and he already felt like Maria had the upper hand.
“Brian, you don’t need to worry,” Hayley said, reaching over and covering one of his hands. It was tightly clutching the steering wheel as though that would somehow give him the reassurance that he needed. Hayley’s slender fingers curled around his, gently loosening his death grip.
“I don’t like this,” he said again.
“You can keep saying that, but it’s not going to change anything. You’re here, you’re not going to let anything happen to me. Brady, Adam, and Jessica are on their way to the house. What is going to happen with two cops, one ex-cop turned bodyguard, and you there?”
He was touched by her confidence in him, but it didn't change the facts.
