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Until she’d died.
Except she hadn’t.
There was no way that hadn’t been her in the canoe. And even if he hadn’t recognized her, the fear in her eyes would have alerted him. It had alerted Sam. And his buddy was waiting patiently for an explanation. One he didn’t have.
Was she on a secret mission for her grandfather? Maybe he’d needed her ability with numbers and had planned the explosion so he could place her in another position. Was her presence here a danger to Sam and the rest of the team?
Or had Cat run away and hadn’t even known about the explosion until after the fact. That didn’t explain the police providing positive confirmation of her death. Or why she hadn’t contacted him at some point.
Was she in the witness security program? That would explain a few things. But she should have let him know. He was an FBI agent. He knew how to keep a secret.
There were probably other options, but his brain was too busy dealing with the shock to come up with them. “We knew each other when we were teens. We were friends.”
Sam nodded. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure now. But I attended her funeral a couple of weeks before Christmas in our senior year.”
Sam swore. “What do you think really happened?”
Flynn huffed out a breath. “It has to be something that would explain the fear we saw. She definitely doesn’t want to be recognized.”
And it made the Pavic case all the more complicated. He’d started investigating because the day Catalina had died had changed everything. He’d gone from a kid dreaming of winning the National Finals Rodeo to taking all the law classes he could find and then applying to the FBI.
As a kid, he’d heard rumors about Cat’s grandfather. Her mom’s dad, Grigor Pavic, was reported to be a crime boss. His son Karlo worked for him. Flynn suspected Cat’s father had joined the crew.
As soon as he’d joined the FBI, Flynn had started building a file and compiling evidence, which had been incredibly hard to find. Grigor Pavic was slick. Kept his business small enough to keep most law enforcement officials off his back. They had bigger fish to fry.
Not Flynn. He’d learned that three bodies had been recovered from Catalina’s house after it had been blown to smithereens. Two adult males burned beyond recognition but assumed to be Martin Blanco and his brother-in-law Karlo Pavic. Flynn had always wondered if they’d set the explosion and then gone into hiding with Grigor.
The only positively identified body had belonged to Catalina and Flynn had never questioned that fact. What else had he been wrong about? Had she been in on the deception, or had she not known about the explosion until later? Why was she living under a different name and not teaching math like she’d planned?
Flynn looked at Sam. “I have to talk to her. Do you think she’ll run? Does she have an escape plan in place?” He shook his head at his own words. Of course, she would have an escape plan in place. That had to be standard procedure if she was in Wit Sec and it was smart if she was hiding for any other reason. Cat had been the smartest person Flynn had known. She’d have a plan. Probably several.
Sam sighed. “She’s not going to run from there. She’ll have to return here first.”
“I can’t take that chance.”
Sam frowned. “I don’t know Tess that well. She’s been here for a couple of weeks but she rarely talks about herself. I know you’d rather keep this quiet, but Tansy knows her better than I do. She’ll have a better idea of what Tess might do. You’ve got a couple of hours at least before she’ll be back from that end of the lake. Come on in and meet everyone and have something to eat. Then I’ll talk to Tansy.”
“We can’t tell anyone else.”
Sam rolled his eyes dramatically. “Really? I hadn’t thought of that.”
Flynn managed a chuckle. “You’re sure she won’t run from there? Is there an access road out that way?”
Sam laughed. “Nothing but trees for miles. She’ll come back this way before she tries to leave.”
“How can you be so sure?” Cat could easily walk through the bush and sneak around to get her car.
“Not my story to tell, even if I knew it, but I’m sure. You’ve got a couple of hours to think it through and button down all that anger surging through you.”
Probably a good idea. He wanted to rage and demand answers and apologies. He’d do better once he’d settled with the idea that Cat was alive.
And he’d better start thinking of her as Tess.
Once inside, he met Mitch Robinson and Bella Martinez, firefighter and arson investigator respectively. The entire group sat around a gorgeous live-edged dining table Aisling had crafted for the lodge.
When Tansy said they should wait for Tess, Sam covered it smoothly. He said she’d forgotten her stuff at the far cabin, so she was going back for it and would stay overnight. Apparently it was a rustic cabin with few amenities, but it wouldn’t be the first time she’d done it.
